Second Sunday in Ordinary Time 'A'

Sunday January 16, 2005

When Jesus Comes to Morristown

In the introduction to his most recent book, “When Jesus Came To Harvard—Making Moral Choices Today,” Harvey Cox, author of “The Secular City,” the most well known among his twelve other tomes, states that “despite all the sacred formulas and pious bumper stickers, and behind all the doctrines and dogmas about him, rightly understood, [the] Galilean still has a powerful, even imperative, moral significance for our times.”

For over fifteen years, Harvey Cox taught his course on “Jesus and the Moral Life” in the large theater reserved for rock concerts at Harvard. It would appear that despite opinions to the contrary, university students of any and every academic pursuit and of many religious persuasions have been at least curious about Jesus and his impact on the mores of individuals as well as religious and secular institutions and societies at large.

In a confusing world in which political rhetoric often gets mixed up with moral truths and where religious dogmas and doctrines are sometimes substituted for the Word of God, there is still a strong desire among many to know the mind and heart of Jesus, not only of the historical Jesus in his time and place but the Jesus who might appear among us today. What does it mean to follow Jesus in the face of such radically different portraits of him ranging from Jesus Christ, Superstar, Godspell, The Passion of the Christ, to name only a few?

Most scholars and preachers agree that Jesus insisted that his disciples respond to the presence of God in the “here and now.” He spoke of the “Reign of God” as something imminent, indeed actually present.

Several years ago, kids and teens were wearing WWJD—What would Jesus do? – bracelets that, alas, just another piece of jewelry. To know what Jesus would do in our time and place requires more than a catechetical understanding of the life of Jesus in his time and place. We need to “ponder” the life of Jesus using our imagination; over time, we will “know” what Jesus would say and do in our time and place – guaranteed!

We return this Sunday to ‘Ordinary Time,’ and are introduced once more to Jesus as if for the first time. In fact, we are not living in ordinary times and we never have. How do we know what Jesus would say to us who are confronted with a host of moral issues to which Jesus was never exposed? Were he to appear on the Green this afternoon saying some of the things he said two thousand years ago, few including me would probably take notice; just another eccentric on a soap box in a world of eccentrics in the soap operas of life. “The man has no common sense,” we might say. It is so much easier to relegate Jesus to the past as he is depicted in stained glass windows or in children’s catechisms.

The Commemoration of the Baptism of the Lord last Sunday took precedence over the first Sunday in Ordinary Time. The scriptural lessons this week, however, continue to reinforce the implications of Jesus’ baptism both for his disciples and for us. “Jesus is the reason for the season,” is a trite but popular phrase used to remind us that Christmas is not just a secular holiday. It is primarily a religious feast. In the words of St. Paul, Jesus is the one “in whom we live and move and have our being” now! Jesus is the reason for every season!

If we are going to follow Jesus, we need to know about him but even more importantly, we need to know him in the Biblical sense, i.e., to know him intimately as we know a spouse or a brother or a friend. This is the kind of knowledge that brings Jesus to life in our time and place. In essence, we need to become ‘partners’ with Christ.

Although each one us was empowered individually at our own baptism to continue the work of Christ, we need to look to other believers who image Jesus not just from a soap box but in their daily commitment to discipleship with Jesus. We need to look to one another for both challenge and support. When we come into this assembly and hold hands around this table literally or figuratively, we become the “Body of Christ.” His mission is our mission. He is the foundation on which our Church is established.

So, it is not enough to say that we are Christians in name. Our faith and love must show themselves in concrete deeds. In fact, we can do together what we can’t do alone. It is for this reason that we form a community so that we can make practical, the work of the Gospel. This is a legitimate ‘body politic.’

In his very excellent article entitled, “Christmas Conscience” commenting on the coming of Christmas published in the Jesuit weekly, ‘AMERICA’, John Kavanaugh, SJ asked his readers to read the entire Gospel of Matthew at one setting or, if absolutely necessary, two. I assigned this reading as a penance at the annual communal celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation at which I presided at St. Joseph on the Monday prior to Christmas. Father Kavanaugh asked his readers to read it “as if it were true.” That may sound strange but because the gospels have been subject to such a variety of interpretations ranging from the very literal to the very poetic, he thought it opportune to simply take the words at face value without reading anything into the text just to see what happens.

Naturally, I had to fulfill my own penance so I read it from start to finish in one setting. It took a little more than an hour. I came way from the table not just having had a new look at an old text but with a new understanding of the man who often slips through the cracks in my life. I have since heard similar comments from others who completed their ‘penance,” and I’m still waiting to hear from the other 450 who attended!

I think Fr. Kavanaugh is on to something. I don’t think he was suggesting that we get stuck in the literal but that we begin with the basic text before putting on our ‘What Would Jesus Do” bracelets.

I also think that Fr. Kavanaugh would join Harvey Cox in acknowledging that we need to use our imagination in applying the Jesus story to our personal and communal lives as we address the moral issues that face us in today’s world and about which Jesus said very little.

Harvey Cox makes a major point about Jesus style. In many ways, he was a disturber of the peace. He rarely gave pat answers but he engaged his listeners in a reflective process that would lead to answers.

I think the best way to say it is that we need to reestablish our partnership with Jesus within the context of the Gospels, the Church and our parish, which can only solidify our relationship with God.

In the words of Harvey Cox, we need “to bridge he gap between Jesus and ourselves. The secret lies in recovering the link between the rabbinic story-teller on the one hand and our own human imaginations on the other.” I would add that we need to do this within the context of our long historical traditions as a Church and surely within the context of our weekly gathering at this table.

I wonder what would happen if Jesus came to Morristown? Or perhaps it should be asked, “What will happen when Jesus comes to Morristown?”

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