Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

 Lectionary: 472

“I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.
But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.

Recently, as I was carried away by the thrill of preaching to a live congregation in a full chapel -- I had few such opportunities in the VA hospital -- I declared, "As I read the Bible I find both threats and promises. For every promise there is threat; and for every threat, there is a promise. The Lord is true to his word."

I find that pattern again in today's gospel. 

I have heard -- and I suppose most of us have heard -- preachers reassure us that there is no hell, that the Lord or his apostle is kidding about that; that our all-good God would not send anyone to hell forever! We have been reassured that overwrought preachers are only using hyperbole when they preach fire and brimstone.

But we all know certain truths: consequences are real, and the past cannot be changed. As the Veterans would remind me, "You cannot unfire a gun." Many of us have suffered hell on earth, and often for our own sins. We did something stupid and we endured the consequences. We could not wish the pain away, or pretend it wasn't there. Sometimes it went on for months or years; it seemed both endless and as real as a heart attack.

During the same homily, I suggested to the congregation, "If you want to lose a night of sleep, read the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy. It's framed as God's threats against a sinful Jerusalem -- the city that was supposed to be holy -- but the Divine Author actually describes what had already happened to Jerusalem when the Babylonians captured and razed God's holy city. The Divine Author put in the mouth of Moses a threat which had already been fulfilled.  

During the last third of the twentieth century, many pastors -- Catholic and Protestant -- found they were working with traumatized adults who had suffered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse as children. Many Veterans of World War II had worked out their PTSD and spiritual injury on their hapless wives and children. A harmless accident like a broken ashtray or a misplaced shoe sometimes evoked savage punishment. Their homes were never safe and sacred images were often used to bludgeon the helpless. 

When preachers and catechists heard these stories they could not speak of God as the Father without insisting that "Jesus's Abba is not like your father." Words of reassurance and comfort were needed, and the healing word of God annulled outrageous threats of deeply troubled warriors. 

Unfortunately, the United States has seen a resurgence of evil in the 21st century that seemed unthinkable in the halcyon days of the Pax Americana. Donald Trump's Big Lie with innumerable variations has been woven into American discourse. Thousands accept parody religions like Q-Anon, Odinism, and Scientology. They believe that so long as truth is malleable they are innocent of wrongdoing. They can "believe" anything they want since there is no truth.

With the onset of this troubling new age, I have heard the threats in the Bible as well as the promises. Both are good news to God's faithful anawim, despite the redolence of sulfur in some awful words. God's poor look for salvation and vindication. Their hope must be fulfilled, their lying accusers must be shamed. 

We do not find, in Jesus's parable of the rich man and Lazarus, a parenthetical remark insisting that, "...you know, Hell is just a metaphor." It seemed quite real to the Savior and to the Pharisees who heard his story. 

We live with the hope that God's just and merciful kingdom might be established soon, and very soon. We hope that we might be included in the roster of the saints on that day, even as we acknowledge our unworthiness. We pray that Wisdom might reveal to the doomed, the stupid, and the foolish the sovereignty of Truth, and that they might join us before the Day of Judgement.