Keep spreading the word

Our commission is to lift one another up to the God who saves.

Bishop Scharfenberger

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mt 24:35). This statement of Jesus, I think it is fair to say, is marked by hyperbole, a commonly used Semitic literary device. Other examples of such exaggeration to convey an important message are found throughout the scriptures and in some of the sayings of Jesus.

Recall the warning about those that lead others to sin, especially children and innocents: “better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea” (Lk 17:2). And on the subject of avoiding temptation and being a source of it, Jesus goes so far as to say it is better to gouge out an eye or cut off a hand if it leads to sin, than to lose two of those body parts or to be thrown into hell (cf. Mt 5:29-30). Do you wonder what he’d say about those high-tech devices, the screens that can lead to various addictions, not to mention the time wasted on social media in search of attention, affirmation, self-gratification — or even vengeance? Using these robotic extensions of our natural faculties in this way, are we lifting humanity up, or pulling ourselves and one another down?

I know I have spoken before many times, figuratively, of the bucket of crabs that fishers might use to hold bait. It never needs a lid because every time one of the crabs tries to escape, the other ones pull it right down again. Jesus wants to lift us up out of those sins, habits and attitudes that keep us enslaved to sin and depress our hopes, threatening our attainment of the eternal life he promises. He gives us his words, ultimately himself, to hang onto and goes so far as to say that nothing else will give us any kind of security, on earth or even in “heaven.”

Often enough the context of some of these statements is the discussions in which people are speculating about when God will right all things wrong, finally punishing all those “other people” who we find annoying, disgusting and downright bad. Jesus discourages us from getting mired in thoughts of retribution, promising God’s justice in the end, but making no predictions about its manner or timing, which is reserved to the Heavenly Father. Instead, he gives us his words of encouragement and invites us to trust him completely. Our job is to focus on the mission of telling the Good News.

It is, admittedly, very difficult in times of great sorrow and confusion to keep our minds on uplifting thoughts and actions. Yet that is exactly what we need to do. Rather than yield to discouragement and cynicism, most often because of our awareness of our own inability to right all wrongs and save the world ourselves, we need to turn to Jesus as the Apostles did when they were faced with impossible situations. In the words of St. Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of Eternal Life” (Jn 6:28). 

Day after day, it seems, we hear disheartening reports about those who have abandoned or betrayed us. Public figures, not only politicians (the usual suspects) but professionals in all walks of life, including certain members of clergy and other esteemed positions, who discard their responsibility to serve the common good in pursuit of their own interests and to the detriment of those they serve. It was no different in the time of Christ and the Apostles, indeed throughout the course of all salvation history, where the prophets were repeatedly ridiculed and persecuted for denouncing the corrupt leaders of their time.

The advice of Jesus was not to focus on the condemnation, but the healing. Both are roles of God, but the one assigned to us is to join with Jesus, the divine physician, to bind up the wounds and bring peace, which is the unique gift of his resurrected presence. His words to the Apostles in the upper room on the Resurrection Sunday, after he breathed upon them (the Holy Spirit), were words of Shalom Peace, the forgiveness of sins and the binding of wounds. “As the Father sent me, so I send you,” he says (cf. Jn 20:21-31). Similarly, in the Gospel of Matthew, he sends his disciples to go out into the world and to proclaim the Good News, the so-called “Great Commission” (Mt 28:19-20).

This imperative, to bring peace and healing to all whom we encounter, was not unique to the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. Throughout his time on earth, he himself healed and restored those who were broken and urged others to do the same, using metaphors and parables like that of the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son and the Good Shepherd. Jesus reveals to us the mercy of God, who seeks out the lost and abandoned to find a place for them to be safe and to find consolation and restoration. This is how we envision our ministries to survivors and those who are often marginalized in our world. We seek to lift them up and to bring hope to their lives even as we seek to reform our own lives and live with full accountability.

A good friend of mine, who happens to be a rabbi, has an interesting view of the times in which we live. Noting the great advances in science and technology that have brought about wondrous opportunities for healing, health and longevity, he suggests that God may indeed be working wonders — even miracles — in the world today through the skills and talents of human beings dedicated to human well-being. This is certainly consistent with the promise of Jesus that where two or three are gathered in his name, he is there in our midst (Mt. 18:20).

For Christians, Jesus is the very incarnation of God, that is longed for by many who are not of our faith. And I do not suggest that it is not only the prayers of Christians that invite God’s presence into our world to do the saving work that only God can do. In Judeo-Christian tradition, if I may call it that, God does not enter into our lives to put us down but to lift us up. If we involve God’s name, and seek God’s help, the work of God will indeed be accomplished — or at least begin to be — in our own lives, in our own time. All of our hope does not rest exclusively in an “after life.”

Jesus very clearly says, “I am the way, and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6), even as he promises his disciples that he is preparing something even better for them. This is no time to hang up our hopes on the tree of despair, where Judas disposed of himself after what, in his judgment, was an unforgivable sin. Peter, who also denied his Lord, went back to him, confident that he would be rehabilitated. Recall the exchange between Peter and Jesus on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. “Simon Peter, do you love me?” Jesus asked him three times, recalling the three-fold betrayal (cf. Jn 21:15-25).

No one who turns to God is beyond redemption. Salvation is offered to everyone who seeks it with a sincere heart and abandons the sins and attitudes that lead only to despair. These are the words of Jesus that will never pass away because they are eternally true and pierce through all forms of denial and desperation that may be thrown at us by the Evil One who one wants to get us down. Our commission is to lift one another up to the God who saves. With the confidence exuded in Psalm 121, we will lift up our eyes to the hills, to the Lord of all hope, who saves and restores us. We encounter a God who is for us, not against us. Living in God’s light, we lift one another up as well. Keep spreading the word.

 @AlbanyDiocese