Sunday the Twenty-second

“On a sabbath he went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully (παρατηρούμενοι, parateroumenoi) [Luke 14:1].” “He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing (ἐπέχων, epechon) how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. [Luke 14:7].”
     There is much watching happening in “the home of one of the leading Pharisees.” People were observing Jesus carefully and Jesus was noticing how people “were choosing the places of honor at the table.” One might say that “those who had been invited,” in the way they were observing Jesus, paid no attention to they way they were looking for the places of honor. How they chose their places caused Jesus to speak a parable.
     One might argue that the manner of the guests observing Jesus blinded them to their own actions. Among the varied meanings that παρατερέω conveys in English, “lurking” and “spying” are worthy of consideration in this episode. “Those who had been invited” were lurking, lying-in-wait for the moment to pounce on Jesus for any action that they judged improper. With such attention devoted to an intense spying whose only intent is to accentuate the perceived wrong, the guests were oblivious to their own improper behavior.
     Jesus’ wisdom commands that when we harness the powers of observation looking only to point out a perceived wrong, an honest examination of the reflection in a mirror just might dissipate the negative energy. When we gaze honestly at the image in the mirror, the perceived faults of another pale in comparison to what each of us knows as our own shortcomings. Instead of “lying-in-wait” to let another know her or his shortcomings, a word of grateful encouragement to the other transforms the evil of divisiveness into the grace of unity.

Sunday the Twenty-first

“Go out to all the world and tell the Good News (εὐαγγέλιον, [euaggelion]) Mark 16:15.”
     Many who have heard the word Gospel instinctively hold that it means ‘good news.’ Such a translation is quite accurate in terms of the rendering Gospel into English. The difficulty arises when a follow-up question is posed, ‘what constitutes Good News?’ There are many situations in life when a word, a call, a note convey good news as a resolution and relief to a troubling life event and often an event that is life threatening. But does εὐαγγέλιον have a more specific meaning when used in Sacred Scripture?
     In the days of the Old Testament and in the days of Alexander the Great’s (+323 BC) conquest of the world, εὐαγγέλιον appears to have had a somewhat restricted use in its meaning and use, anchored in the world of military victory. When a messenger brought an εὐαγγέλιον to a particular town or village, people knew that news of victory was about to be announced. Even if people did not know that a war had been fought, an εὐαγγέλιον indicated that not only was a war fought, we are numbered among the victors.
     Saint Paul made ample use of this cultural knowledge in his proclamation of Jesus Christ, the crucified Lord risen to new life, the Victor over sin and death. As far as Saint Paul was concerned in the time of his ministry, Jesus battled the war against sin and death and was, is and will be forever victorious.
     When Texts emerge in the latter part of the first century bearing the appellations Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, the written εὐαγγέλιον probes questions of Christology (Who is Jesus?) and Discipleship (How do I and we follow Jesus?) under the umbrella of Jesus’ victorious work over sin and death.
     The gift of the written εὐαγγέλιον - all four of them - is a treasured grace for daily living. Knowing Jesus as Victor is the blessing of confidence in the face of life’s uncertainties.

Assumption of Mary, Mother of God

“During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste (σπουδῆς [spoudes]) to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-40).”
     An 82 or so mile trip from Nazareth to the hill country of Ain Karem would have been a challenge under any circumstance (Even today, many people are out of breath when the trek up ‘the hill’ that brings them to the house of Elizabeth and Zechariah.). Add young, poor and pregnant to the mix and one might reconsider the trip not to mention that Mary goes in haste (σπουδῆς [spoudes])!
     Similar to so many events in Mary’s life, the Mother of the Savior also acts as the preeminent teacher providing lesson after lesson about how we can be a disciple of her Son. Mary’s travel “in haste” speaks not only about speed and an anti-procrastinating mindset, the Greek verb σπουδάζω (spoudazo) conveys an “attitude of zeal” and “concern for the importance of the moment.”
     Mary’s mode of travel gives the contemporary believer much to ponder. Zealous attentiveness to the sacrament of the present moment is the place and time of the Lord’s visitation. No matter the motivation or reason for waiting to get one's act together apart from the Gift of Grace or simply wait for no reason whatsoever, the Mother of God beckons us ‘to see’ now as the moment of the Lord’s visit Who will fill all with the same joy that caused John to leap in his mother’s womb.

Sunday the Nineteenth

“Faith (πίστις [pistis]) is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen (Heb 11:1).”
There are, no doubt, as many descriptions of faith as there are believers. It is not uncommon for believers to use the term faith as an answer for all things humanly unexplainable in reference to the Divine. Used this way, faith often shuts down discussion and inquiry. For example, engage one in a discussion on the Most Holy Trinity or Most Holy Eucharist and it will not be long before the word faith is used because human intellect has reached an impasse.
Throughout both Testaments of Sacred Scripture, faith has another purpose. It is the word that simply, yet powerfully, describes a relationship: a relationship initiated by the Father drawing each person into communion with Him through the saving death and resurrection of Jesus His Son and Holy Spirit. This biblical experience of faith emphasizes the dynamic character of life. The realities and mysteries of God are not topics to be figured out, diagramed and reduced to 3 bullets on a PowerPoint presentation. Rather, faith describes how we live in response to a Love that is infinite and eternal.