OCTOBER 28, 2007: THIRTIETH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

Readings:
Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18
II Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14

No Pauline scholar believes Paul wrote our canonical Letters to Titus and Timothy. Most refer to such works as "pseudepigrapha:" literature composed by someone other than the author whose name is attached to it. This differs from employing a ghost writer. In the case of these three letters, Paul was dead long before they were written.

How did such literature become part of our sacred writings?

Those who collected and saved our Scriptures had a different read on these issues than we have today. They didn't get uptight when someone signed another person's name to a writing as long as the author was passing on the thought and faith of that other person.

In this situation, the II Timothy author presents us with a picture of Paul with which no Christian could argue. If, before his martyrdom, Paul didn't have the thoughts which comprise our second reading, he should have. "I am being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race. I have kept the faith."

As long as this author was carrying on the basics of Paul's ministry, no one in first century Christianity seemed to complain. After all, every Christian was already carrying on Jesus' ministry. The key to doing this successfully revolved around acquiring the same mentality which fueled Jesus and Paul's ministries.

The historical Jesus certainly was influenced by scriptural authors like Sirach. In today's first reading, for instance, Sirach reminds his community that Yahweh's a God who always "cuts through the nonsense." We humans are easily swayed by externals. Yahweh immediately goes to the heart of the matter or person, bringing into focus even the circumstances which change the way we view reality.

"Yahweh is a God of justice," Sirach writes, "who knows no favorites. Though not unduly partial toward the weak, yet he hears the cry of the oppressed."

A terrific insight into God's personality is contained in the sacred author's statement, "Yahweh is a God of justice." A scriptural "just" person forms proper relationships with others. Such a one doesn't stop at surface appearances, but delves into areas of our personality into which we ourselves rarely venture. A just individual always tries to discover who the other person really is, so he or she will better know how to give themselves to that person.

Jesus epitomized this just dimension. Not only do our evangelists depict him demonstrating that attribute in his relations with those around him, he himself often tells stories and parables highlighting justice in others.

It's no accident, in today's gospel pericope that Jesus contrasts a super, law-abiding Jew with a traitorous, law-breaking Jew. Pharisees dedicate their lives to studying and observing all 613 laws of Moses. Tax collectors, on the other hand, work for the Roman occupation army. In our morality, such a person is constantly in the state of mortal sin. Notice that both men are in the "temple area." The tax collector isn't even permitted to enter the temple proper.

Yet when both pray, only the lawbreaker relates to Yahweh from the depth of his personality. "O God, be merciful to me a sinner." The Pharisee is concerned just with reminding God about who he isn't. He refuses to admit who he is. Jesus has no other choice but to point out that the sinner alone went home "justified."

Only someone with a just frame of mind could tell such a story. And only someone with a just frame of mind can understand it. We'd best be careful before we label certain of our actions "Christian." We might be signing Christ's name to something he doesn't agree with.

OCTOBER 21, 2007: TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

Readings:
Exodus 17:8-13
II Timothy 3:14-4:2
Luke 18:1-8

The last verse of today's II Timothy pericope has played an essential role in our Christian examination of conscience for almost 2,000 years. "Proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching."

Those who dare follow Jesus of Nazareth must be as committed to proclaiming God's word as he was. No excuses, no "I don't feel like it right now." Whether received or rejected, God's word is at the center of a disciple's life.

But, as we hear in our three liturgical passages, God's word is multi-faceted. We're always surfacing new dimensions, constantly discovering aspects we've never before noticed.

On one hand, for instance, our sacred authors tell us God answers our prayers. That's certainly the message behind our Exodus reading. "As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight."

The Exodus author isn't describing some esoteric, magical gesture in telling us about Moses' raised hands. In the biblical period, one normally prayed with one's hands extended, as eucharistic presiders do today. The practice of "folding" hands in prayer developed long after the biblical period. So the sacred author is telling us that as long as Moses prayed, Israel was winning; Yahweh was answering his prayer.

Jesus' gospel word assures us of the same effect. "Will not God . . . secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them?"

But on the other hand, God's word also informs us that our prayers must be accompanied by actions. Instead of just praying that other people change their behavior, we're expected to pray for the courage and strength to change our own.

Moses not only prays that the Amalekites stop harassing the Israelites, he tells Joshua, "Pick out certain men, and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle." Neither does Jesus teach that the wronged widow should only pray that the judge render her a favorable decision. He praises her for bugging the daylights out of the judge, forcing him to act.

In a recent issue of Celebration, Gabe Huck shares a deep insight into Jesus' example. "The churches to whom Luke was telling these stories . . . likely had plenty of people who could identify with this widow who had suffered injustice. Most had learned, as poor people everywhere learn, that if you set yourself out to be too loud, too outspoken, to call too much attention to injustice in the city, you're in for a lot of grief and maybe worse. But always there are a few like this widow who keep on pestering the authorities, the regime, the powers-that-be."

Throughout his gospel, Luke describes the ideal Christian as someone who "hears God's word and carries it out." Though he usually employs Mary, Jesus' mother, to exemplify such behavior, here the wronged widow takes on that task.

All who make the Scriptures a focal point of their faith lives revel in the II Timothy statement, ". . . You have known the Sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." Yet we can easily fall into the trap of becoming experts in finding a specific Bible verse, explaining the "sitz im leben" of an individual pericope, or giving the correct chronology of a series of writings, but never make the word we study a factor in how we live our lives.

God's word, in all its complexity, isn't just a subject to be read, studied and proclaimed. God's word is a force which gives life to how we live the faith Jesus expects to find "when he comes."

OCTOBER 14, 2007: TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

Readings:
II Kings 5:14-17
II Timothy 2:8-13
Luke 17:11-19

Today's three readings remind us that some tenets of biblical faith can and have changed through the centuries, others haven't, and some can't.

Naaman's request to "have two mule-loads of earth" comes from a period in which people thought Yahweh was only the territorial God of Israel. Take one step over the border and Yahweh's no longer responsible for you, nor in control of what happens to you. Other gods and goddesses tae over once you leave the Promised Land.

Naaman now believes in Yahweh, but is returning to Damascus. How will he "offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to Yahweh?" He'll take two mule-loads of Israelite dirt back with him, and spread it around his property, creating a small annex of Israel in Syria, permitting Yahweh to hear and answer the former leper's prayers.

A few centuries after this event, Deutero-Isaiah, exiled in Babylon, hundreds of miles from Israel, begins to understand and proclaim Yahweh's presence beyond the Promised Land's confines; a tremendous shift in Jewish and biblical theology.

On the other hand, another theological aspect in this II Kings passage hasn't (or shouldn't have) changed. Elisha refuses Naaman's grateful and gracious post-cure gift. "As Yahweh lives whom I serve," the prophet asserts, "I will not take it." Elisha's adamant refusal springs from the biblical conviction that accepting a "stipend" for performing a holy action is tantamount to saying the human agent, not God, accomplished the sacred act. One way to know God actually performed the action was for the person through whom God worked to refuse any payment for his or her part in the event.

Though this no-pay-for-sacred actions belief has never changed, we Christians have created all sorts of theological loopholes permitting us to "end run" around it. (e.g. "I can't accept anything for doing it, but you could give me something on the occasion of my doing it.") Elisha warns us that any linkage between money and the sacred is always forbidden. (Read on a few more verses to find out what later happens to Gehazi, Elisha's servant, after he finagles two talents of silver and two festal garments from Naaman.)

Luke reminds his readers of another dimension of faith which never changes: gratitude. Only the heretical Samaritan returns to thank Jesus for curing his leprosy. The other nine disappear down the road.

But it's left to the author of II Timothy to state a specific belief about Jesus that always remains the same for Christians. Quoting an early Christian hymn, the writer states, "If we die with him we shall live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him, he will deny us. If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself."

Dying and rising with Jesus is at the heart of our faith. That's why the earliest crucifixes never depicted Jesus' mangled body. During the Church's first centuries Jesus' followers employed only a "crux gemmata:" a cross adorned with jewels instead of Jesus' crucified body; the perfect Christian symbol. The cross represents death; the jewels, life. One object portrays the basic tension of our faith: simultaneous dying and rising.

As the line added to the original hymn reminds us, "He cannot deny himself." Those who imitate Jesus' dying and rising actually become one with Jesus. No wonder Jesus' followers were called "other Christs."

Though certain aspects of our faith can't be changed, they can be forgotten, or relegated to the perimeter of our religious practices. Fortunately they can never completely be blotted out. We have God's promise on that. Our II Timothy authors states clearly, "The word of God is not chained."

Perhaps all students of Scripture should invest in some bolt cutters.

OCTOBER 7, 2007: TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

Readings:
Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4
II Timothy 1:6-8,13-14
Luke 17:5-10

Ironically, a question arising from today's gospel is answered not only in our first two readings, but also is addressed in the gospel's first verses.

Luke's Jesus praises the servant who does what the master commands, no matter the extenuating circumstances. "When you have done all you are commanded," Jesus states, "say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.'" The question is, "What exactly are these servants expected to do?"

From the first part of the pericope, their "to do" goes deeper than carrying out some specific rule or regulation. "The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith.' The Lord replied, 'If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, "Be uprooted and planted in the sea," and it would obey you.'" Jesus brings up a servant's obligations in the context of this "faith encounter."

For Jesus, faith isn't a commodity to which one can add ounces or inches. Faith doesn't require an increase of volume as much as it demands to be put to use. Those who operate from just a miniscule of faith can "move trees" if they actually utilize that faith. This statement conveys the same belief Margaret Mead referred to in her most famous quote: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Christian faith revolves around carrying on the dream the historical Jesus originally had an passed on to his followers. That's the meaning of "sharing in the faith of Jesus." We're obligated to keep alive Jesus' dream: to bring into existence a just, inclusive world.

This also seems to be what the author of I Timothy is speaking of when he encourages his readers, "Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us." The writer's convinced we've been entrusted with Jesus' faith, Jesus' dream.

The author encourages his readers "to stir into flame the gift of God that you have . . . ." He fears "cowardice" will push out the "power of love and self-control which are necessary to maintain such a radical dream.

He deliberately reminds us that any attempt to implement that dream will result in hardship. "Do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, not of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God."

In the late 600s and early 500s B.C.E., the prophet Habakkuk tried to keep the dream alive which Yahweh centuries before had instilled in the Chosen People. They dreamt of living freely in their own land, in control of their own destiny. Though the Israelites had believed that dream would be fulfilled after their great nemesis, Assyria, was definitely defeated in 626 B.C.E., Babylon's rapid rise created yet one more period of fear and instability. Their dream was close, yet so far.

That's why Yahweh commands the prophet, "Write down the vision. (It) still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; if it delays, wait for it. It will surely come, it will not be late." In other words, "Hang in there! Dreams take a long time to come true."

There's one difference between Habakkuk and Jesus' followers. Unlike the prophet's audience, we must accept some responsibility for our faith-dreams' fulfillment. Only we, with the Holy Spirit's help, can cause them to take flesh and move our world to the place God wants it to be.

It takes lots of determination and hard work to become the community Jesus intends us to be. In the lifetime of many of us, our experience of Vatican II demonstrated that reality. It didn't all happen 45 years ago. Those 2,500 bishops who attempted "to stir into flame" the dream of Jesus presumed we'd continue the stirring for as long as we lived.