Shalom Sunday

[1]
“Thomas, put your hand into my side.” (Jn 20:27)

Shalom Sunday

May 1, 2011 Second Sunday of Easter
Acts 2:42-47 I Peter 1:3-9 John 20:19-31
First reading from Acts

They joined with other believers in regular attendance at the apostles’ teaching sessions and at the Communion services and prayer meetings. Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. And all the believers met regularly and shared everything with each other. They would sell their possessions and share with those in need. They worshiped regularly at the Temple each day, met in small groups in homes for Communion, and shared their meals with great joy and thankfulness. They enjoyed great favor with the people, and every day God added to their number those who were being saved.

The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
Glory to you, Lord.

It was late that Sunday evening, and the disciples were gathered together behind doors locked out of fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, He showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Now a week later His disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger into my hands. Put your hand into my side. Doubt no longer but believe.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus said to him, “You believe because you have seen me. But blessed are those who have not seen me but believe anyway.”

Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believethat Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in His name

The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
An insensitive translation

“The doors were locked for fear of the Jews.” That expression is used only three times in the whole Bible and always in John’s gospel. When Jesus went secretly to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tents, John writes, “No one talked openly about Him for fear of the Jews.” (Jn 7:13) John also writes that Joseph of Arimathea, who asked Pilate for permission to take the body of Jesus down from the cross and bury it, was a secret follower of Jesus for fear of the Jews. (Jn 19: 38) And then in today’s gospel, the apostles were huddled together behind doors locked for fear of the Jews. (Jn 20:19)

No doubt about it, some of the roots of anti-Semitism lurk in that expression “for fear of the Jews,” as it is mindlessly read in the Sunday assembly down through the centuries. Fear of the Jews easily turns into hatred of Jews. We remind ourselves that it was the German Nazis’ fear of the Jews which sent 6 million of them into gas chambers and crematoria.

In a chunky volume containing eight translations of the New Testament only two out of eight are sensitive to the anti-Semitism lurking in the expression ”for fear of the Jews.” The Living Bible and Today’s English Version read, “The doors were locked for fear of the Jewish authorities.” The other six translations as well as this morning’s translation read “for fear of the Jews.” With the Holocaust in mind, that insensitive translation is unconscionable!

The yearly scolding

The Sunday immediately following Easter is always "Doubting Thomas Sunday." It is interesting to note that all the Sundays of the liturgical year have three different gospels assigned them (one for each of the three liturgical cycles of a, b and c). The Sunday following Easter, however, has only one gospel assigned it: that of the Doubting Thomas. It is repeated for all three cycles. Is that repetition on the part of the Church all about making sure that we the faithful are yearly scolded for our doubting? In this passage is Jesus really scolding Thomas for doubting? That’s always been the usual take on this passage, but it perhaps needs revisiting.
Thomas was not with the other apostles when the risen Lord appeared. What was it that took Thomas away from the other apostles that day? Was he appointed by the others to venture out of the locked room, and go shopping for food? Had the apostles gotten into another quarrel about who was the greatest (Lk 9:46), and Thomas left in a huff to compose himself? We’ll never know. But we do know that Thomas has gone down in history as “doubting Thomas.” Refusing to accept the testimony of the others, he demands his own experience of the risen Lord.

Doubting Thomas – an icon for believers

Despite all the bad-mouthing he has received down through the ages, at the end of the day, Thomas the doubter, believe it or not, is an icon for believers. We, who inherit the stories about the risen Lord, must at some point demand proof; our rational nature (like Thomas’) demands this. At the end of the day and despite centuries of bad-mouthing, Thomas the doubter is not an unbelieving scoundrel. He’s simply asking for himself the same proof afforded the other apostles to whom Jesus showed his hands and his side. (Jn 20:20)

Thomas the doubter is not an unbelieving scoundrel. Rather, he is an icon of the intelligent believer who asks questions and constantly struggles with God, and in the course of his questioning and struggling strengthens his faith. Beware of the `believer’ who’s afraid to question and struggle with God; such a believer never strengthens his faith.

Conclusion:

Shalom -- a multifaceted diamond

The second Sunday of Easter is called Doubting Thomas Sunday. It’s also called Shalom Sunday. Twice the risen Lord appears to the disciples huddled behind doors locked for fear of the Jewish authorities. In His first appearance He passes through locked doors and twice wishes the apostles Shalom! (Peace!) Thomas, however, is not there: he has ventured out to buy food, or he has had a quarrel with some of the others and wants to get out of the house. A week later the risen Lord appears again, and this time Thomas is present, and again the risen Lord wishes Shalom to the disciples cowering behind closed doors.

The Hebrew word Shalom is a multifaceted diamond. The seventy men who translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek (and gave us the bible known as the Septuagint) used 25 different Greek words in different contexts to express the many facets of Shalom. In different contexts Shalom says different things, but they all have a common golden thread weaving through them.

Sometimes Shalom simply says “Peace” Sometimes it says, “Stop your worrying! Everything will be OK.” Sometimes it says, “Relax! Let go and let God.” Sometimes Shalom is a command to “Quit your complaining and count your blessings.” Sometimes it’s a command to “Let go of your anger and hate; they’ll only poison your soul.” If you’re trembling with fear behind locked doors Shalom says, “Don’t be afraid!” Sometimes Shalom is a command to cut down to size the molehills you’ve built up into mountains. Sometimes it’s a command, to lay hold of a sense of proportion, as we weep and wail over the price of gas at the pump, while the Japanese people weep and wail over the unspeakable devastation of the March 11 tsunami.,

[1] By Michelangelo Merisi of Caravaggio (b. 1573 d. 1610)

The Sainly Sinner Who Raised God from the Dead

Franciscan friar Fr. Mychal Judge, chaplain for the NYC firefighters, died in the conflagration of 9/11, 2001. Fellow-firefighters carried his body to nearby Episcopal St. Paul Chapel at 209 Broadway. There they laid Judge’s body on an altar.

The Saintly Sinner Who Raised God from the Dead

Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011

Acts 10:34, 37-43 Colossians 3:1-4 John 20:1-9

The first reading from Acts

Peter proceeded to speak: “You know what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached. You know about Jesus of Nazareth, how God poured out on Him the Holy Spirit and power. He went everywhere doing good and healing all who were under the power of the Devil. We are witnesses of all that He did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead on the third day and caused Him to appear, not to all the people, but only to us who are the witnesses chosen by God in advance. We ate and drank with Him after he rose from the dead. And He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that He is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

The word of Lord
Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Glory to you, Lord.

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first. He bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths lying there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple, who had arrived at the tomb first, also went in. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand the Scripture which said He must rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back home.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

--------------

Introduction

Nietzsche’s murdered God

German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844–1900) is famous for his strange but intriguing declaration that “God is Dead." In his work The Madman, he places the expression in the mouth of a demented man who declares,

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed Him. How shall we (murderers of all murderers) comfort ourselves? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has known has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to cleanse ourselves?

God murdered by Nazis

Nietzsche was right: man has the awesome power to murder God. The Nazis murdered God. On November 9th 1938, they rampaged through Germany and in one night destroyed 7000 Jewish businesses and torched 191 synagogues. That night goes down in history as Krystallnacht (Night of the Shattered Crystal), and it marks the beginning in earnest of the Holocaust. By the time the German Nazis had accomplished their `final solution of the Jewish problem,’ they had murdered six million Jews.

The most prominent fatality of the Holocaust, however, was God Himself! Elie Weisel is the Holocaust’s most well-know Jewish survivor. He is also an activist and author. In a little volume entitled Night he recounts his first evening in the concentration camp of Buchenwald. There he saw the bodies of little children going up in smoke from the crematories. He writes, “That was the night which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams into dust. Never shall I forget it, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never! “

God murdered by Islamic extremists

Again, Nietzsche was right: man has the awesome power to murder God. Islamic extremists murdered God. This September 11th 2011 will be the 10th anniversary of that horrific event, which labels time for us Americans as “Before 9/11 and After 9/11.” On that apocalyptic day, Osama bin Laden and his co-conspirators drove two 747s into the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan, a third airliner into the Pentagon, and a fourth into a field near Shanksville, Penn. 2800 innocent human beings were murdered on that unspeakable day. After ten months of grim labor, workers at ground zero together with the families of victims of 9/11 gathered at a Staten Island landfill on July 15, 2002 to mark the end of a grueling and emotional ten-month operation which had hauled away 2,000,000 tons of debris, 1600 identified bodies and 20,000 body parts.
Again, the most prominent fatality of September 11th was God Himself! One New Yorker, a security guard who lost more than thirty friends that day, said of that horrific event:

It was utterly barbaric the way their lives were taken. So I look at God now as a barbarian and I probably always will. My old God was murdered that day, and I don’t know how to bring Him back to life.

God murdered by the tsunami

Nature also has the awesome power to murder God. On March 11th 2011, a 90-magnitude undersea earthquake occurred off the eastern coast of Japan. It caused a tsunami of overwhelming statistics: 27,000 people dead or missing. 318,000 people left homeless, and 306 billion dollars to haul away millions of tons of debris and to rebuild. Ominously topping that heap of horrible statistics are the crippled nuclear reactors in Fukushima Prefecture. The cost in human grief, physical pain, deep despair, irreparable loss and ominous fear of radiation is overwhelming.

That tsunami did, indeed, murder God for Austin Kenny. In an article entitled God, Allah & the Tsunami Disaster he unambiguously declares his atheism, and he momentarily ignites in us a spark of temptation to go down the same path of atheism. He writes:

Where was God when the tsunami hit? He was where he always was, in the
imaginations of those who believe in him. He exists nowhere else. He can neither help nor hinder us. We have nothing to thank him for nor do we have anything to blame him for. We are simply on our own!

A man who raised God from the dead

Man, indeed, has the awesome power to murder God, but man has also the awesome power to raise God from the dead! Fr. Mychal Judge was a priest of the Franciscan Order, and a beloved chaplain of the NYC Fire Department. By his utterly unselfish life and death he raised up a God murdered by man on 9/11. On the apocalyptic day, chaplain Judge rushed to ground zero where he became that infamous day’s first recorded fatality. He had taken off his helmet to give the last rites to a dying fireman when suddenly a mass of debris came crushing down upon him. He died there on the spot, and his body was reverently carried off by his fellow firefighters to nearby Episcopal St. Paul Chapel at 209 Broadway. There it was reverently laid on an altar. That solemn drama of Fr. Judge’s last moments crowned a life of extraordinary unselfishness.

New Yorkers knew much more about Fr. Judge than just about his heroic death on 9/11. They often experienced his jocund character -- his legendary knack for story-telling and for bursting into old Irish standards at the drop of a hat. They experienced his great gift for making people feel as though they were the only ones in the room, and his bartender's gift for bringing strangers together. New Yorkers were always amazed at Judge’s encyclopedic memory for people’s names, birthdays and passions. New Yorkers also knew about his deep compassion for the city’s needy and forgotten; he knew everyone from the homeless to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who declared at his funeral that, “This man was a saint.” And though he was a true New Yorker, born and raised in the City, people saw how he lived on an entirely different plain of priorities than theirs: he was non-acquisitive, unselfish and utterly uncomplaining.

New Yorkers also knew a `darker side’ about Fr. Judge. He was a recovering alcoholic who comforted alcoholics, assuring them they were not evil people. He’d tell them, “Look you’re not a bad person. You have a disease that makes you think you’re bad, and that’s going to `f…’ you up.” (He’d used forceful language when the occasion called for it.) Despite some raised eyebrows, he opened the doors of the well-known Church of St. Francis of Assisi on 31st Street in Upper Manhattan to Dignity, an organization for gay Catholics. And then to top it off, people saw him, clothed in his Franciscan habit, march quietly and dignifiedly in the first gay-inclusive St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City.

No wonder, then, when Cardinal Edward Egan presided at his funeral on September 15, 2001, in St. Francis of Assisi Church, NYC, the Mass was attended by a sea of 3,000 people. In that immense crowd were city officials, former President Bill Clinton and New York Senator Hillary Clinton with daughter Chelsea. The funeral homily was broadcast worldwide over three TV networks. And when a memorial service was later held in the Anglican chapel of the Good Shepherd Chapel on Ninth Ave, cops, firefighters, lawyers, priests, nuns, homeless people, rock-and-rollers, recovering alcoholics, local politicians and middle age couples from the suburbs came flocking from every direction to celebrate a man who in New Yorkers’ very darkest hour had raised a dead God to life for them.

Austin Kenny declares that “We are on our own,” whether it be the 11th of September or the 11th of March. At the other end of the spectrum stands St. Mychal Judge who by his living and dying raised up a dead God for New Yorkers in general, and for alcoholics and gays in particular. By his living and his dying he reassured us that we are not ”on our own.”

Conclusion

One good word for Easter: `Alleluia!’

Words, indeed, fall short on Easter Morn. The words of a homily which pretend `to prove’ that Jesus truly rose from the dead are never brilliantly successful. More successful in engendering Easter faith is the yearly robin rolling away the stone before the tomb of winter, building her nest according to an eternal blueprint, and announcing the arrival of spring. More successful in engendering Easter faith is a vibrant parish rolling away the stone before the tomb of a dead God, and making Him come alive with living Liturgy and living Word. More successful in engendering Easter faith is a `sinful saint’ like Mychal Judge rolling away the huge stone before the tomb of a God murdered by 9/11 (and 3/11), and reassuring New Yorkers and us that God is, indeed, alive.

Words, indeed, fall short on Easter Morn. At the end of the day, there is only one good word for Easter: `Alleluia!’ `Alleluia’ is an unintelligible exclamation; it’s a kind of ecstatic babble which wells up in our hearts because of nesting robins, vibrant parishes and saintly sinners like Mychal Judge.

Palm and Passion Sunday

“The crowds spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut palm branches from trees and strewed them on the road.” (Mt 21:6)

Palm and Passion Sunday April 17, 2011

Palm Sunday: “Hosanna!”

For the blessing of palms

(Mt 21:1-11)

When Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, He sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied up and her colt with her. Untie them and bring them here to me. And if anyone should say anything to you, tell him that the master has need of them. Then he will let them go at once.” This happened so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: “Tell Jerusalem her King is coming to her, riding humbly on a donkey’s colt![1]”

So the disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them. They brought the animals to Him and threw their cloaks over the colt for Him to ride on. And some in the crowds spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut palm branches from trees and strewed them on the road. The crowds preceding Him and those following kept crying out and saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest![2]” As He entered Jerusalem the whole city was thrown into an uproar. “Who is this man?”some asked. “This is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee,” the crowds answered.

Passion Sunday: “Crucify Him!”

Excerpt[3] from the reading of the Passion (Mt 27:20-26)

The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask Pilate to set Barabbas free and have Jesus put to death. But the Governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to set free for you?” They answered, “Barabbas!” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus called Christ?” They all said, “Crucify Him!” But he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” They only shouted the louder, “Crucify Him!” When Pilate saw that he was not succeeding at all, but that a riot was breaking out instead, he took water and washed his hands in the sight of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. Look to it yourselves.” And the whole people said in reply, “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” Then he released Barabbas to them, but after he had Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

Introduction

Palm Sunday 2011

On the first day of Lent, we received ashes to remind ourselves that we are dust, and unto dust we shall return. On this last Sunday of Lent, which opens Holy Week, we receive blessed palms at Mass in remembrance of that first Palm Sunday when the Lord rode `triumphantly’ into Jerusalem. The wonderful news that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead (Jn 11:1-45) and had healed two blind men (Mt 20:29-34) had spread far and wide. So when the people heard that He was coming to town, they went eagerly out to welcome Him. Cheering crowds laid palm branches before Him as He rode into Jerusalem, seated upon a donkey -- the animal of simple country folk.

Passover 2011

This week is holy also for the Jewish community. On Tuesday, April 19, it will begin a seven-day celebration commemorating the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. The Lord God instructed the enslaved Israelites to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a spring lamb. Then He rained death upon the unmarked homes of the Egyptians, but passed over the homes of the Israelites marked with the blood of the lamb. Hence the Feast of Passover. When the Egyptian Pharaoh repented and let the Israelites go free, they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for the bread to rise. Hence the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. (Ex. 12:11-23) As we remind ourselves that the Passover meal was the very context and substance of the Last Supper, and therefore of the Mass itself, we feel a connectedness with the Jewish community, as it celebrates Passover 2011.

A gnawing question

The notorious and elusive Osama bin Laden, who inspired and master-minded 9/11, was angry at the U. S. for sending thousands of troops into Saudi Arabia to support the oppressive and corrupt regime of the Saudi Kingdom. Bin Laden proceeded to play the religious card: he said the land made holy by Islam’s two most sacred sites of pilgrimage (Mecca and Medina) was desecrated by infidel (American) feet on sacred ground. Bin Laden claimed that 9/11 was “religiously inspired; it was a war against ''unbelief and unbelievers.” This year is the 10th anniversary of “9/11.” That’s an utterly inadequate expression to denote that horrific event, when bin Laden and his fellow conspirators brought down the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan and incinerated 3,000 innocent human beings. This 10th anniversary prompts a gnawing question: Do we feel the same connectedness with the Islamic community that we feel with the Jewish community? If not, why not?

Palm Sunday – celebratory and subversive.

On Palm Sunday the crowds are cheering Jesus as He enters into Jerusalem. For the moment they see beyond the humble appearance of the man riding on a lowly donkey. They’re singing part of psalm 118, vs. 26: “May God bless the One who comes in the name of the Lord! From the Temple of the Lord we bless you.” Palm Sunday was not only celebratory; it was also subversive. Jesus subverted the people’s idea of the Messiah: He didn’t come with an army to free their land from Roman occupiers. He came instead with a rag-tag assortment of fishermen, tax-collectors, and disreputable women. He rode into town not as generals or kings do, mounted upon a proud stallion. He entered Jerusalem sitting upon a lowly donkey -- the animal of simple country folk. In fact, the donkey didn’t even belong to Jesus; He had to borrow it for the occasion. (Mt 21:3)

The fickleness of crowds

In the reading of the Passion which follows the blessing of palms, the scene changes dramatically. The cheering crowds of Palm Sunday, waving branches and shouting “Hosanna,” suddenly become the jeering crowds of Good Friday, crying out “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” (Mt. 27:22-23) Were the crowds of Palm Sunday and Good Friday one and the same crowds? They probably weren’t. But if they were, that wouldn’t be the first time Jesus experienced the fickleness of the crowds.

One Sabbath He was in His hometown synagogue. After reading from the 61st chapter of Isaiah and commenting on the text, Scripture says, “The eyes of all were pealed upon Him, and all marveled at the beautiful words that fell from his lips.”(Lk 4:20-22) But when the Lord remarked that a prophet is never well-received in his own hometown, the congregants of the synagogue “became infuriated at Jesus, grabbed Him by the nape of the neck, dragged Him to the brow of a hill and were going to throw Him over, but He slipped away.”(Lk 4:20-30)

Christ crucified – a stumbling block

In Corinthians Paul writes, “We preach Christ crucified—a stumbling block to Jews, and an absurdity to Gentiles.” (I Cor 1:23) The Greek word for `stumbling block’ is sêáìíäáëïí (scandalon) -– scandal. Christ crucified was a scandal! Not scandal in the sense of something which raises our eyebrows, or which gives us something to gossip about. But scandal in its theological meaning -- as that which causes one to stumble. Christ crucified was a scandal -- “a stumbling block to Jews, and an absurdity to Gentiles.” “Blessed is the man,” says Jesus, “ who does not find me to be a stumbling block.” (Mt 11:6)

The tsunami of March 11 – a stumbling block

On March 11th 2011, a 9.0 magnitude undersea earthquake occurred off the eastern coast of Japan. It was the most powerful earthquake ever to hit Japan and it is one of the five most powerful earthquakes ever recorded. It caused a monumental tsunami with overwhelming statistics: 27,000 dead or missing. 318,000 people left homeless, and 306 billion dollars to haul away millions of tons of debris and to start rebuilding. Ominously topping that heap of horrible statistics are the crippled nuclear reactors in Fukushima Prefecture.The cost in human grief, physical pain, deep despair, irreparable loss and ominous fear of radiation is overwhelming. Christ crucified was a scandal - a stumbling block to belief. The tsunami of March 11th 2011 is also a scandal – a stumbling block to belief. Blessed is the man who does not find the earthquake and tsunami of March 11 a scandal.

Various responses to March 11

Around the world people are trying to deal with March 11, which shook not only tectonic plates below men’s feet but also their very faith itself. They dare to ask themselves, “How can faith survive such an immense test as the tsunami of March 11th? And people with various faiths or no faith at all are answering the question in different ways.

Buddhist priest Tesshu Shaku in Ikeda City, Japan, says “Buddhism is a religion with no god. So we don’t think God caused the earthquake and tsunami of March 11. The earthquake was simply the friction between the North American plate and the Pacific plate.” The Japanese people, he says, are more focused on feeling the pain of others, and at this overwhelming moment they give themselves wholeheartedly to community service, or they become Buddhist monks.

Rabbi Harold Kushner[4] likes to quote the 1st Book of Kings, whenever a disaster like March 11 happens: "And lo, the Lord God passed by. There was a mighty wind, splitting mountains and shattering rocks, but the Lord was not in the wind. There was an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake." That’s the key for Rabbi Kushner: The Lord was not in the earthquake and tsunami of March 11. He was and is, instead, in those terribly hurting people whose lives were utterly shattered, when their loved ones and homes were swept away. He was and is in the goodness and generosity of people all over the world who reach out with prayers and gifts to come to the aid of strangers.

Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, writer and activist who founded the Unified Buddhist Church in France, writes: “As we contemplate the great number of people who have died in the tsunami of March 11, we feel very strongly that we ourselves, in some way, have also died. The pain of one part of humankind is the pain of the whole of humankind. What happens to one part of the body happens to the whole body.” That Buddhist monk sounds like St. Paul who writes, “If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it.” (I Cor 12:26)

Conclusion

A very helpful belief

Jesuit Fr. James Martin believes there is no satisfactory answer for the mountainous heap of human suffering caused by the tsunami of March 11. Each person, he says, has to come to grips with that himself. Though there’s no satisfactory answer for human suffering, the Christian belief in a God who “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried” can be a very helpful belief. The gods of ancient Greece and Rome did not suffer, but they did indeed make men suffer. The God of Christians is an utterly brand new God: He makes no one suffer, but He Himself does, indeed, suffer. The God of Christians is a `human God’: He knows suffering, and people who suffer (that’s all of us) can more easily relate to such a God.

[1] Zechariah. 9:9

[2] Psalm 118:26

[3] The full reading of the Passion is Matthew 26:14 – 27:66

[4] An author whose books include When Bad Things Happen to Good People.

"Jesus Wept"

The Shortest Scriptural Verse: “Jesus wept.” Jn 11:35

April 10, 2011, 5th Sunday of Lent: the Raising of Lazarus

Ezekiel 37:12-14 Romans 8:8-11 Johan 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45

First reading from Ezekiel

Thus says the Lord God: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus, you shall know that I am the Lord. I have promised that I will do this---and I will. I, the Lord have spoken.

The Word of God

Thanks be to God

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Glory to you, Lord.

The sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus, saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.”When Jesus heard this He said, “His sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory, so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He remained where He was two days more. Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”

Jesus became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Sir, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how He loved Lazarus.” But some of them said, “Could not the One who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?”

So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to Him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?”So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised His eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” And when He had said this, He cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.” Now many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and seen what He had done began to believe in Him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Introduction

The tomb of Lazarus

The raising of Lazarus from the dead is the crowning miracle of Jesus’ ministry. In John’s Gospel it becomes the main reason why the authorities in Jerusalem make plans to put Jesus to death. John writes, “From that day on, the Jewish authorities made plans to kill Jesus.”(Jn 11:-53) As we draw near to the Good Friday tomb of Jesus (April 22), this 5th Sunday of Lent (Cycle A) takes us to the tomb of Lazarus in Bethany where everyone is weeping. There Jesus also is weeping.

A very special love

Jesus had a very special love for Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus. He frequently visited their home in Bethany, a small village near Jerusalem. The gospels mention three such visits. On one visit Martha is fussing as she prepares a good meal for Jesus, and she’s angry that her sister Mary is sitting at the Lord’s feet instead of giving her a helping hand. (Lk 10:38-42) In today’s gospel, Jesus goes to the sisters’ home, after hearing that their brother Lazarus has died. (Jn 11:1-45) Again, in John’s gospel Jesus visits the two sisters and their brother Lazarus (whom Jesus has raised from the dead), and Martha is again waiting on Jesus, while Mary pours expensive perfume on His feet. (Jn 12:1-9)

The shortest Scriptural verse

Three occasions in the Bible portray Jesus as weeping. (1) Luke 19: 41: “When Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city before Him, He began to weep. `Oh Jerusalem,’ He cried out, `eternal peace was within your reach and you turned it down.’” (2) Hebrews 5: 7: “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death.” (3) John 11: 35: When Jesus heard that His dear friend Lazarus had died, He did not make a speech or preach a sermon or say that it was God’s will. Instead, Scripture says, “Jesus wept.” Just two words: “Jesus wept.” That’s the shortest verse in English translations of the Bible. Just one noun and one verb: “Jesus wept.”

A strange new God

The sentence couldn’t be simpler. But behind it stands a monumental truth: Jesus, fully man and fully God, found Himself in the midst of human tragedy (the death of a dear friend), and He did what we would do: He wept! The old revengeful gods of ancient Greece and Rome did not weep, but they were always making men weep. In Jesus we have a strange new God who makes no one weep. What’s more, in Jesus we have a strange new God who weeps because His very dear friend Lazarus has died. And He weeps also because Mary and Martha are weeping.

God wept on September 11th 2001

The revengeful gods of ancient Greece and Rome, who did not weep but who indeed made men weep, are alive and well in every age. This coming September 11th 2011 will be the 10th anniversary of 9/11. “9/11” is a terribly bland expression for an utterly horrendous event in which two 747s, smashed into the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan bringing down not only tons of mortar and bricks but also three thousand innocent human beings. That apocalyptic event piled up a heap of destruction so mountainous that it took a ten-month operation working day and night to haul away 2 million tons of debris, containing 20 thousand body parts. When that horrendous event happened, the late evangelical preacher Jerry Falwell resurrected the revengeful gods of ancient Greece and Rome, as he shook his finger at “pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays and People for the American Way,” and in so many words claimed that in the horrific event of 9/11 God was “getting even” with these nefarious sinners! Shame on you, Christian preacher! The Gospel is the Good News that on 9/11 God wasn’t getting even; God was weeping! That’s how Bernie Heeran felt about it. He is a retired firefighter whose son Charlie worked at Cantor Fitzgerald in the World Trade Center and was killed on that fatal day. Unlike preacher Falwell’s God, Heeran’s God wasn’t getting even on 9/11; his God was weeping! “God had nothing to do with this,” Bernie said. “God was fighting evil that day as He does every day, and He was asking us to join Him in the fight.”

God wept on March 11th 2011

On Friday, March 11th 2011 an insanely massive 8.9 earthquake hit the Northern Coast of Japan at rush hour, causing a huge tsunami. Grim statistics say nearly 8,000 are dead and over 10,000 missing. That brings to mind the even more horrendous tsunami of December 26, 2004, which inundated southeastern Asia, and which ruthlessly swept away 140,000 people! As with the tsunami of March 11th the worst casualties were the living who saw their homes, their loved ones, their lives and their very reason to live swept away. Soon religious clerics were at it again, after the style of Falwell. They were offering age-old and worn-out explanations of why humans suffer. Chief Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar said, “This is an expression of God’s great anger upon a sinful world.” An Islamic imam said, “The disaster is a reminder from Allah that he who created the world can also destroy it.”

Enters a strange new God

Into such a god-awful theological world, where a pay-back god makes sinners suffer, and where a god unsure of himself has to remind people “that he who created the world can also destroy it” – into such a world enters a strange new God of Christians: He causes no one to weep. What’s more, He Himself weeps! He weeps because His very dear friend Lazarus has died, and He weeps also because Martha and Mary are weeping. Mystic theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, whose voice echoed through the deliberation chambers of Vatican II, writes, “It is fully in accord with the Gospel to regard God as a Father weeping across the ages over the sufferings of His children, constantly trying to heal their wounds.” (Divine Milieu)

Conclusion

God was also weeping

We are all hurting people asking questions which hurting people have been asking for generations: What was God doing when I buried my husband? Or when my son was paralyzed? Or when my baby died? Or when the bus overturned? What was God doing when Islamic terrorists brought down the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan, and murdered 3000 innocent human beings on 9/11? What was God doing when an 8.9 earthquake and a tsunami hit Japan and swept away 17,000 people on March 11? What was God doing? The answer utterly surprises us, and in some strange mystical way consoles us: God was also weeping!

Sent to Open Eyes & to Blind Them

The Pharisees said among themselves, “Look at this guy! He’s curing this blind man on the Sabbath!” (Jn 9:14)

Sent to Open Eyes & to Blind Them

April 3, 2011, 4th Sunday of Lent

Exodus 17:1-4 Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 John 9:1-39

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Glory to you, Lord.

Jn 9:1-7: Physical blindness

As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When He had said this, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, “Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam” which means Sent. So he went and washed, and came back able to see. His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier begging said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is, “but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said, “I am.” So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.” And they said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”

Jn 9:8-21: Spiritual blindness

They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a Sabbath. So then the Pharisees also asked Him how he was able to see. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.” So some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, “What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight. They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?” His parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; question him.”

Jn 9:22-34: More spiritual blindness

So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.” He replied, “If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” Exasperated he exclaims, “For God’s sake, I’ve already told you! Can’t you people see! Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” they ridiculed him and said, “You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from.” The man answered and said to them, “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.” “You illegitimate bastard, you!” the Pharisees shouted. “Are you trying to teach us?”And they threw him out of the synagogue. Jn 9: 35-39: Spiritual sight When Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out, He found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him. I who speak with you am he.”[1] He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to him, “I have come into this world so that the blind should see, and that those who see should become blind.”(Jn 9:39)

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Introduction

Laetare Sunday - midway to Easter

This 4th Sunday of Lent is midway through the penitential season of Lent. The old Latin Mass for this Sunday opened with Laetare, Ierusalem! (Rejoice, oh Jerusalem!) It’s a reference to Isaiah 66:10. So the 4th Sunday of Lent was called Laetare Sunday. There were good reasons to rejoice in the old days: we were halfway through a very strict penitential season of forty days, the snowdrifts were melting, and there was light at the end of the 40 day tunnel, where Easter and spring were waiting.

Another rambler

Last Sunday’s gospel about Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well was a rambler; it ran for 40 verses. (Jn 4: 1-41) This Sunday’s gospel about the man born blind and cured by Jesus is another rambler. It also runs for 40 verses. (Jn. 9: 1-41) For those who want to get in and out of Sunday Mass with good dispatch, the Church offers an abbreviated reading of this rambling Scripture. But the longer reading (which is here presented) has its plus: it builds up to a frustration which has the once-blind man (and ourselves as well) exclaiming to his religious leaders, “For God’s sake, can’t you people see!”

Curing on the Sabbath

The gospels relate a number of occasions when Jesus healed blind people. After twice putting spittle on the eyes of a blind man from Bethsaida, the man’s sight is restored, and he sees everything clearly. (Mk 8:22-26) As Jesus is leaving Jericho He comes upon a blind man named Bartimaeus who begs Jesus to cure him. The Lord heals him, and he follows Jesus down the road. (Mk 10: 46-52) Early in His ministry in Galilee Jesus comes upon two blind men who beg to be cured. Jesus touches their eyes and they’re opened. (Mt 9:27-31) The classical story of Jesus curing a blind man is recounted on this 4th Sunday of Lent in Cycle A. And an important element of the story is that Jesus cures the blind man on a Sabbath, mind you! Seven times the gospel show Jesus performing a miracle on a Sabbath.[2] And this becomes a great bone of contention for the Pharisees who are sticklers for Sabbath observance: one may not do anything on the Sabbath – not even good!

Exasperation

In that classical story the man’s neighbors are perplexed at his cure. They take him to their religious leaders (the Pharisees) who reject the idea that God would work a cure through a man who violates the Sabbath. Then they drag the man off to his parents and inquire about their son’s cure. The parents, fearing the religious leaders, tell them to go and ask the son who can speak for himself. The Pharisees then pull the son off to the side for further interrogation. The account is filled with exasperation. The cured man is exasperated; he exclaims to his spiritual leaders: “For God’s sake, can’t you people see!” The Pharisees also are exasperated; they bodily throw the poor man out of the synagogue, because he won’t say what they want him to say. The Lord Himself is exasperated; He ends the whole rambling account with an enigmatic: saying: “I have come into this world so that the blind should see, and that those who see should become blind.” (Jn 9:39) In its length and emphasis the story is more about the Pharisees (religious leaders who are spiritually blind) than about the blind man cured by Jesus. From beginning to end, it’s a story about spiritual blindness (about eyes determined not to see), and spiritual deafness (about ears determined not to hear). Spiritual blindness and deafness are lodged not in our eyes and ears but in our hearts, and they call for repentance. That’s what makes this story a very appropriate reading for Lent.

A papal promise to listen

The Pharisees, spiritual leaders in the synagogue, don’t listen to the man’s neighbors, nor to the man’s parents, nor to the man himself, nor to their very own consciences. On the day of his inauguration Pope Benedict XVI, supreme spiritual leader in the Church, promised that he would listen to the Church. In fact, he chose `Benedict’ as his new papal name because St. Benedict, founder of the Benedictine Order, counseled his abbots (spiritual leaders of the abbey) to listen to and learn from the least monk in the community. Fr. Francis Gonsalves, a Jesuit in India, in an open letter to the new pope published in the NCR, rejoiced in the papal promise to listen to the Church – the People of God. He rejoiced because, he said, “ Many Indians who religiously listen to God’s voice in nature and in other faiths and in their neighbors complain that the Roman Catholic Church only speaks but never listens.[3]”

“A holy conversation”

We, the People of God, listen to the Pope as he speaks on the great human issues which burden the Church – issues like birth-control, divorce and remarriage, sacramental confession, homosexuality, celibacy, the ordination of women, etc. The Pope’s teaching on these issues is, indeed, valuable and very useful for us. But Fr. Gonsalves also invites the Pope to listen to the Church (the People of God), as these issues are debated. It’s an absolutely winning combination when Church listens to the Pope and the Pope listens to the Church. Richard Gailardetz, a husband, a father and a theology professor at the University of St. Thomas in Houston expresses a similar view. He asks the Church to see her teachings “not as erroneous but as inevitably impoverished before the ineffable mystery of God.” He welcomes a Church which does not claim to have the last word about the great human issues which burden us, but rather the first word. That is a word, Gailardetz says, which launches the whole Church off into a “holy conversation.” That’s a conversation, which “resists the temptation to control or direct the conversation toward predetermined conclusions.” In a holy conversation everyone teaches and everyone listens.

A Church which can change its mind

Some years ago, the Rev. Sarah Sarchet Butter (an ordained Presbyterian minister) and I (an ordained Catholic priest) officiated together at the funeral of her mother-in-law, the wife of a friend. In a gothic cemetery chapel Rev. Sarah clothed in clerical garb read eloquently from the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 31, which sings the praises of a woman who is a good mother, wife, and manager of her household. At the final commendation Rev. Sarah invited the crowd in the cemetery to draw near to the casket which was being kissed by a setting sun on a day filled with the fine feel of fall. Eloquently again Rev. Sarah pulled everyone into a heartfelt final good-bye to her mother-in-law. It was obvious that Rev. Sarah liked what she was doing and that she did it very well. As I watched attentively, I found myself quietly exclaiming, “See how the Presbyterian Church has solved its crisis of shortage of ministers! See how it has decided to ordain women! See how it’s been blessed by its courageous decision!” See what a Church can do, when it views its teachings “not as erroneous but as inevitably impoverished before the ineffable mystery of God!” Such a Church has the power to courageously change its mind about ordaining women, and about many other important issues as well.

Conclusion

That she might mightily call

The Greek word for `repent’ is `metanoein.’ Etymologically it means “to change one’s mind.’’ Only a Church which sees her teachings “not as erroneous but as inevitably impoverished before the ineffable mystery of God” is capable of changing her mind. Only such a Church is capable of repenting. What’s more, only a Church, capable of changing her mind, can authoritatively summon us, God’s People, to repent and change our minds. Yearly, the ashes of Lent are smeared not only on the brows of the faithful, but also on the very brow of the Church herself. For she, first and foremost, is called to repent, so that she might mightily call the People of God to repent.

[1] Jesus said the same to the woman at the well:” I who speak with you am he.” (Jn 4:26)

[2] Mk 1:21-28; Mk 1:29-31; Mk 10:14; Lk 13:10-17; Lk 14:1-6. Jn 5:1-18; Jn 9:1-16.

[3] That modus operandi gave rise to an old uncomplimentary dictum: “Roma locuta, causa finita.” “When Rome (the Vatican) speaks, the discussion is finished.”