Whoever Humbles Himself

                                    31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

                            

        

Today’s first reading from the Book of the Prophet Malachi contains a very strong warning for priests: “And now, O priests, this commandment is for you.” Malachi claims that the priests have disregarded their duties and broken their original vows. Their bad teaching and behavior has “caused many to falter.” In particular, they have shown partiality in their dealings with those in their care. How dare they favor some over others!

Have we not all one father?

Has not the one God created us?

Why then do we break faith with one another,

Violating the covenant of our fathers?

Today’s gospel is also directed at priests, especially those who have not remained true to their original calling. I think if I was a priest, I would find it hard to read this gospel. Jesus criticizes the religious leaders of his time for their hypocrisy and warns their congregations to “observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example.”

Jesus claims that these leaders load people down with burdens but never lift a finger to help. The works they perform are just empty show designed to gain honor and respect from others. In other words, they act as lords and masters and have forgotten that they are supposed to serve the people that they lord it over.

Although the condemnation of Jesus is levelled against religious leaders, we should not be smug or hypocritical ourselves. All of us have positions of leadership and responsibility in one form or another. This teaching of Jesus should be taken to heart by any of us in our relations with one another. As Christians we are called upon to serve and not to be served.

Since we all have one Father, we all are brothers and sisters and none of us has the right to lord it over anyone else. It is true that we are called upon to exercise authority in many ways, whether in our families or on the job. But we should be careful to exercise that authority not for our own self-aggrandizement, but for the good of others. In today’s second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, he gives some helpful hints on how to exercise authority. He says,

We were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children.

Moreover, instead of laying burdens on them and making them serve him, he was careful to take his share of their toil and drudgery,

Working night and day in order not to burden any of you…

Like his own Master, Paul understood that you should never require someone to do something that you would not be willing to do yourself. The true leader, whether a priest or layperson, should exercise authority not just by words but by example.

Humility is not only a great virtue but it is also a prime requisite for anyone in authority whether priestly or otherwise. Daily in our newspapers and on TV we read about the fall of the high and mighty. Some people think that the words of Jesus are impractical in today’s world but these fallen leaders might have been better off if they had followed the words of Jesus.

The greatest among you must be your servant.Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;But whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

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Reading 1. Malachi 1: 14b—2: 2b, 8-10

Reading II. 1 Thessalonians 2: 7b—9, 13

Gospel. Matthew 23: 1-12 (whoever humbles himself).

Love Thy Neighbor

                           30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                        

       

Today’s readings deal with the true spirit of Jewish law, the law that Jesus came not to abolish, but to fulfill. In today’s first reading from the Book of Exodus we see that the commandments of the law required aid and support of the weak and powerless.

Aliens or people displaced from their homeland are deserving of protection. The Lord reminds his people that they themselves were once aliens. Widows and orphans were also vulnerable in a society where a father or husband was the sole means of support and protection for women and children. The Lord reminds his people that their wives and children could also be left out in the cold. The Lord also commands his people to help their needy neighbors, and not drive them further into poverty and misery.

In the past few weeks we have been going through chapter 22 of the gospel of Matthew, a chapter that describes the increasing tension between Jesus and the various Jewish leaders. Initially, Jesus had been critical of them for their failure to be faithful to the true spirit of Jewish law.

In return they resorted to plotting against Jesus by trying to get him to say something that will either get him into trouble with the Roman authorities, or cause the Jewish populace to turn against him. Although they couldn’t stand each other, each faction takes their own shot at Jesus. Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees all try to trip him up.

In today’s gospel passage they ask him “which commandment in the law is he greatest?” Jesus knew that scholars had counted over six hundred commandments in the Law but, as usual, he chose to simplify and get right to the true spirit of the Law.

         You shall love the Lord, your God,

With all your heart,

With all your soul,

And with all your mind.

This is the greatest and first commandment.

The second is like it:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

In his reply Jesus combines two verses from the Hebrew Scriptures, the first from Deuteronomy 6:5, and the second from Leviticus 19: 18ff. He combines them because his whole life and mission was to show that the love of God and the love of neighbor went hand in hand. One is not possible without the other.

Moreover, in his teaching Jesus also extended the very meaning of neighbor. We recall that in the famous parable of the Good Samaritan, he asked, “who was neighbor to the man”? In our Lord’s time, just as in the days of the Exodus, neighbor had a very narrow meaning. Every people, every city, every tribe, every family was at odds with one another. We see in the gospels that not only would the Jews have nothing to do with strangers, but also that they were constantly bickering among themselves.

Of course, the Jewish people were surrounded by people who behaved even worse. Today, despite the words of our Lord, things do not seem to be much better. In places like Syria and Iraq it seems like only a brutal dictatorship can keep people from cutting each other’s throats. It is hard for us to imagine the animosity among the different factions in that world.

It is also hard for us to imagine how people could believe that they are serving God by brutally beheading alien captives, raping their wives, and selling their orphaned children into slavery. Have we made any progress from the time of the Exodus?

Sadly, it is the followers of Jesus who are enduring the greatest persecution. In fact, the persecution of Christians throughout the world today is far greater than at any time in the past. These people are being dispossessed from their homes, tortured, and even murdered for  their belief in Christ. They are the true heirs of the Thessalonians that St. Paul praises in today’s second reading. They are the “imitators of the Lord,” and “a model for all believers.”

To love someone means to be willing to give all for him or her. After all, what can we really give to God who has given us everything? Jesus has shown us that the way to love God is through the love of our neighbor. All that we do for those entrusted to our care and protection, we do for Him. We may not have to suffer the cruel martyrdom of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world, but we are still called to give our lives in the service of others.

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Reading 1. Exodus: 22: 20-26

Reading II. 1 Thessalonians 1: 5c-10

Gospel. Matthew 22: 34-40 (Love Your Neighbor)

Render to Caesar

                           29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                           

Titian: Whose Coin is This?

        

In the past few weeks we have seen that Jesus has become increasingly critical of the leaders of the Jews, especially the Scribes and Pharisees. Matthew tells us that in response they have begun to plot against Jesus. In today’s gospel they try to lay a trap for Jesus by asking him if is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, the leader of the hated Roman empire that holds the Jewish people in subjugation.

In their long history the Jews had often been subjugated by foreign rulers. About 700 years before Jesus, the Prophet Isaiah told of another conqueror, the Persian King Cyrus. Isaiah argued that this great King was actually doing the Lord’s work without even knowing it. 

         It is I who arm you, though you know me not,
So that towards the rising and the setting of the sun
People may know that there is none besides me.
I am the Lord, there is no other.

  

We know that the relationship between Church and State was an important issue to our Founding Fathers. The very first amendment to the new Constitution forbad the new federal government from establishing or supporting any church. Although we have always argued about the proper relationship between Church and State, the American way seems to involve a separation of church and state.

In the time of Jesus there was no such separation. The head of the mighty Roman Empire was also considered to be the head of the Roman religion. Some emperors had even been declared to be gods. The Jews regarded the Almighty as their true King, and so their political leaders were also their religious leaders. Their law was a religious law and governed every aspect of their lives.

There was bound to be conflict and tension when the Jews were conquered by the Romans. Even though the Romans could be cruel and brutal when the need arose, they had a way of dealing with conquered peoples that would seem strange to us today. In general Rome believed in leaving conquered people to be governed by their own traditional leaders, laws, and customs. They only insisted that these native leaders keep peace and order, and collect the taxes or tribute demanded by the Empire.

This situation is the background of the scene in Matthew’s account where the leaders of the Jews try to draw Jesus into a trap. They are out to get him not only because of his criticism of them, but also because of his popularity among the people. They ask him a loaded question:

Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?

If Jesus answered that paying the tax violated Jewish law, they would be able to bring charges of sedition and treason against him to the Roman governor. If he answered that it was ok, then they hoped it would turn the Jewish populace against him.

The answer of Jesus confounded his powerful enemies.

“Show me the coin that pays the census tax ... whose image is this and whose inscription?” When they replied, “Caesar’s”, he said,

Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar And to God what belongs to God.

Not only did the answer of Jesus confound the Jewish leaders, but it also has confounded theologians and political scholars ever since. What exactly belongs to the State? What belongs to God? What is the relationship between the civil authority and religious authority?

I think that Jesus is saying that we do have a dual citizenship. As citizens here in the United States we have rights and duties that pertain to our status as citizens. We can be critical of leaders and laws because that right and duty belongs to us as citizens. But we are also subject to a King whose realm transcends our national boundaries. I am not talking about the Pope because he is subject to that same King.

Hopefully, our dual loyalties will act together in much the same way that the laws of Connecticut will not conflict with the laws of the United States. For the most part in America they have gone hand in hand although there are signs today that Caesar might be overstepping his boundaries.

In many parts of the world today our fellow Christians are being persecuted, tortured, and even murdered because of their refusal to bow to the demands of their brutal captors. Those people are giving all they have for their belief in God.

We can only hope that we will never be put in this position.

The best safeguard against attacks on religious freedom in this country is for us all to do our duty and act as responsible citizens. We must respect and follow the laws when they are just, but oppose and seek to change them when they are unjust.

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Reading 1. Isaiah 45: 1, 4-6

Reading II. 1 Thessalonians 1: 1-5b

Gospel. Matthew 22: 15-21 (Render to Caesar)