Is 1:10-17, Psalm 50:8-9,16-17,21, 23, Mt 10:34-11:1
Today’s readings are filled with tough language. But I think that’s because they are concrete in their details and are trying to address the tough, sometimes unpleasant, realities we live with. The readings tell us we need to live out what we say we believe. We can’t just say we believe in God, we believe in Jesus and then go about everyday life as if nothing was different. If we, in fact, believe in Jesus and what he was trying to tell us then our lives will be different and not everything will be peaceful. We will end up confronting situations in society and at home that aren’t right. When we do that there will be conflict because we have chosen to take a stand. These readings not only give us permission to confront what is wrong but they say we are called by God to do so.
In our first reading from Isaiah, God is clearly tired of Israel’s hypocrisy. God says, “What care I for the number of your sacrifices!” They have maintained all the religious rituals but are not listening to the courts or taking care of the most vulnerable in society, widows and orphans. God says to Israel “Trample my courts no more… make justice your aim, redress the wronged.” Saying prayers and worshiping in church aren’t the answer. Instead go out and “cease doing evil and learn to do good.”
A similar if more personal message is in the Gospel. All last week and again today Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel is teaching the Apostles. They have been both words of encouragement and frank warnings about what to expect if you follow Jesus by living the way he does. It is in this context that we hear Jesus say, “I have come to bring not peace but the sword.” He talks about turning son against father, daughter against mother. Now that seems shocking at first. But let’s be honest, how often are brothers, sisters, mother and father in a family in conflict or upset or outright fighting over something. Isn’t that what happens in families? In families you can have some of the worst kind of fighting and the most productive. Family members can hurt each other in very real lasting ways and in the best circumstances be the place of growth and change because of honest, heart-felt confrontation.
In this case however, I suspect these words from Jesus are really meant to refer to these same kinds of statements in the Old Testament books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. The reference is about whether people are loyal to God. Will the Israelites choose loyalty to God over even family. It’s presented as a stark choice because they’re trying to talk about things for which they did not have the language or understanding to explain. There was no sense of the psychological aspects of human beings. What better way to describe letting go of the ego and being selfless that to turn from father and mother and brothers and sisters. The very people that support who we think we are.
Jesus is saying to us that to follow him, to live as he lives will cost you. If we stand up for people who others fear or despise, we will lose friends. If we actually are open to the radical acceptance of others. Love as God loves. Perhaps even your family will wonder what’s happening with you. Talking about religion and politics is off limits in some families, isn’t it? To stand up for what you believe against the more commonly held opinion of the people you know is hard. However, if we are going to actually follow Jesus then that kind of integrity is required. We know what Jesus stands for. Are we in or not?
