The response to anger, communal and personal, is the Good News of Jesus Christ

Posted on December 11th 2011 in Weekly messages

The tidal wave of anger seems unstoppable, whether it be the summer riots, the outpourings of anger on public transport, the evidence of road rage and the ‘days of rage’ proclaimed by extremists. It is hard to discern any meaningful purpose to any of this other than pointing to the inability of fragile egos unable to countenance that they are not the centre of the universe. Despite the attempts of various commentators to explain away this anger as the consequence of social inequality and the stresses of contemporary life, it is shocking to watch and worse to experience. However, this is not just a problem for others. Even the most passive person can be roused. Everyone has their red button. Often we can shock ourselves at the flash of anger that occurs like lightning.

From where does this anger emerge? It precedes the understanding of right or wrong, and emerges from deep within us. The best way to understand this is to think of it as the pride of life, with the emphasis on ‘my life to be achieved my way’. Adam and Eve were roused to eat the fruit of the tree in the garden with the incipient anger of someone not told the full reason.

The power of the Gospel is that it addresses the source of this anger. The Gospel provides another vision to life, the life of joy or, in the words of St Paul, ‘Be happy, pray constantly, give thanks’. This joy is anchored in the three different comings of Jesus Christ that envelop all Christian life; the first Christmas, the present moment and at the consummation of history. All human life can be enveloped in this joy. It is always experienced as a liberation. The prophet Isaiah gives the outlines of this new joy. This outline becomes the manifesto proclaimed for the first time by Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth.

The essence of Christianity is to accept that only Jesus Christ can communicate this joy and achieve the necessary transformation. The grace of the Sacrament of Baptism begins the long conversion that progressively removes the webs of anger that enfold each person, and remove the blockages that thwart the emergence of a true humanity.

This process can never take place without human co-operation. This co-operation has been set out in the ministry of John the Baptist. His message comes in two parts, first the negative, the necessity of becoming un-self-important. The fragile ego which thinks itself the boss will have no space for anyone else including Christ.

The positive message was to make straight the way of the Lord. To his first listeners this would have resonated with their collective memory of the Exodus and the return from Exile.  Here the Israelites learnt the oneness and otherness of God, and where they acquired their sense of being a chosen people. The same is true for us. The answer maybe is to relive the freedom of the beginning again; the time at college, the first pay cheque, those first years as a newly married couple. To relive the joy gives a sound foundation to ask the questions as to whence the complexity arose, and the webs of anger, thwarted ambition and fragile egos that emerged. The Gospel is not about being care free or irresponsible. It gives back what we have always desired, but the cares of life, the spurious sophistication of contemporary life and stubbornness of sin made us think that such a vision was only a transitory experience. Pray constantly – just say thank you to God.

The Passion: Part 2: The trial before Annas and Caiaphas c18:12-27

Posted on December 4th 2011 in St. John's Gospel

The individual scenes that make up the Passion Narratives in the four Gospels differ in many ways between themselves that it becomes impossible to write just one detailed account. The basic narrative is the same but the details differ with each Evangelist. St John does not include the two points of the trials mentioned in the other Gospels, that of messiahship and that of blasphemy. The so-called trials in front of Annas and Caiaphas must have been special occasions as there is no other record of such courts meeting at night. The very fact that Jesus was arrested privately at night demonstrates the religious leaders’ fear of Him and intimates the irregularity of the situation. Caiaphas’ intentions stated earlier are now being realised: ‘it is better for one man to die for the people’.

St John’s description of the interrogation emphasises the sharp contrast between Jesus’ open testimony and the denials of Peter. Jesus does not deny He has been teaching, but His teaching has always been quite open, mostly where the Jews gathered. Christianity has never been a mystery religion passed on through secret teachings and rituals. The faith has always been transmitted orally, and the Gospels, about the identity of Jesus and His teaching, are the fruit of an oral tradition.  The risen Jesus will send the Holy Spirit at Easter, but now Jesus continues His emphasis on the foundational role of the Apostles, those chosen by Him.

Almost simultaneously, Peter denies knowing Jesus and uses the opposite to Jesus’ language when, in answer to a question, he stated ‘I am not’. Symbolically Peter is standing in the artificial lights brought by the servants to arrest Jesus, and warming Himself by the artificial fire. The light and heat were real enough but, compared with the real light and truth, they pale into insignificance. Jesus knew His weakness, and confirms as he predicted that they would all be scattered.   

The choice of Peter to lead the Apostles in their post-resurrection mission and His denial sets up the final scene of the Gospel, when the risen Jesus asks Peter; ‘Do you love me?’ (To be continued).

The call of John the Baptist to prepare a way can so easily fall on deaf ears.

Posted on December 4th 2011 in Weekly messages

The relentlessly depressing news over the economy and the ramifications of crisis over the single currency looks to have blunted many peoples’ celebrations this Christmas. It is hard to discern that Christmas Day is only three weeks away. Perhaps these dismal circumstances might be turned to a spiritual advantage, and that the consolation offered through the Prophet Isaiah and the Good News announced in St Mark’s Gospel are the work of God alone. This is not to celebrate economic malaise, or shrinking incomes as a positive good, but the Christian faith can only be lived in the circumstances within which one finds oneself, and not in a land of wishful thinking.

The Prophet Isaiah wrote in times of political turmoil. The Babylonian exile had unexpectedly ended with the destruction of that kingdom by the Persians in 536 BC. The tribes of the former Southern Kingdom, Judah, were free to return to Jerusalem and the Promised Land, but many who had accommodated themselves to life on the Euphrates declined to return. Those who decided to return needed to prepare for this new Exodus to the Promised Land. Their preparation must have taken a practical turn, but the spiritual insight required is the subject of Isaiah’s prophecies. These spiritual insights become for the Christian the insights necessary to prepare for entry to the new Promised Land, not this time a geographical entity, but the universal entity, the kingdom of God. This is at heart a spiritual entity, but one always made visible and tangible through the Church and the life of its members.

The anonymous voice crying in the wilderness, pleading to the Israelites to make the necessary preparations for their return to Jerusalem, is embodied for the Christian in the person of St John the Baptist. He takes on the mantle of this voice, and his message of repentance is preached to the descendants of those who heard the Prophet Isaiah say the same words, ‘Prepare a way for the Lord’.  Along with this message comes a nuanced understanding of God, who uses His power as a shepherd gathering lambs in His arms (Is 40:11). This mysterious combination of regal power and utter tenderness will be made visible in Jesus Christ.

The prophet Isaiah must have touched the spiritual nerves of the Israelites, who recognised they were indeed living in Exile, even three generations after the Deportation to Babylon. Their consciences must have been pricked by the Prophet’s words. Likewise for ourselves, the mission of John the Baptist only ‘works’ for us if we allow our own consciences to be pricked, and so recognise how far we might have drifted away from the vision established by Jesus Christ. How this happens and in what circumstances remains unique to each person. This is our own personal drama of faith. The season of Advent is the chance to write another chapter in our spiritual biography, and once more to identify the reasons why one must listen again to the preaching of John the Baptist about ourselves in relation to the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas.