A Homily - Palm Sunday (Year C), A Holy Day of Obligation

The Gospel According to Luke – 19:28-40 ©

First Reading – Isaiah 50:4-7 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 21(22):8-9,17-20,23-24 ©

Second Reading – Philippians 2:6-11 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Philippians 2:8-9

The Gospel According to Luke – 22:14-23:56 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 Always read the sacred text with care.

 The reading from Luke that leads Palm Sunday worship should be taken with a grain of salt, by which I mean it should not be taken seriously at all.

 Any and all passages in the sacred text which show Jesus explicitly fulfilling a prediction made by an earlier prophet represents a deviation from the truth, these are either meant to be read metaphorically, allegorically or analogically, or they represent a gross misunderstanding of the events being narrated, and they may even be deliberate prevarications.

 It is unacceptable for Christians to engage in deceptions, if they are committed to the spirit of truth.

 Know this.

 Prophets are not prognosticators or seers; their role among the people was not to foretell the future by sift through auguries and portents. The role of the prophet was to be a critic of the injustices they encountered in the social order.

 Take the reading for today; all four of the Gospels narrate the same scene but differently, as is so often the case.

 Mark and Luke depict Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a colt, while John depicts Jesus riding on a colt that is the foal of a donkey, adhering more closely with Zechariah’s “prophesy.” Matthew covers the bases and depicts Jesus riding on both a donkey and a colt, first one and then the other, or perhaps even straddled between them…because hey, why not.

 The authors of these gospels got their good sense twisted up in their attempt to change the actual narrative of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, so that it is reflective of a divine plan that had been in the works for ages and coming to fruition in that moment, in the person of Jesus.

 Whenever the authors embellish a story to lend it more authority the evidence actually suggests that they are writing from a place weakness. The liberty they took in writing the narrative this way is evidence of their lack of faith, and it is always unnecessary.

 It is more likely than not, that no such event took place.

 The motive to write the narrative this way was misdirected from the start, because the purpose was only to establish the royal bona fides of Jesus, and in truth Jesus was not a king; he had no desire to be one and he denied his supposed kingship until his death

 God is not a king either, neither is God an emperor or a general; such pretentious titles and criminal offices have no part in the divine. Kingship is a human invention.

 Jesus stood in the tradition of Isaiah; listen to Isaiah now, take comfort in that courage. The school of Isaiah is pointing. Like Jesus, Isaiah sees the necessity of telling the truth. The tells us that the people need it, and justice cannot be had without it; truth is the cornerstone of a just society, but the reward for telling the truth is often condemnation. As much as they need it, the people do not like to hear it, do not want to believe that God loves their neighbor just as much as God loves them, or the stranger, or their enemies, or anyone else for that matter, but this is exactly what Isaiah and Jesus teach when they in struct us in the way.

 People are afraid to give because the world has made them this way. The rich and the poor alike react with anger and violence to any little thing that might upset the security of their lives, challenge their jealousies and expose their miserliness…this is how the world is.

 Like Isaiah, we must listen with the heart. When we open our mouths to speak, we must share the peace and blessing of God…and never utter a word of condemnation to those whom God loves, which means anyone and everyone, even Judas was beloved by God.

 This is the way of heaven.

 Know this.

 God hears you when you pray. The creator of the universe knows your innermost thoughts. God knows you as you know yourself, God understands all that you are and all the things you struggle with. God feels your experience of the world, even as you feel it.

Your struggles are God’s own.

God has given you the power to save yourself or to surrender to the pains of chance, the power to agonize over the arbitrariness of fortune or be at peace; God has made you in freedom and your life is your own.

 It was a mistake for the Apostle to use the power of the pen in order to transform Jesus into a divine being in the hearts and minds of his followers.

 Jesus was a man; he shared in all of the qualities human beings possess, because he was one of us. He did not descend to Earth from an exalted place, he rose up. In this way perhaps Jesus was divine; if so, he was divine in the same way that we all are, because we are created in the divine image and carry a spark of that divinity within us…Jesus is our brother and God is parent to us all.

 Be mindful!

 Jesus lived as a loving friend, he came prepared to give everything in the service of those God cares for. He is an exemplar of the way.

 God is so near to us that you can see God sitting at the dining table with you, just as Jesus saw God in the hearts of his companions, and they in him.

 Know this.

 God loves mercy more than sacrifices of flesh and blood and burning fat; the bread and the wine which Jesus served at the last supper were not substitutions for animal sacrifice, served at the communal table, they represented the sacrifice that God loves most. The bread and the wine were not substitutes for blood and gore, just as Jesus was not a substitute for a sheep or a goat.

 Also know this.

 There is no such thing as fate. What Jesus and Judas did they did freely, the actions that Peter and Pilate took they took without divine coercion.

 The disciples began squabbling among themselves without compulsion, it was in their nature to be divisive. Even in their final hours with Jesus they had still not absorbed his teaching; they were still prideful and preening, resentful and demanding.

 Jesus, though he tried, could not dissuade them from this, and he loved them anyway…as God does; the way is instructive for this. If you follow Jesus with a heart prepared for service, you will be in the way.

 Even though the disciples failed to understand what Jesus was attempting to prepare them for, or get them to understand how his mission would end, he loved them anyway, even in light of their present failures, positioned as he was between the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter, he embraced them and invited them to the table.

 This is the way.

 When Jesus tells Peter that each of us will be sifted like wheat until the chaff has pulled away from the kernel of grain; he is sharing with Peter the reality of what God prays for, in God’s own self, and teaches in this final lesson that in the end each and every one of us will be saved.

 Even as Jesus gave these assurances, Peter was boasting of how great his faith was and how ready he is to face the same tribulations as his teacher…Jesus knew otherwise. He knew that Peter would betray him, just as Judas had done. Jesus saw what was coming, not because the future was immutable, but because human nature was scrutable.

 In his last hours Jesus’ teaching becomes the most profound, he reminds them of the way, and how they should approach their mission after he has gone. He tells them to approach it with humility.

 When Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives, he is uncertain and he is afraid, so much so that he was ready to use violence to protect himself and his followers. Though in the end he avoided violence, he did succumb to its temptation when he allowed his people to prepare for it.

 When he arrived in Gethsemane he withdrew to take comfort in prayer. The certainty of his faith speaks clearly. He sees the path before him as clearly as if it had been preordained, and he is strengthened by it. When he is rested he calls the disciples to the same faith, assuring them that they will find the same comfort in prayer, if they meditate on the way.

 Just as Jesus was calling them, he was interrupted by a gang of men led by one of his disciple Judas; they had come to arrest him.

 There was uncertainty among his followers, Jesus had previously instructed them to be prepared for violence, but Jesus had passed that moment of doubt; he was ready. He is prepared to forgive everyone involved in his arrest, both those who came to seize him, as well as those who sent them…even his betrayer. He is prepared because this is what the way instructs us to do.

 First Jesus scolds them, then he lets them arrest him. Peter follows, but when he is confronted he denies being a companion to Jesus, and within the hour he denies Jesus three times, proving Jesus right about Peter’s previous boasting…it was all vanity.

 What comes next is the worst display of human nature, the sum of human pettiness and fear get rolled into a tragic drama that ends with the murder of an innocent person.

 After he arrested Jesus is mocked and beaten. He is callously dragged before those who were jealous of him, who demanded that he answer for their ignorance. However, when they were satisfied that he had implicated himself in a crime, they were still afraid to prosecute him, because Jesus was a man of the people, and the people loved him…so they took him to the Romans to get their satisfaction.

 As it turned out, the Romans were also afraid. The prefect, Pontius Pilate, wanted nothing to do with the plots and intrigues of the Jewish elders, chief priests and scribes had. It even suited his interests to keep them off balance and uncertain, and so Pilate returned Jesus him to Herod, who was king of Judea and all of the Jews. 

 While Herod made sport of Jesus he came to terms with Pilate in a way that allowed Pilate to deal with Jesus himself, eliminating the problem that Jesus’ teaching represented for all of them.

 The connivance displayed in this circumstance demonstrates for anyone who would care to look, the craven nature of human greed, because it was greed that drove them all, greed and their fear that they could lose the things they had, that they could lose the positions they held, if they were to allow a popular man like Jesus to gain influence and power.

 Pilate played politics with the matter and publicly called on the Jewish elders to demand the death of Jesus. In their eagerness to see him dead they fell for it, and though Pilate ordered the killing, it was clear to everyone that he was acting at the behest of the ruling classes of Judeans

 Before delivering the sentence Pilate declared that Jesus was innocent of any crime, but then he bowed to the will of the crowd and condemned him to death, crucifying Jesus in place of another named Bar Abbas who had been condemned for murder; he sent Jesus to death in his place.

 Jesus was very week by this time. He had undergone hours of beatings, torture and abuse. He lamented his fate even while giving hope to the people who had gathered to support him. In keeping with the way he never failed to encourage them to carry on and persevere through hope.

 After Jesus had been nailed to the cross and lifted up to die, he prayed one last time for the people of Earth, he prayed for all the children of the God, he prayed: “Forgive them…they know not what they do.”

 This is the way.

 During the agony of the crucifixion, while Jesus died slowly on the cross, he was mocked and robbed and humiliate. His legs were broken to ensure that he could not escape, and he was pierced with a spear, which in all likelihood was a mercy the soldier had been bribed to perform, and during that time Jesus never lost his grace. Rather than despair, he found companionship and common cause among the men with who he had been lifted up to death that day...both faith and doubt were on full display.

 Listen!

 As you finish the reading for today do not to fall into the seductive belief that supernatural events attended Jesus’ death. There was no eclipse when he was crucified; though a shadow fell across the face of the earth and our collective spirit was enshrouded in darkness.

 Those who witnessed his death, those who were not been among his followers, acknowledged the passing of a good man, even the Roman centurion who supervised the execution said as much.

 Joseph of Arimathea, who was likely Jesus’ actual father, recovered his body for burial and placed it in his family’s tomb

 He was followed to the tomb by the women who were among his disciples, including his mother and the woman who had anointed him for death, they were the final witnesses to his death and burial, the steady women who never abandoned him or left his side.

 In this way Jesus passed from the world, a man who would come to be called the son of God, who was in his day a humble prophet, a healer and a teacher of the way.

 

The Gospel According to Luke – Luke 19:28-40 ©

Blessings on Him Who Comes in the Name of the Lord

Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village opposite, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat; untie it and bring it here.

If any one asks you, “Why are you untying it?” you shall say this, “The Lord has need of it.”’

So those who were sent went away and found it as he had told them.

And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’

And they said, ‘The Lord has need of it.’

And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their garments on the colt they set Jesus upon it.

And as he rode along, they spread their garments on the road.

As he was drawing near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’

And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’

He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.’

 

First Reading – Isaiah 50:4-7 ©

I did not cover my face against insult: I know I shall not be shamed

The Lord has given me a disciple’s tongue.

So that I may know how to reply to the wearied he provides me with speech.

Each morning he wakes me to hear, to listen like a disciple.

The Lord has opened my ear.

For my part, I made no resistance, neither did I turn away.

I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who tore at my beard; I did not cover my face against insult and spittle.

The Lord comes to my help, so that I am untouched by the insults.

So, too, I set my face like flint; I know I shall not be shamed.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 21(22):8-9,17-20,23-24 ©

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

All who see me deride me.

  They curl their lips, they toss their heads.

‘He trusted in the Lord, let him save him;

  let him release him if this is his friend.’

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Many dogs have surrounded me,

  a band of the wicked beset me.

They tear holes in my hands and my feet

  I can count every one of my bones.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

They divide my clothing among them.

  They cast lots for my robe.

O Lord, do not leave me alone,

  my strength, make haste to help me!

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

I will tell of your name to my brethren

  and praise you where they are assembled.

‘You who fear the Lord give him praise;

  all sons of Jacob, give him glory.

  Revere him, Israel’s sons.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

 

Second Reading – Philippians 2:6-11 ©

Christ Humbled Himself but God Raised Him High

His state was divine, yet Christ Jesus did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave and became as men are; and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross.

But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Philippians 2:8-9

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

Christ was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross.

But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all names.

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

 

The Gospel According to Luke – 22:14-23:56 ©

The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Luke

Key: N. Narrator. ✠ Jesus. O. Other single speaker. C. Crowd, or more than one speaker.

N. When the hour came, Jesus took his place at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them,

✠ I have longed to eat this passover with you before I suffer; because, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

N. Then, taking a cup, he gave thanks and said,

✠ Take this and share it among you, because from now on, I tell you, I shall not drink wine until the kingdom of God comes.

N. Then he took some bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it and gave it to them, saying,

✠ This is my body which will be given for you; do this as a memorial of me.

N. He did the same with the cup after supper, and said,

✠ This cup is the new covenant in my blood which will be poured out for you.

And yet, here with me on the table is the hand of the man who betrays me. The Son of Man does indeed go to his fate even as it has been decreed, but alas for that man by whom he is betrayed!

N. And they began to ask one another which of them it could be who was to do this thing.

A dispute arose also between them about which should be reckoned the greatest, but he said to them,

✠ Among pagans it is the kings who lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are given the title Benefactor. This must not happen with you. No; the greatest among you must behave as if he were the youngest, the leader as if he were the one who serves. For who is the greater: the one at table or the one who serves? The one at table, surely? Yet here am I among you as one who serves!

You are the men who have stood by me faithfully in my trials; and now I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father conferred one on me: you will eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.

Simon, Simon! Satan, you must know, has got his wish to sift you all like wheat; but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail, and once you have recovered, you in your turn must strengthen your brothers.

N. He answered,

O. Lord, I would be ready to go to prison with you, and to death.

N. Jesus replied,

✠ I tell you, Peter, by the time the cock crows today you will have denied three times that you know me.

N. He said to them,

✠ When I sent you out without purse or haversack or sandals, were you short of anything?

N. They answered,

C. No.

N. He said to them,

✠ But now if you have a purse, take it; if you have a haversack, do the same; if you have no sword, sell your cloak and buy one, because I tell you these words of scripture have to be fulfilled in me: He let himself be taken for a criminal. Yes, what scripture says about me is even now reaching its fulfilment.

N. They said,

C. Lord, there are two swords here now.

N. He said to them,

✠ That is enough!

N. He then left to make his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, with the disciples following. When they reached the place he said to them,

✠ Pray not to be put to the test.

N. Then he withdrew from them, about a stone’s throw away, and knelt down and prayed, saying,

✠ Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine.

N. Then an angel appeared to him, coming from heaven to give him strength. In his anguish he prayed even more earnestly, and his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.

When he rose from prayer he went to the disciples and found them sleeping for sheer grief. He said to them,

✠ Why are you asleep? Get up and pray not to be put to the test.

N. He was still speaking when a number of men appeared, and at the head of them the man called Judas, one of the Twelve, who went up to Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said,

✠ Judas, are you betraying the son of Man with a kiss?

N. His followers, seeing what was happening, said,

C. Lord, shall we use our swords?

N. And one of them struck out at the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. But at this Jesus spoke:

✠ Leave off! That will do!

N. And touching the man’s ear he healed him.

Then Jesus spoke to the chief priests and captains of the Temple guard and elders who had come for him. He said,

✠ Am I a brigand, that you had to set out with swords and clubs? When I was among you in the Temple day after day you never moved to lay hands on me. But this is your hour; this is the reign of darkness.

N. They seized him then and led him away, and they took him to the high priest’s house. Peter followed at a distance. They had lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and Peter sat down among them, and as he was sitting there by the blaze a servant-girl saw him, peered at him, and said,

O. This person was with him too.

N. But he denied it.

O. Woman, I do not know him.

N. Shortly afterwards someone else saw him and said,

O. You are another of them.

N. But Peter replied,

O. I am not, my friend.

N. About an hour later another man insisted, saying,

O. This fellow was certainly with him. Why, he is a Galilean.

N. Peter said,

O. My friend, I do not know what you are talking about.

N. At that instant, while he was still speaking, the cock crew, and the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered what the Lord had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will have disowned me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Meanwhile the men who guarded Jesus were mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and questioned him, saying,

C. Play the prophet. Who hit you then?

N. And they continued heaping insults on him.

When day broke there was a meeting of the elders of the people, attended by the chief priests and scribes. He was brought before their council, and they said to him,

C. If you are the Christ, tell us.

N. He replied,

✠ If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I question you, you will not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the Power of God.

N. Then they all said,

C. So you are the Son of God then?

N. He answered:

✠ It is you who say I am.

N. They said,

C. What need of witnesses have we now? We have heard it for ourselves from his own lips.

N. The whole assembly then rose, and they brought him before Pilate.

They began their accusation by saying,

C. We found this man inciting our people to revolt, opposing payment of the tribute to Caesar, and claiming to be Christ, a king.

N. Pilate put to him this question:

O. Are you the king of the Jews?

N. He replied,

✠ It is you who say it.

N. Pilate then said to the chief priests and the crowd,

O. I find no case against this man.

N. But they persisted,

C. He is inflaming the people with his teaching all over Judaea; it has come all the way from Galilee, where he started, down to here.

N. When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man were a Galilean; and finding that he came under Herod’s jurisdiction he passed him over to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

Herod was delighted to see Jesus; he had heard about him and had been wanting for a long time to set eyes on him; moreover, he was hoping to see some miracle worked by him. So he questioned him at some length; but without getting any reply. Meanwhile the chief priests and the scribes were there, violently pressing their accusations. Then Herod, together with his guards, treated him with contempt and made fun of him; he put a rich cloak on him and sent him back to Pilate. And though Herod and Pilate had been enemies before, they were reconciled that same day.

Pilate then summoned the chief priests and the leading men and the people. He said,

O. You brought this man before me as a political agitator. Now I have gone into the matter myself in your presence and found no case against the man in respect of all the charges you bring against him. Nor has Herod either, since he has sent him back to us. As you can see, the man has done nothing that deserves death, So I shall have him flogged and then let him go.

N. But as one man they howled,

C. Away with him! Give us Barabbas!

N. (This man had been thrown into prison for causing a riot in the city and for murder.)

Pilate was anxious to set Jesus free and addressed them again, but they shouted back,

C. Crucify him! Crucify him!

N. And for the third time he spoke to them,

O. Why? What harm has this man done? I have found no case against him that deserves death, so I shall have him punished and then let him go.

N. But they kept on shouting at the top of their voices, demanding that he should be crucified. And their shouts were growing louder.

Pilate then gave his verdict: their demand was to be granted. He released the man they asked for, who had been imprisoned for rioting and murder, and handed Jesus over to them to deal with as they pleased.

As they were leading him away they seized on a man, Simon from Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and made him shoulder the cross and carry it behind Jesus. Large numbers of people followed him, and of women too, who mourned and lamented for him. But Jesus turned to them and said,

✠ Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep rather for yourselves and for your children. For the days will surely come when people will say, ‘Happy are those who are barren, the wombs that have never borne, the breasts that have never suckled!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’; to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if men use the green wood like this, what will happen when it is dry?

N. Now with him they were also leading out two other criminals to be executed.

When they reached the place called The Skull, they crucified him there and the two criminals also, one on the right, the other on the left. Jesus said,

✠ Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.

N. Then they cast lots to share out his clothing.

The people stayed there watching him. As for the leaders, they jeered at him, saying,

C. He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.

N. The soldiers mocked him too, and when they approached to offer vinegar they said,

C. If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.

N. Above him there was an inscription: ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

One of the criminals hanging there abused him, saying,

O. Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us as well.

N. But the other spoke up and rebuked him:

O. Have you no fear of God at all? You got the same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

N. He replied,

✠ Indeed, I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise.

N. It was now about the sixth hour and, with the sun eclipsed, a darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. The veil of the Temple was torn right down the middle; and when Jesus had cried out in a loud voice, he said,

✠ Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

N. With these words he breathed his last.

All kneel and pause a moment

When the centurion saw what had taken place, he gave praise to God and said,

O. This was a great and good man.

N. And when all the people who had gathered for the spectacle saw what had happened, they went home beating their breasts.

All his friends stood at a distance; so also did the women who had accompanied him from Galilee, and they saw all this happen.

Then a member of the council arrived, an upright and virtuous man named Joseph. He had not consented to what the others had planned and carried out. He came from Arimathaea, a Jewish town, and he lived in the hope of seeing the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. He then took it down, wrapped it in a shroud and put him in a tomb which was hewn in stone in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day and the sabbath was imminent.

Meanwhile the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus were following behind. They took note of the tomb and of the position of the body.

Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. And on the sabbath day they rested, as the Law required.

 

A Homily - Palm Sunday (Year C), A Holy Day of Obligation

Observation - April 10th, 2025, Friday

a slow-walk up Bryant Avenue

     north by northwest in the quiet morning

gray skies like soft wool

     cool air and white light

 

trees astir with their hearts bent on spring

     ready to burst with leaf and flower

 

a tall-skinny-rabbit thumps away from me

A Homily – The Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year C)

First Reading – Isaiah 43:16-21 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 125(126) ©

Second Reading – Philippians 3:8-14 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Joel 2:12-13

The Gospel According to John 8:1-11 ©

(NJB)

Listen!

God does not intervene in the affairs of human beings or the machinations of emperors and kings…be careful how you read the words of the prophet.

The people were wrong to give God credit for their flight from Egypt. God had nothing to do with that endeavor.

Be mindful.

God loved the Egyptians too, they are also God’s children, and God mourned the suffering of those who fell, just as God mourns the victims of all human conflict.

There is no need to recall the past, it is a tapestry of metaphor and myth an does not refer to historical realities, except perhaps in the broadest outlines. We should not celebrate this narrative or glorify the war crimes that one nation committed against another.

To heal we must move beyond this narrative, if we do not we will be lost forever in the desert of our hearts.

Let it go.

God is waiting for us to put aside our wild ways, to walk humbly, to love mercy and to seek justice, as God does for all people.

Know this.

It was not God who freed the Jews from captivity in Babylon. It was the king of Persia and it was good of him to do so; he honored the fellowship that all human beings share, simply for being human.

Be mindful.

Insofar as all good deeds have their origin in the goodness we derive from God, then yes, God deserves the credit. Nevertheless, it was the free choice of the Persian King to release those who had been enslaved, allowing them to return to their homes…though not all of them did. Many remained in the diaspora as citizens of Persia, some became Greek under the rule of Alexander, and later Roman under the auspices of their power.

Those who returned to Judea regarded their cousins who had never left the land, as impure, as gentiles, and worse as outcasts…this was a crime against them.

Consider the teaching of the Apostle and do not try to measure yourself against him. Do not measure yourself against his good or his bad deeds.

Know this.

Your destiny is the same as his, it is the same as the Samaritans, the same as the King of Persia, the same as the returning Judeans, the same as the Jews of the diaspora, the same as the Canaanites, the Amorites and the Hittites, the same as the Egyptians and the same as all of the Israelites…God has prepared a place for you in eternity, and has laid plans to ensure that you will find it.

The apostle expresses the greatest wisdom when he articulates the view that the things of this world, all of our deeds, both the tragic and the triumphant, that everything is rubbish.

This is not to say that we should throw it all away, discard everything and appreciate nothing. It is to understand that all of our works are temporary, transient and in time will be forgotten.

In time the entire planet will go up in smoke, swallowed by our mother-star and when that happens there will be nothing left of any of us.

That day will come…eventually.

What matters on the cosmic scale is how we treat each other in the hear and now; it matters that we walk humbly, love mercy and seek justice as much as we are able, for this is the way that Jesus taught us to follow.

Remember this:

The anointed one is not a king, Jesus was not a lord; the Romans crowned him with thorns and mocked him when they called him king of the Jews, this title was not meant to be taken seriously. Jesus was the son of a carpenter, and the friend of fishermen. He was a man of the land, one of the am haaretz.

Go to him, follow him, enter the way of compassion; contemplate the sacrifice of mercy, it is what Jesus offered to God on the cross, and mercy is the only sacrifice desired by God…the creator of the universe.

Consider the Gospel reading for today, it presents a narrative of Jesus at the Temple, in the cultic center of his people, and in that place his understanding of his people and their traditions is challenged by a group of Pharisees, his rabbinical peers, as well as a group of scribes who are also students of the sacred texts.

They present Jesus with a problem, a legal matter; the question concerns the proper way to deal with a woman who has been caught in the act of adultery.

In the case that was offered, testimony was not given. Witnesses did not come forward and a defense was not offered on her behalf.

A group had gathered; they were intent on killing her, on squeezing the breath out of her by placing large stones on her chest until she could not breath anymore (as stonings were done in the tradition of the Hebrew people).

The crowd felt that they had a sacred obligation to kill her; they believed that they had a duty, according to the laws of Moses, and that the adulteress must be put to death to satisfy the law.

The “law of Moses” however, had become a fetish, like an idol, and the crowd wanted to satisfy it in the same way that we desire to satisfy all off our fetishes, and in seeking her death they sought to present a human sacrifice in the temple precinct.

The pharisees and scribes wanted to test Jesus, and the crowd who gathered wanted the spectacle of a killing, and Jesus responds by offering the only thing that God desires, the only thing that anyone there could freely give, he offers her mercy, and through her the offer of mercy is given directly to God…a sacrifice of mercy was substituted for her life.

Do not read the story as if Jesus won a victory over the assembled crowd; read it as if he passed the test and thwarted the efforts of his opponents to trip him up.

The crowd understood his compassion and they loved him for it, he showed them the way and they wanted it, he carried the crowd with him into the place beloved by God, into the blessed land, the place of mercy and compassion, of humility and justice…a return to the garden which we had forsaken.

Jesus was the first to make the offering of mercy, and one by one as the crowd dispersed, they each left an offering of the same…they offered mercy, and the woman retained her life.

First Reading – Isaiah 43:16-21 ©

See, I am Doing a New Deed, and I Will Give My Chosen People Drink

Thus says the Lord, who made a way through the sea, a path in the great waters; who put chariots and horse in the field and a powerful army which lay there never to rise again, snuffed out, put out like a wick:

No need to recall the past, no need to think about what was done before.

See, I am doing a new deed, even now it comes to light; can you not see it?

Yes, I am making a road in the wilderness, paths in the wilds.

The wild beasts will honour me, jackals and ostriches, because I am putting water in the wilderness (rivers in the wild) to give my chosen people drink.

The people I have formed for myself will sing my praises.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 125(126) ©

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage,

  it seemed like a dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter,

  on our lips there were songs.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels

  the Lord worked for them!’

What marvels the Lord worked for us!

  Indeed we were glad.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage

  as streams in dry land.

Those who are sowing in tears

  will sing when they reap.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

They go out, they go out, full of tears,

  carrying seed for the sowing:

they come back, they come back, full of song,

  carrying their sheaves.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

 

Second Reading - Philippians 3:8-14 ©

I Look on Everything as so Much Rubbish if Only I Can Have Christ

I believe nothing can happen that will outweigh the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For him I have accepted the loss of everything, and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him. I am no longer trying for perfection by my own efforts, the perfection that comes from the Law, but I want only the perfection that comes through faith in Christ, and is from God and based on faith. All I want is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of his death. That is the way I can hope to take my place in the resurrection of the dead. Not that I have become perfect yet: I have not yet won, but I am still running, trying to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me. I can assure you my brothers, I am far from thinking that I have already won. All I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is still to come; I am racing for the finish, for the prize to which God calls us upwards to receive in Christ Jesus.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Joel 2:12-13

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks – come back to me with all your heart, for I am all tenderness and compassion.

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

 

The Gospel According to John 8:1-11 ©

'Let the One Among You Who Has Not Sinned Be the First to Throw a Stone'

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them.

  The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in full view of everybody, they said to Jesus, ‘Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, and Moses has ordered us in the Law to condemn women like this to death by stoning. What have you to say?’ They asked him this as a test, looking for something to use against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. As they persisted with their question, he looked up and said, ‘If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Then he bent down and wrote on the ground again. When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained standing there. He looked up and said, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir’ she replied. ‘Neither do I condemn you,’ said Jesus ‘go away, and do not sin any more.’

 

A Homily – The Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year C)

A Homily – The Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year C)

First Reading – Joshua 5:9-12 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 33(34):2-7 ©

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Luke 15:18

The Gospel According to Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 ©

 

(NJB)

 Listen!

 Set aside the notion that the events reported in the book of Joshua refer to actual historical realities…they do not.

 These writings are fragments of oral history woven together with allegories into a metaphorical tapestry whose mythological narrative was meant to a struggling people.

 The Joshua Epic begins to be collected and written down in the tenth and eleventh centuries BCE, in a process that took generations. It reflects the point of view of the Davidic Monarchy, and that of David’s heirs, it is not a faithful representation of the actual history of the people of Israel, Judea or any of the other tribes belonging to the Hebrew confederation.

 Know this:

 God did not deliver the people from Egypt, they saved themselves. They had nothing to be ashamed of for having been the vassals of Egypt for so many years. According to their own story the children of Israel entered into the service of the Egyptians during a time of famine, they did so as a means of self-preservation, it is not likely that they ever left the land of Cannan in doing so, some perhaps but not the majority, they merely accepted Egyptian rule, and paid Egyptian taxes, while remaining in service for several hundred years. The Children of Israel may have ultimately come to find this burden to onerous to live with, but during that time they grew into a strong people.

 Here is the story that the tradition has preserved:

 There was conflict in Egypt and the Hebrews through off their bonds, when they did, they did so under their own power. They were on their own, caught between feuding empires and without the backing of a major power. The tribes consisted of some herders and nomads, the ancestors of the Bedouin, but there were also bands of thieves, brigands, pirates and runaway slaves.

 They established their own customs, traditions based on law rather than the religious cults of imperial power, they planted new roots and settled the Levant, allowing other tribes to join them if they agreed to keep the law before them, the foundation of which was a commitment to an ethical society, and those who not they put to the sword.

 What is hidden in the reading is this:

 People must rely on themselves for what they do in the world, they must produce their own food, protect themselves and grow their own tribes. People are responsible for this and cannot wait upon God to provide it for them…if they do they will starve. God will not intervene, not until our point of departure from this world, from that moment on God will handle the rest.

 Be mindful of the psalmist.

 If you intend to seek God, look no farther than your heart; you will find God by loving, and in loving you will be blessed.

 Praise God through works of love. Look for no other glory than service seek praise through the emulation of God’s infinite compassion.

 Know this!

 The Divine spirit is nameless, you cannot lift God’s name in praise, if you try you must be humble and keep before you the knowledge that whatever issues from your throat and passes through your lips is nothing more than air, shaped by your tongue whose only connection to the divine is found in the intent with which you utter it.

 Listen to your neighbors when they are afraid; rescue them. Reassure them with you faith, let them see the divine light shining through you…the light of hope and love.

 Understand this:

 God is merciful; with God there is no need for shame. God is no respecter of station, class or wealth…God loves everyone the same.

 Do not look for God to solve your problems, we are each of us another Job, though our tribulations are not tests applied to us by some celestial agent. Our tribulations are merely the vicissitudes of natural world and human culture, they are the price we pay for our freedom of will, and we persevere while we endure them through faith, by your trust in the divine you will come to understand how transient they are.

 Do not look to God to for rescue, look to your neighbor instead. Be the person your neighbor looks to for aid; be that person even if your neighbor is a stranger…rescue them in their need.

 Be mindful.

 All pain is temporary, but love lasts forever; therefore, do not fear.

 Speak the truth, avoid evil; do good.

 God see all, hears all, knows all, even your innermost thoughts, your secrets and desires, your hidden motivations, we all exist within the divine being and God understands the whole of our experience, even as we understand it ourselves (only better).

 Keep your mind in the present and do not focus on the good things that may or may not come as a result of the work you do in the here and now…the work is what you are called too.

 Love and do good, love without the thought of reward for yourself. Love as God loves so that those near you can experience the love of God through you in in the here and now.

 Hearken to those who teach hope…ignore the fear-mongers. The way is not found in fear.

 Consider the teaching of the Apostle and know that our salvation is derived from the work of God’s, not our own. It is God’s work, and the work is done already, the work began as John said, in the first moment of creation.

 The fall, such as it was, happened subsequent to and in the context of God’s saving work, not apart from it or outside of it…apart from God there is nothing.

 The work of salvation begins in eternity, and eternity is where it is realized, while the product of sin is a function of time and space, it comes to an end.

 Jesus revealed the truth of it and entrusted all future followers of the way with the task of sharing that Good news with the world...this is the mission of the Church, to proclaim that we are already reconciled to God, that there is no debt to pay, to lift the terrible burden of sin and allow it to fall away from hearts of the people.

 We fall and rise together, because we were created as one in the goodness of God.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today and know this:

 People change and appearances are not everything; there is good in everyone, and in everyone there is reason to be disappointed. The degree of judgement levelled by the Pharisees in this narrative; is not something we should emulate, neither is the jealousy expressed in this parable by the loyal son. Beneath the veneer of piety there is often bitterness and resentment; making the pretense of piety a mere façade.

 The parable is about justice.

 Jesus teaches from the perspective of divine justice…few are able to recognize the mandate of heaven when they see it, fewer still are those who can articulate it with authority as Jesus does.

 The more common discussion of justice is found in the superimposition of human values and  contemporary social mores over what we hope and fear God would desire.

 It is a rare to be able to set aside the prejudices of the day in favor of an expression of the heavenly, but this is the role of the prophet; to articulate a mode of justice characterized by love and mercy, compassion and forgiveness, and to demand that we reform our human traditions in light of those.

 This parable is often analyzed as a narrative on the power of repentance.

 Repentance: the action a sinner takes when he or she turns away from the world and toward God.

 This parable is a story of conversion and the power of transformation that ensues from it.

 The characters in the parable are a father (read God) and his two sons (read the dual nature of humanity), the younger self-indulgent and the older self-disciplined.

 The self-indulgent child is like most of us, he is greedy and heedless of the future. The journey he makes, takes him for from his father…far from God. It is a long journey, it takes years to complete and it leaves him destitute.

 The disciplined child represents a much smaller number of us (though most people fall somewhere in between). He stays home, remains obedient and asks for nothing from his father, though expecting to receive everything that belongs to the father as his inheritance.

 He is pious and resolute, but in his heart he is resentful and bitter. Because he asks for nothing for himself, he receives nothing for himself and in his heart he is covetous of everything.

 Between the sin of self-indulgence and the sin of covetousness; which is greater?

 I think it is impossible to say; sin is sin, and this is a story of sin and repentance.

 The younger son repents and returns home, the road into depravity was long, but the road to recovery was short, and what the narrative reveals is that while he was away from home, the eyes of his loving father; the eyes of God, were always on him.

 I believe this is the point of the narrative.

 The purpose of this narrative is not to remind us that repentance is possible, or that God rejoices in the repentant. The point is to say that the divine is always with us; we are never out of God’s sight, and we are never far from God’s love.

 The parable concerns God’s mercy, God’s Love, God’s compassion and forgiving heart. It is about what God and Jesus, ask each of us to emulate everyday insofar as we have chosen to be followers of the way.

First Reading – Joshua 5:9-12 ©

The Israelites Celebrate Their First Passover in the Promised Land

The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have taken the shame of Egypt away from you.’

  The Israelites pitched their camp at Gilgal and kept the Passover there on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening in the plain of Jericho. On the morrow of the Passover they tasted the produce of that country, unleavened bread and roasted ears of corn, that same day. From that time, from their first eating of the produce of that country, the manna stopped falling. And having manna no longer, the Israelites fed from that year onwards on what the land of Canaan yielded.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 33(34):2-7 ©

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

I will bless the Lord at all times,

  his praise always on my lips;

in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.

  The humble shall hear and be glad.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Glorify the Lord with me.

  Together let us praise his name.

I sought the Lord and he answered me;

  from all my terrors he set me free.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Look towards him and be radiant;

  let your faces not be abashed.

This poor man called, the Lord heard him

  and rescued him from all his distress.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

 

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ©

God Reconciled Himself to us Through Christ

For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God’s work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation. In other words, God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, not holding men’s faults against them, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled. So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Luke 15:18

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

I will leave this place and go to my father and say:

‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.’

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

 

The Gospel According to Luke 15:1-3,11-32 ©

The Prodigal Son

The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them:

‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.” So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.

‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back to his father.

‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.

‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. “Your brother has come” replied the servant “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”

‘The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”’

 

A Homily – The Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year C)