Faith precedes miracles; this was the topic of our Wednesday Bible study group on the ninth chapter of Matthew. In addition to faith and miracles, the chapter is one of the most personal chapters for the author of the Gospel because it includes the calling of Matthew the tax collector.
In the opening paragraph, the Gospel writer shares the story of a paralyzed man. Jesus had returned from a region that had kicked him out. He went home to Capernaum, stepped off the boat and saw some men carrying their paralyzed friend. Finding Jesus was not a comfortable journey for the paralytic or his friends. Making a bee line to them, Jesus (in my mind) laughed and proclaimed, “Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven!” Jesus was (in my mind) inspired by their faith and immediately forgave the man his sins. But the story doesn’t end there. Some scribes began to grumble to themselves, “This man is blaspheming,” which means he was taking the place of God – the only one who can forgive sins. Jesus, reading their grumblings, said, “Is it easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk?’” So that they would know that Jesus can forgive sins, he said to the man, “Stand up and walk.” And he stood up and went home. Truly, faith preceded the miracle. But the story doesn’t end there, either. Jesus started walking along and saw Matthew in his tax office and said to him, “Follow me,” and Matthew got up and followed Jesus. At this point, the study group asked what was it that made Matthew get up from his business and follow Jesus. A few chapters before, I reminded them, Jesus had called Peter and Andrew with these words, “Follow me and you’ll become fishers of people.” But he made no such promise to Matthew. Additionally, the Gospels of John and Luke tell about Peter’s call. Peter was a disciple of John the Baptizer until John pointed at Jesus and declared, “There is the Lamb of God!” Later on Jesus went out in Peter’s boat to address a very large crowd at the beach. And then later, when Peter was fishing, Jesus said, “Follow me, and I’ll make you fishers...” And he did. It appears that Peter and Jesus had a relationship prior to the call. But none of this happened to Matthew. Jesus simply said, “Follow me” and he did. So why did Matthew give in to the call so easily? Here is how it happened (in my own mind). Matthew lived in Jesus’ town of Capernaum. He had heard of Jesus but never took time to seek him out. But then, in a surprise move, Jesus and his disciples got into a boat and sailed south to a non-Jewish region. I think that Matthew went home that night spiritually empty, thinking that he had missed Jesus. A storm came in that night and blew against Matthew’s house. It kept him awake. During the night he was haunted by Jesus’ words, “Pray for your enemies because if you love those who love you what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth where thieves break in and steal, or tax collectors take, but store up treasures in heaven for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” And suddenly the storm stopped because Jesus was out in it and calmed the seas. I think Matthew realized what he must do if given a second chance. The next day, surprise, Jesus was back in town, Matthew received a second chance. Jesus healed a paralyzed man and in the commotion that followed, he walked straight over to Matthew, locked eyes with him and said, “Follow me.” And he did. It is a miracle that Matthew left his lucrative business behind and followed Jesus, but Matthew’s faith preceded it. I wonder if in our time, we’d prefer to have a miracle experience first and then have faith. Too bad, if so, because that’s not how Jesus works. If he did, we’d have faith simply in the action of the miracle rather than in Christ. Instead, Jesus wants us to have faith in God. I hear Jesus saying, “If you had faith after a miracle, how different are you from the non-believers? Do they not also believe in miracles? Blessed are you that have faith in God, even when the chips are down and no miracle appears, for you are near the Kingdom of God.” - Fr. Marshall Reply Reply to all Forward I’ve learned there are many golfers who read these weekly Reflections. When I mention golf, they offer me advice like I’m sizing up an 80-yard chip shot over a water hazard to a back-sloping green. And I think that is a good thing. Two lessons I’ve learned from golf are that we’re all in this together and that the course will humble anyone. The avid golfers in the congregation have asked me how would Jesus be as a golfer and what would his score card look like. I think they were having some fun with me but like all priests I have to consider the serious, theological side, too. I’ve been pondering this question for the past week or so.
As far as we know, Jesus didn’t play golf. Nevertheless, I believe that Jesus would play golf because he always seemed to be walking somewhere and he never shied away from a challenge. But what would a perfect man do in golf? Would he play a perfect round and if so, what is a perfect round? I suppose that he could get 18 consecutive holes-in-one because only God could do that. Yet, Jesus was both God and human and frankly a score of 18 would seem to violate his humanity. You may recall that a leader of North Korea was credited with a golf score of 38 on his first round ever. The myth is that he scored 8 or 10 holes-in-one. I’m a skeptic on this but let’s say it did happen. Is 38 a perfect score? Or would simply making par for the course be perfect? What is perfect anyway? I’ve heard the phrase, “She is a perfect child, she never cries.” This seems to say that crying is an imperfection. Did Jesus never cry as a child? We know that Jesus cried after his friend Lazarus died so then is Jesus not perfect? Or, is a non-crying child perfect and is crying-once-in-a-while as an adult perfect, too? This perfection stuff is all very confusing to this quite imperfect person. But back to the question, what would Jesus’ golf game be like. What would it be like to play golf with Jesus? Would he always be the first person to swing from the tee? Probably not because he said the last will be first. I imagine Jesus would be a supporting and calming effect. I would want to play my best for him yet know that he’d forgive me for every error. But I don’t think Jesus would actually play golf. Instead, he’d insist on carrying my bag. - Fr. Marshall Twelve seconds and it was over. The ball was snapped, it flew over the quarterback’s head, and the rest of the game was downhill, at least for the Denver Broncos. This is a description of what happened at the very beginning of Super Bowl XLVIII. Twenty-one weeks of hard, grinding, body damaging work, came down to the first twelve seconds of the biggest game of the year. Many sports commentators who know star quarterback Peyton Manning say that he never recovered from the opening snap. And, if you don’t follow sports, his team lost the game to the Seattle Seahawks, 8 to 40-something.
In his book, Play It as It Lies: Golf and the Spiritual Life, author Mike Linder says that one thing that all top notch professional athletes have is the ability to forget and move on. For instance, when a non-professional golfer hits the ball poorly and loses it in the tall grass he or she might get frustrated. And, if it happens again, more frustration might ensue that ruins the rest of the round. Now that is something about golf that I do know about – getting frustrated! But professional golfers seem to be able to forget the last swing, tee up again, and hit a perfect ball straight down the fairway. Maybe what I think I am seeing is not what actually happens but they sure seem to recover fast compared to me. Now I don’t know if Peyton Manning really lost the game in the first twelve seconds. My guess is that he didn’t because he is an elite athlete. Nevertheless, I’ll leave the second guessing up to the analysts. But, I do know about making mistakes and not recovering. I played a solo in my high school jazz band and missed a pretty good run. It shook me and I didn’t recover during the rest of the song. I felt as if I’d let the band, and myself, down. Disappointment is a feeling that is hard to shake. So much so that despite all the sets that I played over the years, I still remember that feeling. Perhaps that is why I’m not a professional musician. This is the one area where I think Jesus and us have a disconnect. Nowhere is it recorded that he made a mistake. In fact, Scripture tells us that he was perfect, unblemished. Maybe that is why he told us to “be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” (Mt 5:48) As someone in our Bible study said once, “Yeah, that’s easy for him to say.” Rightly so, but I do think Jesus understands disappointment; he works through humans after all. How many times did Peter and all the rest of the Saints let him down. How about the Church--how many times has Jesus’ Church disappointed him. But, like one of those top notch professional athletes or musicians, he seems to forget and moves on. That’s where I find my relationship with Jesus so interesting – his perfection and my mistakes, his encouragement and my willingness to try it again with his help. If Jesus played golf as well as he forgets disappointment, well, he’d be perfect at it. The rest of us, however, get to work on letting go of disappointment and teeing up again for another swing. -Fr. Marshall |