22 November 2009

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Psalm 93 (2)
Revelation 1:4b-8
John 18:33-37

Some of you doubtless have heard of something called, “The Jesus Project.” “The Jesus Project” is a group of scholars who strive to determine which of the many sayings attributed to Jesus in the Gospels are, in fact, what Jesus really said. While I’m certainly glad that this Jesus Project has helped draw some people back to reading Scriptures with brain fully engaged, I have to tell you, I find the whole enterprise completely irrelevant, if not downright ridiculous. We’ve just heard from St. John’s Gospel Pontius Pilate’s question to Jesus, “What is truth?” That is exactly what one might ask of The Jesus Project along with those who try to reconstruct the real life of the so-called historical Jesus, as well as those who propose everything in Scripture really happened.

15 November 2009

Daniel 12:1-3
Psalm 16
Hebrews 10:11-25
Mark 13:1-8

Let’s be very, very clear from the outset: I have nothing against accountants. My uncle is an accountant and I love him dearly. I hire an accountant to help me file my taxes, and I think she is particularly wonderful. And I daresay, were it not for the skills of ethical accountants, our culture would be awash in even more chaos than it already is. Good accountants definitely have their place. (So do bad accountants, but we won’t go into that.)

08 November 2009

1 Kings 17:8-16
Psalm 146 (8)
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44

Scripture is full of crazy people, crazy actions, crazy talk. For example, just this past week, on Thursday, at our 7 A.M. mass, we had Jesus asking us “who among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until you’ve found it? And then, having found it, who among you wouldn’t throw a big old party for all your friends and neighbors?” If you really stop to think about it, the answer is that no one in her or his right mind would leave ninety-nine perfectly good sheep alone, vulnerable, and exposed in the desert to traipse off after one wayward sheep; and then to throw a party over finding this lost sheep . . . . well, we might as well call this whole episode “the parable of the irresponsible, crazy shepherd.” This Jesus follows up by asking “what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house until she finds it?” So far, not so bad. I’ve been known to search into the inner folds of sofas and chairs at the end of the month so I could find enough coins for milk and cereal. Nothing wrong with that; but then Jesus gets ridiculous on us once again, “who having found this measly penny wouldn’t then throw a party, thereby spending a whole lot more money on chips, salsa, nachos, beer, and tequila than the ten coins all combined are worth?” This is all sheer nuttiness, of course, and a nuttiness that’s attributed to God. Seems that if it’s irresponsible, ridiculous and crazy, then the God of Jesus is somehow going to be right in the middle of it.