In the midst of the bad, we draw inspiration from Jesus working through others
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
How would you describe our nation at its worst?
The prophet Isaiah calls ancient Israel “Sodom” and “Gomorrah”— about the worst possible names he could have used! And Jesus picks up on those references, saying that the towns where He lived and performed most of His miracles were worse than Tyre, Sidon and Sodom!
My point here is not to “put the beatdown” on ancient Israel or modern America. Quite the opposite: My point is to show that there’s hope even when things look bad. In fact, the final word of our readings this week, which comes from Matthew quoting Isaiah, is literally “hope.”
Think about Matthew and Zacchaeus. They were traitors, collaborators with a foreign, idolatrous and occupying nation; they were called to follow Jesus. Consider the woman who had a hemorrhage for 12 years, and the man at the pool of Bethesda who had been ill for 38 years. Both were healed by Jesus. Consider the widow of Nain’s son, and the daughter of Jairus: Both were dead! Jesus brought them back to life.
Now, in that light, consider ancient Israel at its worst — when it fully deserved to be called Sodom and Gomorrah. Consider the Gentile nations, the very definition of “not belonging to the covenant.” Did the prophets approach them with realism? Yes, absolutely. They named the sins of Israel and the sins of the Gentile nations with unblinking realism. But they did not combine realism with cynicism. Realism plus cynicism leads to despair, and despair leads to inaction. The prophets, instead, combined realism with hope. Realism plus hope leads to prayer. And prayer — as we see this week in Isaiah 38 — calls down the action of God. And the action of God changes the direction of things – both individually and nationally.
As we prepare for an election season, can we draw inspiration from that?
The catechetical situation of the Church in the United States in the 1970s was a time of darkness — what might rightly be called a “catechetical desert.” But some great lights have come from those who were raised in that desert! People who lived through that catechetical desert created the resources they never had. The Church today is flowering with catechetical riches because their realism and hope inspired something new.
The political situation of America today, from a Catholic perspective, looks like a “political desert.”
Brothers and sisters, that’s where we can be tempted to combine realism with cynicism. But let’s name that for what it is — a temptation that leads to despair and inaction. The readings this week teach us a different lesson: to combine realism with hope and ask God to change the desert into a garden.
So I call on the Church: Combine realism with hope and pray!
I call especially on the young Church: Combine realism with hope, then begin to imagine and create new political resources! Thirty, 40, 50 years from now, may the Church be flowering with political resources because you lived through the desert, and your realism and hope created something new.
