Holy Week and Easter have now passed. We have relived those final earthly days in the life of Jesus as told to us in the Gospels. Many of us have heard these stories so many times that they may have become "hum-drum" and dull. They may have lost the incredible cutting edge suprise that they actually possess. An example is Jesus' final entrance into Jerusalem (1) which we celebrated on Palm Sunday. What happened was not an "usual royal entrance". Jesus rode into the city on a donkey...an animal commonly used to carry sacks of grain and bundles of wood...not a king!
Just a few days ago, we observed another royal procession as England's Prince William was married in a huge ceremony cheered-on by millions of people. Although in a nod to the 21st century the participants rode to the church in limousines, they returned to the palace in royal coaches. Her Majesty, the Queen, traveled back in one of the royal coaches with lots of mounted calvary units in attendance. That's how a queen (or king) travels in ceremonial style! It's always been that way...even back in Bible times when the Roman political leaders entered Jerusalem at Passover time. They really "put-on-the-dog" to impress local people with their power and wealth: and those attending soldiers who marched with the ruler, well, let's simply say...they made it very clear to the people WHO was in charge of things. They protected and supported the one who had dominant control of the citizen's lives, means of income and the courts of justice. Kings don't remove sacks of grain from the lowly beasts of burden and ride donkeys into the city! But here the King of the Universe...the Creator God Incarnate in the human Jesus did just that. Wow, what a suprise! But...WHY was it done that way? Was Jesus telling the people something different that what the Roman leader, Pilate, demonstrated as his magnificent procession entered Jerusalem by a different gate? Is the message which Jesus "acted-out" that day still relevant to us in our current world?
The Roman imperial procession into a city celebrated the peace and economic stability produced under its VIOLENT DOMINATION system. In contrast, the God Incarnate/man Jesus, processed into Jerusalem in support of an inclusive and equalitarian social system made "JUST" (right) by love and compassion for all humankind. This is the social system initiated by the creator God where in all humans could live in harmony with each other and the earth...bounty enough for all needs with no necessity for any person to hoard-up goods for himself and thereby dominate and reduce the value of another person.
Jesus demonstrated God's equable way for life in contrast to the social pattern imposed by a violently greedy Roman system. His entire life gave strong witness to the JUST and RIGHTFUL DISTRIBUTION of God's full bounty to earth. From the moment of Jesus' birth, the good news of the Messiah's arrival was shared with ALL social classes from the lowly shepherds...inn-keepers and townsmen...visiting royal Magi...faithful Jews and foreigners. He taught the Jews in their synagogue, preached to the common people on hillsides and ate meals with disenfranchised lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors and Samaritans. Jesus' life and message revealed God's purpose for humanity and the NON-VIOLENT nature of a compassionate God in love with all humankind.
But, is the message of Jesus still relevant for us today? If Jesus were to process into our city today, would there exist a social system in conflict of his vision of a just human society? Would Jesus have to demonstrate against a society supported by a violent military-industrial complex...one which allows children to go hungry...where people are separated into groups by radical and dominating forms of religious fundamentalism...hedonism...political and judicial corruption...sexism and gender-phobia???? Does our world operate under a social system IN CONFLICT with the system God ordained for the creation?
Although there are various politico-social systems among modern nations, almost always there is a similar underlying acceptance of that Roman pattern which was the object of Jesus' protest...DOMINATION (and therefore subjugation of people) because of INDIVIDUAL GREED. In such societies, the "few" want "most of the good things of life" at the expense of others not even having the necessities of life. Modern society has permitted this violence done against others and the earth as "acceptable co-lateral damage" caused by our almost "drug-like" need to satisify individual greed. Corporate, national and individual greed dominates modern life! Yes, there are exceptions...individuals and small groups, scattered about, which try to operate a sub-culture more in nature with the harmony desired by Jesus' message. But, I believe that we all realize that the "big picture" of modern life is "violently greed oriented".
So, if Jesus were to process into our city today, would we be able to follow the witness of his life and support God's intended plan which JUSTLY (rightly) distributes the world's bounty to supply the needs of every human? How can one, lonely individual do this? How can we break-out of a greed dominated system?
It is reported that Gandhi asked people "to live simply, so that all people could simply live". He recognized that violent greed finds its origin in the INDIVIDUAL'S HEART. Therefore, even societal greed can only be changed by the TRANSFORMATION of an individual's spirit and heart's desires. Such greed can not be legislated-out-of-existence nor stopped by a superior's order. The individual's heart must change...must become something new...must be redeemed and made right by the "just" love of God. This was the message of Jesus to the people even as he rode into Jerusalem on that lowly donkey; and it remains the same message to each of us today!
The Temple and Roman systems violently opposed this non-violent and just message of Jesus which they hoped could be silenced by killing Jesus on that cross. Yet, God's purpose and message to the creation was not to be silenced by death. God took death - that one aspect of human experience which seems all-powerful - and demonstrated by the resurrection of Jesus that God's plan for humanity will NOT be stopped by human violence or physical death. The message of Christianity is that God wants ALL persons to experience a similar transformation of desires...to have a "heart-change" in response to Jesus' message of compassionate and inclusive love... to have a "heart resurrection" even now, today, as we live this life. Such change of the individual's desires will alow that person's lifestyle to rightly reflect the good news and message of Christ. That person, so transformed, can honor God's plan for humanity by "living simply, so ALL others can simply live".
Be it ever so in our lives!
(1) Matthew 21: 1-9, Mark 11: 1-10, Luke 19: 29-38.
Showing posts with label franciscan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label franciscan. Show all posts
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Working With The Best
March 3, 2011
"It is not the religious act that makes a Christian, but it is participation in the suffering of Christ in the life of the world." (Bonhoeffer)
I'm frequently amazed by the results of opinion polls which seem to litter the news and talk shows on the media. In some of these surveys, the respondent categories are divided by religious affiliation. Have you ever wondered what is required to check the category box marked "Christian" for these polls? I'm sure that many of these respondents believe that occasional church attendance is adequate to be named as a Christian by our cultural standards. But it would be more productive for our spiritual lives (and the society in which we live) if GOD's standards were used to determine the label "Christian".
The adjective "Christian" implies that the individual has chosen to live in a manner which reflects the life example of Christ Jesus who called people to leave their "culturally normal" lifestyle and to follow his example. And what was the living example of Jesus? Sure, he attended synagogue services, and participated in the Jewish feasts and rituals...but he also spent his life in COMPASSIONATE service to those who were poor, sick, lost and socially out-cast. It's true that not every person to whom Jesus ministered was poor or an out-cast. However, they all had deep personal and spiritual needs from which they suffered greatly. In fact, when followers of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked "Who he was?", Jesus defined himself by the nature of his compassionate care for the poor and sick.
..."John the Baptist summoned two of his disciples and sent them to ask"...(if Jesus was the promised Messiah for Israel) and when they came to Jesus..."he had just then cured many people of diseases...and Jesus answered them, Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them." (Luke 7:18-22 NSRV)
Jesus did not define himself as as a "religious superhero" sent by God to Israel. Rather, his spiritual role was understood by his ministry to those suffering and in great need. Christ, the Messiah from God, stooped and bent down to get into the midst of the suffering poor... to be WITH THEM and to bless them with healing and comfort.. His action toward them was a loving expression of his "com-passion"...with them in their suffering.
The quotation from Bonhoeffer which started this reflection was written in the early 1940s in a Germany marching deeply into war. The Nazi war machine was creating unbelievable levels of suffering and destruction while German protestants and catholics were quietly ignoring the chaos around them. It was a time when men like Dietrich Bonhoeffer cried out to their fellow German Christians that church attendance or a nominal "label of Christian" was inadequate to be a follower of the compassionate Christ.
It's very easy for us to look back on that dark time in Christian Europe's history, when the witness of Christ was severely dimmed by human fear and the effort focused on self-interest and self-preservation. However, even today I believe that it would be valid for we American Christians to hear and respond to Bonhoeffer's cry to awaken to the FULL MINISTRY of Christ in this current world. Our worship of Christ Jesus is INADEQUATE if we do not CO-PARTICIPATE WITH CHRIST in ministry to fellow suffering humans in our nation and in the world. How can we Christians quietly ignore the political and social forces which fail to alleviate the causes of so much poverty, pain and human suffering? In future years our generation of Christians may be judged to be as "spiritually weak" as that earlier generation of German Christians.
How will our Christian life be described? Will we be able to respond to those who ask about our faith by letting them witness our "co-ministry" with Christ to the poor, suffering and lost around us?...or will they see our witness to be a "shadow ministry" without involvement (com-passion) in the relief of human suffering?
There's no doubt where Christ can be found in our world...it may be in our churches but you can stake your eternal life on the fact that Christ is still found in ministry to the poor, sick, homeless and out-casts! Where will you be found?
"It is not the religious act that makes the Christian, but it is PARTICIPATION in the suffering of Christ in the life of this world." (from Bonhoeffer's chapter (p.656) in Ethik, ed Heinz Todt, 1940.)
"It is not the religious act that makes a Christian, but it is participation in the suffering of Christ in the life of the world." (Bonhoeffer)
I'm frequently amazed by the results of opinion polls which seem to litter the news and talk shows on the media. In some of these surveys, the respondent categories are divided by religious affiliation. Have you ever wondered what is required to check the category box marked "Christian" for these polls? I'm sure that many of these respondents believe that occasional church attendance is adequate to be named as a Christian by our cultural standards. But it would be more productive for our spiritual lives (and the society in which we live) if GOD's standards were used to determine the label "Christian".
The adjective "Christian" implies that the individual has chosen to live in a manner which reflects the life example of Christ Jesus who called people to leave their "culturally normal" lifestyle and to follow his example. And what was the living example of Jesus? Sure, he attended synagogue services, and participated in the Jewish feasts and rituals...but he also spent his life in COMPASSIONATE service to those who were poor, sick, lost and socially out-cast. It's true that not every person to whom Jesus ministered was poor or an out-cast. However, they all had deep personal and spiritual needs from which they suffered greatly. In fact, when followers of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked "Who he was?", Jesus defined himself by the nature of his compassionate care for the poor and sick.
..."John the Baptist summoned two of his disciples and sent them to ask"...(if Jesus was the promised Messiah for Israel) and when they came to Jesus..."he had just then cured many people of diseases...and Jesus answered them, Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them." (Luke 7:18-22 NSRV)
Jesus did not define himself as as a "religious superhero" sent by God to Israel. Rather, his spiritual role was understood by his ministry to those suffering and in great need. Christ, the Messiah from God, stooped and bent down to get into the midst of the suffering poor... to be WITH THEM and to bless them with healing and comfort.. His action toward them was a loving expression of his "com-passion"...with them in their suffering.
The quotation from Bonhoeffer which started this reflection was written in the early 1940s in a Germany marching deeply into war. The Nazi war machine was creating unbelievable levels of suffering and destruction while German protestants and catholics were quietly ignoring the chaos around them. It was a time when men like Dietrich Bonhoeffer cried out to their fellow German Christians that church attendance or a nominal "label of Christian" was inadequate to be a follower of the compassionate Christ.
It's very easy for us to look back on that dark time in Christian Europe's history, when the witness of Christ was severely dimmed by human fear and the effort focused on self-interest and self-preservation. However, even today I believe that it would be valid for we American Christians to hear and respond to Bonhoeffer's cry to awaken to the FULL MINISTRY of Christ in this current world. Our worship of Christ Jesus is INADEQUATE if we do not CO-PARTICIPATE WITH CHRIST in ministry to fellow suffering humans in our nation and in the world. How can we Christians quietly ignore the political and social forces which fail to alleviate the causes of so much poverty, pain and human suffering? In future years our generation of Christians may be judged to be as "spiritually weak" as that earlier generation of German Christians.
How will our Christian life be described? Will we be able to respond to those who ask about our faith by letting them witness our "co-ministry" with Christ to the poor, suffering and lost around us?...or will they see our witness to be a "shadow ministry" without involvement (com-passion) in the relief of human suffering?
There's no doubt where Christ can be found in our world...it may be in our churches but you can stake your eternal life on the fact that Christ is still found in ministry to the poor, sick, homeless and out-casts! Where will you be found?
"It is not the religious act that makes the Christian, but it is PARTICIPATION in the suffering of Christ in the life of this world." (from Bonhoeffer's chapter (p.656) in Ethik, ed Heinz Todt, 1940.)
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