COMPLICATED OR SIMPLE?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for the 23 Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Complicated or Simple?”

Have we ever said to someone or has anyone ever said to us, “Do you want the complicated or the simple version?”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel - Luke 6: 12-19 - is rather simple. Jesus goes out to a mountain to pray. He spends the night in communion with God. Nice. A lot of people do some of that here with our Eucharistic Chapel - which is soon to be back in service.

Then at daybreak Jesus gathers together his disciples and selects 12 of them to be his apostles. He calls them on a first name basis.

Next: coming down the mountain with them he begins his ministry again. He has already done some healings and some reaching out to folks before this - but now it’s going to be big time. Then they meet a large crowd from all over the place - people who came to hear Jesus and be healed by him.

Don’t we all need those two things from Jesus: to hear him and to be healed by him? We can picture those two things. It’s simple.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading - Colossians 2: 6-15:  now that’s complicated.

If you listened to it carefully - did anything grab you? When I read it last night, I scratched my head each time I read it. I underlined its verbs. It has lots of verbs that are active or have a charge and some change in them: receive, walk, rooted in, built upon, establish, taught, abound, captivate, dwell, share, circumcise, uncircumcise, bury, raise, bring to life, forgive, obliterate, oppose, remove, despoil, lead.

Saint Paul announces in this letter that in Christ dwells the fullness of the deity and we share in this fullness in him. Christ brings us into God - into God’s fullness - into his power. That’s an amazing statement. That’s an amazing teaching. That’s an amazing revelation. Through our baptism - through his dying for us - we are brought into the life called “being in God in Christ.” Pinch yourself. It’s complicated. It’s a lot of words - but pinch yourself. We are in God by being in Christ.

Sometimes I picture that as standing in a gigantic power plant with all engines roaring - or standing at Niagara Falls with all the water flowing. Sometimes I picture that as being with God in the Rocky Mountains - or at the edge of the Atlantic. Smallness standing in the roar of greatness.

COMPLICATED

It’s complicated. Next I picked up Barclay - his Daily Study Bible Series -  because when things are complicated or dark or cloudy, he can often give some light and insight.

However on today’s text, William Barclay makes the following comment. “There can be no doubt that for us this is one of the most difficult passages Paul ever wrote.” Then Barclay really complicates things with what he says next: “For those who heard or read it for the first time it would be crystal clear.” [1]

They would know what he is challenging them about. They knew about the teachings others were giving that Paul said were wrong.

The title of my homily is, “Complicated or Simple?”

It’s complicated - very complicated - according to Barclay because Paul says we don’t understand what these false teachings were that Paul says were causing problems in the Christian community - that was started there at Colossae.

Paul in today’s text uses the word “philosophy”. It’s the only place in the Bible that the word is used. That’s interesting. However, in the Acts of the Apostles 17:18 Paul is in Athens and he uses the world philosopher - and mentions Stoicism and Epicurean philosophy. And that’s the only place in the Bible the word “philosopher” is used.

If these were the 2 philosophies that Paul was concerned with here in the town of Colossae, things would not be too complicated - because we know what those two philosophies were about..

What the Christian community was dealing with was Gnosticism.

Gnosticism - Gnostics - are words and ideas we hear about from time to time.

Do you want the simple or the complicated take on Gnosticism?

The simple explanation is that someone gets some knowledge - that makes them feel better or smarter or more knowledgeable than others. You can hear the root word “gnosis” in the word “knowledge”. I’m in the know. You’re not. We see this same kind of behavior and thinking in most systems and organizations and not just religion. You’re dumb. I’m in the know, dummy.

The complicated explanation of Gnosticism is even more complicated because there lots of Gnostic systems - teachers and documents - and we don’t have most of their texts - and those we do have are head scratchers.

I’m sure you heard of the Gospel of Thomas, Mary Magdalene, etc.

We have those documents - but we don’t know just what the Christian Community in Colossae were facing - what leaders and what teachings in Gnosticism they were hearing and dealing with.

CONCLUSION

Now I can’t leave this hanging - after saying all those things. So how to make this practical - if possible? The Gnostics can really gum things up with some weird teachings. Let me take the verbs and the descriptions and the advice of Paul in today’s first reading and try to apply them to our lives.

So here are 3 things to do each day:

1) Receive  is the first verb I choose. Mornings are for receiving: a new day, new life, a fresh start, a new again. Receive Christ each day - be in communion with him - sit with here in church or in morning prayer at home and then come down from that mountain moment of prayer and walk with Jesus each new day.

2) Build On: The next verb would be Build On. Build on yesterdays. Build for tomorrow. There are 4 verbs that have that as a theme in that first reading: plant or root in or build on or establish, or re-establish each day Christ as the foundation of my life. Paul tells us how to do that: listen to Christ as teacher. That’s just what that crowd was doing in today’s gospel. So we listen to the scriptures - see the messages in the Bible as seeds - planted in our field - and water them, work them, and be grateful for the fruit that appears.

3) Cut - the verbs used in that first reading are: circumcise, strip, bury. Each day we can cut out the hurts, the digs, and listen to the other. It’s Jesus call to die to self so others can rise.

Or to try to finally make the complicated simple here are 3 gestures:

[1) Hands out and open in receiving gesture- each new day as a morning prayer.] Then say “receive!”

[2) Hands hammering gesture.] Then say, “Work, work! Build. Build. Plant. Plant!”

[3) Hands cutting - fingers like a pair of scissors gesture.] Then say, “Cut! Cut!”

 “I hope that’s simpler!

NOTES

[1] William Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, Westminster Press, 1975, page 134