August 28, 2011

Jeremiah 20: 7-9 + Psalm 63 + Romans 12: 1-2 + Matthew 16: 21-27

Anyone who has ever stood up in the face of injustice or evil knows only too well the risk involved. The powers of this world are formidable and not easily intimidated. Anyone in the military knows that if you speak up when a superior is doing something wrong, you’ll pay for it. Women in the workplace know that if they stand up against sexism and harrassment they will probably end up out of work. The examples are as numerous as one’s experience and imagination. Jesus knew this too. Speak out or stand up against the Romans, or their collaborators within Israel, and there would be dangerous trouble. It did not require some kind of extraordinary insight to know that if he kept on with his mission he was going to pay for it, and everyone knew how the Romans handeled anyone who upset things or challenged their imposed status-quo. So did Peter, and so he puts himself in opposition to what Jesus perceives to be the Will of God, and he gets called out for it. Jesus has taught them how to pray for the coming of God’s Kingdom on EARTH as well as in Heaven. This is politically, socially, and religiously dangerous. He has taught them out pray, how to act, and now he proposes how to think.

A new way of thinking is what Jesus proposes. It is a way of thinking that puts God’s will  first no matter what the consequences, no matter who objects, or what the danger may be. This way of thinking goes against this world’s way of thinking. People who have internalized this world’s thinking must learn to deny themselves, meaning deny this way of thinking if they are going to follow Jesus. People who think like this world avoid suffering at all cost. They seek pleasure and comfort, security and power. These thoughts have to be replaced by a different way of thinking. Disciples of Jesus cannot just reluctantly take a slap or two along the way, they must lean into this, or take up the cross not simply have it put on them. They have to go for it with full knowledge that this is the way into the depth and richness of real life.

What is coming to birth in Peter and his companions which must include you and me is a deeper, divine life that is far better than the shallow, superficial, temporary life this world of preseige, security, and social position has to offer. This earthly world is a poor substitute and a lot less than what Jesus Christ has to offer. This following Jesus means sacrifice and service based on a hierarchy of values that will not tolerate trade offs for anyting less than nobility, grace, and the divine.

History is full of noble people who have stood up and made a difference bearing witness to what they believe. They have lived a lonely life of confrontation and conflict with this world. They say things like: “I just could not let it go on.” or “I could not live with myself if I didn’t do something.” They all paid a great price because when it comes down to attacking and criticizing practices and behavior that are unjust, wrong, unfair, and contrary to the Kingdom of God, it gets bloody and tough. Point to  financial abuse, and you’ll be out of work and money.

Be clear about what Jesus is saying here. The only suffering Jesus is speaking about is the suffering that comes from embracing his way of life and mission. Any other suffering, especially suffering that comes from injustice is to be resisted and stopped. Self denial is not about giving up chocolate in Lent or any that shallow stuff. It is about a deliberate choice to loose ones self in Christ and take on Christ’s way of thinking and acting. It is about making Christ’s identity my own. This does not center on suffering, but on love expressed through service and bringing forth of life and joy and peace!

The first level of this Gospel story is self evident. Standing in the heart of Roman territory and Herrod’s palace, Jesus talks about what is going to happen to him because of the way he has challenged the oppression and injustice of that rule. At the second level, Matthew’s church is under persecution at every turn because they have stood up against evil and power and authorities that have told them to be quiet and just blend in with the way things have always been. They have been expelled from synagogues and they were considered to be an illicit religion targeted by Roman oppressors as well as by some Jewish communities that blamed them for the troubles. So they tell this story. Today we tell it again because we hunger for a deeper more meaningful life that we have heard about in Jesus Christ. We live in a world that is shallow and selfish, powerful, unjust and abusive. To remain silent in the face of anything that is wrong because we are afriad of what it may cost us is to give that wrong an even stronger hold upon us. It will cost us our soul even if it saves our silly shallow lives. Sins of omission are killing us and trivilizing our faith more so than anything we are doing.

There is a dangerous possibility in true discipleship that terrifies us, and we look for the easy way out, but that will not do for those who want to be and are called to greatness, holiness, and fullness of life. Today Jesus takes us aside like he did Peter to explain once more that a deeper and better life is possible and awaits us.

August 21, 2011

Isaiah 22: 19-23 + Psalm 138 + Romans 11: 33-36 + Matthew 16: 13-20

We are still in a fascinating part of Matthew’s Gospel, and next week continues from the same chapter. This Jesus of Nazareth is still on the loose (so to speak) ignoring every boundary and boarder. He has moved from Pagan Caananite territory to Pagan Roman territory today as Matthew situates this powerful scene in a most unlikely place. This is an important detail. Even the fact that this event is located “in the region of Caesarea Philippi is important. It does not say that he was in the city, because in the city of Caesarea you could not see that it was built upon a huge rock excarpment in what is now called the Golan Heights at the base of Mount Hermon. So in that region one could see that great 100 foot high rock wall upon which was built a temple and a city around it….I hope you are beginning to get the connection of images. Caesarea Philippi was a new name given by the Romans for an ancient place where earlier the Greeks had built a temple to their Shepherd God, “Pan”. The Romans came and named it for their god: Caesar. Now Jesus comes to this place, to this enourmous rock out of which, by the way flows a spring that is one of the major sources of water for the Jordan River! Let your Catholic imagination work on those images.

Now in the place of the god Pan and in place of god Caesar comes the God and Father of Jesus Christ. In the region of Caesar’s city comes the City of God built on a different, a human rock. In this place that stands for so much earthly power in the minds of those apostles, a new power is handed to them; a greater power. In that place Jesus handed to them the one tool, the one power, that opens the way to peace and gives access to the divine. It is the power of forgiveness. Human kind has never in all its history found a way to bring peace. Nations have built up armies and arsonals, and armed themselves with every conceivable tool and never found peace until this moment when Jesus handed over the one tool that opens the way to peace: forgiveness.

Work your way through the levels of this Gospel as I have taught you so often. With these images, you can understand the first leve: what Jesus was doing. By the time Matthew wrote his Gospel, the Romans had unleased a devistating and crushing blow to Israel from that very mountain, and everything was in ruin. Matthew’s church looks at the devistation as says: “We have a new rock upon which to build the city of God, the church, the source of life and forgiveness.”

At the time Jesus asks Peter the question of his identity, things were quite the opposite of our time. Nowdays people seem to think that their identity is found by being different, disconnected, individualized. It’s as though we can’t seem to find out who we are until we are seperated from everyone and everything that in truth gives us an identity. At the time of Jesus, one’s identity was clear and established by one’s connection to others. Outside the family, outside the tribe, ourside the clan, one did not exist. Jesus is looking to see if Peter and the Apostsles have gotten it right about the identity of Jesus; and they are close. Not close enough, but that gets cleared up later. At the second level of this Gospel, after Pentecost, it is clear to them who Jesus is, and now it’s time to establish who they are. The gates of this netherworld have been opened, but they hold the keys to another world; and the key is forgiveness.

Today we have to live in the thrid level of this Gospel, and the question is still asked: “Who do people think we are?” “What are they saying about us?” We still hold the key and we know in our hearts that forgiveness is the only way to peace, and that the lack of it is all that can keep us from passing through that gate. We can see that the refusal of others to forgive us just as devistating as our refusal to forgive others, and so the gate of peace is still closed to us.

Peter is not the only one who knows the identity of Jesus. In fact, evil spirits and Caananite women had said if first. Peter is not the only one who receives the blessing, and in two more chapters, the authority to bind and loose is given to the whole church. This is about who we are, and what we have been given. This Gospel raises more than the question of the identity of Jesus. It raises the question of our identity. It will not be found by individualized private persuits. The very identity of Jesus is found in his relationship to the Father, Moses, the prophets, and the Holy Spirit. The identity of Matthew’s Church is found in their relationship to one another and to Peter and his companions.

For us who are alive in the spirit, Peter is not like some after-life security officer who hears and judges our request for entrance. Peter is the new human being revealed in Jesus, and he discovers best who he is by experiencing forgiveness after his cowardly denial. We must stop thinking about power, and begin to discover our weakness. We may not hold unforgiveness over any others. We must loose and we must bind. This loosing we are called to might well mean getting free of the force of this earth, or the force of evil and death so that we might be free to engage or bind ourselves in whatever gives life and  loosen ourselves from whatever contributes to death.

Think big, people of God. Think about who we are. Think about what this Church is and what great power has been given to us. Think about the blessing Jesus has spoken over us. No earthly power has revealed this to us. What are we going to become because of it, and when we understand that, what are we going to do with it except celebrate the Reign of God that begins when we open the gate of forgiveness and peace.