Obedience and Mercy

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Ezekiel 18:25-28; Psalm 25; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 21:28-32

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.
John 10:27

We have been treated to wonderful meditations in God’s mercy over the last couple of weeks.  Two weeks ago we heard our Lord call us to forgive seventy seven times, or in other words, to forgive endlessly.  Last week we were confronted with the possibility of the one who is forgiven and redeemed in the eleventh hour.  Today, we continue these meditations by looking at the obedient son.

Jesus gives an example of a man who had two sons.  To the first He says, “Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.”  The son refuses, but then has a change of heart and does so.  The second receives the same directive and says he will go, but doesn’t.  Who, our Lord asks, was obedient to the father?  The first, obviously.  Our Lord is having this conversation with some of the chief priests and elders.  At this point He says to them, “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.”  The worst of sinners could get in while the religious leaders were left out.  This is good news for the sinner, but bad for the self-righteous.

What makes the difference between the two?  Not intellect, or education, wealth, talent, status, ability, or anything else.  One thing alone makes the difference: obedience!  Obedience is born out of faith.  Any attempt to divorce faith and obedience places one outside of the New Testament experience.  St. Paul speaks of “the obedience of faith” [Romans 1:5].  Both our first and second readings demonstrate it.  Ezekiel speaks of the one who is blessed because in the end he obeyed what God said.  St. Paul holds forth the example of our Lord Jesus Christ in His obedience to the Father “to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

But what makes the difference in our own practical experience?  Sure, we all know we’re supposed to obey the Lord and we also know that we don’t.  That’s why people keep coming back to Confession.  How do we come to the place where we are indeed the obedient people God is calling us to be?

First, I suggest that it begins by apprehending God’s mercy.  What did the tax collectors and prostitutes of Jesus’ day know that we don’t?  They knew the incomprehensible mercy of God.  In their day there was no hope for such as they were.  Jesus not only gave them hope, but forgiveness and an inheritance in the kingdom of God.  The offer is open to us.  Unfortunately, we don’t always perceive it.  Too often, we have the same approach as the religious leaders of Jesus’ day.  “We don’t need forgiveness.  We’ve done nothing wrong.”  I find it telling that when asked, people generally think of themselves as good and when pressed on the issue will often respond with something like, “Well, at least I’m not a murderer or something.”  We’ve placed the bar so low that it’s easy to appear good and feel good about oneself.  But God sees it differently.  He knows we are sinners and He offers forgiveness.  For the person who gains God’s perspective they are overwhelmed at the mercy they are shown.

Second, let me share with you the Gospel Antiphon for today’s Mass.  This is the verse that is said or sung before the proclamation of the Gospel.  Today it comes from John 10:27 and it says this: “My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.”  There’s a lot that’s packed into that one verse, but let me just point out a couple of things that pertain to this idea of apprehending God’s mercy.

How do we know if we are part of God’s flock?  Because we hear His voice.  I don’t mean we hear it audibly, although that could happen.  But in our spirit we can hear Him speaking as clearly as if it were audible.  It may be something that happens during the day, or something someone says.  But most often it’s what happens when we quiet our souls and meditate on sacred scripture.  We hear God speaking there.  When this happens, it’s a sign that you are one of His sheep.

So as His sheep we hear His voice.  Then the verse goes on to say that He know us.  Notice, it does not speak of us knowing Him, although that’s true.  But in this case it is He who knows us.  But doesn’t God know everyone?  Didn’t He create us all?  How could He not know someone?

Knowledge here is not the mere knowing of facts, but the knowing of relationship.  Even though God knows everything about us- even better than we do- He can’t know us in relationship unless we invite Him to do so.  What a tragedy- that God who made us in love would be kept from knowing us for a lifetime- and even for eternity.  When we take time to listen for the voice of God we are building a relationship.  Then God knows us and we know Him. 

Then we follow Him.  Because we can hear Him speak and we are in right relationship with Him we have the utmost confidence to follow Him, wherever He may lead.  This is where faith and obedience are seen to coincide.  We believe and so we obey. 

I think the single most important reason for the various messes we are experiencing in our world today is right here.  We don’t believe God and so we don’t obey Him.  What is God saying to you today?  Are you obeying Him?  Have you been putting Him off and telling yourself that you will get to that someday?  Are you like the second son who says he will obey, but doesn’t?  Stop kidding yourself!  If you have no intention of obeying today it is unlikely you ever will.  On the other hand, if you are willing to undergo an honest evaluation today and make a change then you can find yourself in the position of the first son and gain the reward of obedience.

Good Eye!

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Isaiah 55:6-9; Psalm 145; Philippians 1:20-24, 27; Matthew 20:1-16

“Are you envious because I am generous?”
Matthew 20:15

We need to be careful in what sense we take today’s Gospel.  Jesus’ parable about the generous landowner should not be seen as an excuse to put off our wholehearted seeking after God.  Isaiah says in today’s first reading, “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near.
Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked his thoughts; let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving.”  That is the sense we should always have.

Nevertheless, our Lord gives us a wonderful parable about God’s enduring mercy.  In the parable a landowner goes out at the beginning of the workday around 6:00 a.m. to find laborers for his vineyard.  This was in keeping with the times in which men might seek out employment for a day, or even a season, in just such a manner.  As the story goes on, the landowner continues going out at various intervals of the day with his last foray around 5:00 in the evening; only one hour before quitting time.  This is akin to the heart of our Lord who has come to seek and to save the Lost.  He will continue His diligent search, even to the last hour.  At the end of the day, the landowner calls the laborers together to receive their payment.  He begins with those hired last and pays them an entire day’s wage.  Those who worked the whole day thought they deserved more even though their agreement was for a day’s wage.  So they received the same.  Outraged, they protest only to hear the landowner declare that it is his right to do as he wants with his money.  He has not cheated those who were hired first.  He has simply chosen to be generous to those hired later.

I think this story resonates particularly with us as modern Americans.  We instinctively take up the battle cry of those workers who worked the entire day.  One can hear calls to “Unite!”  Yet, that would be to miss the point.  Jesus isn’t trying to set a policy for corporate payrolls.  He’s getting at something much deeper, and I think it’s easy to miss.

It’s the line near the end of the story that tips us off.  “Are you envious because I am generous?”  This is a more colloquial rendering.  The phrase literally reads from the Greek as “Is your eye evil because I am good?”

What Jesus is getting at is the idea that we have a choice in how we will respond to God’s mercy and grace.  Will we recognize it for what it is- something wonderfully good?  Or will we become envious, jealous, or disgruntled and see it as evil?

Let me illustrate.  Last week we spoke of God’s mercy in forgiveness.  We recognized that we may have a tendency to be unforgiving, even in the face of God’s forgiveness of our sins.  This week’s Gospel goes one step further.  Here, we’re ok with God forgiving, but we still want to retain our right to have a better reward than the next guy.  To go back to my illustration from last week, it’s one thing to forgive the 9/11 terrorists, but to think they might inherit the same reward I do in eternal life- maybe not.  It’s at this point that I must discern whether my eye is good or evil.  What if, milliseconds before the plane hit the tower, one of the terrorists instantly saw the evil of his ways and cried out to God for mercy?  How would I feel to have him standing next to me in heaven?  This is exactly the scenario that Jesus has in mind.  Someone saved in the last seconds of the last hour could have equal standing to someone who bore the weight of the spiritual combat for a lifetime.

This is not the place to become a legalist.  I don’t think the parable is intended as a blueprint for the final judgment.  Nevertheless, it is intended to lead us to a place of considering what mercy really means.

Let me bring this to other matters closer to home.  How do we react to people who drive recklessly and frustrate us while we’re on the road?  What about similar occasions in stores?  How do we react to the family member who is always asking for a handout, or the beggar on the street corner?  Again, I’m not approaching this from a legal standpoint as if there’s always a particular response that is right, but the question we need to be asking ourselves is this: is my eye good or evil?  Am I joyfully choosing mercy, or bitterly choosing judgment?

Let’s go one step further.  I am greatly disturbed at what’s happening in our country- and in the Church, I’m sorry to say- over a small strip of cloth to be worn over the face as a mask.  We are truly divided in our response.  Those who choose no mask look down on the others and scoff that they are not as enlightened as they are.  Those who choose the mask look at those who do not as if they are selfish boors recklessly endangering the populace.  A little mercy please!  Rather than judge motives, let each be convinced of the rightness of their own actions and choose mercy for the others.  Doesn’t this seem to be akin to having an eye that is good rather than evil?

To have goodness in our eyes is to see through the same lens that God does.  How can we know that?  By what’s written in scripture.  How do we see Jesus?  What does He teach?  How does He act?  Then go and do likewise.  St. Paul refers to this in our second reading when he says, “For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.”  In other words, he is saying that to go on living is to live as Christ so that it is Christ who is clearly seen in us.  A life lived well in this sense welcomes death at the end for there is certainly an eternal reward.

To have evil in our eyes is to begrudge God’s mercy to others, even while almost expecting it for ourselves.  There is no joy in such a life.  One is eventually consumed with all the self-made rules for living.  In the end, it may well be that God’s mercy is shown to the others, but not for the one who has chosen judgment instead of mercy.

When we can rejoice in God’s mercy shown to those we consider the least deserving then we may know that we are at least on the path of seeing with good eyes.  May God grant us such heavenly vision quickly, and may we discover the joy that comes from the freedom of simply rejoicing in such mercy… wherever it is shown!

 

Hugging Anger

Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Sirach 27:30-28:7; Psalm 103; Romans 14:7-9; Matthew 18:21-35

Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.
Sirach 27:30

This week we had our annual remembrance of the tragic events of 9/11.  If you were old enough at the time to understand what was happening on that day then you, like me, probably re-live it to some degree or another every time the anniversary comes around.  I find that I have two primary reactions: grief and anger.

I am grieved because men could be so full of hate and so blinded by deception as to think that God was actually the author of their plans.  I grieve further for the many lives that were lost that day.

But then there’s the anger.  The terrorists apparently had the goal of bringing death, destruction, and grief to our nation.  But they had nothing to personally gain.  They would not become rich, they would not conquer the United States, they would not gain power, or even prestige in the eyes of the global community. 

We are constantly told not to judge, but one can’t help but wonder what the Particular Judgment was like for those men.  We can’t know their eternal destiny, but from all appearances we would expect that they died outside the state of grace.  It’s here that I have a confession to make.  The anger over their actions leads me to believe that they deserved hell, and furthermore, I’m glad if they got it.

That’s a horrific confession.  How can I, who believe God has called me to preach salvation for the souls of others take delight in the death of the wicked?  If God doesn’t, how can I?  It is here that I hear the Lord speaking to me.

Sirach says that wrath and anger are hateful things.  This is the Lectionary rendering.  If you look it up in your Bible it’s even stronger.  It says they are abominations. 

In today’s Gospel our Lord gives us a very graphic picture about the priority of forgiveness.  He tells a parable about a man who owed a ruler more than he could ever pay back in his life.  So the ruler was merciful and forgave the man his entire debt.  But then the man found someone who owed him a small amount of money.  He demanded payment in full and when the other man couldn’t pay, he was thrown into prison along with his family. 

Now here’s the twist.  The townspeople, seeing what had happened, and recognizing the injustice of it, went and told the ruler.  The man was instantly summoned to the ruler to give an account.  “You wicked servant!” he said.  “I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. 
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?” 

Now watch carefully what happens.  The entire debt of the first man was reinstated and he was thrown into prison.  He would never be able to pay the debt.  He would die in prison.  And listen to our Lord’s conclusion: “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

Here’s what He’s saying.  If we don’t forgive others then God won’t forgive us.  The debt we owe to God is immense and it makes any debt someone else owes us miniscule by comparison.  While our sins may have been washed away in Baptism and forgiven in the Eucharist or Reconciliation, our entire debt is reinstated if we refuse to offer forgiveness to others.

Now at this point it’s worth talking about exactly what forgiveness is and isn’t.  Let’s start with the latter.

Forgiveness is not somehow saying that was done to us is ok.  It’s not ok.  It isn’t somehow to justify the perpetrator.  That is, unfortunately, how our society looks at it now.  “Oh, well they probably had an abusive childhood so they don’t know any better.”  Or, “They were suffering from depression, or some other mental illness.”  The list goes on.  It doesn’t take the sting out of the wrong done.  Sure, there are times when there are mitigating factors.  But more often than not, it’s simply because we are sinners at heart and when we allow the sin nature to get the upper hand we will inevitably do something that hurts others.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean all is well and we should just go on with life.  It means a true injustice has been done and that’s why there’s something to forgive.  To forgive doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look for justice, or that we shouldn’t take measures to ensure safety.  If someone is in an abusive relationship the first thing they need to do is get away.  If that leads to divorce, or separation from parents then it does.  But in the midst of it all Christ still calls us to forgive and there’s a particular reason why.  It’s because His grace gives us the ability to forgive.  When we forgive we demonstrate His love to the world.

Let me come back to the 9/11 attackers.  I need to forgive them in my heart.  They’re dead and neither my wrath, nor my forgiveness will benefit them.  Their fates are sealed and they are in the hands of God.  But if I allow the anger and bitterness of that day to seize control of my heart then I forfeit all the grace God offers and I become a debtor again.

This doesn’t mean I can’t acknowledge the heinousness of their crimes.  It doesn’t in any way justify their actions.  And were we to find others who were complicit with them it would not keep me from insisting that justice be carried out and those people answer for their crimes.  It just means that I offer mercy instead of judgment.  Judgment I leave to the Lord.

We all have similar issues in our lives.  In this fallen world it’s virtually impossible to make it through without having something calling for forgiveness.  Please don’t make the mistake of hardening your heart and thinking that somehow this is getting back at the perpetrator.  It’s not.  It’s just cutting you off from God’s grace.

One final note: forgiveness does not mean that we need to feel anything.  When someone has hurt us it will take some time- possibly a lifetime- until we can work through the emotion.  But in our will we have the capacity to choose to forgive.  And the more we make that choice the more forgiveness takes hold of our heart instead of bitterness.

Years ago I was angry about another matter in which I wondered where justice was.  The Lord spoke quietly, but firmly to my heart: “Justice is in the same place it was for you- at the cross!  There I bore all the sins of humankind.”  I was humbled.  The same holds true for this circumstance.  I am not God.  I have no right to call for justice when I am in such need of forgiveness myself.

Listen to Sirach again.  “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.”  Don’t hug wrath and bitterness.  They are no friends.  They will destroy your soul in the end.  Instead, allow the Spirit of Christ to take hold; the One who prayed, “Father, forgive them.”

 

 

The Church

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Ezekiel 33:7-9; Psalm 95; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20

“… listen even to the church…”
Matthew 18:17

This week we hear Ezekiel call out to us as a watchman on the tower.  The watchman’s duty was to sound the alarm if the enemy was coming.  In so doing he alerted the people to make ready for a defense. 

In today’s Gospel, our Lord outlines the way to resolve disputes.  First go to the person who has sinned against you.  If they cannot be reconciled then take two or three others.  If they won’t listen to them then tell it to the church.  And if they refuse to listen even to the church then let them be cast out.  But this begs the question in our modern day, “Which church?”

There are, by rough estimate, 30,000 denominations of Christianity.  In light of the fact that our fundamental message is love this is an indictment.  Truth be told, the divisions began even in the apostolic era.  But for our purposes we can see the first great division taking place in roughly 1054 A.D. with the split between East and West in what would result in what we now think of as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.  The next great division took place in the 16^th century with the Protestant Reformation.  Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and some others were among the first to break from the Catholic Church and form their own churches.  They were followed in time by the Anglicans and the Radical Reformation which brought about the Anabaptist stream and their modern descendants: the Brethren, the Mennonites, and the Amish.  Baptists, Methodists, Church of Christ, Holiness, Pentecostals, Charismatics, and non-denominationals would all follow in time until we have reached the regrettable situation we have now in our day where we are often sadly divided from one another.  True, that in more recent times there have been movements toward reconciliation and reunion.  But we still remain largely divided.

Again, this begs the question, “Which church is referred to in our Lord’s teaching?”  Naturally, we would respond by saying the Church which He founded.  Well, which one is that?  Or is it somehow all of them put together?  

Let’s quickly dispense with the second option.  Jesus speaks of both a visible church and a unified church so that its decisions stand and are not undone or reversed by the church down the street.  So we cannot imagine that He had the present situation in mind.  Let’s also dispense with the notion that there is no true Church.  Our Lord promised that His Church would endure and the gates of hell could not prevail against it.  Furthermore, the Holy Spirit was given, among other reasons, to guide the Church into all truth.  We cannot for a moment think that our Lord was unable to make good on His word or that the Holy Spirit has failed in His mission.

Then which Church is the true Church?  I contend that the Catholic Church is in full the true Church founded by our Lord Jesus Christ, propagated by the apostles, entrusted to the Fathers, and persevering to the present day.

To be the true Church one would need to show an unbroken history that goes back to our Lord and His apostles.  That takes most groups out.  Most of our modern churches are not older than the 1500’s and most of our most popular churches originated within the last century or two, and some within the last decade.  These groups may think they have recovered the apostolic faith, but without a living tradition to guide them it’s like thinking you could reconstruct the ancient Roman Empire based on what is written about it.  It might be close, but it could never be exact.

Only the Orthodox have a sound argument at this point.  With them there are many more similarities than differences from the Catholic Church.  Where differences exist they require more explanation than I have space for here.  However, I will say that it largely centers on the papacy.  I believe the papacy is a vital aspect of the Church and without it we are cast adrift without a clear direction.  The theological deadlock that has existed in the various Orthodox Churches over a number of issues bears out my point.  Admittedly, there have been issues with the papacy through the years, but those issues had to do more with the man than his office.  The Pope has been the final court of appeal throughout the centuries and has guided the Church through many difficulties during that time.

Why this polemic on the Catholic Church?  Because our world needs to see the witness of a unified Church walking in love and providing unequivocally the truth which all people so desperately need.  I ask this question to our brothers and sisters in Christ outside of the Catholic Church: what fault have you found with the Catholic Church that keeps you outside?  Please, let us have conversation.  Let us reason together.  Let us see if the barriers can be removed and we can dwell together in love and unity.

To my fellow Catholics I make this plea: do not be content to merely belong to the Catholic Church, but rather to live out vibrantly all that she teaches.  Treasures untold have been bequeathed to us by our faithful forebears, but for most of us we are content to leave them as displays in museums rather than to appropriate them for our own lives.  May it not be so any longer!  Our Lord Jesus Christ has done all to give us salvation and this salvation comes to us through the primary means of grace: prayer and the Sacraments, not the least of which is the Holy Eucharist.  Lay hold of these treasures and enter into the holiest place to drink deeply of the love of God.

The watchman in our day is sounding the alarm.  The enemy is not only outside, but actually inside among us.  He sows division and discord.  His goal is the total destruction of the Church and the ruin of souls.  We cannot allow it to continue.  We must defend that for which our Lord gave all.  He gave us a Church- His Church, which continues to the present day in the Catholic Church.  If you agree, then rise up with me to sound the alarm.  And if you don’t agree then please at least tell us why.  Truth is too important to bypass for a passive peace.  The time is long past to rectify what divides us.  Souls hang in the balance and the Enemy must be driven out.  Let us not waste another moment!