Our Solidarity

Mark 9:38-40 (NLT): Being One in Faith, Hope, and Love

John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.”

“Don’t stop him!” Jesus said. “No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.

It is frustrating to discover people who claim to be the “one true church,” as if one Christian denomination or group of believers has the monopoly on Christ’s teaching and, therefore, is entitled to the “fullness” of God’s blessings. While I respect that many Christian elitists are spurred on by their zeal and love for God, they are blind to a major theme expressed in the New Testament: Elitism, entitlement, and special privileges have no place in the kingdom of God and are antithetical to Jesus’ teachings and example.

Many of the readings in the Gospel of Mark highlight the apostles’ misunderstanding of Jesus’ teaching. When Jesus, for instance, teaches about the necessity of his suffering and death, the apostles get it wrong. Peter insists that Christ not suffer and die (Mark 8:32). And the apostles, unable to understand Jesus’ lesson about suffering and death, instead argue about who among them is the greatest (Mark 9:34). Again, elitism, entitlement, and special privileges have no place in the kingdom of God. Discipleship, instead, is about offering ourselves as Christ’s ambassadors; giving our lives in service to others; and representing genuine love, humility, and service in this world. This is Jesus’ mission. And it is ours, too.

As the apostles look around at the people outside of their circle, they notice someone casting out evil. Their skepticism, jealousy, and elitist attitudes prompt them to intervene and try to stop the person. Expecting Jesus to affirm their position, they bring the incident to his attention. Jesus, however, turns the tables and says, “Don’t stop him! . . . Anyone who is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:40). Jesus teaches that we are all one bound by our love for others and our opposition to evil. Faith and loving action are not about labels or special groups. Being part of the revolution that Christ ushers in is about acting in love, not proclaiming an elitist membership. When we act in love, when we cultivate hope, and when we work in service to others, we are part of one family of God, regardless of our religious affiliation.

Heavenly Father, we pray to be one in Christ Jesus your Son. Although we are of many denominations and faith beliefs, we ask to be bound as one by the loving sacrifice and service that Jesus models for the world. And we pray in Jesus Christ’s name, amen.

Have a blessed week!

Stan

Jesus Embraces the Most Vulnerable

Mark 9:35-37 (ESV): Do We, too, Embrace the Most Vulnerable?

[Jesus] sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Thirty-two years ago, a group of compassionate educators intervened on my behalf. I was a freshman in high school and headed down a dangerous path. Family life crumbled around me, my daily routine was one of abandon, and the company I kept was significantly older. These circumstances and my poor choices flowed into a river of potential destruction. But these caring people saw the warning signs. They acted in effort to help an insignificant, troubled kid. And instead of allowing another statistic, they devoted their time, effort, and talent to rescue me. I am forever grateful.

Fast forward ten years. As a twenty-four-year-old beginning teacher, new and unseasoned in the field of high-risk education, I found myself teaching an 86-minute block of “alternative education.” The students in this class were eighth-graders who had been retained at least two times. Most had served time in juvenile detention; all came from volatile, at-risk environments. There were no special instructions or accommodations; these kids were at the end of the educational line. As I taught this class for the first five years of my career, I noticed something growing inside of me. That caring team of educators planted a seed that bloomed in my heart as a desire for service. As a result, I strived to make those kids feel wanted, appreciated, respected, and welcomed.

Many children in our world are dismissed, disregarded, and cast-off as unredeemable. In this week’s gospel, however, Jesus illustrates the opposite: He says that children, the lowest societal members of first-century Palestine, are the most important. Humility, meekness, helplessness, and poverty are the virtues that Jesus embraces. And he reminds his closest twelve that service, sacrifice, and surrender are what they must seek instead of self-aggrandizement. To illustrate this point, Jesus says, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” Immediately after, Jesus wraps his arms around the weakest member of society, a child, and reminds his audience that welcoming the weak is welcoming him and the Father.

Our lives are no different; our calling is just the same. The educators in my life made all of the difference, and whether they knew it or not, they were doing God’s will, saving the least by being servants of all. Let us ask ourselves if we, too, embrace Christ’s teaching and seek to serve those who are most in need. This does not mean that we are to hunt down the homeless, although helping the homeless is a good thing. What it does mean, however, is that in the span of our day, we give the best of ourselves to those we contact, especially to the person we think deserves it least. When we do, we, too, plant the seeds of love and service in the hearts of the future.

Heavenly Father, please grant us the grace to love and serve those who need us most. Give us the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the hearts to love, and the hands to serve. In Jesus Christ we pray, amen.

Have a blessed week!

Stan

When Burden Becomes Joy

Mark 8:34-35 (NABRE): The Sacrifice of Discipleship

[Jesus] summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it."

She was 85 and wheelchair bound, gnarled hands rolling a paper napkin into a tight ball at the pit of her palm. He was her elder by three years; they shared the same birthday, just different years.

He patiently pushed her wheelchair down the aisles of the supermarket.

“Pick me up; put me down,” she repeated with a cadence that kept time with the clock. Her face expressed vacancy.

He recalled a time ten years ago. Lying in a hospital bed, his body forty pounds lighter, he looked at her holding his hand and thought, This is love; in the throws of cancer, she stays by my side with the same devoted commitment that I remember on the night of our engagement. She was his strength, praying with him each day through the pain, wiping his mouth after feedings, holding his hand each night as he drifted off to sleep.

They approached the produce aisle. She always loved the smell of fresh greens and the pungent sweetness of ripening, in-season fruit. “Pick me up; put me down,” she repeated in predictable cadence.

The dementia had taken over her mind, robbing her of any faculties, memories, or recognition. But that didn’t matter to him. Their lives were one, and he promised her on that day 60 years ago to be at her side, in sickness and in health.

Love is a painful sacrifice, but it is a sacrifice of beauty and infinite reward. When we learn to let ourselves go for the love of the other, to give all that we have in body, mind, and spirit, we will feel pain. But the outcome of that pain is the most beautiful rebirth. We are born into creatures of love. Our lives given for the other transform us into a beauteous new being. Giving our lives away in love, exemplifies what Jesus says in this week’s gospel: “Whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.” The “saving,” in this sense, is not out of the fear of hell. It is, instead, a saving of the other, a saving of life, a saving of the world. Lives transformed by love are contagious. People see and desire it. Let us, then, be reborn in love.

Jesus reminds us to look deeply into our own lives for the sacrifices we are called to give, the grace self-giving of love. Is it within our families, our careers, or our friendships? The crosses we take up are not as they may initially appear, burdens. But through our struggles, these crosses bloom into the sweet rewards of deep, self-giving love.

Heavenly Father, we offer our lives to you. Use us as instruments of love to those people close in our lives, no matter the personal cost. Kindly grant us the grace of transformative love so that we can give life to those who suffer. In Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

Have a blessed week!

Stan

The Love of God Knows no Favoritism

James 2:3-4 (CEB): To Whom do we Gravitate?

Then suppose that you were to take special notice of the one wearing fine clothes, saying, “Here’s an excellent place. Sit here.” But to the poor person you say, “Stand over there”; or, “Here, sit at my feet.” Wouldn’t you have shown favoritism among yourselves and become evil-minded judges?

How many times have we judged others by showing favoritism to the people we prefer? It is one of the most human things to do. We gravitate toward magnetic personalities, trend-setters, extroverts, and polished and popular people. We smile dismissively at the mundane, the outcast, the out-of-style, and those on the margins of life -- those outside of our comfort zone. In James’ letter to the universal church, the author addresses this concern: He reminds us that the love of God knows no favoritism. And if we as Christ’s ambassadors in this world plan to represent his love, we should avoid the human tendency to favor the “highly likable” while ignoring the marginalized. In theory, loving the outcast is a sound idea that meshes well with Christian living, but lived out, indiscriminate love is a challenge.

In her 19th century novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley argues that denying all creatures love and acceptance destroys their character, teaching them to be corrupt, murderous individuals, victims of the fallen society in which they live. We see this through the creature's narrative when he is repeatedly rejected, ostracized, and hunted by villagers who judge him based on his appearance. Society, however, cannot see the creature for who he is, a compassionate, love-starved being looking for acceptance. Like Mary Shelley’s society, we, too, are given the same power. How we treat all in our path -- including those who get under our skin, those to whom we are least drawn -- leaves a mark on humanity. Which do we choose: to leave a mark of loving acceptance or hate-filled rejection? James encourages us to choose the former.

Too many Christian communities choose rejection, however. I have seen it first hand. A new person enters the place of worship and is judged by their attire, demeanor, lifestyle, and notoriety. But, through his ministry to all, Jesus teaches us that the outside of a person does not matter. It is their faith and the condition of their heart that does. In this week’s gospel reading (Mark 7:24-37), for instance, Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee to the Decapolis. Archaeological history identifies this as Gentile territory. While there, Jesus encounters those people rejected by Jewish culture, those who are outside of the old covenant. Jesus, however, does not discriminate; he heals, welcomes, and loves those rejected by society, setting the example of his way for us to follow. How can we, too, be more inclusive, welcoming, loving people?

Heavenly Father, we desire to be agents of loving welcome to all people so that they, too, can seek and find your love. Let our lives reflect the way, truth, and life of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, welcoming all people despite their differences. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Have a blessed week!

Stan

Acceptance in a World of Rejection

Mark 7:14-15, 21-23 (NRSV): Who do we Accept?

Jesus said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come.”

A married same-sex couple and their two adopted children walk into church seeking the love of Christ, both in the liturgy and in the fellowship of the body. A three-times divorced and remarried mother of four enters a church seeking a place to receive Christ and to give Christ to her children. A rumpled alcoholic, still drunk, smelling of vomit and day-old whiskey enters the sanctuary looking to pray and ask God for deliverance. A transgender person enters a church seeking God’s love and the gift of welcome. All are children of God; all seek God’s love. All, in one way or another, are rejected by the institution and many of its members because they do not fit into the “acceptable” behavioral norms their traditions teach.

As Jesus emphasizes in this week’s Gospel, our religious practices and traditional views often become a hurdle to the Good News, for many who seek God’s love lie outside the paradigm of the institutional definition of “Christian.” How can each of us create a wake of necessary change, a revolution that welcomes all to the table of God’s love?

1. Be a voice and active participant of love. When we notice people gossiping, rejecting, ostracizing, or judging those different from us, express active love. Turn the conversation of condemnation to one of welcome. Be the voice of Jesus in the crowd of Pharisees, eschewing the culture of judgment and rejection while nurturing a culture of acceptance and love for all. Speak up, speak out, and love all.

2. Recognize that we all have our shortcomings and differences. This is not something to be judged, but it is the unique situation God presents to each of us. Use this as common ground to include all people in our circles, no matter the differences we notice about them.

3. Refuse to be a voice of rejection. Jesus welcomed all people to the Kingdom of God. He took time to reach out to the marginalized, those hated by society -- the leper, the Samaritan, the demon-possessed, the prostitute, the tax collector. All were people rejected by the traditions of the religious institution. And all were welcomed, healed, and loved by God who became Man. How can we act any differently?

As many may (or may not) know, my adult son is gay. My wife and I suspected this from the moment he was a toddler and displayed certain tendencies toward non- “male-centric,” societally-defined, gender-norm behavior. When he was sixteen, he came out to us. Never did it cross our minds to reject him, judge him, or try to “fix” him. We welcomed him with love. He is who God made him to be, a gay man. We were given the grace to love him for who he is, not fix our spent hopes on what traditional norms thought he should be. Throughout his adult life, he has developed an aversion to Christianity because of the bad name many of us give it. He has wrangled with his own skepticism, annoyance, and disappointment and has faced judgment and rejection from religious tradition and its stalwart adherents. It pains me, moreover, that my current tradition, refuses to welcome him (and many of my friends who are gay, divorced and remarried, transgender, or outside the “acceptable” norms or tradition) to Communion unless he live a lie.

My heart echoes an important question: How does Jesus react to my son and others that receive such unloving response from the church? The answer is plain throughout the Gospels, and especially in today’s readings. We are to be doers of the word, James says. Being a doer of Christ’s word, means acting on his behalf as instruments of neighborly welcome and love -- without exception, without distinction.

Heavenly Father, we ask you for the grace to love all people the way your Son loves us, without limit or judgment. Every one of us is special, beautiful, and loved in your eyes. Let us reflect that in our everyday ministry to others. Let us, most of all, be disciples and “doers” of your unconditional love. In Jesus Christ we pray, amen.

Have a blessed week!

Stan