Fourth Sumday of Lent

Every time I hear the Gospel narrative of the prodigal son, I am struck by the nearness of both of the sons behaviors. I can see in myself the tendency to be sometimes callous if I am not careful, and to focus only on myself without realizing the impact to others. I can also see in myself the tendency toward vain self-righteous indignation sometimes when I am feeling sorry for myself. Both of these are two of humanities most common foibles, and both of the sons in this narrative display these things brilliantly.

The youngest son, who we always seem to focus on most, perhaps because his actions are so overtly self-centered and immoral demonstrates very clearly just how callous we can be. He asks for his share of his inheritance, which in the culture of the time was like saying to his father that he didn’t want to have to wait any longer for him to die, so just cough up the money now. I can’t even imagine how his father must have felt. Yet he complies with his sons wishes and gives him what he asks for – fathers do that, including our Father in Heaven. They give to us in the hope that we will be happy, and that perhaps we will be productive. Yet this is not always the case, sometimes, like the younger son in our narrative we squander their gifts to us, and go far astray from what they have taught us.

Yet, there is always hope in any fathers heart that his child will come back to him and be reconciled. He is always ready to greet them and welcome them home when they make even the slightest effort. He simply wants his child back and to bring him home. This is not predicated on judgement, because the humbling act of their returning is sufficient for the moment. The lessons to be imparted will come in time.

The other side of the coin to this is observed in the older son, who feels he has been cheated because he has seen how his brother the more overt transgressor has been greeted with compassion and merciful love. He thinks this compassionate response somehow cheapens what he has with his father. That he is somehow more deserving of reward. Yet he does not realize that the reward is already there, he has been in unity with his father that whole time and their love remains strong, which should be reward enough for anyone. The consistent closeness is the reward.

When we sin, and separate ourselves from our Father in Heaven, his desire and hope is that we come back to him, no matter what we have done. If we approach in humility and with true repentance, then we have learned, and He will welcome us home joyfully. If we are fortunate enough that we have never left His company, we should rejoice ourselves each and every day. Yet we should do this in such a way that we are careful not be too self-congratulating, but with humility and always with a vigilant eye toward any vanity on our part.

In this Lenten season, we have much to consider in our own self-examination so that we too can either rejoice in being able to return to the love of our Father, or be grateful that we have been able to remain with Him.

Apostolic authority and Succession

When we discuss Apostolic Succession, and the authority granted not only to Jesus’ Apostles, as well as to those who would come after them, it is crucial to our understanding to look upon this with a keen eye toward context. The biblical content, and indeed the very phrasing that our Lord used was predicated on the knowledge of the audience being addressed, and the accommodations of speech made factoring in the common knowledge and customs of the time. We need to remember the letters, or ”small books” that comprise the bible, since that is what the word bible actually means, were written by men who were steeped in the knowledge of the Jewish faith and customs they grew up with. This includes also the words of Jesus himself. He did not find it necessary to delve into what would have been considered to be both redundant, and superfluous commentary since his audience, both Jew and likely gentile would likely have been aware of the practical assumptions made in conversation and interactions based on pervasive social and cultural norms.

With all this said, when Jesus commissioned the twelve, to go out and to heal, and forgive sins, and to drive out demons (John 20:21-23), this would have been seen as the acts of those to whom authority had been granted. This is also true of how those twelve were addressed in closed and intimate conversation. Jesus had many disciples, which simply means students, but he only had the twelve Apostles, which denotes someone who has been given a mission. In particular, when Jesus told Simon Peter that upon him, as the rock which his new name denoted, he would build His Church (Matthew 16:18-19), this would have been viewed as a unique and significant role of leadership within His Church, from the viewpoint of the people and the other Apostles.

These roles would also have been seen by the people as enduring. Just as the Levitical priestly roles were passed down, it would have been assumed that men would eventually die, and that they would have successors appointed who would carry on the same work (Acts 1:20-26, 2 Timothy 2:2, Titus 1:5, 1 Timothy 3:1-7), and with the same granted authority passed on by conveyance of the Spirit through imposition of hands and anointing. Jesus himself said plainly that no one knew the time of place when all things would come to fulfillment, not even the Son, only the Father, so he certainly would have taken into account the likely necessity of the roles of the Apostles continuing through an undefined period of time.

Jesus also was very deliberate in choosing his audience for certain discussions. He did not grant the people full knowledge of the parables that He spoke. He did not create a common authority to forgive sins, or heal, or drive out demonic influence. Nor did he publicly proclaim to the people to perform the breaking of the bread or the offering of the cup, these instructions to fully understand and do these things were given only to his Apostles, something that would have spoken clearly in terms of His intent to anyone of the time. Additionally, the timing of the instructions that he gave pertaining to the celebration of the Eucharist in particular was certainly chosen with care, He gave this commission at the last meal He would share with his Apostles, which would have driven home the paramount nature of His instructions and by whom they would be carried out.

Like so many things as we read through scripture, it is both inaccurate and imprecise to try to understand its content without due deference to contextual influence. This make it all the more critical that as we try to understand the intentions of our Lords teachings, we do not get allow ourselves to fall into bad practice and assume that the translated words can be viewed without cultural and social understanding. It is equally important to look at not only the translated text, but also the accounts in the original language in which it was recorded, and factor this into our understanding.

Second Sunday of Lent

What does it mean to be transfigured? The definition I looked up said it is to be transformed in a glorified or spiritual way. To take on a new appearance that reflects divine or spiritual beauty. For most of my life, I assumed that this was something that was reserved for Jesus alone, just as we hear about in today’s Gospel. Yet as I have gotten older and been able to witness what are sometimes truly amazing changes within people I have encountered, I am not so sure my original assumption was completely correct if we take the definition literally. While we may not radiate the same glorified form as our Lord – amazing transformation that can be witnessed by others is still possible.

It’s true that we all go through changes as we live our lives, and not all of them for the better. We can even make some progress in our development as people, and as followers of Christ, that while good, are not quite on the level of what would be considered a transformative. Yet, in a precious minority of instances, radical transformation can occur. When I think of Saint Francis of Assisi, or Saint Augustine, and how each spent their youth I see evidence for this kind of change. To go from truly dark places in life, completely focused on things of this earth, and to then burst forth as new creations born of Spirit so that flesh and earthly desires are no longer of much importance is such a complete metamorphosis that it requires grace as its catalyst.

No saint or sinner can will this to happen, no internal fortitude or strength is sufficient to trigger this kind of transformation; if we think we are so endowed that we can do this without God’s intervention, we are arrogant to the point of foolishness. Instead, we need to humble ourselves profoundly and completely, and express our deepest longing to God to grant us spiritual movement to leverage the side of ourselves born of water and the Spirit and take us beyond what our fleshly inclinations so desperately and erringly cling to. In this season of Lent, the time is perfect to pursue this grace of transformation. To use this time of penance and preparation to express a desire to God for the kind of spiritual radiance that can demonstrate to others what is possible through prayer, love of God, and generously granted grace that we embrace with our whole selves.

When Peter, James, and John saw our Lord in his radiant transfigured form, we hear that their first reaction was fear, and perhaps so, since they had never witnessed anything like this before. I suspect this was coupled also with awe and wonder. To see the glory of God so closely and personally manifest within their teacher had to be both humbling, but also inspiring. They gained strength and confidence from this for the time to come when they would witness Jesus’ crucifixion. Our Lord knew this experience and seed of change within them would be needed.

Like any good students Jesus’ three disciples sought to emulate their master in all things, perhaps even those heaven born. We too should look upon this time of Lent as transformative and pray for the grace of experiencing this in a truly radical way.

First Sunday of Lent

There has never been a time when God has not watched over and cared for us. From the days of creation, to the time of the oppression that the people of Israel endured and were rescued from, to the days of Jesus time here on earth, right up to this very day – He is ever watchful and loving.

In our earliest days He was stern and commanding because we were young and rebellious and were easily led down wrong paths. We had no roots in the land. Gradually though, we grew as a people, through His grace, and became more than nomadic tribes, we took root in Israel. We learned and worked to educate others about Israels God. We stopped wondering, and we built our homes, cities, and places of worship. We matured and grew and sought knowledge of our Creator.

In his time, our Lord came to us in our own fleshly manifestation, and walked among us, taught us, healed our bodies, and gave his own for our sake so that our souls might be healed and we could be reconciled with our Father in heaven. He took the suffering that should have been ours upon himself and gave everything of Himself for us so that nothing was left. He did this out of love.

Yet with all this history of love and caring, we sometimes doubt. We think that the God of the universe who did all this for us, somehow may not understand us and what we deal with in our daily struggles. It doesn’t make sense if we really think about it. This is especially true in light of todays Gospel. There is literally nothing that the devil did not try to get our Lord to give in to temptation. The narrative doesn’t fully do justice to what our Lord endured and stood fast against. We all know that Satan has many means at his disposal to try to tempt us, and he certainly did not spare effort when he encountered our Lord in human form. This, however, is the whole point, he tried everything and failed. Our Lord would not give in to sin, and yet experienced all the powerful temptations we do because He was one of us in the flesh. This should give us a great deal of confidence in both his understanding of all that we are subject to, and also in His mercy because he has been through it and knows how difficult it can be to remain unscathed. Difficult, yes, but not impossible, He proved that as he was both God and man. He gave us a model to follow, a success to take confidence in, and an unwavering love so that we are to be assured of his forgiveness for each of us when we stumble and come to him in repentance and humility. No temptation is not understood, no sin is beyond His forgiveness, and no person beyond his loving gift of redemption.

The Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ

Of all the Gospels read throughout this past year, this is the one that absolutely should have our ears perked up in attention. The reason is simple, while other Gospel readings have focused on what we are to be aware of in Gods teaching, this one is about the consequences of whether we put any of that into practice.

The parable of the separation of the sheep and the goats is purely about who our Lord will find as having followed His commands, and who did not. In the case of those who will be seen as not having done so, there are really two areas that we should be concerned with. The first is whether we deliberately did not follow what was taught, in other words, did we rebel against Gods teaching in favor of our own preferred way of living our lives. This is usually fairly clear cut, in particular for those of us fortunate enough to have been taught specifically what our Lord said. Yet there is another area of concern, in this second category the question is whether we did anything at all about what we were taught, or did we simply go on about our lives as if nothing had been said or taught? This is perhaps the more dangerous of the two, because it is insidiously easy to fall into this category without perhaps even realizing it.

The end result of our time here on earth though will be the same for all, in that we will ALL stand before our Lord and be accountable for our actions whether good or bad, or perhaps our inactions whether deliberate or simply due to sloth. It is worth noting incidentally, that sloth can be either an actual inclination toward laziness and apathy, or an inclination toward inaction due to placing our focus on other things that distract us from taking righteous action. When we are so busy with ourselves and our own concerns that we brush past those in need without rendering any kind of acknowledgement or assistance, we are as guilty as though we had blown past them in a deliberate attempt at avoidance of helping them (conscious inaction). This is the incredibly dangerous subtlety that we must be vigilant against. We need to truly be on watch, for we will know neither the day nor the hour that we will be called to judgement, the only thing we can count on for sure, is that we WILL be judged.