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Exploring the word

01 Feb 2009 - Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

One of my favorite teachings from the epistles is almost a throwaway line from Colossians 3:21: “Fathers, do not nag your children, lest they lose heart.” That’s the old ICEL translation from the breviary, anyway. My fondness for the verse surely betrays that I had a near bout of loss-of-heart myself. Relentless negativity does foster profound discouragement in children and other living things. Anyone who holds authority over others and seeks to do that justly must honor this reality. And the larger truth is that sooner or later all of us find ourselves in positions of authority. Some will ascend to public office or law enforcement or church leadership. Others will stand at the heads of classrooms, boardrooms, and task forces. Some will be parents of children, and others doctors, employers, coaches, guidance counselors, spiritual directors, older siblings, or mentors. Sometimes it’s a friend or even a stranger who turns to us for advice because we seem wiser than they are, at least in this one instance. How will we use the authority granted to us by their trust? Moses was in the unenviable position of being the go-to guy for an entire nation. He was the lawgiver, the argument decider, the meal supplier, not to mention the direct mediator between God and the people. He carried this terrible burden for 40 years. And just before he laid it down at last, Moses predicted the arrival of a prophet like himself. This prediction from Deuteronomy 18:15 became the foundation for all messianic expectation to follow. The anticipated one later became known as the Teacher of Righteousness. In the gospels, when John sends his anxious question, “Are you the One who is to come, or should we look for another?”, this is the “one” he means. In the same way, when John is quizzed by the authorities, “Are you the prophet?” this is the intended reference. The authority Jesus has at his disposal instantly arouses the same kind of curiosity. “What is this?” the crowds wonder. That unclean spirits respond to his authority makes him seem like a new kind of teacher, perhaps the Teacher to come. Of course this same evidence is what makes the religious authorities suspect Jesus is in league with the Prince of Demons. Go figure. What Jesus understood—and what was clearly hidden from Pharisees, Sadducees, and others—is the proper use of authority. Use it to fight demons, sickness, ignorance, and sin! But don’t wield it blindly, disproportionately, interminably, and without the measure of the poor soul in front of you. Don’t cast a stone that’s legally within your right to hurl when the defenseless creature in front of you needs forgiveness more than condemnation. A Teacher of Righteousness knows what to do with power. Related scripture links Solomon’s wives: 1 Kings 11:1-3 Meribah, Massah (AKA Marah): Exod. 16:25, 17:1-7; Deut. 6:16, 9:22, 33:8; Ps. 95:8 The great theophany at Horeb: Exod. 19:16-25, 20:18-22 The new covenant: Jer. 31:31-34 Catechism links The great theophany: CCC 707-708; 751; 2085 Meribah: CCC 694; 2119 New Covenant: CCC 64-67; 368; 580; 715-716; 761-762; 1965-1966; 2713 The authority of Jesus: CCC 438; 581-582; 1673; 2173

Authors Alice Camille

Colossians 3:21 prophet Forgiveness condemnation jesus

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The inner word

21 Mar 2010 - Fifth Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

The readings today take us into the realm of the impossible. Yahweh put water in the desert—impossible; Saint Paul tells us we will attain resurrection from the dead—impossible; the adulterous woman is condemned by no one—impossible. What impossible deeds has God performed in your life? What other impossible deeds would you like to see accomplished in your lifetime? Isaiah tells us not to get distracted by events in the past. What past events would you do well not to get caught up in again? There is no doubt that Christian forgiveness remains an extremely radical concept. When have you found it most difficult not to condemn the sinner along with the sin? What would help you most to follow Christ’s admonition to “go and sin no more”? How can you offer similar help to others?

impossibility belief condemnation

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Exploring the word

21 Mar 2010 - Fifth Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

Lord, I am not worthy.” We all say that at every Mass—but we don’t always believe it. Because sometimes it just feels as if we are pretty worthy. At least compared to some people, whom we might be happy to name under the right circumstances. That is what’s known as a negative confession: when we go in prepared to protest our innocence while fully willing to expose who’s really at fault and who needs to change their ways or else! A negative confession was precisely what the scribes and Pharisees were happy to make before Jesus. They dragged an adulterous woman before him fearlessly. Condemn her, exhort us to stone her, or defy the law with your fiddle-faddle revisionism! It was a fail-safe test of Jesus’ Jewishness, or so they imagined. The mighty Decalogue itself decried adultery. Jesus could not buck the Commandment without revealing his lawlessness. Yet Jesus has nothing to say about the Commandment—at least to the righteous men around him (he does speak to the woman later, but that’s because she’s the one endangered by it). Jesus refuses to discuss sin with anyone but the sinner, which is the sort of privacy he insists on in the delicate matter of personal failing. What Jesus does ask of the men in the circle is whether or not they are guilty of any sin. Ah, the simplicity and frankness in this exchange! The righteous have not come prepared to examine their guilt, much less to admit to it in public. The elders leave first, because they are the wisest and know themselves quite well. The others take more time but they, too, realize the jig is up. In the end the only ones left are Jesus, who has never yielded to temptation, and the woman, who clearly has. Unlike the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, this woman has made no attempt to present herself as guiltless nor has she denied the charges against her. She stands convicted by her choices and awaits a verdict. At the hands of these men she would have died. She knows that. But in the hands of this teacher, the matter is taking a widely different turn. He does not condemn her. Nor does he dismiss her adultery as irrelevant. It is not. She is not. Unlike the religious leaders who saw her as a means to their venomous end, to Jesus she is a lost lamb in need of saving. So he offers it. We’d like to believe she finds a better way and goes on to lead an exemplary life, but her fate is not the point. We are given two specific lessons in this story: the fate of those who judge others, and the mercy extended to those who judge themselves honestly. Related scripture links The last, the lilies, the poor: Matt. 18:4, 19:30; Luke 9:48, 13:30; Matt. 6:25-34, 5:3-12; Luke 6:20-23 Jesus knows the human heart: John 2:24-25 God’s way is now: 2 Cor. 6:1-2 If Christ is not raised, your faith is in vain: 1 Cor. 15:12-20 Catechism links Authority: CCC 574-591; 1897-1904; 2234-2237

Authors Alice Camille

unworthiness condemnation Forgiveness Hypocrisy

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Homily themes

21 Mar 2010 - Fifth Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

It looks like a contradiction: Recall what the Lord has done in delivering God’s people, but then “remember not the things of the past”! The point is that the God who does something new and provides for the people now is the same God who delivered them in the past. New things abound for Saint Paul as well. “Forgetting what lies behind,” he strains toward the only thing that matters, Christ Jesus. In the gospel, Jesus bends down and writes on the ground, perhaps to prepare those around him and, by implication, us as well, for a chance to consider the questions: Are we without sin? Are we to condemn? Homily points It can be hard to know what to do with the woman caught in adultery, but the original dilemma is compounded by our modern creativity on her behalf. The woman doesn’t need another lawyer—heaven knows she was surrounded by them! The story has more to do with power and authority than mercy and social justice. God alone can judge the human heart, and the rest of us sinners ought to steer clear of sitting in judgment over each other.

judgment condemnation Forgiveness

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Homily stories

21 Mar 2010 - Fifth Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

I grew up watching Flash Gordon reruns with my brother on Sunday mornings after church. The show’s writers perfected the “cliffhanger ending.” At the end of each program it would appear that our hero was facing mortal danger with no hope of escape. We had to tune in the following week to see if he survived. Of all the cliffhanger endings in the Old Testament, one of the most dramatic was when the people of Israel were making a break from their wicked captors in Egypt. While they were fleeing on foot, Pharoah’s armies were closing in on chariots. Just when the Israelites were almost done for, Moses parted the Red Sea and the Israelites ran to safety. When the charioteers pursued, the waters closed up again and drowned the enemy. Jesus staged a cliffhanger of his own. Scribes and Pharisees brought before him a woman who had been caught in adultery. The self-righteous men put the woman in the middle of their circle and demanded that Jesus go along with their plan to stone her. The tension mounted. The men were ready to act. Jesus knelt low and began writing in the sand and invited anyone who was without sin to cast the first stone. The men slunk away. The woman was not only saved—she was forgiven and invited to sin no more. A happy ending like that makes me want to tune in for Jesus’ next exciting episode.

Authors Tom McGrath

adultery condemnation Forgiveness

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Exploring the word

23 Nov 2008 - Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Cycle A

IF, AS A SHEPHERD OF SOULS, you could change one thing about the minds and hearts of your parishioners, what would it be? After listening to people pour out their stories for 30 years, I know what I would choose: to wipe out the spirit of judgment that festers in all of us. The care of souls often seems like attending to one long litany of broken family relationships that centers on one person’s immutable condemnation of another. Whether you are the one passing judgment or the one excoriated makes no difference to the amount of damage suffered. The decision to pass judgment inflicts harm like a double-edged sword, and the entire community is affected by the results. You don’t have to be in this business very long to hear the confessions of spouses who have hardened their hearts against each other. Parents defend their decision to cut off their disappointing children, and children refuse to forgive their parents for what they did or failed to do. Brothers and sisters don’t speak for years because of some offense in the distant past. Each group in society also finds another it can saddle with the blame for the problems faced by the whole. Meanwhile, the Bible is very clear about the sole proprietor of the authority to judge. Ezekiel tells us that God alone distinguishes between victims and perpetrators, using weakness and strength as the criteria for assessing innocence or blame. We who live in a powerful land ought to meditate on that idea for a while. The psalms and the prophets are constant in their claim that divine judgment will come to the nations and God reserves the right to separate sheep from goats. Paul neatly summarizes the teachings of Israel with the oracle: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay” (Romans 12:19). Those who lament that forgiveness lets the guilty off the hook should find consolation here. The church affirms scripture’s guarantee that human culpability has the most excellent Judge as its final administrator of justice. On the last day the guilty will get what’s coming to them, just as the innocent will get their promised reward. On that we can rely. Yet the gospels are equally adamant that we ourselves are forbidden to take judgment into our hearts, much less into our own hands. “Stop judging, that you may not be judged,” Jesus warns (Matthew 7:1). “Stop condemning and you will not be condemned,” he repeats more emphatically in Luke (6:37). If we dare to infringe on divine sovereignty by taking the spirit of judgment into our hearts and passing judgment over others, we are endangering our own salvation. It’s that serious. “Forgive,” Jesus further declares, “and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). God will surely judge. We must forgive. Related scripture links Human freedom: Gen. 1:26 Making choices: Deut. 11:26–28; 30:15-19 Judgment: Matt. 10:11–15; 10:40-42; 12:36-37 Awareness of end times: Rom. 13:11-14 Catechism links Love Command: 782, 1822-1829, 1970, 2822, 2842 Corporal works of mercy: 2447-2449 Theological virtues: 1812-1832

Authors Alice Camille

judgment soul relationships condemnation blame reward

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