PERSPECTIVE
Genesis 3: 9-15; 2 Corinthians 4: 13 – 5:1; Mark 3: 20-25
Perspective:
Just who does this Jesus think he is? A CARPENTER trying to teach US, pointing the finger at us Pharisees and Scribes for not living the Law of Moses as it should be lived? A NAZAREAN? Can anything good come from Nazareth?
He welcomes sinners and eats with them and makes the poor, the sick, women, the downtrodden, all those who exist on the fringe of society, even SAMARITANS, the focus of his ministry, making them feel beloved and blessed by God. He declares that salvation is no longer just for the Jews, but is for all who believes in Him, even outcasts, sinners, pagans, and Gentiles. All this is just too much for any devout Jew to take!
He subverts our authority. He criticizes our strict observance of the law. And he dares to claim that tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God before us! US - the Pharisees, the “pious ones!” Yet it is he who brakes the laws of ritual cleanliness, he who violates the Sabbath, he who speaks openly of a kingdom not of this world, he who claims he communicates directly and intimately with God. SINNER! He dares to claim that he is from God, that he is the equal of God, that he IS God! BLASPHEMER!
Son of God? NO! More like Son of Satan! After all, Satan is the Father of Lies, the Master of Deception. And that is all that this is – lies and deceit and trickery - pure evil capable from only the Evil One Himself.
Perspective:
What has happened to him? Is this the same Jesus with whom we grew up? The same good, introspective man we knew? Where is he getting all this? He’s just one of us, the same as us – a simple carpenter, a Jew – nothing more - no worse and certainly no better. We are his neighbors, his friends. We know his family . . . We ARE his family. In fact, his mother is over there in our group.
What has happened to good Jesus? Now he has become a troublemaker, a religious fanatic. His behavior has become bizarre, his words disturbing. Heads are shaking, fingers are pointing, and most of the time in our direction. “Do something,” people are saying. “Speak to him. Control him! Stop him! He is becoming an embarrassment to us. He is causing trouble for us with the Romans and even with our own leaders.”
Apparently, he believes the fantasies his mother has been claiming about him all his life – virgin birth, a new star rising at his birth, angels serenading him, dignitaries and scholars from the East worshiping him. And now, look where all of this has led – to this. He’s crazy! He’s insane! He’s delusional!
Bread that will give eternal life? The poor, those that mourn, the meek, those desiring righteousness, the merciful, the peacemakers, the persecuted are BLESSED? Come on . . . GET REAL! Turn the other cheek, give your cloak also when someone asks for your shirt, forgive seventy times seven times, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, the first shall be last and the last shall be first, the greatest in the Kingdom of God is the one who serves? YEAH RIGHT! You’re CRAZY! Jesus, this needs to stop, right here and right now. Enough is enough. Come home with us; we’ll take care of you. (Poor guy . . . He’s lost it.)
Do you understand what’s going on in today’s gospel? The religious authorities, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Priests, the Scribes are all condemning Jesus – yes as a blasphemer, but even more – as EVIL. And Jesus’ neighbors and friends, and yes, even some of the members of his own family, the folks back in Nazareth, are convinced that Jesus is CRAZY! There’s no more powerful way to discredit someone and diminish their affect than to convince everyone that who that person is, what that person does, and what that person says is either pure evil or total insanity. THEN and NOW.
Perspective:
How dare you Catholics! How dare you try to impose your morality on the rest of us! You Catholics think you’re SO good, when all you do is inflict harm and guilt on everyone who doesn’t agree with your point of view. You force people to bear burdens that a good and gracious God would never expect. You treat your laws as if they are unchanging, as if they were carved in stone. Get with it! Your laws aren’t God-given. They’re man-made and the papyrus on which they’re written has become yellowed and decayed with age.
You say you act out of love, yet you point your finger at all who hold a different point of view than yours and label them “sinner.” Yet maybe it is you who is the sinner, and perhaps even worse – evil. Old celibate men dictate sexual morality. Whether it be sex outside of marriage, birth control, gay rights, same sex marriage, your laws are rigid and antiquated. Even some of your own members don’t even believe this – and certainly aren’t living it out. You have become like the very Pharisees that Jesus criticized for and tying up heavy burdens, hard to carry, and laying them on people’s shoulders, but not lifting a finger to lighten their load. You say everyone is equal in the eyes of God, I guess unless you're a woman or gay. You quote bible passages about love and forgiveness and “judge not lest you yourself be judged,” except I guess if you're divorced.
Your Jesus said, “Be not afraid,” but you are afraid – afraid to let go of control, afraid of anything new, afraid of advances in science and medicine that might benefit humankind - like stem cell research, genetic engineering and invitro fertilization. And you heartlessly further the physical, psychological and emotional torment of those who seek to end an unwanted pregnancy or the life of those who live in the agony of terminal illness or dementia. You brand contemporary society as “evil.” Well, Catholics, look in the mirror and tell me who really is the evil one!
Perspective:
So let me get this right . . . You Catholics believe that there’s one God, right? But this one God is made up of three divine persons? Hmm . . . And you believe that a virgin conceived a child without having sexual relations with a man and this child is the Son of God? And this child, who you call Jesus, was both totally God and totally man? And this Jesus died a horrific death by being crucified, but three days later he rose from the dead? And that the human body may die, but there’s something called a soul that is immortal and lives on for all eternity? And umm the bread and the wine at your mass, like one minute it’s just bread and wine and the next minute it isn’t, it’s the body and blood of this guy Jesus who died 2,000 years ago who you think is God? And eh when your pope speaks, sometimes what he says about faith or morals is infallible? (How convenient!) Man! You Catholics really are crazy!
People of faith are called to have different values, because they see this world through God’s eyes. Our value system is going to sometimes run against the grain of this world. Believing in a God of love and grace will sometimes make us look “crazy” to others. Acting on those beliefs, caring for the least of these, will make us look even more crazy. Let us be sure that we're seeing our world as God sees it, then let us act in God’s love, even though it may look as if we're out of touch with reality. The truth is, we will be in touch with the most real reality there is.
Perspective:
“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you (Jn 15:18) . . . Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Mt 5: 11-12).
