7 – 17 – 17 Them's Fightin' Words

Today we have “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” As well as “I have come to bring not peace but the sword… to set a man against his father…”

Link to Daily Readings
Them’s fightin’ words.

At least I think they’re often interpreted that way. From picketers with signs that say “God hates [insert group]” to more subtle forms of altercation these readings can seem to reinforce this militant faith. I think I would describe a person of faith as a soldier, but the methodology of some people does not quite work.

What I mean to say is that the spirit of militancy is not the problem, we are part of a great campaign to convert the world and bring people to God, but sometimes people fail to recognize methods that will actually work.

I would be incredibly surprised if one homosexual person seriously questioned their sexual orientation after reading a “God hates [insert group]” sign at a protest. Have they had their feelings hurt? I should certainly believe so, even if they weren’t particularly religious. Do they resent the person holding the sign? They’d need to be saints not to.

So the militancy of the Church should not lie in how combative we are, but how resilient and persistent we are. Jesus does not say “Blessed are those who persecute those who do not follow my path.” We are not to be the persecutors, we are not to be the oppressors, we do not silence people. We speak the truth, sometimes loudly, sometimes gently, and to different people in different ways on every occasion.

Jesus says “I have come to bring not peace but the sword” and then highlights the divisions that will exist in all of our relationships. We will have conflict with our friends, our families, and our lovers. Especially if we are trying to live in deeper communion with Christ in a way that conflicts with their beliefs. We may even be “at war” with our mothers or fathers over what is proper behavior, but how do we act in war?

Jesus says “Agree with thine adversary quickly”, “Forgive your brother not seven times, but seven times seven,” and preached nonviolence throughout the entirety of his ministry, including reprimanding Peter for striking off the ear of the high priest's slave in an attempt to defend Jesus. 

I don’t see this reading as an invitation to aggression. I see this reading as a gut check, are our priorities really where we claim to be? Are we trying to live our truest faith, or trying to get along as well as possible with the people in our parish, indulging all their iniquities?

“The most important thing is to keep the most important thing the most important thing.” Or at least something similar to that. I believe that’s the gist of what this is saying. We must choose God over family, even if it causes disruption within our family, which we would normally work to keep harmonious. 
-----------------------------


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

8 - 11 - 17 Dogs are Better than People? (5 minutes)

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” We are not asked to deny our cravings. Neither are we asked to deny our vices. We are not asked to gain further resolve in the pursuit of holiness in order to deny any of our own weaknesses. We are asked to deny the totality of our current selves in preference for the new self Christ will fashion within us. I’ve written before about how Christ’s call is not just a new moral standard. If it were it would be an impossible one. It seems to me that the Christian vision of discipleship is actually quite different than that of the Jewish, though this is only in my perception and I am quite ignorant of Judaism as it extends beyond the Old Testament. It is less about behaving a certain way than it is about having a certain state of being. All our righteous actions garner some of their value in that they have a tendency to move us closer to the type of being God desires us to be. I’m not saying t
Read more

6 - 23 - 17 Jesus is Smarter than Drake

6 – 23 – 17 Link to Daily Readings This passage contains Jesus proclaiming that He is the only path to the Father, that He is the only method of salvation for all human souls. There probably couldn’t be a more important thing in the universe. In this passage He also says, “I am meek and humble of heart.” Which seems like quite the contradiction when we consider these two ideas together, but we are thinking of our human experience. Jesus does not need to boast, firstly it would not be in his nature, secondly there is nothing he would desire to lay claim to being that He is not. In this passage He is simply telling his disciples about the nature of His ministry, expressing to them the importance of not only Himself, but his teachings. I think this distinction is what makes these statements feel contradictory to each other when they in fact are not. Most other times we have heard someone boast on that level, of being all-powerful or the very, very best at something it is eit
Read more

6 – 20 – 17 Be Ye Perfect

Link to Daily Readings “So be ye perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” A tall order to say the least. Quite impossible to be sure. But I think this is the idea. I think part of what Jesus is trying to communicate in this command is not only that he understands how difficult our task is, but that he wants us to understand that it is not possible for us to achieve it on our own. Many people are capable of pure, perfect acts. A moment of divine unselfishness that will likely sing in the memory of the person they helped as an example of Christ on earth. To string two together, without stopping to think about how good of a person I am? Now that’s quite a bit more difficult. Once we get into the span of ten minutes, one hour, the prospect becomes quite hopeless. To think of living a perfect day is quite laughable. That’s one thing I always thought was interesting about striving for moral perfection. We truly do have the ability, just not the endurance. It’s as tho
Read more