John 5: 31-47 The Father Is My Witness

Are we such a hard hearted people that we create other gods and ignore the true God, just as the Israelites did?  Do we adhere to the scriptures the way the Jews around Jesus did, and refuse to see God in our presence?  Do we honor God only when it is convenient, and put him aside when it is not?

It is very easy to create other gods as well as to honor God only when it pleases us.  One of our Early Church Fathers, Eusebius, in his History of the Church, wrote about the Romans of Jesus' time: "The story of the resurrection from the dead of our Savior Jesus, already the subject of general discussion all over Palestine, was accordingly communicated by Pilate to the Emperor Tiberius.  For Pilate knew all about Christ's supernatural deeds, and especially how after death He had risen from the dead and was now generally believed to be a god.  It was said that Tiberius referred the report to the senate, which rejected it.  The apparent reason was that they had not gone into the matter before, for the old law still held that no one could be regarded by the Romans as a god unless by vote and decree of the senate; the real reason was that no human decision or commendation was required for the saving teaching of the divine message."   In other words, God does not need man to make him a God.  He is God almighty and transcends human thought and ideas.  Just like the Romans, the Jews in today's Gospel could not accept Jesus as the Son of God.  They looked toward their sacred writings, and although they testified for Jesus the Christ, they still rejected him.  Even though God the Father (at least 4 times in the Gospels) bared witness that Jesus was his son, they chose not to listen. 

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Those who follow him shall have eternal life.  The Truth will exist for all time and will not be corrupted unlike man's ideas and works which crumble and fall into decay. The Word does not need human praise for He is justified and testified about by the Father. Just as Tiberius knew of Jesus, so too did Jesus' reputation travel east.  Eusebius tells us of a king of Mesopotamia who was ill and sent a letter to Jesus asking to be cured.  Eusebius tells us that Jesus' reply was found in the Record Office at Edessa, "Happy are you who believed in me without having seen me! For it is written of me that those who have seen me will not believe in me, and that those who have not seen will believe and live..."

Happy are those who life with faith in God.  Jesus continually reminds us to live not in this world, but in the next.  Jesus asks us in today's Gospel, "How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?"  May we be called away from making earthly things into our gods or trying to conform God into the image we want of him, and instead remain in his presence living in communion with him.  Amen.

Luke 11: 14-23 A House Divided Cannot Stand

In ministry to the homebound many types of family behaviors has been witnessed.  Most of the time families work together to help the member in need.  There was once a family with many siblings.  While their mother was healthy they squabbled and fought for years.  There would be jabs about what the were going to take when their mother passed away.  They were open about wanting to move away from each other as soon as their mom was dead.  Their mother was grieved to no end. It disappointed the grandchildren and great grandchildren. They were asked many times by different people to stop. 

In today's first reading we hear about how the Israelites knew how they should act, but chose not to.  Instead they fought, fell into bad habits, and those habits turned into sin leading them away from God.  Because they had turned away from God, the word of God had vanished from their midst. How similar this is to the family mentioned above where their petty rivalries and jealousy turned their hearts away from what was good toward selfishness and evil habits. 

Jesus drives out demons though.  He is the word of God.  He came to be with is, to proclaim the kingdom, to bring healing and life.  The religious leaders of his time were suspicious.  How could good overcome evil so easily and drive it away?  They thought surely he must be in league with the demons for them to do what he says.  Here's the catch Jesus gives us, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself,  how will his kingdom stand?...But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you." 

Just as Jesus foretold that a house divided cannot stand, that family that was divided was being torn apart being held together with only loyalty to their mother and nothing else.  However by some divine merciful grace when their mother's heart began to fail and she needed full time care, they came together in a way that they had never done so before.  The home is filled with love and concern, with adult brothers and sisters looking not only after their mother, but each other with love and compassion, and consideration for each other's thoughts and feelings.  They are one example of this idea, this living Gospel, that a house divided will fall, but with God, it will stand strong in his grace.