Notes, Thoughts and Reflections: October 2011

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Jesus Ever Gentle

Reflections on the Readings

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 30, 2011 - Year A

By Dennis S. Hankins

Jesus Ever Gentle

But we were gentle among you, like a nurse taking care of her children...because you had become very dear to us. - St. Paul to the Church of Thessalonica

Jesus gives us the soul of greatness in today's gospel reading: "He who is greatest among you shall be your servant." In outlining the deficiencies of servanthood in the Pharisees we see Jesus in the contrast. The Pharisees burden the people and do not offer consolation or assistance. Jesus is the burden bearer and invites all who are heavy laden to come to him because his burden is light. The Pharisees wear out the people but Jesus gives them rest. The Pharisees love to be seen and respected and revered. Jesus came not to be served but to serve and to give himself without measure and without charge.

The Pharisees, however, did not serve the people under their care with gentleness. Jesus upheld their authority to teach the word of God as received through Moses. After all, Jesus came to fulfill the law, not to destroy it. But the Pharisees have misplaced priorities. They desire to be seen and they show off their piety by widening their phylacteries and lengthening their tassels. The Pharisees demand to sit in the seats of honor and expect to be called 'Rabbi' on the streets of Jerusalem. We can safely say that the scribes and the Pharisees didn't practice what they preached. They failed to be shaped and formed by the very word of God they taught. It's the old adage that says, "Don't do as I do, just do as I tell you to do." That kind of attitude is always abrasive and condescending. I'm sure all of us have scars to prove it as well.

There are 613 commands in the Mosaic Law. We all wrestle with legal documents inundated with small print. Tell me how you like reading that stuff! The small print is why we hire a lawyer. But Jesus came to show us and to tell us that the details are about two things - we are to love God and to love our neighbor as ourself. That's it. It's the milk poured over the cereal. The Pharisees were choking the people with the dry details. Now the details matter but there is a way to help it go down right. And that's where Jesus comes in. Jesus put his arm around the people and walked them back into the love of the Father.

Jesus ever gentle.

Jesus came to us as a servant. Even though he is God he emptied himself and was born in the likeness of you and me. In joining his divinity to our humanity, Christ did not consider his Godhood as something to cling to. And in his human form he humbled himself and became obedient to all the demands of death, even death on a cross. God tasted death for every person on this planet. That's the soul and majesty of greatness. It is the kind of humility and gentleness we are to have in ourselves and toward each other. St. Paul writes: Let love be genuine...love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.

The gentleness of greatness comes in the small packages of kindness and manners. It's the little Acts of Random Kindness that makes a house a home - a little ARK in a world that is adrift. It is weeping with those who weep. It is showing empathy in our relationships and in our conversations. It's living in harmony with one another and associating with the lowly. And as much as it is possible it is living peaceably with all.

The Pharisees wouldn't even lift a finger to help someone struggling under their load. But the Lord of Glory who died on the cross asks you and me to take up our cross and follow him. Along the way to heaven we are carrying our responsibility to be tender hearted and gentle and filled with humility like him who died for us. Gentle - what a powerful word in a world filled with distorted ideas about greatness and superiority. Jesus upheld the law - Thou shalt not kill - Thou shalt not commit adultery - Thou shalt not covet - the very words meant to teach us gentleness. The Pharisees sitting in Moses' seat must have missed that!

We all have a little bit of 'pharisee' in us. Gentleness eludes us. Ignoring the consequences, swift and decisive action is more appealing. Flying off the handle is quick and deadly to a marriage and to our sons and daughters. Having our way or no way may feel smart but in the end it's a lonely existence. "Has not the one God created us?" Malachi asks. Yet we break faith with one another when we bite and devour and use and abuse each other.

We know in our heart of hearts that Christ must increase in us. We know we need more reverence for God and for all who are made in his image. We know that gentleness is the tie that binds law and grace together. And without it we know we will care less, love less, and be less than ourselves. There is hope for us today. This morning this Holy Eucharist will enlarge our soul. In these humble elements of bread and wine we receive the blessed body and blood of Jesus. He will fill us with the spirit of kindness and gently put his arm around us and lead us back to the Father's love. Jesus is ever gentle among us and takes care of us like a mother takes care of her children because we are very special and dear to him. There is hope for us all. Amen.

Dennis Hankins is a parishioner at Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral, of the Diocese of Knoxville, TN. Prior to his uniting with the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil 2006, Dennis served as a priest in the Charismatic Episcopal Church. You can email him at dennishankins@gmail.com His website is: www.dennishankins.com

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Following the Way of Love

Reflections on the Readings

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 23, 2011 - Year A

By Dennis S. Hankins

Readings For This Sunday

Following the Way of Love

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"

Do you remember Moses? Of course you do! Associated with him is the giving of the Law. He ascended Mt. Sinai and in the presence of God was taught the Ten Commandments as the finger of God inscribed the great words of God on stone tablets. (Exodus 31:18)In the meantime, the people grew restless and suspicioned that Moses now absent some 40 days had deserted them. "Make us gods to lead us. As for this Moses who knows what has become of him," they murmured to Aaron.

As Moses entered the camp, he witnessed the people in frenzy worship before a golden calf. And Moses threw the tables of commandments to the ground. The stone tablets broke in pieces symbolizing the broken relationship between God and his people.

It's difficult to imagine the shattered heart of Moses as he witnessed such apostasy. It took only days for the people to wander far from the God who in his mercy bore them on wings of love out of their Egyptian bondage. And now there was only lawlessness and love grown cold. At God's direction Moses cut out two more tables of stone and hiked up Mt. Sinai to receive again the words of God written on the stone tablets by the finger of God. When Moses descended the mountain his face glowed with the glory he had lived in the last 40 days. With the testimony of God in his hands and in his heart his face radiated with the glory of God's love.

God revealed himself to Moses on a mountain. Many of the teachings of Jesus are given on a mountain. Jerusalem is called Mt. Zion. The Jerusalem Temple was built on Mt. Zion. I shared some these mountain top experiences recently with a Hindu. Last Sunday in the late afternoon my daughters Bethany, Heidi, and I climbed up Clingman's Dome. As many of you know that is not a walk for the timid. Straight up for 1/2 mile we walked until we reached the waiting viewing tower. The sun was quickly dissolving in the western sky. The mountains in the distance crowned with the glowing descent of the sun was majestic and stirred my soul. The tops of the trees were painted with the last hurrah of Sunday's sun. And I thought about these readings for today. I also shared with my Hindu companion from India some of my musings on our mountain top experience.

Serving God and neighbor is the pinnacle of love. The way of love is a mountain top experience. Here the sun of the glorious love of God never sets. It never descends. There is no varying in its degrees of intensity. It never changes. It never grows old. With a world emaciated by hatred and hunger and war and strife as our backdrop listen with me to the words of Jesus: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Serving God and our neighbor is the essence of our faith. God invites imperfect people to walk the perfect way - the way of love.

Love is like the air we breathe. If we run out of air we die. When love grows cold or gives way to vengeance we all suffer loss. Today's world is in great need of God's love. It is important for each of us to stir up the love of God in ourselves. A new devotion to him who first loved us will make us better witnesses in the world for which Christ died. Love for neighbor is caring for the oppressed and befriending the widow and the orphan. It is being an ever present help for those who need a shoulder to lean on or a listening ear. This is the message of the the first reading from Isaiah. God defends the immigrant and the oppressed. He doesn't look kindly on extortioners and oppressors or on those who see an easy buck at the expense of the poor.

Is there an easier commandment or lesser demanding commandment? Not really. To fail in one point of the law is to become guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10) Genuine faith in God expresses itself in love for one another. What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (James 2:14-17)

Faith without love is not faith. If we say we love God and mistreat each other the truth is not in us. He who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also. (1 John 4:20, 21)Hatred scars for generations; pure love is never forgotten. It is revered forever - in heaven and on earth - and rehearsed at family gatherings. I pray to be among those who heal and love.

Like a good neighbor God in Jesus Christ visited us and wrapped his arms around our world and drew it unto himself. Why? Because God is love. Because God is not mad at us. Because God did not hold our sins against us. Because God is not willing that any of his neighbors perish. Because! That is the Love that beckons us to this Feast of Love. We come as brothers and sisters to this banqueting Table and his banner over us is Love. What a Friend we have in Jesus. Freely he gives us himself so that we may become our true self and truly love one another.

Please God, may there be a renewal of that love given by the Spirit. May we return to the world with joy from the Holy Spirit and be better husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends until you come to judge the living and the dead. Amen

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Into the Fellowship of the Holy

Reflections on the Readings

Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 16, 2011 - Year A

By Dennis S. Hankins

Readings For This Sunday

Into the Fellowship of the Holy

Then Jesus said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."

The political and religious leaders joined forces. Both have a common interest in derailing Jesus and his influence. Quickly both groups react when Jesus says, "My kingdom is not of this world." In the end the mix of the political establishment and the religious rulers will crucify him who said, "I Am." And what gave rise to suspicions in some brought hope to the common people who listened to him with glad and thankful hearts. All those oppressed by the usurpation of their money by the Romans, and by religious leaders who didn't practice what they preach perceived in Jesus a place in the Father's love.

In the closing hours of our Lord's life the religious and political factions unite again when the chief priests declared to Pilate, "Crucify him! We have no king but Caesar!" (John 19:12-16)

In today's gospel the tactic is a stealth approach to compromise Jesus and bring him to nothing. "Let's trap him in his words," they said. The question deals with whether it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. Somehow they misunderstood the message. Jesus did not preach insurrection. Neither did Jesus ever incite anyone to riot or discourage anyone from paying their taxes.

The early Church through Paul's preaching understood the role of 'Caesar' and the Christians duty to responsible citizenship. In speaking to the believers in Rome Paul exhorted, "Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due." (see Romans 13:1-7)

It didn't bother Jesus that Caesar's image was imprinted on the coins. The only thing Jesus withheld from Caesar was the right to be worshipped. Caesar can collect taxes; he can't require worship of himself. Caesar can require compensation to run the government and its services; he is not the discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12) Civil governance derives its legitimacy and authority from God. That's why Jesus exempted no one when he said, "But give to God what belongs to God." Jesus is saying, "Come with me into the Fellowship of the Holy."

You see, the Sabbath was made for you and me. Even though man was created on the sixth day along with all the beasts of the field, God made another day, the seventh day, to help you and me not to behave like a beast. Without this day of contemplation and recollection, we begin to believe our identity, that our real self is in our office or the plaques on the wall, or the degrees behind our names, or the salary we make, or the clothes that we wear. We need Sunday. We need the worship of God to remind us that this world is not our home; that we are not of this world; that we are in the world but made in the image and likeness of God - we need the holy fellowship of him who made us and breathes into us the breath of life.

Our faith is about first things first. It is these things that guide us into the divine life. The first day of the week belongs to him who made it for us. The first fruits of our time, talent and treasure belong to God who gives us all things freely. The first moments of the day spent in a prayerful way brings us into a holy awareness and the hope that God will increase in us the faith he gives us. Let's face it. Without God we don't act the way we should. Without him we don't treat each other the way we ought. Without him we don't remember who we are and that our soul is restless until it finds its rest in him who is holy.

Our Lord is holy indeed, the very fount of holiness. To him we come this morning bringing to him the gift of ourselves. We give him the glory and the praise. We give him the glory due his name. We draw close to him who gives us the gift of himself and commune with him as friend with friend. At this Holy Eucharist we enter into all that is holy; it is the Lord to whom belongs the heavens and the earth and the air we breathe. Oh how he loves you and me. Let us stay here a bit today to remember, my brothers and sisters, that we are loved by God. And then we will return to Caesar's world in that love that never let's go. Amen.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

A Marriage Feast For His Son

Reflections on the Readings

Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 9, 2011 - Year A

By Dennis S. Hankins

Readings For This Sunday

A Marriage Feast For His Son

And again, Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son."

Invitations. They are fun to receive. The opposite is true too. Ask anyone who thought they should have been invited to the party, and wasn't. In today's first reading, our relationship with our Father is described as a festive feast - On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines. God wipes away our tears and reaches out to save us causing us to rejoice in our salvation. To this there remains an open invitation to whosoever will. It is Matthew who writes of this open invitation in the words of our Savior - Come unto me and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

As I mentioned last week, we are moving through Matthew's memory of the tension between Jesus and the rulers of the people; the chief priests and the elders. Like last weeks Gospel, the Gospel this morning raises the hazard of rejecting and responding to the invitation of the kingdom with animus. (Matthew 22:7) Within the historical setting of these Gospel readings is the warning of God's visiting upon Jerusalem and the Temple his judgement. This happened in 70 AD. Josephus, a historian of the time, descriptively writes of the devastation that came. The Temple was desecrated and the City was leveled. I'll leave it at that. The era of the Old Covenant was closed as the Kingdom with no end was beginning to stretch from Jerusalem and all Judea to Samaria and unto the uttermost ends of the earth.

Jesus confronts the attitudes opposing his invitation. He is 'coming' to his own and his own did not receive him. Although some did not receive him, many did embrace and welcome the invitation to find rest for their soul. In all of this we should, we must, remember that truly he first loved us. I suppose it is this that most melts my soul. An invitation that has nothing in it for him who gives it; it is all about seeking and finding the lost - a true shepherd who lays down is life for us sheep. In green pastures he gives us rest and beside still waters he leads us. All of creation at rest and Christ leading us into that rest so that he might refresh our souls. And in the evening time we are escorted into the wedding feast of the son, and before us is a Table of plenty.

However, one guest in the parable Jesus gives is not properly disposed to be at the marriage feast. Reviewing the guests the king observes a man who is not properly dressed for the occasion. "Friend," the king begins, How did you get in here without a wedding garment?" Indeed how did he think that it didn't matter how he responded to the invitation? When the ill dressed man was questioned, he became speechless. He does not even attempt to throw himself at the mercy of the host. Jesus does not want us to be speechless and overcome with guilt. He wants us to embrace his invitation to 'taste and see that he is good.'

So let's talk a bit about being worthy. How are we made worthy? I remember the little Assemblies of God Church my daddy pastored when I was a teenager. Any time daddy announced Communion, one family would leave just before the Communion was served. The dad explained he didn't want to risk partaking in an 'unworthy manner.' Now that is not a wrong sentiment. But how are we ever worthy - when are we properly clothed and ready to 'come to the feast?' Paul advises us to practice self examination. Am I properly disposed to loving my brothers and my sisters in Christ? Have I resisted God's love in my own heart when responding in unkind words or actions toward my family - at home and in the Parish?

What is the proper decorum when coming to the Table of the Lord? When we come because the one thing we desire is a heart of love, I think that is the proper attire. Desiring to be filled with love from above, to trust that in Christ God will supply whatever it is I need, that the glorious riches of Christ are for those who love him with a true heart and speak of him with a kind tongue - this is the wedding garment of the those who are invited to the feast. Perfect love is that love that is not arrogant or rude; it does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful and rejoices in what is right and good and pure. It is the very love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit - the greatest gift - the gift that never ends.

God's love is the gift that keeps on giving. We receive it every time we come to the feast - Christ our Passover sacrificed for us. Let us make every effort to receive this invitation to the wedding feast of the Son, who unites us to himself; giving us his body and his blood. Truly our life in him is a marriage made in heaven. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives, and we shall dwell in the house of our Lord, where the Table is always spread, now and forevermore. Amen.