Are the poor ‘us’ or ‘they’?

Cycle C - Lent 5

FIRST READING: Isaiah 43:16-21. Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick; “Remember not the former things, nor consider, the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honour me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.”

SECOND READING: Philippians 3: 8-14. I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith; that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

GOSPEL: John 8: 1-11. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The Scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus looked up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.”

____________________

In today’s gospel, Jesus forges a unique understanding with the adulteress without having even spoken to each other. He had been doing his own thing when the whole incident happened. Though he was taken unawares, his presence of mind had been complete. We detect no hesitation on his part. He instinctively knew on which side of the wall he stands. The poor woman had been all alone when the episode began. Although she speaks very little—merely three words—the moment Jesus began to speek, she too promptly understood that an understanding had been established between her and he whom she addressed as the Lord. Though worlds apart, they communicated on an equal level: the level of the powerless. The moment is of astounding beauty, a moment of deep and genuine solidarity. The powerless, the poor, the dispossesses—whatever one chooses to call them—are effectively hated by the self-righteous. Jesus is not part of such hate.

The ‘communion of the powerless’ is what a perceptive Isaiah would not hesitate to call “a new thing”, “a way in the wilderness”, a “river in the desert”. For this is how the prophet envisioned the new social and political order which God dreamed of establishing on earth. Drawing on the image of water—the life-giving element which, throughout the whole of Holy Scripture, symbolises the Holy Spirit—he proclaims that the water which destroys the powerful is the same which shall nourish and support the powerless (those considered to be “wild beasts”, “jackals” and “ostriches”). While the former shall despair and perish, the latter “will honour” the Lord, for the Lord shall “give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert”.

Paul shows himself to be prepared to consider the ‘communion of the powerful’ to be “a loss”, and “refuse”, in comparison to “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”. Unless each one of us, beginning with me, come to consider the poor not as ‘them’ but as ‘us’, than our justification is mere self-righteousness. We can only “gain Christ and be found in him ... through faith in Christ”, and through “the righteousness from God”. It is only by “sharing his sufferings” when in solidarity with the poor, being rejected and hated by the powerful and “becoming like him in his death”, that it is at all possible to be Church and “attain the resurrection from the dead”.

A God personally involved

Cycle C – Lent 2

FIRST READING: Genesis 15: 5-12; 17-18. The Lord took Abram outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness. And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in two, and laid each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and lo, a dread and great darkness fell upon him. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a Covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.”

SECOND READING: Philippians 3:17; 4: 1. Brethren, join in imitating me, and mark those who so live as you have an example in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brethren, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

GOSPEL: Luke 9:28-36. Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white. And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep but kept awake, and they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah” – not knowing what he said. As he said this, a cloud came and over-shadowed them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silence and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

____________________

The concept of a personal God had been unknown before Abraham. Before bringing a number of tribes together in a sort of federation, Abraham had this metaphysical intuition (or inspiration, if you like) that the one living God personally cared for life, and was personally involved in it. Today’s story drives home this message: that God and living beings, humans none the less, can somehow be and communicate on the same par. The transcendent God and immanent living creatures meet on a level of equality. Abraham understood that could, and should, be much so amongst all living creatures themselves. Life is common to all, and there lies the Spirit of the Divine.

Paul is desolate by the actions of those who, closing up within themselves and lording over others, destroy the unity and harmony that God willed for all creation. They are, he maintains, ‘enemies of the cross of Christ’, with which he probably meant opponents of all that which unites humans amongst themselves, and leads them to leave in peace and harmony with creation. With tears in his eyes, he pleads with everybody to ‘stand firm in the Lord’, that is, to hold on to the values which Jesus lived by and taught.

The story of Jesus’ transfiguration demonstrates what some of these values are. Jesus had the right to be lord and master of others. Yet, he opted to be poor amongst the poor; a brother on equal standing with all of his fellow humans. As the messenger of God, Jesus had shown time and time again that the type of community which God willed was one based on equality, respect of every single person, and freedom. Through him—‘my Son, my Chosen’—Jesus shuns all types of domination and supremacy of one over the other. It is in this way, and in no other way, that God is personally involved in our life and in our communal living.