John 15: 18-21 If you belonged to the world...

"Religion causes war and hatred.  We should just get rid of it altogether. Ban it, outlaw it, make it illegal."  This is what I often hear from people who blame religion for wars.  Isn't it true though that there are other reasons like money, control of oil pipelines, trade routes, overpopulation, need for food, etc.?   

"How stupid can you be?  You're just being brainwashed.  These things that you're believing aren't true.  Who says there is a god?  Some guy who died thousands of years ago...and the joke is on you."  This is an example of something said by one co-worker to another, who was actually trying to keep her religion a secret until the instigator asked everyone in the office what religions they practiced. 

Persecutions happen every day, everywhere, to everyone.  Religious persecutions are sometimes the worst.  Even today there are groups who would deny the Holocaust.  More recently John Kerry, representing the US State Department (on March 17, 2016), condemned the genocide of Christians and other religious entities (Yazidis and Shi'a Muslims, etc.) by Daesch in Syria and other places. The work force can also contain its own form of religious persecutions, even if the religious faithful is not outward about their faith, it is still felt. 

Our faith no matter what religion we are is a part of us as unique individuals.  It colors our world.  It is our hope in our faith that drives us to God, and the life of the world to come.  Our world religious have coexisted for a very long time together.  Listening to each other we find that collectively they promote a moral way of life, a path to peace, a path to heaven.  We are reminded in the Gospel today:

"If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own;
but because you do not belong to the world,
and I have chosen you out of the world,
the world hates you."

No matter how terrible the news on tv or the internet, let us try to remember we are ambassadors of Christ.  May we pray for our enemies, and be slow to anger.  May our gaze be always cast to our hearts to that divine tabernacle of our souls where God beckons us to sit at his knee during our persecutions, and let his love and compassion be our comfort.  Let us also take our persecutions and offer them as a sacrifice for those in need so that we may better imitate Christ. (Lk 14:27 & 1Peter 2:19-22)

John 10: 22-30 You Do Not Believe Because You're Not My Sheep

In today's reading we hear that it was winter and the Feast of the Dedication, that is Hanukkah.  This Jewish feast day is also known as the Festival of Lights.  The story behind it comes from the Book of Maccabees where the tale of how Judah Maccabee raised a fierce and army loyal to God (the army would also be known as the Maccabees) against the Greco-Syrian king who banned Jewish religious practices and defiled the Temple of Jerusalem.  When the Maccabees were victorious over the oppression, the Temple was cleansed, purified, and re-Dedicated to God.  When they rededicated the temple, there was only enough oil for the sanctuary lamp for one night, the rest having been defiled.  Through a miracle the oil lasted for eight days.  That is why Hanukkah lasts eight days with one candle being lit each night.  As a Jew Jesus would have participated in the Feast of the Dedication. 

As a Christian follower, we can ask ourselves what is the parallel between the Jewish celebration and our own this Easter season.  Very clearly the authorities and other leaders are demanding to know if Jesus is the Messiah.  It could not have been easy for Jesus' followers.  However, their courage and stamina against the hardships caused by people who doubted Jesus and were not his followers is an echo of that of the Maccabees.  What was true for the followers of Christ then is true now as we wage battle against threats against Christians whether we are in Syria, Pakistan, or laws against what we believe in other countries around the world.  What Christian has not been persecuted for our faith?  We stand firm and courageous because Christ is our savior and we are his flock.  Like the eternal light of the sanctuary lamp, Christ stands with us incarnate in human history as a Light to the World: God made manifest.  The Light of the World came to give us the light of life. 

Luke 4:21-30 Rejected at home

In today's Gospel we hear of how Jesus reads the scroll from Isiah, then as soon as the people of Nazareth realize what he said, they turn on him with derision.  He is merely the son of the carpenter, Joseph, what makes him better than they?  They are trying to put him into a stereotype of sorts.  Don't we try to do that too?  When we meet people or get an impression of who they are, don't we tend to expect them to act a certain way?  That is what they are doing with God.  They can't accept that Jesus is the Christ, and may actually start to believe that he is blaspheming.  This is punishable by death.  He reminds them that even Elijah and Elias both showed God's salvation to those who sought it whether they were Jewish or Samaritan, or something else.  God is not bound by human laws or thoughts.  Jesus was challenging how they believed.  It was dangerous.  Look at our own history in the United States to civil rights leaders and presidents who challenged the way people have thought:  Martin Luther King, Jr., Bobby Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy.  Perhaps these correlations will help make sense a little more of today's reading.  It is also striking too that Jesus never returned to Nazareth after this.  Their hearts were too closed for him to fill it. 

Mark 3: 31-35 My Brothers and Sisters

In today's Gospel we have an interesting interplay with the question, "Who are my mother and my brothers and my sisters?"  Some excavations of areas in Jesus' time homes have shown them to be clustered around an open space, what we would consider a shared yard, similar to what is seen in Syria and other countries today.  Those who shared would be considered family, like brothers and sisters, and parents.  Also the word for brother or sister was the same one for cousin.  There are many who would argue that Jesus had actual brothers and sisters, but it would negate the need for Mary to travel around the countryside with Jesus, or the need for Jesus to entrust her to the Apostle John's care on the cross.  Perhaps we can't see the forest for the tree.  In other words, we are looking at details instead of taking a step back and looking at the meaning.

Do we not form our own little families by taking friends and adopting them as family?  Isn't it common to make a best friend and aunt or uncle to our children because we are so close to them?  This is how we are to him in our relationship, and how we are in relation to God as his adopted sons and daughters.  What a privilege!  In Jesus' words, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”