"Over the Top!" [Luke 6:31-36]

   Glory to Jesus Christ!

Isn’t it totally characteristic of our Lord to give us instruction such as this?  Do unto others…..!

I mean, I don’t ever think about what I’d “prefer” for others to do with/to/for me.  But when the idea is couched in the way that Jesus does today, it forces us to think in those terms.  “Is what I’m about to do with/to/for this person something that I would be pleased about if it were coming to me?”

Now all of a sudden there’s meaning to my actions that I’d never before considered.

But this is not YET “Over the top.”

If we go to the topic of this piece, let’s look first at the Lord’s words about love.  If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?

Well, I guess I never thought about being given ‘credit’ for loving.  But I can see where He is leading me.  I mean, I’m EXPECTED to love people who love me. 

Who “gives” me love?  Again, it’s expected from family, from spouses, from parents, from children,….. Love is something associated with family, certainly.

But where else is “love” found?  Perhaps some of us have friends who fall into the category of being loved by us, and us by them.  But if this is true, how do we define love?  Webster says that it is ‘a strong feeling of affection and concern toward another.’  OK, that makes sense in both the family and the friend example.

But now Jesus takes us “Over the Top”.  How?

Love your enemies.

Does He really mean that?  YES!  He does! 

So, I’m supposed to have feelings of affection AND concern for someone who at the least does not like me, and in the cases of some, one who may even hate me?  Is that what Jesus is saying?

YES!  It is!

Think about it for just a moment.  I would hope to be considered to be a child of God.  That would make me family.  Jesus spoke to His disciples and called them friends.  If I’m a dedicated follower, then I should fit into that category as well.  So I want to think that love from God ought to be easy—for Him.

But love is typically not seen as being ‘one way’.  In family and in friendships, love is a two-way street, it is given freely and returned freely.

But is this the way that I love God?  Am I a giver AND a taker, or just a taker?

How often do I offer thanks for His gifts (His LOVE) to me?  How often do I go to Him and offer heartfelt apology (repentance) for things that I know I did wrong?  How often do I return actions that in human terms could be couched as “hateful”? 

I can hear you ask, “Hateful, Father?  Do you think I ever behave in such a way?”

Only you can judge for yourself.  I can only speak for me, and my answer is, “Yes.”  There are times that my interaction with God borders on what humans would see as hateful.  When I know there is someone in need and I make the choice to ignore them.  When I schedule time to pray, then turn on the TV.  When I promise to fast and then overeat. 

Now it is I who am “Over the Top”. 

Jesus goes so far as to lovingly explain to me that I must love my enemies, I must do good, lend, hoping for nothing in return.  Do you hear those words?  He’s not saying “expecting noting in return,” but rather HOPING for nothing!!  In short, take what I give you—I don’t want anything back!

He is certainly “Over the Top” in human terms.  But He loves someone like me who doesn’t exactly show Him the love that He deserves.  And what does He promise for this?

Your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, a promise that is truly "Over the Top."  What a loving God we serve!

Glory forever!

Nevertheless....

Glory to Jesus Christ!

We human beings like to think highly of ourselves.  We are confident, certain in our abilities, secure in our understanding of the world around us.

Until something unexpected happens.

In today’s Gospel, our Lord is found preaching to the crowds near the Sea of Galilee.  He sees two boats emptied of their fishermen, and so He sets about to enter one so that He could teach from a position where people would only be in front of Him.  Logical!  What He says to the crowd, we aren’t told.  It is not important to this Gospel record.

It is only when He is finished with teaching that Jesus turns to Peter and says, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

Remember our starting premise—we people are certain in our abilities and our understanding of the world around us!  Peter and his companions have just labored to clean and put away their fishing nets.  The fished all day and caught nothing.  Now, even while Peter knows Jesus, and clearly respects Him, has no doubt witnessed some miraculous healings and deeds, this is now HIS turf, HIS place of expertise.  He knows that Jesus is no fisherman!  And so we can almost hear the exasperation in the voice of Peter as he responds to the Lord’s request.  Peter rightly calls Him Master.  Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing;  NEVERTHELESS… 

There’s that word.  What does it mean?  What Peter is saying in essence is, “You have no experience in what You’re asking me to do.  I KNOW there’s nothing out there.  I KNOW we’ll find nothing.

NEVERTHELESS.  I will swallow my pride and do what You ask, even though I KNOW what the result will be.  He further quantifies his belief in self by saying, at Your word I will let down the net.  In other words, when we come up empty, it’ll all be on You!

St. Luke shows what a lack of faith can be turned into.  He records, And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.  So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.  And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

Not only was Peter’s understanding of the world around him turned upside down, he was now the one shown to be without an understanding of the world around him.  Once you come to see the Lord as the One Who is the Creator, you come to recognize that there is nothing in “nature” that is not subject to His command.  Winds stop at His word.  Demons flee from His presence.  Blindness becomes sight at His command.  Lepers are cleansed at His touch.

As this recognition comes to Peter, his understanding is overturned by the recognition of these characteristics of a Man who stands before him as God. 

When Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ feet saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

Peter is not truly begging Jesus to leave him.  From this moment on, he will cling to Jesus, becoming a rock of faith.  Peter is expressing his recognition that Divinity doesn’t coexist with what is sinful.  This is Peter’s “confession”.  He recognizes the sin he has just committed in not trusting in the Lord.  He sees the other sins within his life.  For His part, the Lord gives His absolution.  Do not be afraid.  From now on, you will catch men.

And indeed, Peter and the others didn’t fish thereafter.  St. Luke records, When they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

Lord, help ME to forsake the world as well, and to follow where You might lead me!

Glory forever! 

Which Ones?

[12th Sunday after Pentecost, Mat 19:16-26]

Prescriptions.  They are written instructions from a doctor given to us so that we might follow them and be healed from whatever malady caused us to seek their help.

Some prescriptions carry little in the way of difficulty, such as bad taste, or side effects that cause other unpleasant physical things to occur.  Some carry significant side effects.  Some (like chemo) make us very ill in the process of trying to cure us.

Today, a young man comes to Jesus, the ultimate Physician, and asks for the “prescription” for eternal life.  Given the huge implications for the subject of the request, you might expect a complicated and detailed answer.  But the Lord’s reply is short, and quite simple.  Keep the commandments.

Our initial response to this reply is predicated on our backgrounds and personal histories.  For us as Christians, we immediately snap to the Ten Commandments.

For Jews, it gets more complicated, for there are 613 ‘commandments’.  To us, this seems excessive.  These ‘commandments’ in fact include the Ten, but are also what we might interpret as ‘rules of piety’, such as, Honor the old and wise, Imitate God’s goodness, Affix the mezuzah to the doorposts of your house.  (I encourage all to go do your own search on mezuzah to understand its relationship with piety)

So the young man’s question can be understood to be quite sincere!  I believe that he sincerely wanted Jesus to outline “What’s important?” so that he could, in good faith, follow and attain eternal life!

Inside of the Lord’s answer to the man, there is no reference to “the 613” - instead, Jesus returns to essence.  “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and your mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now that the Lord has framed the discussion, the young man performs his own self-righteous self-evaluation.  “I’m good to go!”, we can hear his thoughts.

We know what the Lord meant, where the young man does not.  We know the content of Matthew Chapter 5!  You have heard that it was said of old, ‘You shall not murder…’, But I say to you that whoever is angry without cause is in danger of judgment.  Jesus also said, Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.  He also said, You have heard it said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ but I say to you that whoever looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery in his heart.  Jesus is proclaiming a “higher standard” for the commandments, a standard tied to the heart, not the mind, to the spirit and not to the intellect - or the flesh.  This view of the commandments has been totally missed by today’s young man.

Jesus knowing this seeks still to give the man the means to attain eternal life.  In fact Jesus gives him two blessings.  Blessing 1:  You can seek perfection by divorcing yourself from the world—get rid of your possessions, your ‘things’.  Blessing 2:  Here’s the invitation to become a disciple—Come, follow Me!

The young man couldn’t do it.  Could I?  Have I?  Will I, before it’s too late???

 

Important Words from St. Isaac the Syrian

There are two facets to humility.  The first is composed of you regarding your brother as more sensible than yourself and more superior to you, or according to the advice of the Holy Fathers, "regard yourself as being lower than everybody."  The second is comprised in ascribing your self-imposed meritorious ordeal to God - this is the complete form of humility of the Saints.  It is born naturally in the soul through fulfilling the commandments.  Because it is like the branches of a tree that sag downwards when they have abundant fruit on them.  However, branches that have no fruit strive upwards and grow straight up.  There are trees in existence that will not bear fruit unless their branches are bent downwards:  if somebody attaches a stone to them so that they grow toward the ground, they yield fruit.  Similarly with the soul, when it becomes humble, it brings forth fruit, and the more fruit it produces, the humbler it becomes.  The closer the Saints get to God, the more they realize their sinfulness.

- St. Isaac the Syrian