Reflection - Images

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/082516.cfm

1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Matthew 24:42-51

My imagination is almost always awakened with curiosity when circumstances seduce my thoughts and beget images of what others have encountered. Several years ago I read a book titled PrairieErth. The entire book was about Chase County, Kansas, just southwest of Kansas City. Chase County is part of an immense region known as the "Tall Grass Prairie." It is a land of low rolling hills, and, just a few centuries ago, was part of that territory where the buffalo roamed. When the first Europeans arrived, there were no trees. On a regular basis, the few seedlings that had sprouted, were consumed in prairie grass fires that would devour countless acres of this simple land. It is said that the grasses were so tall that a man had to be on horseback to view the horizon. And the view from horseback revealed nothing but a limitless expanse. The lack of trees and the gentle undulation of the land gave the appearance of a great, green inland ocean. Some of the new settlers were overwhelmed by the land's lack of visual definition and displayed serious symptoms of anxiety as they were confronting with the need to cross it.. 

My mind's eye loves to catch a glimpse of such images.

Reading Paul's letters to the early Christians often arouses my imagination in a similar manner; and I try to understand the faith experiences of those first century people. Although Paul was known as the Apostle to the Gentiles,  as a practical matter he would approach those in the Jewish diaspora first. After all, they were the most likely to comprehend the entirety of the religious tradition from which he spoke. His references to a Messiah would need little explanation for them. Besides, they were still the Chosen People and deserved the opportunity to accept Jesus as the Christ.

Nevertheless, both Jews and Gentiles became Christians; and when I reflect on their situation, particularly that of the Gentiles, I am astounded at what I see. These people were not confronted with a developed theology. The issues were much simpler: a living God verses a dead god, a God of the cosmos or a god of a specific locale, a God who provides for his people or a god who needs to be fed, a God who is singularly and uniquely one or a god who was simply one among many. Except for the accretion of Jewish laws, this faith was fairly straightforward.

But Paul and the Apostles were now on the scene to add a new dimension to the ancient Jewish teachings; and all but Paul claimed to be eye witnesses of the events they would relate.

•      There was this holy man who lived among us.
  
•      For three years we traveled with him as he taught the people throughout the land of Israel, and particularly in the region of the Sea of Galilee.
  
•      He brought a wondrous message.
  
•      He kept proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was here, at hand, within.
  
•      He performed marvelous deeds in the name of the Lord, our God, just like the Jewish prophets from long ago.
  
•      He even cast out demonic spirits.
  
•      After preaching just a few years he was put to death. The Romans did it, but our leaders were active behind the scenes. Let me tell you how they killed him.
  
•      They fabricated evidence against him.
  
•      They accused him before a Roman procurator.
  
•      He was scourged by Roman soldiers and mocked with a 'regal' crown of thorns.
  
•      He was made to carry a cross to the place of crucifixion where they nailed him, hand and foot, to that tortured tree. 
  
•      And he died. 
  
•      We buried him in a tomb late on a Friday afternoon.
  
•      We hid for fear the Jewish leaders would seek to crucify us as well.
  
•      On the third day, that next Sunday morning, he came to us.
  
•      He was alive; and not just alive but gloriously transformed. 
  
•      He stayed with us for a while, revealing himself to many who were his disciples during his years of ministry.
  
•      Then he left us. He told us he was returning to his Father.
  
•      We now know that he is the Son of God, the savior of the world. 
  
•      We now know that he has been raised above every thing in heaven and every thing on earth. 
  
•      You should believe in him.
  

How do you respond to a message like that?

The teaching was not nearly so simple as it had been before. It would be more than three hundred years before Christians reached a definitive statement on the relationship of the Father and the Son. It would be even longer before there was an agreed declaration as to where the Holy Spirit comes from. And these are just the opening pages to theological debates that would follow. But for those living in the first century, the complexities of the theological debates were largely unknown. They were simply asked to believe: to believe that Jesus was the expected Messiah of the Jews, that through him we all have forgiveness of sin, that he is the savior who has reconciled mankind with God, that we are called to live in God's Kingdom now, that Jesus has made it possible to have eternal life.

These Christians began living their faith as a minority among minorities. Three hundred years later they were still a minority in the Roman Empire. Theirs was a commitment that had no predecessor in their family's tradition or their cultural lifestyle. They stepped into this new life practically assured that some level of persecution would follow. That persecution may have been little more than raised eyebrows or it may have been one that resulted in death. Yet, they would cling to that belief in Jesus in spite of all hardships. They were the blessed who had not seen and had yet believed.

Reflecting on these Christians who preceded us so many years ago makes me search my own heart and the strength of my own faith. I bow to those who, through the power of the Spirit, entered into the unchartered territory of faith in Jesus, the Christ. I stand in awe when I acknowledge, as I must, that only their openness to the Spirit of Christ could have made it possible for their faith to be such a fortress within them.

     Send forth your Spirit Lord.

     Renew the face of the earth.

     Break the barriers I have erected to hide from your presence.

     Let me know the power of your love.