Hardness of heart: that’s the universal human ailment that Jesus came to treat and to heal by giving us a new heart. Jesus reminds the Pharisees that the best Moses could do was to make an allowance for divorce for those who suffered from hardness of heart. Jesus’ fellow Jews were of two minds on how hard a person’s heart had to be before divorce could be allowed under the law of Moses. For some, any amount of hardness of heart, even minor irritations, was enough to justify divorce. For others, infidelity, physical or emotional cruelty, or the welfare of the children were substantial and legitimate grounds for divorce. Jesus himself, according to St. Matthew’s version of today’s gospel, permitted divorce in the case of adultery, though even there, I would claim, Jesus never meant to imply that in the ultimate betrayal of adultery, God’s grace was incapable of healing such a destructive case of hardness of heart.
Read MoreOn September 21st, 1987, President Ronald Reagan spoke to the United Nations. In an appeal to our common humanity, he said something that drew mocking humor from commentators, comedians and critics, yet all of them also had to admit that what he said was true. He said, “Perhaps we need some outside universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world.”
It’s undeniably true. We can see examples in any crisis or calamity of the many ways that human beings of all backgrounds, creeds and station will rally together to help. We see it with natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes – or the tsunami that hit Thailand in 2004. A couple of weeks ago we remembered 9/11, and how the entire nation and much of the world came together, if briefly.
Read MoreOne of the major skills all students must develop as best they can is reading comprehension. It starts early with book reports, then later on you have to read a novel and write a more interpretive paper on it. We used to call that looking for the “deep hidden meaning” – or DHM – a game of sorts to figure out what the author was trying to get across, or at least what the teacher thought the author was trying to get across.
That art of interpretation can be difficult and more so when applied to life.
Jesus is working his way from the Decapolis back into the heart of Galilee to Capernaum. Now he is teaching the disciples in a direct and private way, and they are just not getting it.
Read More