“How Much Is Enough?”—Power

God’s power and ours/The uses and abuses of Power

The Gospel of Thomas

Boyhood deeds of our Lord Jesus Christ I, Thomas the Israelite, am reporting to you, all my non-Jewish brothers and sisters, to make known the extraordinary childhood deeds of our Lord Jesus Christ - what he did after his birth in my region. This is how it all started: When this boy, Jesus, was five years old, he was playing at the ford of a rushing stream. He was collecting the flowing water into ponds and made the water instantly pure. He did this with a single command) He then made soft clay and shaped it into twelve sparrows. He did this on the sabbath day, and many other boys were playing with him. But when a Jew saw what Jesus was doing while playing on the sabbath day, he immediately went off and told Joseph, Jesus' father: "See here, your boy is at the ford and has taken mud and fashioned twelve birds with it, and so has violated the sabbath."  So Joseph went there, and as soon as he spotted him he shouted, "Why are you doing what's not permitted on the sabbath?") But Jesus simply clapped his hands and shouted to the sparrows: "Be off, fly away, and remember me, you who are now alive!" And the sparrows took off and flew away noisily.) The Jews watched with amazement, then left the scene to report to their leaders what they had seen Jesus doing. The son of Annas the scholar, standing there with Jesus, took a willow branch and drained the water Jesus had collected.) Jesus, however, saw what had happened and became angry, saying to him, "Damn you, you irreverent fool! What harm did the ponds of water do to you? From this moment you, too, will dry up like a tree, and you'll never produce leaves or root or bear fruit."  In an instant the boy had completely withered away. Then Jesus departed and left for the house of Joseph. The parents of the boy who had withered away picked him up and were carrying him out, sad because he was so young. And they came to Joseph and accused him: "It's your fault - your boy did this." Later he was going through the village again when a boy ran and bumped him on the shoulder. Jesus got angry and said to him, "You won't continue your journey." And all of a sudden, he fell down and died.  Some people saw what had happened and said, "Where has this boy come from? Everything he says happens instantly!"  The parents of the dead boy came to Joseph and blamed him saying, "Because you have such a boy, you can't live with us in the village, or else teach him to bless and not curse. He's killing our children!" So Joseph summoned his child and admonished him in private, saying, "Why are you doing all this? These people are suffering and so they hate and harass us." Jesus said, "I know that these are not your words, still, I'll keep quiet for your sake. But those people must take their punishment." There and then his accusers became blind.  Those who saw this became very fearful and at a loss. All they could say was, "Every word he says, whether good or bad, has become a deed - a miracle even!" When Joseph saw that Jesus had done such a thing, he got angry and grabbed his ear and pulled very hard. The boy became infuriated with him and replied, "It's one thing for you to seek and not find; it's quite another for you to act this unwisely. Don't you know that I don't really belong to you? Don't make me upset."

What Is the Gospel of Thomas?

Not to be confused with Acts of Thomas.

For the infancy gospel, see Infancy Gospel of Thomas.

The Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is an extra-canonical sayings gospel. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars speculate that the works were buried in response to a letter from Bishop Athanasius declaring a strict canon of Christian scripture. Scholars have proposed dates of composition as early as AD 60 and as late as AD 250. Since its discovery, many scholars have seen it as evidence in support of the existence of a "Q source," which might have been very similar in its form as a collection of sayings of Jesus without any accounts of his deeds or his life and death, referred to as a sayings gospel.[4][5]

The Coptic language text, the second of seven contained in what modern-day scholars have designated as Nag Hammadi Codex II, is composed of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. Almost two-thirds of these sayings resemble those found in the canonical gospels and its editio princeps counts more than 80% of parallels,[7]while it is speculated that the other sayings were added from Gnostic tradition. Its place of origin may have been Syria, where Thomasine traditions were strong. Other scholars have suggested an Alexandrian origin.

The introduction states: "These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down." Didymus (Koine Greek) and Thomas (Aramaic) both mean "twin". Modern scholars do not consider Apostle Thomas the author of this document and the author remains unknown.

Because of its discovery with the Nag Hammadi library, it was widely thought that the document originated within a school of early Christians, proto-Gnostics. Critics have questioned whether the description of Thomas as a "gnostic" gospel is based solely upon the fact that it was found along with gnostic texts at Nag Hammadi.

The Gospel of Thomas is very different in tone and structure from other New Testament apocrypha and the four canonical Gospels. Unlike the canonical Gospels, it is not a narrative account of the life of Jesus; instead, it consists of logia (sayings) attributed to Jesus, sometimes stand-alone, sometimes embedded in short dialogues or parables; 13 of its 16 parables are also found in the Synoptic Gospels. The text contains a possible allusion to the death of Jesus in logion 65 (Parable of the Wicked Tenants, paralleled in the Synoptic Gospels), but does not mention his crucifixion, his resurrection, or the final judgement; nor does it mention a messianic understanding of Jesus.

Origen condemned a book called "Gospel of Thomas" as heretical; however, it is not clear that it is the same gospel of Thomas, as he possibly meant the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.

The main reason that this Gospel was excluded from the Canon of the New Testament is that it portrays a Jesus who is totally antithetical to the Jesus of the Gospels; in this gospel passage we see a mean, vindictive and destructive little child who use his powers to get back at those who thwarted him. This is no “turn the other cheek” kind of Jesus. The appeal at the time was probably to a particular group of early Christians who felt a certain amount of animosity directed at them, even perhaps persecution. So they invented a savior who not only was capable of avenging wrongs done to them, but capable of doing so violently. There may even be people today who are looking for a leader who will promise to use brute force against their enemies and who would use violence restore to them to the position in society they feel others have usurped. Jesus would never be that kind of leader. The four canonical gospels have taught us that God, though all powerful, would never use that power to wreak vengeance on wrongdoers. So the Jesus of this gospel would never be able to be reconciled to the Jesus of the four gospels we know….

Luke 4:1–13

Filled with the holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and their glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.’” When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.

Matthew 27:33–45

And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. After they had crucified him, they divided his garments by casting lots; then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And they placed over his head the written charge against him: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and the other on his left. Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, if you are the Son of God, [and] come down from the cross!” Likewise the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him and said, He saved others; he cannot save himself. So he is the king of Israel! Let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.  He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” The revolutionaries who were crucified with him also kept abusing him in the same way. From noon onward, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Music Meditations

• Pleni Sunt Coeli et Terra—The Ground by Ola Gjeilo
• How Great Thou Art--Carrie Underwood
• Holy, Holy, Holy—Donnie McClurkin (Gospel version)
• Holy is His Name—John Michael Talbot

Opening Prayer

Jesus, teach me the temptations of power; help me to see them for what they are. Help me to recognize in myself the desire to control my life, to control others around me, even to control God, sometimes. Give me the strength to relinquish power when it is damaging me or others, and help me to know when it is time to stop hanging on to control so tightly. Give me the expansiveness to let others seek their own happiness and to let them make mistakes along the way. Help me to be kind and generous with the powers I possess, and use those powers in the building of your Kingdom.

Companions for the Journey

Power is the ability to make things happen. Power is being in control of our own lives and our own destinies. It is the ability to control others and bend them to our will. Power is part of hierarchical structures like government and church, and some say, families. Power is always present in relationships, both persuasive (or suasive) and coercive power. Sometimes we wield power over others “for their own good”—as when a parent limits unhealthy foods or TV time. Sometimes we wield power over others because it make us feel good, or important. Power and power structures are so much a part of our lives that we do even stop to consider how omnipresent power is, and how seldom it is critically examined or checked in the marketplace. Power is just a fact of life, and many of us spend our lives learning to figure out how to get it, keep it, how to live with the power that others possess, especially power over us. At an early age we learn how to navigate successfully the many layered and intricate power structures that exist, how especially keep others from taking power from us. We often measure success in terms of the amount of and kind of power a particular individual possesses. (Remember when Bill Clinton was asked why he got involved with a very impressionable, pretty and much younger staffer, even though he was a married man? His answer was: “Because I could.”).

Power is very seductive, especially instrumental or coercive power, which is why the temptations of Jesus in the desert were rooted in the almost irresistible invitation to wield the powers that were possible for him as God’s favored one.

If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. It will solve a lot a problems, and without any effort on your part, because you have the power to do so. Throw yourself off the parapet of the temple and make God show you how important you are to Him by sending his powerful angels to rescue you. I will make you ruler with power over all the known nations, second only to me….

And this was just the beginning. The celebrity that could come with the not-so-simple trick of turning water into wine, with healings and other miracles, the taming of the storms, the feeding of the five thousand, the raising of Lazarus, had to be resisted at every turn. Some of his disciples would have reveled in that power and their association with the Wonder Worker. But it was clear that the miracles of Jesus were not a magic act designed to wow the crowd into following him as a leader because of what he could do for them; or cow the crowds into fearing him because of what he could do to them. In fact, the Gospel of Mark has Jesus admonishing his disciples at every turn not to tell anyone of these miracles; Jesus, it would seem, did not want people following him because of his power to make things happen. Instead Jesus’ miracles were a heartfelt and loving response to the dire need that was revealed right before his very eyes—one he could not ignore. Often, he called on the help of his Father, indicating that what he was doing was his Father’s will. And at other times, as in the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus needed to rely on the cooperation and generosity of others to make something happen.

The kind of power that Jesus utilized was in service to his message and to the building up of the Kingdom. He had the power to attract all sorts of people, to respond sympathetically and generously to their needs and concerns, and teach effectively about love of God and love of neighbor. We call that suasive power, and it is different in that there is no intimidation, no coercion involved. People were free to accept to or decline his invitation to follow him. Of particular note is the rich young man who reluctantly declined Jesus’ offer to become a disciple because he was attached to the life he had and the goods he possessed. What is also unusual about Jesus’ suasive power is that he was very honest about the difficulties and dangers following him would entail.

What about power in our everyday lives? What kinds of powers are there, and is all power negative? On the other hand, how can power be misused? This is a spiritual study, not an academic one, and it is in no way complete, but it is part of a process by which we evaluate society’s arrogating to itself too much power and take time to evaluate our own personal enjoyment of or misuse of power. It is important to note that sometimes, various types of power overlap, and that we often possess or are denied several different types of power:

Coercive Power uses reward or punishment to compel or prohibit individual action. This could be physical or psychological. Threats of violence, incarceration, or inducements can be state sponsored or personal, legal or illegal, can be benign or abusive. It is unclear whether a threat to my kids that I was “gonna kill them as soon as I got my hands on them” or “If you just hang on a few minutes and behave I will buy you an ice-cream” fits in this description. It is clear that unless we suffer from the Stockholm Syndrome, it is hard for us to love what we fear. How free are decisions if made in an atmosphere of fear or bribery?

Formal Power is that power which comes from one’s position in society as head of a government, religion or family. It allows those people to make rules for others, to command loyalty, and sometimes allows them privileges that the ordinary folks do not possess. Throughout human history and in our own times as well, there have been many examples where this sort of power has been misused. Abuses and inequities have been glaringly obvious, from popes and potentates to controlling spouses and abusive workplaces.

Economic Power can be as expansive as control over financial markets or simply access to more resources than others have. This kind of power gives those with more money a lot more resources and options than poor people possess, whether it is the kind of dwelling they live in, the amount and quality of food they can afford, the schools they attend, especially as young children. Wealth brings opportunities for enrichment and comfort, for safety from physical and legal problems, can purchase expertise when needed. Wealth can provide a distraction from the cares of ordinary life sometimes, and give people a position in the social structure that is privileged and special. It can buy us out of discomfort, boredom, and the irritations of everyday living that plague most human beings. But when is economic power immoral? When is it too much? When do we need to address the inequalities of both ethnicity and opportunity that keep poor people poor? Do we simply say “the poor we will always have with us” and absolve ourselves of any responsibility for social justice? (More about this when we discuss wealth later on in the series)

Expert Power or Informational Power comes from have exceptional skills or knowledge that are needed and appreciated within a community. Those with special skills and talents can command more money, more attention, more “perks” than ordinary folk. Those with superior educations or specialized knowledge in one area often consider themselves or are treated as experts and sages in many other areas. Some of this specialized treatment may be warranted, some may not. We ourselves can abuse the respect people afford us on account of our talent, education or position.

Charismatic Power or Suasive Power is the ability to mold and shape attitudes, to influence behaviors of others. All great leaders have possessed this kind of power, and it has obviously been used for both good and ill. In ordinary life, we meet people with a special gift for leading, teaching, preaching, even entertaining others. Charismatic power has been abused by cultic leaders who use their particular skills to ensnare people into following their beliefs and then employing coercive tactics to keep them under their personal control. Jonestown is an example of this misuse of charismatic power, which then morphed into cultic power. But for the most part, the gift of suasive power is that it does not use coercion or any kind of power that lessens one’s freedom or ability to make choices on his or her own. Jesus is the example we cite when we want to look at the way someone can be invitational, charismatic, and powerful without being abusive or coercive. Jesus always invited, but did not command the participation of his followers. A great example for us…

For each of us the seductive part of power is the control it gives us in our everyday lives, from where and how to work and live to the freedom to associate with those we choose. Sometimes we deceive ourselves into thinking we have powers no one really can possess. For example, we cannot change the past and we cannot change other people (except through some form of violence, emotional or physical). This can cause a lot of personal frustration. We can spend a lot of time railing on about the misuse of power in society, in religion, in government and the workplace, all of which allows us to avoid looking at the kinds of power we ourselves wield in those arenas and the power we use or misuse in everyday relationships. According to many psychologists, many couples’ arguments are, at the root, an unconscious struggle for who wields power in the relationship. Most of us want to be in charge and in control, and very often people argue and eventually work out the dynamic so it is equitable and balanced. Others live with relationships that are imbalanced, in friendship, work or family life, and it can create a lot of pain and may even be abusive. Some of the imbalance may come from economic power: the main breadwinner feels entitled to make most or all of the decisions, has special privileges, or has one set of rules for herself and another for the others in the family. Other power struggles often involve who controls a given schedule: is it the breadwinner, the main caregiver, the chief cook and bottle-washer? Is it the one who planned and organized the event and wants everyone to march to his particular drumbeat? Is it the one who always makes others wait until he has finished a certain thought, task or generally gets himself to move? There are many ways we try to bend others to our will: Do I withdraw my attention, affection and participation (it is called sulking) to starve people into submission emotionally? Have I ever played the martyr or used subtle remarks to put another on the defensive? Am I guilty of using my personal strength, my abusive language, my visible contempt to control others? Have I used my superior talent, knowledge or education to intimidate others? These are just a few, and if I look and my own personal arsenal, I could come up with many more techniques used to control others and get my way. For each of us, power is something we live with and utilize every day. The spiritual question, and it is a serious one, is how much of power is enough and how much power is just too much?

For a further discussion, see:

• The Power of God (from “Life In Abundance”) >>

Weekly Memorization

Taken from Matthew 27:33–45…

You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, if you are the Son of God, [and] come down from the cross!

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

When I think of God’s power, what do I imagine it to be like? What role does power play in my relationship with God? What would bother me more—making God angry with me or hurting God’s feelings? Can fear and love exist together? What kind of powers did Jesus possess? How was he tempted to use them? What good did Jesus accomplish using the extraordinary powers he possessed? Did he ever use his power to hurt others? Is power always a bad thing? What good can power effect? How can power be misused? What is seductive about power? Who or what has power over me right now? (political institutions, social connections, religious leaders,family, workplace, our prevailing culture, my spouse or significant other, for example) What sort of power do we have that we do not even think about? (for example, the freedom to vote or not, access to physical or natural resources, access to healthcare, access to education etc.) How does power operate in the domination of others? Can you think of an instance where one human being has legitimate domination over another? Can I describe some moral or behavioral imposed on me by the culture in which I operate? Do those cultural impositions diminish or enhance my personal power? Is power always demonstrated in terms of physical force or coercion? Who has power in our society and why? Who is powerless in our society and why? As Christians, what is our role in making the distribution of power more equitable? Do I have any power right this moment? Over whom or what do I have power? What, to me, is the difference between power and control? Over what things or people in my life would I like to have control? How can someone exert passive control ? (Think of the two-year old who refuses to eat anything but popcorn, for example) Many couples say that their arguments often center around who has control in the relationship. Have you ever witnessed this? What are the power dynamics in my romantic relationship? What the power dynamics in my family? What are the power dynamics in my closest friendships What are the power dynamics in my workplace or school environment? What are the power dynamics in my relationship with God?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/ Relationship:

I write a letter to Jesus, telling him all the things in my life and in this world that I want him to fix right now. I need to take a little time and be specific. Then I take a minute and remember that all I need is for Jesus to love me, really love me. And he does. I think of all the things Jesus loves about me, most of which have not necessarily been my accomplishments, or the way I bent others to my will to get something done, or how effective I was at my work. Then I think of some other qualities that Jesus might find more loveable about me—some truly wonderful traits, others, not so much…. Can I understand that Jesus might love my dark spots, commiserate with me over my failures, mourn my losses? Can I remind myself that Jesus actually cares about me and about the world I live in, and hold me in his loving gaze?

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’

Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’

And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

The powerless in our society are so easy to overlook. We all have a tendency to block out realities that make us uncomfortable or realities that we do not think we have the power to change. When Mother Teresa was asked how she coped with the tremendous numbers she encountered who were hopeless, starving, ill and desperate, her answer was “one at a time”. So when this passage asks me what I have done this week to give someone food, just one person, or what I did today to welcome a stranger, just one stranger, or what I will do this week to visit someone imprisoned by the state, by his ill health or by her own unhappiness, just one person, what is my answer? Do I think the powerless are somehow responsible for their own powerlessness? If so, does that get me off the hook? What small powers do I possess to put at the service of the Kingdom?

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

It has been remarked that fanaticism preys on a sense of real or perceived powerlessness and promises to the disaffected a sense of power and vengeance if they but follow a certain leader or cult. Fanaticism effectively manipulates a frustrated will to power, so that, ironically, by submitting to the absolute control of “Dear Leader”, or by absolute obedience to certain restrictive norms, people hope to repossess the control they believe life or people have stolen from them, and may even hope carry out retribution against those they have considered the oppressors. An exaggerated sense of the unfairness of life and a real desire point out who benefits from this unfair system can lead us from irritation and disappointment to anger and violence. Can you think of examples from the world of politics or religion where this has happened? Has any person or group been scapegoated for the bad things that have happened in a certain time or place? Where does racism or sexism fit in to this scenario? Is there anyone in my life I am blaming for my own lack of power, and am I looking for a person or system to spearhead a revolutionary change? Am I wishing for a magical return to a real or imagined time in history when people like me would no longer feel overlooked or powerless? What kind of power do I think God possesses?

Poetic Reflection:

Merton captures so beautifully the belief that the power of God is not to compel people to act or punish them when they mess up, but wants only the best for us and the world we inhabit:

Slowly, slowly
Comes Christ through the garden
Speaking to the sacred trees
Their branches bear his light
Without harm

Slowly, slowly
Comes Christ through the ruins
Seeking the lost disciple
A timid one
Too literate
To believe words
So he hides
Christ rises on the cornfields
It is only the harvest moon
The disciple
Turns over in his sleep
And murmurs:
“My regret!”

The disciple will awaken
When he knows history
But slowly, slowly
The Lord of History weeps into the fire

—Thomas Merton “Cables to the Ace” (stanza 80)

Closing Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven and who are possible deaf: You hear our prayers; you see how impossibly weak they are— these words strung together, woven, stitched , knotted into shapes of futility. If our words were threads We’d dream of gold gowns But wake up wearing burlap. Lord, give us this day our daily hope Do you see? these hands once dreamed; our words once clothed kings.

—Ed Ingebretzen, S.J.

The Power of God (from “Life In Abundance”)

Excerpts from “Life In Abundance” by Father Francis Baur, OFM, late Professor at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley when it was part of the Graduate Theological Union:

Adapted from Chapter 6: The Power of God: Coercive and Suasive Power:

We have stressed beforehand that the only religiously coherent way to understand the reality of the God who is love is to affirm that the only relationships possible for a loving God are the relationships of love. This is not to take away any prerogatives from god or to set limitations on the power of God. But, if as we assert, God is wholly and solely love, then what exactly would be meant by the power of God and in what fashion would this power be exercised?

As has been pointed out, the religious significance of the revelation that God is love is to remove God irrevocably from the status of an idol…..Of all the relationships which we manage to engender within our human enterprise, the relationship of love is that unique one which cannot be utilized for further ends—love is for the sake of loving, and for nothing else. This ineradicable feature of the nature of love entails the non-instrumentality of our relationship to God.

What is difficult to comprehend is how those who stood rooted in the gospel tradition could so comfortably hold in balance the God of unfathomable love and the God of unfathomable power. The God of love seems to have great homiletic power, but the God of Power served as the ultimate explanatory principle which defined the relationships of the universe. [note: some have suggested here that emphasis on a God of Power is the result of our own human experience which tells us that power is the ability to produce effects, to control the world around us, and specifically, to control others. It is why the ancients were so taken with the unique powers their Gods possessed, and rarely held those Gods to a standard of loving behavior. In addition, speaking in the name of those Gods, the leaders could effectively regulate human activity so that it did not become lawless and chaotic.].

Our prayers were addressed to the God of love, but our theology was formulated in terms of a God of power. This very improbability was invoked for religious purposes: on the one hand, God loved us with infinite and infallible love; on the other hand, failure to respond to the love of God would result in God’s damnation of the sinful soul. While our most supreme ideals were set forth in terms of the love of God, the final and coercive motivation was not inspired by the selfless response to love, but rather the selfish fear of punishment or hell. The God of supreme love was also the God of infinite power, and what God’s love failed to accomplish, his power could more than make up for. This is not merely religiously false; it is spiritually destructive. ….perhaps we will be compelled at some point to admit that our deepest motivation or a relationship with God was a manipulation of power….

God was useful…..

God was worth loving because he could do many things for us and to us. This is coercive power. we meet it and celebrate it in everyday life because it gets things done, and keeps the unruly and evil under some sort of control. We have come to believe that a certain amount of coercive power is the price for the social good. Both princes and popes were spoken of as having “power over” their subjects, and in each case it was a power that could be enforced. The freedom of the children of God which was our inalienable Gospel heritage was understood as the freedom to obey rather than the freedom to create our own lives. We find it nearly impossible to eradicate our catechism-level assertion that God is that being who can do anything at all (except a contradiction); everything is within the power of God. God is therefore that being worth respecting, honoring, and obeying, simply because of the awesome and unpredictable power which could on one had create us and on the other hand destroy us. Some questions emerge: Are we committed to the service of God motivated by fear of the power of God? Do we see the inherent worthwhileness of the God-relationship in the fact that God has the power to supply for our weakness, that God can do for us those things which we cannot do for ourselves? Are we interested in God because of what God can do for us or to us?

The major theme of this entire exposition has been that it is at the cost of our very souls that we forsake the one unique biblical claim which stands at the foundation of our identity and which can put us in relationship to the source and end of our very being: God is love. Here we must be intrepid enough to stand unflinchingly with the same conventional faith: God is love and nothing else. We dare not foul our good news with our own inadequacies and insecurities. We cannot afford to claim that God is love and then, as if love were somehow insufficient, add to that claim that God is many lesser things besides. No. God is love—period. God is not supreme coercive power. God is not threat. God is not reward and punishment, God is not the security of the righteous. God is not law and order. God is not on the side of any cause whatsoever. God is not the wreaker of vengeance. God is not the validation of moral opinions. God is love—and nothing else.

While we readily proclaim in homily and prayer that our God is love, in the concrete practicalities of worldly affairs we are both unwilling and fearful to trust the lovely and tender quality of love itself. The proper way to run a world, we cannot help by think, is to have love supported by power. What love cannot do, surely power can accomplish. Thus it is that with possibly the noblest of intentions and yet with the most foolish of motives we could no surrender the all too human notion that God must have coercive power to reinforce his love. Because coercion by power has become such an established part of our lives we unwittingly prostitute the good by submitting it to force. Is the God of love indeed so weak that he must also resort to coercion to achieve what is of supreme good to both God and ourselves? Could a God of coercion possibly remain unsullied by the means of coercion?

The story of the cross is not so much attribute to the forbearance of God who in his infinite patience would not use his power to annihilate such evil. The cross is, rather, a timeless testimony to the absolute faithfulness of God to his very being, which is love. Because love is founded on freedom it can be ridiculed, rejected and betrayed. It is the cross which reveals what kind of a response is possible for God in the face of such betrayal. The only response is love--suasive, kindly and forgiving. Beyond the suasive force of God’s inherent and infinite lovableness there is no other power, nor need there be any.

“How Much Is Enough?”—Action

Action or contemplation: must we choose?

Luke 4:16–19

He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to readand was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”

Music Meditations

• The Summons—Robert Kolchis
• Make Me a Servant—Maranatha Music
• Gracious God—Jesse Manibusan
• Great Is Thy Faithfulness—Fernando Ortega

Opening Prayer

Taken from the opening prayer for 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time:

Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, faith in your word is the way to wisdom, and to ponder your divine plan is to grow in the truth. Open our eyes to your deeds, our ears to the sound of your call, so that our every act may increase our sharing in the life you have offered us.

Companions for the Journey

The Active life is embodied life, everyday life—so ordinary we hardly notice it. We work in offices, farms, and homes. We act creatively on everything from gardening to raising children to writing a poem. We care by visiting a sick neighbor and by marching for peace. One way or another, most of us are involved in the active life day in and day out.

—Parker Palmer, The Active Life

In the gospels, Jesus is not portrayed as a wraith drifting through life; he had a mission to cure, to comfort, to feed, to nurture and to teach about God’s love. Jesus was very active, travelling the dusty roads of Israel, sleeping and eating when he could, followed by crowds and his often clueless disciples, and sometimes desperately seeking a place to be apart and re-connect with the ground of his being—his heavenly Father. (See the gospel passage in which he declares his mission to the world) So let’s start by saying that this commentary is not in any way denigrating human activity. Further, action is not just physical action, like digging ditches or doing dishes; action is thinking, laughing, crying, breathing, sleeping. Action is caring for others and ourselves. We act because that is how we are made. If we are not acting, we are not fully human.

Action can be instrumental or expressive. Instrumental action always is the means to a predetermined end, and is evaluated in terms of success or failure. (Palmer, p.23) It discourages risk-taking. Expressive action is not taken to achieve a goal outside of myself but to express a conviction, a leading, a truth that is within me. (Palmer, p 24). As full human beings, we engage in both types of action, although various cultures have promoted one way of acting over another. For example, our own culture generally favors instrumental action, often to the detriment of expressive action. (How often, in a conversation, are we adults asked what we do? How often do we look for approval or admiration because of the long hours we have put in or for staying up all night to solve a work or medical crisis?)

To be fair, expressive action is not going to put food on the table, so someone has to provide the instrumental action-somebody has to get off the dime and actually do something so that life can be sustained. (See the Martha and Mary story.)

That having been said, if we subscribe to an unwritten rule that tells us that the busier we are, the better we are, we are not doing ourselves or the world around us any good, and we become frenzied and anxious in the process. If we only measure our worth in terms of what visible accomplishments we have made, then we are at risk of ignoring much of what makes someone human and loveable.

An antidote to all of this excessive or misdirected activity (although not a cure—we are the products of our culture, we remember) would be to stop and contemplate the illusions we are operating under that fuel unnecessary, unproductive or harmful activity. What are some of our unconscious attitudes or behaviors which cause us to engage in unhealthy activity?

A persistent belief that our actions are a measure of our worth. A fear that if “you snooze, you lose”. Actions born out of pride in our accomplishments Engaging in busyness/activity as a way to avoid sadness or other negative feelings. Actions that are always reactive to what is going on around us, not self-initiated. Actions that are unconsciously habitual, never subject to re-evaluation. Actions that are retaliatory, or born out of anger, designed to elicit a negative reaction. Actions that are a way of getting attention, pity, approval. Actions that feed my own insecurities Actions that do not leave time for simply being, for feeling, for creating.

Being and doing are not antithetical, but the integration of our expressive and instrumental motivations and that of our spiritual natures requires something which writers as Richard Rohr, OFM, Thomas Merton, OCSO, and Parker Palmer call contemplation, and others call mindfulness. Contemplation/mindfulness is not some exotic form of navel-gazing and allows us to absent ourselves from real life and real relationships, but it enables us to strip off some of the illusions under which we have been operating. We love illusions because we have invested so much in them. Our society has many: violence or war can solve problems; both rich and poor are responsible for their fate; our country is better than others. We are pretty divided in our illusions about racism, misogyny, poverty, “those people”. And those opposing illusions fuel much of the dislocation and anger people are feeling. We love illusions because they bolster our world view, our prejudices, our natural tendencies. This is why disillusionment is so painful—when a friend lets us down, when we fail or the system fails, we are no longer able to go on as we were, and need to invent a new way of being and acting in the world. This is not easy, nor is it quick. So instead of waiting for Armageddon, let’s start small and incrementally, so that our actions are more thought-out. Here are some antidotes to overaction or reflexive action: (Pick one, and start there—be reasonable.)

Mindful walking, being aware of one’s own breathing and aware of the surroundings Asking frequently: “Why am I doing this??” Personal meditations which seek the inner vision of love that we hope motivates our actions how am I loved by God? (Psalm 139) how am I loved by others in my life? How do I want to love ______? Monitoring of my motivations to ensure that my actions are not flowing from a negative energy source Believing the positive messages about myself that I get from God and from those around me Being aware of How I speak to myself/ my inner dialogues Going over the same irritations over and over again Thinking in absolutes The amount of time I use “should” about myself and others Internalizing conflicts “Keeping the lid on” so tightly that I am in danger of exploding (very messy and very ugly) Looking for examples in Jesus’ life where he was confronted with situations I am facing and seeing his response And saving the very best for last: Prayer, speaking to Jesus about an action I am contemplating or one I engaged in that I wish I had not. Resting in Jesus’ love and understanding and that of his Father

Living the Good News

Be sure to read the commentary on the active life in “Companions for the Journey” (above) before considering the reflection questions and/or meditations below.

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• How hard is it to remember that God loves me, not for what I do/accomplish, but simply because I am?
  Do I use my good behavior or good deeds to earn God’s love and approval?
  How often do I try to elicit God’s attention though frantic activity?
• Is there something I love to do that I am ignoring because of pressing tasks or obligations?
• Am I living someone else’s desire of happiness and success?
• Have I ever been aware of being pulled into a story or a drama that is not of my making, but left me feeling compelled to DO something?
• What are the “shoulds” in my life?
• Do I ever stop in the middle of an activity and ask myself:
  Why am I doing this?
  Am I enjoying this?
  What does this activity tell me or others about my priorities?
• How does my culture view activity vs. inactivity?
  Is inactivity laziness, as our culture sometime surmises?
  If not, what is activity?
  Is it useful?
  Does it have to be useful?
• How many of my actions are habitual, born out of the need to keep busy or to look busy?
  How many of my actions are reactive:
  
  responding to my own compulsions, responding to someone else’s behavior, responding to a situation I have encountered?
  Are any of my actions (even speech) defensive or retaliatory?
• How many of my actions are generated by my own self-knowledge and my relationship with Jesus?
  Do I ever ask what Jesus would do if he were here?
• Which fears of mine inhibit my action?
  Which is the most important for me to address?
  Can I address my fear with compassion instead of judgement?
• Is a life without fear my goal?
  If not, what do I do about fear?
• Parker Palmer, in The Active Life, suggests that the function of contemplation is to penetrate illusion and to help us touch reality.
  What, then, is disillusionment, and is it a bad thing?
  Is contemplation only for mystics, anchorites, or cloistered religious?
• Thomas Merton tells us that contemplation is the “sudden gift of awareness, an awakening to the Real within all that is real.”
  It seems to require a sort of apartness, a so that we can ask the right questions and hear the right answers
  When have I ever engaged in contemplation—either intentionally or accidentally?
  Is solitude different from loneliness?
• What are the down sides of contemplation?
  Can we live fully in the world choosing contemplation rather than action?
  How do we balance the two?
  Is the balance exactly even for most people?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

Read Luke 10:38-42 . Let’s look at this story.

Imagine Martha, the doer, bustling about and trying to make sure that their guest has everything that he needs in the way of hospitality. Do you think she feels ignored by Jesus as simply a household servant? Is she irritated that neither Jesus nor her sister seem to appreciate her efforts? Do you think she expects that her sister would help with the chores, or do you think she likes to be the heroine of this little drama?

Then let’s look at Mary. Why do you think she is so attentive to what Jesus has to say? Is she ignoring her sister in just in this instance, or is this a family pattern? Would ignoring Jesus ‘ words in favor of activity be considered rude? If she does not listen to Jesus’ teachings in this instance, who would? Is this a form of hospitality as well? What could she do differently?

With which character do you most identify?

What specifically, was Martha’s mistake?

What would have happened if Martha had done nothing?

What would have happened if Mary joined in the serving duties?
Do you think Mary could have done something to help?

What, exactly, was Jesus saying to Martha?

What are the pitfalls of a life of action without listening and learning?

What are the pitfalls of a life of listening and learning without action?

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

In examining the rewards and risks of action, whether measured and thought out or excessive and impulsive, there might be a tendency to assume that inaction would be the wisest and safest way to live one’s life. The lures of inaction stem from many sources:

1. A constitutional inability to make a decision because it closes out other options. This can create an inadvertent decision because no decision is in itself a decision to do nothing. This can create roadblocks for others and it can leave us feeling left behind as well. Am I too quick or too reluctant to make a decision and to act on that decision?

2. Intimidation when analyzing the scope of the undertaking, which causes a paralysis of sorts. But what is the alternative? Could I possibly break the task into smaller segments? Could I elicit help? Has this solution ever occurred to me?

3. Fear of personal failure, or losing face. We sometimes forget that in scientific investigations, failure s how we learn what does not work and learn what behavior not to repeat. Even successful and powerful people have failures. Have I ever failed at anything? What did I learn about myself or about life?

4. Fear of making waves, of disturbing the status quo, which can cause more problems down the line because issues ignored and tasks left undone only get bigger and more complex and may cause way more dislocation and anger if ignored or deferred too long. Have I ever been slow to act, even though it was the right thing to do, because there might be some unpleasantness? Am I conflict averse?

5. A fear of disappointing others, even God, forgetting that people like Mother Teresa said; “We are not called to be successful, we are called to be faithful”. ( or words to that effect). Have I ever disappointed anyone through an impulsive action? What happened? Do I believe god loves me and other love me even if I make mistakes?

Poetic Reflection:

The philosopher Chuang Tsu , in the fourth century BBCE has this to say about the life of action when taken too far (Translation by Thomas Merton). Do you agree with any of these critiques? Is the poem too cynical?:

“Active Life”

If an expert does not have some problem to vex him, he is unhappy!

If a philosopher’s teaching is never attacked, she pines away!

If critics have noon eon whom to exercise their spite, they are unhappy!

All such people are prisoners of the world of objects.

He who wants followers, seeks political powers.

She who wants reputation, holds an office.

The strong man looks for weights to lift.

The brave woman looks for an emergency in which she can show bravery.

The swordsman wants a battle in which he can swing his sword.

People past their prime prefer a dignified retirement, in which they can seem profound.

People experienced in law seek difficult cases to extend the application of laws.

Liturgists and musicians like festivals in which they can parade their ceremonious talents.

The benevolent, the dutiful, are always looking for chances to display virtue.

Where would the gardener be, if there were no more weeds?

What would become of business if there were not a market of fools?

Where would the masses be if there were no pretext of jamming together and making noise?

What would become of labor if there were no superfluous objects to be made?

Produce! Get results? Make money! Make friends! Make changes!

Or you will die of despair!

Poetic Reflection:

This poem, which is said to have hung in Mother Teresa’s office, looks at action in a more positive sense:

“Do it anyway”

People are often unreasonable and self-centered.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.

Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.

Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous.

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.

Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.

It was never between you and them anyway.

Closing Prayer

Jesus, Did you ever feel the fierce force the push the pull of days and nights that were far too full of people and programs you thought willed by one whose way must be fulfilled? When at the end of a difficult day with barely time to pause and pray before the crowds began to press upon you did you also bless each God-given opportunity? If so, Jesus, remember me.

—“Winter”, Sister Miriam Therese, Womanword 126-127

Further gospel reflections:

Mark, Chapters 1-3 ( talk about busy!)

Matthew 6:25-34 (on anxiety)

Luke 9:28b-36 ( Peter’s response to the transfiguration was to DO something)

Further Reading:

Merton, Thomas, New Seeds of Contemplation

Merton, Thomas, Contemplation in a World of Action

Palmer, Parker, The Active Life

Rohr, Richard, Immortal Diamond

Simsic, Wayne, Ed., Thomas Merton/An Invitation to the Contemplative LIfe

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 26, 2022

Discipleship is a radical call

Luke 9:51–62

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Music Meditations

The Summons-Robert Kochis

Here I am Lord

Unto thee O Lord-Maranatha Singers

Simple Gifts

Opening Prayer

Lord,I want to say “ I will follow you wherever you go.” But left to myself I do not always have the inner strength to keep my promises. Allow me to understand that the journey will not always be easy, and I may have failures and setbacks along the way, but allow me to feel your presence, supporting me and encouraging me, and understanding me when I miss my goals. Keep me true to you and close to you always.

Companions for the Journey

St. Francis of Assisi is a wonderful example of a radical response to Jesus’ command: “Follow me”. He left life of riches and ease and embraced radical poverty and love of all creation. He is the saint of humility, simplicity, serving our neighbors, and joy.

Francis was born in late 1181 or early 1182, one of several children of an Italian father, Pietro di Bernardone dei Moriconi, a prosperous silk merchant, and a French mother, Pica de Bourlemont, about whom little is known except that she was a noblewoman originally from Provence. Pietro was in France on business when Francis was born in Assisi, and Pica had him baptized as Giovanni. Upon his return to Assisi, Pietro took to calling his son Francesco ("Free man", "Frenchman"), possibly in honor of his commercial success and enthusiasm for all things French. Indulged by his parents, Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man. As a youth, Francesco became a devotee of troubadors and was fascinated with all things European. He was handsome, witty, gallant, and delighted in fine clothes. He spent money lavishly. Although many stories abound about his bright clothing, rich friends, and love of pleasures, his displays of disillusionment toward the world that surrounded him came fairly early in his life, as is shown in the "story of the beggar". In this account, he was selling cloth and velvet in the marketplace on behalf of his father when a beggar came to him and asked for alms. At the conclusion of his business deal, Francis abandoned his wares and ran after the beggar. When he found him, Francis gave the man everything he had in his pockets. His friends mocked him for his charity; his father scolded him in rage. Around 1202, he joined a military expedition against  and was taken as a prisoner, spending a year as a captive. An illness caused him to re-evaluate his life. Upon his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis returned to his carefree life. In 1205, Francis left for Apulia on another military adventure. A strange vision made him return to Assisi and lose interest in the worldly life. According to some sources, thereafter he began to avoid the sports and feasts of his former companions. A friend asked him whether he was thinking of marrying, to which he answered: "Yes, a fairer bride than any of you have ever seen", meaning his "Lady Poverty".

On a spiritual journey to Rome, he joined the poor in begging at St. Peter’s Basilica. The stories tell us that he spent some time in lonely places, asking God for some sort of direction .He said he had a mystical experience in the forsaken country chapel of  San Damiano, just outside Assisi, in which the vision of the crucified Jesus said to him, "Francis, Francis, go and repair My church which, as you can see, is falling into ruins." He took this to mean the ruined church in which he was presently praying, and so he sold some cloth from his father's store to assist the priest there. When the priest refused to accept the ill-gotten gains, an indignant Francis threw the coins on the floor. In order to avoid his father's wrath, Francis hid in a cave near San Damiano for about a month. When he returned to town, hungry and dirty, he was dragged home by his father, beaten, bound, and locked in a small storeroom. Freed by his mother during Bernardone's absence, Francis returned at once to San Damiano, where he found shelter with the officiating priest, but he was soon cited before the city consuls by his father. The latter, not content with having recovered the scattered gold from San Damiano, sought also to force his son to forego his inheritance by way of restitution. In the midst of legal proceedings before the Bishop of Asissi, Francis renounced his father and his inheritance. Some accounts report that he stripped himself naked in token of this renunciation, and the bishop covered him with his own cloak. For the next couple of months, Francis wandered as a beggar in the hills behind Assisi. He spent some time at a neighboring monastery working as a scullion. He then went to Gubbio, where a friend gave him, as an alms, the cloak, girdle, and staff of a pilgrim. Returning to Assisi, he traversed the city begging stones for the restoration of St. Damiano's. These he carried to the old chapel, set in place himself, and so at length rebuilt it. Over the course of two years, he embraced the life of a penitent, during which he restored several ruined chapels in the countryside around Assisi, among them the little chapel of St. Mary of the Angels in the plain just below the town. This later became his favorite place. By degrees he took to nursing lepers near Assisi. One day, he was attending Mass in the chapel of St. Mary of the Angels, near which he had by then built himself a hut. The Gospel of the day was the "Commissioning of the Twelve" from the Book of Matthew. The disciples were to go and proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Francis was inspired to devote himself to a life of poverty. Having obtained a coarse woolen tunic, the dress then worn by the poorest Umbrian peasants, he tied it around himself with a knotted rope and went about exhorting the people of the countryside to penance, brotherly love, and peace. Francis's preaching to ordinary people was unusual as he had no license to do so.

His example attracted others. Within a year Francis had eleven followers. The brothers lived a simple life in a deserted leper house near Assisi; but they spent much of their time wandering through the mountainous districts of Umbria, making a deep impression upon their hearers by their sincerity. In 1209 he composed a simple rule for his followers ("friars"), the "Primitive Rule", which came from verses in the Bible. The rule was "to follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in his footsteps." He then led eleven followers to Rome to seek permission from Pope Innocent III to found a new religious order. After several days, the pope agreed to admit the group informally, adding that when God increased the group in grace and number, they could return for an official audience.. Though a number of the pope's counselors considered the mode of life proposed by Francis to be unsafe and impractical, following a dream in which he saw Francis holding up the Lateran Basilica, he decided to endorse Francis's order. This occurred, according to tradition, on 16 April 1210, and constituted the official founding of the Franciscan Order. The group were centered in the Porziuncola and preached first in Umbria, before expanding throughout Italy. Francis was later ordained a deacon, but not a priest.

Determined to bring the Gospel to all peoples and let God convert them, Francis sought on several occasions to take his message out of Italy. For example, in the late spring of 1212, he set out for Jerusalem, but was shipwrecked by a storm, forcing him to return to Italy. On 8 May 1213, he was given the use of the mountain of  Alverna as a gift from Count Orlando di Chiusi, who described it as “eminently suitable for whoever wishes to do penance in a place remote from mankind”. The mountain would become one of his favorite retreats for prayer. According to some late sources, the Sultan, a nephew of Saladin gave Francis permission to visit the sacred places in the Holy Land and even to preach there. All that can safely be asserted is that Francis and his companions left the Crusader camp for Acre, from where they embarked for Italy in the latter half of 1220. Drawing on a 1267 sermon by Bonaventure, later sources report that the Sultan secretly converted or accepted a death-bed baptism as a result of meeting Francis. Due to these events in Jerusalem, Franciscans have been present in the Holy Land almost uninterruptedly since 1217.

Francis’ actions throughout his life after his “conversion moment” ran counter to the spirit of the age in which he lived. He railed against a church grown rich and complacent, which created problems with many of those in ecclesial high places. His embracing of lepers, the poor, the insane, the outcast, seemed a natural response to a loving God, but unnatural to many of his time. The fact that his friars worked to put bread on their meager tables instead of being subsidized by the rich was a reminder to all of Jesus and his disciples, but annoyed many. Francis could never compromise his requirement of wholehearted acceptance-by his brothers-of the poverty spoken of in the gospels. When church authority was brought to bear on him, he acquiesced to a less stringent rule, but afterward gradually divorced himself from the workings of the order that he had inspired.(1) In all that he did, in all that he lived, Francis’ inspiration was the Jesus of the gospels, calling him to endure suffering as Jesus did, to be a peacemaker as Jesus was, embrace the poor and marginalized, just as Jesus embraced them, and to experience oneness with all of God’s creation. Though the road was hard, and though the setbacks were many, though attempts were made to compromise his vison, Francis never looked back at what he had left behind, never looked at the difficulties, but only at the mission to follow Jesus wherever it took him.

Are we inspired by how Francis totally handed himself over to the call of Jesus? To what degree are we willing to hand ourselves over to the call of Jesus now? Can those practical concerns of family ties and work become a block rather than a path to following the Lord? How close can we get now to being like Francis who followed Jesus?

1. Joseph Stoutzenberger and John Bohrer, Praying with Francis of Assisi, p 19

Further reading:

• Reflection on Luke 9:51–62 from “Interrupting the Silence” >>
• Commentary on Luke 9:51–62 from “Working Preacher” >>

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today's session….

No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow:

Reflection Questions:

The expression “determined to journey to Jerusalem” indicates that the gospel writer thought Jesus knew that there were going to be dark days and bad times ahead, and determination was required to help him follow his mission to the end. Have I ever faced an ordeal or a challenge that required me to rely on sheer will and deminationto weather the events I was facing?

Did I seek out strength and comfort from anyone?

Was it friends or relatives?

Was it Jesus, of the Father,or the Holy Spirit? Was it Mary or another saint?

When Jesus and the disciples were rejected in Samaria, the disciples wanted revenge. Jesus told them no and rebuked them.

Has some rejection or slight caused me to want revenge on someone?

What did I do about that feeling?

Did I talk to Jesus about it--he who knew rejection?

Do I talk to Jesus, who knows me better than I know myelf, about the traits in my own personality that sometimes get in the way of doing what I should to be his follower?

Do I think he understands?

What have I personally done to address the roablocks in my own personality the keep from doing the will of Jesus?

This story contains stylisitc hyperbole which seems impossible or unnatural compared to my understanding of my obligations to others in my life vs. my desire to follow to Jesus. This hyperbolic suggestion that we not even bury our parents or say farewell to those we leave behind is meant to be a warning to people that following Jesus will not be easy, either materially or emotionally.

What are some of the conflicting needs that I am already addressing in my everyday life?

How do I balance my time and my priorities, and, yes, my own needs, so that I am doing what I think Jesus wants me to be doing?

What if I fail? Do I think Jesus understands?

What are some of the present-day costs to following Jesus? Does this scare me?

Someone suggested that we need a certain amount of freedom in our lives to hear the word of God and act on it.

What things or situations in my life keep me bound to un-free pattrns of behavior?

DoI sometimes feel that Jesus is asking to much of us, of me?

Do I feel that his demands are too unrealistic?

Which ones?

Do I sometimes have initial enthusiam for a project or a cause, but lose interest after a while?

What cause this--obstacles, reisistence from others, the demands of daily life, or an emergency situation?

What legitimate priorities of mine might get in the way of completely following Jesus?

How do I resolve this?

Can I say that I am “all in”, or only partially in?

By Jude Siciliano, O.P.:

What daily response am I making to Jesus’ invitation, “Follow me”?

What do I need to put aside to make that a fuller response?

Meditations:

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

For the Jews, the Samaritans were a bad and despised people. The feeling was mutual. There were enemies who happened to live next to each other, and so got in each other’s way. A lot. Because each believed that the only way to be a good and religious person was their way, with their rules and customs, they judged the others as inferior, irreligious, and bad people generally. In our own lives, we have had a tendency to judge those whose religious ideas and political ideas are different from ours, and we spend a lot of energy trying to convince them that they are wrong, and spend even more time mentally criticizing them in our heads, or worse, commiserating with others about the stupid and misguided people we have to live with in our families, in the workplace, in our church. If only they were more like us, we would not have this problem. Then there are those who seem to be rather unworthy, not-very-nice people who have been incredibly lucky, successful and happy. When good thinks happen to bad people it bothers us. A lot. And finally, it is especially hurtful when, in turn,others criticize and reject us. Do we get mad? Do we get even?

So we each need to ask ourselves: how much time do I spend, either alone, with others, talking about how awful some other person or group is, and hoping they will get their comeuppance? This is not justice. It is revenge. What are some of the antidotes to revenge?

What did Jesus do about the Samaritans who rejected him? What can I do about people in my life who have rejected me or disappointed me in some way? How can I break the negative and destructive cycle of resentment, quasi-forgiveness, more resentment? What or who has to change in this picture?

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/The beginnings of discernment:

This Spiritual reflection on following Jesus and becoming a disciple discusses the unhealthy attachments that keep us from fully following Jesus. It can be money, it can be power, it can be people. None of these are bad in themselves; it is when they get in the way of our living the life that Jesus calls us to that they become spiritually unhealthy. Here is a practical approach--read the following excerpt from The Ignatian Adventure by Kevin O’Brien, S.J.:

Only when we are really free can we hear God’s call. This week, we reflect on how God calls us right now in the concrete particulars of our lives. Do not worry about making big decisions or changing the way you live. That may come later. Insead, simply marvel that god calls each of us specially. Listen not only to the call, but to the one who calls.

We encounter God in a variety of ways: in the people around us and in the work we are doing; in something we read or see in the world; and in the inspiration of scripture and the Church’s liturgy. We also find God in the holy desires brewing in our hearts. This is a central insight to Ignatian Spiituality. Because God, our creator, gives us life, and because we are the image of God, God’s desires and our deepenst desires are one and the same. What we truly desire is also what God desires for us. Discerning those desires takes practice….

God is always trying to get our attention in ways both obvious and subtle. We are reminded of the prophet Elijah, who, standing on a mountaintop, found God not in a mighty wind, or in an earthquake or in fire, but in a sound of sheet silence. We can find God in the busyness of our lives, and in the silence of our prayer.

So I ask myself what “things” do I need to be free of the fully enter into the mission of Jesus? What unhealthy attachments to certain people, ideas, or comforts weigh me down as I seek to move in the direction Jesus is calling me to? Like the rich young man, do I give up and go away because I am too comfortable, too lazy? Or am I just afraid? What are some qualities I would like to cultivate to be more like Jesus? What qualities in myself are holding me back? In what ways, large and small, have I encountered the presence of God in my life? Have I paid attention? Is there a larger and more demanding enterprise that Jesus might be calling me to? How do I respond?

Poetic Reflection:

May Oliver seems to capture the sense of obligation to others in our lives that keep us from doing what we are meant to be doing:

THE JOURNEY

One day you finally knew

what you had to do and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice--

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

around your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do--

determined to save

the only life you could save.

Closing Prayer

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Commentary on Luke 9:51–62 from “Working Preacher”

Commentary on Luke 9:51–62. By Michael Rogness, Professor Emeritus of Homiletics Luther Seminary St. Paul, MN. From “Working Preacher”.

In this passage Jesus sets out on his final journey to Jerusalem.

He has warned the disciples of his impending suffering there (9:21–27, 44–45), but even though they confess their faith in him as Messiah (9:18–20) and see him transfigured with Moses and Elijah (9:28–36), they cannot begin to imagine the horror of Jesus’ last days. But Jesus knows. He has “set his face” toward Jerusalem, meaning unwavering determination.

Normally very accepting of the Samaritans, he shocks his disciples by barely noticing the Samaritans as he heads to Jerusalem, so concentrated was he on his up-coming destiny. The Samaritan villagers “did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem.” Did they reject Jesus, or did they not host him overnight since he “his face was set toward Jerusalem”?

The text doesn’t say, but the disciples take it to be rejection and impulsively ask if they should “command fire” to destroy them — as if they could even do that! An unknown copier of Luke’s gospel even adds “as Elijah did,” referring to Elijah calling fire upon the soldiers of the evil king Ahaziah, who had ruled the northern kingdom from Samaria (2 Kings 1:10–12).

Jesus uses the occasion to speak about discipleship and about the implications of following him. As the text makes clear, Jesus is speaking to those who are indeed following him, not to potential followers. As he often does, he speaks in hyperboles and exaggerations for emphasis in making his point. He is saying, “Be willing to let go of the past.” You bury the dead and move on. There comes a time when you leave the comforts of home, let go of the doorpost, and move into uncharted waters.

He knows that his disciples will soon be doing exactly that after he has gone. Their lives will be radically and unexpectedly different than anything they had imagined. They will leave behind what they have known and done and go in totally new directions.

What does Jesus mean by saying, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God”? Anybody who has plowed a field knows you have to watch carefully in front of you to keep the furrows straight. Look backward and you will swerve one way or another.

How ironic it is that the disciples did exactly that in the despair and confusion following the crucifixion and resurrection. They looked back and resumed their previous occupation of fishing (John 21:1–14). It isn’t until Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit empowers them, that they begin their true work of spreading the Gospel of Jesus all around the Mediterranean.

These verses jar us into asking, “How are our lives different as followers of Jesus than what they might have been otherwise?” I remember a bumper sticker asking, “If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Discipleship means living in ways we might not otherwise live.

The umbrella truth above this whole topic of discipleship is that being a Christian and a disciple of Jesus gives us a whole new identity. We are no longer simply a biological unit on this earth, but a child of the God of the whole universe. We now live knowing that “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). Because our lives are now measured by eternal things, we are “exiles and aliens” in this world (1Peter 2:11).

Philip Scharper, editor of Orbis Books, describes the Christian life as pilgrims, but even more accurately as nomads: “A popular church metaphor is that of the people of God on pilgrimage. But a more apt metaphor should be that of the people of God as nomads. Pilgrims know where their journey is headed … Nomads are called to go by uncertain paths to a place that shall be made holy at some indefinite time by something God shall say or do. And there is no guide, no guide except a pillar of fire by night and a wind-driven cloud by day — sounds and symbols of the Holy Spirit.”

Little did the disciples know that day that they would soon become nomads on this earth, travelling all over, with no fixed home, living in often frightening and hostile circumstances, as followers of their Lord. But they — and we — were also pilgrims, because pilgrims do have a final destination, namely in eternity with God.

Leading adult forums in congregations, one of my faculty colleagues is fond of asking people, “What is God doing in your life these days?” It is a thoroughly biblical question, because we believe God’s Spirit is active within us. Yet the question catches Lutherans by surprise, because we don’t usually think in such concrete ways.

I remember visiting an African-American congregation near our home, where the pastor asked the people, “What’s God been doing in your life lately?” Whereas Lutherans would have sat in shocked silence, the people in this church, probably accustomed to the pastor posing that question often, responded one after another by standing and giving their answers, each followed by a vigorous round of applause.

Whether we think of ourselves as aliens, strangers, nomads, or pilgrims on this earth, it is because we follow Jesus, and that often takes us into new ways of living!