BIBLE STUDY #31
EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
February 27, 2011
Gospel Matthew 6:24-34
Jesus said to his disciples:
“No one can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other,
or be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink,
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds in the sky;
they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are not you more important than they?
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes?
Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.
They do not work or spin.
But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
was clothed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass of the field,
which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,
will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’
or ‘What are we to drink?’or ‘What are we to wear?’
All these things the pagans seek.
Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given you besides.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”
The Gospel of the Lord
Reflection
Our Sunday Gospels since January 30th had been from the Sermon on the Mount, the great teaching about discipleship. We have this week and one more week left from this Sermon.
Our Gospel begins with the well known “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Mammon is an Aramaic word meaning wealth or property.
There is always someone or something that is most important in our lives. This someone of something comes first before anything else and has top priority in our lives. The wants and needs of this someone or something supersedes all other wants and needs. It is obvious, then, that there can’t be two things that are most important in our lives.
That is why I think that there are no true atheists in the world, because we all worship someone or something; in other words, we all worship a ‘god’, just not the one, true, God.
Almost anything can be our ‘god’: our own ego, self interests and wants; careers; the accumulation and retention of wealth; anything that detracts us from God and deflects us from our mission as disciples, is our ‘god’.
This doesn’t mean that we ignore all human activity in favor of God. It is still necessary to work, build relationships, raise children, and do all those things that make up a life. Jesus is telling us to have priorities. We need to have balance in life; there is a time and a place for everything.
We make the mistake of thinking that if God comes first, we must be at every liturgical function and volunteer for every committee at our Church. Nothing could be further from the truth. My priority scale is as follows: 1) our relationship with God; that is our prayer and sacramental life. We will end up making some sacrifices by putting God first, but anything worthwhile is worth the sacrifice; 2) family; 3) work; 4) volunteering at church.
And as part of the last 3 things, I include witnessing to our faith, and learning about our faith.
When we put God first it in our lives, it changes everything. Putting God first doesn’t mean just rituals or believing in a creed, but making your faith your philosophy of life. A philosophy of life is something that guides every decision we make. Our lives would be a lot different and a lot better if we did this.
For example, we would no longer be worried about the latest fashions, or gourmet meals, or fancy houses and cars. We would realize that maybe we do have enough already. When I look in my closet, I realize that I don’t wear half of what I have. Our priorities change, from worrying about the accumulation and retention of wealth, to love, forgiveness, kindness, sacrifice, and other virtues.
Money doesn’t buy happiness. Happiness is a state of mind. Abraham Lincoln once said that we are about as happy as we decide we want to be. When we give up greed and take on God, we realize how lucky we are and how much God has done for us. We are happy because we are saved, and know how much God loves us. Living the Christian life brings us happiness.
I think we are happy when we have God because we realize in the end, what really matters except salvation? When I do a funeral, I usually ride with the funeral director to the cemetery. I walk with the casket to the grave, and wait while the grave is prepared and the people come to the graveside for prayer. While I am waiting, I usually look at the headstones near me to see if I recognize a name and how long they lived. Then I think to myself, “Did worrying make any difference? Did all their possessions save them? Where are they now?”
Jesus tells us not to worry. Here is a story from www.sermons.com that talks about worrying.
“Do you have a worrier in your family? Kais Rayes writes that he and his wife found their whole life turned upside down when their first child was born. Every night, the baby seemed to be fussy, and many nights, it seemed that their baby cried far more than he slept. Says Rayes, "My wife would wake me up, saying, 'Get up, honey! Go see why the baby is crying!'" As a result, Rayes found himself suffering from severe sleep deprivation.
While complaining to his coworkers about his problem one day, one of his colleagues suggested a book on infant massage. Rayes immediately went in search of the book and that night, he tried the technique, gently rubbing his baby's back, arms, head, and legs until the baby was completely relaxed and obviously had fallen into a deep sleep. Quietly tiptoeing from the darkened room so as not to disturb the rhythmic breathing of the baby, he made his way directly to his own bed in hopes of enjoying a well deserved full night of sleep.
No such luck. In the middle of the night, his wife awoke him in a panic. "Get up, honey!" she said as she jostled him awake. "Go see why the baby is not crying!"
Do you know anybody like that? Some people are just worriers. Even when things go well they worry, they fret, they fume. They worry that something bad will happen.” What a terrible, sad, and lonely way to live!
Brian Stoffregen in his Exegetical Notes writes something called “The Breakdown of Worries.”
“Some years ago I read the following in a business magazine:
Stress management experts say that only two percent of our "worrying time" is spent on things that might actually be helped by worrying. The figures below illustrate how the other 98 percent of this time is spent:
40% on things that never happen
35% on things that can't be changed
15% on things that turn out better than expected
8% on useless, petty worries
Jesus tells us not to worry. Whenever I begin to worry about something I say to myself, “12 months ago I was worried about something, and you know what? I can’t remember what it was!”
Not worrying, though, doesn’t excuse us from striving in life and cooperating with God’s grace. There was a man who lived in a flood zone, and one day, it began raining heavily. The water got up to his front porch, and someone came by in a boat and said, “Hop in and I’ll save you!” The man said, “No, thanks, God will provide!” and the boat went away. Pretty soon, the water was so deep that the man was looking out the second story window, and another boat came by. The captain yelled to the man, “Hop in and I’ll save you!” The man replied, “No, thanks, God will provide.” So the boat went away. Finally, the water is so deep, that the man is on the roof. A helicopter comes by, drops a rope ladder, and the pilot yells, “Climb up the ladder and I will save you!” The man replies, “No thanks, God will provide!” and the helicopter flies away. The water gets even deeper: the man can’t swim and he drowns. He gets into heaven and sees God. He says to God, “You know, I’m pretty disappointed in you. All my life I’ve prayed, gone to church, and tried to be a good disciple. And, in my greatest hour of need, you abandon me.” God replies, “I sent you two boats and a helicopter, what else did you need?”
God provides us what we need; there is no reason to worry. The question is: do we recognize God in our midst?
Fr. Phil
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
BIBLE STUDY #30
SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
FEBRUARY 20, 2011
Gospel Matthew 5: 38-48
Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said,
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.
When someone strikes you on your right cheek,
turn the other one as well.
If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic,
hand over your cloak as well.
Should anyone press you into service for one mile,
go for two miles.
Give to the one who asks of you,
and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.
“You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The Gospel of the Lord
Reflection
We’re in that part of Matthew’s Gospel called the Sermon on the Mount, which goes from 5:1 to 7:29. This is the first of five discourses that are a central part of the gospel’s structure. This sermon consists of the Beatitudes, the new righteousness (with illustrations), a section of good works, and three warnings. The section about the new righteousness consists of teachings concerning the law, anger, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and love of enemies. Last Sunday we heard about the first four of these teachings. This week we hear the last two.
These last 2 teachings concerning retaliation begin with “You have heard that it was said” which refers to what God said to the Israelites when he gave them the Law at Sinai. The words in Italics immediately following it are from the Pentateuch (or the Torah, the first 5 books of the bible).
Jesus teachings are radical and sometimes deepen and spiritualize the Torah. He also changes the Torah, as with his teachings on divorce, oaths and vows, and retaliation.
The first teaching says “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This is what God told the people to avoid unlimited and unrestricted blood lusts and feuds. It commands proportionate retaliation. God said that retaliation was permitted, but restricted.
Jesus teaching changes all this. He says, “But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.” No longer are we allowed to retaliate. God initially restricted retaliation, then Jesus brings it to its logical conclusion of no retaliation. In this teaching, Jesus actually changes the letter of the Law. He actually prohibits any court action to gain retribution or compensation. He undermines civil society by bringing in the otherness of the kingdom. He is not proposing a new human order, but is introducing eschatological morality, the morality of living in God’s kingdom.
This is a tough teaching for us since our society is based on rights and responsibilities. If someone hurts or offends us in any way (whether real or perceived) our first reaction is to retaliate. How often do we offer no resistance?
Jesus is calling us to a higher level of holiness. If we are to be holy, we need to stop thinking in worldly terms and start thinking in kingdom terms. We can’t do this on our own, but only with the grace of Our Lord.
This doesn’t mean that we can’t defend ourselves legally, financially, physically, or spiritually. For example if someone tries to steal our identity, we don’t have to give it to him. It does mean that we are generous to a fault with all we meet. This command has to do more with our actions than with those of others. We can’t control what other people do; we can only control what we do.
The second teaching says, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. There is nothing specific in the Old Testament that said to hate your enemy, but the command to love is only extended to your neighbor, which was assumed to be your fellow countryman. Therefore, by default, you could hate your enemy.
Jesus response to this is to tell us to love our enemies, a natural extension to not retaliating. He even tells us to pray for our enemies. I’ve always said that you can’t remain angry for long with someone if you pray for them.
This is a further call to holiness. God loves all people without limit (the sun shines and the rain falls on the good and the bad). We are called to be God’s children, and as such, we imitate our heavenly Father. It is not good enough to love those who love you; anyone can do that. We are called to share our love with all people.
What do we mean by love? Society and the media tell us that love is about our feelings for each other (isn’t that what Valentine’s Day cards are all about?). They tell us that the type of love that Jesus advocates is not possible. How could I have good feelings towards someone who has hurt me? Scripture tells us that love in its purest form is not a feeling but an action. Think about it this way: Can you love someone but not like them? Certainly! Remember when you were 16 and your Mom forbad you to go somewhere? You were probably pretty mad, but you still loved your Mom. Why? Because she proved her love to you by her actions. No matter what happens, you know that she loves you. God has proven his love by his actions – sending his Son to suffer, die, and rise for us. It is loving actions that bring about loving feelings. How can you not feel good about someone who is always doing good things for you? But then Jesus raises the bar, so to speak. He says that we are not only supposed to love our neighbors, but also to love our enemies. We love our enemies through forgiveness, through not seeking revenge, by treating them with kindness, and by not trying to hurt them, in other words, by our actions. It doesn’t mean we have to like them. It doesn’t mean that we need to be around them. But loving in this way is the path to Christian holiness.
These are ideals that we strive for in our lives. That is one nice thing about our faith – it teaches us truths that do not change over time. They are true yesterday, today and tomorrow. Therefore we have standards by which to conduct ourselves and also measure ourselves, standards set by God that draw us to holiness. We know what is lacking and what to do about it.
We won’t be able to do this by ourselves, all the time. And it is not easy. It takes a strong person to live like Jesus. It is our prayer, sacraments and good works that draw us closer to God and give us the strength to follow Jesus. We need to develop the good habits of living in the kingdom. Just as we can develop bad habits, we develop good habits through repetition. The first time is difficult, but it gets easier and easier over time to live like Jesus. This is because of God’s grace strengthens us and encourages us.
Jesus calls us to love our enemies. It is easy to do in the abstract, but I have something I want you to do to test how much you can love. I want you to forgive all those people in your circle of friends, family, and co workers who have hurt you. This is a good start to being holy.
Fr. Phil
SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
FEBRUARY 20, 2011
Gospel Matthew 5: 38-48
Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said,
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.
When someone strikes you on your right cheek,
turn the other one as well.
If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic,
hand over your cloak as well.
Should anyone press you into service for one mile,
go for two miles.
Give to the one who asks of you,
and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.
“You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The Gospel of the Lord
Reflection
We’re in that part of Matthew’s Gospel called the Sermon on the Mount, which goes from 5:1 to 7:29. This is the first of five discourses that are a central part of the gospel’s structure. This sermon consists of the Beatitudes, the new righteousness (with illustrations), a section of good works, and three warnings. The section about the new righteousness consists of teachings concerning the law, anger, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and love of enemies. Last Sunday we heard about the first four of these teachings. This week we hear the last two.
These last 2 teachings concerning retaliation begin with “You have heard that it was said” which refers to what God said to the Israelites when he gave them the Law at Sinai. The words in Italics immediately following it are from the Pentateuch (or the Torah, the first 5 books of the bible).
Jesus teachings are radical and sometimes deepen and spiritualize the Torah. He also changes the Torah, as with his teachings on divorce, oaths and vows, and retaliation.
The first teaching says “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This is what God told the people to avoid unlimited and unrestricted blood lusts and feuds. It commands proportionate retaliation. God said that retaliation was permitted, but restricted.
Jesus teaching changes all this. He says, “But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.” No longer are we allowed to retaliate. God initially restricted retaliation, then Jesus brings it to its logical conclusion of no retaliation. In this teaching, Jesus actually changes the letter of the Law. He actually prohibits any court action to gain retribution or compensation. He undermines civil society by bringing in the otherness of the kingdom. He is not proposing a new human order, but is introducing eschatological morality, the morality of living in God’s kingdom.
This is a tough teaching for us since our society is based on rights and responsibilities. If someone hurts or offends us in any way (whether real or perceived) our first reaction is to retaliate. How often do we offer no resistance?
Jesus is calling us to a higher level of holiness. If we are to be holy, we need to stop thinking in worldly terms and start thinking in kingdom terms. We can’t do this on our own, but only with the grace of Our Lord.
This doesn’t mean that we can’t defend ourselves legally, financially, physically, or spiritually. For example if someone tries to steal our identity, we don’t have to give it to him. It does mean that we are generous to a fault with all we meet. This command has to do more with our actions than with those of others. We can’t control what other people do; we can only control what we do.
The second teaching says, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. There is nothing specific in the Old Testament that said to hate your enemy, but the command to love is only extended to your neighbor, which was assumed to be your fellow countryman. Therefore, by default, you could hate your enemy.
Jesus response to this is to tell us to love our enemies, a natural extension to not retaliating. He even tells us to pray for our enemies. I’ve always said that you can’t remain angry for long with someone if you pray for them.
This is a further call to holiness. God loves all people without limit (the sun shines and the rain falls on the good and the bad). We are called to be God’s children, and as such, we imitate our heavenly Father. It is not good enough to love those who love you; anyone can do that. We are called to share our love with all people.
What do we mean by love? Society and the media tell us that love is about our feelings for each other (isn’t that what Valentine’s Day cards are all about?). They tell us that the type of love that Jesus advocates is not possible. How could I have good feelings towards someone who has hurt me? Scripture tells us that love in its purest form is not a feeling but an action. Think about it this way: Can you love someone but not like them? Certainly! Remember when you were 16 and your Mom forbad you to go somewhere? You were probably pretty mad, but you still loved your Mom. Why? Because she proved her love to you by her actions. No matter what happens, you know that she loves you. God has proven his love by his actions – sending his Son to suffer, die, and rise for us. It is loving actions that bring about loving feelings. How can you not feel good about someone who is always doing good things for you? But then Jesus raises the bar, so to speak. He says that we are not only supposed to love our neighbors, but also to love our enemies. We love our enemies through forgiveness, through not seeking revenge, by treating them with kindness, and by not trying to hurt them, in other words, by our actions. It doesn’t mean we have to like them. It doesn’t mean that we need to be around them. But loving in this way is the path to Christian holiness.
These are ideals that we strive for in our lives. That is one nice thing about our faith – it teaches us truths that do not change over time. They are true yesterday, today and tomorrow. Therefore we have standards by which to conduct ourselves and also measure ourselves, standards set by God that draw us to holiness. We know what is lacking and what to do about it.
We won’t be able to do this by ourselves, all the time. And it is not easy. It takes a strong person to live like Jesus. It is our prayer, sacraments and good works that draw us closer to God and give us the strength to follow Jesus. We need to develop the good habits of living in the kingdom. Just as we can develop bad habits, we develop good habits through repetition. The first time is difficult, but it gets easier and easier over time to live like Jesus. This is because of God’s grace strengthens us and encourages us.
Jesus calls us to love our enemies. It is easy to do in the abstract, but I have something I want you to do to test how much you can love. I want you to forgive all those people in your circle of friends, family, and co workers who have hurt you. This is a good start to being holy.
Fr. Phil
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