Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 432

They were all amazed and said to one another,
"What is there about his word?
For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."

There is poignant irony in Saint Luke's observation that the demons recognize the Lord and loudly call him out, while the clueless people of God -- those to whom the Lord has been sent, those who should have been waiting with eager anticipation the coming of the Messiah -- wonder, "What is there about his word?"

The question begs an answer, but people respond with idle speculation and useless nonsense. Inevitably backyard gossips and popular pundits develop their own theories about Jesus. Their opinions will only reflect the hardened ideas they formed long ago. They learn nothing from the encounter with Jesus or the questions he raises. They have answers before they're asked. Their sophistries echo nothing but conventional wisdom -- stuff that everybody knows already. 

There is an answer and the Evangelist gives it to those willing to learn something new and unexpected. It's rooted in the history and traditions of God's people, but largely forgotten by the same favored people. It is available to everyone who would take the time to know it. As Jesus explained so carefully to his opponents in John's Gospel, 

"Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad." 

If anything, the challenge of today is worse than what Jesus met, for the ignorance of Christians and Catholics seems abysmal. A technocratic society, enamored of the Next Big Thing, has little interest in history, tradition, theology, or philosophy; and only a passing interest in art. Schools spend millions on their extramural athletic programs, and waste their resources on politically hot movements like homosexuality and trans, but churn out illiterates who cannot write a sentence or read a book. Encountering a miracle, few people suppose that it's a wonderful work of God; they scratch their heads and wait for a godlike scientist to explain it. 

Their Christian religion often announces, "Jesus is the answer!" but only to broken individuals who have been wasted by a consumer economy. It doesn't challenge the faithful to sacrifice their entitlements, pay their taxes, trust their neighbors, and live simply. If anyone is hungry for the word of God, they don't want more than ten minutes of it during a Sunday mass. They don't attend religious studies or theology classes. 

When the Church announces the gospel they wonder, "What is there about his word?" but cannot suppose it comes from God or means anything to the 21st century. 

 We cannot afford to dumb down religion any longer. Adults must return to the classroom and learn their faith. As I bide my time in the confessional, I realize the Second Vatican Council has never reached that isolated chamber. Adults confess their sins like second graders. Many need spiritual direction but they neither ask for it nor want it; they don't know it exists for them, or that their faith might grow in wisdom and grace. 

Certainly there are opportunities online, but they are no substitute for the face-to-face encounter of individuals searching for meaning, foundation, and purpose. The tide will turn when we're ready to leave our guns at home to meet strangers and hear the Voice of God.

As we begin reading the Gospel of Luke in these last months of 2023, we will go with Jesus to find out who we are in God's sight, and what he has to say to us.