Homily for Friday, 9 June 2017– Memorial of St. Ephrem

Readings of the day: Tobit 11:5-17; Psalm 146:1b-2, 6c-7, 8-9a, 9bc-10; Mark 12: 35-37

Friday of the 9th week in Ordinary Time

Has anybody here ever heard something or somebody and been delighted? Perhaps we have been to a great concert, or heard a rousing speech. For me, whenever I am in our St. Kateri Parish rectory at Christ the King, or when I visit St. Kateri School and greet the students in the morning, I hear the squeals of children in the school playground, I exchange high-fives with them at the doors and try to remember as many of their and their parents’ names after two years away now, and I hear and try to answer their often brilliant questions, and maybe try to teach them some French… All this (and children in general; I am also an uncle to a delightful niece, Molly, and nephew, Liam) fills me with special delight! I have enjoyed my two years in Paris, although among a few things I miss about St. Kateri, being with our children and young people are among the most significant.

“The great crowd” who heard Jesus teach “in the temple area,” as we hear in Mark’s Gospel today, had the experience of being delighted: “The great crowd heard this with delight.” What did Jesus say that day “in the temple area” that so delighted the crowd? Let me suggest that what so delighted the crowd who heard Jesus had less to do with what he said than what he, the “Son of David”; the Son of God, did.

The crowd saw and heard something royal from Jesus; something that reminded them of Israel’s great King David, and yet something more. Jesus, drawing upon a title “the scribes” had given him, “Son of David,” recalls David when speaking of himself. The crowd sees and hears that, like David, Jesus has been “inspired by the Holy Spirit.” Jesus’ words and his works have God’s own authority behind them. The God who inspired and gave authority to David’s rule and words gives the same authority to Jesus when he speaks the same words: “The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.’”

What does Jesus mean when he speaks these words of King David? As in Jesus’ time, perhaps too many people today imagine Jesus, and want him to be, a great military ruler. For too many people, then as now, including too many people in positions of power, to “place [our] enemies under [our] feet” means to crush them by military force or by economic oppression as immediately as possible.

But this is not the way of Jesus or of his kingship. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not the “prosperity gospel,” the might-makes-right gospel, or the gospel of terror and oppression. At best, responding to the violence of an enemy with violence will give us temporary delight, while the enemy actually persists and often more enemies are created through violence.

Jesus’ words and works, even more than those of King David, are experienced with more permanent delight by “the great crowd.” We are still delighted in Jesus today, so much so that we gather here in this space, more than two thousand years after Jesus spoke near the temple, to worship and celebrate him. And yet our mission as Christians is to move from this worship celebration to remind the world authentically of Jesus by our words and works, so that, because of Jesus, our world may delight in us.

Homily for Monday, 15 December 2014– Ferial

Monday of the 3rd Week in Advent

Readings of the day: Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17a; Psalm 25:4-5ab, 6, 7bc, 8-9; Matthew 21:23-27

“The chief priests and elders” in the temple ask Jesus in today’s Gospel reading, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority”?

I imagine that we know the answer to these questions that the religious leaders of Jesus’ time asked him. I imagine that “the chief priests and elders of the people” knew the answers to their own questions, too. What is the nature of Jesus’ authority? Who gave Jesus the authority he has?

Authority can be frightening. Can we not think of people in positions of authority in society and in the Church who have abused their authority? The word “authoritarian” often carries a negative connotation. But Jesus’ authority is not a domineering, abusive, or self-absorbed kind of authority. So what is Jesus’ kind of authority?

Jesus’ authority is a priestly authority, as the perfect mediator of the sacred, God, to all creation, since he is both God and human. Jesus’ authority is a prophetic authority, preaching a truth that raises the poor, those of low social status, and the oppressed to their full dignity as daughters and sons of God. At the same time, Jesus’ prophetic authority exposes and destroys the false authority of those who dominate, oppress, or abuse. Jesus’ authority is a royal authority; the authority of a servant-leader; an authority willing to empty himself on a cross for our salvation.

And who is the source of Jesus’ priestly, prophetic, and royal authority? Jesus’ authority is from God. The religious authorities of Jesus’ time knew of claims that Jesus was God, and they were justifiably afraid. Have we not known “authorities” who have claimed or had others claim for them to be like gods? I think of cult leaders, terrorists, and many dictators even in our lifetime. In Jesus’ time the Romans claimed Caesar to be a god.  Can we not then appreciate how “the chief priests and elders of the people” were afraid of this kind of authority?

And yet Jesus’ authority respects and lifts up human dignity. It saves. Anything short of this is not true authority; is not God’s authority.  But is it not also especially remarkable that Jesus has given each of us his own priestly, prophetic, and royal authority through the sacrament of baptism?

If we were to be asked, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority,” how would we answer? How do we show to people around us the authority we have from God; an authority that lifts one another up; an authority for one another’s good; an authority that is kind, gentle, and just?

Many in our world continue to fear our kind of authority, even when we exercise it rightly. And so to live the authority of our Christian baptism takes courage. It takes discernment of where God is present in our lives, inspiring our exercise of authority. Our authority is not our own; it is from God, the author of all life and dignity. And yet we have this gift of authority, a priestly, prophetic, and royal authority; the authority of Jesus Christ the Son of God; authority for one another’s good; authority to lift up the poor and oppressed; authority that saves us.