Do What I Command (September 16)

Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these, I am the foremost. But for that reason, I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life. 1 Timothy 1:15B-16

"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' but not do what I command? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them. That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built.” Luke 6:46-48

Piety

Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him. (John 14:23

Study

Jesus wants consistency. No exceptions. He has regularly railed against the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees. However, his patience also wears thin when people listen to him and do not do what he requires.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is concluding the “sermon on the plain.” Jesus was standing on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd attended including people from Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal regions. That inclusive territory means that even Gentiles from outside Palestine had come to hear Jesus. Many also came to be healed their diseases and freed of the unclean spirits that tormented them.

The first several parts of the sermon – like Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount – are inspirational and instructional. The Beatitudes. The requirement to love your enemies. The precept to love your neighbor. The requirement for doing good deeds. After all these parts, Jesus ends with a parable of the house on a solid foundation – a parable that illustrates the result of listening to AND doing what Jesus demand.

The relationship is not between saying and doing as in Jesus said in his critique of the scribes and the Pharisees. However, this is address to all Christians who listen to the Good News. No exceptions.

Action

Sometimes, I am really puzzled by some of our fellow Catholics when I read what Jesus asks of us – to listen and to act accordingly.  Theological College at The Catholic University of America just canceled a talk by Rev. James Martin, SJ. Fr. Martin was planning to speak about Jesus but several people have waged a smear campaign against him in social media.

Opinion columns in places like the Wall Street Journal have attacked his latest book, Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity.

According to an article in The New York Times:

The Rev. James Martin knew his latest book – which urges a dialogue between the Catholic Church and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics who feel estranged from it – would be provocative. Even though the book was approved by his Jesuit superior as being in line with church teachings and was endorsed by several cardinals, he did not expect everyone to agree. That’s fine, he said. That’s why dialogue was needed.

The book has been endorsed by several bishops and two cardinals, including Cardinal Kevin Farrell, a Vatican official who called it “welcome and much-needed.” The message in Fr. Martin’s latest book is about reaching out in love to people on the margins. On that issue, and the Sermon on the Plain we have been contemplating this week in Luke’s Gospel, we still have a lot to learn. If we can’t even begin a dialogue without a charge of heresy, then we need to take a good look at how we understand the gospel, says Fr. Martin.

Many of the attacks on Fr. Martin come from Catholics who do not seem to remember Pope Francis’s remark that “who am I to judge” if a member of the clergy was gay. He seems to be coming up smelling like a sheep. Fortunately, Fr. Martin promises to keep on loving in the face of his critics who have not even read his book. He says:

"Being pro-life, as I am, means supporting all life as a precious gift from God. That includes life in the womb, of course. And most people would expect and should expect, a Catholic priest to defend that. But it also includes the life of an inmate on death row. The life of an elderly person in a hospice. The life of a refugee on a crowded boat in the middle of the sea. And here, the life of an LGBT person, who also deserves to have his or her or their life raised up as holy, precious and unique. Pro-life is a lot broader than people might think."

Keep building bridges of love.