GOSPEL CHARACTERS-6 (SAINT JOHN)

The Merchants in the Temple And Deep Personal Prayer

These various reflection on Gospel characters hopes to show the importance of deep personal prayer. In some examples, the absence of this prayer is also insightful. 

Jn 2:13-22

No doubt, the merchants in the Temple were shocked by Jesus’ astonishing attack on the commercial situation that had evolved out of the Law’s mandate to offer sacrifice. It is hard to believe that they were not baffled and blind to the corruption and distortion of faith that Jesus was confronting and exposing.

Most likely, the vast majority of the merchants started their job with a great deal of good will. Not only did they have an opportunity for a good job to support their family, they were able to express their faith and support the community of believers in professing their religious responsibilities and obligations. It surely started out for most as a win/win situation.

How did it come to the point that led to Jesus’ radical challenge: “Stop making my father’s house a marketplace.” (Jn 2:16) These activities had slowly but inevitably moved away from service to God to service for profit. The pull of the deception of easy money ate away at the spiritual foundation of their ministry in support of the most sacred place of worship in the Jewish faith.

This misrepresentation and self-deception is a common experience for those involved in religion either as professional workers or as committed volunteers. The Golden Calf never is far from the surface in the world of religion. Money has an awesome pull that misleads and betrays in the service of God and religious institutions even though committed to an exalted goal.

II

I was a pastor in a poor parish in South Central Los Angeles for twenty years. I recall two encounters with the insidious pull of the Golden Calf. I am sure there were many more.

The first was with a Development Board made up of several generous and wealthy benefactors. Their activities raised tens of thousands of dollars on a regular basis. This money supported new buildings, projects, programs and personnel. It was a great temptation to lose the focus on the basic mission of evangelization and ride the wave of material success and progress.

The second issue was a situation in a much smaller economic reality at our annual festival. It involved less than three thousand dollars. There were several groups that had sales of their ethnic food specialties at the event. At the beginning all shared the good will of working to help the parish better achieve its mission to serve the gospel. Gradually, however, a truly negative competition developed between the groups to see who would raise the most money. In the end, it ended up a long, long way from the gospel mission.

Just imagine if this was the case in a poor parish, just how much more these negative factors come into play in a “successful” parish or institution or religious TV program. There is no doubt the negative thrust of the Golden Calf is fully operative under the guise of many good causes and projects. Jesus would need more than a cord to cast out the merchants of deception if he returned to our churches today.

III

The question is, how did the merchants in the Gospel story, along with their compatriots of today, slip from the good-willed Temple workers and servants of the people to be servants of the Golden Calf and the profit motive.

The answer for the Temple workers and all of us today is the deceptive power and demands of the ego. The ego’s agenda is to make us the center of all activities. When it comes to religion and spirituality, the ego has singular powers to deceive us. It produces false motives, drawing us away from service and sacrifice. The ego has despicable capabilities to center on the selfish motives rather than God’s priorities. It has determined the way of the world since Adam and Eve ate the apple.

For centuries the Church has carried the burden of a clericalism and sexism that has been accepted as the norm. In recent times that has begun to change. It was this kind of institutional blindness that gave us the sexual abuse scandal and crisis.

It is the very nature of deep personal prayer to enlighten the forces of evil in each of us and in our culture and institutions. Self-knowledge is one of the great blessings of deep personal prayer. It slowly opens a path to freedom from the forces of darkness that support all the deceiving appeals of the Golden Calf and all other idols.

When we pray regularly there is a steady confrontation with the influences of the ego. Sometimes the conflicts are gentle and sometimes they are fierce. Faithfulness to deep personal prayer will guarantee a gradual diminishment of all factors pulling us away from God.

This is what the merchants needed to respond to Jesus’ challenge. They needed to search for the light of God’s will and to find strength in work and commitment in doing God’s will.

Any movement away from the clutches of the Golden Calf is a demanding venture. Deep personal prayer exposes the lies of the ego. It calls us to new values rooted in the gospel. It calls us to new action in the footsteps of Jesus.

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GOSPEL CHARACTERS-5 (SAINT MATTHEW)

The Canaanite Woman’s Prayer 

These various reflection on Gospel characters hopes to show the importance of deep personal prayer.

In some examples, the absence of this prayer is also insightful.

I

The Story’s Background in Matthew’s Gospel

All the Evangelists told the story of Jesus out of the context of their own community. Matthew’s community was a group of Jewish Christians struggling for their own identity as both Jews and followers of Christ.

They saw themselves as the true Jews. They accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah fulfilling the hope of centuries of Jewish longings for salvation foretold to Abraham and Moses. Matthew’s faithful Jewish community understood God’s saving action in the Law of Moses and the teachings of Jesus. They recognized one consistent message of deliverance from evil.

However, they faced a two-fold dilemma. First, the majority of the Jews rejected Jesus and, in fact, rejected them in their commitment to Christ. They had been dismissed and persecuted as unfaithful to the common acceptance of the Jewish faith. Secondly, great numbers of Gentiles were accepting Jesus as the t rue Savior of all humankind.

Matthew wrote his Gospel for the community in the midst of a massive identity crisis. Were they true representatives of the Jewish heritage? Was Jesus the true Messiah and leader? Were they called to leave their Jewish heritage and join the growing numbers of Gentile followers of Christ now called Christians?

Matthew offers an answer to this dilemma in his Gospel. He portrays Jesus, first and foremost, as the fulfillment of the Law and longings of the Jewish people. Matthew is unequivocal. The hope rooted in the stories and tradition of the Patriarchs, Moses, David and the prophets was fulfilled in Jesus

At the same time, Matthew offers an opening to the universality of God’s saving power in Jesus. Matthew’s development of the Gospel has a gradual opening to the Gentile world. At the very beginning, there are four Gentile women in the genealogy. Then there is the presence of the Magi in the infancy narrative. This is followed by the miracle healings in the stories of the centurion’s servant and the Canaanite’s daughter. At the foot of the Cross, we again have a centurion speaking the truth of Jesus’ identity. Finally, at the conclusion, as Jesus prepares to ascend to the Father, we have the final mandate to preach the Gospel to all the world.

Matthew presents a very sensitive and insightful image of Jesus that addresses this opening to the boundless gift of salvation for all. Matthew’s guidance to his Jewish brothers and sisters was not the centuries old choice of “us or them”. It was a clear and joyful declaration of the reality that all humanity are truly children of God.

This was an answer to the people who were grappling to interpret a God-given, centuries old identity as the Chosen People. The story of the Canaanite woman captures that struggle of the people in the story of Jesus’ own struggle with the awesome woman of faith and courage.

II

A Woman of Faith and Courage from the Gentiles
A Brief summary of the Text (Mt 15:21-28)

There are three characters in the scene:

1. Jesus had just finished a conflict with the Jewish leaders stressing that the Law was about the heart not legalities. He was moving toward a Gentile area to seek some rest and quiet.
2. The disciples were anxious to get rid of the woman and her annoying determination to get help from Jesus.
3. Then there was the Canaanite woman. Her insistence was rooted in her pain and driven by compassion for her daughter. She saw in Jesus the true answer to her immediate prayers. At a deeper level, she perceived a true savior.

In the woman’s first cry for help Jesus completely ignores her anguish. The disciples plead with Jesus to dismiss her. The benign interpretation of this plea is the removal by healing the daughter. The more realistic view would be in tune with the common prejudice of the day. She was a Gentile. She was a woman. She deserved no attention.

Jesus’ first response is to the disciples. He told them his mission was the Chosen People not the Gentiles.

Next, there is one of the most touching scenes in all of the Gospels. The woman acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah, kneels before Jesus in total vulnerability and says, “Lord, help me.” (Mt 15:25)

Jesus is still resistant. He says, “It is not right to take the bread of children and throw it to the dogs.” (Mt 15:26)

There has been an enormous amount of ink spent over the centuries trying to give a gentle and satisfying interpretation to Jesus’ use of the accepted Jewish word for Gentiles: dogs. Whatever the true explanation, the woman wins the day with her brilliant response, “Please Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” (Mt 15:27)

In a critical point in all of Christian history, Jesus accepts the plea of the Gentile woman and reveals God’s love for all humankind in his words. “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that time.” (Mt 15:28)

Much more than most Gospel passages, the story of this special Gentile woman has received seemingly countless interpretations. One of the most insightful and sensitive is Matthew’s kindhearted understanding of his community’s problems with the Gentile issue. Matthew has Jesus mirror the struggle of his community in addressing the tortuous issue of accepting the Gentiles. In Matthew’s construction of the story, Jesus is shown in his own uncertainty. Yet he changes and accepts the faith of the woman. He shatters the Gentile barrier. His example encourages and supports his Jewish followers to both castoff their own resistance and to embrace the deeper world of God’s love for all.

III

A Woman of Prayer

Upon deeper reflection, the wonderful person of faith that is the Canaanite woman in Matthew’s Gospel, offers us some excellent traits needed to be a person of deep personal prayer.

• First and foremost, she moved beyond herself. Her emphasis was service.

• The complaint of the disciples, whether benign or ignorant, could easily have led her to see herself as a victim. She stayed the course, stressing not her personal hurt, but the urgent need of her daughter.

• She was in a Jewish world. She was a foreigner. She was a woman. Nevertheless, she maintained her dignity.

• With all these truly burdensome obstacles, she always kept her eyes on Jesus.

Her determination drove her beyond the labels of the situation. She did not get lost in her being a woman or Gentile or a victim. She did not let the label of Jew or Gentile, saved or lost, Chosen People or pagans, impede her determination to express her concerns before God. Stripped of all labels, she stood free in the ultimate reality as a creature before God. She accepted her helplessness and expressed her trust and faith as a child of the all -loving God.

If we reflect on her simplicity and helplessness, we have a marvelous model as we seek a life of deep personal prayer.

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GOSPEL CHARACTERS-4 (SAINT LUKE)

THE PARDON OF THE SINFUL WOMAN

These various reflection on Gospel characters hopes to show the importance of deep personal prayer.
In some examples, the absence of this prayer is also insightful.

Lk 7:36-50

The proper understanding of the normal position at the dinner table at the time of Jesus brings clarity to this brilliant Gospel story. The guests did not sit at the table. They reclined on low couches on one elbow. This explains how the woman could comfortably weep on Jesus’ feet and wipe the them with her hair.

Having a clear grasp of the geography of the action, one can then address the extreme humanity of a sinner encountering the healing depth of divine mercy. It is no easy task to imagine the quantity of the tears nor the depth of emotion necessary to cleanse the feet. This is followed by the intense generosity of the anointing. The combination of all the actions opens us to an incredible expression of human sentiment leading to the release of shame, anxiety and torment that was crippling for the poor woman.

This marvelous display of human vulnerability receives a two-fold response. Jesus forgives her allowing her to reach this intensity of love. This permits her to have a new depth of experience of the divine love touching the deepest hunger in her heart, her destiny to be one with God.

On the other hand, Simon, the Pharisee, is surprised that Jesus does not push her away. To the host’s chagrin, Jesus welcomes her actions of incalculable tenderness. It is obvious that Simon does not share Jesus’ deep commitment to acceptance and forgiveness. Simon’s response is petty and engulfed in rejection, hostility and condemnation. Simon had invited Jesus into his home but not into his heart. Contrary to the woman, Simon misses the wonder of love and mercy that totally transcends the minor violation of etiquette in the sexist household. Right before his eyes, blinded by self-absorption, Simon misses the drama of the salvation of a true daughter of Abraham.

This triangular action between Jesus, the woman and Simon is a perfect example of Luke’s first Beatitude and first Woe.

“Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.” (LK 6:20)

The woman found herself locked into her life of sin. She was totally vulnerable. Her blessedness came when she opened herself in weakness and emptiness to Jesus. In her poverty she found the strength to break loose of her bondage and turn to Jesus.

On the other side of the ledger, Simon displays the contrary, the Woe of being rich.

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Lk 6:24)

Basking in his apparent control, Simon sits ready to judge and condemn both the woman and Jesus. Wrapped in the privileges and prestige of his apparent position of superiority, Simon is walking blindly in the midst of the overwhelming beauty of the avalanche of mercy and love that Jesus has unleashed.

II

Jesus has the final word in this episode: “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” (Lk 7:50) The forgiveness that the woman experiences is an opening that leads to eternal life. This saving experience involves a personal transformation. The marginalized and rejected woman now is free to serve in the most breathtaking way at the feet of Jesus the Savior. Her generous and symbolic actions unveil the saving grace of God in her life and in all of reality.

We should see in her activities the connection to deep personal prayer. Reflection and prayer on her wonderous story bring us in touch with Jesus every bit as real as he was in the life of the woman. It opens us up to the possibility of personal transformation. It allows us to see ourselves in the marginalized condition of the woman. It unveils the power of our emptiness and poverty as the gateway to the loving mercy of God.

Once again, we see the gift of the many characters of the Gospels. Deep personal prayer opens these Gospel passages to liberating self-knowledge and the wonder of our loving God shining through Jesus Christ.

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GOSPEL CHARACTERS-3 (SAINT MARK)

The Story of the Rich Man and the Disciples

These various reflection on Gospel characters hopes to show the importance of deep personal prayer.
In some examples, the absence of this prayer is also insightful.

Mark 10:17-31

What seems to be Jesus’ teaching in the story of the rich man has been followed by very few, if any, persons in the history of Christianity. This total and immediate withdrawal from possessions has always been a gradual process in the most respected practices of Christian spirituality.

So, the question is this: what is there in this tragic story that can help us in our Christian journey? The first thing we need to do is connect the rich man’s experience to the next two passages about wealth and the hundredfold.

The most striking message of Jesus in this Gospel selection is that we must find our security in God and not in our possessions. We must grow to a point where we see that our possessions are good only if they help us to seek God. They are an obstacle if they hinder our search for God. A great help in making this determination is to grow in our ability to decide what we need rather than what we want. This approach is radically opposed to the engulfing message of the consumer culture we live in.

The rich man displayed a heart that was searching for more. Most times, this is a longing for God. Obeying the law fell short of his hunger for a deeper satisfaction and security. This hunger is built into our heart because we are made for God and God alone.

Jesus’ observation that only God is good is a seemingly unrelated statement. It is, however, at the core of the man’s search. Salvation and the kingdom and eternal life are only possible because of God’s goodness and mercy. Human effort is just not enough.

A second idea in the story is also made clear. It is only in our relation with Jesus that we are invited into our true destiny to be one with God. When Jesus looked at the troubled man with love, he was calling him to trust in God and not in his possessions. At this time, the man walked away sad because his possessions owned him rather than he owned the possessions. This danger challenges all of us.

In the following two passages about wealth and the hundredfold, Jesus offers us a different way to relate to our possessions. His initial statement about the danger of wealth shocked the disciples. Following the ordinary and widely accepted interpretation of the Jewish Scriptures, they believed that wealth was a sure sign of God’s blessings. Jesus, however, says “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.” (10:23) Then he continues to explain: “For human beings it is impossible but not for God.” (10:27)

Then we have further clarification in the next passage. The disciples are identified as among those who “have given up everything and followed You.” (10:28) The disciples are people who are clearly described by the evangelist Mark in their weakness and ambivalence. Yet, they are trying to say yes to Jesus so they will receive both a hundredfold in this life and life eternal.

This positive description of the disciples is totally contrary to their absolute inability to grasp the meaning of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and his upcoming passion and death.

The comforting point for us is this. In spite of their weakness and insecurity on the road to Jerusalem, the disciples are still trying to follow Jesus. Unlike the rich man, they do not walk away. For sure, they are confused, and probably they had many a sad moment, but in the end, they were faithful.

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0GOSPEL CHARACTERS-2 (SAINT MARK)

The Healing of the Blind Men in Mark:
A Guide for Our Spiritual Journey

These various reflection on Gospel characters hopes to show the importance of deep personal prayer. In some examples, the absence of this prayer is also insightful.

The Gospel of Mark has a profoundly challenging section about following Jesus to Jerusalem. It begins with the healing of a blind man in 8:22-26. It closes with the healing of the blind Bartimaeus in 10:46-52. These two healings are bookends for a truly insightful description of the Christan vocation.

In between the two healings, there are three sections about the spiritual blindness of the apostles. Each section contains Jesus’ declaration about his upcoming rejection, suffering and death. This is followed by a story illustrating the failure of the apostles to understand. Next, Jesus presents an even deeper teaching of the gospel message.

There are numerous insights about the Christian journey in this extended section of Mark’s Gospel. The experience of the two blind men is especially enlightening for us.

II

In the healing of the first blind man in this sequence, we have something special. It is the only miracle of Jesus that is done in two stages. In the first phase, the blind person says, “I see people looking like trees and walking.” (Mk 8:24) After Jesus lays his hands on him again, he sees with total clarity.

This two-phase healing is a symbol of the apostles gradual understanding of Jesus. While they accepted Jesus as the Messiah, they had real difficulty in grasping the Cross. At the same time, Jesus saw the Cross as the most authentic element of his role as Messiah. This was Mark’s purpose for placing this particular healing at the beginning of this section. The message is quite clear. The apostles just cannot connect the Messiah and the Cross. We, as readers of Mark, and as followers of Christ, share in the dilemma. It takes time, experience and struggle for us to enter into the Mystery of the Crucified Christ. The stages of healing foretell the time of our growing openness to who Jesus really is. Our experience of reality connects with the two-staged healing of the blind man. Like him in his gradual reception of his sight, we all experience a faith that is blurry. The passage to clarity in our faith is often the work of a lifetime.

In the section of Mark after the first healing, we have the absolutely critical question of Jesus: Who do you say that I am? Peter responds, “You are the Messiah.” (Mk8:29) Rather than any special recognition for the right answer, Jesus presents a dramatically unexpected command: “Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.” (Mk 8:30)

What the apostles would have anticipated as a great moment, turns into chaos. For the first time, Jesus foretells the upcoming disaster of rejection suffering and death. Peter says it does not have to be so. Jesus responds: “Get behind me Satan.” (Mk 8:33)

As if that was not enough, Jesus continues, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” (Mk8:34) As he continued on with similar commands so contrary to the apostles hopes and dreams, they stay there stunned and bewildered. How does this all fit in with the feeding of thousands, the quieting of the storm, walking on the water and so many healings? All of these events supported their dreams of power and prestige, prosperity and privilege.

Eventually, they would understand that the two-stage healing of the blind man had a lot to do with their struggle with Jesus’ question: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mk8:29) Maybe the answer was truly the Messiah but it was a far different Messiah than they were anticipating.

III

In chapters nine and ten of Mark, we have the second and third prediction of the Passion and Death. The same pattern is followed. An event following the forecast that shows the apostles blindness to the message. This is followed by another teaching of Jesus that further identifies the cost of following Jesus.

Finally, we have the second blind man, Bartimaeus. Hearing that Jesus is walking by, he screamed out for help. Jesus asks that he come to him. The text then says, “He threw aside his cloak, sprang up and came to Jesus.” (Mk 10:50) Jjesus healed him and “Immediately, he received his sight and followed him on the way.” (Mk 10:52)

In this simple encounter and healing, Mark gives us a picture of the true disciple of Christ. First of all, there is an awareness of total dependence on Christ revealed in his cry for mercy and help. Then, there is the gesture of throwing aside the cloak. It represented all that he had. When he was begging, he placed it at his feet before him to receive the offerings of the people. In the evening, it was his only protection from the painful cold of the desert night. A final point is this. Bartimaeus, as a true disciple letting go of his possessions, generously walks with Jesus to Jerusalem.

In contrast to Bartimaeus, the apostles have journeyed with Jesus reluctantly and with much confusion and growing fear. They were resisting Jesus’ message of a suffering Messiah. Only after the Resurrection, did they begin to be open to the true implication of Jesus who did walk the road to Jerusalem. This was far removed from their image of Jesus as the provider of personal gain and prosperity.

The journey of the apostles was a gradual opening to the true identity and message of Jesus. It was a slow withdrawal from their blindness and an honest acceptance of Jesus’ teaching of who he really was, a Crucified Savior.

It is the same for us. Only in following the three steps of Bartimaeus will we be delivered from our blindness and be able to truly answer Jesus’ question.

IV

The road to Jerusalem is an essential element of our Christian calling today. One modern way it is expressed is the movement from the false self to the true self. The false self centers on our personal needs even in spiritual matters. The true self puts God at the center. There are numerous Gospel teachings that express this transition. The seed must die to produce fruit. To save our life we need to lose it. The call is to be a servant not one who is served. This is my body which is given for you. Beheld the Lamb of God.

They all have the same message. The road to Jerusalem demands surrender to God, a placing of God at the center, a death to our selfishness and self-absorption.

Our personal journey to Jerusalem will happen only with deep personal prayer. This is our pilgrimage to God where we are totally aware only God can deliver us from the bondage of our self-absorption. Like Bartimaeus, we need to pray, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” (MK10:47)

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GOSPEL CHARACTERS-1

Deep Personal Prayer in the Lives of Some Gospel Characters

Introduction

Praying Alone Together is a blog rooted in Carmelite spirituality. There are over eight hundred years in the tradition of this treasure trove of spirituality.

When someone comes to this blog, they are looking for one thing. In one fashion or another, they want to be happy. They have come to the conclusion that the yearning in their heart is in some way related to God. If they are not seeking God, even in the most remote way, the Internet offers a seemingly endless array of other options.

There are two questions fundamental to the human search for happiness that Praying Alone Together / Orando Solos Juntos hopes to address. The questions are: Where are we going? How do we get there?

If you take a moment to think about it, almost every day of our life is driven by our search for an answer to these questions. Most often, our search is utterly futile. Far too often, we think we are on the road only to realize our GPS has led us to another dead end. Every so often we find love. Then we know something is guiding us in the right direction.

Carmelite spirituality starts with an awareness that God loves us first and loves as we are. The Gospels are filled with stories that reveal this truth. The stories of the women are especially clear examples: the Samaritan woman, Mary Magdalene, the woman with the hemorrhage, and the woman caught in adultery.

The following reflections are a consideration of the role of deep personal prayer or its absence in the lives of several characters in the Gospels. These reflections help make deep personal prayer a concrete reality for both the Gospel characters and ourselves.

Carmelite spirituality tells us we best get in touch with Jesus by deep personal prayer. We learn that prayer is always love responding to love. Prayer continuously creates upheaval in our lives and values. Prayer helps us to know god and to know ourselves. The final goal of prayer is to be boldly in love with God. Prayer’s task in this journey of love is to lead us God’s will and teach us how to live it. Prayer assists us in understanding Jesus’ message that is the liberating truth of where we are going and how we get there. This is our Pilgrimage to God.

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