Jesus is a courageous man. He consistently stands up to those oppressing others and himself. He seems comfortable in doing so. An Old Testament figure, Jeremiah, is sometimes likened to Jesus, described as a man who is also oppressed and yet courageous. Does an accurate comparison exist between Jesus and Jeremiah as to their being comfortable with courage? Does an accurate comparison exist between a courageous Jesus and us?
Through media, business, social values and more, the U.S. culture promotes pleasure, contentment, convenience. These are self-centered values of comfort and are all well and good – so long as ALL are well and good. If we know that all people are not well and good will we not feel discomfort? How are we to express discomfort within a culture that so thoroughly values comfort – all the while it actually spreads discomfort? The U.S. is a hypocritical culture. It impoverishes and starves and aborts and lethally injects and wages wars but is made uncomfortable by their images and so hides or manipulates them. It is thus easy to avoid the images and the truths they reveal. Shall we shrink back, manipulated into little lives of polite deference to oppression because it is so pleasantly camouflaged? Shall we do the opposite and force discomfort in return – like Jeremiah does in this Sunday’s first reading? Jeremiah has exposed the hypocrisy of his culture and has had discomfort and worse forced upon him. Unfortunately, he is now afraid and prays for that very discomfort and worse to beset his oppressors, all of which he would like to see; Yahweh “let me witness the vengeance you take on them.” Jeremiah’s actions are an Old Testimony to bravado; fearful personal hardship changed to agreeable personal comfort at the expense of others. Jesus’ New Testimony to courage is a very different thing. He first encourages people beyond any fear of, and therefore any deference to or violent reactions against, oppressors – “Fear no one.” Jesus then encourages people to live in the comfort of courage. Seemingly odd, it is simply living in the love of oppressors. For peaceful revolutionaries, discomfort and worse from oppressors is to be expected and is not an obstacle. It is another opportunity to love and therefore be courageous. There are no external obstacles to our being loving or to our being courageous, even with oppressors. There are only internal obstacles. This explains why Jesus goes on to say, “do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” The only one who can destroy both our body and our soul in the pit of deadliness is ourselves. We do this when we believe some other option than courageous love is our witness. The world needs people who are comfortable with courageous love.
“We, unaccustomed to courage … live coiled in shells of loneliness until love … comes into our sight to liberate us into life. Love arrives and in its train come ecstasies … if we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls. We are weaned from our timidity In the flush of love’s light we dare be brave And suddenly we see that love costs all we are and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free.” (Touched by An Angel – Maya Angelou)
Prayer: Holy Spirit, en-courage us to be comfortable with love amidst conflict.
Question: What are acts of courage calling out to me from this culture?
June 25, 2017 Gospel Matthew 10:26-33 Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time