Words of warning to those who follow Jesus

Today's reading is from Matthew 9:35-10:23. Jesus sends his disciples out with instructions and warnings. 

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for labourers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that town.

 ‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

His warnings are as true today as they were then. 

 

The exodus continues

Good news from Louisiana as reported by The Christian Post,  

Nearly 100 United Methodist Church congregations in Louisiana had their disaffiliation votes ratified by the regional conference last weekend, joining hundreds of others nationwide that have left the mainline Protestant denomination in the last year amid a schism over homosexuality. 

UMC’s Louisiana Annual Conference voted to approve the departure of the 95 congregations during a special called session held on Saturday. The session was called "for the sole purpose of voting on the Louisiana Conference Board of Trustees recommendations for the churches disaffiliating per paragraph 2553."

The disaffiliations will go into effect on Wednesday.

...Among the churches that had their disaffiliation votes approved is the First United Methodist Church of Shreveport, one of the state's largest Methodist churches. FUMC Shreveport held a meeting in April, where 84% of over 1,100 congregants voted in favor of disaffiliation.

...In March, a judge ruled against a lawsuit seeking to stop churches from disaffiliating from the Louisiana Conference. Pastors sued the Louisiana Conference and its board of trustees, taking issue with the disaffiliation process.

Like Pharaoh, some UMC bishops cannot accept the Lord's will in this. Good to see that the courts in Louisiana let God's people go.

But in Ohio things are going smoother also from The Christian Post, 

The Western Ohio Conference of the UMC, which oversees congregations mostly west and south of Columbus, voted to allow 172 out of approximately 960 congregations to disaffiliate at the 2023 West Ohio Annual Conference over the weekend...

The approval follows the disaffiliation of 80 congregations from the conference during a special session last year. 

I see that the total number of congregations leaving the UMC is now over 5000!

"Exodus, movement of ja people." 

 

Faith as Righteousness

 In today's reading from Romans 4:13-25, Paul lays the foundation for justification through faith and the grace of  God raising Jesus. 

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations’, according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

No works based justification there.  

The new blackface

 Growing up in a city that was well known for sinful behavior, I learned about what is now called the "trans community" at an early age. In the 1950's my parents explained to me that when Milton Berle wore a dress, it was part of his act, and it was meant to be funny. "Female impersonation" has a long history in theater and film. In the early 1960's people who took this behavior more seriously were called "cross dressers" or "transvestites". Many were performers in the clubs in the old quarters where I lived, and you could often see them in the streets as they made their way to and from work. Little did we children know about the sexual acts in which they might be engaged. 

Coming of age in the early 1970's, we were no longer amused by these people as we understood what went on behind the mask. It was clear that transvestites were not normal. 

Jumping forward to the 2020's, we are living in an age when one must celebrate "diversity" and "inclusion", and we have to deny or denigrate "normality". 

It is hard to look at the current crop of biological males who are dressing up and altering their bodies to appear female without thinking back to the "blackface" controversies of the last few decades. Blackface was comic and serious performance art on stage and in cinema even up to the time its satirical use in "Silver Streak" (1976). Blackface performers earned their bad reputation through the stereotypes and  mockery they made of black people, and also by depriving blacks of acting roles. 

Why is it that women are not claiming offense at seeing males impersonating them, receiving awards, appearing on the covers of fashion magazines, and advertising products targeting actual females. Is it not also a mockery?

Perhaps there is no outcry because of fear of the backlash, or maybe women recognize that these men, while not amusing, are no threat to womanhood despite some of  their more outlandish claims. 

No threat until they show up in your daughter's bathroom, locker room, shower, or prison cell. 

Hopefully the promotion of what is now called "transgenderism" will someday go the way of blackface.

Making Disciples

Making disciples should be easy, but it is not,

Matthew 28:16-20

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

The message of the Gospel should be enough to win anyone over, and people should eagerly desire to be baptized, but the spirit of the age vigorously opposes the work of  Holy Spirit. 

Teaching disciples to obey His commands is another thing we must constantly practice. The human ability to backslide is repeated so many times in the Bible that  we know following baptism, continuing Christian education is a must.

Pray for the teachers. They can backslide too, and when that happens you don't make disciples from all nations. You wind up with addicts to the zeitgeist who typically share the poison they have been fed with those around them.

Meanwhile, down under

I shouldn't be, but I am at a loss for words about this story from Australia,

 (LifeSiteNews) — In a move that points to increasing political hostility in Australia towards Catholic and other Christian institutions, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government has moved to mandatorily acquire Canberra’s Catholic-run Calvary Hospital.

The takeover required the introduction of a bill, a change in the law – an unprecedented move in Australia’s history.  

The bill stipulates that the ACT government will move into the premises on July 3 and take over the operation of the hospital. This will occur before any compensation is agreed to or paid. 

The extreme move and hasty implementation – designed to keep public debate to a minimum – is taking place because the Catholic-owned hospital has a history of being pro-life and of not supporting euthanasia. 

A recent ACT government inquiry into abortion and reproductive choice described Calvary Hospital as “problematic… due to an overriding religious ethos.”  The inquiry issued warnings about an “ethically fraught dependence” on the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary for provision of health services.  

The bureaucrats and politicians rely on muted words like “problematic” and neutral phrases (in the press release) like “the evolving needs of the ACT community” to create the impression that this is merely an administrative decision...

A more accurate picture was provided by the leader of the federal opposition, Peter Dutton, who said that he was “just not aware of an action like it elsewhere in the country or, frankly, around the world, where a government has taken a decision based on their opposition to a religion to compulsorily acquire a hospital in these circumstances a facility that’s working well and in the greater public interest and good in a local community and just for ideological reasons.” 

Father Tony Percy from ACT’s Catholic diocese described the move as “basically religious bigotry writ large,” saying it sets a dangerous precedent that could “see other Christian-owned properties ‘acquired’ in Soviet-style takeovers.” He said the takeover could create a precedent for other governments to seize Christian facilities like schools and aged care facilities. 

...Rob Norman, the Australian Christian Lobby’s ACT director, described the move as an “authoritarian decision… reminiscent of a Soviet style takeover of non-Government assets.” He said the ACT government has “no tolerance for religious convictions that oppose the will of the State.” 

...there is a widely-held view in Australia that the nation has a legally enforced separation of Church and state. It is not true, or at least only partly true.

Under section 116 of the Constitution there is a guarantee of the Freedom of Religion but these prohibitions only apply to the Commonwealth government, not to the States, which are free to discriminate on the basis of religion.

The ACT is not a state, but a territory, so theoretically it falls under the control of the federal government. But the left-wing Federal Labor government is unlikely to do anything. 

I hope U.S. officials don't try this kind of direct take over of a hospital although I am aware that our government uses other ways to pressure hospitals to perform abortions. When euthanasia becomes more commonplace, I expect more U.S. hospitals to feel pressure from the Federal government to do the wrong thing. Our government believes that once accept payments from Medicare and Medicaid you must then provide all services approved by those agencies. 

Pentecost: Let them eat cake

 It is often said that Pentecost is the Church's birthday. Many times, birthday cake will be served at coffee hour on Pentecost Sunday. If you enjoy that yummy tradition, the following discussion from Crisis Magazine by Monsignor Richard Antall might leave a bad taste in your mouth.

The traditional view of the birth of the Church is found expressed in Mystici Corporis Christi, the encyclical of Pius XII issued on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul in 1943. Recalling the teaching of Pope Leo XIII, the encyclical says:

As We set out briefly to expound in what sense Christ founded His social Body, the following thought of Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, occurs to Us at once: “The Church which, already conceived, came forth from the side of the second Adam in His sleep on the Cross, first showed Herself before the eyes of men on the great day of Pentecost.”[23] For the Divine Redeemer began the building of the mystical temple of the Church when by His preaching He made known His Precepts; He completed it when he hung glorified on the Cross; and He manifested and proclaimed it when He sent the Holy Ghost as Paraclete in visible form on His disciples. (26)

According to Mystici Corporis Christi, Pentecost was then the great day when the Church “first showed Herself before the eyes of men.” That manifestation was not the birthday. The theologian Louis Bouyer said Pentecost marked the inauguration of the “missionary expansion” of the Church.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gave a conference at the Pastoral Congress of the Diocese of Aversa, Italy, on September 15, 2001. His topic was the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council. In that conference, he talked about when the Church was “founded.”

I will attempt to answer this question with a brief mention of some fundamental points. The first point is that Jesus’ Last Supper could be defined as the event that founded the Church. Jesus gave His followers this Liturgy of Death and Resurrection and at the same time He gave them the Feast of Life. In the Last Supper, He repeats the covenant of Sinai—or rather what at Sinai was a simple sign or prototype—that becomes now a complete reality: the communion in blood and life between God and man. Clearly the Last Supper anticipates the Cross and Resurrection and presupposes them, otherwise it would be an empty gesture. This is why the Fathers of the Church could use a beautiful image and say that the Church was born from the pierced side of the Lord, from which flowed blood and water. When I state that the Last Supper is the beginning of the Church, I am actually saying the same thing, from another point of view.”

In 1921, the Protestant theologian Ferdinand Kattenbusch tried to show that Jesus’ words of institution at the Last Supper constituted the act of founding the Church. With these words, he argued, Jesus gave His disciples something new that bound them together and made them into a community. Kattenbusch was right: with the Eucharist, the Church herself was established. Through Christ’s body, the Church became one, she became herself, and at the same time, through His death, she was opened up to the breadth of the world and its history.” (Jesus of Nazareth, Part Two)

I say, "Let them eat cake. I'll have the body and blood."