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“I the Lord have called you for the victory of justice.” “Those of any nation who…act uprightly are acceptable to God.”
The account of Jesus’ baptism ends with the sound of a voice from heaven, saying “This is my beloved son. My favor rests on him.”
Why does God’s favor rest upon Jesus? Because Jesus is the Son of Justice. Jesus measures by God’s standards in giving others their due.
Isaiah tells us that God has called us, like Christ, “for the victory of justice” and, in the Acts of the Apostles, to “act uprightly”. In everyday terms, what does it mean to work for God’s justice by acting uprightly?
Consider the opposite of acting justly and uprightly:
“We condemn every little thing in our neighbor and excuse ourselves of important things. We want to sell very high but to buy at bargain prices. We demand that the right thing be done in another’s house, but that mercy and generosity be granted to ours. We like to have things that we say taken in good part, but we are tender and touchy about what others say.” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 36).
At its heart, injustice is about living a double standard, measuring the world with two weights: one to weigh everything to one’s own advantage, and another to weigh everything to the disadvantage of others.
What makes our acts of injustice so difficult to identify is that they are seldom big. Rather, they are frequent and small, easy to overlook. St. Francis de Sales writes:
“Self-love can lead us and direct us into countless small yet dangerous acts of injustice and iniquity. Because they are little, we are not on guard against them and because there are many of them they are sure to cause us – and others – great injury.”
Francis de Sales writes that just and upright people are, in short, reasonable people. They do not live a double standard. They are people of integrity. They follow the Golden Rule, treating others as they themselves would wish to be treated, not expecting of others that which they themselves refuse to practice. Just and upright people measure the world using only one weight - the love of God. “Be just and reasonable in your neighbor’s place and your neighbor in yours”, says St. Francis. “Live a generous, noble, courteous, royal, just and reasonable heart.”
To the extent that we in this manner with one another each and every day, we grow as the “beloved sons and daughters of God”. God’s favor will rest on us, as we make real the promise of God’s justice to others.
*****
“They left their nets and followed him...They left their father along with the hired men and followed him.”
The word left (used twice in today’s Gospel) is, of course, a form of the verb leave, defined as “(1) to go out of or away from; (2) to depart from permanently; quit: to leave a job; (3) to let remain or have remaining behind after going, disappearing, ceasing; (4) to allow to remain in the same place, condition, etc; (5) to let stay or be as specified”.
Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, encounters with God almost always seem to involve people leaving something, somewhere or someone. Adam and Eve left Eden; Abraham and Sarah left their homeland; Noah left dry land and later left his boat; Moses and the Israelites left Egypt; Mary left in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth; the Magi left the East to follow a star; Mary, Joseph and Jesus left Bethlehem ahead of Herod’s rage, Matthew left his tax collecting post. And in today’s Gospel, Simon, Andrew, James and John left their nets, their livelihood, their families and their homes.
Be that as it may, leaving – at least, as far as God is concerned – isn’t only about walking away from something, somewhere or someone. Leaving is also about drawing closer to something, somewhere or someone else. Specifically, loving God – and the things of God – frequently invites us to leave that which is comfortable and familiar in order that we might experience that which is challenging and new. By most standards that’s what growth – human growth – is all about - knowing when it’s time to leave – knowing when it’s time to move on – even when what, where or who might leave is good and sometimes, very, very good!
One of our greatest temptations in life is to stop moving, to stop growing, to stop changing, to stop learning and to stop developing. There was a time when psychologists seemed to suggest that human beings stopped growing somewhere in their twenties or thirties. Today, we know that human beings continue to grow right up until the day they die…or, at least, they are invited to do so. Leaving – as it turns out - is a part of living.
Leaving is not about doing with less. Very often, leaving is about making room for more.
What, where, how or who may God invite us to leave today in order that we might have more life - and more love – tomorrow?
*****
“He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
In today’s Gospel we hear that the people of Capernaum where ‘astonished’ at the teaching of Jesus, for “he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. What distinguished the teaching of Jesus from the teaching of the scribes? How did Jesus’ “new teaching” manifest itself? Some of the elements include - but are certainly not limited to – the following differences:
1) Jesus taught important matters of the highest importance and which are necessary for salvation. By contrast the scribes taught trifling matters of rites and ceremonies which were passing away, such as the washing of hands and of cups.
2) What Christ taught in word, he fulfilled in deed. He talked the talk and walked the walk. The scribes, by contrast (as Jesus observed) spoke bold words but exhibited few deeds.
3) Jesus taught with fervor and zeal, such that the words of Scripture could always be applied to him. The scribes could lay no such claims.
4) Jesus confirmed his teaching by miracles; the scribes could not.
5) The scribes were merely interpreters of the Law, whereas Christ was the embodiment of the Law and Prophets.
6) While the scribes sought their own glory and the praise of others, Jesus taught solely for the glory of God and for the salvation of others.
7) In his words and example – and by the hidden inspirations of his grace - Jesus illuminated the minds and inflamed the hearts of his hearers. By contrast, the scribes clouded the minds and discouraged the hearts of their hearers. (http://newtheologicalmovement.blogspot.com/2012/01/christ-taught-as-one-having-authority.html)
When other people encounter us – especially as it relates to matters of faith, life and love – to whom do we bear a greater resemblance: the scribes, or The Christ?
*****
“He drove out many demons…”
M. Scott Peck, an American psychiatrist, wrote two books on the subject of ‘demons’ - People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil and Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist's Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption. Peck describes in some detail several cases involving his patients. In People of the Lie he provides identifying characteristics of an evil person, whom he classified as having a character disorder. In Glimpses of the Devil Peck goes into significant detail describing how he became interested in exorcism in order to debunk the myth of possession by evil spirits – only to be convinced otherwise after encountering two cases which did not fit into any category known to psychology or psychiatry. Peck concluded that possession was a rare phenomenon related to evil, and that possessed people are not actually evil; rather, they are doing battle with the forces of evil. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon)
In today’s Gospel – and all throughout the Gospels – we are told that Jesus drove out “demons” as a part of his ministry of proclaiming the power and promise of the Good News. Whether or not you believe in demons – regardless of your thoughts regarding exorcisms – we all struggle with things that plague us, that exasperate us or that appear to “possess” us to the extent that they prevent us from being the people God wants and/or intends us to be. Despite our best efforts, these “demons” seem impervious to our feeble attempts at conquering, dispelling or exorcizing them. Perhaps therein lies the lesson - the greatest mistake we make in struggling with our own “demons” is to believe that we must do it alone; that we must battle with our “demons” all by ourselves.
However large, small, frequent or few they might be, are you willing to bring your “demons” to Jesus?
*****
“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts…”
In a letter to Sr. Anne-Marie Rossett (Assistant and Novice Mistress in Dijon), Jane de Chantal wrote:
“I am convinced, and experience has taught me, that nothing so wins souls as gentleness and cordiality. Follow this method, for it is the spirit of our blessed Father. Curtness in words or actions only hardens hearts and depresses them, whereas gentleness encourages them and makes them receptive…” (LSD, page 247)
We see this admonition from both the responsorial psalm and St. Jane de Chantal put vividly into action in today’s Gospel by none other than Jesus himself.
In the person of a man plagued with leprosy, Jesus hears the voice of His Father. Even though Jesus is almost inundated by people looking for a cure, Jesus’ heart is not hardened in the face of this person’s plight – he is not curt, cold standoffish or aloof. Quite the contrary! Jesus is cordial, inviting and welcoming. Jesus’ heart is moved with compassion for the man. Power is released in Jesus, He physically approaches and touches the man with leprosy and the leprosy is cured.
We all have days when we feel spent, overextended or burnt out. In times like these we are tempted to be less than responsive to the needs of others – sometimes, perhaps, we even feel so spent that we harden our hearts towards others and their needs.
As followers of Jesus, today let us ask for the grace to keep our hearts open, cordial and inviting - most especially when we ourselves might be feeling more than a bit overwhelmed by the needs of others - and so live as Jesus lived.
Generously!!!
*****
“Do not forget the works of the Lord…”
Romanian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel once remarked: “When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity”.
Today’s Gospel offers us a powerful illustration of how the absence of gratitude can diminish one’s humanity.
When Jesus heals a paralytic in two phases (first, by forgiving the man’s sins and second by curing the man’s infirmity) there isn’t an ounce of gratitude to be found anywhere among the scribes, because the only thing they seem capable of mustering is resentment. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the scribes seem to be suffering more from something missing in their humanity and they come off in this story as being sorry excuses for human beings.
Maybe the reason that the scribes failed to recognize a singular work of the Lord in the present (at the hands of Jesus) was due to the fact that they had managed to forget the collective works of the Lord in the past. Absorbed by their own sense of smug self-importance, the scribes appear to have lost their capacity for gratitude. These men of God no longer displayed any need for God.
Do you feel as if something is missing from your humanity? Experiencing any resentment? “Do not forget the works of the Lord.” For that matter, do not forget the works of all the people in your life who have helped to make you who you are today.
And don’t forget to be grateful. Your humanity depends on it!
*****
“I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners…”
As word of Jesus’ reputation for helping those in need spread through the region, we are told in today’s Gospel that lots of folks (including Levi, a customs official) from lots of places travelled lots of distances to see him, to behold his face, to hear his voice, to experience his healing power and to know his love.
In one of his Conferences to the Sisters of the Visitation, Francis de Sales remarked:
“It is very good for us to know and feel our misery and imperfection, but we must not allow that to discourage us; rather, our awareness of our miseries should make us raise our hearts to God by a holy confidence, the foundation of which ought to be in Him…The throne of God’s mercy is our misery; therefore, the greater our misery the greater should be our confidence in God.” (Living Jesus, page 45)
Today’s Gospel challenges sinners of all shapes and sizes not to avoid God but to pursue God. An awareness of our sinfulness or our neediness should not drive us away from God but should draw us closer to God. Have confidence that God will help you. Have confidence that God will heal you. Have confidence that God will empower you.
Why? Because God does love us! How? In the person of his Son, Jesus.
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