Scripture for Friday, February 28,2025

Sirach 6:5-17, Psalm 119: 12, 16, 18, 27, 34-35, Mark 10:1–12

When I first read today’s gospel I thought I should recuse myself since like many people today I am divorced and remarried. However, I decided that’s exactly why I should tackle this reading from Mark because it’s important to me personally.

I think today’s readings, as a group, provide a wonderful toolkit for talking about the definitive response Jesus gives the Pharisees when they question him on divorce.  Jesus plainly says, twice, God didn’t make us for divorce. He says the law of Moses that allowed for divorce was simply there because Moses recognized that people are hard hearted and gave them a legal alternative. Jesus says however that is not God’s plan. I would point out he is taking this issue beyond the legalistic approach the Pharisees are asking about. This is where Jesus usually goes, way beyond the rules people have set up to the ground of our relationships, to what God intends.

So now consider the selection of verses from Sirach, one of the Wisdom books in the Old Testament. This author is talking about how tricky it is to find a good friend. That person needs to be tested and too often friends are superficial and when tough times happen they desert you. In this discussion it sounds to me like great dating advice. Who should you look for? The essence here is someone who shares your values. But it’s tough to find that person. Sirach estimates that a best friend is one in a thousand. How much rarer is a spouse?

Where I’m going with this is the reality of the human condition. Just as Jesus recognized that Moses gave the Jews a legal escape because they could be hard hearted, I would suggest we have to recognize our own failings. We mess up even when we’re trying really hard. In this case, as in other circumstances, we need to be humble and admit we make mistakes, real ones, that have bad consequences for us and for others. Which is where the Psalm for today comes in. It starts with, “teach me your statutes,” and asks that God, “open my eyes … make me understand … give me discernment, that I my observe your law and keep it with all my heart.” We need accept what Jesus says is God’s plan for us and ask for the help we need to live up to that. That way when, “a man … be jointed to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh,” will be a reality.

It’s very apparent that we often don’t meet this standard. But the heart of the matter is not down playing what Jesus says but rather admitting we made a mistake, remaining humble, taking responsibility and learning to live our lives better. Then by paying attention to our heart and what we have experienced we can also recognize God’s mercy and live in God’s love.

Scripture Readings for February 21, 2017

Sirach 2:1-11, Psalm 37: 3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40, Mark 9:30 – 37

This week I was reading some material about G. K. Chesterton and his fascination with the role of paradox and contradiction in Christianity. He points out that in the paradoxes and apparent contradictions of faith lie the very key to Christianity and its embrace of all of life. The “both,” “and” of Catholic theology is an extension of this sense that all of life is sacred and trying to formulate a good vs. bad system or ideology is folly in the face of life’s endless variety and uncontained vitality.

I mention this because it seems to me today’s readings give us good examples of fully Christian paradox. Let’s begin with the Gospel and key Christian beliefs. Jesus tells his disciples that he is going to be killed but then three days later rise from the dead. This is so “out there” that the disciples don’t even know how to ask him to explain. Still they aren’t above trying to calculate who among them is doing the best job and may turn out to be the greatest of his followers. So Jesus gives them the criteria: be a servant of other people, take care of those like a child who are totally dependent and could never pay you back. This is the way of being “first” because it will bring you into personal contact with God. Literally God will be with you. Mark says it like this, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.”

So this is where Sirach and our Psalm may be able to help because they talk about what it is to have a relationship with God. Remember we’re illustrating apparent contradictions here with the thought that this is how Christianity exhibits an inclusivity that embraces all of life. Even perhaps what is beyond our grasp, like dying and rising from the dead three days later.

I think the Psalm response most clearly states the sense of today’s selection, “Commit your life to the Lord, and he will help you.” Sirach is making the same point, “he is a protector to all who seek him.” Yet Sirach begins with, “when you come to serve the LORD … prepare yourself for trials.” This is followed by a whole series of conditions that accompany being helped by God and receiving his compassion and mercy. These include: “Accept whatever befalls you … in crushing misfortune be patient” for “worthy people (are tested) in the crucible of humiliation.”

Finally Sirach claims, “Study the generations long past and understand; has anyone hoped in the LORD and been disappointed? Has anyone persevered in his commandments and been forsaken?” Here we have the crux of the paradoxical issue. Would you want to ask Jews how well they’ve faired historically at not being forsaken? How about endless martyrs and saints of the church? Within my lifetime, people like Oscar Romero, a great group of sisters in El Salvador, Martin Luther King and various freedom fighters in the South, none of whom would seem to have come out on top even though they were caring for those “children,” those disadvantaged that God favors. So I guess Sirach really means it when he says, “My son, when you come to serve the LORD, stand in justice and fear, prepare yourself for trials.”

I believe what’s going on here is truth about life. People die in service to what they believe in. Bad things happen to good people. Life has value in and of itself. We have the opportunity to contribute to a better life for others and ourselves. Especially if a better life means treating others with dignity, being honest in our relationships, accepting ourselves as imperfect but valuable individuals, enjoying the beauty and freedom of life itself and working toward those things that give support, love and joy to everyone’s life. God’s presence is part of doing good in this world. Yes, life and Christianity are full of paradoxes. Situations that are not just more than they seem but are contradictions of what we believe to be true. It is what faith is about, which is better explained as trust. Which is what Sirach is trying to tell us:

Wait on God, with patience, cling to him, forsake him not;
thus will you be wise in all your ways.
Accept whatever befalls you,
when sorrowful, be steadfast,
and in crushing misfortune be patient

I believe we can trust God and “hope for good things, for lasting joy and mercy” even when the worst things are happening, paradox or not.

Scripture Readings for February 21, 2025

Genesis 11: 1-9, Psalm 33: 10-15, Mark 8:34 – 9:1

I think today’s readings challenge us to consider who we really are. To what extent is there a “façade” that we show to the world while protecting our inner more vulnerable self? Are we motivated solely by our ego or are there deeper concerns and realities that shape who we are and how we live our lives?

Without the help of psychological language or modern scientific understanding, Jesus in today’s Gospel raises the question of the authentic self by talking about taking up our own crosses and following Him. He raises the paradox of giving up a superficial, self-centered life to discover a richer more abundant life of loving care and concern for others. He goes so far as to predict that living in this way can make one open to the Kingdom of God right here in this life.

The reading from Genesis can be seen in a similar way. Human kind has plans of its own. These plans, designed to protect and strengthen people in their current ways, is in sharp contrast to God’s plan. According to the author, people thought the best thing for them was to be together, to pursue the same goals, to live in one place in order to build on their uniformity, what they had in common. God’s plans were different. God wanted them to spread throughout the earth, going to different places, developing under different circumstances and key to this passage, speaking different languages.

So whose plans do we follow? I do think the paradox stills applies. To become who we are meant to be we often have to deny some of things we think would be in our own best interest.

I think most people would still be more comfortable with people like themselves. Don’t we often surround ourselves with people who think like we do, who have similar goals and have had similar experiences. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. But at the same time, because of foreign travel, television, the internet and all the forms of modern communication, we are becoming more aware of how a wide variety of experiences and knowing people from diverse cultures make for a richer life and a deeper appreciation of people and what is possible in this life.

Still the differences some people exhibit can make us ill at ease or anxious before we even get to know them.

How often have we had plans for how our life was to go and then life went another direction that we could not control? What kind of differences have been forced on us that we later came to see as rewarding and wonderful. Haven’t we received the gift of God’s kingdom in many ways we could never have foreseen? Aren’t there joys in our lives that came from unexpected places?

I think these readings remind us we have to be open to those unexpected and unknown situations both in our daily lives and even in the parts of ourselves we may not have been willing to explore. If we believe as the Psalmist says, that God “fashioned the heart of each” of us. Then letting go of some of our tightly held attitudes and plans and trusting in God’s direction, in God’s call and in God’s challenges may lead us not only to God but to the joys and happiness that resides at the heart of who we are.

Scripture Readings for February 17, 2025

Genesis 4:1-15, 25, Psalm 50:1, 8, 16bc-17, 20-2, Mark 8: 11-13

In order to get the most from today’s Gospel I think we have to look at the Scripture passages that come immediately before and after the section we read this morning. The questioning by the Pharisees is preceded by the multiplication of the loaves and the feeding of 4,000 people with 7 loaves of bread. It is then followed by a conversation in which his disciples misunderstand his comments about the destructive power of hidden agendas.

We must also remember that the Gospels were not written to be a history of Jesus’ life but rather as a tool for explaining to people what faith in Jesus was about. Certainly the events in the Gospels have an historical basis but the evangelists, the writers of the Gospels, were well, evangelizing, trying to spread the message. So let’s look at this part of Mark’s gospel just as a first time reader might.

You’ve just read that 4,000 people were fed on seven loaves of bread and a few fish and the leftovers filled seven baskets. Then the very next thing that happens is a group of Pharisees asks Jesus for a sign from heaven as proof that his message is from God. Wouldn’t you think, you’d just read about the best sign of heavenly generosity you could think of? But what is really puzzling is Jesus’ answer, “no sign will be given to this generation.” Isn’t this the same guy who just fed those 4,000 and has been curing and healing people all over the countryside?

I think the key to this question is that Jesus “sighed from the depth of his spirit.” The story is an example of how people cannot see what is right in front of them. In this case, Mark is talking about how we recognize God’s presence.

Jesus’ sigh signals his frustration with people’s tendency to rely on some outside event to prove for them it is OK to believe. Jesus reply is an acknowledgement that there never is proof certain for someone who can’t hear and see for themselves. The person who requires outside proof is someone who isn’t listening to his or her own heart, his or her own experience. In that case there is no way to prove faith. When it comes to recognizing God’s presence in our lives we are the only one who can see it for ourselves.

This point is reinforced by what follows the Pharisees questioning. The disciples and Jesus go across the lake and Jesus warns them about the destructive influence of the Pharisees. He refers to their influence as yeast in the bread and the Apostles misinterpret what he says, thinking they forgot to bring enough bread for the journey. Jesus then questions their ability to understand his mission. He asks, “Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?”

This is exactly what Jesus found so frustrating with the Pharisees. You can feed 4,000 people and your own disciples can’t seem to see the message of God’s generous providence to all of us.

For me the core of today’s Gospel is Jesus’ own sadness that so many people couldn’t recognize the gift that was in the middle of their lives. Isn’t that exactly one of the issues that still plague us? Do we recognize God’s love present in our midst and then live accordingly?

How do we learn to see what God is trying to do and hear what God is trying to say in our lives? Based on today’s Gospel, that has been an issue from the very beginning of Jesus mission among us. So let’s remember the key lesson here. Don’t look outside yourself for some absolute answer or proof that will clear everything up. That’s exactly what won’t happen. Instead the only place to look for answers is within us and our everyday experience, our feelings. Like the sigh of Jesus from the depth of his spirit, it tells us so much about who we really are.

Scripture Readings, February 13, 2025

Genesis 2:18-25, Psalm 128:1-5, Mark 7:24-30

            Today’s Gospel has a wonderfully earthy, even gritty, character that appeals to me.

            Mark tells us about a Gentile woman turning the tables on Jesus. When Mark writes this he is letting the Gentiles know that God’s blessings are meant for them too. God is not just a Jewish god but everybody’s God. For us, I think it helps to see that Jesus was a person of his time. Son of God, yes, but fully human, a Jew of the first century with all the attitudes that come with that.  Therefore, it can be a message about how God acts in our time.

For Jesus, this woman is an outsider, a non-Jew. Jesus therefore, labels her as a Gentile dog. The derogatory way Jews often referred to Gentiles. Jesus is here for the salvation of the Jews and she doesn’t qualify. But this woman, who has come begging for help for her daughter, is willing to accept the status she has been assigned and fit her request into that narrative. She isn’t going to give up because this man tells her something she already knows. She may be a Gentile dog but she’ll take any scraps the chosen children of Israel drop from the table. She is asking simply as a person in need. She is not claiming any basis for her request except the need to save her daughter. She’s here on her own, no husband to speak for her. The request is not even for a son who might one day be her protector but a daughter. This woman has no status, her only chance is if this man shows her mercy. The mercy of this man who apparently can heal people. Jesus recognizes the honest need of a person who has no claim on him whatsoever. He is willing to give what is completely unearned, even undeserved by the norms of the time. Jesus heals the daughter as an act of pure mercy to this woman. Mark is telling us that’s how God acts. That’s what the presence of God looks like, mercy, pure generous mercy to those who ask.

Scripture Readings, February 3, 2025

Hebrews 11: 32-40, Psalm 31:20-24, Mark 5:1-20

The gospel today is clearly a story of transformation. A frightening transformation, at least for the people of the time. We have a man possessed by unclean spirits who has been repeatedly chained and fettered to no avail. He has lived in caves and done harm to himself. Everyone knows the situation.

When Jesus arrives the spirits that possess the man supplicate themselves to Jesus immediately. They recognize Jesus as the Son of God and are summarily dismissed into a herd of pigs that drown themselves in the lake.

That sounds to me like a good story, a possessed man truly freed from his chains and the spirits that bound him. A story about the power of God over the present evil. However, what caught my attention is how the towns people saw it. Mark says, “people came out to see what had happened … they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there properly dressed and in his full senses, and they were afraid … they began to beg Jesus to leave their district.”

I believe Mark’s story is more than a story of Jesus freeing a man from unclean spirits. I think this story is trying to demonstrate how big the change is when we let God’s presence be active in our lives. I think it can be frightening to face real, deep, substantive change in life. The man as possessed was the normal condition. The town’s people knew how to deal with that. That same person as free, at peace and looking like everyone else, was a threat to what they understood as the way the world was. To change how the world operates is frightening. But that’s what Jesus brings, a completely new way for this world to operate. That’s Mark’s message, that to accept Jesus as Son of God is to admit to a huge change, one that will upset our world view. If we want things to stay the same, then frightened, we send Jesus away. The question is, can we accept the kind of change in ourselves that is God’s call or is it too frightening?

Scripture Readings, January 30, 2025

Hebrews 10:19-25, Psalm 24:1-6, Mark 4:21-25

Sometimes I think we can reduce Christian and Catholic faith to a moral code. The thinking runs along the line that religion is primarily about setting up rules for human behavior. That thinking tends to see Jesus as someone who came to show us how to live. Now I’m not saying that generous, loving behavior is not part of Catholic faith, I’m saying it’s the biproduct of the primary purpose of Jesus’s life. His primary purpose: demonstrate that God is an active loving presence in our lives. That we are meant to have a personal, direct relationship with God simply because that’s what God wants … to be a loving companion with us. Isn’t it true that once you feel loved everything changes? Well, that’s the point, first you have to feel loved and that’s what today’s readings are trying to tell us.

Hebrews starts by pointing out that we have “entrance to the sanctuary” because of Jesus’ death and that “his promise is trustworthy.” To enter the sanctuary is to have access to God. In Judaism only the high priest could enter the sanctuary where supposedly God resided. Now this access is available to everyone.

It is this being in God’s presence that the author of Hebrews is saying provides the hope we long for. Coming together in our faith, in the assembly helps sustain our belief in what Jesus promised, that God is with us.

          Finally, Jesus in Mark’s Gospel has just told the story of the sower and the seed. How spreading God’s Word depends as much on the one who is listening as the person spreading the message. He explains that God’s loving message is not meant to be hidden but people need to listen and if they listen then more will be given to them than they would expect. There is also the warning that not paying attention has consequences. The story is not about behavior or being rich or poor but rather about opening oneself to the message of God’s love and care. It’s about hearing what Jesus’ life says about God with us and only then acting on that belief. We all need to hear the message and hold on to it over our lifetime. Holding on to a message of love is where behavior comes in: how we live day to day, being in conversation with other believers, recognizing the gift of life we have been given. The Psalmist says it directly, “Lord, this is the people who long to see your face.” What is love but the longing to be with our loved one.

Scripture Readings, January 27, 2025

Hebrews 9: 15, 24-28, Psalm 98:1-6, Mark 3:22-30

          Is the world a good place or a bad place? Some days it’s hard to tell. As Catholics our faith says it’s a good place, God’s place. People familiar with the Bible might point to the creation story in Genesis as proof that God made everything good, very good. That’s one place you can go. I think today’s readings are another.

          The Psalm says it most clearly, “The LORD has made his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.” We believe that the person, Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God and lived among us to demonstrate what salvation, joy and the kingdom of God really looked like. Everyone could see and experience him and what he did. Today even more than in his own time, the entire world knows about Jesus and what he stands for. So God certainly has revealed his justice and salvation for all to see.

          However, that doesn’t mean that recognizing the Kingdom of God is obvious for everyone. It hasn’t been obvious at any point, including when Jesus was alive for all to see. That’s what the story in the Gospel today is all about.

          The scribes who had come from Jerusalem had seen and heard about the miracles that Jesus was working and they came to the conclusion that what he was doing couldn’t be explained on natural grounds alone. These religious leaders who had an entire faith tradition of God’s saving actions and who were explicitly waiting for a messiah, came to the conclusion that what they were seeing was the work of the devil. That should tell us that recognizing God’s presence among us is not obvious. If seeing Jesus cure people, give people sight and drive out demons makes some people think it’s the devils work we should not be surprised that it isn’t obvious that the world is a good and holy place.

          We, however, believe that Jesus is the Son of God which means we accept that God is here, in this life making a difference just as Jesus did when he was physically here on earth. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus points out that the good he does couldn’t be the devil’s work or the devil would be working against himself. More importantly, Jesus makes a remarkable statement of how the strong man of the house must be tied up. The point is that Jesus has tied up the strong man, the devil, so that Jesus can plunder his house, so that he can change what has gone on in the world. Which is to say that there are bad things, evil things in the world but that in the end God wins, whereas the devil, evil is vanquished. The only thing that stands in the way is to blaspheme against the Spirit. Meaning that if you don’t recognize the work of the Spirit you can’t enjoy the benefits of what that means.

Recognizing the holiness of life means being able to see God in all of God’s creation. The Spirit of God can change lives, heal wounds, give us new life but we have to be open enough to recognize it as God’s gift. Think of all that has changed in two thousand years: medicine to cure diseases, indoor plumbing, airplanes, phones to talk to anyone, anywhere in the world instantly, better understanding of human behavior, individual freedom, you could go on and on. The world is a more human friendly place than it was two thousand years ago. We should be able to say the world is good, we should be open enough to recognize God’s love all around us.