REFLECTION

EXODUS 22:20-26 1 THESSALONIANS 1:5C-10 MATTHEW 22:34-40

When asked which was the greatest commandment in the Law, Jesus highlighted two verses in the Jewish Scripture. Both were very well known to everyone. This first is called the Shema after the first words of the verse, “Shema Yisrael.” It’s the foundational creed of Judaism and the center piece of every morning and evening prayer. It’s the first scripture every Jewish child puts to memory. It’s contained in the mezuzah that’s placed on the doorpost of every Jewish home. I’ll quote the entire verse. “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). This call to love God is so central that Jewish tradition even presented Israel as the bride of God. “For he who has become your husband is your maker.” (Isaiah 54:5) The ideal, unconditional love of husband and wife is the definition of one’s relationship with God; it’s a love relationship.

Jesus added a second scripture verse to the Shema. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18) Why did Jesus add this second verse? Wasn’t the verse from Deuteronomy powerful enough to stand on its own? Let’s think about it.

Most people, if asked, would say that they love God. If asked if they loved God with their whole heart, mind and soul, most people would say, “I try.” That’s a truthful, realistic answer because our love isn’t perfect yet.

Let’s think a bit more about this love. In the Christian tradition we confess that God IS love. If we were to say that we loved God with our whole heart, mind and soul we would be in heaven, our humanity purified of anything and everything that might distract our love. We would be one with God. Truthfully, I’m not there, and I don’t know of anyone who is. Here’s where the second verse comes in.

By uniting love-of-God with love-ofneighbor Jesus was giving us the path to heaven. The first letter of John explains the path – but it’s not an easy one to travel. “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20-21) Maybe another way of putting it would be to say, “The extent to which I love my neighbor is the extent to which I love God.” Or, “I can’t love God more than I love my neighbor.” This is a tough teaching.

Today’s first reading from the book of Exodus gives examples of loving our neighbor. “You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan…” The passage goes on with examples. All of them are challenging.

Right now, in our country and in most of Europe where populism is raising its dragon head, that first command is most a propos. Take note of the violent tribal wars in Africa and the seemingly never-ending PalestinianIsraeli conflict. The ancient wisdom in the book of Exodus needs to be heard today more than ever.

In our country we’ve been witnessing the uncovering of our national shadow. Many are frightened and disturbed by it. Racism and its twin, xenophobia, are the two shadow faces that have emerged. For a long time, we’ve managed to keep the shadow in our national unconscious even though it goes against every ideal we stand for as Americans.

For our nation to come to maturity we must admit that the shadow exists and wields tremendous power in our conscious,

everyday lives. We don’t like hearing about our sadistic immigration policies. But we’re hearing about them. We don’t like hearing about race and gender inequality. But movements like Black Lives Matter and Me Too won’t let us forget it.

As we come face to face with our national shadow we’re in position to address it nationally and personally. We mustn’t allow our fear, guilt and shame to prevent us from creatively confronting our shadow. We’re not in a bad place. We’re in one of the most creative moments in our history.

As a country we’re in the advanced stage of our adolescence. It’s time to begin the healing work of lovingly owning our shadow. It’s the only way we can tame its power. Mature individuals are aware of the good and bad in them, and work to nourish the good and heal the bad.

Jesus showed us the path to personal and national maturity. It’s the path of love. He never said it was an easy path. His cross is a constant reminder of that. It’s our time to stand up and begin the walk to a new and more mature world. Our national shadow is in plain view. We mustn’t be angry or disillusioned about that. We’re in the perfect place and the perfect time to move forward. It’s the perfect time to step out of our adolescence.

It’s never easy to take those first steps. Just take note of the national suffering we’re presently experiencing. But it’s time. The Spirit has brought us face to face with our shadow. It’s the time to heal and grow, to take our first steps toward maturity. The path is so clear and so well lit. Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind… and your neighbor as yourself. Hand in hand let’s take our first step into the light.

REFLECTION

ISAIAH 45:1, 4-6 1 THESSALONIANS 1:5B MATTHEW 22:15-21

“Pay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” is certainly on the top ten list of biblical quotes. Jesus said this to circumvent a difficult situation. Two groups, hostile to each other, united in an attempt to take him down.

The Herodians were a political party loyal to Herod who was set up by Rome and worked hand in hand with it. The Pharisees were a conservative, ultra-orthodox Jewish group that wanted Israel to be a theocracy. Both groups felt threatened by Jesus. As a popular Jewish preacher, he was seen as a threat to the stability of the Roman occupation. As a rabbi, his “liberal” approach was seen as a threat to Jewish orthodoxy.

They thought they had come up with the perfect trap to stop this Jesus once and for all by asking, “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” If Jesus answered “yes,” the Pharisees would condemn him as a traitor to the Jewish people. If he answered “no,” the Herodians would have him arrested for inciting revolt. Jesus’ answer was simple – you know your obligations to the state and to God; now act on it!

Jesus’ answer is of utmost importance for us to hear today. We’re in the midst of a tremendous existential challenge. The divisions that are tearing our country apart have become so toxic that the future of our democracy is in jeopardy. We cannot allow ourselves to be sidetracked by any one particular political issue. Jesus looked at the big picture, collaboration and harmony. And so must we. It’s the only remedy for the healing of our republic.

Another teaching of Jesus is closely related to this one and well worth taking note of at this moment. “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and no town or house divided against itself will stand.” We need to discard our boxing gloves. We need to find ways to clasp hands again so that we can work for the common good. The work that lies before us is daunting. Hard-headed focusing on one issue or another can only intensify the divide. We must keep our focus on the big picture. We must never forget the ideal our republic is built on.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Can there be any ideal more profound than ours?

PRAYER Father, I pray for myself and my brothers and sisters throughout our nation. We’re hurting. We’re drowning in hate and anger. Deliver us from the grip of the evil one. Rend our hearts that they might beat in rhythm with your own. Heal us that we might love as you love and forgive as you forgive.

REFLECTION

ISAIAH 25:6-10A. PHILIPPIANS 4:12-14, 19-20 MATTHEW 22:1-14

We have an interesting passage in the Gospel of Matthew to ponder today. It’s presented as one parable but it’s actually two. Both are parables about the kingdom of God. Let’s look at the first parable.

“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.” Wedding practices were quite different from ours in Jesus’ day. We need to understand them to better interpret the parable. When wedding invitations were sent out for a great feast such as a royal wedding the date was given but the time was not. Middle Eastern weddings were, and still are, extravagant events that lasted days. When the food had been prepared and everything was ready for the reception, the servants were dispatched to personally call all the guests to the wedding.

Remember that hospitality is sacred in Middle Eastern culture. In the book of Genesis, the destruction of Sodom was God’s punishment for the city’s sins against hospitality. As the king’s servants went from one guest to another to announce the time of the wedding they found that very few were coming. One wanted to work on his farm, another was involved in his business. Some ignored the invitation altogether. Some even mistreated or killed the messengers.

The king’s response was swift and brutal. “The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city.” This verse is a later editorial insertion. The parable is an accusation against the Chosen People. God had invited them to the wedding feast of the kingdom many years ago. When the time finally came to celebrate the feast, the arrival of the Messiah, they refused to come.

Matthew wrote his gospel between 80AD and 90AD. He, or a later editor, tacked this image of the destruction of the guests and their city to this parable interpreting a horrible event took place in the year 70AD – the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. In response to continued Jewish revolts, Titus invaded Judea and attacked Jerusalem for four months. He burned the city, crucified its inhabitants and destroyed the temple. The famous Arch of Titus in Rome depicts the pillaging of the temple. The editor interpreted the event as God’s punishment of the Jewish people for their rejection of the Messiah.

We have to be cautious of interpretations like these; they have led to antiSemitic persecutions and pogroms throughout Christian history. This would not have been Jesus’ way. That’s why I felt it important to note this editorial insertion.

brutal. “The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city.” This verse is a later editorial insertion. The parable is an accusation against the Chosen People. God had invited them to the wedding feast of the kingdom many years ago. When the time finally came to celebrate the feast, the arrival of the Messiah, they refused to come.

Matthew wrote his gospel between 80AD and 90AD. He, or a later editor, tacked this image of the destruction of the guests and their city to this parable interpreting a horrible event took place in the year 70AD – the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. In response to continued Jewish revolts, Titus invaded Judea and attacked Jerusalem for four months. He burned the city, crucified its inhabitants and destroyed the temple. The famous Arch of Titus in Rome depicts the pillaging of the temple. The editor interpreted the event as God’s punishment of the Jewish people for their rejection of the Messiah.

We have to be cautious of interpretations like these; they have led to antiSemitic persecutions and pogroms throughout Christian history. This would not have been Jesus’ way. That’s why I felt it important to note this editorial insertion.

The parable goes on. “Then he said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go, therefore, into the main roads and invite whomever you find…good and bad alike.’” This is more like something Jesus would put in a parable. Everyone is invited to the feast of the kingdom of God – good and bad alike. What a beautiful testimony to the love of God. No one is excluded from the kingdom. All one has to do is accept the invitation. The second parable adds a commentary to this testimony.

The setting for the parable is the wedding feast itself. The king is mingling with his guests when he notices a man without a wedding garment. Throughout the bible clothing is of special importance. It is always symbolic of the person wearing it. All are invited into the kingdom, “good and bad alike.” This doesn’t mean, however, that people don’t need to change their lives in order to enter the wedding feast.

Let’s conclude the reflection on a practical note. It seems that we’ve heard nothing but bad news for months now. We certainly need to be concerned about many things – the global pandemic – the toxic political atmosphere – the nation’s institutions that are in shambles – the economy that’s in a tailspin – the alarming increase in homelessness – growing fear – and perhaps the worst of all, hopelessness.

Why have we refused the invitation to the wedding? Why have we not put on our wedding garments? Why have we allowed ourselves to be bound hand and foot and thrown out into the darkness, wailing and grinding our teeth? Why are we afraid to rage against the darkness? Why aren’t we shining the light of hope. Why do we hide in the darkness with everybody else?

Jesus told us, “You are the light of the world!” That means that we’ve been called and fortified to do the work of the kingdom. It’s up to us to accept the invitation or not.

Maybe I need to pose a question to myself today. Am I daring enough to follow the example of the servants in the parable? Am I willing to deliver God’s invitation to celebrate a new world where people care for each other – a world that recognizes the beauty and uniqueness of every single person – none excluded. Where in this dark world should I begin to shed the light of the kingdom?

REFLECTION

ISAIAH 5:1-7. PHILIPPIANS 4:6-9 MATTHEW 21:33-43

Once again, we listen to a parable. Jesus used a situation that was all too familiar to the people of his day to launch a painful prophecy at the religious leaders and the people.

Israel was in a sad state at the time of Jesus. Roman taxes were high, as were the Temple taxes. There were constant political rumblings among the people, with riots and uprisings surfacing regularly throughout the country – Galilee was one of the hot spots. It wasn’t uncommon for wealthy landowners to rent their properties to tenant farmers while they themselves took refuge outside the country. Rent was sometimes paid in cash but more frequently in a percentage of the harvest.

In the parable, Jesus presents a situation regarding a landowner who turned his property into a vineyard. He put a protective hedge around it, and even built a watchtower to prevent thieves from pillaging the vineyard. The tower could also serve as short-term housing for migrant workers and day laborers. He built a wine press, too. The parable takes place at vintage time when the tenants were to pay the rent by giving a percentage of the wine.

The parable is simple enough. The tenants refused to pay the rent. They beat some of the servants sent to collect the rent, and some they even killed. The landowner in desperation sent his son to them but they dragged him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Everyone listening to the parable would immediately have connected the vineyard with the image of Israel in Psalm 80:9 “You brought a vine out of Egypt, you drove away the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground; it took root and filled the land.”

God expected a return from the vineyard – justice, harmony, love of God and love of neighbor. Throughout Jewish history God sent prophets to Israel pleading with the people to reform, to return to a loving relationship with God. Many of the prophets were rejected by the religious leaders and the people, and some were killed. But the parable easily becomes a prophesy of the day when Jesus will be taken out of the vineyard and handed over to Gentiles to be killed.

Jesus tacks on a final teaching to his parable. It’s from Psalm 118:22. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes.” In the psalm the stone represents Israel rejected

by the nations, but essential to God’s plan for the world. Jesus gives a new meaning to the stone; it is himself rejected by the religious leaders. He ends with a grim prophecy. “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

I think if we apply this parable only to the people of Jesus’ day we’re missing the point. We, too, are being reminded of the tremendous trust God has given us to care for faith in Jesus. This faith is our vineyard. We must return the fruit of our faith to God, love for God and our neighbor. This love is meant to transform our lives and our society. We’re expected to be a source of unity and healing, of harmony, community and equality. We’re expected to make a difference. We’re expected to be the cornerstone that assures the building of the kingdom of God in this world.

There is so much that needs attention in our society today, the present threat of fascism, the rise of white supremacy, systemic racism, gender inequality and so much more. American society is ailing. Our mandate is to work in the vineyard, to get our hands dirty, to heal our society – to bring about the kingdom of God through the transformative power of our Christ-like sacrificial love. This is how we’re to manifest our faith in Jesus – by our actions. This is what it means to tend the vineyard of the Lord.

REFLECTION

EZEKIEL 18:25-28. PHILIPPIANS 2:1-11 MATTHEW 21:28-32

In the gospel today, we see Jesus in open conflict with the chief priests and the elders. He was teaching in the temple when they publically challenged him. “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority.” Jesus stood up to them with a counter challenge. “I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things. Where was John’s baptism from? Was it of heavenly or human origin?”

They couldn’t say that John’s baptism was from God because they didn’t accept John’s message. If they said he wasn’t from God the people would have turned on them because John was considered a prophet by the people. They tried to save face by an+swering, “We do not know.” So, Jesus didn’t answer their question either Instead, he went on the attack by asking their opinion on a situation.

“A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son go out and work in the vineyard today.’ He said in reply, ‘I will not,’ but afterwards changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did his father’s will?” They didn’t hesitate to answer, “the first.” Then he publically clobbered them. “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom before you! When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet, even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe in him.”

Even though Jesus was in conflict with the religious leaders, he didn’t hate them. He was making “good trouble.” Yes, he was challenging them; but with the challenge came an invitation to experience a deeper life. The religious leaders were stuck meticulously following the letter of the law without attempting to discover the spiritual dynamic behind the law – love of God and neighbor.

There’s a great deal of tension in the story Jesus spun. He’s telling the religious leaders that their relationship with God is sterile. They’re expending their lives following laws that they

think will make them righteous before God. Jesus is telling them that’s not enough. They have to get their hands dirty. They have to work in the vineyard of the Lord. Today’s reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians defines that challenging work.

“If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, and participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others.”

Thinking that meticulously following religious laws will guarantee a place in the kingdom of God is incorrect thinking. In his struggle with the religious leaders Jesus was trying to teach them that they must accept the messy challenge to love.

Jesus is inviting them, and us, to love – to live in harmony with one another – to be compassionate – to be humble and to consider the needs of others before our own. This is the work of the vineyard. This is the doorway to the kingdom of God.