Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”
Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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There’s a story of an early Christian hermit, who dedicated his life to prayer while living in the desert. His name was Telemachus. One day while deep in meditation, Telemachus felt the Lord calling him to Rome.
So, he left his simple desert cell, made his way to Rome, and eventually to the Colosseum, where he witnessed gladiators fighting to their death, while bloodthirsty crowds cheered them on.
He was horrified.
Telemachus literally threw himself into the arena and tried physically separating one gladiator from another. Enraged, the crowds hurled stones at him until he was pounded to death.
When the emperor got word of the story, he was so moved this hermit’s sacrifice that he eventually ended the gladiator games.
Telemachus became like the mustard seed in today’s Gospel. He was a single person, but he changed an entire culture – and many lives in the process.
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That’s also the story of Jesus, whose singular death on the cross changed the course of human history.
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It’s also the story of the Church.
The Church began with twelve imperfect men and a band of women, each of whom dedicated their lives to sharing the Gospel.
Two-thousand years later, that small community of believers has exploded into more than 1 billion people around the world.
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So, what might this say to us?
God is constantly at work, but often his plans start small – with a child born in Bethlehem at Christmas, a hermit leaping into the Colosseum, a person saying “yes” to God and following him into the unknown. Suddenly, the world is changed.
May we see ourselves like tiny mustard seeds – insignificant on our own, but when empowered by grace, a force to be reckoned with.
Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath, said to the crowd in reply, “There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.” The Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering? This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?” When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated; and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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This is the last time we see Jesus in a synagogue. He knows he has captured the ire of the religious authorities. They are now starting to plot his death.
Breaking the Sabbath by healing a crippled woman only adds fuel to the fire.
As Christians – or simply people of good will – we can imagine the pain this woman endured. For 18 years, some 6,500 days of her life, she was unable to straighten her bent body.
The curvature of her spine produced tight knots in her shoulders and sharp pain in her neck, making simple tasks like getting dressed or looking up to see who’s in front of her torturous.
Making matters worse, in Jesus’ day, people often viewed physical deformity as the fruit of spiritual failure, as if this woman deserved the pain she bore.
No wonder Christ was moved with compassion.
In touching her, Jesus heals more than her spine; he publicly affirms her identity as a “daughter of Abraham,” blessing her right in front of the “religious” men who ignored her suffering.
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He also intentionally heals her on the Sabbath in order to teach us all a lesson. There are times when the laws that define our lives, even religious ones, need to be stretched, re-interpreted, or updated.
There is no higher law than charity.
If we notice our neighbor hunched over, weighed down by the pressures of life, then we are obligated to help them. Neglecting them is no different than neglecting the God who created them.
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May we do something to alleviate a neighbor “hunched over” by suffering today. Doing so is not only pleasing to God; that love also covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)
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Image credits: (1) Petrie-Flom Center (2) Facebook (3) The New Social Worker
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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While walking the streets of Calcutta, India, Mother Teresa noticed a homeless man lying on the street, so ill that death was imminent.
The ragged remnants of his clothing reeked of sour sweat caused by the hot, balmy air. Critters were nibbling at his arms and feet as people passed by him.
Given the scale of poverty in that city, people might’ve been desensitized to the man’s suffering. Maybe they felt helpless.
As she neared him, Mother Teresa became repulsed by the man’s stench as it filled her lungs. Slowly, she found herself moving to the other side of the street like everyone else.
But within a matter of seconds, her heart was seized with compassion and regret. Turning back and looking at him, she remembered Christ’s sacred words, “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me.”
Suddenly, she saw two people lying on that hot, filthy street. An anonymous human being nearing his end, and Jesus Christ in distressing disguise, hidden beneath those rags.
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Kneeling down next to him, Mother Teresa slid her arms underneath the man’s body. He was so emaciated that she, a woman not even five feet tall, was able to pick him up and carry him to her home for the dying, just a block away.
As they arrived, the poor man looked into Mother Teresa’s eyes and breathed his last.
Although he might’ve been unwanted and abandoned by society, he died in the arms of love.
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What is love? How would you define it?
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Is it merely an emotion? Is it something we feel, like butterflies in our stomach? Is it an action? Saying “I do” at the altar? Is it putting the needs of another person first? Is it as simple as showing up and cheering for your child at their soccer game?
Love is all of these things… and more. Ultimately, it’s the fulfillment of all religion.
Taking what might be an abstract concept, Saint Paul boils love down to two simple things, “Love is patient; love is kind.”
Think about what that looks like concretely.
Love is the patience that elderly spouses show to each other as their bodies slow and ache with age.
Love is a mom or dad moving deliberately at their child’s pace, allowing their child the space to grow, to change, and to question without pressure.
Love is paying attention; listening to the other side; responding thoughtfully to challenges, instead of reacting impulsively.
Love is saying, “I’m sorry.”
Love is showing up on time; being patient on the road; celebrating another person’s success; offering a word of affirmation; calling your parents; smiling at a stranger; sending a thank you note; holding the door open; visiting the sick; and forgiving wrongdoing.
Love is a thousand little acts of patience and kindness extended towards our neighbor. When added up, it satisfies one of the two great commandments of religion.
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Today, many people believe that’s enough. Often, I hear parents say, “All I want to do is to raise my child to be a good person.” While that is a good intention, it is not quite enough. Our mission as Christians is even more challenging.
In today’s Gospel, the Lord commands us, not only to love our neighbor as ourselves, but also to love God with all of our mind, heart, and soul. While these two commandments are intertwined, they are also distinct.
Love of God begins with acknowledging Him as the source of all life; accepting that everything and everyone belongs to him.
It means praising God in times of joy; seeking his consolation in times of sorrow; spending time with him in silence; persevering through the dryness of prayer; and worshiping him as a community of faith on Sundays.
It means choosing Him over lesser loves; speaking out; standing up; studying his Word; allowing that Word to guide our conscience and shape our daily decisions; and sharing that Word with others.
It means giving until it hurts; building smaller, not bigger barns; recognizing our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit; seeing beyond the brevity of this life, and living accordingly.
It means surrender; acceptance; praise; mercy; hope; serial forgiveness; and allowing his divine love to be poured into our hearts so that we become, in the words of Mother Teresa: “A pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.”
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This is what separated Mother Teresa from every other person who passed by that man dying on the street. She was neither the strongest, nor the tallest, nor the most educated, nor the most successful.
But she was the one filled with the greatest amount of love, because she not only acknowledged that man’s existence, she also recognized the One who created him. Then, like the Good Samaritan, she turned around and cared for him.
What does it look like for us to do the same? To not only love our neighbor, but also to love the God who created us all?
Such love satisfies all of religion.
Go, and do likewise.
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Image credits: (1) God and Neighbor, WordPress (2) Mother Teresa Charitable Trust (3) Heaven on Wheels
