Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 145

He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?"
They replied, "Caesar's."
At that he said to them,
"Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God."

It's probably a sign of seniority when you declare, "There's no joke like an old joke!" But I always chuckle when I hear the Lord's reply to his opponents. It came so quickly and easily. If he didn't follow it with, "Doh!" it's only because he was born too soon. 

We can well imagine the consternation of Pharisees. Their obsessive pursuit of Jesus along with their refusal to hear anything true, just, or meritorious in his preaching, made them stupid; or foolish to use the word preferred in scripture. 

And we remember that the Bible links foolishness with wickedness; for the foolish act wickedly and the wicked act stupidly. They neither study the word of God nor ask for God's spirit to guide them. And they're often humiliated by their blind impulsiveness. When they persist in their idiocy, they end up in disgrace, courtrooms, jails, and prisons. As Johnny Cash sang of an old buddy, "He's in the jailhouse now."

But God's wisdom does not come cheap or easy. We're warned of that in Jesus's parable of the sower and his seed. A lot of people hear the word of God. But many ignore it altogether; some are so distracted they forget about it; some accept it with great enthusiasm as the latest fad, and then lose it when it starts to require courage and commitment. Not many flourish and produce substantial fruit after years of study, prayer, work, and sacrifice. 

At one time, the Conventual Franciscans welcomed Catholic men of every sort to join our community. We asked some of them to study and prepare for ordination; others were asked only to accept the demands of religious life and serve among us. Many religious brothers had little education, and knew little about our religion. A few were simple-minded souls given to the church by their families. When the world provided lots of employment for low-skilled workers, we asked our brothers to cook, farm, or do maintenance, housekeeping, and janitorial work. They did well and the community flourished. 

But the world and society changed and there came a day when our religious brothers were asked questions they could not answer. And worse, they offered wrong answers. Since the 1970's, new candidates to the community must study scripture and theology regardless of the work they might do. They must speak for the Church because the world expects it of them.

But the world continues to change and today's Catholics are also being asked religious questions, and many cannot answer them intelligently. Everyone must study our scriptures, our traditions, our history, and our faith. You can no longer say, "Go ask the priest." because we're not generating enough priests, deacons, sisters, or brothers. 

An eighth grade Catholic education no longer cuts it. Nor does Catholic high school. We're being asked why does the Church oppose abortion and birth control, gay marriage and "transitioning" gender. They want to know the purpose of celibacy, and why won't the Church ordain women. Ill-informed answers and made-up replies are worse than ignorance. They mislead and do harm. Souls are lost.

Saint Paul spoke of this kind of distress in his First Letter to Timothy:

I repeat the request I made of you when I was on my way to Macedonia, that you... instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine or to concern themselves with myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the plan of God that is to be received by faith.

The aim of instruction is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, wanting to be teachers of the law, but without understanding either what they are saying or what they assert with such assurance.

The Catholic Church, like our Savior, speaks a prophetic word to the nations. Everyone of us speaks for the Church, and for our God, to our neighbors, colleagues, strangers, and friends. They have honest questions; they seek answers. We owe them the truth. 

We cannot afford not to know the truth. We must not act stupidly or foolishly in this brave new world. We have work -- intellectual work -- to do. Let's get to it.