Sermons
May 14, 2017
The message the three scripture passages convey is a very modern one, “participation” in the Church is more important than the hierarchical structure. If our only contact with organized Christianity has been limited to a hierarchical structured Church, then we will find this message surprising and maybe difficult to appreciate. Our authors are not interested in encouraging us to look to a higher rung on the authority ladder in order to discover God's will in our lives. They are concerned with making certain each of us understands the dignity God has implanted in us, and this dignity is independent of any authority structure. The author of the 1st letter of St Peter (who is certainly not St Peter) addresses newly baptized Christians – and he can't be clearer: "You are God's chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light”. The text continues: “Once you were nobody. Now you are God's people” (1 Peter 2,9.10). We are to see each of us as members of the People of God, individuals whose call to minister to others is not mediated through a hierarchical structure. Such actions are rooted in God's spirit embedded in each of us. Let us have a look at the end of today’s passage from the gospel according to John. Here we see Jesus during his Last Supper discourse. And Jesus promises his followers something we often forget: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father" (John 14,12). Our life of faith is not just a matter of remembering the terrific things Jesus accomplished during his earthly ministry 2000 years ago. Jesus presumes that anyone who dares imitate him would continue his ministry after his death and resurrection. Jesus trusts all of us not only to accomplish what he achieved, but to even go beyond what he himself was able to do. The only problem is that many of us have been led through the centuries to believe that such accomplishments are for "others”, are for saints or martyrs or popes or cardinals – but not for us. Maybe some of you still know an old saying concerning the catholic church, it says: “Our role in the church is simply to pray, pay, and obey.” That is where today's passage from the Acts of the Apostles comes in. Luke describes a problem in the early community in Jerusalem. Hellenist widows think they are being short-changed "in the daily distribution" of food, they think they were given less than the correct amount on food that was due to them. “Hellenist widows”, the text says. “Hellenist” in this context, refers to Jews living now in Jerusalem who are not natives of Israel. They have spent most of their lives outside the Holy Land but have settled down now in Jerusalem. Some of them probably do not even speak Aramaic - the language the "Hebrews" speak. By nature, such a situation in a community leads to misunderstandings. But the solution the Twelve, the twelve apostles offer is not as natural as the problem. One might have expected them to decide in this case – top-down. But no, they say: “Choose seven men who are respected and wise and filled with God's Spirit. We will put them in charge of these things.” (Acts 6,3) Notice the names of the seven: "Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas of Antioch, a convert to Judaism." There is not a single "Hebrew" name among these seven. Every name is Greek. They are Hellenists. This way, in the Acts of the Apostles, Luke is telling his community: "If there are problems among you, those who have the problems should solve the problems. Do not expect a solution to be decreed from above.” If each of us really is as important as Jesus - and our early Christian authors believe we are! - then our problems should always be solved from below, by those who have a Spirit which will help them in this process. As the Church, as a Church community like All Saints, we certainly still have a long way to go in the future - a long way before we get back to how it was "in the beginning" of our Christian communities.
Fr. Wolfgang Felber, SJ
May 7, 2017
Two sentences of today’s gospel really got my attention: “Jesus told the people this story - but they did not understand what he was talking about” and “I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest”, have life “abundantly”. Are we familiar with the image of the shepherd and of the sheep? Those who accompanied Jesus didn’t understand him, do we understand what Jesus wanted to say? It’s all about “life”, about food, about security – then, in the time of Jesus, the ideal image for life, food, security were the sheep and the shepherd: the sheep looking for food and for shelter, the shepherd protecting them from thieves and from wild animals. We certainly do have similar experiences, but in the 21st century we have other images, probably more complex and more varied. For us today, we may say that we as human beings are dependent from others when it comes to our lives. This interdependence is nothing new, but we speak of it in a different way than Jesus. Jesus promises us “life in abundance” – this is more than just more food, more security. When I studied “political economics”, I learnt about the “pig principle”: “more is better than less” – more goods, more money, more security, more food, people always want more… - maybe this is what makes our economies run. But, this is not what Jesus wants to offer, the life in abundance Jesus offers has to do with human relations, with our relation to him and with our relation to others. We depend upon others – and the bible text illustrates this when it speaks of the sheep, of the shepherd, of thieves and of people destroying what belongs to others. We depend upon others – so we have a responsibility for one another. We are responsible for the lives of others, for their dignity, for their welfare. Indeed, our Christian faith is political – because the main topic of politics is life, or at least should be “life in dignity” for all. As Christians, we can never take our distance from politics – and the Church as such is also always political. The text in the gospel of John is political. It deals with our responsibility for each other. But then there is also a religious dimension in this text. The religious leaders want to influence the life of others. They want to give to others the rules and directions and laws, and they judge others. And here Jesus opposes them fundamentally. Jesus says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”. Jesus is the one who offers the way to the Father, not the religious leaders. I would like to invite you to reflect about some questions the text puts to us as individuals and as a community. What responsibility do I, do we have for the lives of others, and how do I see my role: am I more like an open door or do I send others away? Am I a door for others towards life, a door to God – or am I like a thief: only taking, never giving? My longing for life, for life here in this world and for life beyond this world, what has this longing got to do with Jesus, with my faith? A part of the answer is what we do together in this Eucharist: share bread and wine, share Christ’s body and blood in this meal so as to become one body. Another part of the answer could be the hospitality reception after this Eucharist, could be the meal you will have at home – share what gives us life: bread and wine like in the Eucharist, any meal we take together. Unity in the community, in the family is certainly also a sign for this life we all long for, this life in abundance Jesus promises to all of us. Let us not forget this aspect of belonging to Jesus and his friends, of being sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus when we have lunch together today.
Fr. Wolfgang Felber, SJ
April 30, 2017
Two disciples are on the way to Emmaus. Luke mentions only one by name: Cleopas. Who was the other? Many Bible experts suggest that Luke invites the reader to see himself in the second anonymous disciple. So, let us listen to the story imagining that it is me who is walking with Jesus and Cleopas on the road, on the road of my life. The unknown stranger invites the downcast disciples to tell him what happened. He asks me to tell him what happens in my life. Do I do this? I probably think: He knows everything about me anyway. So why tell him? But Jesus apparently wants to hear it from me. Don’t I tell my marriage partner or my intimate friends what makes up the fabric of my life? Sharing experiences is a sign of trust. Why not share my life with the invisible companion with whom I have made a “covenant”, a pact of friendship in baptism? He expects me to be open him and tell him what makes me sad or glad, what are my plans and hopes, and also what are my failures, disappointments and pains. Jesus listens to Cleopas and to all his disciples with genuine interest and great patience. But he does not stop there. He explains to them why things happen using the scriptures. He gives a new meaning to events. We often cannot make sense of tragic events, just as the disciples could not understand what happened on Good Friday. Whenever we are hit by some disaster, we say: How could God allow this to happen? Why did it happen to me? What did I do wrong to deserve such treatment? At best, we quarrel with God, in the worst case we dismiss him from our heart because he has not fulfilled our expectations. Jesus does not give the disciples a long theological explanation about the meaning of suffering. He simply says: “The Christ had to suffer and so enter into his glory”. His suffering and death was a necessity. Suffering is not something outside of God’s plans, it is part of it. Why? Because something has to die in us, if we are to share God’s life. Our body has to die to be transformed into a glorious body. Jesus explains to the disciples the meaning of God’s plan through the scriptures. He Himself found the meaning of his own fate in the poems of the suffering servant of Yahweh in the prophet Isaja. It is the Word of God that makes sense of our lives, even the tough bits of it. A prayerful reading of scripture helps us to find an answer for our questions and a key to place the puzzling pieces of life into the larger context of God’s plan. The story of the disciples ends with an overwhelming moment of joy when they recognise the risen Jesus by the way he breaks the bread for them. By God’s grace we, too, may have experienced moments of deep joy in God’s presence. But such moments do not last. For the rest of our journey we have to open our hearts to the one who is always with us, listen to his word through the scriptures and so find the strength to carry on the journey.
Fr. Wolfgang Schonecke, MAfr