Year C

Dec 12 2024

God Our Joy, God Our Blessing

For twelve years, I taught scripture to sixth and seventh graders on Wednesday evenings. Each year, when we got to the Beatitudes, they would roll their eyes and go “duh.” They’d heard it before: “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

I tried another tactic; I created a debate. One of you convince us that the Beatitude is true. Your opponent will persuade us that it is not true. For example, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Yes? Show us how that works. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” No? Hmmm.

Now they were excited. Twelve-year-olds like to win arguments. The next Wednesday, you could feel the energy in the room. When we came to “Blessed are the clean of heart,” a girl walked confidently to the front. I had heard the boy who was to debate her practicing in the hallway: “Clean of heart—hah! Gangsters get away with all kinds of things! Who needs to be clean of heart?” He was ready. The girl told a story. “When my grandma was a teenager, she said that she was really mean. She deliberately hurt people. She didn’t want anything from anybody. She never listened to her parents. She liked to live wild. One day, she was bored. She just sat and watched the clock tick. She watched the second-hand move round and round . . . and suddenly she realized if that clock kept moving, her life was going to end. She’d be gone. Dead. And what would she have done with those minutes? Something moved inside of her heart. She thought about God. She didn’t want to be mean anymore. She wanted to be clean. So she changed. She started to pray. She went to church. Now, for me, she’s the most loving and wonderful grandma any girl could want, a real saint. ‘Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.’ It’s true.”

The boy stood up to begin his rebuttal. He sat back down. “How can I argue with that?” he said.

Consider/Discuss

There are plenty of arguments about why Christianity is only for the foolish. Clean of heart—ha! Merciful—that’s only for the soft. The meek— they get walked on. But one living example of a saint, someone who lives a good and kindly life, filled with the Holy Spirit, is like a mountain peak that rises radiant above the clouds. That one life outshines any negative arguments. On this All Saints Day, what do you know of ordinary saints who have had their “robes washed” by the Blood of the Lamb? This week, share with someone a “before-and-after” story about what the Lord has done to create a saint you know.
Every saint is called to conversion, allowing the Lord to purify him or her. Some conversions are abrupt, like the grandmother in the story, who turned a sharp corner in her life toward goodness and God. Some conversions come like a long slow curve that takes you gradually around a bend to set you on a different path. What has your conversion story been like? As you strive toward holiness, what change are you currently working on?

Living and Praying with the Word

Jesus, thank you for surrounding us with saints. Some have gone before us and are worshiping you forever. They were poor in spirit, pure of heart, merciful, peacemakers. Some live among us, still working their way toward you. We thank you for them all. Lord, we too want to be saints. When all is revealed, we want to be like you, for we shall see you as you are. That is so great. Thank you! Help us to turn the corners of conversion and lead us in the paths of holiness. Praise and honor to you, Lord Jesus Christ!

Dec 12 2024

Scripture Study for

John’s apocalyptic vision of the opening of the seven seals presents a series of disasters brought upon the earth in the final days, as God brings judgment on human and superhuman forces of evil and vindication for the servants of God. These visions are intended to give courage and hope to those undergoing persecution and even dying for their faith in Christ. Those who have been marked with the seal of the living God (as opposed to one of the seven seals) will be spared the disasters befalling the natural and human world. The number 144,000—not to be taken literally—is symbolic of the fullness of the number of servants. All will be saved. This number is indeed beyond counting and its diversity demonstrates the success of spreading the gospel and extending God’s reign on earth. All the saved join together with the angelic host to give praise and thanks to God in the heavenly liturgy.

Up to the point of today’s reading, the First Letter of John has been developing the theme of “fellowship with God,” which means a sharing in God’s eternal life (through Christ). This fellowship is manifested in loving others, repentance, and avoiding sin. To be in fellowship with God means to be a child of God. This places us in the light, in truth and goodness, not in the darkness of moral depravity. The relationship is in place, and is safe, as long as we remain in fellowship with Christ. Those who have hope in the future glory that they will share with Christ ensure that they are pure, avoiding turning away from Christ and his commandment, which in the Johannine literature is summed up in the phrase “Love one another.”

The royal road to eternal life, the kingdom of God, and “blessedness,” happiness, and joy in this life is material and spiritual renunciation. Those who would be disciples of Jesus must lose their own lives (which means not just their physical lives, if necessary, but especially their own wills, preferences, and “rights”) to gain life. This is what “poverty of spirit” means. Meekness, mercy, and peacemaking often go against our desire to strike back or get even, natural tendencies when we feel we have been violated. Purity of heart, hunger and thirst for righteousness above everything else mean setting aside absolutely everything and everyone who separates us from God or draws us away from God’s will. Persecution and insult lead to physical and social pain for the sake of Christ and communion with him. Those who are able to give up absolutely everything for Christ find joy and blessedness in this life and in the life to come.

Dec 12 2024

Seeing Past the Presumptions

Zacchaeus is the only grown man in the New Testament who is described as little in stature. Otherwise, that particular Greek word is used for children. What was it that stunted his growth? Disease? Genetics? Malnutrition? Whatever it was, he was the size of a child.

At first glance, this looks like another of Luke’s “scoundrel conversion” stories. We expect that a chief tax collector is a cheat and a liar. The crowd assumes so, too. Zacchaeus is the rascal who needs conversion.

But that presumption may not be accurate. Look carefully. Jesus never asks Zacchaeus to repent. The little man does not beg for mercy. It is the crowd who calls him “a sinner.” Zacchaeus’s response to their judgment is not in the future tense of “I will repay.” What he actually says is, “I do repay.” This is his continual and customary action. If he finds someone who has been defrauded, he pays them back four times.

As the chief tax collector, could he quietly be rendering justice to the poor when his underlings cheat them? Might Jesus know something about this little man that the crowd does not?

Interestingly, in this cycle of Lectionary readings, we just skipped Luke’s passage about Jesus and the children. The disciples rebuke the people and tell them not to bother Jesus. The Son of Man says, “Let the children come to me.” Jesus likes little people. He loathes nothing that God has made.

This is not a scoundrel story. Jesus doesn’t see a big splotch of sin high above the people. He sees rather a smudge on a face that has been crying. Up in a tree.

The crowd sees a little man who (they believe) is a great sinner. Jesus sees a great man who is a little (bit of a) sinner. Who is being called to conversion here?

Consider/Discuss

We live in a culture that passes judgement by group identity: those “others” are bad people. But sometimes we are wrong. Sometimes we exclude or demean or disrespect others because of assumptions that we have made. What can you and I do to get past that? Whom could we listen to anew, and in charity hear who they really are and what they have to say?
Zacchaeus is pretty bold in wanting to see Jesus. A grown man running? Climbing a tree? Enduring the ridicule of the crowd? That was pretty out of-the-box for a chief tax collector! What could we do this week to be more bold about looking for Jesus?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord, forgive me for the little things that I do. I may excuse myself or laugh them off or pretend that they aren’t important, and be pleased that I am not one of those big sinners like a chief tax collector. But even if I am hiding among a righteous-looking crowd, you see me. You know. In little ways, you nudge me to clean up the smudges in my life. Which of my habits and behaviors do you want me to be converted from? In your mercy, show me. You are so good and gracious. You raise up all those who are small. Please, Jesus, clean up my life, for I want you to come home with me, too.

Dec 12 2024

Scripture Study for

The reading from Wisdom comes from a larger section that rehearses God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt as a demonstration of God’s power and providence (11:2 — 12:27). The notable feature of that deliverance is God’s control of natural forces, which is not surprising considering that God’s “almighty hand . . . had fashioned the universe from formless matter” (11:17). God is indeed master of the entire created world, which is almost nothing when compared to its Creator. Yet this same omnipotent God looks with mercy on all that has been created, giving them time to repent of their sins. Since God is the source of all that is, and nothing exists without God’s constant consent, it stands to reason that there is nothing and no one who exists unless God desires their existence. From this we can see that God hates no creature, in the sense of desiring or being indifferent to their destruction.

In his Second Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul urges them to stand fast in the face of deep social disapproval. The Christian faith does not bring prestige, but mockery, and this can lead to a sense of “unworthiness.” Paul assures his audience that in their steadfast adherence to the faith, they are proving themselves worthy of the call they received from God. This is what they must keep foremost in mind as they struggle to live out their faith. In doing so, the “name of Jesus” is glorified, in the sense that they publicly acknowledge him through words and deeds. They in turn are “glorified” in the truest sense, acknowledged and rewarded by Christ, whose estimation matters infinitely more than society’s. The second part of the reading alludes to some disturbance and confusion in the community that has been caused by a prophetic utterance or perhaps a forged letter from Paul that claims that the parousia has already occurred.

As a chief tax collector, Zacchaeus stood to make a lot of money by contracting with the Romans to collect a certain amount in taxes. He then employed many others to collect the taxes, keeping for himself whatever he received beyond what he owed the Romans. The system was tailor-made for corruption and abuse. This is the main reason tax collectors were “sinners”: they abused others economically and gained whatever wealth they had unjustly. His encounter with Jesus exemplifies why Jesus “welcomes sinners and eats with them,” not because he condoned their behavior but as a way to offer them the opportunity to repent and “be found” (15:1–7). Indeed he does seek and find Zacchaeus, and his self-invitation to stay with him—once again the cause of grumbling—leads precisely to the happy outcome of another sinner no longer lost but found.

Dec 12 2024

Scripture Study for

This passage from Sirach comes from a larger section on true worship of God, which consists not merely in offering acceptable physical sacrifices at the altar, but above all in following God’s will by keeping the commandments and avoiding injustice (34:21 — 35:22). Because God is inherently just, God does not favor one person over another because one is rich or poor, for example. Although God has a special care for the weak and vulnerable, they do not “get a pass” for sin or injustice. While God’s ear is particularly attentive to the weak, who often have no one to rely on but God, all those who seek to be faithful to God will be heard. These are the lowly, those who submit to the divine will and seek to live it. Their prayer, especially for justice, will always be graciously received.

Paul concludes his Second Letter to Timothy by reminding him, once again, that he must stay firm in his teaching of sound doctrine, “for the time will come when people will not tolerate” it, but “will stop listening to the truth.” So Timothy must be prepared to continue to put up with hardship to fulfill his ministry (4:3–5). Paul himself, who is in prison, has done this, pouring himself out like a libation, that is, like an offering to God. As he looks back on his work, he is satisfied that whatever struggles and failures he might have had, he has been faithful and thus is “crossing the finish line,” the reward for which will be presented by Christ himself. This same Christ has stood by Paul from the beginning, even when he has been abandoned by others, so that Paul too may fulfill his ministry.

There are perhaps few things so frightening to contemplate as the possibility that one has fundamentally misinterpreted one’s stance before God. The Pharisee represents the dangerous tendency in most of us to exalt ourselves at the expense of others. He is, in one sense, a good Jew; Jesus does not find fault with his fasting and tithing. But his words suggest that he does not consider himself a sinner, and in fact looks down on those who are. His “thanksgiving” is entirely self-congratulatory and he neither gives God praise nor asks God for anything. The tax collector, on the other hand, is a stereotypical sinner who, crucially, knows he is in need of mercy. He goes home justified because he asked for mercy and received it. The Pharisee did not go home justified because he did not ask for mercy; he did not think he needed it.