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Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 150
Reading 1 Sir 35:12-14, 16-18
The LORD is a God of justice,
who knows no favorites.
Though not unduly partial toward the weak,
yet he hears the cry of the oppressed.
The Lord is not deaf to the wail of the orphan,
nor to the widow when she pours out her complaint.
The one who serves God willingly is heard;
his petition reaches the heavens.
The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds;
it does not rest till it reaches its goal,
nor will it withdraw till the Most High responds,
judges justly and affirms the right,
and the Lord will not delay.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23
R. (7a) The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
When the just cry out, the Lord hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
The LORD redeems the lives of his servants;
no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Reading 2 2 Tm 4:6-8, 16-18
Beloved:
I am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge,
will award to me on that day, and not only to me,
but to all who have longed for his appearance.
At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf,
but everyone deserted me.
May it not be held against them!
But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength,
so that through me the proclamation might be completed
and all the Gentiles might hear it.
And I was rescued from the lion's mouth.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat
and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.
To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Alleluia 2 Cor 5:19
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
and entrusting to us the message of salvation.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Lk 18:9-14
Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
“Two people went up to the temple area to pray;
one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,
‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity --
greedy, dishonest, adulterous -- or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’
But the tax collector stood off at a distance
and would not even raise his eyes to heaven
but beat his breast and prayed,
‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
ENTITLEMENT - THE BIGGEST LIE OF ALL
Spring is half over and we're still getting bouts of wintry wind and rain. Weather cycles are like that, never quite as stable as you'd wish. The liturgical cycle is perhaps so stable as to be boring, and we need to find ways to stir the porridge. Christmas, Easter and Pentecost are exciting enough, with their focus on God's coming, divine healing at work in human affairs, the giving of power for us to be healers of the world as well. Then the pattern settles down and drowsiness sets in. We've heard all the stories all too many times.
Except we haven't. Even if we got a jolt from some gospel lesson once, in the meantime we've moved on in age and experience. The metanoia at the start is a requirement every year, every season, every week, every day. Housework cannot be left to 'spring cleaning'. To benefit from our spiritual efforts we need to ask new questions that will uncover ingrained attitudes deep in the structures of our being, attitudes we only slowly come to recognise as the years go by. Take the sense of entitlement, for example.
Complaints are common about the excessive 'entitlement' that politicians enjoy, not only in their generous salaries but in post-retirement benefits. If you're so inclined you can read an interesting article in The Age. The closing paragraphs make the point:
For people who are supposed to represent the people, most politicians show an extraordinary inability to see what most people think is a fair and reasonable use of their money.
And therein lies the problem – at the heart of all of this grubby greed is not just the system of entitlements, but the sense of entitlement that goes with it.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/greed-is-what-lies-at-the-heart-of-mps-entitlements-20161016-gs3ghc.html
Another striking example comes to my attention as I reflect on this issue. This time it is abuse that stems from a sense of entitlement that is endemic in our world. The abusers are characterised as "the ones who think they've got the power because they've got the badge", as a woman says of fellow officers who brutally manhandled her in the police cells in Ballarat. [Link] http://www.theage.com.au/national/investigations/im-in-guantanamo-bay-this-isnt-ballarat-policewoman-was-charged-after-ordeal-20161017-gs45u2.html
Commentators are characterising the American election as 'a referendum on male entitlement'. Luke's gospel portrays entitlement as the lie, the ingrained falsehood that corrupts our human behaviour. It is the notion that one's title overrides the need to consider justice, mercy and respect towards others.
Today's reading gives the third of three examples. If we go back to the first, we have a very wealthy man, feasting every day while a beggar starves on his very doorstep; the second is a corrupt judge, or generally any public official, with no respect for man or god; the third, a paragon of religious virtue who proclaims himself superior to the common fellow down the back. All three see themselves entitled to their status, an entitlement that justifies their disdain and mistreatment of those 'less fortunate' than themselves.
Our Enlightenment Age has seen many entitlements exposed, stripped down and thrown out, most of the heavy lifting being done not by christians renewing the world along the lines of Jeshua's teaching and example, but by rationalists and atheists who have seen that the church establishment is holding down the people in utter betrayal of the gospel's values. In today's story, the well-dressed, well-endowed and learned pharisee might well represent the church hierarchy composed of clerks/clerics/clergy (all the same word, with a general connotation of 'those in the know because they can read and write, while others don't count'). Being "qualified", they consider themselves entitled to privileged status, honours, wealth and the comfort it provides, and power over others, accountable to no one, though this last is not admitted.
Our searching questions reveal that Jeshua divides people into the 'good' and the 'bad' in these three parables, which are the beatitudes in reverse, like photographic negatives. The poor, the battlers, the abused, and those screaming for justice are the ones who get YHWH's nod. They turn out to be not 'less fortunate' but 'blessed'. The self-indulgent rich, the conceited power-brokers, along with the self-righteous pontificating religious get no credit points from him.
In this world of unresolved divisions, if you're not puffed up with self-righteous entitlement you're likely to be intimidated by those who are - and Jeshua says God is on the side of the intimidated, the oppressed. But does Jeshua provide a solution to this conflict that infects every society, opposition between the haves and have nots, and the inevitable sense of entitlement that seeps into the mental and physical tissue of the titled?
It is common to hear regret that the church's Social Justice teaching is not more effective. I wonder is the problem that one ought teach by example, and only sometimes also in words. The institutional church is paralysed by the disease of all institutions; self-preservation stymies its function as catalyst for change and its bad example undermines its best teachings.
Did Jeshua teach that our problems could be solved by joining an institution? I don't think so. Did he really intend to set up an institution that would bring all the warring factions, all the dichotomies of existence into harmony under one human leader exerting command with divine sanction? Clearly not.
The Jeshua way, I am convinced, is one-by-one, each individual taking stock of his and her situations, opportunities and attitudes, and sorting themselves out. If discord is caused by people - while the State must have control to keep minimum standards of harmony and peace - the real solution to social discord is for each person to become unified, integrated, clear of mind and clean of heart, in a word, true. Any other way is mere bandaid therapy or repressive control. The only effective strategy for saving humankind from itself is for each one of us to practice the necessary metanoia, with hope.
These sayings of Jeshua are not unique to his teaching. They are part of the ageless wisdom, reflected also in the first reading but shared in all cultures. Within each of us the sense of entitlement tends to smother the true voice of the humble self.
Michael Robotham in Close Your Eyes has a little story from the Cherokee tradition:
A grandfather tells his grandson about the two wolves that are fighting inside each of us. One wolf is full of anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, false pride and ego. The other is full of joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, truth and compassion. The grandson asks, 'Which wolf will win?' And his grandfather answers, 'The one you feed.'
VERSION II
Am I entitled to this?
The gospels are not really a blue-print or framework to build society on. They work at the personal level, and the kingdom of God will come through the Spirit's action working through us, one to one. So my question must always be, what does this mean to me?
Today's parable happens to be parallel with those of the two Sundays just gone, three stories of the same structure, with the same message set in different situations. The first was about a very wealthy man, feasting every day while a beggar starves on his very doorstep; the second was about a corrupt judge, or generally any public official, with no respect for man or god, dismissive of the rightful claims of a victim of injustice; and in today's we have a paragon of religious virtue who proclaims himself superior to the common fellow down the back. In each story the top dog is criticised for the sense of entitlement that allows him to look down on someone else. All three see themselves entitled to their status, entitlement that justifies their disdain and mistreatment of those 'less fortunate' than themselves.
The good and the bad are both in me. I might be tempted to think these teachings are meant to identify problems in the social, economic and political world, but before I try that I must apply them to myself. Am I entitled to an easy life while some are cold and hungry? Am I entitled to exert power over others, or to see myself as better than someone else? Let's be clear, I'm not wealthy but we manage well enough on the pension; I have no power apart from my personality that I can bully others with; and I'm no longer a cleric but can still identify with the mentality of superiority that religion breeds. The trick here is for each of us to find a way to make the question pertinent to me. If I know how this snakey sense of entitlement works in me I might be able to suggest ways to help someone else sort themselves out.
We're talking about an attitude that seems okay to us, but someone suffers from it. Perhaps it will help to remember the way Jeshua taught the same, positively, early in the gospel. In the Sermon on the Mount he listed the components of a favoured life – the poor, the meek or gentle (non-aggressive types), those who mourn (damaged victims) and those who scream for justice.
All these are disenfranchised. They feel they have no entitlement to comfort or to a fair go, but Jeshua says they are the ones who get a tick of approval in his Father's eyes. As a rule they are more likely to have a clear eye and a pure heart than the self-indulgent wealthy, the cynical power-brokers or the self-righteous pontificating religious.
The rule has its exceptions, particularly when things have happened to twist the spirit and unleash a nasty vengeful self. This is recognisable, and therefore may be closer to healing than the sense of entitlement that wealth or power or piety gives, for this fake, this fraud, this lie hides behind a mask of dignity or glamour.
A healthy attitude then will not claim what is my own. The gifts we are endowed with are given, on loan in fact, and to be used with great care and respect for the gift itself and for everyone who might be touched by it. Money whether much or little, influence of any kind, and even spiritual insight are all gifts for others, as I am also defined as a person for others. My self, my identity is forged in relationships. My real title is, like Jeshua, to be for you, in whatever way that may happen to be.
After looking at my own attitude (and this is on-going, daily, the original 'work in progress') I may look more broadly at the sense of entitlement' that is corrupting the world.
Complaints are common about the excessive 'entitlement' that politicians enjoy, not only in their generous salaries but in post-retirement benefits. If you're so inclined you can read an article in The Age. The closing paragraphs make the point:
For people who are supposed to represent the people, most politicians show an extraordinary inability to see what most people think is a fair and reasonable use of their money.
And therein lies the problem – at the heart of all of this grubby greed is not just the system of entitlements, but the sense of entitlement that goes with it.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/greed-is-what-lies-at-the-heart-of-mps-entitlements-20161016-gs3ghc.html
Another example comes to my attention as I work on this. Certain abusive bullies are characterised as "the ones who think they've got the power because they've got the badge", as a woman says of fellow officers who brutally manhandled her in the police cells in Ballarat. [Link] http://www.theage.com.au/national/investigations/im-in-guantanamo-bay-this-isnt-ballarat-policewoman-was-charged-after-ordeal-20161017-gs45u2.html
Commentators are characterising the American election as 'a referendum on male entitlement'. And there's the view in which the democracies see themselves as entitled to impose their form of government on others by armed force with tactics of shock and awe.
You cannot make a better world by force.
The Jeshua way, I am convinced, is one-by-one, each individual taking stock of his and her situations, opportunities and attitudes, and sorting themselves out. If discord is caused by people - while the State must have control to keep minimum standards of harmony and peace - the real solution to social discord is for each person to become unified, integrated, clear of mind and clean of heart, in a word, true. Any other way is mere bandaid therapy or repression. The only effective strategy for saving humankind from itself is for each one of us to change our attitudes, with hope.
In conclusion I might add that these sayings of Jeshua are not unique to him. They are part of the ageless wisdom shared by all cultures as reflected in the first reading. Within each of us the sense of entitlement tends to smother the true voice of the genuine self.
Michael Robotham in Close your Eyes has a little story from the Cherokee tradition:
A grandfather tells his grandson about the two wolves that are fighting inside each of us. One wolf is full of anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, false pride and ego. The other is full of joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, truth and compassion. The grandson asks, 'Which wolf will win?' And his grandfather answers, 'The one you feed.'