The scene of the Transfiguration is like something out of a classic movie. One stands brilliantly, radiant-faced atop a mountain, gleaming in white garments. His changed appearance astounds three bewildered friends. A pair of heroes from centuries past emerge and enter into conversation with the One who is full of light. Then an overwhelming cloud envelops them all, with a thundering voice speaking from within the cloud.
If I were your financial advisor, one of my standard questions to you would be “What is your risk tolerance?” Are you pretty cautious and conservative or do you have a growth outlook on the stock market and you are open to being aggressive with your risk tolerance. Conventional wisdom has it that the older we get, we should be more conservative with our finances and protect our assets. Now it would be fake news if I were your financial advisor. But the real question I would ask you is what is your spiritual risk tolerance?
As I reflect on today’s Gospel of the parable of the wheat and the weeds, my conviction is we live in a very weedy world. Isn’t it true, there is much too much violence, hatred, power-grabbing, self-centeredness in the world today? In the land we call Holy, their leaders are hurling missiles back and forth at each other killing innocent people. We have to look no further than ourselves to recognize too much self-centeredness and not enough God-centeredness and other-centeredness. Where have the weeds come from? In the Gospel, the servants said to the master: Do you want us to go and pull them up? He replied: “No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until the harvest.”
I struggle with this question, despite hearing at every Mass, “Go in Peace, Glorifying the Lord by your Life” In this week’s Gospel, Matthew provides a plethora of ways to ponder how willing we are to give up the things of this world for the ultimate gift of being glorifying disciples of the Lord in the Kingdom of God on earth and for all eternity. Matthew offers treasure, pearls, fish – I could give up buried treasure, pearls, and fish. Somehow, I don’t think that’s the point of the parables.
Matthew's Gospel today has Jesus teaching the people about God's Kingdom, the marvelous garden of Christian souls that He's cultivating and in which He invites us to be cooperators. So many people are hungry, their souls yearning for something more than just earthly food and drink that they crowd around him in a wild throng. Jesus, not wanting to be overcome by the crowds, moves from the beach into a boat and addresses the crowds on the shore. He stands literally broadcasting, throwing the seeds of God's Kingdom to all who will hear, irrigating their souls and the soil that surrounds them with the heavenly dew that is His Good, Good Word: a word that we are loved by God. We matter to God. We delight God as we respond to Him. We are waited for, yearned for, remembered by our loving God. And Jesus shares this good word to all who will hear.
In this week’s gospel, Jesus speaks to the crowd the parable of the Sower of Seeds. The Sower casts a multitude of seeds over a variety of soils: only the seeds that fall on the rich soil flourish. Jesus ends his parable saying “whoever has ears ought to hear.” Matthew included this story in his Gospel to speak to an agricultural community, but how do we understand this parable today? Just as our lawns require tending to stay lush and green through the seasons, we must tend the soil of our hearts so that we are able to see and hear God’s presence in our lives. Our ability to hear God’s voice depends on patient, regular attention, and growth may be gradual and hard to see.
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.” “I will give you rest.” The Lord is inviting us to rest in Him. Is it like the Fourth of July which we had a cookout, a parade, and fireworks? Is it like taking a vacation in which we get a chance to relax and travel? Is it like retirement when we can withdraw from a hectic schedule and enjoy leisure time? Is it just taking a nap when we are feeling especially pressured and or exhausted? “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” To rest in Jesus is not to flop passively into a state of inactivity or to sink into an exhaustion-induced come but rather to rest purposely and actively in Him. It is to drink deeply of the Spirit of Jesus. It is not just an invitation to enjoy a restful time, but to rest in the presence of love. St Augustine wrote of our need to rest in Jesus: “Our hearts are restless, Lord, until they come to rest in you.”
“Yokes” were very important farming equipment in Jesus’ day. They made the work of oxen easier because the burden of weight was shared between two animals. But they had to fit just right to avoid harming the animals. They were tailor-made. There is a legend – some say that Jesus was himself not only a carpenter but a master yoke-maker. If this were true it sheds a whole new light on this Sunday’s Gospel when Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
“I was in prison…and you visited me.” Matthew 25:36 It is Pentecost weekend when we visit, a maximum-security men’s prison in NY. I thought my purpose was to be the hands and heart of God to these men, but what I did not expect is that I would witness a faith far deeper than my own in these “men in green.” The men refer to us as “those from the outside.” We “outsiders” truly felt the divide between this walled prison and our Rochester neighborhoods, once the gate locks behind us. But for three days we create a sanctuary in the prison gym, where the outsiders and the men in green, are Christians united in faith and a shared conviction: Christ’s message of love and forgiveness. I experience the Spirit profoundly, deeply, and densely.
Today we hear the conclusion of the 10th chapter of Matthew with Jesus sending his disciples off to proclaim the good news. He gives them power to cure the sick, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. But Jesus also warns the disciples that in order to complete their mission they will be faced with obstacles and touch choices. They must be willing to always put their faith first even if it comes at the cost of being at odds with family or friends. These are tough words, tough choices for the disciples then. But these are also tough words, tough choices meant for us today.