Friday Focus: Easter Greetings

Matthew 28: 1-11

“Know that you are risen with Christ.” That text from Colossians is the way Christians have said hello for centuries… not just at Easter, but year round. Kind of makes the whole Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays kerfuffle sound pretty tame. Imagine living in a world where we greeted each other with the plain truth of the Resurrection and our salvation in it. Jesus did more than imagine such a world, he gave his life for it. Scientific instruments have recently captured the echo of the first trillionth of a second of creation. From that moment to this, the dividing line between what went before and all that followed, is that first Easter dawn in Jerusalem. Christ is risen and all is changed. Death, the one unbeatable absolute, is beaten. Our fate is no longer a life of flight from the inevitable clutches of death. In the risen Christ we live in the here and now… crossing over seamlessly to the there and then… in the certainty of our own resurrection. In the risen Christ we are safe from sin… knowing that beyond our falls lies the resurrection of forgiveness. Beyond our betrayals, divine mercy awaits the penitent. Christ’s Easter greeting to his followers is a clear indication of the transformative nature of the Resurrection. Significantly, the women in Christ’s life now emerge from supporting roles to become principle witnesses and messengers of the Resurrection. The fact that women are the medium of the good news is integral to the message of the good news. The word “apostle” from the Greek “apostolos” literally means messenger. Christ’s first messengers of the Resurrection are the holy women who stood by him when others went into hiding. They are the first apostles of the risen Christ. Jesus tells them not to announce his Resurrection to his “disciples”, but to his “brethren.” In the risen Christ, clearly our relationship to him and to each other has changed. We are sisters and brothers in a bond stronger than the blood of ancestors. We are sisters and brothers in the saving blood of Jesus, shed freely for our salvation. If this is all true… and it is… if the Resurrection is the turning point of the ages… and it is… what are we supposed to do about it? Go to church and sing a few Alleluias? Stay home and eat some jelly beans? We’ll probably say a few mandatory “Happy Easters” to family and friends, have a good dinner and then raid the kids’ baskets for a bite of chocolate bunny. But it’s unlikely that we’ll run around the neighborhood like the apostles shouting and sharing the good news of the Resurrection. We’re too cool for that… too inhibited… too sophisticated. So do we just call it a day and get back to work tomorrow. No. Here’s a better idea. Let this feast of the Resurrection mark a turning point in our lives. Christ is risen and he wants us to be risen, too. Greet this Easter in the certainty of the Resurrection. Live this day in the risen Christ. Believe with renewed confidence. Pray with renewed conviction. Love with renewed fervor. Serve with renewed energy. Make every morning a resurrection. And God will give us the ultimate Easter greeting: Well done, thou good and faithful servant… enter into the joy of the Lord. Alleluia, Christ is Risen. The Lord is Risen Indeed. Alleluia.

Holy Week Focus: Friday - The Hard Part

Loving Jesus is the easy part. Loving each other: that’s the hard part. That’s because Jesus doesn’t cut us off on I-95 or beat us into the last parking space. Jesus doesn’t lose the remote or snore. He doesn’t borrow money and never pay it back. He doesn’t have bad breath and really, really need a bath. He’s not addicted. He’s not handicapped. He’s not an eyesore sleeping at the train station. He’s not drooling or incontinent. In short, Jesus doesn’t annoy us; he doesn’t repulse us. He doesn’t intrude on our sense of propriety. No matter how hard we try to make Jesus a living presence in our lives, he still dwells largely in the realm of the spirit. No matter how firm our faith, he remains to some extent a tabula rasa… a blank, ephemeral canvas for our hopes and dreams. Those canvases that have been filled in by masters over the years all radiate glory. The Jesus we meet in song and scripture, in literature and liturgy is a paradigm of love and beauty. So what’s not to love? He doesn’t litter the landscape of our lives with habits we hate and sights and smells we despise. In contrast to the image of a loving, loveable Jesus, reality rears its ugly head in the form of people we struggle to tolerate, much less love. But toleration is not an option. Jesus commands us this week: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you…”With Jesus, “love” is always the operative word. He doesn’t specify that we love only the sweet smelling and considerate, the virtuous and attractive, the sound of mind and body. Neither is his commandment restricted to the disciples or just the Chosen People. Jesus commands us to love all of God’s children, just as he loves us. There’s no wiggle room here. This is not a suggestion or a helpful hint. It is Christ’s commandment. And nobody said it was going to be easy. Some people are harder to love than others. Start with those labeled as life’s losers: the drunks, the addicts, the hookers and the crazies. Jesus knows and loves every one of them. He took their sins to the cross, right along with our pride and contempt for these, our discarded, de-humanized brothers and sisters.  It is humbling to consider what pained Christ the most, their sins or ours? Just as Jesus offers us no choice but to love, he clearly shows us the way to love. To follow his commandment, we have to practice loving the way that he loves. First, give any discomfort or reticence you have to the Father. Then, no matter how dim or obscure, respect the divine spark in everyone you meet. Try very hard to look past your prejudices and society’s degrading labels. Try understanding that pathology and pain produce obnoxious, off-putting behaviors. And don’t be put off by them. Keep searching til you recognize the image of God that resides in all of us. Work at it. Pray for it. And always be kind; be respectful; be helpful; be forgiving. Remember every one of us is a beloved child of God, here for one reason. And that reason is to preserve and project his love, so that: By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Our charge is simple: Witness Christ’s love in the world, as if he had left only yesterday and will be returning tomorrow.  Til then, his love is in our care. We must live it and share it. Seen through his eyes, the hard part of love gets a lot easier. Alleluia!

Holy Week Focus: Thursday - The View from the Cross

As it does every spring, our scriptural journey towards Resurrection brings us first to the cross. And in this account of that ultimate crisis, the Jesus of Luke’s Passion is very distinct from his persona as presented by the other evangelists. In Mark and Matthew, a very human Jesus is abandoned and battling despair. In John, a divine Jesus is self-possessed and in total control throughout his ordeal. In contrast, the Jesus of Luke’s gospel is clearly the Son of God become our brother, struggling then triumphing over doubt and fear. In this week’s gospel, our brother Jesus is tested and tormented while he preserves his serenity by clinging to his mission to serve the will of the Father. C.S. Lewis captured this duality when he described the Passion as: “The perfect surrender and humiliation were undergone by Christ: perfect because he was God, surrender and humiliation because he was man.” To say this is a difficult concept to understand and accept is the infinite understatement. Why the cross? The human Jesus clearly wished he were somewhere else. The divine Jesus didn’t have to show up. He could have phoned in our redemption. The answer is clearly seen in the transformational power of the cross…from an instrument of torture to the transcendent symbol of love. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. What evil has ever existed or ever will exist that cannot be totally obliterated by the cross? What sacrilege, what obscenity, what betrayal overshadows the love that hung Jesus on the cross? Christ crucified is the “Big Bang” of God’s grace. The reverberations carry down the centuries to generations yet unborn. And yet for a moment it all hung by a thread. In Gethsemane, sweating his blood in anticipation of shedding his blood, Jesus asks: Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done. The Father’s answer comes in the form of an angel, who almost like a corner man in a prize fight, gave him strength. The angel helps Jesus to his feet and sends him resolutely forward into the ordeal. While his trials, the scourging, the crown of thorns and the cross, all await, the critical point has been passed. The human and divine natures of Jesus are inextricably bound as one with the will of the Father. The tested Jesus will be the tranquil Jesus, because he is the trusting Jesus. And in the end, he is the triumphant Jesus, who can confidently proclaim: Father into your hands I commend my spirit. Broken in body, but not in soul, Jesus, our brother, our God, calls us to the cross. The tool of execution has become our ladder to heaven. Both God and Man, Christ died for us that we may have eternal life. We are saved. We are forgiven. We need only ask and accept redemption. Through his life and death Jesus taught us to follow him with conviction and total commitment. And that requires that we forgive, we love and we help others as Jesus has forgiven, loves and helps us. That’s the view from the cross. And it’s beautiful.

Holy Week Focus: Wednesday - Jesus Christ: Troublemaker

As we have explored in previous gospels this year, Jesus is all man and all God. This week the human Jesus comes face to face with human mortality. In time it is a situation we will all face...hopefully at a very advanced age, surrounded by loved ones and eased into a gentle passage. That's not what confronts Jesus. He knows that his death is imminent. It will be brutal and tortuously protracted. He will be betrayed and abandoned, humiliated and ridiculed. In his agony he will be made a laughing stock. Naturally, Jesus, our human brother, is tormented by this impending ordeal. He reflects that: Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say - 'Father, save me from this hour'? Through it all he remains faithful to the will of the Father. He knows who sent him and why. At age twelve he told Mary and Joseph that he: must be about my Father's business. On the banks of the Jordan, as he begins his public life the Father affirms: You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased. In his early miracles even the unclean spirit cries out: you are the Holy One of God. In successive sermons and miracles and spectacularly at the Transfiguration, Jesus clearly knows his purpose. And in the gospels of the last few weeks he's been filling in more of the blanks for us. He is the temple that will be torn down and rebuilt in three days. He is God's love incarnate sent that we: may not perish but may have eternal life. And now the cross beckons. He knows that he will be lifted up in sacrifice. But he sees past the torment. He knows he will be cut down like a grain of wheat. But he can also see the bountiful harvest of his sacrifice...successive generations of Christians following his call, living in his love. Clearly we were not baptized into the body of Christ to let it wither. Like Jesus, we too must come face to face with the Father's purpose for us. How does it fit with our ideas, our plans, our priorities? More fundamentally, do we even have a purpose and direction? Or are we just more or less advanced, task-oriented primates, grazing our way through life, seeking pleasure, avoiding pain? What we do defines what we are. Christians follow Christ. If that is what we are, then it must also be what we do. In Acts Paul shares with us this perspective on understanding and acting on God's purpose for us: My life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing ...the work of telling others the Good News of God's wonderful kindness and love. None of us has the inspired gift to preach as Paul did. But our lives can do the preaching for us. Live today with that purpose. Leave everyone you see with more love for having seen you. Take every opportunity to be kind, to be courteous, to be caring. Don't be too busy to listen. Don't be too hurried to help. Don't be too timid to proclaim him. If you don't have an opportunity, make one. Make this day a continuous prayer to the glory of God. Jesus was not lifted up on the cross, for us to skate selfishly into heaven. Our salvation is not all take and no give. We are not just the beneficiaries of Christ's passion; we are the on-going instruments of his sacred mission. The purpose that brought Jesus to the cross is our purpose now. Like Jesus we know who sent us and why. His love is our legacy and our reason for being.

Holy Week Focus: Tuesday - Cross Purposes

As we have explored in previous gospels this year, Jesus is all man and all God. This week the human Jesus comes face to face with human mortality. In time it is a situation we will all face...hopefully at a very advanced age, surrounded by loved ones and eased into a gentle passage. That's not what confronts Jesus. He knows that his death is imminent. It will be brutal and tortuously protracted. He will be betrayed and abandoned, humiliated and ridiculed. In his agony he will be made a laughing stock. Naturally, Jesus, our human brother, is tormented by this impending ordeal. He reflects that: Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say - 'Father, save me from this hour'? Through it all he remains faithful to the will of the Father. He knows who sent him and why. At age twelve he told Mary and Joseph that he: must be about my Father's business. On the banks of the Jordan, as he begins his public life the Father affirms: You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased. In his early miracles even the unclean spirit cries out: you are the Holy One of God. In successive sermons and miracles and spectacularly at the Transfiguration, Jesus clearly knows his purpose. And in the gospels of the last few weeks he's been filling in more of the blanks for us. He is the temple that will be torn down and rebuilt in three days. He is God's love incarnate sent that we: may not perish but may have eternal life. And now the cross beckons. He knows that he will be lifted up in sacrifice. But he sees past the torment. He knows he will be cut down like a grain of wheat. But he can also see the bountiful harvest of his sacrifice...successive generations of Christians following his call, living in his love. Clearly we were not baptized into the body of Christ to let it wither. Like Jesus, we too must come face to face with the Father's purpose for us. How does it fit with our ideas, our plans, our priorities? More fundamentally, do we even have a purpose and direction? Or are we just more or less advanced, task-oriented primates, grazing our way through life, seeking pleasure, avoiding pain? What we do defines what we are. Christians follow Christ. If that is what we are, then it must also be what we do. In Acts Paul shares with us this perspective on understanding and acting on God's purpose for us: My life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing ...the work of telling others the Good News of God's wonderful kindness and love. None of us has the inspired gift to preach as Paul did. But our lives can do the preaching for us. Live today with that purpose. Leave everyone you see with more love for having seen you. Take every opportunity to be kind, to be courteous, to be caring. Don't be too busy to listen. Don't be too hurried to help. Don't be too timid to proclaim him. If you don't have an opportunity, make one. Make this day a continuous prayer to the glory of God. Jesus was not lifted up on the cross, for us to skate selfishly into heaven. Our salvation is not all take and no give. We are not just the beneficiaries of Christ's passion; we are the on-going instruments of his sacred mission. The purpose that brought Jesus to the cross is our purpose now. Like Jesus we know who sent us and why. His love is our legacy and our reason for being.

Holy Week Focus: Monday - Focus on Forgivenesss

Yesterday we heard St. Matthew’s account of the passion and death of Jesus. It is sufficiently long and detailed to convey the complete sacrificial surrender of Jesus in the face of betrayal, torture and execution. As such, it speaks for itself and requires little or no explanation or expansion. Let us focus instead on a single, powerful lesson for as we enter this most sacred time of Holy Week: Forgiveness - the very first fruit of redemption. Forgiveness is a cornerstone of our new covenant with God. It repairs the rupture of sin that invaded Eden. It tempers the Old Testament wrath that rained fire and brimstone. It moderates the ritual rectitude of Leviticus. But the forgiveness of Calvary is no mere theological abstraction. It is a reality written in the blood of Christ. Throughout his passion he spells out plainly that to love is to forgive...and to forgive ...and to forgive. That is how love works. In Luke Jesus asks forgiveness for his tormentors: for they know not what they do. Then he forgives the penitent thief for a whole life-time of crime, saying: today you will be with me in Paradise. Conversely in Mark, the message is as much in what Jesus does not say, as it is in what he does say. Pilate is amazed at his silence in the face of obviously trumped-up charges. Mark records Christ's silent submission continuing up to and on the cross - no rebuttals, no recriminations, no threats of revenge. In Mark only at the last minute does Jesus break his silence: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? At first glance it is a cry of despair. On further examination, it is a direct quote from David in Psalm 22, which precisely predicted the method of Christ's execution - more than five hundred years before the Romans introduced crucifixion into Israel. To the end, in obedience to the Father, Jesus shows us he is fulfilling the laws and the prophets. Then finally from the weight of sin, as much as from the agony of crucifixion, he gives up his spirit. Calvary marks a change in our relationship with God. He is no longer the distant, omnipotent umpire calling balls and strikes. He is the accessible, ever loving, ever forgiving, the source of all unconditional love. But that does not mean that God has become the enabler in chief. There is a world of difference between condoning and forgiving. God always forgives; he never condones. St. Augustine cautions us that: "No one is redeemed except through unmerited mercy, and no one is condemned except through merited judgment." We can always rely on God's mercy. We should never presume on it as a license to sin. In the Lord's Prayer, only one petition is conditional: that our trespasses will be forgiven as we forgive those who trespass against us. Surely, we all have need of forgiveness, so we all have a need to forgive. It is a simple and benign concept, until it is seriously challenged. And then it becomes a harsh reality. Overlooking a minor faux-pas is easy. But what about relationships that become contests ...when words become weapons... when attack breeds counterattack ...when lives are wasted and families destroyed over arguments that have long since lost their meaning? All that calls for some really serious forgiving. The Yellow Pages are replete with listings of family conflict counselors. The libraries are stocked with volumes on reconciliation. Doubtless, they have merit. But the true path to healing relationships is the way of the cross...to forgive...and forgive...to repent and reconcile...to pray and to love. Then to forgive again... knowing that beyond the Calvary of our conflicts lies the joy of resurrection. Peace is always within our reach, through the door of forgiveness. Jesus has shown us the way.