Readings:

Exodus 32, 7-11, 13-14,  So the Lord relented in the punishment he had threatened.

Psalm 951,  I will rise and go to my father. 

 1 Timothy, 1, 12-17,  I am grateful to him who has strengthened me.  

Luke 15, 1-32,   The Great Parable & story of the Prodigal Son.  (A superb story.)

Says Genevieve, "Wellll, Everybody, just come on in."

Exodus observations :

What : a story, a long parable.  It has 2 parts, the exodus or exit from Egypt and the years wandering in the desert.

Who: the work is all about Moses, but he did not compose it.  Rather, it was put together by a committee during the Babylonian Captivity, 555 before Christ.

When: it appears that the purpose of the work was to encourage the people during the Babylonian Captivity.  It is not history and borrows stories from other cultures.  For instance, the parting of the Red Sea comes from a Mesopotamian creation myth and the 10 Commandments resemble the Code of Hammurabi.

Our Subject: The people have been bad, God is mad at them, and Moses defends the people.

Sources: Good News Bible, The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, Wikipedia

Kevin, too, says, "Grab a seat, Folks, we are ready to start."

The Prodigal Son: A Work of Art

I want to talk about my favorite parable of the whole Bible.  Two special notes to start with:

1.  The author has carefully crafted a work of literary art.  Not history, not reality, but parable, story.
2.   Purpose: to show that God loves us unconditionally, not conditionally. 

 Let me give you three observations about the son, three about the father, and an extra three to show you how astounding this story is. 

The final question: can you believe in an unconditionally loving God?

Begin In the Name of the Father…

First, the younger son:

1. He has no right to ask for inheritance.  None.  By asking he is saying he wishes the father and the older son dead.  A symbolic murder.  Father can kill him for this.
2. He works feeding pigs instead of asking for help from the temple.  This means he rejects the religious tradition and is considered a traitor not only to the family, but to the religion.  
3. So, as a horrible failure as a son of the family and a son of the religious tradition, he decides to return.  A conversion, not quite.   He makes up his little speech and heads home.  He is hungry to the point of dying.  Do this, he calculates,  or die.  Many listening Jews would say, Die.  

Offertory with Tom, Teresa, and Tim Quinn.

The Father: he actually commits as many crimes and sins as the son.

1. He runs down the road to the son when he sees him coming.  A very undignified action.  Outrageous.  People who emphasize conditional love point out that the son at least came back.  Despite this point, all the other elements of the parable point to a father with unconditional love.
2. He embraced and kissed the son.  Huge violation of Jewish religious custom and law.  By doing this the father positions himself outside of the religious & cultural community.  He is a reject like the son. 
3. He cuts the son’s speech off before he can finish, eliminating the last sentence, “treat me as you would one of your hired workers.”  And to make it worse, he orders the servants to bring the finest robe, ring, and sandals. 

Daddy, I think it is time I start playing this guitar.

The robe, the ring, and the sandals:

1. The robe: restores the son’s dignity. 
2. The ring: gives authority to the son, even equal to the father and certainly more than before he left.
3. The sandals: gives the son freedom.  Slaves were not given sandals so they would not run away.  The father is doubling the message he gave when he cut the son’s speech off before he could say the third part about being treated as a servant.  

Thanks, Georgie, for being such a great help to Buddy.

A word about the older son, because we so often identify with him.  Two additional and final points.

1. That he tells his father how he feels.  Great.  In those days, it meant the father can kill him.  Today: communication. 
2. What is his challenge: acceptance of his brother, his father, and himself; focus on gratitude for all he has; move from trying to be a good boy to loving?  Any one of these?  Or all?  All.  

Zoe, we got to get you up to light the candles again some time. 

I apologize for so much data.  There is even more.  The point is that the story is a carefully crafted literary work of art that attempts to describe how totally unconditionally loving our God is.

I had once a lengthy discussion with another priest who insisted that the father's love was conditional, conditional on the son choosing to return.  I still believe that the love was unconditional.  I am influenced by the two previous parables, the lost sheep & the lost coin. Luke is an artist.   It is no coincidence that the two little parables both emphasize the Hound of Heaven concept.    

Tori at the play station.

How does this image of God reflect your image of God?   Can you believe that our God loves you and me unconditionally?

Source: The Liberating Stories of Jesus, Francis Vanderwall

Peace!

Readings:

Wisdom  9, 13-18,  Who can know God’s counsel?

Psalm 90,  In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

Philemon 1, 9-10, 12-17,  If you regard me as a partner, welcome Onesimus  as you would me.  

Luke 14, 25-33,   If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, he cannot be my disciple.   (Another awful Luke message.  A good one maybe for teens.   Wait for next week, a really good one.)

Harper says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in."

Observations on the book of Wisdom:

What:  Exploration of the meaning and value of wisdom.  The author is the first to express a hope for immortality, a Greek concept.

 Who:  A Greek Jew who wrote probably in Alexandria, Egypt.

Kevin, too, says, "Hi, Folks, Welcome."

Hate my Father and Mother?

I remember one Saturday morning in the summer of 1960.  I was 20 years old and in my second year as a Jesuit intern-novice.   I was also in a pirogue floating down the Calcasieu River in SW LA with one of my best fellow Jesuit novice buddies, Jerry McCaffery from New Orleans.  

Every summer for the 4 years I spent at Grand Coteau we Jesuit interns got to spend 2 weeks at a river camp near the village of Kinder.  For me it was paradise, swimming, boating, living in the two story screened in pavilion, beds on the second floor, dining room and activities on the first.  We were about 50 plus guys. 

Offertory with Bernadette, Richard, and Gil.

As Jerry & I floated down the river that Saturday morning, Jerry told me that at that very moment in New Orleans his brother was getting married.  He could not go.  That was policy.

We were instructed that when we entered the Jesuits we entered a new family and left behind our former family.  So we never went back home, for anything, weddings, funerals, Christmas, Thanksgiving.   The idea was that we were becoming companions of Jesus in a family devoted to that goal. 

The Best Music Team, Shonda, Bethany, and Ray.

This was how the Jesuits put into practice the message today about hating one’s father and mother.  We were not instructed to hate, just refocus our allegiance.   Today I am embarrassed to admit that I bought this message.  The Jesuit training has certainly mellowed since Vatican II.  However, there are still rigid groups & religious orders that take this literally. 

I would propose that this story exemplifies the negative approach to these ideas.  Is there a positive?   I would say ‘yes,’ if you make the father and mother symbols.  Symbols of things that hold me back from being truly alive, truly healthy, and truly spiritual. 

Welcome back, John and Mary Jane, so good to see you with us.  

Also the word hate may be taken as hyperbole or exaggeration. 

Therefore, what about these symbols standing for unhealthy eating, excessive drinking, over work, being lazy, or materialism? 

Certainly, if I had listened to my high school buddies, and even my mom, I confess, I would never have joined the Jesuits.

The Wedding of Lynn and Roger begins.

Likewise, I got a lot of push back about going to East Africa.

And certainly when it came to getting married, did I not get a lot of push back and even condemnation from my dear Jesuits and from the Catholic Church?

Look at the sports page on Saturday morning.  What takes up many of the pages?  High school boys playing football.  How many of these kids had to fight back against their natural tendency to stay in bed and skip practice in the heat?

I, Roger, take you, Lynn, in marriage

So, there can be healthy ways to listen to today’s readings.  No need to take ‘hate’ literally.  No need to take father & mother literally. 

How do you push back against those voices that encourage you to live ultimately less healthily, less spiritually, & less psychologically alive?

Unity Candle.   The wedding took place Saturday at the Little Chapel in The Woods at TWU, Texas Womens' University in Denton.  A delightful and hospitable venue for weddings.

Readings:

Isaiah  66, 18-21,  I know their works and their thoughts.  (This is the last chapter of the book of Isaiah.)

Psalm 117,  Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

Hebrews 12, 5-7, 11-13,    He scourges every son he acknowledges.

Luke 13, 22-30,  Strive to enter through the narrow gate.

 

Leo and Genevieve say, "Welcome in, Everybody."

 

Isaiah 66 observations:

Author: Isaiah III.  The book of Isaiah is one of my favorites.  Some beautiful passages.  Remember, 3 primary authors are responsible for the 66 chapters, and we are reading the very last.  Isaiah 1 covers chapters 1-39.  This book is one of the Big 3 O.T. prophets, along with Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  This is because the works are the longest.  There are 12 minor prophets.

Time: ca. 700, before the Assyrians annihilate the northern Jewish kingdom, called Israel, vs the southern kingdom called Judah, where Jerusalem is.  10 tribes were lost in this destruction, the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel. 

 

 

 

Leo and his buddy, John, also say, "Come on in, Folks." 

 

 

Remember, there were 12 tribes.  Why?  Because of the 12 sons of Jacob, who was one of the 3 great patriarchs or founders of the tribe, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob, who was also called Israel. 

 Message of Isaiah III: Mostly consolation after the catastrophe.   What is the basic activity of a prophet?  1.  criticism, 2. prediction of dire payment, 3. consolation.

Today’s message: this being the last chapter of the whole work, you might guess.  Yes, consolation and future unity.

 

 

Buddy, our Candle Lighter of The Week, at work.


 

 

Psalm  117:  The best line in the whole bunch of readings.  Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

Hebrews observation:

 The best thing about today's selection: we have to read Hebrews only one more week.  Awful reading today.

 

 

Genevieve says, "Like my new dance step?" 

 

 

It is all Good News

You will never guess where I was this past Friday morning at 6:00.  Yep, you know me too well.   I was beginning spin class at the Jewish Community Center.  I have a special story about something that happened at that class.

Normally we have 10 to 16 or so people for the classes.  But Friday morning we had only about 7-8.  Plus we had a substitute teacher or directress of the orchestra, a lady named Alesia, whose style I like, a bit more laid back.

 

 

Becky and Tom, good friends. 

 

 

So, just as Alesia was instructing us to get started, I stepped away from my bike and made a sign to her that I would like to talk.  So she gave me the welcome sign. 

I stepped forward, turned a bit to include the class, and said that a very special person was celebrating her birthday that day, Haya.   I went over to her and gave her a gift of a little package of cookies called BelVita. 

 

 

Harper says, "Hi, Everybody." 

 

 

Haya is an older woman, which makes her special to me.  She is about 5‘1”, is a little hunchbacked, has a vertical scar on the back of her right shoulder, is very quiet and shy, speaks English with a foreign accent, and drives a gold Prius (as I say frequently, “Anybody who drives a gold Prius has got to be special). 

We finish the class, sing Happy Birthday, start drying off, stretching, and preparing to leave.  I feel a tap on my back.  Haya.  She thanks me for remembering her.  Then she says, “This is the happiest day of my life.”

 

 

Grace and Richard, more good friends. 

 

 

 I cannot believe what I just heard.  I am so touched.  On the one hand, I am touched that such a small gesture can mean so much to her.  On the other, does this say something about her life?  Could she be a victim of the Holocaust?  I discover that we are the same age, 76.  What has she seen in life that I have never seen? 

Why talk about her this morning?  Two reasons.   Because she is Good News.  The Psalm says, “Go out and tell the Good News.”  People are Good News.   I want to know her story.

 

 

 

The Best Music, Shonda, Bethany (guess who is expecting?), and Ray.

 

 

Secondly, I want also to contextualize the negativity of Hebrews and Luke. 

There was a strong belief in these times that God was definitely a conditional love God.  Why did the Babylonian Captivity take place?  The Israelites were bad.  Jeremiah says it, the Isaiahs say it.   And so it was written.  In fact, God scourges those who are his special people.

 

 

 

Offertory with Mike & Judy, and Mary.

 

Pretty much this opinion of God has been discarded.  But, remember Katrina?  Happened because New Orleans was bad.  So would you believe that God this past spring was punishing Garland, Blue Mound, and other Dallas suburbs when the hail and rain wrecked people’s houses?  Is sickness a penance for a sinful, bad life?

Me?  I believe and propose that people are The Good News, that you are The Good News.

 

 

 

Play station Number 1. 

 

 

And you?   A God who scourges and demands penance or a God who proclaims that people are The Good News?