Reflection by Rev. Leonard N. Peterson
You’ve most likely seen the scene. In a dark room sits a group of diverse people around a covered table with a crystal ball in its center. The group leader, a female with heavy eye makeup and long fingernails darkly painted, makes odd intonations. Allegedly she calls the dead forward to speak through her or otherwise signal their presence. At other times, she might predict the future with confidence. Her audience is expected to make a generous contribution to the handy receptacle. Call this a seance. Or a clever scam.
Our blessed Lord occasionally spoke about the future life in wide open outdoor spaces. Here a plain. At another time from a hilltop. His predictions opposed the Sadducees of His time, who did not believe in an afterlife. On both occasions, His great sermon was more about the right behavior to live as preparation for the next life and not too many detailed descriptions of it. He wanted our imaginations to soar upward in delights indescribable.
We who listen to Jesus every year on a given Sunday, and often enough at funeral Masses know that He beckons us to call it “Decision time,” no matter our ages or circumstances. First, do we believe and trust Him? Here we are, in a time and place best, living in a free society and in a high-tech age redolent with gadgets that feed our desire to be in control. That gives us a form of relief from some cares. But not all. Does your smartphone tell you how your relationship with your Maker is going? Or is it a kind of gearbox to work the engine of your time on this earth? Hardly.
If we allow ourselves to fall for that hoax, we’re no better than needy souls at a seance. In today’s Scriptural context, we’re no better off than the people of Judah compared by Jeremiah to a desert shrub lacking water. Or like the skeptical Corinthians St. Paul addresses about the resurrection of the body after death.
On this winter Sunday, it seems best to keep your child-like faith and trust intact. Do it with daily prayer and ready resolve to behave as we know we should. That alone will give us entree to the bright room where Christ’s holy table is set for you in the kingdom, we all hope to share with Him. Until then, believe that “when God measures a person, He puts the tape around the heart instead of the head.”
God love you and give you His peace.
Rev. Peterson’s Reading & Gospel Summary
Reading I: Jeremiah 17: 5-8
The prophet contrasts the wicked of Judah, who resemble a desert shrub, with the righteous, who are like a thriving fruit tree drawing life from a nearby stream.
Reading II: I Corinthians 15: 12, 16-20
Corinthian skepticism about Christ’s resurrection and the future of our bodies led to a decline of morality among the community. Paul teaches the truth of the resurrection and our true destiny of life eternal.
The Gospel: Luke 6: 17, 20-26
Here is “The Sermon on the Plain,” much like Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount.” (Mt. 5-7) Jesus envisions the negative conditions of this life being overturned in the next. The blessed will experience lasting peace.