[C] OT4
A few weeks ago we were reflecting on the power of Scripture in our lives. In fact, the Pope had set aside a particular weekend for us to be able to focus on Scripture. You know, so many of us will have lots of books on our Kindles and our Kobos. We’ll have bookshelves of books that we read and have forgotten about, and books that we bought because we thought we’d like to read them, put them on the shelf and haven’t got to them yet. Am I right?
We seem to love to look everywhere for wisdom. But one of the places that we so often don’t account as having much value other than in our faith, in our religion, and being a Catholic or a Christian, is Scripture. Yet we couldn’t be further from the truth.
Over and over again we hear that the Word of God is alive, meaning it’s not just a book of history, of insights into how to live from the centuries and centuries of reflection of the Jewish people. It’s not just a story of how God made God’s self to us in flesh in the person of Jesus in the incarnation. It’s so much more than that.
Sometimes in the readings for Mass, there are an abundance of teachings that we can learn from. This week is one of those times. Our first reading reminds us of the challenges we can face when we are called to speak out as a prophet in our society. Our second reading no doubt had you think of marriage, and of all the times that this reading was part of a wedding service, maybe even yours, given how it describes the kind of love that spouses should have for each other. And the Gospel reminds us that there is always a price to pay when we challenge others to look at life differently. Jesus knew that. He knew that the people in the synagogue that day needed to understand a richer, more inclusive view of God and God’s love for all. He held a mirror up to their self-restricted way of thinking. But they couldn’t see beyond their own perspective that only the Jews would be saved by God. Not the Gentiles. Not the unclean. Not the sinners. Just the Jews. And they were prepared to kill anyone who didn’t believe in God the way they believed in God. They were even prepared to kill God. The irony of that is not lost on us.
So, with such an abundance of teachings to choose from, maybe “looking at things differently”is a good reflection theme for today. And we can start by looking differently at the words that Paul wrote around 53-54 AD to the church in Corinth, Because those words were, and are, not just about weddings.
Near the end of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul talks about how we are like children, seeing life only dimly in a mirror. Paul reminds them, and us, that despite our education and intellects, we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; the best we can do is to see existence in a mirror, and dimly at that. Sometimes we forget this and get really full of ourselves.
Contemporary scientists tell us that even the slice of creation that you and I can see ….. the stars and planets, the trees and animals, indeed all matter and energy that we experience … is only 5% of the matter and energy that exists. The rest is invisible and unknown. Doesn’t even interact with our 5%. And yet, with our limited insight and perspective, we vainly try to define reality, of stating what is real -and then hold fast, sometimes stubbornly, to those definitions.
God’s creation is so much more than what we can see, or even imagine. To think that we have a handle on creation as if we were the creator is, in Paul’s words, to think like a child, to reason like a child, To see existence in a mirror, dimly. In a world that constantly pushes us to hubris, to excessive pride, It is good to be reminded that there are many many things that we do not know, many many things that we cannot control, and that we are not the centre of the universe. It is good to be reminded that God is God. And that we are not.
There is another profound insight that we can glean from Paul’s letter. If there was ever an elegant, complete and life-changing understanding of the mission of our lives as Christians and as Catholics, it is in the words we hear from Paul about love. Paul reminds us of what my life, and your life, is all about at its very core and essence. And that is Love. Paul’s words show us how to live a life rooted in love, with concrete examples.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
And, after living for almost 70 years, and being married for almost 50, I can tell you that it is hard to love like that. It is hard to always be patient, and kind, wanting always what is best for the other person, whether they are friend or spouse, parent or child, or another servant of God trying to live their life. Yet, as hard as it is, I wouldn’t want to live any other way than aspiring to that vision of love that Paul presents us. Aspiring to that vision of love in my family, my community, my world
You and I are beloved daughters and sons of God. In as much as we live our lives being patient, being kind – In as much as we live our lives not being envious, or boastful or arrogant or rude, or insisting on our own way- then we live our lives in the image of God, We show the world that Love is the centre of the Christian life. We show the world that Love is the very essence of God’s being, And that everything we do as Christians flows from God’s love and leads back to God’s love. Because you, like Jeremiah, are a prophet as you reflect to this world the essence of God in whose image you were created.