Bellarmine University
“Is It Too Good To Be True?”
Rev. Ronald Knott
September 21, 2014
He gave everybody a full days pay.
Matthew 20
Of all the parables of Jesus, this is one of my very favorites. A parable is a little made-up story to make a point about God. Jesus came to reveal God and because his audience was made up of simple people, he made up little pointed stories as a way to get his message across, to help them understand something they didn’t know by comparing it to something they did know.
The point that Jesus makes about God here is that God is nuts about us. The hero in this little parable is a vineyard owner. His listeners were familiar with vineyard owners, but the one in Jesus’ story seems a little nuts. You know what he does? He gives all his workers, even those who came in at quitting time, a full days pay no matter how much or how little they work for him.
Jesus wants his audience to know that God is like that, he is nuts about us. He loves everybody 100% regardless of how much or how little we have done for him!
There were two different audiences listening to Jesus and he wants both to hear him. He speaks to the “religious types,” the ones who kept all the rules and the “non-religious types” who couldn’t, wouldn’t or hadn’t kept the rules. This message outraged the “religious types” who thought that God should love them more because of all they had done for God. To them it was bad news. It was unfair. The “non-religious types” were bowled over to hear that God loved them with all his heart, in spite of the fact that they had done so little for God. To them it was good news. It was not about fairness, but generosity.
If Jesus wanted us to know that God loves us no matter how much or little we do for him, that is a pretty mind-blowing message. It sounds unbelievable, too good to be true. Because it sounds too good to be true, many cannot accept it. They say, he must not have meant what he said, so let us help it make sense by adding a list of “yes, buts,” playing down the radical-ness of this mind-blowing “good news,” saying “Yes, God loves you unconditionally, but, if, when, except.”
But what if it is true, no ands, ifs and but about it. What if God did love all of us 100% no matter how much or how little we were able to do for him? We’ll it is true. This is what I believe is the central message brought to us by Jesus, Son of God. He not only said that that is true, he proved it. Before we even repented of our sins, he took our punishment. It was done for us, simply out of love, regardless of whether we loved him back.
The reason why so many religious types are threatened by this parable is their fear that if people start believing this unconditional love stuff, they will do anything damn thing they please. They believe that what people really need is the fear of God. Fear is what will keep them in line. That’s religious slavery! Paul made it clear that we were freed from the slavery of fear. What really happens, is when people finally “get” this incredible message is the opposite. They will want to change their lives. They will “hunger and thirst” for holiness is the broadest sense of the word. This “wanting to change” has been my experience of preaching this “unconditional love message” all these years!
What worries me most about our church is that we are forgetting why we do what we do. Instead of preaching and ritualizing this uplifting message in word and deed, we are overly focused on priest shortages, legal settlements, school merging, sports, picnics, ideological bickering, liturgical intricacies and church politics. We have fallen into worshipping the container and neglecting the treasure that holds it - the great news that all people are loved by an incredibly gracious God! It is this message that will renew the church, not making winners and loser of each other in some kind of jihad for orthodoxy or iconoclastic revolution. All of us in the church need to get a grip and focus on what is essential, what is basic: the incredible compassion of a hugging God.
This message has implications. Once you know that you and every other child of God is loved in this way, you begin to realize that you are part of a family, responsible to, and for, other members of the family of God. You don’t love the family of God to get God to love you, you do it because God loves you. It is a response to God’s love, not a way to earn God’s love. We don’t turn our lives around to get God to love us, our lives turn around when we know God loves us.
How about you? Do you believe the message of this parable? Do you “get it” - that God already loves you? Or do you still think you have to do something to earn that love? Do you understand that you are good enough, right now, the way you are, in God’s eyes? Good enough to be loved, nonetheless? Once you “get” that, once you accept that, once you begin to live out of that knowledge, God will slowly turn your life around. You will respond to that love and work with God to become, fully, your true self! You will begin, maybe for the first time in your life, to love God, your neighbor and yourself with all your heart.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Sunday, September 14, 2014
September 14 - Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Bellarmine University
“Take a Good Hard Look”
Rev. Ronald Knott
September 14, 2014
Serpents were biting people and many died.
So Moses made a bronze image of a serpent,
put it on a pole and made them look at it.
Numbers 21
If you have ever been in the hospital or flipped through the phone book looking for a physician, you’ve seen the image – two winged serpents wrapped around a staff. It is known as the caduceus. It has been the symbol of the American medical profession for nearly a hundred years – a decidedly odd symbol for doctors until you begin to investigate where it came from and its underlying meaning.
This ancient symbol of healing is referred to today’s first reading and the gospel. In their trek across the desert from the slavery of Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land, the People of God underwent all sorts of trials and troubles. The one mentioned today is their plague of biting winged serpents. After praying for delivery from this awful plague, God instructs Moses to make a bronze image of the same serpents, put it on a pole and invite the people to take a good hard look at it. When they looked at it hard and long, they recovered.
Now this may sound like some kind of voodoo magic, but it isn’t! It’s primitive psychology! All you future nurses, doctors, psychologists and mental health professionals, listen up! What Moses did here is still good practice! What he is saying here is that the road to healing is always through looking at the problem squarely. Failing to look at problems squarely is the best way to keep them going!
The worst thing you can do, if you have a mysterious lump on your body, is to pretend it isn’t there! You need to pay close attention to it and have a professional examine it carefully and as soon as possible. The worst thing to do is to look the other way and pretend that it isn’t there! Healing begins with noticing!
The worst thing you can do, if you are having financial problems, is to keep on spending and pretending that the problem doesn’t really exist! If you are having such problems, you need to face some hard facts and get some help as soon as possible. The worst thing to do is to look away and pretend the problem does not exist! Recovery begins with facing that which is painful to face, squarely!
The worst thing you can do, if you or one of your friends has a drinking or drug problem, is to look away and pretend that it isn’t there! Reality must be faced squarely and help must be sought as soon as possible. The worst thing to do is to look away and pretend the problem does not exist! Recovery begins with facing facts squarely! That’s why people in AA must first of all say to themselves and others, “I am an alcoholic!” before their healing can begin!
We live in a world that has avoidance down to a fine art! If we don’t like something, we look away! Because if we look at it, it means that we have to do something about it! Nowhere is it more obvious than in the energy crisis. Just drill for more oil instead of facing the facts that doing that just delays the problem!
Nowhere is it more obvious than in the collapse of the housing market, when easy loans where given out to people by greedy lenders who had little chance of paying them off, always with the hope of a government bailout, of course!
Nowhere is it more obvious than the mushrooming credit card debt, when people spend and spend when they can barely pay the interest, even using one credit card to pay the interest on another!
About four weeks ago, I was scheduled to take a nice trip to France to celebration my official retirement. I was about to get on the treadmill for my daily exercise routine when I noticed my left leg was reddish and a bit swollen, but no pain at all. I went to the internet and of course it listed several nightmarish possibilities, one of them being a blood clot. I called my doctor and he said that he didn’t think it could be that since I exercised regularly on a treadmill. His advice was the put my leg up and if it was not better the next day, go to the emergency room and have it tested. Well, the next day it was not better but I worked all day and at about 4:30 I went to Audubon Hospital emergency room. After 6 hours of waiting to get it, I almost decided to give up and go home and hope it all would go away. I decided to stick it out and finally got it tested. It was a large blood clot! They admitted me immediately. I was not allowed to get out of the hospital bed for three days, even to go to the bathroom, lest it dislodge and kill me instantly. To think I might have come home that night or got on a plane for Europe because I did not want to deal with the inconvenience of checking it out! I could be under-ground right now if I had continued in my denial!
Nowhere is denial more obvious than in our national obesity problem. Instead of facing this problem individually, every time we sit down to eat, we keep stuffing our faces with massive amounts of bad food, while we wait for that magic pill that will melt fat away as we sleep. According to Dr. Phil’s massive diet program, for the first time in our history the next generation will die younger than their parents because of obesity related problems.
Moses didn’t put it this way, but this is what he meant – all of us need to “wake up and smell the coffee” in several areas of our lives! As a culture, we are addicted to our denial. Whatever it is, we need to open our eyes and take a good hard look at reality and quit going to sleep just because it is comfortable and feels good for the moment!
And, yes, on a spiritual level, looking at Jesus dying on the cross – looking intently at it and understanding what it means – not looking away and not avoiding our responsibility in considering its implications - is the path to our eternal life as well! We must embrace our crosses and die with him if we are to rise with him to eternal life!
“Take a Good Hard Look”
Rev. Ronald Knott
September 14, 2014
Serpents were biting people and many died.
So Moses made a bronze image of a serpent,
put it on a pole and made them look at it.
Numbers 21
If you have ever been in the hospital or flipped through the phone book looking for a physician, you’ve seen the image – two winged serpents wrapped around a staff. It is known as the caduceus. It has been the symbol of the American medical profession for nearly a hundred years – a decidedly odd symbol for doctors until you begin to investigate where it came from and its underlying meaning.
This ancient symbol of healing is referred to today’s first reading and the gospel. In their trek across the desert from the slavery of Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land, the People of God underwent all sorts of trials and troubles. The one mentioned today is their plague of biting winged serpents. After praying for delivery from this awful plague, God instructs Moses to make a bronze image of the same serpents, put it on a pole and invite the people to take a good hard look at it. When they looked at it hard and long, they recovered.
Now this may sound like some kind of voodoo magic, but it isn’t! It’s primitive psychology! All you future nurses, doctors, psychologists and mental health professionals, listen up! What Moses did here is still good practice! What he is saying here is that the road to healing is always through looking at the problem squarely. Failing to look at problems squarely is the best way to keep them going!
The worst thing you can do, if you have a mysterious lump on your body, is to pretend it isn’t there! You need to pay close attention to it and have a professional examine it carefully and as soon as possible. The worst thing to do is to look the other way and pretend that it isn’t there! Healing begins with noticing!
The worst thing you can do, if you are having financial problems, is to keep on spending and pretending that the problem doesn’t really exist! If you are having such problems, you need to face some hard facts and get some help as soon as possible. The worst thing to do is to look away and pretend the problem does not exist! Recovery begins with facing that which is painful to face, squarely!
The worst thing you can do, if you or one of your friends has a drinking or drug problem, is to look away and pretend that it isn’t there! Reality must be faced squarely and help must be sought as soon as possible. The worst thing to do is to look away and pretend the problem does not exist! Recovery begins with facing facts squarely! That’s why people in AA must first of all say to themselves and others, “I am an alcoholic!” before their healing can begin!
We live in a world that has avoidance down to a fine art! If we don’t like something, we look away! Because if we look at it, it means that we have to do something about it! Nowhere is it more obvious than in the energy crisis. Just drill for more oil instead of facing the facts that doing that just delays the problem!
Nowhere is it more obvious than in the collapse of the housing market, when easy loans where given out to people by greedy lenders who had little chance of paying them off, always with the hope of a government bailout, of course!
Nowhere is it more obvious than the mushrooming credit card debt, when people spend and spend when they can barely pay the interest, even using one credit card to pay the interest on another!
About four weeks ago, I was scheduled to take a nice trip to France to celebration my official retirement. I was about to get on the treadmill for my daily exercise routine when I noticed my left leg was reddish and a bit swollen, but no pain at all. I went to the internet and of course it listed several nightmarish possibilities, one of them being a blood clot. I called my doctor and he said that he didn’t think it could be that since I exercised regularly on a treadmill. His advice was the put my leg up and if it was not better the next day, go to the emergency room and have it tested. Well, the next day it was not better but I worked all day and at about 4:30 I went to Audubon Hospital emergency room. After 6 hours of waiting to get it, I almost decided to give up and go home and hope it all would go away. I decided to stick it out and finally got it tested. It was a large blood clot! They admitted me immediately. I was not allowed to get out of the hospital bed for three days, even to go to the bathroom, lest it dislodge and kill me instantly. To think I might have come home that night or got on a plane for Europe because I did not want to deal with the inconvenience of checking it out! I could be under-ground right now if I had continued in my denial!
Nowhere is denial more obvious than in our national obesity problem. Instead of facing this problem individually, every time we sit down to eat, we keep stuffing our faces with massive amounts of bad food, while we wait for that magic pill that will melt fat away as we sleep. According to Dr. Phil’s massive diet program, for the first time in our history the next generation will die younger than their parents because of obesity related problems.
Moses didn’t put it this way, but this is what he meant – all of us need to “wake up and smell the coffee” in several areas of our lives! As a culture, we are addicted to our denial. Whatever it is, we need to open our eyes and take a good hard look at reality and quit going to sleep just because it is comfortable and feels good for the moment!
And, yes, on a spiritual level, looking at Jesus dying on the cross – looking intently at it and understanding what it means – not looking away and not avoiding our responsibility in considering its implications - is the path to our eternal life as well! We must embrace our crosses and die with him if we are to rise with him to eternal life!
Sunday, September 7, 2014
September 7 - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Bellarmine University
“Fraternal Correction”
Rev. Ronald Knott
September 7, 2014
If you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked
from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt, but I
will hold you responsible for his death.
Ezekiel 33
“Fraternal correction” is an old religious idea that has fallen out of style, but one that our readings today talk about! “Fraternal correction” is the practice of calling a brother or sister on some destructive action as a way of helping them stop doing that wrong! As you might imagine, it is extremely risky, because the one who receives the criticism almost always acts defensively. “Mind your own business,” “You’ve got a lot of room to talk,” “Who in the hell do you think you are?” are only mild forms of the backlash you might receive in response. You could end up with black eye, missing a tooth or even a former friend, in the process! John the Baptist had his head chopped of for having the nerve to tell Herod that it was not right for him to live with his brother’s wife! No wonder the idea of “fraternal correction” has gone out of style!
Regardless of how tricky it is, the Scriptures tell us that it is our obligation to correct others and others to correct us when wrong is being done! “If you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die and I will hold you responsible for his death.” Whoa! That sounds like another version of Cain’s old question to God about his brother Abel: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The answer is: “Of course, you are!”
In the gospel, Jesus gives his disciples a four stage process on how “fraternal correction” is to be done. (1) If your brother or sister is in the wrong, first have a “one on one” to discuss it. (2) If that doesn’t work, get a couple of friends together to make the appeal. (3) If that doesn’t work, get the whole faith community to make an appeal. (4) Finally, if that doesn’t work, “treat him like a Gentile or tax collector.”
It is very important to understand this 4th step. How did Jesus treat Gentiles and tax collectors? He loved them anyway! In other words, if all efforts fail, let it go and love them anyway, even if you have to get away from them!
I remember one particular event when I tried “fraternal correction.” It involved one of the few weddings that I simply refused to do! A young woman and her boyfriend, both friends of mine, were fighting like cats and dogs. There was infidelity, as well, on both sides. They came in one day and told me that they wanted to get married and asked if I would preside at the wedding. They had the crazy belief that marriage would cure for their fighting and infidelity!
It would have been easier on me to just go ahead and perform the wedding, and have them to like me, but I knew in my gut that it was not right and that it would not be good for them either. I told them I could not, in good conscience, do their wedding under the circumstances. I chose to do the right thing, not the easy thing. They left very angry at me and went to the Lutheran Church where the pastor asked no questions and performed their wedding in a few weeks. The marriage lasted six months and ended in a very messy and angry divorce. I could not stop them from hurting themselves, but I felt that I had done the loving thing, even though they did not appreciate it at the time.
I often counsel Catholic parents who have children who choose to marry out of the church. Not willing to abide by the church’s wisdom on the Sacrament of Matrimony, they sometimes choose to celebrate their marriages in civil ceremonies or in Protestant Churches. This leaves the parents in a dilemma. Do they refuse to go to the wedding and create a wall between them and their children for years to come or do they go and become accomplices in an illicit marriage, creating a scandal for other Catholics and setting a bad example for other young adults in the family? I usually counsel them to follow the advice of Jesus in today’s gospel. I tell them to let their children know, clearly and unambiguously, that they do not approve, let them know what the teachings of the church are and why we have those teachings. Then, if they choose to do it anyway, attend the wedding and try to love them anyway!
There are times when we must speak out, especially when others lives, property or reputation are at stake. We should know that it is illegal, and immoral, not to report a Columbine-like situation. We should know that is illegal, and immoral, not to report child abuse, even suspected child abuse. We should know that it is illegal, and immoral, to leave the scene of an accident without offering assistance or calling for help. We should know that we are morally and legally obligated, for the sake of the community, to “blow the whistle” in cases of gross embezzlement, grand theft, pyromania and hazardous exposure.
It is not always appropriate or advisable to confront someone personally, as in cases of suspected spouse abuse, grand theft and vandalism. In those cases, there are avenues that provide help and guarantee anonymity. Sometimes, when the situation is not life-threatening but involves close friends or family members, all we can do is speak the truth with love and let it go! Sometimes all we can do is not participate in, encourage or condone immoral behavior! That kind of silence and passivity can speak louder than words! The loving thing is not always the easy thing. The easy thing is not always the loving thing.
We are our brothers and sisters keepers. We are morally obligated to speak out, but we are obligated to speak the truth with love! The goal of “speaking out” is not to hurt, embarrass or get even, but to help the individual and to help the community. As Christians, we are called to do “fraternal correction” for each other. Turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to evil gives it an environment to grow and spread, until it inundates a community and even the world.
In the Confiteor, when we call to mind our sins, we admit to the things we have done and failed to do. The Letter of James says this, “It is a sin to know the right thing to do and not do it!” The famous Edmund Burke put it this way, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing!”
“Fraternal Correction”
Rev. Ronald Knott
September 7, 2014
If you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked
from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt, but I
will hold you responsible for his death.
Ezekiel 33
“Fraternal correction” is an old religious idea that has fallen out of style, but one that our readings today talk about! “Fraternal correction” is the practice of calling a brother or sister on some destructive action as a way of helping them stop doing that wrong! As you might imagine, it is extremely risky, because the one who receives the criticism almost always acts defensively. “Mind your own business,” “You’ve got a lot of room to talk,” “Who in the hell do you think you are?” are only mild forms of the backlash you might receive in response. You could end up with black eye, missing a tooth or even a former friend, in the process! John the Baptist had his head chopped of for having the nerve to tell Herod that it was not right for him to live with his brother’s wife! No wonder the idea of “fraternal correction” has gone out of style!
Regardless of how tricky it is, the Scriptures tell us that it is our obligation to correct others and others to correct us when wrong is being done! “If you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die and I will hold you responsible for his death.” Whoa! That sounds like another version of Cain’s old question to God about his brother Abel: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The answer is: “Of course, you are!”
In the gospel, Jesus gives his disciples a four stage process on how “fraternal correction” is to be done. (1) If your brother or sister is in the wrong, first have a “one on one” to discuss it. (2) If that doesn’t work, get a couple of friends together to make the appeal. (3) If that doesn’t work, get the whole faith community to make an appeal. (4) Finally, if that doesn’t work, “treat him like a Gentile or tax collector.”
It is very important to understand this 4th step. How did Jesus treat Gentiles and tax collectors? He loved them anyway! In other words, if all efforts fail, let it go and love them anyway, even if you have to get away from them!
I remember one particular event when I tried “fraternal correction.” It involved one of the few weddings that I simply refused to do! A young woman and her boyfriend, both friends of mine, were fighting like cats and dogs. There was infidelity, as well, on both sides. They came in one day and told me that they wanted to get married and asked if I would preside at the wedding. They had the crazy belief that marriage would cure for their fighting and infidelity!
It would have been easier on me to just go ahead and perform the wedding, and have them to like me, but I knew in my gut that it was not right and that it would not be good for them either. I told them I could not, in good conscience, do their wedding under the circumstances. I chose to do the right thing, not the easy thing. They left very angry at me and went to the Lutheran Church where the pastor asked no questions and performed their wedding in a few weeks. The marriage lasted six months and ended in a very messy and angry divorce. I could not stop them from hurting themselves, but I felt that I had done the loving thing, even though they did not appreciate it at the time.
I often counsel Catholic parents who have children who choose to marry out of the church. Not willing to abide by the church’s wisdom on the Sacrament of Matrimony, they sometimes choose to celebrate their marriages in civil ceremonies or in Protestant Churches. This leaves the parents in a dilemma. Do they refuse to go to the wedding and create a wall between them and their children for years to come or do they go and become accomplices in an illicit marriage, creating a scandal for other Catholics and setting a bad example for other young adults in the family? I usually counsel them to follow the advice of Jesus in today’s gospel. I tell them to let their children know, clearly and unambiguously, that they do not approve, let them know what the teachings of the church are and why we have those teachings. Then, if they choose to do it anyway, attend the wedding and try to love them anyway!
There are times when we must speak out, especially when others lives, property or reputation are at stake. We should know that it is illegal, and immoral, not to report a Columbine-like situation. We should know that is illegal, and immoral, not to report child abuse, even suspected child abuse. We should know that it is illegal, and immoral, to leave the scene of an accident without offering assistance or calling for help. We should know that we are morally and legally obligated, for the sake of the community, to “blow the whistle” in cases of gross embezzlement, grand theft, pyromania and hazardous exposure.
It is not always appropriate or advisable to confront someone personally, as in cases of suspected spouse abuse, grand theft and vandalism. In those cases, there are avenues that provide help and guarantee anonymity. Sometimes, when the situation is not life-threatening but involves close friends or family members, all we can do is speak the truth with love and let it go! Sometimes all we can do is not participate in, encourage or condone immoral behavior! That kind of silence and passivity can speak louder than words! The loving thing is not always the easy thing. The easy thing is not always the loving thing.
We are our brothers and sisters keepers. We are morally obligated to speak out, but we are obligated to speak the truth with love! The goal of “speaking out” is not to hurt, embarrass or get even, but to help the individual and to help the community. As Christians, we are called to do “fraternal correction” for each other. Turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to evil gives it an environment to grow and spread, until it inundates a community and even the world.
In the Confiteor, when we call to mind our sins, we admit to the things we have done and failed to do. The Letter of James says this, “It is a sin to know the right thing to do and not do it!” The famous Edmund Burke put it this way, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing!”
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