Friday of the Third Week of Lent

 Lectionary: 241

And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him, 
"You are not far from the Kingdom of God."
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Following today's exchange between Jesus and the scribe, Saint Mark describes the Lord's attack on his opponents; they refuse to recognize him as a prophet. A second teaching mocks their hypocrisy as they love the recognition and honors they're given in public. The chapter ends when he describes the widow's mite as greater than the wealthiest donation.

Their attacks cease because his teachings have summarized their ethical code and his own. Every Jew, Christian, and human being should love the Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. What more is there to say? Who could argue with that? 

Jesus's teaching fulfills the Law, the Prophets, and the psalms. Despite their hesitation, doubt, and fears they cannot accuse him of changing a letter, or the smallest part of a letter of the Law. Nor should Christians suppose his critique of the Jewish religion in the Jerusalem of his day was a reform. His attacks echoed the complaints of innumerable prophets from Moses to this day, among Jews and Christians of every time and place. 

The Catholic Church and most Christian denominations have been reconsidering their attitudes, teachings, and behavior about Jews since the revelations of World War II. Whatever they might have suspected before the Allied invasion, neither the western governments nor the press knew of 44,000 death camps and their liquidation of human beings. No one could comprehend murder on an industrial scale; the word genocide had not yet been coined. Was this the aim of all Christian hopes and dreams? Was this, in an irreligious world, the final solution to differing religions? 

Some Christians claim a difference between antisemitism and anti-Jewishness, but it seems a difference without a distinction, and convinces no one. We must look deeper.

How does one fulfill the Law and Prophets and Psalms? Who would compare themself to another and say they're more accomplished and nearer to the kingdom of God than anyone? They might argue that their particular religious practices, after a thorough examination of innumerable Jewish sects, Islamic divisions, Christian denominations, and Catholic factions, theirs is the truest. They might point to themselves, a half-dozen pious persons, and say. "We fulfill the Law!" But they'd be laughed off the dais. 

At their best, Christians and Jews might stand as prophetic reminders of the other's failure, with Jesus standing between us as both prophet and reconciler. He alone fulfills the Law and the Prophets, but he was not sent to change a word, letter, or smallest part of a letter of the Law. And anyone who claims they're on his side, as opposed to those who are not, is only a fool. 

One time, as a young adult friar, I attended a "Vocation Week" of potential seminarians here at Mount Saint Francis. Being young and frisky a half-dozen or more adolescent boys ganged up on me, attempting to bring me to ground. Standing head and shoulders over them, and pretty strong despite my skinny frame, I tossed them about like rag dolls. Eventually one boy decided he was on my side, and would fight with me, I threw him on the pile with the others. 

Blessings on your day!

Were today's Christian to stand with Jesus, claiming to be on his side against the Jews, Jesus would certainly lay into him more severely than anyone else. In the Gospels, his criticism of his own disciples is relentless. He needs no allies in his quarrel with us, and has none. 

Lent calls us to repentance. We must consider our sins and those of our ancestors. How have I inherited and practiced the antisemitism, racism, sexism, and despicable attitudes of my parents, relatives, teachers, neighbors, and friends? Where should I begin to atone? How can I make reparation for our sins against God's providence, justice, and mercy?