lectionary reflections

Reflection on the Catholic lectionary readings

Memorial, Our Lady of Sorrows

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

1 Cor. 15:1-11, Psalm 118: 1-2, 16-17, 28, Luke 2:33-35

Including Stabat Mater

Because today is the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows the liturgy contains a unique element, the Stabat Mater. This thirteenth century hymn is a devotional prayer to Mary about the sufferings she endured staying close to her Son, “to the last.” The prayer asks to participate in the suffering and pain inflicted on Mary and Jesus so that the person may come to live eternally in heaven.

At first blush, the prayer can seem too intense.

Let me to my latest breath,
In my body bear the death
Of that dying Son of yours.

Wounded with his every wound,
Steep my soul till it has swooned
In his very Blood away.

Personally, I have always resisted any view of salvation that involves us seeking out pain and suffering to “be like Jesus.” Jesus wasn’t out looking for scourging and crucifixion, people in authority who were threatened by his ideas and actions killed him. Rather we need to follow Jesus’ path of love, care and forgiveness. Really sticking to that will present enough challenges in and of itself. And that is where this prayer has something to say. It is a strong statement of how painful it can be to stay close to Jesus.

The Gospel gives us what was possibly for Mary an early insight. Simeon says, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel….” Mary is going to live her life with a Son who raises questions no wants to hear. She will see wonderful things happen and be frightened by those who oppose and ultimately end his life. She will end up standing in sorrow watching her only son, her first born taken from her. Executed on a cross. The prayer says,

“Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,
She beheld her tender Child,
All with bloody scourges rent.”

This is real loss. She is witnessing her Son’s defeat. He and all he tried to accomplish is gone. He lost, the authorities have won. She has to wonder what it was all for if his life only led to this degrading, disgusting moment. Everyone has run away or denied him.

It is hard for us to appreciate the reality of her situation since we see her thousands of years later as people who believe in the resurrection and life after death. But resurrection hadn’t yet happened for her. And in one crucial way it hasn’t really happened for us yet either. Human angst over death is frighteningly deep. It’s hard to hold on to a belief that says death is a gateway to new life. It was hard to accept in the first century when Paul could still point out to the Corinthians that, Jesus then “appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.” The philosophical viewpoints of the time were challenging the Corinthians about what Paul had taught them. None of us, not the Corinthians, nor Paul himself are very far from Mary’s experience. We have no way of knowing for sure until it’s over.

This is where the prayer, in my opinion, holds a substance and value that is important for us. It says,

O sweet Mother! font of love,
Touch my spirit from above,
Make my heart with yours accord.

Make me feel as you have felt;
Make my soul to glow and melt
With the love of Christ, my Lord.

What the prayer offers is an example of a deep, personal human connection. Mary loses her only son but stays “close to the last” out of love. The prayer focuses on a mother’s love for her child. That mother’s bond of love is a clue to our salvation, our holding on to a belief in the resurrection and the life after death it offers. There’s no sure way to know, to be sure intellectually, that there is life after death. However, coming to know, to experience, Jesus is a connection that will survive death.

The challenge is that to have a close loving relationship with Jesus takes exactly what it took for Mary. We have to live with him for a lifetime. Relationships of love develop over time, with care, experience, challenges and joys. If we want to be confident, to trust in life after death we have to live this life coming to know the God who offers it. This means something different for each of us. But at core it means coming to know ourselves, understanding the truth about what drives us, what really fulfills us and the gifts we have been given. Accepting ourselves and these gifts honestly, we can be grateful and generous just as Jesus was. The way he was for so many during his life and for Mary on Easter when his rising from the dead changed tragedy into joy. The way God’s Spirit continues to free us from fear and enable us to say what today’s Psalm does, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.”

Memorial, St. John Chrysostom

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

1 Cor. 12:12-14, 27-31, Psalm 100: 1-5, Luke 7:11-17

In today’s Gospel a widow loses her only son. Jesus, “moved with pity” becomes involved when he steps forward to touch the casket, breaking Jewish purity laws in the process. He then brings the son back to life and gives him to his mother. It is an amazingly straightforward story of God stepping in to rescue the life of a woman completely alone in the world. I think it is crucial to notice why Jesus acts. Jesus does this because he was “moved with pity” for her. Personally I have always felt drawn to these statements of emotion on Jesus’ part. I think they are little windows into the long ago reality of what happened. I think these little asides, if you will, are there because people at the time were so touched by Jesus’ genuine human outreach that it became an integral part of the story. They couldn’t tell the story about this unbelievable miracle without including the emotion they saw in Jesus. This is important because in the history of the Church there has been a long tradition that emphasized Jesus’ divinity over his humanity. For me it is the humanity of Jesus that helps me sense what God is all about. So this story says that God is touched by the fragility of human life, by one woman’s need. God hurts when we hurt, God acts out of a deep personal attachment to each of us. Too often we have not come to see God’s love in those personal terms and, I think, to that extent, we are the poorer for it.

We must also remember that this was Jesus acting to help this woman. And frankly Jesus of Nazareth, isn’t here anymore. Now it’s our turn. In our first reading Paul makes it clear we are the new Body of Christ. Each of us is part of the ongoing presence of God in this world. Paul expects his followers in Corinth to recognize that each of them has been given their own unique spiritual gifts so they can do their part. Luke’s story shows us how concrete Jesus was in demonstrating God love. He raises a man from the dead so his mother will not be left completely alone and without support in her life. Paul says each of us is part of the larger Body of Christ. We are one in the Spirit so that we can carry on God’s work as prophets perhaps, but more likely as teachers, assistants, administrators, workers. People who are willing to help heal the emotional and physical wounds of life today. I think too often we believe that God acts in unknown mysterious ways reaching out of the ether to put things right. But the Bible says, God needed to send his Son, as a person to live among us so that young man in Nain could be given to his mother. Today, mothers still need their sons and daughters rescued from the possibility of death, and fear and other awful realities. So our faith cannot be only an expression of good feelings or solely an adherence to ideas about God. Faith is only real when it acts as God acts. When we do what is needed for others. When we live by the same deep personal concern that Jesus had and are moved to action to save one another.

Thursday, Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

1 Corinthians 3:18-23, Psalm 24:1-6, Luke 5:1-11

So I think today’s readings ask us to decide what makes us happy: really happy, little kid giggles happy, picturesque mountain view happy, peaceful quiet by the fire happy, being with each other happy. There was a yogurt commercial a few years ago in which two young women tried to describe how good the yogurt was with descriptive experiential phrases like that. This is about more than yogurt. It’s about what is most important in our lives. However, the yogurt commercial hints at what is involved here and that is, trying to capture, i.e. trying to understand what something means. How good is good tasting yogurt? What does it mean to be happy with life?

The back story is that Paul is trying to tell the Corinthians that they shouldn’t be fighting over whose teacher or preacher of the Gospel is the most authentic. These early Christians had started to develop factions even before other people were calling them Christian. Paul is trying to bring them back to the core message of the Gospel, their faith, that their connection is to Christ and God the Father not any one teacher. What they have learned through Christ about God is true wisdom. Looking other places for the answers to life is foolish.

What I heard when I read it today is the way he makes his point. He turns around their arguments of which teacher they belong to and says that they belong to God because of Jesus Christ. Therefore all the rest, the teachers, the future, this world, their very lives belong to them. They have all the wisdom, value, and authority they need because of their understanding of God’s gift to this world. To put it in terms of Luke’s Gospel, they have all the fish that Simon and his partners have in both their boats. They have already been given the wisdom, the insight into what is valuable in life.

In the Gospel the overwhelming catch of fish demonstrates for Simon that he is in the presence of the divine. Nothing else could provide such a bounty. Simon and James and John were fishermen they knew these waters, fished them all the time, yet they had never seen a catch like this. They didn’t understand the true gifts of this life, much like the bickering Corinthians. Encountering Jesus opened an unseen door. The story says, Jesus transforms “no fish” into “more fish than they can handle”. It means, Jesus transforms what looks like a harsh world with nothing to give for our efforts into a world of wealth and plenty. The Psalm sends the same message, “the earth and all that fills it” belongs to the Lord and the Lord chooses to give it those “whose heart is clean and desires not what is vain.”

Which brings us back to Paul’s references to what it means to be wise. In Matthew’s Gospel, Simon acquires that wisdom by recognizing the unbridled generosity when he sees it and he changes his life as a result. It’s easy to not see the world or our existence that way. We think we’re smart and wise in our lives. We too have fished this lake a long time. Too often the world can appear harsh and unforgiving. Paul thinks this is a foolish view. I think we are being fools when we fail to seek out what makes us truly happy. What could be wiser than knowing what life is all about? What would produce more joy than being satisfied with my own life? Too often we can be dissatisfied and unhappy with life. Looking for happiness in things beyond ourselves, perhaps in approval, power or possessions. I think if we can believe in God and recognize God’s overwhelming generosity in our lives we can describe happy in very different terms. We can recognize close relationships, being open and honest, admitting mistakes, helping others, following our dreams, being at peace with ourselves, and being in love as the true wealth of this world. Oh, and eating really good rich creamy ice cream. (I don’t actually like yogurt.)

Tuesday, Twenty-second Day of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

1 Corinthians 2:10b-16, Psalm 145:8-14, Luke 4:31-37

There are lots of spirits in today’s readings: the spirit of men, Spirit of God, unclean spirits. Personally I’m big on Spirit. My sense of my relationship with God is with God’s Spirit.

Without going into the details, the Corinthians are having an esoteric argument about having the proper spirit that would make a person wise, mature and perfect so they would be superior to others. The Gospel tells a simple story to illustrate that God’s Spirit overcomes evil spirits and heals people.

In both cases the proper Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. When Jesus is present the Holy One of God drives out whatever afflicts a person. Paul says it this way, “so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.”

We certainly don’t always understand the things that go on around us, or things that happen to us. I’m sure each of us has had demons that have hobbled what we were able to do. Sometimes our society can’t accept a change that would mean more equality or opportunity for others. It isn’t always clear where we need contemporary exorcisms.

However, I think we should still recognize that it is the Spirit within us that needs healing. If we can heal the spirit, then life changes. The simplest example I can think of is rainy days. Sometimes a rainy day makes me feel like I don’t want to get out of bed. Just stay under those covers and leave me alone. Yet just as often the day can be rainy and dark and I am eager to light a fire in the fireplace, sit on the couch and read a good book. On those days the rain gives me a reason to do what I want. What’s the difference? The difference is the Spirit of the day. Spirit can change anything. How many stories do we hear about physically disabled people who go on to overcome adversity and challenge our very understanding of what it means to be disabled?

These may not sound like spiritual examples. But I think they are. God’s Spirit is so woven into all of reality that you can’t separate worldly concerns from heavenly concerns. I think every decision we ever make is a spiritual connection to the God who made us. How else do we define ourselves except by the decisions we make. We either express in how we live, a life of love and care and humility, guided by what we have learned of God’s love and care for us or we don’t. We either do things that reflect and create a relationship with God or we let other ideas, other spirits, rule who we are. It doesn’t mean we get it right all the time. It means we are trying to follow what Jesus showed us. When we do, when we choose the way of love and generosity, then unclean spirits will be driven out because we too know who the Holy One of God is and just as Paul said, “we have the mind of Christ” and it is his Spirit that can change lives, rainy day or not.

Thursday, Twenty-First Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

1 Cor. 1: 1-9, Psalm 145:2-7, Mt. 24:42-51

Both of this morning’s readings have to do with waiting for Christ. As we can tell from the letter to the Corinthians this wasn’t any easier in the first century than it is today. In fact, the Corinthians had a challenge we don’t have, they were thinking that Jesus might be coming back in their lifetime. For us, the issue of staying faithful is a challenge since we live in a world that isn’t supportive of many of our values.

What I noticed about the readings this morning is they seem to take two very different approaches to staying faithful. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is addressed to people who live their faith. In fact my sense is that they have made their faith a part of who they are. Paul compliments them as having been enriched with “all discourse and all knowledge, as the testimony to Christ has confirmed among you.” It is evident that they have faith because they are talking about Christ to their friends and neighbors. They are excited about being Christian.

It seems to me Paul knows these people are solid in their faith. All they really need is a reminder that, “God is faithful” and the relationship they already have with Jesus will “keep you firm until the end.”

The scene in Matthew’s Gospel is completely different. First of all, this is set at least 25 or 30 years earlier and there isn’t a believing community yet. Jesus is trying to explain what a relationship with God might look like. So in this story from Matthew, Jesus is literally trying to explain what it means to be faithful. The example is about leaving someone else in charge. That someone may act out of your wishes consistently, all the time you are gone. Or as soon as you are not there to oversee what is happening that someone may, in fact, act contrary to your wishes, since you won’t know anyway. In this situation, when the person is not following your wishes, he or she had better keep watch. The story essentially expects that people need some oversight, or fear of discovery to be kept in line. If you’ve raised children you understand the necessity for this approach.

These two stories are great examples of at least one difference in how people can respond to God. In the Gospel someone is following directions, rules and guidelines established by another. If he or she follows them faithfully then as Jesus says, the Master may well put that person in charge of more property give them more responsibility. The motivation for acting a certain way is from outside the person.

In our letter to the Corinthians, these people have long ago been put in charge of more property, they have more responsibility. They have come to take charge of their own lives because they have developed a relationship with Jesus that has resulted in their confidence about life and the values they try to live. They have received spiritual gifts that enrich their lives. They are “in Christ Jesus.” They have a fellowship with Christ. Which doesn’t mean they have all the answers or don’t find keeping faith a difficult task. Rather there is no question about how they want to live and how they are trying to live. It is a part of who they are and what they are about. They may be challenged by situations from the outside but that is not the source of their motivation. The motivation, the desire, the care they exhibit is their own, from the deepest part of who they are, because of a love, a connection to God and Jesus. There is no need in this situation to stay awake as if God’s coming would be a surprise. For these people of God who were in Corinth, God is already there. Jesus has already come.

Tuesday, Twenty-First Week Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

2 Thes. 2:1-3a, 14-17, Psalm 96:10-13, Mt. 23:23-26

Today’s readings demonstrate that for all the change that happens in the world the basics of human life stay the same. In this case, the challenge of holding on to what we believe and acting accordingly. I think it is easy for us to conclude that our world with its instant communication and awareness of the variety of cultures and beliefs that surround us is a more challenging environment for faith than in the past. Both Thessalonians and Matthew tell us the opposite.

Paul’s letter shows that even when communication was highly limited people were still challenged by those who held a different view. Others were telling Paul’s followers a different version of the Christian story. They were writing letters too and making speeches. Who is to be believed?

Matthew is telling the story about another side of this issue. Can we authentically live out what we believe? Clearly for Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees have missed the point of their Jewish law and heritage. They have found it convenient to expect compliance from others while absolving their own behavior. They are using the Jewish law to exclude and judge others while establishing themselves as preferred and right thinking. How easily we can fool and protect ourselves at the expense of other people.

Once again, none of this is new, it recurs because we are each given the freedom to become in our own time and in our own circumstances. Such a terrifyingly wonderful gift. The result is an intertwined mix of having to learn it all for ourselves yet within a web of relationships that teach, support and challenge who we are. So Paul and Matthew saw their communities facing the same human issues we face. The question is which of today’s narratives will guide us? What ideas will we adopt as our own? What will we choose in each new moment that shapes who we become?

Paul and Matthew are saying we are not alone. We have guides should we choose to listen. We can learn to see what is loving, honest and life giving in ourselves and others. There is joy to be had in this life, no matter our material circumstances, by living openly, caring for others and not being afraid of a new tomorrow. As Paul says, it means we should not “be shaken out of your minds suddenly.” Nor can we become hypocrites, as Matthew says, who “cleanse the outside of the cup” while “inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.”

Today’s psalm offers the solution, the story we can believe, the path we can follow, “let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice … for he comes, for he comes to rule the earth … with justice.” “He has made the world firm, not to be moved.” We live in a world that can be trusted because it is of God’s making. It is not an uncertain, unreliable place because God stands behind it as creator and also with it as evidenced decisively by the life of Jesus of Nazareth. God has given life and God shares in and supports our lives for the glory and joy of all. Don’t “be shaken out of your minds” by any other message.

Memorial, John the Baptist de la Salle

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

 Acts 5:27-33, Ps 34:2, 9, 17-18, 19-20, John 3:31-36

There are several things going on in the readings today. So I think it’s important to focus in on one. The Psalm says, “the Lord is close to the brokenhearted; those who are crushed in spirit he saves.” If we hear nothing else today, that is worth taking deeply into ourselves and savoring.

Too often our lives are cluttered with activities, obligations … and things we really want to do. Here is a gift of peace that could change us when we are frightened and brighten our days when the pressure of those schedules and other’s demands overwhelm us. “Those who are crushed in spirit he saves.”

This, to me, is the heart of prayer. No doubt at some point you have read or heard about a study that is run by some scientist who is trying to find out if prayer is effective. They are trying to measure one person’s or a group’s prayer to see if it changes some outcome for someone else. The results are often inconclusive, because it is the wrong question. Prayer is an expression of our relationship with God and no doubt there are changes but they are in us. We who were sad or frightened or heartbroken have been changed. That is the reality of prayer. It is as John’s Gospel says, “He does not ration the gift of his Spirit.”

So we can be confident that no matter how disheartened or frightened we may feel, God’s Spirit can lift us out of it if we are open to it. We need to believe in God’s presence right here, right now. That’s what believing in Jesus means. God is available to us in the midst of today’s life, in the current moment and whatever is happening for us.

We also have to recognize that this uncertainty, not being sure what Jesus can do, is not new. In the reading from John, the testimony of John the Baptist is saying, Jesus, the one from heaven, tells people what he has seen and heard but “no one accepts his testimony.” Lots of people didn’t believe it when Jesus was standing right in front of them.

Now, thousands of years later with the advantage of Church history, generations of saints and our own life of faith, it can still be difficult to accept that God is here for us and will give us what we need to overcome hard times. Today’s Psalm is really quite explicit, “many are the troubles of the just man, but out of them all, the Lord delivers him.” It doesn’t say many are the troubles of bad people, but many are the troubles of the just, and I would add, holy people. There really isn’t any question that bad things happen to good people. The only question is, will we believe, especially when we are “brokenhearted and crushed in spirit” that God can make a difference?

Well … Jesus is Risen, He is truly risen. Alleluia!

That should be our answer.

Tuesday of Holy Week

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Reading

Isaiah 49:1-6, Psalm 71:1-6, 15, 17 John 13:21-33, 36-38

We are in the midst of Holy Week. This week contains the events that are the core of our faith. Jesus goes to Jerusalem to announce the coming of God’s reign and the authorities are so challenged by him that they successfully organize his death on the cross. What looked like the end of Jesus turned out to be the beginning of God’s reign, where life triumphs over death.

However, the story of Holy Week is more than a retelling of an historical event. It is God trying to tell us something about what God wants. So let’s begin with the first reading which is part of the scriptural groundwork for the events of Holy Week. Today’s reading from Isaiah is the second of four descriptions of the servant of God. We hear Isaiah tell of the servant being called from the womb from the very beginning of life, about being formed as a weapon of God, about calling Israel back to God, about toiling in vain but then with God as his strength being a light for the world. As Christians we have come to apply all this to Jesus as the ideal servant of God. That certainly is a valid understanding. However, I want you to notice that this section is written in the first person with only the end being the voice of God. What I want you to consider is that the wording makes it easy to apply what is said to the reader, to each of us. The reading says, “The Lord called me.” We need to take that seriously, each one of us. We are the ones who God has honed into a sharp edged sword and protected so we could bring distant peoples back to God. We have been made glorious in the sight of the Lord and God is our strength. The scriptures always tell us what God wants for each of us. Jesus is the perfect example of what Isaiah is describing but it didn’t end with Jesus. If it had we wouldn’t be believers today. We are the people of far distant lands. From Jerusalem, Massachusetts is pretty much the end of the earth. Jesus was only the first of the servants of God, we need to continue what has been passed on to us. We need to hear Isaiah and John as a personal message directed at us.

So if we accept that Isaiah is calling us to be a light to the nations and continue to spread God’s salvation what can we take from today’s Gospel? I think it offers a view of the challenge of following Jesus. Judas and Peter have both been with Jesus as part of his inner circle of Twelve closest supporters. Individuals Jesus called personally, just like God has called each us to believe in Jesus. Yet now when Jesus is in Jerusalem to confront the seat of Jewish faith and to call them to reform, Judas can’t go along. He decides to abandon Jesus. He chooses another path. Peter on the other hand when confronted with the challenge of an unknown journey says he is ready for anything, even death to support Jesus.

I think we face these kinds of decisions all the time in our lives. We’re not sitting in a room with Jesus as he eats with us but we come to be fed by him and believe he shows us the way to a better life. The question is, can we be faithful, will we stay the course as events present themselves in our lives. We probably aren’t going to turn our backs on Jesus as Judas did. But it may be hard to remember that grand enthusiastic acts aren’t the answer either. Everyday decisions at home and at work may say more about the kind of person we are. We know Peter denied Jesus three times the same night he promised to fight to the death for him. So we may not always follow through as we would like but Peter is a great example of the ability to accept forgiveness and stay the course. We need not give up because at times we fail. Rather we should take to heart what Isaiah says, “Though I thought I have toiled in vain, and for nothing, spent my strength … I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord and God is now my strength.” We need to consider that we were made from the beginning to be servants of God, precious in God’s sight, formed and called by God. Can we accept God’s call? Can we see ourselves as precious and will we say, “Yes, I’ll try.”

Monday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings:

1 Kings 8: 1-7, 9-13, Psalm 132: 6-10, Mark 6:53-56

I find these two readings very impressive. They are filled with excitement and celebration and joy.

In the reading from Kings all the various parts of the Hebrew nation are gathering to celebrate the new Temple that Solomon has just completed. Priests, ancestral leaders, tribes and all the people have come to Jerusalem and they are sacrificing sheep and oxen that are too many to count. Here is the Temple that David had wanted to build but Solomon has finally completed and everyone wants to be part of it. This is the place where God will reside. It says to every Jew, God is here in our midst. The God of the covenant, the God of the ark and their journey from Egypt is now here in Jerusalem their capital city. God resides with them, lives with them and therefore is available to them. To use the words of the New Testament, God is “at hand.”

This same flavor is present in the Gospel. Jesus arrives at Gennesaret and people recognize him at once. What’s more they don’t just keep it to themselves and crowd around to see or talk to him but they take off to bring other people who are sick to be near him. Wherever he goes, people who are hurting come to him for healing. People are brought on stretchers and laid out on the ground so they can touch his cloak. People are excited that he is now here and available and they come to seek healing. And Mark says, “All those who touched him were healed.” What could be more exciting than that? People were excited because the presence of Jesus meant they could be healed. Just as the Israelites were excited to have God present in their midst through the temple, these villagers had something to celebrate.

My question is, “Are we that excited?” Do we see the possibility of healing available to us in Jesus’ presence? We know that sometimes amazing miracles have happened when people’s physical sicknesses have been healed. But have we considered the healing that can take place by reaching out to Jesus with less obvious emotional or anxious needs. The key is reaching for Jesus, seeking to touch him. How often are we afraid to ask for God’s help or help from another person? Wouldn’t you think we would be a lot more excited if we believed Jesus could make a difference? So what do we believe about Jesus and the presence of God being right here in our midst? It’s why we need to talk to each other about our faith and our experience of God because on our own we probably can’t be sure. But if someone came running up with a stretcher excited to take us to Jesus for healing, wouldn’t we go? Sometimes we just have to be taken by someone else. We need to hear another’s story. Perhaps once we have had the healing Jesus can give, we would be excited too?

Thursday, the First Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings:

1 Samuel 4:1-11, Psalm 44:10-11, 14-15, 24-25, Mark 1:40-45

Sometimes when reading passages from Scripture it’s a single word or phrase that catches my attention and is the basis for reflection. Today the elaborate story of Israel’s defeat at the hands of the Philistines is too significant to be put aside. The Psalm reinforces my sense that Israel’s defeat is the issue to be talked about because the Psalm is a lament about being defeated.

The key here is the question raised in 1 Samuel, “Why has the LORD permitted us to be defeated today by the Philistines?” How often do we feel like asking the same question? How come I feel defeated? Why isn’t God on my side? Two things occur to me when faced with this kind of question. First, Israel isn’t afraid to ask the question. In fact Israel has a long history of being disappointed with the way God is handling things. Remember that after being rescued from Egypt the Israelites complained at separate times about lack of food and lack of water. They literally put God to the test. Given dire circumstances it’s appropriate to complain to God about what’s happening. It has to do with being in a living relationship. It takes a strong relationship to support honest, passionate argument. We aren’t likely to take our deepest worries to someone who doesn’t care or worse will walk away because what is said is hard to hear. When we’re upset about something it only helps if we talk to people we can trust. So ultimately this question reveals a solid relationship that Israel can count on.

The problem is Israel doesn’t understand what’s going on. The fact they “don’t get it” is stunningly revealed when they bring the Ark to the battle scene and they lose even worse than the first time. The ark is captured and Eli’s, two sons are killed. That is a serious defeat and this is where our reading ends for today. There is no escape from this loss. Which brings me to my second impression about this situation when it seems God isn’t working on our side. My thought is maybe something needs to change. In other words, if life is beating us up so badly that we think God has abandoned us then maybe it’s time to choose another path. Maybe this defeat is God’s way of telling us what we need to hear.

The possible confusion is that doing anything worthwhile takes effort and often costs us something to accomplish. So the trick is to correctly evaluate whether what is going on is truly an overwhelming, game changing defeat or just a reasonable challenge to success. My own experience was that when faced with total crushing defeat I frankly felt that if I didn’t make a change, what was going on was literally going to kill me. It was a point of having to choose a new life or face death. Which interestingly enough is what has happened to the Israelites. Their current course of action is killing them by the thousands.

When the situation is dire then it matches the Psalm today, “For our souls are bowed down to the dust, our bodies are pressed to the earth.” If God is telling us to make a change then we will find what is needed. Lepers were totally excluded from ancient society. But the leper in today’s Gospel sought out Jesus and was healed. That healing changed his life. If our world collapses then we need to look just as hard to find what will heal us.