Easter Morning Sonnet
The Resurrection of the Lord: The Mass of Easter Day
Easter Vigil Gospel: Luke 24:1-12
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041925.cfm
As the morning sun peered over earth’s crest,
Three women traveled to Jesus’s tomb.
With ointments, they would have his body blessed,
But the spot was empty with spring in bloom.
With the stone rolled away, they entered in
And did not find the body of their Lord.
As their puzzlement started to begin,
Two men in dazzling white garments moved toward.
"Why do you seek the living with the dead?
Recall his words about his destiny,
As a captive, for sinners he’d be bled,
And in three days, defeat death’s legacy."
From sin we are no longer imprisoned!
Al-le, Alleluia He is risen!
Jesus’s Burial Sonnet
Holy Saturday
John 19:31-41
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/19
As his body was lifeless on the cross,
It could not remain there for sabbath day.
A lance in his side to confirm life’s loss,
An outpour of blood and water gave way.
Joseph of Arimathea was there
And asked if he could take his body down,
Pilate approved for burial elsewhere.
They removed his garments for a white gown.
They cleansed him with myrrh and other ointments.
To fulfill sacred customs for the dead
Including the use of spice and incense.
Then they placed him in a tomb on a bed.
A garden where once he was full of zest,
Jesus’s body now had come to rest.
John’s Passion of the Lord in Four Sonnets
Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion
Gospel: John 18:1-19:30
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041825.cfm
I
At night, Jesus prayed with his disciples
In the garden; Judas knew the place well.
He was now partnered with self-made rivals,
Priestly guards with swords waiting for the tell.
Jesus knew their intent and so inquired
“Who are you looking for?” They said, “Jesus.”
He said, “I AM” as the time had transpired
‘Take me and free these men who are with us.”
Peter drew his sword and cut a man’s ear
Jesus said to Peter, “Put that away”
I have a destiny beyond your fear.”
They seized Jesus and he, in turn, obeyed.
Judas betrayed his friend for some silver
Like a mansion whose butler did pilfer.
II
High priest Annas started Jesus’s trial
And Peter was nearby within the grounds
A maid spoke, “You and him were rack and file.”
“We were not,” Peter abruptly expounds.
The priest questioned Jesus on his doctrine,
He told him to speak to those who heard verse.
Peter, still outside, was questioned again,
A second denial, he was making it worse.
Back inside, a temple guard struck Jesus
He said, “Do not speak this way to a priest.”
Out front, a slave said, “Do not deceive us,
Peter, you were with him and got released?”
As the cock crows announcing this night's end.
For a third time, Peter denied his friend
III
At daybreak, Jesus was brought to Pilate.
The priests said that he was a criminal.
“Take him yourselves, who am I to rebut?”
“We can’t kill him so we’re stuck liminal.“
So Pilot went back to Jesus and asked
“Are you the King of the Jews like they say?”
Jesus had some banter and went to task.
“My kingdom’s not here, but I’ve shown the way.”
Pilate found no guilt but he served the crowd;
Offered a chance of release, they denied.
Jesus was then scourged; they mockingly bowed.
They beat and jested him with acts so snide.
“With a thorny crown and a purple cloak,
Hail Jesus, King of the Jews! What a joke!”
IV
Pilate brought out Jesus and said to them
“I have found no guilt, this is what you want.”
Mary’s there as she was in Bethlehem,
As the crowd yells a “Crucify him” taunt.
So Pilate gave Jesus more affliction
And said “Your king’s ready for his demise.
This afternoon shall be his crucifixion.”
Jesus carried his cross as they chastised
At the skull, he hung between two others,
Under a note that read “King of the Jews.”
Soldiers divide his clothes while he suffers
As he thirsts, common wine is what they choose.
As it touched his lips, he said “It’s finished.”
His spirit gone, the body diminished.
Holy Thursday Sonnet
Holy Thursday -Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper
Gospel: John 13:1-15
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041725-Supper.cfm
Jesus knew his time was about to come.
He loved his own in the world to the end.
He pondered the death he would soon succumb;
With all God’s power, he would not contend.
So Jesus removed his outer garments,
He took and tied a towel around his waist.
Then poured some water for the performance
to wash their feet with a loving embrace.
When his turn arrived, Peter had to ask,
“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus answered, “As I now do this task,
You don’t know why, but some day you’ll repeat.”
“Do you realize what I’ve done for you?
To be a teacher, this you’ll also do.”
A Sonnet for Judas’s Lie
Wednesday of Holy Week
Gospel: Matthew 26:14-25
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041625.cfm
“If I give you him, what will you give me?”
Judas Iscariot asked the high priest.
“Thirty pieces of silver in a sleeve.”
So he thought of when he’d expect it least.
"Where shall we all eat the Passover meal?”
The disciples asked and Jesus replied,
"In the city is a man with a deal,
Tell him the end’s near and may we reside.”
They reclined together with food and drink
Jesus spoke, “A betrayer’s in our midst.”
“Surely none of us,” they started to think.
“Woe to the person who brings this plot twist.”
They ate dipped bread with one caught in a lie.
Judas asked, "Surely it’s not I, Rabbi?"
A Sonnet for Peter’s Righteous Intention
Tuesday of Holy Week
Gospel: John 13:21-33, 36-38
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041525.cfm
Over a meal, Jesus told those present,
"One at this table now will betray me."
So they wondered exactly what he meant.
Simon Peter announced, “Who could it be?”
Judas took the dipped bread that Jesus gave.
Not for the poor or to prepare the feast,
He left quick as there was no time to save.
Jesus said, “My time left is at its least.”
“To come with me, you can’t,” he concluded.
Peter said, “But Lord, I would die for you.”
So Jesus explained, “You are deluded,
Not now, but there will be a day you do.”
“Tonight you will not hear the rooster crow
Until three times you’ve denied me to know.”
A Sonnet for Judas’s Righteous Intention
Monday of Holy Week
Gospel: John 12:1-11
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041425.cfm
Lazarus, Martha, and Mary broke bread
With Jesus six days before Passover.
Martha served the meal and kept the group fed.
Lazarus reclined as all was kosher.
Mary took a liter of perfumed oil
Made from genuine aromatic nard.
With her hands and hair, his feet she did toil.
The house was filled with scents from her regard.
Judas Iscariot, a disciple,
Spoke his concern to what was being done,
“Costly perfume on your feet is idle
When the poor could be fed by selling some.”
As his death was close by, Jesus said plain,
“You’ll see me gone soon as the poor shall remain.”
Palm Sunday Sonnet
Sixth Sunday of Lent
Gospel: Luke 19:28-40
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041325.cfm
Along his journey to Jerusalem,
Jesus passed by a place called Mount Olives.
A small colt, he told two friends to find him.
“If one asks, for the master, the horse is.”
So it happened just as Jesus had said,
And the two threw their coats upon the beast.
Jesus now mounted the creature to tread
and ride through the crowd like a wedding feast.
At the mountain slope is where they convened,
People put down cloaks and started to praise.
While the Pharisees stood by and demeaned,
They said, “To this king, all glory we raise.”
“If they keep silent, the stones will cry out!”
Jesus said as his last days were on route.
As it’s always been
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Gospel: John 11:45-56
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041225.cfm
This is the last day before we move into the passion week. Today’s gospel is a transition to it. This whole past week was full of readings about the Pharisees and others in Jerusalem wanting to stone or kill Jesus for what he was saying or doing within the Temple grounds.
The chief priests and Pharisees have had enough with Jesus and escalated their concerns to the Sanhedrin. They want the Jewish civil and religious governing body to do something about him. They were worried that Jesus’s signs could cause an uprising and that the Romans, the occupying government, would take away their land and authority. In addition to the civil concerns, the high priest for the year had visions that Jesus’s death would lead to that reunification of the people of God. They saw both political and spiritual reasons to move forward with the execution of Jesus.
While this was occurring, Jesus was staying out of the public domain in the company of his disciples. The Sanhedrin wondered if Jesus was going to return to Jerusalem for purification in preparation for the feast of the Passover as was customary. They were wanting to use their tradition as a means to capture Jesus. A celebration about redemption and salvation was to turn into a means for imprisonment and murder. Symbolically, this would make Jesus a replacement for the sacrificial lamb at the passover. As the lamb saved the Jewish people from the Egyptians, the death of Jesus was seen by a means of reunification.
So God sent his son, and religious and civil authority saw him as a threat. A threat that was worthy of capital punishment. They were motivated by avoiding their own demise and bringing on their salvation as a people. Jesus was a scapegoat for hypotheticals; not for what was, but what could be. The Sanhedrin were proactively trying to do the right thing as they understood it from their spiritual revelation and care for their people. We too take extreme measures for such things. We worry about self-preservation and own success at the expense of others. Such things go against the spirit behind the law and the prophets, the message that Jesus was sharing. But it’s the willing sacrifice that shows love, not the one making the sacrifice; for us, it’s often difficult to distinguish. May we learn to distinguish.
Outside the Temple
Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Gospel: John 10:31-42
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041125.cfm
Jesus says in today’s gospel that the people in Jerusalem don’t need to believe him, but they need to believe in his actions. Jesus was not acting on his own accord but for the Father. He went beyond his own personal ego to give himself fully over to the Father’s will. The presence of God was made known through his actions.
The temple was the center of the religious power dynamic that struggled with Jesus. Jesus had a lot of conflict in the temple area, but as he went further away from there, he was his followers. Those that followed John the Baptist found truth in Jesus. God’s presence was seen as being in the Temple, but Jesus showed that God’s presence is within us and that our actions should reflect that presence. No place or institution can fully house God. God goes beyond it.
Those in positions of power couldn’t see Jesus’s divinity. When someone gives their will over to God as Jesus did, they become a threat to authority as the authority has no power over them. Their will is with God, not with any institution or person. Those that use God for their own power or falsely claim that God is giving them authority are going to struggle with true believers. Power strives to have others subservient to their will. A follower of God is only subservient to God, not their own will or the will of others, but the will of God alone.
While Jes continued to experience adversity from them, he still witnessed to power. His message was not only limited to those who would receive it, but he gave it to all. With Jesus, there is always the hope and means for conversion. Jesus gives the opportunity to all, we just need to take it.
Beyond the surface
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Gospel: John 8:51-59
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041025.cfm
In John’s gospel, there is a lot of confusion when Jesus speaks figuratively. His audience likes to take him literally. Jesus in these passages speaks of spiritual things. To speak of spiritual things, it takes allegory, parables, and metaphors. Jesus’s words aren’t intended to be taken on the surface level, but they point to something deeper. With these two different ways of thinking and speaking, Jesus and his audience aren’t connecting as they’re talking and thinking about different things.
In addition to the words of Jesus, the audience also took a very literal interpretation of their tradition with the law and the prophets. They tried to follow the law to the letter. Jesus was challenging them to think deeper than this. What is the law pointing to? What were the prophets pointing to? What were their stories and traditions telling them about God beyond the surface level of things? They had lost themselves in a literal understanding which caused them to lose the point.
The full mystery is not easily understood or symbolized through our language, but we know it when we experience it. To turn scripture into legal and moral platitudes is to lose the depth found within the journey to God. Scripture is not a little instruction book, but it helps us work through our relationship with God and with each other. We’ll have good times and bad times. We’ll have times of plenty and times of scarcity. These different times shift how we see God and how we see others. Good things may happen to people acting poorly, and bad things may happen to people acting righteously and vice versa. It’s all part of the mystery. Scripture and our traditions show us how our ancestors worked through this tension of mystery on their way to God.
To see things literally is to lose the depth. There is always more with God. The testament of Jesus can be summed up in simple words, but there is great depth in how it’s lived out. It takes creative expression and interpretation to go beyond, to journey into that depth, to see past the surface of things. Jesus understood this, that is why he spoke the way he did. Those around him were wanting easy answers and a reinforcement of the norm, and he gave the questions and a new way of thinking. He was pushing them further. He was taking them on Abraham’s journey for themselves to grow in and be surprised by God. To follow Christ is to journey through the mystery, not obey already established answers with certainty. God will always stretch us to more than we imagine possible.
For the first shall be last, and the last shall be first. From time-to-time, we’re one or the other, other times we’re both, then again sometimes we’re not, and for all we know we might just be in between. God loves us so much that he made existence a mystery so that we’re never done and there’s always something new to discover. Answers will lead to questions, and questions will lead to more answers. May we journey beyond the surface to God.
To know the unmet
Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Gospel: John 8:31-42
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040925.cfm
The gospel of John highlights what it means to be a follower. John references how Jesus came from the Father and represents the Father. Jesus’s actions show that he’s from God. Similarly, being a child of God is through one’s actions, not tied to ancestry or blood relation. To be God’s chosen is to choose God and act accordingly.
This evening I met with a charity organization. We had some conversations that showed our differences as we also had discussions that showed our shared mission and faith. The name of the organization is the Colleen Nesbit Foundation. The organization is named for a young woman. People say that she exuded love and care and didn’t have a judgmental bone in her body. She was accepting of everyone. She passed too soon from health complications.
Someone in the group started a conversation about what they imagine it’s like to be received into heaven. Each of us had a similar image where people we love greet us and welcome us home. They all started talking about what it would be like to see Colleen again. All of them knew her in life except for me. I imagined myself meeting Colleen for the first time in heaven but already knowing her. I know her through the love of those that knew her and how she impacted their lives. Now they’re impacting mine because of her so she’s impacting my life through them. We know Jesus in a similar way. We know Jesus through how the love he shared with others has been passed down and been given and shared with us.
May we continue on this tradition and reflect the divine as Jesus did. Let us continue to share in this love so that when we return home, we are meeting those we’ve never met but already know. May we likewise be counted among those who others will meet for the first time but are already known.
Redemption
Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Gospel: John 8:21-30
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040825.cfm
Jesus’s message is to bring us new life. Today’s gospel can be read as Jesus calling out the damnation of the Pharisees he was speaking to, but he was actually speaking to their potential for redemption.
We all die in our sin. We were created in God’s image and sin is what we do to turn our back on that image. Who we are is found in God. It can’t be found anywhere else. So when we are lost in our sin, we are actually killing ourselves. We are turning away from who we truly are. We are one in the image of God. We are to flow through, in, and with that which is the great I AM, the creator and sustainer of all. We are truly nothing without God, and that is where sin gets us. Sin isn’t a highly moralistic concept, it’s choosing a path without full reference to God. It’s saying that I can do it all on my own while it’s also saying I can’t do it all. God seeks partnership and that’s what Jesus shares with the crowd in today’s gospel.
God transforms us. We die to sin so that we can be born again. It’s not that sin is to be desired or sought out, but the pain of sin steers us to where we should go. God desires our company and our partnership. As Jesus speaks of himself and his relationship with the Father, he’s giving us the same opportunity. We’re called to experience the fullness of life, not limit it. God’s plan for us is something God wants to do with us. We’re not left alone in isolation. We don’t have anything we need to prove. We must open ourselves up to the possibilities that God grants us.
God wants us to die of our old self to become a new self in God. This new self is a return to what we are that we have lost because of the distance we have put between us and God. No distance is too far for the one who turns around and calls out. God will come running with a welcomed embrace. For God is what is and God wants us to be the same through unity with him.
Grace
Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Gospel: John 8:12-20
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040725.cfm
The treasury area is where people gave financial offerings to the temple. It was set up so that when people deposited coins, those present could hear how much they were depositing. Not only could people see what someone was giving, you could hear it as well. It was built in a way to resonate the sound of metal on metal.
This was the setting of Jesus’s experience in today’s gospel. Not only was Jesus being judged by his appearance by the Pharisees but those present in the area. It was a place of judgment. People knew who the benefactors of the temple were. So when Jesus says, “You judge by appearances, but I do not judge.” He was speaking both about himself and more generally about those around him. He was not judging them, but the Pharisees were.
These words of Jesus remain true for us. We are all limited by our narrow view of information and draw conclusions from the little bit we know. We extrapolate thoughts about others on hearsay. We don’t have the full insight and knowledge of God. If we did, we’d have the right to judge with that knowledge. As Jesus points out, he had that right, but he chose not to do it. That was not the way of God. Since we lack the full divine connection that Jesus had, how much more should we not judge?
God doesn’t call us to teardown but calls us to lift up. God doesn’t lead us to destroy but leads us to build. Yet we teardown and destroy through the way we treat others. We listen for the metal on metal to see who are the genuine givers. We keep note of those who are takers. We reflect on those who do not give their fair share. And yet we believe in a Father who gave his Son all the authority to judge and condemn, and he chose not too. God recognizes that it’s a journey for us to the kingdom, each step is one step closer. Each step is important and significant, not just the conclusion. We are being formed along the way. By the grace of God, we’ll get there. May we show others that grace to help them get there as well.
A look within
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Gospel: John 8:1-11
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040625-YearC.cfm
We’ve all made mistakes and have our shortcomings. We have vices and our own unique propensity to give into temptation. Our weaknesses and vulnerabilities may be different, but the core remains; we all struggle with sin.
But, not all of us experience having our sin exposed on the public stage. It’s horrible what a crowd can do to one of its members that is perceived to have fallen into what society at the time considers to be an ‘unforgivable’ sin. It’s important to call out “what society at the time considers to be an unforgivable sin” because these change throughout history and can vary from society to society. Society also looks down upon things that aren’t even sins. Thankfully, not all of us get to experience public ridicule and get condemned by large groups of people.
Once there is a public outcry, the condemnation takes on a life of its own. Gossip and storytelling make it into something more. The condemned are objectified and become associated with that one action or behavior as if it showcases who they are. They become less than human. They become a symbol of evil. They are unredeemable and deserve punishment.
In today’s gospel, this is exactly what the woman caught in adultery experienced. A mob was out to get her. She knew her punishment and the mob was ready to give it. Jesus then said the simple words, “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.” This makes the mob start to think about themselves individually. In reflecting on their individual behavior, they are able to see the woman in a new light. They too could be in the position of the woman for what they’ve done in life. Their sin and shortcomings could get exposed as well. If that happened to them, they would hope for mercy and compassionate understanding. They progressively disperse until Jesus is the only one left with the woman. He forgives her, asks her to repent, and sends her on her way. Mercy wins the day.
It is easy for us to join in on public ridicule and gossip. God wants us to see beyond such things to still see the person. We should see the struggling individual and help them. Condemnation has no place with the mercy and love of God. Sometimes we just have bad days, and sometimes others have bad days too. Sometimes we make mistakes, and sometimes others do too. I’m grateful that God always gives us chances to come around. God remains with us until the crowd disperses to reassure us. May we turn to our neighbors and extend the same grace. Mercy transforms the hurt soul for more than condemnation. Love redeems.
Due process
Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Gospel: John 7:40-53
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040525.cfm
We can all be tempted by certainty at times. Religious piety has a high tendency to fall trap to it. In today’s gospel, the Pharisees exemplify this numerous times. They have certainty with their thoughts about Jesus that they make scriptural arguments against him. They question where Jesus is from and his lineage. They disregard those that follow Jesus because they do not know the law. They dismiss the actions of the guards because they were easily manipulated by how Jesus speaks. The Pharisees were certain that Jesus was wrong that they even dismissed their principles of due process.
But one among them spoke up and said, “Under the law, don’t we inquire on what he is doing and see what he has to say first?” The other Pharisees didn’t like this and took it as an opportunity to tear him down for speaking up.
What parts of your life have you become too certain? How has your certainty caused you to be dismissive of others? Where do you have an opportunity to be like Nicodemus and speak-up to give others an opportunity to speak? In the eyes of God, we all have the ability to be redeemed. May we too give our fellow brothers and sisters such opportunities as well.
Feast of the Tabernacle
Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Gospel: John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040425.cfm
The feast of the tabernacle was a 7-day celebration to commemorate the 40-years the Israelites wandered through the desert. It’s a time to remember their history. During the celebration, people make huts and eat and sleep in them to connect them back to what it was like for their ancestors to wander in the desert. It’s a reminder that God will provide. Some traditions associated the feast with the coming of the Messiah. Jesus celebrates the feast in the Jewish epicenter of Jerusalem.
While it was a festival to bring people together, not everyone accepted Jesus. He was not fully welcomed by all within his tradition. He didn’t see the world as either/or but as both/and. He was both human and God. He was both known and unknown. He didn’t limit people to Jew and Gentile, but saw people. He changed the paradigm and had followers which made him a threat to the norms that were in place during his day.
So here he was at the feast to pay homage to his tradition. Yet, he was not fully welcomed. He was made an outsider amongst his family. Even more than that, he was seen as an enemy who should be killed. He was deeply misunderstood. He could have stayed away, but he showed up. Even with such threats, he was there to revere his religious and cultural tradition.
As we move through Lent, we can reflect on our traditions. The Eucharist comes to mind for me. It connects us with our ancestors back to Jesus. We call it communion because it unifies us and brings us together. But when we use our traditions in an exclusive way, it does the opposite. Like with Jesus’s experience, that which is meant to unify, can be used as a weapon to divide. May we use our traditions to unify. May we use this Lent to break bread with others and go beyond the surface to see that we are all one in God. As with Jesus, the person we might be excluding might just be sent by God.
Testifying about Jesus
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Gospel: John 5:31-47
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040325.cfm
As we’ve learned throughout this Lenten season, Jesus is the fulfillment of the divine message that came before him. The law pointed to him, The prophets pointed to him. John the Baptist as the last prophet before Jesus pointed to him. They testified on his behalf.
In today’s gospel, Jesus shows that Jewish history and scripture were pointing to his coming. Yet, the people of Jesus’s time didn’t recognize it and see it. They put their faith in the people within their scripture, but did not put their faith in the prophet and the divine right in front of them.
God is God regardless of time and place. Oftentimes, it’s easier for us to find our faith in scripture than in what’s all around us. It’s easier to see the errors on the things right in front of us. Within literature, we’re able to bring our own ideologies and expectations to it. With its distance, we’re able to draw more from it. We are able to encounter it again and again and glean more out of it. We know that it doesn’t change, but what we get out of it changes because we’ve changed. We don’t get the chance to experience life over and over again. Each moment flows into the next and we’re in a perpetual state of now and newness. It’s hard for us to see our moments and our time as sacred as what we find in scripture, but it is.
The divine spark is alive in us and the world around us. We can choose to not see God’s activity right in front of us as those in Jesus’s time and always look backwards for God, but God does not have such limits. God is always active in the here and now. God wants to encounter us in the here and now. Scripture is good, and scripture serves its purpose, but so does God’s activity in our lives today.
As we continue to approach Good Friday and Easter, may we find God drawing near to us. Let us look up and out into the world around us and see God’s activity. Let us look inside and see the same. May we not get lost in what was so that we can see that what was still actually is.
Amen, amen, I say to you
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Gospel: John 5:17-30
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040225.cfm
Throughout the gospel of John, Jesus explains his divinity. The gospel is more theological than the other books. That said, there is a lot to unpack with scriptures like today’s. What the scripture says about Jesus is also true about the parts of us that are divine. Jesus was able to give his full will to God, whereas we find ourselves limited in giving ours completely.
As this gospel reads, we can’t do anything without God. Like with Jesus, our call is to do God’s will. God loves his children. As his children, we are loved by God. God gives life and sustains life. We too can do the same. We must honor God. We must honor the divinity within ourselves and others. Whoever doesn’t honor what comes from God does not honor God.
Again it says, we cannot do anything without God. We must not seek our will, but the will of the one that sent us. To give one's will to God is a challenge. We want to hold on to control and to be seen as the active agent. But in truth, there is only one active agent. We must find that active agent alive in us and accept where it is driving us.
God, may we open ourselves to your will in our life. May we find a way to hear and accept your call. May we be driven to act as you would want us to act so that your will can be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
Beyond the norm
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Gospel: John 5:1-16
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040125.cfm
It’s easy for us to judge and condemn those that don’t fit our social norms and expectations. These norms don’t hold any weight with God. We all have these norms though if we like it or not. We teach our kids these norms as if they are the right thing to do, but it doesn’t take much experience in the world to see that other people live differently than us and that’s okay.
As a child of the 80s, I watched my share of TV. And for some reason, the bad guys fit certain demographics. I remember that bad guys had mustaches and facial hair. I went to a town fair in my grandparents’ town and there was a group of men with mustaches. I had to keep my eye on them because I didn’t know what they were going to do. They were highly suspect of being criminals. I felt the same way about people who smoked cigarettes and used profanity.
Now as an adult of over 27 years, I’ve had a beard over most of those years. In my twenties, I smoked a lot. I too have used my share of profanity, maybe too much in fact. God sees beyond all these surface things to the heart of it. In today’s gospel, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath. Not only was Jesus in violation of working on the Sabbath, but he also instructed another person to break the rules. He told the man who he healed to pick up his mat and walk.
These things to us may sound ridiculous to us today, but in Jesus’s time there was a belief that the Jewish people needed to strictly follow the law. The Sabbath was a day of rest, and Jesus and the healed man were in violation. But Jesus sees beyond this. Jesus’s mission is not bound by a day. God’s work should be done regardless of the day and time. How often do we mix the message? It’s easy to see these norms within our place and time as if they are God’s truth, but they’re not. They may point us in the right direction, but they aren’t the core of God’s message especially when it drives us to look down on others and their differences in practice.
Jesus’s message ultimately is to love without limit and love without ceasing. The traditions of the Sabbath weren’t going to stop him from doing that. The love he shared wasn’t for attention, but was driven by seeing someone in need. He didn’t need to assess that it was the Sabbath when he saw someone who needed his attention and love. Given the tradition, what better day is there for him to show it! God’s love transcends our limits, even the limits we think are from him. God is always challenging us to see beyond such surface things and learn to love those who exist outside of our made-up limits.