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“Some Sadducees came forward to pose this question to Jesus.”
Questions played an important role in Jewish theological, religious, political, and cultural life. The so-called “Rabbinical method” presumed that the best way to come to know the truth was to learn to raise the right questions.
Elie Wiesel –– author, scholar, and Holocaust survivor –– notes this method of learning in the opening pages of his book Night. In it, Wiesel’s mentor explained to him “with great insistence that every question possessed a power that did not lie in the answer.”
There is power in a question. There is promise in a question. There is a possibility in a question.
Understanding this method of learning sets the context for today’s selection from Luke’s Gospel. The question of the Sadducees regarding marriage and the afterlife (not unlike the question posed by the chief priests and scribes regarding paying taxes to Caesar in the immediately-preceding verses) may not have been merely an attempt to trip up Jesus or to discredit him. This question may also have been a legitimate desire to settle an ongoing dispute between the Sadducees and the Pharisees themselves who disagreed on a variety of issues.
As with so many times before, however, they did not like, understand, or accept Jesus’ answer. Herein lies the tragedy.
The scribes, the priests, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees were all raised in a culture that viewed questions as the path to mystical truth. Ironically, they may have had the most to gain from Jesus –– the embodiment of all mystical truth –– precisely because they had so many encounters with him, perhaps more than any other groups mentioned in the Gospels combined! Sad to say, it appears that they consistently asked the wrong questions: shortsighted questions, self-serving questions, disingenuous or insincere questions, and they asked all these questions with a predetermined answer in mind.
When asked why he prayed every day, Elie Wiesel’s mentor responded: “I pray to the God within me that God will give me the strength to ask the right questions.”
How often in our daily lives with Jesus and with one another do we ask for, desire, or demand answers? How much energy do we invest in wanting to know the bottom line? Yet, for all our efforts, are we any closer to knowing the things that really matter, the concerns of earth that lead to the things of heaven? Why does our understanding of Jesus’ will for us, of his desire for us, and of his longing and love for us sometimes seem so elusive?
Could it be that we, too, are failing to ask the right questions?
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“You must say what is consistent with sound doctrine…so that the word of God may not be discredited.”
What should we infer from today’s selection from Saint Paul’s Letter to Titus? We can talk all we want about what we believe as Christians, but if we really want to give credible witness to the power and promise of God’s word, we need to be more concerned with how we live what we believe. In other words, we actually need to do what we say!
So, what does it look like when we are talking the talk and walking the walk? Paul tells us that we need to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, loving, reverent, self-controlled, and chaste…among other virtues.
When push comes to shove, what do authentic, credible Christians look like? Paul suggests we look for folks who are “eager to do what is good.”
Today, can the same be said about us?
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To construct a building is one thing but to maintain a building is another. Prudent builders/owners not only allot resources for the actual construction of whatever it is they build, but they will also earmark resources for the upkeep of the building.
In a letter to Madame de Chantal (February 11, 1607), Saint Francis de Sales observed:
“It is not necessary to be always and at every moment attentive to all the virtues in order to practice them; that would twist and encumber your thoughts and feelings too much. Humility and charity are the master ropes; all the others are attached to them. We need only hold on to these two: one is at the very bottom and the other at the very top. The preservation of the whole building depends on two things: its foundation and its roof. We do not encounter many difficulties in practicing other virtues if we keep our heart bound to the practice of these two...” (LSD, pp. 148-149)
God – the Master Builder – has constructed each of us in His image and likeness. Celebrate the building of God that you are! Maintain the gift of your divinely-built edifice with the spiritual foundation and roof most readily available for your good: humility and charity!
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As the saying goes, there are two ways to get something accomplished - the easy way or the hard way. In his instructions of preaching, Blessed Louis Brisson observed:
“There are two methods of reaching our neighbors and obtaining their obedience. The first method is the method of authority. ‘I am the master. I have the authority. I command. Obey!’ This is the most common method, but it is not our method. Why? Because it isn’t Our Lord’s method. We don’t see Our Lord speaking or acting like this in the Gospels. He never played the master.”
“There is a second method, the method of persuasion. We don’t wait for souls to come; we go out to meet them. We take a good look at them, and we study them up close. We try to discover the point through which we can reach them; we take hold and lift them up by the ‘handle’ which they offer us.” (The Oblate Preacher, James Finnegan, OSFS, trans., p. 61)
You get more cooperation from people by attempting to win them over rather than by running them over. You get more done by being more persuasive than punitive. You get people on your side by urging out of love. Jesus knew it, Saint Paul knew it, Saint Francis de Sales knew it and Blessed Louis Brisson knew it.
How about you? What method do you use when dealing with other - especially problematic - people?
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We’ve probably all had this experience while traveling by car in the open country - seeing birds circling somewhere in the sky up ahead. As we drew closer to where they were circling we realized that these were not just any bird but birds of prey. And, at that point, we anticipated what we were going to see within the next minute or two - road kill.
Hence, we associate the gathering – or circling – of vultures with death.
By contrast, what would we expect to see gathering or circling around life? Saint Francis de Sales mentions a few of the things for which we should look:
“Patience, meekness, self-discipline, humility, obedience, poverty, chastity, tenderness toward our neighbors; bearing with our neighbors’ imperfections, holy fervor.” (Introduction to Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 2, p. 127)
Which begs the question: what do other people see gathering – or circling – around us?
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Today the Church celebrates the life and legacy of Saint Josaphat, a man who – among other things – was a contemporary of Saint Francis de Sales:
“Josaphat’s father was a municipal counselor, and his mother was known for her piety. Raised in the Orthodox Ruthenian Church (which, on 23 November 1595 in the Union of Brest, united with the Church of Rome), Josaphat trained as a merchant‘s apprentice at Vilna, Lithuania. He was offered a partnership in the business and marriage to his partner’s daughter. Feeling the call to religious life, he declined both offers. He became a monk in the Ukrainian Order of Saint Basil (Basilians) in Vilna at age 20 in 1604, taking the name 'Brother Josaphat.' He was ordained as a priest in the Byzantine rite in 1609.
Josaphat’s superior never accepted unity with Rome and looked for a way to fight against Roman Catholicism and the “Uniats” (the name given to those who brought about and accepted the union of the Churches). Learning of his superior’s intentions and fearing the physical and spiritual damage it could cause, Josaphat brought his concerns to the attention of the Archbishop of Kiev, Ukraine, who removed the Basilian superior from his post, replacing him with Josaphat.
Josaphat became a famous preacher, working to promote unity among the faithful. He believed unity to be in the best interests of the Church, and by teaching, clerical reform, and personal example Josaphat won the greater part of the Orthodox in Lithuania to the union and was consecrated as Archbishop of Polotsk, Lithuania in 1617.
While Josaphat attended the Diet of Warsaw in 1620, a dissident group, supported by Cossacks, set up anti-Uniat bishops for each Uniat one, spreading the accusation that Josaphat had “gone Latin” and that his followers would be forced to do the same. They even installed a usurper on the archbishop’s chair.
Late in 1623 an anti-Uniat priest named Elias shouted insults at Josaphat from his own courtyard and tried to force his way into the residence. When he was removed, a mob mentality took over and they invaded the residence. Josaphat tried to insure the safety of his servants before fleeing himself, but did not get out in time, and was martyred by the mob. His murder was a shock to both sides of the dispute – it brought a cooling off period to both sides of the conflict.” (http://catholicsaints.info/saint-josaphat-kuncevyc/)
Saint Francis de Sales observed:
“We must be ready to suffer many great afflictions for Our Lord, even martyrdom itself…However, as long as Providence does not send you great, piercing afflictions…bear patiently the slight injuries, the little inconveniences, and the inconsequential losses that come daily to you.” (Introduction to Devout Life, III, 35)
For Josaphat, “being faithful” in all he did led to his making the ultimate sacrifice.Today, how might we do our part at “being faithful” in simple, ordinary and everyday ways?
