How Did We Get Here?

HOW did we get here is always a good question to ask ourselves. But, WHY are we here is a harder, more soul searching proposition. In times like these (troubled and uncertain) we, as a person, a people and a nation, must ask these questions. And we must, in all honestly and sincerity, cry out to God - save us from ourselves. Jeremiah is a prophet for our times. A time (like his) broken and out of right relationship with God and certainly with each other. Jeremiah points to dysfunctional and abusive power, to ongoing injustice and inequality, to the self-blinded who have lost sight of the common good. Justice has become not a virtue, but a battle cry. “I hear the whispering of many” Jeremiah says “terror on every side.” He goes on with a litany of evil doings that have surrounded him and which have become the norm; denouncement of those who hold onto the truth, endless plots and intrigues, relentless watching so as to pounce on the missteps of those not like themselves, traps endlessly set for the innocent, ongoing vengeance on those who oppose their will. But, Jeremiah says that these disordered and self-serving actions will be their own downfall. For the Holy Spirit holds their actions against them. The cloud of witnesses who came before us, and those who wittiness in our day holds their actions against them. God, is not deaf, he hears the cry of the poor, God is not blind he sees injustice and discrimination. And God, who shows concern even for the tiny sparrow, shows greater concern for us. Be not afraid God has not turned his back to us. He not left us to fend for ourselves. God has sent a great light that still shines in the darkness. And St John reminds us - the darkness will not (it cannot) overcome the light. But, right now it is hard to see the light. It feels a long time in coming. But, as Jeremiah says, God’s Righteousness, already causes evil doers to stumble and fall into their own traps, God’s Truth already confronts them as they choke on their own lies. Their failures (politically, economically, and even spiritually) will be exposed in God’s light and this will bring shame upon. Every evil doer will stand before all who wittiness against them knowing full well that “God has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked” Part of the answer for “how & why” question is that we simply find ourselves in the world. We are born into the sin of Adam. And as human beings we are born into the human condition with its human nature that binds us to time and constrains our true freedom. We are born into one time or another, one race or another, one place or another, one culture or another. Some are born into advantage with its potential to experience all that is good; delight and joy, wellbeing and good health, freedom and love. Some are born into disadvantage to experience all that is not good; want and poverty, prejudice and abuse. Yet, remember all (rich and poor) suffer from diminishment and death. The gift of life, and it is a grand gift, is an uncertain proposition. The body thou magnificent will not prevail for it is open to mishap and illness. But, we take heart for we are not only bodies, but spirit, as well. Wealth and privilege, will not prevail, for they are only transitory treasures at best. The whisperings and the terrors will not prevail, only truth does. The world itself will not prevail, only the Kingdom and the love of God will prevail. In the second reading St Paul tells us that though we are constrained and limited by this human reality, this sin of Adam, we are not imprisoned by it. We are born into the world, but we are offered the Kingdom. Through Jesus, we are no longer slaves to the uncertainties and inconsistencies of the world, but rather we live in certainty, as children of God. As much as one man, Adam, binds us to this diverse and complex human condition, one man, Jesus, frees us from its tyranny. Through Adam, life has been made fragile and transitory. But, through Jesus life is eternal. So wonderful is this salvation through Jesus, that St Paul’s calls it the gracious gift from God. And this gracious gift is greater than the transgression. Where evil abounds, St Paul says, Grace abounds more. The gift makes all things new. Today Jesus reminds his disciples fear no one (for there is nothing to fear). No matter how it seems, every good that is now concealed will be revealed. Every truth now hidden will be made known. The Kingdom itself hidden within the world, is already breaking in. And this is our Faith and our Hope. We cling to this and we act out of this emerging goodness and truth. This is the Good News and we, as Christians, must proclaim from the roof top. We proclaim the Good News by good lives. Without fear we must look beyond ourselves. Without fear we must reach out beyond ourselves. Without fear we might, even when it seems most impossible, be able to love beyond ourselves.