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czwartek, 25 sierpień 2011 11:47

A few words about criticism (22A)

Maidstone, 28th August 2011

 

Dear disciples of Jesus Christ.
Probably only once in the history of the church the pope was called Satan. By God. In today’s Gospel Jesus said to Simon Peter: “Get behind me, Satan!” (Mt 16:23). Thinking about this, I’d like to say just three words concerning criticism.

1. Firstly: God is not afraid of criticism.
In the first reading prophet Jeremiah says:
You have seduced me, Lord and I have let myself be seduced; you have overpowered me: you were the stronger. (Jer 20:7 NJB). Inanother translationwe read: You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceive (NIV).
Why did God allow these words to be written?
In The Book of Psalms we read: Why do you reject my soul, LORD, and hide your face from me? (Ps 88:15) or Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Rise up! Do not reject us forever! (Ps 44:24)
In the Bible we find a lot of similar words. The people were not afraid to accuse God or to criticize him. Why did God allow these words to be written? Because God is not afraid of criticism. Because God prefers sincerity to hypocrisy. 

2. Secondly: God is not afraid of saying difficult things.
Ha said through the prophet Isaiah:
Your meetings I utterly detest; to me they are a burden I am tired of bearing. When you stretch out your hands I turn my eyes away. You may multiply your prayers, I shall not be listening. (Isa 1:15-16)
Ha said through the prophet Malachi:
'And now, priests, iIf you will not listen, if you will not sincerely resolve to glorify my name, says Yahweh Sabaoth, I shall certainly lay a curse on you and I shall curse your blessing. (Mal 2:1-2)
Even in the Gospel we can read:
Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look handsome on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of corruption.
God is not afraid of saying difficult things. God is not afraid to criticize. Why? What for? Because God prefers to save people even by hard means than to be polite at any price. Because God is like a doctor who tells patients the truth even though they don’t like it. 

3. Lastly: God teaches how to criticize constructively.
Jesus said:
Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the great log in your own? […] Take the log out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother's eye. (Mat 7:3.5)
This is the first rule. If you want to criticize others, start by criticizing yourself.

The second rule is:
If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. (Mat 18:15).

The third rule is: If we wish to criticize publicly we must keep it generally. Jesus criticized the scribes and Pharisees without singling out any individual. Jesus criticized them generally knowing that not all were wrong.

The fourth rule is: If the evil is public we can react publicly. And criticize even by name. Saint Paul wrote in his letter to Galatians:
When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong. For, until some people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to draw back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcised. (Gal 2:11-12).

The fifth rule is: Temper any criticism with love. If you don’t love, don’t criticize. Sometimes God says hard things but he loves people more than anyone. Sometime parents are forced to criticized the child but it is done with love. Saint Paul criticized Peter not because he didn’t love him or because he wanted to destroy him. Paul loved Peter, the church and the truth.

Dear disciples of Jesus Christ.
If God is not afraid of criticism why should we be? If Saint Peter was not afraid of criticism why should we be? The truth is not afraid of anything, neither the truth nor the lie.
We know that the issue of criticism is delicate. But we cannot forget that criticism is a good step towards development. Anyone who is afraid of criticism will never progress.

Dział: Sermons
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sobota, 20 sierpień 2011 15:26

Who depends on who? (21A)

Maidstone, 21st August 2011

 

Let me put two questions.

1. The first: “Who are you?” Who do people say you are?
What does your family say about you? Are you a rock?
What does your friends say about you? Are you a light?
What does your church say about you? Are you a support?
What does your country say about you? Are you a son?
Who are you for yourself?

In today’s readings Shebna is the master of the palace but he will be dismissed from his office.
Eliakim is going to be a father for to the inhabitations of Jerusalem.
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Peter is a rock and on this rock Jesus will build the Church.
Everybody is somebody but what is interesting and intriguing that in all these cases the position of the persons depends on the relationship with God. 

Do you know? Do I know?
My and your position depends on relationship with God.
“Who you are” depends on “who God is to you”.
“Who I am” depends on “who God is to me”.

We depend on God so Jesus is asking today: “Who do you say I am?” 

2. The second question is: “Who is God?”.
For Shebna God was a cruel lord who removed him from his office.
For Eliakim was a surprising giver.
For Psalmist God was wonderful so he said: “I thank you for your faithfulness and love. Your Love, o Lord, is eternal”.
For Paul God was unfathomable: “How rich are the depths of God, how deep his wisdom and knowledge”.
Some people say Jesus was John the Baptist, some Elijah and others he was one of the prophets. For Peter Jesus was the Christ.

Who is God? Who is Jesus? 
In all these cases the answer depended on the people. In a certain way we can say that God depends on people, depends on who speaks about him.

Let me show one example from the papal visit to Spain. In Thursday we could read in “The Telegraph”:
“Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Madrid to protest against a four-day visit by Pope Benedict. Participants expressed discontent over the costs of his third trip to a country struggling to exit a recession”.
And that’s all. Nothing about who really pays for the papal visit. Nothing about money brought to Spain by million young people from all over the world. Nothing about Spain’s government spokesman Jose Blanco who rejected criticism of the cost of the pope's visit. The same manipulated news I heard on BBC4 and read in London Evening Standard.
And the same kind of manipulation we see when people speak about God. Conscious or unconscious.
So where is the truth? Who is God? Who is Jesus Christ?

If we ask today: “Who is God?” we know that the answer depends on the people.
But it doesn’t mean that the Truth is relative. Not. Not at all. It means the Truth is humble.
It doesn’t mean that the Truth is uncertain. Not. Not at all. It means the Truth is challenging.
It doesn’t mean that the Truth is just for me but not necessarily for anyone else. Not. Not at all. It means we are responsible for the Truth. We are responsible for God who depends on us.
We are the window of God!
We are the Jesus Christ’s face.
We are the gate and the door of our Lord.
We are the mouth of the everlasting Word.
We are the hands of the Almighty One.
We are the feet of the messenger of good news.

God relies on us so Jesus is asking today: “Who do you say I am?”

Dział: Sermons
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