The Everlasting Question

“Who do you say I am?”. If you wanted to put a title at the beginning of each Gospel then perhaps that would be a good one. Of course, in real way that is what the gospels do. St Mark in the very first sentence of his gospel lays it out in full: the beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, Son of God. St Paul does the same thing at the start of his letter to the Romans: this news is all about the Son of God. St John tells us at the end of his gospel that everything he has written down has been for one purpose, and one purpose alone; these things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing this you may have life through his name. When you think about it then, we’ve been given some hefty hints at what our answer should be, and yet when we come to that moment how do we feel about our answer? Do we offer a bold and strident affirmation, or do we hold back and hesitate?

I wonder what Jesus himself was thinking when he asked the question, and have we understood properly what he was looking for in our answer? When Peter gives his answer, you are the Christ the Son of the living God, Jesus gives him a blessing. It’s a word we’ve heard Jesus use before. Blessed are the poor in spirit, the gentle, those who mourn, those of purity of heart, those who show mercy, who work for justice and peace, those who hunger for what is right. But those who are persecuted in the cause of right are also blessed and it is as if Jesus is hinting at the trauma that is to come and of which he will himself undergo.

Jesus is the one who brings about the coming of the kingdom of heaven, in which the seed of God’s word is sown into our very being. He has told the people through his teaching and his parables that he is the word of God and that his word and his action through his passion, must be the means through which the love of God is made real. No-one comes to the Father except through me is what St John records in his gospel. I am the way, the truth and the life. Our affirmation of Jesus as Son of the living God must contain within it an understanding of all that is revealed to us through Jesus. Not just in the happy, feel-good experiences of our lives but also in the harsh and cutting moments too, because in the world the way can be painful, the truth sometimes be disturbing and the life often tough and challenging. So let us be bold in our assertion of Jesus as Son of the living God, but also let us be understanding of what this all means in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

The Universal Call to love

Not long ago we read in the gospel the words of Jesus telling us: Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me for I am humble and gentle in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. So here in a strange encounter with a non-Jew the initial response of Jesus seems harsh and uncompassionate. Can it really be so?

I wonder if reading this story, we hear echoes of that other story from the gospel of John, of the meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Although superficially they are different, I think that both have at their heart the act bringing a gentile to faith, someone who at the outset was perhaps ambivalent and undecided about who Jesus is, but who in the end, through a journey of encounter are brought to true knowledge and belief in him. This is after all, how Jesus responds to us when we approach him. He recognises the unique circumstances of each one of us and he deals with them according to their needs.

In their encounter with Jesus both women address him as “sir”. There is no inkling of anything other than here is a person who can help me. The Canaanite woman wants relief from the trials she is enduring because of the sickness of her daughter, and the Samaritan wants relief from the daily trudge back and forth to the well to collect water. The disciples in both encounters become agitated and impatient with Jesus and try and get him to move along but he knows what he is doing, and he brings the women to understanding and faith, through a series of back-and-forth conversations which result in each of them ultimately professing him as “Lord” and “Messiah”. He brings out of them both, a profession of faith that is profound and life enhancing. So rather than seeing Jesus’ initial response to the Canaanite woman as being harsh and cold, by first ignoring her request and then by saying what he does, he generates from her a response which opens in her a living faith. Similarly with the Samaritan woman, Jesus, intuitively aware of her past, helps her to deal with her circumstances, enabling her to profess him as Christ.

So those words of Jesus at the beginning of this piece are not negated but totally endorsed by what happens to both women. They have come to him and have not been turned away. Rather they have come to him seeking a solution for a very human problem and have through his universal love truly found his divine rest for their souls.

All at Sea

I‘ve no real experience of sailing. The only boats I have been in are ferries, the only water crossed has been the Irish Sea and the English Channel and thankfully the crossings were calm enough to allow a period on deck, viewing the waves as the ship made its passage. Of course, that’s not to say there wasn’t any swell, there was, and it was enough to make you realise the might and the power of the sea and of what enormous forces lie within. Today’s gospel certainly brings out that sense of strength when we are told that the disciples, hardened fishermen as they were, struggled to manage their boat as the sea was whipped up by a strong headwind. What though is going on here, since what follows is a very strange twist. In the midst of their trying to maintain a true course they see a vision of someone coming towards them walking on the sea.

Time, context, place and space suddenly seem to be fluid, like the sea itself,
chaotic and intangible. The natural order of things no longer applies, and fear grips them. The vision becomes ghostly and incomprehensible. Is their world about to engulf them and swallow them up? Suddenly familiar words are heard “It is I! Do not be afraid”. They reassure Peter and he responds to them and boldly steps out into the chaos, but his instincts are fragile, and he recoils, feeling himself submerging into a nightmare, shouting at the top of his voice “Lord, save me”. A hand grasps him, and suddenly he is face to face with Jesus and all is calm and serene.
What can we say about this moment. For Peter the words evoke an experience of deep spiritual significance with echoes and resonances of events to come and of events past. At his call in Luke’s gospel, Jesus is in Peter’s boat and Peter says to him “Leave me, Lord I am a sinful man”. Later Matthew will tell of Peter’s dramatic proclamation of faith in Jesus as the “Christ, the Son of the living God” juxtaposed today with Jesus’ describing him as a “man of little faith”. I think what we are being offered in this drama at sea is the very human drama of Peter’s discipleship. How is he to understand his calling to leadership in the light of the frailties that inhabit his character and bubble up to the surface when a storm breaks? We find the answer at the end of John’s gospel, when Jesus and Peter are together on the beach. At this moment all those strands of context, time, space and place come together not adhering in a ghostly vision, but in the reality of the trust the Risen Jesus places in Peter to lead the flock. A trust that will give him the strength and courage to live out his apostleship which Jesus first saw in him. “Do you love me more than these others?” “You know everything Lord. You know I love you... Feed my sheep.”

Thinking about Desire

It is fascinating to see how Jesus taps into the heart of human desire. It seems that desire is an essential part of our human make-up and like all things human it functions on two different levels; the subconscious and the conscious. Subconscious desires may or may not be the motivation and influence that drive our conscious ones, I suppose you need to be a psychologist to get to the bottom of that, but Jesus is exploring the psyche of the human mind when he compares the kingdom to sought-after hidden treasure or pearls of great value.

Each of us has, in our minds, desired something that at the time, seemed beyond our wildest dreams. We may have dismissed such thoughts as irrational and impossible, but the fact that such thoughts come into our minds signal to us an elemental character of our nature. We look at ourselves and at our condition, and we wonder: what if? Clearly our desires change as we grow, the desires we have as young children being so different from those we have as adults, which in their turn evolve as we mature. Where though is Jesus guiding us in making these statements about desire?

We often believe that there is an insurmountable difference between what we can realistically desire and how we can achieve our desire. We may desire “world peace” but what is the point of such a desire, when my ability to make any impact on such a desire is you may think impossible. But look at the parables and see what is being said. The goal or the desire which is the subject of the parables, has been found, but the parables don’t end with any idle speculation. On the contrary, both the discoverer of the treasure, and the merchant, go off and make every effort to ensure that they are going to possess what they’ve found. “Now wait a minute” I hear you say. “It’s one thing to speak about matching and achieving desire in a parable, but quite another to do the same thing in reality.” Well, granted yes, but the point being made relates the one with the other, and consequently with our response. The gift on offer, the object of our desire, is the immeasurable treasure of God’s love, and our response has to be a wholehearted one, in which we recognise the obligation that we have as disciples. Desire doesn’t end with possession but as Jesus says with things new and old. Acquiring the treasure should change us, bringing a new dimension into our discipleship. Driving us to see our lives as conduits of God’s love, through which is channelled the Spirit’s gifts to the world, gifts of consolation, mercy, compassion and yes, even world peace, all we have to do is desire it and be the disciples we are called to be. 

Living our new life in Christ

Last week we began our baptism course, and we have ten couples who came along to receive help and instruction to prepare them for the task of passing on the faith to their children. Baptism is the first of the sacraments. You cannot receive the other sacraments unless you have been baptised. Understanding the meaning of baptism is therefore essential to opening the doorway to faith. Once we have grasped the message which baptism offers, our body and soul are united into the new life of the risen Christ, and this new life which we speak of is nothing other than the eternal life to which Jesus calls us.

Putting it in these terms can sometimes come as a bit of a shock. How can we
already be living our eternal life? Isn’t eternal life supposed to start when we die? Well listen to what St Paul says in today’s second reading: when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him (Jesus) and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life. In
essence what St Paul means is that our baptism becomes the moment when our eternal life begins. We have become a new creation and we are to be considered alive for God in Jesus Christ. I think that this is such an important concept that we should take time to consider what it means and implies for each one of us who are baptised.

By virtue of our baptism, we are all now children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ. We see ourselves as bound through grace to Jesus and to one another. The role we take on as family is to christify the world. The great document of the 2nd Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium states: through baptism we are formed in the
likeness of Christ, and we are therefore compelled to manifest the kingdom in the way we live out our lives. As brothers, sisters and parents, the greatest way in which we can achieve this is by teaching our children the example of love which Jesus brings into the world. This is what the Council spoke of as the universal call to holiness.

Family life is integral to this concept of holiness. If families see in their make up a participation in this action of living out their baptismal grace within the framework of their relationships between mother, father and child, then the work of the Church, which is the body of Christ on earth, becomes the vehicle of witnessing this holiness. The sacrament of Baptism starts the engine which drives the vehicle and at the same time the other sacraments are the eternal fuel which sustain the engine and keep the vehicle running. Let us pray for our parents and their children as they begin their work. 

A Call to Divine Service

“Do not be afraid” - there’s that phrase again as it begins this week’s gospel reading. We hear it spoken so often in the scriptures and yet do we really hear its words and understand its meaning? Often it is spoken when an encounter occurs between God and humanity, when for example Gabriel appears to Mary to tell her what is going to take place to her. So, when Jesus says it to his apostles in today’s Gospel, what is the divine encounter which is about to take place?

Last week, Jesus called us to become labourers in the harvest, and he gave us our instructions for what to do and how our labour was to be administered. Have we reflected on what it implies for us? Recall those four tasks Jesus names; to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper, cast our devils. Have we taken on board the awesome nature of what they convey? If we approach them simply as frightening realities, then we are not going to be able to tackle them. If we think that the prospect of doing such things either overwhelms us or fills us with trepidation, leaving us frozen, then we are not listening properly to Jesus’ words. Perhaps we’ve covered up our ears and have failed to listen in a way which uncovers the potential that lies within the heart of each one of us to love in the way that Jesus calls us to love. If we understand the divine encounter that takes place when we open ourselves up to his call, if we hear that call not as a frightening closing down of our humanity, but as a beautiful awakening of the value of our character and its capacity to serve and heal, then each one of us suddenly becomes aware of something extraordinary: nothing less than the value that is inherent in every person, or as Jesus puts it – every hair on your head has been counted.

Such an encounter with Jesus thus raises the work of the harvest to a different order. Those four deeds are no longer beyond our capabilities because we see in them something beautiful, something true and something good. in other words, something of God. We see in them the spark of the divine life which becomes incarnate and raised up. It is a call to take up the work of divine service which is made visible in and among each one of us. We do it in our homes, our parishes, our schools, our workplaces because this is where the harvest is to be gathered in. This is our work and through it we declare ourselves for Christ, who will sacralise this work and present it to the Father

From Disciples to Apostles

Can you name them all without referencing the gospels? Most of us can manage the first four: Simon, Andrew, James, and John and then we must think a bit harder. Ah yes, Matthew the gospel writer, and doubting Thomas perhaps, and then Judas of course who betrayed Jesus, but after then things get a little hazy. Well, seven’s not bad, but the other five can we name them? Well, there’s another Simon, and another James, a Bartholomew, a Philip, and a Thaddeus. This final quintet hardly gets another mention in the gospels so its not surprising we overlook them, but their lack of mention doesn’t diminish the importance of their status. These were people who heard the call of Jesus and felt the power of his message and it caused them to change the course of their lives and by consequence our lives to.

We all know the story of the call of Simon and Andrew, James and John very well. Matthew’s call is also recorded, but the circumstances of the call of the others remains unknown. All we can assume is that they must have been members of the “large crowds” who followed Jesus, from the start of his ministry in Galilee, to his passion, death and resurrection in Jerusalem. In so doing, they would become designated “disciples”, a word which denotes an active engagement with a teacher or leader. A supporter and adherent who helps in the proclamation of the master’s message. However, we know that there was a deeper reality at work here because Jesus constantly laid out the requirements of discipleship for his followers, stressing that if you want to be a disciple of his then you must take up your cross each day and follow him. Such a demanding condition would clearly make would be disciples think long and hard before committing to this calling.

But now in the thick of their discipleship their roles are dramatically changed. Their discipleship receives an added dimension. They are given a commission in which the living heart of their calling is made dramatically present to them. The cross, which they were told they must carry as a mark of discipleship, is made real by virtue of the task they are given as apostles; go and proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. This is the ultimate reality, to make the kingdom present and the immensity of the task is exemplified in the series of tasks they are given. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Jesus annunciates the scope of the task he is giving them and at the same time predicts the many obstacles they will encounter, not least the spectre of betrayal; the impact of which will become all too self-evident to them.

Proclaiming the kingdom is an awesome task, as all the apostles, each in their own way discovered. For one his fate was tragic, for the majority, their fate was martyrdom and tradition relates that only one died a natural death. As his disciples today, may our following of Jesus make us worthy of our calling.