| July 1, 2001 Kings 19:16,19-21 + Galatians 5:1,13-18 + Luke 9:51-62 |
| Those who would follow Jesus are a people called to povertyThose who would follow Jesus are not called to take on a task like working a second job, but rather to make following Jesus everything so completely that it reorders all other duties. |
| In our quest for Justice, we have gotten a few things mixed up, not the least of them is a confusion of justice with revenge. I’ve said a great deal about that in the past couple of years here, and it would be easy to launch off in that direction again given the fact that Jesus, in this gospel today, rejects revenge entirely But that is not the only example of our confusion about “Justice” It also is evident in our sense of what St. Francis of Assisi used to call. “Sister Poverty” In the clarity of his thinking if not in the radical style of his life, Francis understood poverty For him, and for that matter, all ofus who set our sights on being followers and disciples of Jesus, Poverty is not a social problem. It is not some ill to be solved, cured, and wiped out by an economic system that is “just” “Poverty which makes us uneasy, stirs our passion, and calls into question our economics, laws, and our consumer culture is an issue of Justice. “Poverty” which Jesus commends to his followers, is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved. One is the consequence of injustice, the other is a consequence of a life style and a new way of relating to things and to others. |
| There is a test of poverty It has nothing to do with annual income. It has to do with what can be shared. If your car is too expensive to let someone use it; it’s too expensive. If your computer is too delicate for anyone else to use, it is too delicate. If your sweater is too god for your sister to wear; it’s too good. The point is not that you have a certain make and model of car, or computer, or designer named sweater If any of it separates you from your neighbor, it is a violation of poverty This has nothing to do with what you may own, but the moment it becomes a problem, you’re in gospel trouble. You see, it’s not about justice, it’s about poverty |
| It might be “just” to say that someone doesn’t have the ear to use your stereo because they do not share your same refined taste. It might be “just” to think that someone is too plump to look in your sweater, and all of that may be true. But, you are not poor at that point, you are just true. The moment you start finding reasons for not sharing what you have, you are no longer living the virtue of poverty which Jesus proposes is essential for those who would follow him. |
| You may have good taste. You may have good sense. You may be law abiding, honest, and truthful, but you’re not poor; and you’re in trouble with the gospel. |
| We are not called to be caseworkers, making distinctions about who should have what, who deserves what, and what will help someone and what will not. That’s what social agencies do. God is poor; God shares the sun and the rain on good and bad alike. What is asked of us is compassion which is an experience of poverty. |
| Life today is very complicated, but the Gospel is not for those who believe. Jesus still looks for some to follow him, to live in the mystery of poverty It is not a life style that will take diluting, and it cannot be done part time. Faith in Jesus, life in the Gospel is not for Church, Sunday, or times of private prayer It’s for every day and every hour It is everything. We do not take our lives and fit them into the Gospel. We take the Gospel and let it shape our lives, our priorities, our vision, and our relationships. Those who make the way of Jesus their own must be willing to do so first, fully, freely, and forever |