Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin

Lectionary: 390

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!

For if the mighty deeds done in your midst

had been done in Tyre and Sidon,

they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes.

But I tell you, it will be more tolerable

for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.

Some biblical scholars say that Jesus proclaimed the immanent coming of the Kingdom of God, but his disciples preached about Jesus. They insinuate that the Church misinterpreted Jesus’s message from the beginning. And worse, since we don’t understand what Jesus meant by “the kingdom of God” or “the kingdom of heaven,” his message is lost. Clearly, it was never a political, geographic, or economic event. It had no hierarchy, bureaucracy, army, or organization to speak of. The disciples couldn’t preach about the phrase since it meant little to them and less to the people they addressed. So they spoke of Jesus instead.

That’s an odd reading of scripture, without any point, end, or aim. Where would that interpretation take us? Perhaps these critics believe the Church will just disengage its efforts, dismantle its organizations, and turn its churches into museums of an irrelevant past. 

If Jesus did not announce himself as the disciples did, he was pointing to a very deep reality. He had not yet been crucified or raised; he could not claim the allegiance of all creation. “All authority in heaven and earth” had not been given to him.

Eric Hoffer, an American philosopher, in his book, The True Believer, has pointed to the zealotry of the religious mind that idolizes human beings. Writing soon after the Second World War, he reflected upon the career of Adolf Hitler and the madness of National Socialism (Nazis.) In times of destabilizing change, stressed people are apt to abandon their own principles of law and individual rights. They surrender their freedom to a messianic character who swears he can deliver them from uncertainty and chaos.  He has little to offer but revenge against enemies and his personal charm, but they support him. Hoffer saw the same fanaticism in elements of Christianity. 

Before his passion and death, Jesus could not make such promises. After his resurrection, he invites us to follow him through death into life. Unlike an ideological dictator, he does not promise stability, prosperity, or security, much less comfort, pleasure, and ease. He does not offer a way around guilt, shame, grief, disgrace, or death.

He does promise integrity and the knowledge of truth to those who are willing to admit their sin and turn to the gospel. His threats – as we hear in today’s gospel – are as serious as his promises.

There are many who don’t suppose they should or must accept Jesus’s invitation. They are satisfied with what they have and need nothing more. They are confident that much will be added to their excessive wealth; they do not suppose that what little virtue they have will be taken from them. And they pretend shock and horror when they see the inevitable results of their attitude. Like Pontius Pilate washing his hands of Jesus’s death, they take no responsibility for endless violence, the waste of human potential, and the destruction of life on Earth. Clinging to their vision of “good,” they suppose no “evil” will come to them.

They do not hear the warning: “Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the nether world.”