Fellowship of Southern Illlinois Laity
Featured in CORPUS REPORTS MARCH/APRIL 2007
By ROGER KARBAN
Our Eucharist: Our celebration forms us into the one Body of Christ
By Roger V. Karban October 2007 Celebrations www.celebrationpublications.org
IN NEWS NOTES
ROGER'S COMMENTARIES
FOSIL has the latest Scripture reflection, “the Gospel Truth,” written by Fr. Roger Karban. If you would like to purchase a copy, please return the form below. The price is $3.00 cash and carry, $3.50 to be mailed, with a discounted price of $3.00 for 10 or more copies to be mailed. The pamphlet, “See, I am Doing Something New!” Isaiah 43:19, by Roger Karban, is also available. Send order and check (payable to FOSIL) to: FOSIL, P.O. Box 31, Belleville, Il 62222. Please note on check that it is for the book(s).
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Update on Roger Karban
And a big thank you
Many, many thanks to all of you who have so generously sent cards, notes, letters and emails. Can't tell you how much I appreciate all of them.
My treatment seems to be going well. I've had two sessions of chemo at this point. Still four more to go (three weeks apart). I've been fortunate not to be nauseous. My appetite is good, even though I've lost over 20 pounds. (I can easily shed at least 40 more before I start to worry!) The most visible side effect is that I no longer have my hair and beard. Even some of my parishioners didn't initially recognize me on that first "bald" weekend. I'm assured both will eventually return.
The most aggravating side-effect is tiredness. I eventually weaken during the Eucharist, and haven't "stood up" during my Scripture classes for a while. My oncologist, John Visconti, assures me this is normal.
So far I've been able to maintain most of my ministry. I've presided at a wedding, a religious jubilee celebration, parish weekend Eucharists and almost all the Scripture classes, except those which have to be canceled because of treatments, tests, or doctor's appointments.
Everyone is very patient and quite understanding. I'm humbled by their care and concern.
And I'm especially grateful to you for all your thoughts and prayers. I never before reflected on how many of you are "out there," how many of you I reach every week by my commentaries. Thank you for amazing me.
I ask that you please continue those thoughts and prayers. Though this type of lymphoma has a high cure rate (over 90%), my doctor reminds me that there's always that small percentage for whom other methods might have to be employed besides chemotherapy.
I promise to stay in touch.
Roger
Roger Karban
Our Lady of Good Counsel Church
Cancer Challenges Minister of the Word
Bad news and good news. Roger Karban has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma of the follicular kind. Good news is it is one of the most treatable cancers with a high cure rate. Roger has been through a CAT scan, PET scan, blood tests, X-rays, heart check, biopsies, bone marrow extraction, and consultations with several doctors including an Oncologist with whom Roger feels very comfortable as he does with his other doctors. Roger starts Chemo
Thursday, June 5, 2008.
There is no reason, according to the doctors, that Roger cannot continue business as usual (which, for most of us, would put us under the table).
Please keep Roger in your prayers and send your positive energies his way.
If you would like to send him a note, you may send to:
Roger Karban
Our Lady of Good Counsel Church
AUGUST 31, 2008: TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Jeremiah 20, 7-9 Romans 12:1-2 Matthew 16:21-27
As we’know from many of the late George Carlin’s comic routines, coming into contact with organized religion is part of almost every person’s faith experience. Nothing the matter with it, as long as the organized religion we encounter helps us accomplish what it supposedly was created to do: have an experience of God working in our daily lives. Problems arise, as Carlin frequently pointed out, when organized religion only provides us with an experience of organized religion.
Thankfully we don’t have that problem when we listen to today’s three readings. Each of our sacred authors deftly cuts through organized religion and presents us with a picture of God acting in our lives - for better or for worse. It’s at this point of our faith experience that we go “one on one” with God - no intermediaries.
Jeremiah begins our series of readings, referring to Yahweh in the most insulting terms used in all Scripture. (We’re once again in Jeremiah 20; the chapter no clinically depressed person of faith is ever to read.) Though most translators render the passages’ first words in rather innocuous terms like “You duped me!” or “You tricked me!” scholars like Carroll Stuhlmueller have reminded us that this specific Hebrew verb is often employed in the context of rape. Jeremiah’s so angry and frustrated with Yahweh’s treatment of him that he can only fall back on the warning all parents give their young children as they send them off to school alone: “Don’t ever get into a car with a stranger!” The prophet regrets not heeding their advice. He got into Yahweh’s car, was overpowered, and, like all sexually abused people, has never been the same again. Once he agreed to be Yahweh’s prophet, Jeremiah’s life has turned into a nightmare.
The worse part of his experience is that he can’t reverse the process. “I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more. But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.” Entering a relationship with Yahweh has entrapped him for the rest of his life. It’s like trying to resign from the mafia.
Paul certainly can identify with some of Jeremiah’s God-experience - especially the part about it being an open, life-time commitment. One’s life is totally changed by it. “. . . Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. . . do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God . . . .“ Making God’s will our will every day of our lives is both the most rewarding and frustratingly painful experience of those lives.
Paul’s doing nothing but following the example of Matthew’s Jesus. No one reaches the life Jesus offers without going through the death Jesus demands. Matthew copied today’s narrative from Mark, following his three-fold pattern of a prediction of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection, followed by a misunderstanding, and then a clarification. In this series, Peter’s granted the privilege of the misunderstanding. Along with the famous “Get behind me Satan!” command, he’s also reminded, “You are thinking not as God does but as human beings do.”
When one thinks as God, one accepts God’s value system, no matter how different and painful that is from our own. Yet even if, like Jeremiah, there’s no belief in an afterlife as we know it, there’s still the life that comes from the relationship itself - at least on some occasions.
Doesn’t surprise me that many people prefer organized religion over actual experiences of God.
Roger Vermalen Karban
This commentary is provided by the Fellowship of
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AUGUST 24, 2008: TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Isaiah 22:19-23 Romans 11:33-36 Matthew 16:13-20
My recent encounter with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma has given me a deep appreciation of the medical discoveries and advancements we’ve achieved throughout our history. Those, for instance, involved in my chemotherapy have assured me, “This isn’t your parents’ chemo. Treatment has changed drastically in just the last 10 years.” It doesn’t take long for medical discoveries to be integrated into medical practice.
Yet, when 1 look at my own field of expertise - Scripture - I’m embarrassed to admit that we, as a church, more frequently employ my great-grandparents’ explanation of today’s well-known gospel pericope than even that of my parents’. We completely ignore the discoveries of the gospel redaction critics which took place during the mid-SOs, the same time Dr. Salk’s polio vaccination started to eliminate that dreaded disease. We also seem to forget the Pontifical Biblical Commission’s 1964 Council-requested statement on the Historicity of Gospels, issued about the same time cholesterol was discovered. Both Scripture advances showed us that gospels aren’t “Jesus biographies,” written by eye-witnesses of the events they narrate. Rather, they’re theological documents, composed by our evangelists to help their communities understand the implications of imitating the dying/rising Jesus alive in their midst.
To say, for instance, that Jesus is setting up the papacy and the hierarchical structure of the church as we know it in today’s gospel passage is to ignore some of the most basic discoveries and insights of biblical scholarship achieved over the last century and a half! Those who today choose to teach the “old” interpretation choose to ignore some significant “facts.”
First, Matthew writes not for us Gentile/Christians, but for a Jewish/Christian community; a group of people who faithfully attend synagogue every Sabbath, follow all 613 Laws of Moses, and would have understood both Jesus’ command “to bind and loose” and his comment about the “keys of the kingdom” in the context of Jewish rabbinical practice, not against our background of confession or church excommunication. (That’s why today’s first reading referring to “the key of the House of David” is taken from Isaiah’s Hebrew Scriptures.)
Second, the passage as we have it is found only in Matthew. In Gospels 101, all students learn Matthew copied from Mark, Luke also copied from Mark, but Luke never read Matthew, nor obviously did Mark. If this pericope contains an essential element of church structure, why isn’t it in every gospel - like the Eucharist?
Third, the vast majority of Matthean scholars contend the evangelist still believes Jesus is returning in the Parousia during his lifetime. He isn’t looking centuries down the road. Why would he set up an authority structure for a church which isn’t going to last more than a short period of time?
Fourth, following good Semitic both/and thought patterns, the “powers” which Jesus specifically bestows on Peter in chapter 16 are bestowed on the entire community in chapter 18! Not as simple as we were once taught. Perhaps a better approach to today’s gospel would be to emphasize what Matthew’s Jesus emphasizes: Peter’s faith. It’s that faith that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God” which forms the foundation and rock of the Christian community. It’s that faith in a person, not a structure, that we should deepen every day.
Paul says it beautifully: “For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever!” Had my oncologist started my treatment by applying leaches to my infected lymph nodes, I would have asked for a second opinion.
Roger Vermalen Karban
This commentary is provided by the Fellowship of
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AUGUST 17, 2008: TWENTIETH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Isaiah 56:1,6-7 Romans 11:13-15,29-32 Matthew 15:21-28
In hindsight, we humans have a knack of turning past complicated subjects into simple black and white issues. Through the centuries questions become clearer, answers more evident. This is certainly the case with the history of how biblical Jews related with non-Jews, and Jewish-Christians with Gentile-Christians.
Many of us presume Jesus simply was sent by God to found a new religion: Christianity - a religion open to all. The prerequisites for joining were that they renounce their “old religion,” profess faith in Jesus, accept his teachings and submit to the hierarchical institution he founded. The majority of Jesus’ own people - the Jews - who rejected him and his new religion are thus condemned to spend their earthly existence as members of a “discredited” religion, never possessing God’s whole truth, never achieving the fullness of faith Jesus offers.
If only things were that simple and easy to comprehend. Those who dare return to our earliest expressions of faith - the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures - know “it ain’t necessarily so.”
There’s no one answer to the Jewish/Gentile question even in the Hebrew Scriptures. Some authors demand total separation between Israelites and non-Israelites, even threatening death to any Jew who engages in “intimacies” with a non-Jew. Yet at the same time we have a prophetic element within ancient Judaism which takes a more liberal stance - none more so than Third-Isaiah.
Active within 50 years of the Babylonian Exile, this anonymous prophet has experienced non-Jews in unique situations and relationships. His experiences help him see them from a different perspective from those Jews who’ve never or rarely come into contact with Gentiles. “The foreigners,” he announces, “who join themselves to Yahweh, ministering to him, loving the name of Yahweh, and becoming his servants,. . . them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer.. . For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.” This certainly goes beyond what many century BCE Jews are willing to tolerate.
Matthew’s Jesus seem to echo Third-Isaiah’s point of view. The evangelist drastically changes the story he found in Mark, making Jesus’ initial refusal to help the Gentile woman’s daughter a test of her faith. Thankfully she passes the (rather insulting) test and hears the words, “0 woman, great is our faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” Gentiles with faith are just as accepted in Christianity as Jews with faith.
Paul has the most unique theology on the subject. As a good Jew, he believes Jews should be the first to be evangelized. But he eventually varies that conviction for two reasons. Jews aren’t exactly knocking one another out of the way in their stampede to convert, while Gentiles are beginning to commit themselves to Jesus in larger and larger numbers. Paul figures jealousy can be a great motivator. If his Gentile converts could demonstrate the terrific benefits of their new faith to his fellow Jews, envy would entice them to also become believers. The Apostle pulls no punches with his Roman readers. “I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous and thus save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”
Following Paul’s logic, if there are still Jews and Christians existing as two opposing religions in today’s world, that can only mean we Gentile Christians haven’t given ourselves over completely enough to the faith of Jesus to convert our Jewish brothers and sisters, as Jews, to that faith!
0, for a return to the simple days of the catechism!
Roger Vermalen Karban
This commentary is provided by the Fellowship of
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AUGUST 10, 2008: NINETEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
I Kings 19:9a,11-13a Romans 9:1-5 Matthew 14:22-33
Over the last 20 years, more and more students of Scriptures have replaced the familiar, pejorative terms Old Testament and New Testament with Hebrew Scriptures and Christian Scriptures. This switch, as we see from today’s liturgical passages, was prompted by biblical, not political correctness.
Obviously the historical Jesus never referred to the writings on which he based his reform of Judaism as the Old Testament. He spoke about them as “the Law and Prophets.” It was many generations after his death and resurrection - after special writings by Christian authors came into existence and began to be collected - that some Christians began to employ Old and New to distinguish the two collections.
The vast majority of “Christologists” (those scholars who study Jesus’ 6 BCE-3OCE ministry)contend that Jesus never used such old/new categories about his faith. Fr. John Meier, for instance, believes that even when Jesus spoke his Last Supper words over the cup found in I Corinthians 11, he simply said, “This cup is the covenant in my blood,” The word “new” was added to covenant by his later disciples. According to Meier, Jesus had entered into a unique covenant with God, a covenant all good Jews were expected to enter. It was that covenant which he also expected his followers to imitate, demonstrating they had done so by drinking from the cup of the covenant during the Eucharist.
The concept of biblical covenants and testaments is far more complicated than the terms Old and New lead us to believe. Hans Walter Wolff, flying in the face of common wisdom, often mentioned, “There’s no wall between our two collections of sacred writings. A stream of faith runs between them; a stream which constantly changes direction. Each helps us understand the other.”
That’s certainly the case with today’s I Kings passage. All people of faith can identify with Elijah’s discovery of Yahweh speaking to him in “a tiny whispering sound.” But, on a deeper level, both Christians and Jews can also identify with what Yahweh tells him from that whisper. (For some strange reason, God’s words have been omitted from our liturgical reading.) Yahweh demands to know, “Why are you here?” Unbelievably, the God who helped the prophet walk hundreds of miles to Horeb (Sinai), doesn’t want him at Horeb! Yahweh sends him -on foot! - back beyond the spot where he originally started his trek.
How often we finally reach a point in our lives where we’re certain God wants us to be, only to discover God actually wants us to go back and restart our faith journey, almost from scratch
This appears to be one of the reasons Matthew makes a big thing of Peter sinking when he breaks concentration on Jesus and starts to notice “how strong the wind is.” The evangelist insists his readers understand that just as their ancestors in the faith followed a person, Yahweh, so they follow a person, Jesus. It’s far more secure to follow a religion or even a theology; never having to worry about ending up in the wrong place or having to start over.
Paul’s lament in our second reading also makes more sense without the old/new dichotomy. He’s complaining that many of his fellow Jews somehow never used all the experiences of faith Yahweh has provided them to eventually share in the faith of Jesus. I presume, could the Apostle have foreseen how followers of Jesus would later marginalize the Hebrew Scriptures he so loved, he would have directed that lament to us, not to his fellow Jews. We’re often guilty of not taking advantage of God’s “full” word. I always remind my students that it was only due to the Vatican II reforms that in 1970 we began to have readings from the Hebrew Scriptures in our weekend liturgies. Before then, the reasoning went, “Why read the Old when you have the New?” The council bishops realized God’s word is always New - no matter in which collection of Scriptures you discover it.
Roger Vermalen Karban
This commentary is provided by FOSIL. We appreciate your comments and donations.
FELLOWSHIP OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS LAITY,
AUGUST 3, 2008 EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Isaiah 55:1-3 Romans 8:35,37-39 Matthew 14:13-21
One of the most difficult aspects of studying Scripture is to develop the knack of hearing the text as the author originally wrote it, not as it’s been falsely interpreted through the centuries.
Perhaps the classic example of the misread is the disciples’ statement in Matthew’s 19:10 no-divorce passage, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” For almost 1800 years (since Greek thought and philosophy “hijacked” Christianity) many have interpreted their statement as correct; virginity or celibacy is to be preferred to marriage. Fr. Quentin Quesnell’s groundbreaking 1967 Catholic Biblical Quarterly article finally uncovered Matthew’s original meaning. As a redaction critic, Quesnell demonstrated how Jesus rejects his followers’ solution to his tough teaching on marriage. Their argument is simple. If you can’t divorce, then just don’t get married. Play the field. Never commit to one person. It flies in the face of Jesus’ actual teaching. Yet, 40 years after that article, we still hear their statement quoted in defense of mandatory priestly celibacy.
Something similar happens when we hear today’s gospel pericope. We insert something into the text which Matthew doesn’t include. We end up talking about Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the crowd instead of the disciples’ miraculous feeding of the crowd.
God’s care of God’s people is a constant biblical theme. The authors of both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures frequently zero in on that aspect of God’s personality.
No writer has ever expressed this concept better than Paul, especially in his well-known Romans 8 passage. He praises God’s love of us present in Jesus’ love of us. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” the Apostle asks. “Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No! . . .I am convinced that neither death, nor life . . . Nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” No biblical lines are more encouraging.
But how do we actually experience God’s love? Sometimes we look for it “in all the wrong places.”
Our misdirected looking is behind both Deutero-Isaiah’s words and Jesus’actions
“All you who are thirsty,” the prophet proclaims, “come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat;’ come without paying and without cost . . . . Why spend your money for what is not bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy? . . .Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life.” The message is clear: don’t’ waste your time and effort looking for any security which doesn’t come from God.
But how’s God’s security actually filtered into our lives? Matthew’s Jesus tells us it comes from those around us. Throughout today’s gospel narrative the emphasis is on Jesus’ command to his followers, “Give them some food yourselves!” He constantly refuses to accept any of their excuses. When they finally produce their insignificant amount of food, Jesus doesn’t multiply anything. He simply takes the “five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he says the blessing, and gives them to the disciples,” who finally do what he initially told them: they share what little they have with those around them. The result: everyone is more than satisfied!
Jesus teaches that people should be able to depend on us to provide God’s care of them, even in those instances in which we’re convinced we have nothing to share. It’s easier for us just to morph into a referral service, tell them to ask God for what they need, and walk away from the situation. It’s far more faith-filled to fall back on the blessing with which God has endowed even our smallest offerings and be a concrete source of God’s care.
That’s what the text actually says
Roger Vermalen Karban
The Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity provides this commentary. Please share it with a friend. We appreciate your comments and donations
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JULY 27, 2008: SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
1 Kings 3:5,7-12 Romans 8:28-30 Matthew 13:44-52
The late Fr. Roland Murphy always taught the key to understanding biblical wisdom is found in today’s I Kings pericope. Our sacred authors, concerned their readers live the life God wants them to live, define the “wise” person as the individual who’s able to pull that off. That’s why all people of faith are listening intently to how Solomon responds to Yahweh’s unbelievable offer: “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.”
The king’s response is immediate and to the point: “Give your servant . . . an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.”
In biblical culture, one thinks with the heart, not the brain. Quite different from our practice of locating thought in the mind and emotions in the heart. (In Scripture, our kidneys were believed to the source of emotions.) So when Solomon asks Yahweh for an understanding heart, he’s basically requesting the ability to judge things, circumstances and people as Yahweh judges them. In other words, he’s asking, “Let me think your thoughts; let me see reality as you see it.”
Our biblical writers presume “reality” is the same for everyone. Most of us see and experience parallel things, circumstances and people. But what do we really see and experience? The frame of mind we bring to reality will always be our main tool for interpreting that reality. It’s this mentality which people of faith work on developing, so that day by day we create a more understanding heart.
Paul, for instance, encourages members of the church at
As I’ve mentioned in the past, the reason the historical Jesus so often employed parables in his preaching was to demonstrate the gap between our mentality and God’s. Parables don’t give new information; they simply supply us with a new way of processing the information we already have.
In today’s pericope from Matthew, Jesus begins by making certain his disciples are seriously interested in surfacing the kingdom of heaven in their midst. He realizes that for many who claim to have faith, experiencing God working in their everyday lives is just a peripheral interest; not something at the heart of their existence.
Years ago I was working with a friend digging post holes. With each thrust I succeeded in digging out one or two tablespoons of dirt. After a few patient minutes, my friend suggested I take a break. He picked up the tool and within a very short time dug down at least two feet. When he handed the post hole digger back to me, he smiled and said, “Rog, my old man always said, “when you want to dig a hole, you’ll do it!”
He was right. Digging that hole wasn’t my top priority.
Jesus asks, “What if finding God in your life were as important as finding a buried treasure or a pearl of great price? What would you sacrifice for it?”
Perhaps we’ve put too much emphasis in the past on knowing the correct answers to catechism questions instead of developing a frame of mind that would surface the questions God wants us to ask.
That’s what the text actually says.
Roger Vermalen Karban
The Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity provides this commentary. Please share it with a friend. We appreciate your comments and donations.
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JULY 20, 2008: SIXTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Wisdom 12:13,16-19 Romans 8:26-27 Matthew 13:24-43
One of the most misunderstood gospel terms is the phrase “
Scholars tell us this particular kingdom doesn’t refer to the life we’re expecting to experience after our physical death. It’s the way Jesus describes God working in our lives right here and now. His earthly ministry revolves both around making people aware of God’s actions and demonstrating the different facets of that kingdom. In teaching about the latter, he frequently employs parables to help his followers see that reality in ways most people never notice.
In today’s three kingdom parables, Jesus insists we look at the small-to-large aspect of God’s presence, and also reminds us that God doesn’t just single out the good to work with. God’s presence is to be surfaced in a “mixed world,” a world inhabited by both wheat and weeks.
Jesus warns that a too zealous effort to make God’s kingdom perfect on earth will result in lots of good people being uprooted with those we consider to be weeds. God will eventually take care of that part of the kingdom’s work. Our job is to keep planting the wheat. Jesus thinks it’s important to remind us that the kingdom is God’s, not ours. When we attempt to take it over it ceases to produce the results God intends.
One of our main problems is that we want God’s actions to appear against the background of fireworks and blasting trumpets. It takes a special person to surface God working in an action as insignificant as a minute mustard seed or a small hunk of yeast. In each case, it’ll grow into something tremendously large, if only we take the time and make the effort to plant or mix those small elements into our daily lives.
This seems to be why both the author of Wisdom and Paul stress our own human limitations.
The Wisdom writer zeroes in on God acting in our lives in spite of all the obstacles we place in God’s path. “Though you (God) are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience, you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you.” Instead of expecting us to be judges, God has a different job description for us. “You taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind.”
Paul also presumes strong-willed, judgmental people aren’t the individuals Jesus wants to sign up to be proclaimers of God’s presence in our world. “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness.” The Apostle writes’ “for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes with inexpressible groaning.” True disciples have to admit they’re not even certain themselves what to pray for. Without the Spirit’s guidance they’d probably be praying for things which are against God’s will.
Getting back to Jesus’ wheat and weeds, how can we then be comfortable judging others’ actions? Only “the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.” Often when we tear out the weeds impeding us from what we conceive of as our clear path of growth, we might actually e dead-ending God’s plan of growth.
The Christian community is unlike any other organization. It proclaims a kingdom which makes sense only to God and those who give themselves over completely to God.
Roger Vermalen Karban
JULY 13, 2008: FIFTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Isaiah 55:10-11 Romans 8:18-23 Matthew 13:1-23
Perhaps today we should switch our first and second reading. Paul surfaces a problem with which all people of faith must deal. But Deutero-Isaiah and Matthew’s Jesus give the same basic answer to the problem, even though they ministered more than 500 years apart.
The Apostle states the question: How do we know the things we hope for in faith will eventually happen one day? He begins by making a statement of faith: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.”
Paul employs the image of a woman in labor to convey his point. “We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we are saved.”
What’s the basis of our hope?
Deutero-Isaiah and Jesus zero in on the same answer: God’s word.
Deutero-Isaiah prophecies during the Chosen People’s darkest hour – the 6th century BCE Babylonian Exile. Between 586 and 530 a large percentage of Jews are confined in
But then this unnamed, unexpected prophet comes on the scene, promising their time of punishment is now over. He encourages them to pack their bags and get the road between
Sounds great, but how can they be certain this longed for day is just around the corner? Deutero-Isaiah has just one answer: We’ve got Yahweh’s word on it! If Yahweh says it, it happens, no matter the obstacles.
That’s where today’s periscope comes in. The prophet perfectly summarizes the force of that word. “Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful…so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” Nothing, or no one can stop God’s word from having the effect God intends.
If we take just the first nine verses of today’s gospel, Jesus completely agrees with Deutero-Isaiah. (The rest of our passage contains additions made by the early Christian community to help them understand situations in their lives of faith which the historical Jesus never had to encounter.)
Matthew leaves out the question which seems to have prompted Jesus’ famous parable about sowing seed. Most probably someone came up one day and asked him why he was wasting his time doing all that preaching. In a month or two practically no one would remember anything he said.
It’s then that Jesus starts talking about all the seed wasted in the broadcast technique farmers employed in his day and age. Yet no matter how much seed is wasted, some always falls “on rich soil and produces fruit, a hundred, or sixty or thirty-fold.” God’s word always has an effect.
Remember in the old days when we’d ask in our religion classes, “At what point of a Sunday Eucharist does our coming late switch from a venial to a mortal sin?” The answer: Only if we walked in the door after the chalice was “uncovered” (after the “Offertory” started), was it mortal; before then it was just venial. That meant we Catholics could miss the entire liturgy of God’s word throughout our lifetime and it would never be seriously sinful. I presume Jesus and Deutero-Isaiah have a great problem with that morality.
Roger Vermalen Karban
Zip JULY 6, 2008: FOURTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR Zechariah 9:9-10 Romans 8:9,11-13 Matthew 11:25-30 A popular saying of the 70s stated, “When you’re up to your waste in alligators, it’s hard to remember your original plan was to drain the swamp.” Often it’s difficult to keep our original plan in front of our eyes. We often give in to the immediate problem, even when the solution to that particular need runs counter to our original plan. We start working on alligator eradication and forget about swamp draining.. This happens even with our faith. There’s a good theological reason the four evangelists quote today’s Zechariah passage when they describe Jesus’ triumphant Holy Week entrance into If the gospel authors had included the prophet’s next line or two, the “donkey thing” would have been easier for us to understand. “He shall banish the chariot from Ephriam, and the horse from The concept of Messiah constantly changes throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Each Jewish generation expected the Messiah to possess the leadership characteristics they most needed during their day and age. During Jesus’ earthly ministry his people wanted a Messiah who would throw out the occupying Romans. They expected him to arrive triumphantly one day in By coming astride a donkey, Jesus is agreeing with his 6th century BCE prophetic predecessor who puts his Messiah on an animal of peace. In other words, no matter how many alligators are in the swamp, the swamp is still going to be drained. Only by being a Messiah of peace will Jesus definitely give his people the non-war tools to rid themselves of any occupation, even after the Perhaps only a dedicated few are actually able to direct their lives and actions by Jesus’ long-term faith. Paul refers to such individuals as being “in the spirit.” He reminds the Roman church, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will bring your mortal bodies to life also through his Spirit dwelling in you.” The Apostle, from his own experience, knows how difficult it is for Christians not to give in to their immediate needs, and by so doing, destroy the long term faith which guided Jesus’ own life and ministry. Matthew’s Jesus presents this same concept in somewhat different terms. “Father, Lord of heaven and earth, to you I offer praise; for what you have hidden from the learned and the clever, you have revealed to the merest children.” Only Jesus’ long range solution to our everyday difficulties will definitely get rid of those difficulties. “Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…And you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.” Those “merest children” have doggedly continued to exist throughout church history, even after “the learned and clever” developed our current norms for a just war. Those few “radical Christians” are the remnant in our midst who witness to what Jesus originally meant for us to do with the swamp. Roger Vermalen Karban : _______ JUNE 29, 2008: THIRTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR II Kings 4:8-11,14-16 Romans 6:3-4,8-11 Matthew 10:37-42 Growing up Catholic in the 40s and50s, I don’t remember being encouraged to imitate Jesus’ dying and rising. I never thought of myself as another Christ. That title and ministry was reserved only for members of the hierarchy. We laity were simply expected to pick out a special saint or two and imitate their holy life-style. When Protestant friends or family asked why I prayed to saints instead of directly to Jesus, I deftly gave the “party answer.” Jesus as God was so far above us humans that we had a much better chance of having our petitions heard and answered if we employed an intermediary to present our case. We were also advised to search the list of saints to find one of two who were the “most forgotten.” Since these forlorn individuals had more heavenly time on their hands than the popular saints, they could lobby Jesus on our behalf 24/7. The early Christian communities would never have appreciated such theology and behavior. Those first followers of Jesus boldly regarded themselves as other Christs, carrying out not only his commands but also his ministry. They were so one with him that Paul could remind the church in Notice how Matthew includes in this passage a reference to the Elisha narrative in our II Kings narrative. “Anyone who welcomes a prophet because he or she bears the name of a prophet receives a prophets reward; those who welcome a holy person because he or she is known as holy receive a holy person’s reward.” Yet the evangelist wants his readers to understand that, even though they might help the holy and prophets carry on their specific ministries, they themselves are also holy and prophetic. Only when we began to lose our identification with the risen Jesus did we begin to employ intermediaries between us and Jesus. Given today’s readings, it’s not difficult to determine why we started to distance ourselves fro him and his ministry. Jesus’ disciples gradually began to understand the implications of being Matthew leaves no doubt of Jesus’ demands. “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…those who do not take up their cross and follow after me are not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Even after one tones down the Semitic exaggerations, we’re still left with humongous demands and responsibilities. Though both Paul and Matthew presumed Jesus would return in the Parousia during or shortly after their lifetime, they knew their oneness with Jesus was the most demanding aspect of their day by day existence. They were buried daily with him in their generous self-giving to others. The awoke each morning open to carrying whatever new cross he would send them that day. But through the years, every Christian’s responsibility to continue Jesus’ ministry became a thing of the past. What was once expected of all became something for just the clerical few. We gradually became unworthy even to directly communicate with the person with whom we had originally been identified. The unbelievable had happened! Roger Vermalen Karban ___________________
”...baptized in Christ Jesus’ death…through baptism buried with him.”
JUNE 22, 2008: TWELFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Jeremiah 20:10-13 Romans 5:12-15 Matthew 10:26-33
Whenever I'm teaching a course on Jeremiah and we come to chapter 20, I always encourage those who are suffering from clinical depression to leave the room. This is by far the most depressing part of the Hebrew Scriptures. I don't want to be responsible for pushing anyone over the edge.
There are two important points to understand about Jeremiah's predicament. First, he's a prophet: the conscience of his people. His ministry revolves around telling people what Yahweh wants them to do. Second, he knows nothing about an afterlife as we know it. As a good 6th century BCE Jew, he believes good is rewarded and evil punished within the confines of this life. This creates a dilemma. One can't be more certain than a prophet delivering God's word that he or she is doing something good. Yet at the same time, Jeremiah, like all true prophets, suffers for the word he proclaims.
Restricted by his "this life only" theology, we hear the prophet make a logical request of Yahweh. ". . . You who test the just, who probe mind and heart, let me witness the vengeance you take on (my enemies), for to you I have entrusted my cause." Against all odds, Jeremiah continues to hope that God might keep him alive long enough to see the demise of those persecuting him.
Cutting through the prevailing theology, Jeremiah can only put his trust n Yahweh's word that he'll be taken care of, even though he has no idea how Yahweh's going to pull this off before he dies.
Jesus presumes his prophetic followers will have to endure the same opposition Jeremiah experienced. Though we Christians have the benefit of extending our lives into eternity, it still doesn't stop certain people from hurting us right here and now. Jesus is concerned that what we learned "in darkness" will remain in darkness because we know what will happen to us when we proclaim his word "in the light."
"Do not be afraid of them," Jesus insists. "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna."
Though Jesus assures us of how deeply he values us - "Even the hairs of your head re numbered!" - he never promises that we won't end up being scalped by our enemies. Such "disasters" frequently befall his disciples. His fear is that some, facing such opposition,might give up their faith and deny both him and the life his call offers them.
Perhaps Paul provides us with the best insight into enduring persecution. He goes beyond the effect such abuse has on us individually. Using Adam's sin and Jesus' suffering and death as the norm, the Apostle reminds the Christian community in
Jesus, Paul and Jeremiah are forced to go beyond worrying about what's gong to happen to them if they openly proclaim God's word. Jeremiah sets the standard by falling back only on the relationship which the "just" have with God. Jesus agrees. But Paul believes anyone who forms such a relationship with God will also discover that, in the process of forming that relationship, they've also formed a relationship with every other human being.
Not only did people of faith eventually discover their life extended beyond their earthly existence, they also found out their relationship with God wasn't limited to God.
Copyright 2008: Roger Vermalen Karban
This essay is provided by the Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity. Please share it with a friend. We welcome your comments and contributions. Let us know if you wish to be added to our mailing list.
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JUNE 15, 2008: ELEVENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Exodus 19:2-6a Romans 5:6-11 Matthew 9:36-10:8
Accustomed to thinking about our church's hierarchy when we hear lists of the Twelve, we often ignore what Scripture scholars have been telling us for a long time about this specific group. The historical Jesus traveled with the Twelve not to show his intention to divide his followers into clergy and laity, but to demonstrate his passion to include all Jews in the reform he was preaching. The Twelve are symbolic of the twelve tries of
Two of the twelve tribes were dominant during Jesus' earthly ministry: Judah and Benjamin. Except for these two and the priestly tribe of Levi, the other nine were on the fringe of Jewish society. British theologian Karen Armstrong reduces significant first century CE Jews even further. Along with other historians, she believes only those who could trace their pedigree back to the sixth century BCE Babylonian Exile thought they were true Jews. The rest were second class.
Jesus employs the Twelve as his sign of inclusivity. He invites and welcomes all Jews to return to the earliest beliefs of their faith. The historical Jesus' arrival in your town creates a good news/bad news situation. The Messiah's visit is good news; coming accompanied by the Twelve is bad news. The latter demonstrates that the Messiah's message is wider than a lot of Jews want it to be.
Today's Exodus passage must have been one of Jesus' favorites. Yahweh tells Moses to inform all Israelites, "If you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people, though the earth is mine. You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation." The Exodus author is reminding the community that all Jews are important, not because they belong to a special tribe, descend from nobility, or have accomplished great feats. They're somebody because they're committed to forming a covenant relationship with Yahweh.
Paul buys into the same belief. He's amazed both at how much Jesus loves all people - even non-Jews - and at how Jesus' love goes beyond anyone's response to that love. "Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,though perhaps for a good person one might even find the courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." Paul takes Jesus' determination to invite all Jews to follow Yahweh, and transforms it into a determination to invite all people to follow Jesus.
It's clear from today's three readings that God demands we expand the limited faith which brought us to the true faith. We're to break through the restrictions our "old time religion" imposes on us.
Notice how "Jesus' heart was moved to pity for (the crowds) because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd." In this context, when Jesus encourages his disciples to "ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest," he presumes some laborers are already out there. But he wants new laborers, people convinced everyone's worthy of being harvested, not just a special few. It's precisely to those "unworthies" that Jesus sends the Twelve, "to the lost sheep of the house of
We can't leave today's liturgy without examining our consciences on how we relate to our Catholic Church's lost sheep. Whom, because of our post-biblical hierarchical structure and triumphant self-righteousness, have we pushed to the outskirts of our religion?
It'll be interesting to discover which groups we surface. Even more interesting to compare lists.
Copyright 2008: Roger Vermalen Karban
This essay is provided by the Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity. Please share it with a friend. We welcome your comments and contributions. Let us know if you wish to be added to our mailing list.
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JUNE 22, 2008: TWELFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Jeremiah 20:10-13 Romans 5:12-15 Matthew 10:26-33
Whenever I'm teaching a course on Jeremiah and we come to chapter 20, I always encourage those who are suffering from clinical depression to leave the room. This is by far the most depressing part of the Hebrew Scriptures. I don't want to be responsible for pushing anyone over the edge.
There are two important points to understand about Jeremiah's predicament. First, he's a prophet: the conscience of his people. His ministry revolves around telling people what Yahweh wants them to do. Second, he knows nothing about an afterlife as we know it. As a good 6th century BCE Jew, he believes good is rewarded and evil punished within the confines of this life. This creates a dilemma. One can't be more certain than a prophet delivering God's word that he or she is doing something good. Yet at the same time, Jeremiah, like all true prophets, suffers for the word he proclaims.
Restricted by his "this life only" theology, we hear the prophet make a logical request of Yahweh. ". . . You who test the just, who probe mind and heart, let me witness the vengeance you take on (my enemies), for to you I have entrusted my cause." Against all odds, Jeremiah continues to hope that God might keep him alive long enough to see the demise of those persecuting him.
Cutting through the prevailing theology, Jeremiah can only put his trust n Yahweh's word that he'll be taken care of, even though he has no idea how Yahweh's going to pull this off before he dies.
Jesus presumes his prophetic followers will have to endure the same opposition Jeremiah experienced. Though we Christians have the benefit of extending our lives into eternity, it still doesn't stop certain people from hurting us right here and now. Jesus is concerned that what we learned "in darkness" will remain in darkness because we know what will happen to us when we proclaim his word "in the light."
"Do not be afraid of them," Jesus insists. "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna."
Though Jesus assures us of how deeply he values us - "Even the hairs of your head re numbered!" - he never promises that we won't end up being scalped by our enemies. Such "disasters" frequently befall his disciples. His fear is that some, facing such opposition,might give up their faith and deny both him and the life his call offers them.
Perhaps Paul provides us with the best insight into enduring persecution. He goes beyond the effect such abuse has on us individually. Using Adam's sin and Jesus' suffering and death as the norm, the Apostle reminds the Christian community in
Jesus, Paul and Jeremiah are forced to go beyond worrying about what's gong to happen to them if they openly proclaim God's word. Jeremiah sets the standard by falling back only on the relationship which the "just" have with God. Jesus agrees. But Paul believes anyone who forms such a relationship with God will also discover that, in the process of forming that relationship, they've also formed a relationship with every other human being.
Not only did people of faith eventually discover their life extended beyond their earthly existence, they also found out their relationship with God wasn't limited to God.
Copyright 2008: Roger Vermalen Karban
This essay is provided by the Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity. Please share it with a friend. We welcome your comments and contributions. Let us know if you wish to be added to our mailing list.
Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity,
JUNE 8, 2008: TENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Hosea 6:3-6 Romans 4:18-25 Matthew 9:9-13
Paul constantly has to defend himself against conservative Christians who vehemently object to his ministry to Gentiles. They don't mind his preaching Jesus to non-Jews as long as he converts them to Judaism before he baptizes them into Christianity. These "Judaizers" insist that only after Gentiles agree to keep the 613 Mosaic laws can they even be taught about the risen Jesus present in their lives.
The Apostle fights against this theology by employing a simple argument. If the Torah laws are essential to faith, then how can anyone be saved before Moses receives those regulations on
Scholars date the Exodus and its Sinai covenant to around 1,200 BCE, and Abraham and Sarah's entry into
Paul goes back to Genesis 15:6 for his answer. "Abram put his faith in Yahweh, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness." "Righteous" is how our sacred authors refer to anyone who does what Yahweh wants him or her to do. (Modern Jews, for instance, call Oscar Schindler a "righteous Gentile.") Long before any religious laws came into existence, religious people simply put their trust in God. They entered a relationship with Yahweh, giving themselves over to God and the responsibilities such a relationship brings.
The Apostle argues that non-Jewish followers of Jesus are simply returning to the most primitive form of Judaism: going back to the day when people of faith were expected only to enter a trusting relationship with God, no rules, no regulations, just trust.
This is what Hosea demands of Israelites 700 years before Jesus' birth. Fed up with those who only when hard-pressed promise to"strive to know Yahweh," the prophet proclaims God's true expectations. "What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your pity is like a morning cloud, like the dew that early passes away . . . . For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than holocausts." Even today some think true faith revolves around doing the "liturgical thing," to be conscientious abut going to Mass, but not forming proper loving, knowing relationships with God and others. (In Semitic thought, to "know" someone or something means to "experience" that person or object.)
The historical Jesus cuts through such religious nonsense to surface those able and willing to form trusting relationships. There was just one problem. Often the people Jesus concentrated on were regarded as sinners by the "good folk." People back then weren't always labeled sinners because they'd committed "immoral" actions. Much had to do with cultural transgressions. For instance, someone like Matthew, who collected taxes, would automatically fit the sinner category because most of his taxes eventually went to the hated Romans.
No wonder Jesus and his disciples trigger a conflict with law abiding Pharisees when they dine at Matthew's house alongside "many tax collectors and sinners."
Jesus quickly responds to the complaint. "Those who are well do not need a physician; the sick do. Go learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."
Certainly Jesus here is speaking about the "self-righteous;" those who only are concerned with God's will when it benefits them. Jesus ironically points out that many who disregard some of organized religion's choicest rules and regulations are the very people who relate to others and God in the way Jesus relates to God and others.
Kind of forces us to do a gut-check, doesn't it?
Copyright - 2008 Roger Vermalen Karban
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JUNE 1, 2008: NINTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Deuteronomy 11:18,26-28,32 Romans 3:2-25,28 Matthew 7:21-27
We Christians have never quite recovered from the third basic change in our faith: the switch in the second century which transformed our church from a Semitic to a Greek thinking community. Most people today regard the other three fundamental changes as steps forward in our imitation of Jesus. Scholars and historians don't always look favorably on this change. It turned us into an analytical, either/or people, quite different from the synthesizing, both/and mentality of the historical Jesus and all the authors of our Christian Scriptures.
Our ancestors in the faith were committed to looking at their experiences of the risen Jesus from every angle possible, always surfacing new dimensions of their faith. They reveled in contradictions like, "Those who gain their lives will lose them." Only by employing such contradictions were they, at times, able to convey the depth of the experiences their faith in Jesus brought them.
Once Greek thought and philosophy "hijacked" Christianity, we began to speak of our faith experiences in either/or categories. Contradictions were anathema. Now there could only be one "orthodox" theology, one way of expressing our faith.
One of the most famous spin-offs of Greek thought was the 16th century battle between Catholics and Reformers over the question, "How are we saved?" The Reformers, quoting Paul, claimed Christians were saved by their faith in Jesus. Catholics, quoting James, claimed we're saved by our actions.
Both sides, following their Greek thought patterns, refused to give in. It was either works or faith. No compromises. No insight that it could be both faith and works. Only 40 years ago when Council-inspired participants in Lutheran/Catholic dialogue returned to the thought patterns of our sacred authors did we finally find the common ground those authors presumed their readers would have taken from their writings.
That's why today's three readings are significant. They're the product of Semitic thinking authors who never in their wildest nightmares could foresee they'd one day be read and interpreted by Greek thinkers.
Our first and third passages emphasize the action aspect of our dedication to God.
Moses reminds his soon-to-enter-the-Promised-Land community, "I set before you . . . a blessing and a curse: a blessing for obeying the commandments of Yahweh, your God, which I enjoin on you today; a curse if you do not obey the commandments of Yahweh, your God . . . ." It's not enough just to say, "I'm committed to Yahweh!" One must also be determined to carry out the concrete actions Yahweh demands.
In a parallel way, Matthew's Jesus ends his Sermon on the Mount with, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." Just as Moses gave his people a choice between a curse or blessing, so Jesus gives us a choice between building our faith on rock or on sand.
On the other hand, Paul puts faith front and center. Dealing with some who think salvation revolves only around fulfilling all 613 laws of Moses, the Apostle reminds the Roman church, "We consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law." If one just follows those Jewish laws, what's the reason behind Jesus' death and resurrection? Our faith in Jesus' dying and rising is the force behind our own dying and rising.
Greek thought process certainly gives us a succinct, clear expression of our faith. But it falls horribly short of the expressions of faith which our ancestors in that faith originally passed on to us.
Copyright - 2008 Roger Vermalen Karban
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MAY 25th, 2008: BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRiST
Deuteronomy 8:2-3,14-16 I Corinthians 10:16-17 John 6:51-58
The first step in correctly understanding any Scripture passage is to hear it within the context in which the sacred author originally placed it. Just as the individual actions of our lives make sense only against the background of our entire lives, so we can’t take a verse or two of Scripture out of the writer’s work and think we’re getting from those lines what the author originally put in them.
Nowhere have we “sinned” more against this biblical principle than in our understanding of the Eucharist. We zero in on Jesus’ words of institution - This is my body/blood” - and completely ignore the context in which our sacred writers have Jesus proclaim them. Through the centuries we’ve spent most of our theological time reflecting on how the bread is transformed into Jesus’ body; the wine into his blood. Little time has been given to understanding the implications of the Eucharistic community’s transformation into the body and blood of Christ. Yet that’s almost always the context in which our Christian sacred authors place Jesus’ words over the bread and wine.
Today’s I Corinthians pericope provides the first scriptural reference to the Eucharist. Paul employs these two short verses to illustrate how ridiculous it is for Jesus’ followers to live their faith as “independent contractors.” Those who imitate Jesus have a responsibility to all others who also imitate Jesus. For the Apostle, the greatest and most practical sign of that unity is the community’s participation in the Lord’s Supper. It’s there they most die and rise, there they are most one.
Every Corinthian knows what Paul means when he asks, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” In this context, Paul’s not talking about our being part of the bread and wine. He’s referring to our participation in the community as the blood and body of Christ. If he weren’t, the next verse wouldn’t make any sense. “Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” Ironically, the vast majority of Catholic parishes don’t follow Paul’s directive. For them, the loaf isn’t one. The Eucharist is confected in small, individual wafers. Paul’s enemies would point to this practice and use it as an argument against his passion for Eucharistic unity.
Even John’s classic words in today’s gospel should never be taken out of the gospel context in which the author places them. All of us have practically memorized the words, “If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” The evangelist here shines the spotlight on Jesus’ bread/body, wine/blood, warning us about the lifeless existence of those who refuse to participate in consuming them. Yet during John’s actual Last Supper narrative, Jesus emphasizes another dimension of the Eucharist, one many of us commemorated on Holy Thursday - the foot washing. Scripture scholar Sister Sandra Schniders believes it’s only in such “out of control” actions of service to others that we can actually build the body of Christ as Christ wishes it to be built. For John, the life-giving aspect of Jesus’ body and blood can only correctly be appreciated when we consume his body and blood in the context of a life-giving community.
We now hear Moses’ first reading words with a different understanding. “He fed you with manna. . . to show you that not by bread alone do we live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of Yahweh.”
Those who concentrate solely on the Eucharistic bread and wine might be the very people with whom Moses, Paul, and John are struggling.
Roger Vermalen Karban
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MAY l8, 2008: TRINITY SUNDAY
Exodus 34:4-6,8-9 II Corinthians 13:11-13 John 3:16-18
In their popular college text, Christian Foundations, husband and wife team Kathleen Fischer and Thomas Hart set aside lots of space for the Trinity.
They begin by going back to Karl Rahner’s difficulty with the English word “person.” The late theologian was convinced it originally didn’t describe “an independent center of consciousness and freedom.”“Rahner suggested ‘a way of being’ as a better translation. . . . The one God has three ways of being.”
Rahner always contended that “. . . Trinitarian thinking began not as a piece of speculation about God, but as the expression of the religious experience of the followers of Jesus. They experienced God in an incarnate or historically concrete way in Jesus, and they experienced God in a spiritual way in the depth of their own spirit. They called the first experience the ‘Son’ and other the ‘Holy Spirit.’ The mystery that remains ever in the background, the mystery to which Son and Spirit pointed, they called the ‘Father,’ as Jesus did.”
Fischer and Hart zero in on the real meaning of today’s feast. When we hear the dogma of “three persons in one God,” we forget that God didn’t appear to the participants of the 325CE Council of Nicea and proclaim that precise formula. That concept had been fermenting in the consciousness of Christians for almost 300 years. They hadn’t read those words in a catechism and repeated them on the council floor. They simply had experienced God working in their lives on those three different levels.
We who are biblically oriented know this experience of the divine was highlighted during Moses’ encounter with Yahweh on Mt. Sinai. “Having come down in a cloud, Yahweh stood there with him and proclaimed his name, ‘Yahweh.’ Thus Yahweh passed before him and cried out, “Yahweh, Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.’” The Chosen People will only discover Yahweh’s personality by overcoming their own “stiff-necked” personalities long enough to permit this gracious God to be part of their “company.”
Jesus’ earliest disciples also struggled to express their Yahweh experiences. But no matter how they reflected on God, they always returned to their relationship with Jesus; how his love of them demonstrated God’s love of them. So it makes perfect sense for John’s Jesus to inform Nicodemus, “Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life.”
Fisher and Hart also refer to American theologian Catherine Moury LaCunga’s insight into the Trinity. “The doctrine of the Trinitarian persons tells that God’s being is by nature relational . .. . The image of God in humanity is therefore not found in the solitary self, but in persons who are in authentic communion with others. The Trinity serves as a model for human relationships.”
It’s no accident that Paul mentions Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit in this specific part of II Corinthians.
He’s concerned that members of the community relate to one another. “Encourage one another. Live in
harmony and peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss....
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all!”
It makes sense why Paul mentions God’s three ways of being in the context of community relations. Only those who give themselves over to others will understand God’s giving of God’s self to us. The rest might have to invest in a catechism and start memorizing theological formulas.
Roger Vermalen Karban
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MAY 11, 2008: PENTECOST
Acts 2:1-11 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13 John 20:19-23
Those who believe the true church never changes know nothing about first century Christianity.
The late Karl Rahner often reminded us that there have been only four basic changes in our Christian faith, and that two of them happened within fifty years of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
The first was a switch from a short term faith to a long term; from the equivalent of training for a 100 yard dash to preparing for a marathon. As we know from Paul’s earliest letter. Jesus’ first followers presumed he was going to return in the Parousia in a relative brief period of time. Some in his Thessalonian community even appear to have believed none of them would die before Jesus’ Second Coming. It’s only when we read Luke’s gospel and his Acts of the Apostles (written around 85CE) that we first encounter the belief that Jesus won’t return during the lifetime of any of the evangelists’ readers.
While this short/long concept of faith is playing out, the Christian community is also having to confront the unforeseen switch from being a Jewish church to a Gentile church. The historical Jesus was a Jew, all his followers were Jews. It was against the background of early first century CE Judaism that this Galilean carpenter preached his reform. how could a 100% Jewish church transform itself into an almost !00% Gentile church within three generations?
Did the biblical Christianity have a John XXIII leader who guided them through this tumultuous period? Though there were heroic figures like Peter and Paul on the cutting edge of both changes, our sacred authors tell us the real guiding force in those days was the Holy Spirit.
That’s why today’s Pentecost celebration very quickly came into existence. It was both a way to sing the praises of the force behind change and a reminder to the community that no one can imitate the faith of Jesus without giving himself or herself over to the Spirit of Jesus.
With these two basic changes still creating problems for some in his church, Luke’s description of the Spirit’s Pentecost arrival is very important. “Suddenly from up in the sky there came a noise like a strong, driving wind which was heard all through the house where they were seated. Tongues as of fire appeared which parted and came to rest on each of them.” There’s no gentle dove here, hovering peacefully over the community. The Spirit’s arrival is accompanied by the disturbing images of wind, noise and fire.
Luke’s simply giving concrete forms to his own experience of the Spirit. No one can live through such drastic, Spirit-inspired changes without being disturbed.
Yet, on the other hand, the Spirit also has other roles in the church. Paul reminds his Corinthian community, “To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” The same Spirit which creates havoc also is a force of unity. “It was in one Spirit that all of us, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free, were baptized into one body.” Divisive elements are molded into one unified force by the power of the Spirit. John tells us on what this unity is built. “Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Hoiy Spirit. If you forgive someone’s sins they are forgiven; if you hold them bound, they are held bound.”
We presume Jesus never wanted any of his followers to withhold forgiveness. He’s simply reminding them of the power they have over others for good or bad. John’s Jesus informs us that the most important element of the Spirit’s presence in our lives is forgiveness; the thing many of us find the most difficult to offer. Yet no Christian community can exist without that element, just as they can’t exist without the Spirit.
Roger Vermalen Karban
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MAY 4, 2008: THE ASCENSION OF JESUS
Acts 1:1-11 Ephesians 1:17-23 Matthew 28:16-20
One of the most fascinating aspects of today’s celebration of Jesus’ ascension is that the gospel we employ for our liturgical reading mentions nothing about Jesus’ ascension. Though most of us presume the next thing Jesus does after he assures his disciples, “I am with you always, until the end of the age,” is to start rising into heaven, Matthew never says that. His gospel ends at this point.
Scripture scholars have been warning us for a long time that we can’t take for granted one evangelist knows what another evangelist wrote. Experts debate whether John was familiar with Mark, Matthew, and Luke. But everyone agrees Matthew and Luke knew only Mark (the first evangelist) and they’re also convinced Matthew and Luke didn’t know one another. So we can’t argue that Matthew didn’t need to finish his narrative with an actual ascension because “everybody” already knew that’s what happened. Unless someone reads Luke/Acts, he or she doesn’t know that. (There’s no ascension in Mark’s canonical gospel.) Besides, the meeting Matthew describes between Jesus and his disciples takes place on a mountain “in Galilee.” The ascension event Luke depicts in our first reading takes place outside Jerusalem on the Mt. of Olives, at least 60 miles from Galilee!
It goes without saying, Luke’s opening Acts narrative of Jesus ascending into heaven after 40 days of instructing “the apostles he had chosen” is, to say the least, problematic.
One key to unlock the confusion is to understand that it took Jesus’ earliest followers a long time to “sort things out.” They certainly didn’t have everything together by Pentecost evening. Most people don’t realize there’s at least a 40 year interval between Jesus’ death and resurrection and the writing of the first gospel.
Paul’s letters are the only writings which have come down to us from that interval. That’s why our Ephesians passage is so significant. Though Paul originally expected Jesus to triumphantly return during his lifetime, he doesn’t seem to have been too worried about Jesus’ zip code before that return. The Apostle certainly believes the risen Jesus is present in the midst of his followers. (He even told the Corinthians, “Jesus appeared to me!”) But at the same time he can theologize, “(God) worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens... And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body . . .
Paul’s being more poetic than geographic. He’s concerned his readers understand that the risen Jesus is at the center of their life and faith. He employs symbolic language to convey that reality.
in a parallel way, Matthew wants to convince his community that Jesus both commissions them to carry on his ministry “to all nations,” and guarantees, “I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Luke, the first author of the Christian Scriptures to believe Jesus isn’t going to return in the Parousia during his Lifetime, has a somewhat different agenda. He’s concerned with those in his community who are still “looking at the sky,” spending their time planning for Jesus’ return instead of carrying on Jesus’ ministry. The “two men dressed in white garments” are telling Jesus’ followers, “Okay, you’ve got work to do; so do it!” Perhaps the theological diversity in today’s three readings should inspire us to respect the theological diversity that exists in Christianity even today.
Our sacred authors constantly tell us that one theology doesn’t fit everyone’s faith needs.
Roger Vermalen Karban
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APRIL 27, 2008: SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
Acts 8:5-8,14-17 1 Peter 3:15-18 John 14:1 5-21
The authors of today’s first and third readings believe the role of the Holy Spirit in our everyday life of faith is more significant than some ofus modern Christians acknowledge.
Our I Peter author mentions something that applies to all of us. “It is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.’ The writer presumes all people have to suffer. No one escapes pain. His concern is that the newly baptized whom he’s addressing will suffer for their “good conduct in Christ:’ that the pain they’ll endure will come not just because they’re human, but because they’re imitating Jesus’ dying and rising.
One of the questions which bothered Jesus’ earliest followers was, “How do I know what Jesus wants me to suffer? I-low do I decide what’s good and what’s bad?”
Of course, as we saw last week, we’re to make Jesus’ value system our value system. What he ihought important, we’re to think important. But in the day by day circumstances of life, how can we be certain about which specific thing or person the risen Jesus wants us to concern ourselves. What should we put in the center of our vision and what should we relegate to the periphery?
That’s where early Christians believed the Ho1 Spirit comes in. The Spirit helps guide Jesus people to where Jesus expects them to be.
John’s Jesus dedicates a lot of his Last Supper discourse to the Spirit. “If you love me. ou will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be with you.”
John simpl believes no one can be a true disciple of Jesus unless he or she gives themselves over to the Spirit within them. Having been raised to call on the Holy Spirit only during and before school exams, this Father—sent force played only a small role in my life after my formal education ended.
In some sense, Luke informs us in our second reading that I wasn’t alone in living a low or non-Spirit life. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for it had not et lhllen upon an of them: they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Among other things, this narrative tells us that our present baptismal formula — “I baptize ‘,oti in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” - wasn’t universally employed in the earliest church. Rut it also points up the thct that some Christians simply don’t use all the help Jesus provides us i