Faith

The Cross before the Crown – Feast of St James the Apostle (James the Greater) – Matthew 20:20-28

The text of today has Jesus on the cusp of his ministry and his impending suffering, death and resurrection. A few verses into this Gospel and we will step into Holy Week with Jesus’ ‘triumphant entry’ into Jerusalem. Just a verse before the text of today, Jesus foretells for the third time, his death and resurrection.

In all of this, Salome, the mother of James and John steps in with a ‘favour.’ This was clearly no ordinary request for we know that she kneels before Our Lord. I may be imputing my thoughts to the mind of Christ but look at our Lord’s response. Here he says to her, “What do you want?” Compare this question to the two blind men in this very chapter, verses 31. They too want a favour but unlike Salome, they are compelled to shout out, “Son of David, have mercy on us.” (Verse 30). This time around, the Lord asks, “What do you want ME TO DO FOR YOU?”

Both, Salome and the blind men are asking for something. She for her sons the blind men for themselves. Both of them use a different style of approach; one kneels and the other shouts out. Both get the Lord’s attention yet Salome’s wish is not granted but the blind men’s wish is. Jesus almost seems peeved with Salome and he sounds curt in his response, yet the blind men get a pointed question from the Lord, as if to suggest that Jesus would do for them what they asked no matter what.

Interestingly, when Salome asks the Lord a question, he does not answer her but turns to ‘her boys’ who seem to have accompanied her or were just hanging around. Relying on the trends our human nature sets, I think it is the former, not the latter. “Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” asks Jesus. Our Lord knew that a couple of verses later he would enter Jerusalem and that would be his darkest hour of suffering.

St James (the saint of today) and his brother John seem to want some share in the glory. They want the crown but have not understood that the cross must come first. They speak out of zeal not out of knowledge when they say, “We are able.” Discernment is so essential to the Christian life. While I am enthusiastic to live for the Lord, he may want me to die for him. Remember he said, “Whoever loves his life will lose it.”

Our Lord’s response to James and John will forever be for each of us a point of constant reflection. How often have we asked the Lord for something that we think we deserve or that we want and his response is the same that he gave to James and John; “You do not know what you are asking.”

St James did get his cup of suffering. He was the first of the Apostles who suffered martyrdom. Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great who had massacred the Holy Innocents, was trying to please the Jews in every possible way. In the year 43, St James became the scapegoat to be used by Herod Agrippa. At this point in time, St James was the authoritative figure in Jerusalem. The church had grown substantially and the beheading of St James, it seems, was the object of appeasement for the Jews.

The Spanish though will vehemently claim that St James preached to them and that his body now rests in Compostela. This place was and still continues to draw thousands of pilgrims from all over the world.

If you are a druggist, potter or pilgrim, then St James is your patron. He is also invoked in times of war and for patients with rheumatism.

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The straw that broke the camel’s back – Monday, 16th Week in ordinary time – Matthew 12:38-42

Texts must be understood in their context. We are in chapter twelve of the Gospel of Matthew which focuses on the rejection of Jesus. On Friday we began chapter twelve and the Pharisees have their swords drawn out right away. Our Lord confronts their wickedness with the very scriptures that they claimed to be guardians of. But while the first controversy was directed towards embarrassing Jesus by pointing at his disciples who were ‘breaking the Sabbath’ (12:1-8) the second attack was more pointed; directed to Jesus; “is it lawful to cure on the sabbath” (12:10). The Lord’s answer left the Pharisees red-faced but they were not ones to back away. We are told, “They went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.” (12:14)

Their angst against Jesus was so obvious that word got to Jesus and he departs from that place. But while our Lord may have left that place, he did not leave his ministry. Again and again, the scriptures bear witness to the attacks against our Lord only to follow it up with his resolve to “cure all of them” (12:15). Yet, Our Lord’s detractors are relentless. Scripture tells us that no sooner does he cast out a demon from a man who was mute and blind than the Pharisees accuse him of relieving the sick through the power of Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.

This it seems was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Our Lord draws the line in the sand, “Whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.” (12:30). The Lord, clearly riled up shows no mercy. His words are blunt and direct when he calls the Pharisees “a brood of vipers” and “evil” (12:34). It is with this background that we now approach our text.

The Pharisees now approach the Lord for the fourth time in chapter twelve. This time they are joined by the scribes and together they ‘wish to see a sign from him.’ Our Lord is in no mood to ‘entertain’ their whims and fancies or back down. He calls them out for what they are, ‘evil and adulterous.’

The Lord has worked two great miracles in this one chapter and yet they want a sign. Asking for a sign was nothing short of a demand that the heavens open up; a sign was always something from above. Yet they could not see, that the God from whom they wanted a sign, was the God who stood in their midst. Hate takes a terrific hold on us as it did with the Pharisees.

Jesus is in no mood to pander to these religious leaders and while he will give them no sign, he speaks of the sign to come; his resurrection. Using a character from the scriptures he highlights their incredulity. The people of Nineveh, a hated race of the Israelites, took heed to the words of a very reluctant prophet Jonah who did not want to preach repentance to them. Yet when he did, they all repented and were saved. It is the hated race of the people of Israel who on judgment day will point a finger at these very self-righteous religious leaders and haul them over the fire.

There is so much hate and angst against Our Lord in this chapter and while we have grown used to listening to the hate against Our Lord, imagine his own pain and suffering.

Today, examine your heart. Is there someone you hate so much that it has consumed you? If so it’s time to get RID of ‘hateRID’

 

Do leave your comments …….

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Feast – St Mary Magdalene – John 20:1-2, 11-18

Our Blessed Mother Mary was ‘blessed among women’ but there are other women in the Bible who were equally blessed. I would like to reserve a special place among these women for Mary of Magdala. How else would you describe a woman so blessed to be chosen (like Mother Mary was chosen) to receive a message, so great, as the Easter proclamation, “why do you look for the living among the dead, he is not here as he said, he is risen” (Luke 24:5)

While the Gospel of St Luke shares the honour of receiving the Easter proclamation with several other women (Luke 254:5) the Gospel of John showcases Mary of Magdala as the star of the Easter narrative; Peter and John are a pale shadow and the rest of the apostles border on disappointment.

Faith is at the heart of the Easter narrative; faith must be at the heart of every Christian who truly believes. Our Lord made several promises but if there was one that he repeated several times was that the son of man would be delivered into the hands of evil men, he would be put to death but on the third day he would rise again. The apostles had seen Our Lord’s prediction come true all through Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and yet they did not anticipate the promise of Easter.

Mary Magdalene came to the tomb on that first Easter Sunday and the Synoptic Gospels tell us why; she has come with spices. The Gospel of John tells us that the body of Jesus had already been embalmed. John 19:39 reveals that Nicodemus had already used spices on the body of Jesus: “Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.” The Synoptics defer and in Luke 23:56 we are told that on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, the women “went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.”

The fact that Mary brought spices to anoint Jesus’ dead body showed that she did not expect Jesus to literally rise from the dead but it also showed that her love for her Lord was not diminished in the least. But Our Lord did rise and she now encounters him. The Easter narrative in the Gospel of John has Mary running to Peter and John with the news that the Lord’s body has been taken away. Peter and John now came to the tomb. We are told that Peter saw the empty tomb and so did John but even though we are told that John ‘believed’ the next very line tells us that they both “returned to their home.” (John 20:10). Here is a faith that so many of us live. I ‘believe’ but I do not testify. After a Sunday mass, I just go home!

It is for this very reason that the focus of the Easter narrative returns to Mary and not to the apostles. The resurrection is not some personal belief to be taken home, it MUST be proclaimed. And since the men simply went home, our Lord chose to turn to a woman. Jesus picked her, he chose her and in doing so he blessed her. “Go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father; to my God and your God.” With this the number of apostles increased. She is now counted among the apostle.

Who is an apostle? An apostle by the very definition is one who is sent by the Lord. Mary, on this first Easter Sunday, was raised to the status of an apostle when she was told by Our Lord himself, “go to my brothers.” On meeting them she says, “I have seen the Lord.” (John 20:18) There is no, “I think it was the Lord” or “It could have been the Lord.” She is emphatic and faith must be emphatically proclaimed. In 2016, Pope Francis raised the level of this liturgical memory celebrated on July 22 from memorial to feast, and for her to be referred to as the “Apostle of the apostles”.

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Manufacturing a cause for faith – Friday, 15th Week in ordinary time – Matthew 12:1-8

The twelfth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew now presents Jesus in direct confrontation with the Pharisees. (Verses 2, 14,24 and 38). It is tragic when religious leaders lose the plot, especially if the plan was drawn by them. To understand this text, we first need to understand the background of the critics of Jesus. The Pharisees rose to prominence in the second temple period, which is somewhere between 586 BC-AD 70; from the time the Jews returned from exile in Babylon to the fall of the second temple of Jerusalem.

The English word Pharisees originated from the Hebrew “Perisha” (the singular of “Perishaya” and translates as “one who separates himself,” or keeps away from persons or things impure, in order to attain the degree of holiness and righteousness. By doing this, they hoped to represent the religious views, practises, and hopes of the Jewish people. Their separation from others was also included their opposition to the priestly Sadducees.

The Pharisees were scrupulous observers of the Law, as interpreted by the scribes and in accordance with tradition. They formed a league or brotherhood of their own (“ḥaburah”), admitting only those who pledged themselves to the strict observance of Levitical purity, to the avoidance of any association with the ‘Am ha-Areẓ (the ignorant and careless boor), to the scrupulous payment of tithes and other contributions due to the priestly class and the poor and to a conscientious regard for vows and for other people’s property. Yet, they who had a plan for everything, finally lost the plot. They who set themselves apart to be pure became the ones who ‘conspired to destroy Jesus’ (12:14)

Today’s Gospel is a controversy set in a field of grain. A simple and natural response to hunger on the Sabbath becomes an excuse for the Pharisees to pick up an argument with Jesus. Jesus was not anti-Torah or anti-Sabbath, He just challenged the interpretations of the Pharisees with regard to the Sabbath. For Jesus their interpretations had evolved into nothing more than mountains hanging by a hair, for there was very little scripture to be lived and more rules to follow.

Ironically the Old Testament, especially the First five books of the Law, have just one thing to say about the Sabbath; keep it holy (Exodus 20: 8- 11). Humanity, it seems, loves to make complex what the divine chose to simplify. The Rabbis, it appears, seemed unhappy with such a basic law and found it necessary to specify thirty-nine actions as those which are forbidden on the Sabbath. Amongst these forbidden actions were reaping, winnowing, threshing and preparing a meal; the very actions that the disciples ‘broke’ on the Sabbath. But every law has an exception and this was no different. Humanitarian grounds exempted one from considering these actions as broken on the Sabbath. Saving a life took precedence over keeping the law.

For the record, it was the disciples who plucked the grain and ate, not Jesus. Yet the nit-picking (should have been grain picking) Pharisees don’t correct the disciples but find fault with Jesus; “your disciples are breaking the law.” In reality, the disciples broke no law. Remember the exception made on humanitarian grounds? That comes into play now! The disciples were hungry and if the Sabbath rule was broken, then in was done so on humanitarian grounds.

To the modern mind, perhaps the act of plucking grain without the owner’s permission seems like the bigger fault. Hence, this one will need to be explained. The laws of the Old Testament were laid down with great sensitivity for the good of human kind. Unfortunately, human kind interpreted God’s laws very narrowly if not for their own convenience. There was no crime committee on this occasion because the law permitted a hungry traveler to pick grain so long as they did it with their hands and not a sickle. Simply put it, if you are hungry, eat and don’t starve.

Jesus uses the example from the Torah to justify the actions of his disciples. He quotes the example of David and his hungry men who ate the bread meant for the priests. The eating of the bread as we know it was not the real issue but it is what they ate that should have caused the uproar and strangely it seemed to affect no one. Furthermore, Jesus cites the example of the priests who apparently also broke the law when they performed a double duty on the Sabbath, for on this day the offerings doubled and instead of observing the sabbath rest they were working double shifts. Most of all, he reflects the mind of God through the words of the prophet Hosea; a God who desires mercy not sacrifice.

If the Pharisees wanted to pick a real fight, they ought to have done better than just start a cornfield controversy.

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A method to the madness – Wednesday, 15th Week in ordinary time – Matthew 11:25-27

Today we hear a thanksgiving prayer from the very lips of Jesus. We tend to turn to the Father in thanksgiving only when we have received something we desired or fervently petitioned for. Yet Jesus’ thanksgiving to the Father comes in the face of his rejection and that of his mission. We know from scripture, that the cities that Jesus preached to and worked miracles in, would not repent (11:20-23). The people to whom Our Lord ministered to were perpetually ungrateful; they would not mourn even if a dirge was sung nor dance when the flute was player (11:17-18).

People who teach the skills in the art of staying positive need to take a leaf out of Our Lord’s life. In the face of such rejection, Jesus does not walk away, rather he says a prayer of thanksgiving. In the face of hostility, he sees the plan of God. He is not consumed by the negativity that his mission receives but rather sees that God had a method to this apparent madness.

The text of today has two parts; a prayer of thanksgiving for the revelation of God (verses 25&26) and then we are given the content of that revelation (verse 27). Tomorrow’s text has an invitation that is extended as a result of this revelation. It consists of those ever-loved words of Jesus, “come to me all you who labour and are overburdened.”

For now, let us focus on the prayer of thanksgiving and the revelation made. The thanksgiving is not for some super achievement. It is a thanksgiving to God for the way He works. We are told that his plan is not revealed to the wise and the learned. That should not lead one to falsely assume that God is opposed to scholars and scholarship. For the message of God to sink into our hearts, we have to place our human learning aside and become students in God’s university of simple surprises. Think about it, Our Blessed mother in her prayer of thanksgiving too, thanks God for having chosen her, the lowly handmaid. God routed the powerful for their arrogance but he raised the lowly and filled them with good things. That is the first lesson we take away from today’s text.

But to this prayer of thanksgiving is added the secret itself. God reveals his top-secret plans and he gives Jesus the honour to ‘reveal’ it. “ALL things have been handed to me by my Father,” says Jesus, “no one knows the son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.”

God handed over to his son Jesus, ALL things; not some things. It is in the power of Jesus to give all things that we need. It is for this reason that tomorrow’s text begins with the words “come to me.” Does this take away the important role that God the creator plays in our lives? Does he stop functioning as a loving father? Not at all. Because the Father hands over all things to Jesus that does not mean he as Father can’t also hand things to us. But now like Mary, he gently nudges us to go to his Son. Our Blessed Mother said, “do whatever he asks you” and those thoughts seem to resonate in the revelation of God to us, through Jesus.

But Jesus also has the intimate knowledge of God as Abba. The God of the Old Testament was rendered nameless because his name could not be taken in vain or just about any time. The God of the Old Testament was feared and held in awe as if he was distant from his people.

Jesus knows the father and he calls him ABBA. He shares with us that intimate knowledge of the Abba he knows. Yet this is not some mutual admiration society that Jesus and God the Father are exclusive members of. This deep knowledge of who God is, was meant to be shared and that knowledge is shared by Jesus.

Is this knowledge of the Father meant for all? No! Jesus makes this very clear. While this knowledge could be for anyone the decision to reveal it is left with Jesus alone. It is for this reason that the next verse which we will study tomorrow begins with the words, “come to me.”

Yet we may choose to reject that call of Jesus but by doing that we reject the way to Father. “NO ONE can come to the Father”, says Jesus, “except through me.” (John 14:6)

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