Jesus was a Jew.
His Jewishness was integral to his entire being,
and his
first followers had no problem with it.
Starting with Constantine,
though,
Christians began to hide that fact.
The change begins to show up
in art
as Jesus' family get blond hair and blue eyes.
The crucifixion
images begin to show Jesus
wearing a loincloth to hide the uncomfortable
fact
that he had been circumcised,
as all Jewish boys were—and still
are—on the eighth day.
The apostles morph into handsome western
Europeans,
except for Judas who takes on caricatured Jewish features
and
the yellow clothes that Jews were made to
wear.
_____________________________________
The current issue of
Smithsonian
describes the discovery of an ancient synagogue in
Magdala,
the fishing village that was probably
the home of Mary of
Magdala.
The many discoveries brought to light
by the excavation of this
synagogue and the surrounding area,
“solidified the portrait of Jesus
as a
Jew preaching to other Jews.”
Excavations in the nearby villages of Nazareth
and Bethsaida,
along with the history of the area,
give us new insights
about the times Jesus lived in
and the cultures that surrounded
him.
_____________________________________
Who was this person, this Jesus
from Nazareth?
He was, first of all, a faithful Jew.
He was a Jew living
in the midst of turmoil and oppression.
He grew in wisdom, age, and
grace
to be a good man,
a prayerful mystic who took God seriously.
And,
following the teachings of his Jewish faith,
he grew to have the courage to
say out loud
what was obvious to the ordinary people in the countryside: God
is
not like the Roman emperor,
who declares himself a god over us.
God
is not like the Temple officials,
who set down burdensome rules for
us.
God is love.
_____________________________________
Today we
celebrate Jesus' baptism,
and we find that it's an epiphany story—
another
example of the manifestation of God among us—
and it reveals a truth about
all of us,
the truth that spirituality has to be lived to make it
real.
Jesus didn't suddenly become a different person
on the day he was
baptized.
He answered the call that had been growing in him.
He committed
himself unconditionally
to living his life in keeping with what Judaism
taught:
he saw himself as made in the image and likeness of God,
literally
a son of God, beloved by God and called to live in
love.
_____________________________________
Jesus was compelled by his
experience of oneness with God
to speak the truth he had come to
understand.
The people who heard him were inspired
by his teaching that
everyone, here and now, is beloved;
each of us is a child of God.
Each of
us is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Each of us is commissioned to show
God
in our selves and our
world.
_____________________________________
When Jesus committed himself
to serve God above all else,
it was not a commitment to suffer and
die.
It was a commitment
to follow God's command to love
unconditionally,
and that meant doing justice.
Jesus' commitment
threatened people with power and authority
in both the religion and the
government.
_____________________________________
The choice to live in
love and do justice
continues to threaten people who hold power and
authority.
Pope Francis' push for the care of creation is opposed
by those
who have misused their power and authority
to use people and abuse the
environment.
This week President Obama's executive orders
aimed at
reducing gun deaths
brought vicious statements
from the National Rifle
Association members
who profit from guns
and from members of
Congress
who depend on NRA contributions for their political
campaigns.
There's a very long list of people
who gave their lives trying
to do justice,
some of them well-known like Oscar Romero, Maura
Clarke,
Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan,
others known only to
their families
who grieve their “disappearance.”
Still, the way of Jesus
of Nazareth prevails.
It lives on in every whistleblower
who puts the
common good before personal gain.
It lives on in every person, Christian or
not,
who does justice in the world.
As Luke writes in today's passage from
the Acts of the Apostles,
“any person of any nationality
who fears God and
does what is right
is acceptable to God.”
Any person!
Jews and
Muslims,
Sikhs and Buddhists and Baha’i,
agnostics and atheists.
Any
person!
Even Christians!
You and
me!
_____________________________________
Here we are at the beginning of
the new year,
and our path is clear.
Isaiah gives us the outline
of
what Jesus understood and acted on.
Endowed with the Spirit,
like him we
are called to bring justice to the nations,
to serve the cause of
right;
to open the eyes of the blind;
to free captives from prison;
to
bring light to the world.
_____________________________________
It's a
tall order.
Some of you will fill it by tending to the sick and the
dying.
Some will plant trees.
Or tend children and grandchildren,
your
own or your neighbors
or those of people you have never met.
Or give to
soup kitchens and food pantries
and efforts to settle Syrian refugees
or
get trafficked women and children off the streets
and into a safe
place.
Some of you will donate blood, or tutor, or register
voters.
Whatever piece of justice each of you decides to do this year
may
bring opposition from those who profit by oppression.
But, thanks be to you
and to God, you'll do it anyway.
--
Holy Spirit Catholic
Community
Saturdays at 4:30 p.m.
Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
at 3925 West
Central Avenue (Washington Church)
www.holyspirittoledo.org
Rev.
Dr. Bev Bingle, Pastor
Mailing address: 3156 Doyle Street, Toledo, OH
43608-2006
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