Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Lectionary: 281

Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words
has something to judge him: the word that I spoke,
it will condemn him on the last day,
because I did not speak on my own,
but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak.
And I know that his commandment is eternal life.
So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”

The Roman Catholic Church sometimes excommunicates people, but rarely. More often they excommunicate themselves. By breaking certain laws, they bring automatic excommunication upon themselves. For instance, a priest who marries without a dispensation from his ministry has put himself outside the church; as does a bishop who ordains another bishop without the Pope's permission. The Church needs no judge to rule in these cases since the penalty is immediate and automatic.

Jesus warns his listeners about bringing judgment on themselves in today’s gospel. He does not want to judge and has no need to. The word itself will condemn those who refused to listen to him.

Seeing this consequence is as painful for him as it is for us. We can warn our loved ones about the dangers of chemical abuse, adultery, greed and so forth; but when they bring the consequences down upon themselves despite our warnings, they cannot blame us for that. We suffer with them especially when they cannot feel their own pain.

I think of a Veteran who cheerfully greeted me when I met him several years ago. He did not expect his disease was fatal, and he vaguely entertained the idea of returning to the Church. He went so far as to accept my anointing and Eucharist from the Eucharistic Ministers. 

But as the consequences of his life style closed in he became progressively angrier. In the end he would neither speak to me nor receive any kind of prayer. He died a few weeks after our last visit.

I wonder about him. I don’t judge him; or if I do my judgment means nothing. His children cared for him during his last days despite some bitter memories of their upbringing. They would not judge him. And Jesus insists he was sent neither to judge nor to condemn. But I wonder. What did that Veteran finally decide? Or was it too late?