The Jesus we meet in today’s gospel is not a
comforting Jesus. And we, his followers,
need to listen up to what this Jesus has to say to us.
He speaks about having to undergo a baptism
and how anxious he is that he be baptized.
Here Jesus is not talking about the rather polite baptism ceremony we
have developed. Rather, in talking about
being baptized, he is using the standard imagery of his day to talk about being
overwhelmed by circumstances. The image
of baptism conveys drowning in water.
Today we might talk of being water-boarded by life. And Jesus is saying this has to happen to him
– that he wants it to happen to him. He
must undergo this drowning. Here Jesus
is referring to his passion and death.
He is speaking of the dying that must happen for new life to come.
And we who follow Jesus must be baptized with
the same baptism as Jesus. Somehow we
must undergo a dying for new life to come forth in us. Something has to die in us for newness to
happen. In sacramental baptism – by
undergoing the water – we rehearse for the kind of dying there needs to be in
our lives if we are to come to new life with Jesus. And baptism strangely names this dying a grace
– a gift from our good God.
What will drown and die – what must die – are
the false foundations we have chosen to build our lives upon. Our grace will be re-learning the basics in
life. What once gave us security no
longer will. A grace! There will be painful confusion. Old certainties and orthodoxies will falter. Also a grace!
And all that must happen – all these graces must be given – for the
gospel to grab us and give us new, abundant life.
The Jesus we meet in today’s gospel is not a
comforting Jesus. And we, his followers,
need to listen up to what this Jesus has to say to us. He speaks of not bringing comfort and
peace – but stinging fire and divisive confrontation. He wants to battle and burn away our lies
about life – our violence in life – and our injustices to the living. Jesus brings a Spirit capable of changing our
world radically, even at the cost of dividing people and causing them to
confront each other. He wants and works
for a revolution deeper than our politics and economies. It is a revolution of conscience, a
revolution in awareness he calls “the Kingdom of God” – the kingdom where God’s
own love comes down to earth through how we actually treat one another. Also a grace – not a cheap grace – costly
grace: to live God’s own grace here on earth – here in North Carolina – here in
Charlotte – here in our parish.
It is the same Spirit at work in the
un-comforting words of Pope Francis. Let
us listen up to what he is saying to us.
…we must recognize that the majority of men and women of our time
continue to live daily in situations of insecurity, with dire
consequences. …fear and desperation grip
the hearts of many people, even in the so-called rich countries; the joy of
life is diminishing; indecency and violence are on the rise; poverty is
becoming more and more evident. People
have to struggle to live and, frequently, to live in an undignified way. One cause of this situation, in my opinion,
is in our relationship with money, and our acceptance of its power over
ourselves and our society. …there is
need for financial reform along ethical lines that would produce an economic
reform to benefit everyone. This would
require a courageous change of attitude on the part of political leaders. …Money has to serve, not rule.
Pope Francis repeats the call of Jesus. To restore joy to people’s lives – to
diminish their fears – to promote human dignity – are these not wonderful
graces given to those who follow Jesus and who pray with Jesus that God’s
kingdom come down to earth in how we live and work together? What will it mean for each of us to say yes
to these graces?
Jesus and Francis leave us with a question to
think on this week. What is my
relationship with money? Does it rule in
my life or does it serve?
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