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Daily Scripture

+ 4th Week in Lent

He comes off smelling like a rose – Moses, that is.

Readings: Exodus 32:7-14 Psalm 106:19-23 John 5:31-47

But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God: “Lord” he said, “why should your wrath blaze out against this people of yours whom you brought out of the land of Egypt… Leave your burning wrath; relent and do not bring this disaster upon your people.” [Exodus 32:11-12]

No wonder God has such a band image even among Catholics! Poor God! Moses comes out smelling like a rose in this reading. Doesn’t seem fair to God.

Of course, this is a ‘cropped’ image of God. Much as we crop a digital photo to the size of our screen, the author of the Book of Exodus and other authors of Old Testament literature portrayed a wrathful God in the face of a sinful nation with the hope that they would wake up to their evil ways. Moses was their hero, a kind of interlocutor who interpreted the behavior of the people before God with the hope that mercy might prevail over the just punishment that they brought upon themselves. We might say that Moses was into ‘damage control’ before God.

This is an anthropomorphic (fancy word for ‘human’ image of God – inadequate at best.

In the scheme of life, it is we who bring ‘wrath’ upon ourselves. We don’t need God to do it. “What goes around comes around.” I often assign this ‘mantra’ as a penance within the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The wrongs we impose on others will come back to haunt us, sooner or later.

It is not God who has to relent; it is we who must face the music that we ourselves have scripted.

My God is a God of justice but justice and mercy meet in my God. How do I know this? It’s written on every page of the four Gospels.

The Grace of Good Friday

Friday March 21, 2008

Jesus is dead!

Banks are closed.
No mail delivery today.
Off to Nassau and the islands for a break?
or instead to Disneyworld?

Color Easter eggs but not before 3:00 o’clock.

Collegians off to Florida beaches
for sun, sex and a bottle of booze.
Easter break.

Artist’s rendition of the crucified
in milk chocolate,
on sale at the local candy store.

Nightly news competing with ‘U-Tube’ catering to viewers
telling them what they want to know
rather than what they need to know.

The news is rarely good,
especially on ‘Good Friday.’

Easter bunnies stand on the sidelines of life
watching ‘the Holy One’ pass,
wondering what it’s all about.
No, not the execution,
but life itself.
“What’s it all about, Alfie?”

What IS the grace of the day?

Liturgists remind us that it’s not a feast day
and certainly not a holiday.
It’s a commemoration,
an observance
on which Christians over the world
contemplate and ponder the death of ‘the Christ.’

But the death of the ‘Anointed’ is not on the cross.
It’s at the mall
on the battlefields
and in oil fields
across the world,
in skyscrapers,
on Wall Street
in brothels and casinos that rival ancient shrines
with their gold and silver arches and
and even in basilicas—elegant theaters of ceremony
and carefully staged rituals

Preachers pointing to the large crucifix
mouthing the words of scripture
shouting out to the assembly:
“God sent his son to die” and
“you put him on the cross!”

No, God did not send his son to die;
He sent him to live
and no,
I didn’t put him there,
though I do confess that
I might have been in the crowd that
called for the release of Barabbas,
not for the death of Jesus.
I am innocent of that man’s blood.
I’m no terrorist!
I’m a Christian!

I stood with Peter;
I was frightened,
scared to death that they would haul us all
into the courtyard
and tie us to a cross too.

Yes, it’s all about denial.
Death to the prophet!
It is always expedient that one person die
for the sake of the many.

The grace of the day
is in the air
everywhere.

Be attentive,
stay awake lest you miss the point
not of his death
but of his life.