Daily Retreat 10/19/08
2008 Oct 19 SUN: TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Is 45: 1. 4-6/ Ps 95(96): 1. 3. 4-5. 7-8. 9-10 (7b)/ 1 Thes 1: 1-5b/ Mt 22: 15-21
From today’s readings: “ I am the LORD, there is no other.... Give the Lord glory and honor.... For our gospel did not come to you in word alone.... The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech.....”
Irrefutable Answers
The enemies of Jesus tried, many times during His earthly life, to trap Him in His speech, to get Him to say something publicly which was politically revolutionary, theologically contradictory, or personally unsavory. But Jesus was always deftly able to provide an irrefutable answer which, while never skirting the issue, nonetheless established a reasonable yet disturbingly tight nuance. That’s why His answers turned the tables on His opponents - He challenged the legitimacy of the very dilemmas they had posed to trip Him in His speech.
For instance, when the Pharisees queried Jesus about the legitimacy of paying taxes to Caesar, they figured that any answer Jesus gave would lead to His demise. If He naively had objected to Roman taxes, Jesus would have immediately been apprehended as a revolutionist. But if He had resignedly endorsed the Roman taxes, Jesus would have been dismissed by the Jewish people as a turncoat. Worst of all, if He tried to duck the issue with a cowardly “No comment,” Jesus would have lowered Himself to the level of a common politician.
So His answer comes as a thunderbolt, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but give to God what is God’s!” Not only does Jesus sidestep the Pharisees’ pitfalls, but He even clearly challenges the Pharisees (and everyone else - including you and me!) to re-examine core loyalties and priorities.
But even so, the enemies of Jesus were only silenced momentarily by the divine wisdom of His answers. For soon, they would inevitably be conspiring again to trap Him in His speech - and just as they did with Jesus, they continue to do with His Church - which is one reason why so many of the Church’s teachings are carefully worded to preserve specific nuances and essential balances.
But by ignoring those nuances, the enemies of the Church try to discredit her, just as they once tried to trap Jesus in His speech. For instance, in their attempt to undermine the Church’s opposition to abortion, detractors dishonestly label that stance as “misogynist,” as if fighting to protect the lives of baby girls (and boys) were somehow an affront to the dignity of women! Or, in misrepresenting the Church’s objections to the evil of homosexual acts, some falsely claim that the Church anathematizes homosexual persons as “sub-human.” And again, in political debates, appeals to Church teaching are dismissed as necessarily irrational, when in fact, the erosive logic of centuries of debate has established that there is nothing in Christian revelation contrary to reason - Jesus Himself, with His irrefutable answers, assures us of that!
Is 45: 1. 4-6/ Ps 95(96): 1. 3. 4-5. 7-8. 9-10 (7b)/ 1 Thes 1: 1-5b/ Mt 22: 15-21
From today’s readings: “ I am the LORD, there is no other.... Give the Lord glory and honor.... For our gospel did not come to you in word alone.... The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech.....”
Irrefutable Answers
The enemies of Jesus tried, many times during His earthly life, to trap Him in His speech, to get Him to say something publicly which was politically revolutionary, theologically contradictory, or personally unsavory. But Jesus was always deftly able to provide an irrefutable answer which, while never skirting the issue, nonetheless established a reasonable yet disturbingly tight nuance. That’s why His answers turned the tables on His opponents - He challenged the legitimacy of the very dilemmas they had posed to trip Him in His speech.
For instance, when the Pharisees queried Jesus about the legitimacy of paying taxes to Caesar, they figured that any answer Jesus gave would lead to His demise. If He naively had objected to Roman taxes, Jesus would have immediately been apprehended as a revolutionist. But if He had resignedly endorsed the Roman taxes, Jesus would have been dismissed by the Jewish people as a turncoat. Worst of all, if He tried to duck the issue with a cowardly “No comment,” Jesus would have lowered Himself to the level of a common politician.
So His answer comes as a thunderbolt, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but give to God what is God’s!” Not only does Jesus sidestep the Pharisees’ pitfalls, but He even clearly challenges the Pharisees (and everyone else - including you and me!) to re-examine core loyalties and priorities.
But even so, the enemies of Jesus were only silenced momentarily by the divine wisdom of His answers. For soon, they would inevitably be conspiring again to trap Him in His speech - and just as they did with Jesus, they continue to do with His Church - which is one reason why so many of the Church’s teachings are carefully worded to preserve specific nuances and essential balances.
But by ignoring those nuances, the enemies of the Church try to discredit her, just as they once tried to trap Jesus in His speech. For instance, in their attempt to undermine the Church’s opposition to abortion, detractors dishonestly label that stance as “misogynist,” as if fighting to protect the lives of baby girls (and boys) were somehow an affront to the dignity of women! Or, in misrepresenting the Church’s objections to the evil of homosexual acts, some falsely claim that the Church anathematizes homosexual persons as “sub-human.” And again, in political debates, appeals to Church teaching are dismissed as necessarily irrational, when in fact, the erosive logic of centuries of debate has established that there is nothing in Christian revelation contrary to reason - Jesus Himself, with His irrefutable answers, assures us of that!
posted by FrPitstick | 10/17/2008
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