At a Distance...

Dear Friends,

A number of times in the Gospel, the phrase “at a distance” is used to describe where people stood in relationship to Jesus during His public ministry - the Gerasene demonic who lived in the cave, for example, and the ten lepers who had illnesses which also created a social stigma for them. The people whom Jesus fed on the mount came from a great distance. Jesus saw the barren fig tree at a distance. The prodigal father stood on a hilltop each day and watched hopefully for his son to appear in the distance.

But Jesus never chose to be distant from anyone who needed His love and mercy.

After Jesus was led away from the Garden of Gethsemane by the soldiers and guards sent by the high priest, Peter followed “at a distance.” Three times Peter denied knowing Jesus, but Jesus was close enough to turn and look upon Peter with love, compassion and understanding. Jesus had a way of doing away with distances.

Jesus was not distant from Peter who needed His love and mercy.

Mark, Matthew and Luke describing the scene of the crucifixion, said that the women who had followed and supported Jesus stood off at a distance. (Mt. 27.55, Mk. 15.40, Lk. 23.49) Not crumpled. They stood in silent awe of the Holy One.

John has a different take. He describes three women standing at the foot of the cross: Mary, Jesus’ mother, Mary of Cleophas, his mother’s sister and Mary Magdalen. Again standing. But not at a distance. At the foot of the cross. It would be hard to get any closer.

None of the evangelists describe any of Jesus’ male disciples as being at the scene of the crucifixion.

Passiontide is coming in two weeks. Where will you be? Where will I be? Will we be off at a distance, lacking any interest in coming closer? Will we stand apart because we don’t know that we can come any closer? Will we crumple? Or will we stand in awe at what God has done for us?

On the cross, Jesus was not distant from anyone who needed His love and mercy? Remember Dismas, the good thief? He was closest of all.

How will we turn toward Holy Week? From a distance or closer each day? Will we be at the Good Friday Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion? If we can’t, can we at least linger over the Passion narrative in the Gospel of John?

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Cleansing of the Temple

Dear Friends, 

What are we to make of this scene in today’s Gospel? For the Scribes and Pharisees present, it became a cause for Jesus’ death. 

But what about us here today? Do we stand at a distance and view these happenings as if on a video? Or shall we walk with Jesus up the royal steps, across an open courtyard to stand next to Him at the entrance of the Court of Gentiles, i.e. as far as non-Jews can go.  

At first glance, standing there beside Jesus, we might not be conscious of the inappropriateness of what we see and hear and smell. It looks like an ordinary marketplace to us. 

The Court of Gentiles is indeed a marketplace. Sheep and oxen are herded in so that the rich can buy them for sacrifice. There are also doves available for the poor to purchase. It’s all so convenient! 

Haggling goes on. Deals are struck and the shady make out very well. Money changers hand over acceptable shekels in exchange for the hated Roman coins and money from foreign lands. 

The noise is constant and intense. 

Maybe our reaction to what we experience standing next to Jesus is distasteful, but we shrug our shoulders. Let someone else deal with this mess. It has nothing to do with me. We would pass it by, like litter on a highway. 

But what we see spread out before us is part of the culture of the times. Goods are easily accessible, and God does not seem to be in the mix. 

Whatever has happened to the sense in the people that hear God’s presence is celebrated? Here, people come to recommit themselves to live by the Word of God as is told in today’s first reading. It was as though people ceased to understand that what God wants is mercy, not sacrifice. 

Maybe we are not sure what to think as we stand there with Jesus, but He knows what to think and how to act. Jesus moves through the courtyard with all the energy of a vigorous man in His prime, convinced of the rightness of what He is doing. Frenzy is created among the bigger animals. Jesus releases the doves and topples tables, littering valuable coins across the dirty floor. 

Jesus knows there will be consequences for His actions, but Jesus does not waver. 

He does not waver as our savior either. He invites us to cleanse the temple of our own lives as we move toward Holy Week and Easter. What and who have allowed into our temple uninvited or perhaps casually invited into our temple that distract us from deepening faith and compassion toward others? 

Have we reduced worship to a set of externals without engaging our minds and hearts? 

In our own temple, can we shut off the outside noise of our culture and be quiet before God? Can we find peace in the embrace of God? 

Can we? 

Do we want to? 

What does Jesus see and do as He stands at the entrance of our personal temples? 

~ Sister Joan Sobala 

The Bends of Life

Dear Friends,  

Take a long look at the images above. In every case, someone or something bends. How about us? Would we fit into the page of images? Are we rigid or flexible? Do we bend when we need to learn more, become more, love more? Or have we come to accept that there is only one way to be and that is with strict adherence to a set of rules which we internalized at some point in our lives? Each of us can point to certain rigidities. What have you learned from yours? Have you chosen to retain them or release them? 

When given a choice, do we bend or not? Standing erect mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually is in many ways a good thing. (Luke 21.28) But standing erect could be a place from which to observe but not interact. To interact, we must bend/flex. A person who is self-centered has a hard time being flexible. 

It takes a certain courage to bend toward God in our midst. God is seldom “up there.” God is more often in the world around us.  

Some of the people Jesus encounters in the Gospel were bent over, not by their own choice. The woman with the hemorrhage, the bent over woman, cripples, the emotionally drained. 

Not all bending is toward God or toward life. The phrase “bent cop” denotes a police officer who has succumbed to bribery, greed, other vices. Bent can refer to misshapen and therefore useless, too. We know the phrase, “I get bent out of shape when….” 

Bending and brokenness are not commensurate. We fear being broken. Bending does not necessarily lead to brokenness, but it may – or a branch may break off. Trees need to be pruned. So do we. 

In this short blog, let’s consider only one more thought. This Lenten time can be seen as a road with a series of bends. What are our tools for the road to Easter? 

For one thing, don’t just watch your feet. If we watch our feet only, we risk missing what is around us. Cross-country skiers are taught to look ahead, read the signs of the terrain and adjust their stride accordingly. The bent over woman couldn’t see Jesus’ face. All she saw was her feet and maybe His. But remember that Jesus had a thing for feet. 

On the road, we have decisions to make. Do we follow the road that others have laid out or do we blaze our own trail? Our Lenten challenge is to decide when to follow and when to set our own direction. At some point, do we need a guide? Do we even allow anyone to guide us? Do we perceive God-with-us or do we feel alone on the road? 

Finally, at times we walk with others around the bend in the road, sometimes by their choice, sometimes ours, sometimes happenstance. Any of these moments call for respect for each other’s course as well as our own.  

However we approach the Lenten road that leads beyond the bend, let’s not predetermine the outcome for ourselves. Easter is, after all, the Great Feast of Surprises. 

~ Sister Joan Sobala