Simple Things are Best (30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A)

There are a lot of things out there that promise to simplify our lives. Many of these items also claim to make us happier, more efficient, more productive members of society. Electronics are common offenders in this area. For example, the computer, supposed to add hours to the day often drains us as we try to keep up with waves of emails, Facebook friends, and word-processing. Something that was intended to help us often needs our help with frequent debugging, defragging, anti-virus updates, and spyware maintenance. The same might be said of the smartphone. Touted as a mobile office, it rarely gives us more free time as we are beholden to every text, new email, and incoming phone call. But the strangest claims of efficiency and simplicity can be found on tv, especially the shopping channel, and tend to deal with exercise and personal fitness. Perhaps you remember the treacherous thighmaster or the bizarre shakeweight?! My favorite is the ab-belt, a modern marvel of laziness and strange science. According to the commercial, this gizmo punishes the user’s abdominal muscles better than sit-ups by sending intense electrical signals throughout the stomach region. According to the commercials, you just strap this baby on and then do whatever you like, even watch a movie, as it sculpts your midsection into perfectly defined abs that would shame a bodybuilder. 

We humans desire simplicity; we crave it. We are constantly searching for that magical thing that will make our lives easier, happier, and more efficient. That’s why we fall for these products that so often promise to simplify but rarely deliver on that pledge. That’s why we so often have garages and basements that are stuffed with junk, ..... yet we are still searching. 

Today, in the gospel, Jesus does the very thing we are looking for. He simplifies the 613 laws of the Jewish faith into two basic commandments. “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.”

You and I have heard these commandments since we were very little, so we might not think they are such a big deal. But think again to what Jesus just did. He gives the key to living the good life, a happy, wholesome, fulfilling life in terms of our relationship with God and with other people, and does so in two commandments that are so simple that any young child can remember them. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. In fact, it can’t get any more simple than that. These two things are the very least we must do to be truly joyful in this life and forever happy with God in the life to come. And these two commandments are all you have to do in order to reach heaven.

It seems too good to be true, too simple to work. Why would this be any different than the million other things that claim to simplify but then end up disappointing? The answer, of course, is found in who it is that gives us these two great commandments. Jesus is completely trustworthy; he is God, he cannot lie. And he has nothing to gain from his wise words; there is no gimmick involved, simply his desire to unite us with each other and our heavenly Father. 

But I think it is important to make one clarification. Just because Christ simplifies the whole moral code doesn’t mean that it suddenly becomes easy. In fact, its simplicity makes it more demanding! You see, the more complicated something is, the greater the chance for some leeway or loophole. Just think of our nation’s tax laws, for example. But the simpler it becomes, the less wiggle room. What you see is what you get, without nuances, qualifications, or conditions. The same is true of the two great commandments that Jesus gives to you and me. He really means that we are to love God above all things with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. And he is dead serious when he says we must love our neighbor as ourself.”

So how do we apply this to ourselves? How do these simple commandments make demands on us? Consider some of the following examples which are not in any way, an exhaustive list:

When it comes to loving God above all things, do I love him enough to get my family to Mass every weekend? Even when we have 7 games or a late night or are out of town? Or is it always God who gets the short end of the stick? Do I give generously of my income to God or do I mostly give him what I have left over after I have taken care of what I want? Do I give freely of my time and talent to God? Do I take some quality time each and every day to spend in prayer or does he simply get some time here or there when I am distracted, tired, and complaining? Do I respect the Church and seek to be obedient to her teaching? Even difficult teachings about marriage, birth control, and sexuality? Or do I think I always know best? Do I do as God has commanded me and pray for my government leaders? Do I seek his wisdom in trying to decide who to vote for - or do I vote for those who encourage me to live as if my concerns are the only ones that matter?

How about loving our neighbor as ourself? Do I have true respect for others without exception? Am I kind in the way I talk about others, including those that are different than me or who drive me crazy? Am I patient with those I interact with, even when they are annoying, needy, or downright rude? Christ’s command to love did not include any exceptions, even for these types of people! Do I allow others to have their dignity, even when I don’t feel like they deserve it? Do I in fact give myself to others out of love - or offer them only a show of courtesy concealing some other agenda? Do I further the social work of the Church by caring for the poor, the neglected, the sick and the unborn? Do I pay my taxes and accept my responsibilities towards my fellow citizen or do I lie and cheat to get ahead? Do I truly love my neighbor as myself, always and everywhere, or do only do so when it is pleasant, beneficial to me, or fits into my schedule and plans?  

The way we get to heaven is utterly simple: “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.” But it is not easy. We need God’s help every step of the way, through prayer, the sacraments, and the teaching and support of His Church. May we recommit ourselves to the two great commandments and then trust that in keeping them, we will find eternal love, peace, and happiness. 

29th Sunday in Ordinary TIme, Cycle A

If you’ve ever played the game of chess, you know the great joy and excitement that comes from planning moves for your various board pieces. You know the difficulty that is involved, as you balance deliberation, planning, and timing. You want to see at least one or two moves ahead but you don’t want to spend so much time staring at the pieces that your opponent sees your strategy. Sooner or later, when you have executed your plan and made your moves, you will experience one of two feelings. 1) you will know the exhilaration of removing key pieces of your opponents and see them grimace as their ability to defeat you dwindles, or 2) the disappointment of realizing some angle or consequence that you didn’t see and the sinking feeling that comes with the loss of some of your most powerful pieces. By far the most devastating experience is when you think you have your opponent trapped, when you believe their queen or some other crucial piece is yours, and then they not only slip out of your grasp, but they take something from you as well. The emotion can only be described as a sloppy mess of shock, disappointment, anger, and disbelief, similar to what Red Sox, Phillies, and Braves fans experienced in last couple of weeks.

This same dynamic can be seen in the gospel today. The pharisees and religious leaders of Israel are out to get Jesus. He has been driving them crazy by defying their view of God, extending forgiveness to public sinners, and challenging their view of the religion they thought they knew so well. He has called them hypocrites, liars, and challenged their authority in ways they never imagined. Jesus is becoming immensely popular and some are even thinking that he is the Chosen One of God. So they adopted a strategy and laid the perfect trap. This was a true catch-22 if one ever existed: get Jesus to answer a question where, no matter what, his answer would either offend the ruling government authority or insult the religious Jewish sensibilities of his most loyal followers. There was no escape and either way he was going to lose and lose big! Well, you just heard the question, and it was incredibly ingenious: 

“Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone's opinion, for you do not regard a person's status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?"

Jesus knew their evil intentions and said to them; “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax." The scripture then goes on to tell us that the coin is produced and Jesus asks them "WHOSE IMAGE AND INSCRIPTION IS ON THE COIN"

They reply - Caesar's

And Jesus replies with that awesome answer that leaves them speechless: "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."

What really strikes me is the strong language Jesus uses to address those who were trying to trick him. “You hypocrites !”

Hypocrisy is defined in dictionaries as the act of claiming a virtue one does not have. It comes from a word in the Greek, which had to do with theater: to play a part or to act on the stage.

In this case, the part, or role, that the Pharisees were playing was the role of the holy, and Jesus, by calling them hypocrites, suggests that they are not really people who know God, or understand his law. Rather they only know it in their heads, and act the part, rather than having it come from their hearts.

Which should lead us to ask ourselves: “Is our faith a matter of the head? The head that analyzes and categorizes and judges things? Or is our faith a matter of the heart? The heart that understands why Jesus wept, because it has experienced the joy of love and the sadness of condemnation?

         

The Pharisees are called hypocrites by Jesus, not simply because they were trying to trap him, nor because they were unloving and uncaring. No, they are called hypocrites by Jesus because they refused to go beyond what they already knew of God. You cannot really know God if you refuse to move beyond what you already know about him.

So what do we know about God? Do we know anymore about him than we did when we finished grade school, or PSR, or high school? Some of us know God hates sin and so we feel lousy all the time because we know we are sinners and do not believe that God, or anyone else for that matter, can or should love us. Others of us know that God loves and forgives sinners, and so we feel confident and never really question our actions because we believe that God will overlook any so-called "small" mistakes we make now that we are his followers.

The first group tries to traps God in a box of judgement, the second attempts to trap Him in a box of forgiveness. Neither group, unless their minds and hearts are open, can let the real God both judge and forgive them. Neither group really experiences the fullness of God. They trap God by their own understandings and therefore end up with only a shadow of what they should have. Sadly, they play a spiritual role, rather than live a spiritual life.

Now, we might not think that we lay the same sort of trap for Christ as the pharisees did, but is this entirely true? Haven’t we all played the game where we present God with a similar ultimatum: if you love me, grant my prayer. If you are truly God, find me a job, or save my marriage, or fix my troublesome child? Lord, if you expect me to believe you and follow you, then arrange things the way I think they should be.

So many of us, in fact, all of us in one way or another, want to divide God and the world God has made into easy-to-grasp categories. We take Jesus' answer to the question about the census tax, for example, and try to figure out what is Caesar's and what is God's. Most of us look at it in terms of what is the least I can do to get by. This simply isn’t enough. Instead, we should be asking “what can I do to show my love?”  We have to do more, otherwise we will lose each and every time.

In conclusion, I think it is good for us to go back to the chess analogy. Our final goal is to get to the King. We have to be realistic and patient in that pursuit. We can’t rush in and expect to win the game in three moves. We have to take everything in stride adapting to the moves of our opponent. We also know that there will be losses. If we expect to reach the king without any sacrifices, then we will quickly lose our courage as the losses accumulate. The same can be said for us as followers of Christ. Our final goal is to reach the King of heaven and earth, the one who guides us in our relationship to both God and Caesar. We must be patient and trust that he will guide us to where we need to be, when we need to be there. There will be losses, sometimes significant and mysterious ones. But we can’t allow these to discourage us or make us lose heart. Any sacrifice suffered for Christ, pales in comparison to the glory of reaching him. So let us take heart, knowing that we are playing for God, who always has our best interests in mind. Let us be vigilant that we never make God our adversary like the pharisees. May this gospel insight encourage us to move beyond our limited view of God to a fuller, more-loving embrace of his command to “repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."