“The kingdom of God is at hand"

Today’s gospel addresses the question whether or not we too want to be fishers of the human family. When Jesus called the Apostles together, he didn’t call them to become an army of legalists, but rather to be fishermen - to cast our nets deep and wide, to capture all human beings in a deep sense of love.  When we cast our nets, the point isn’t to try to augment our membership, but rather to become brother and sister to others.  Being fishers of men and women isn’t a membership drive!  It is, rather, a way of dedicating ourselves to the vision of an all-inclusive human family where no one suffers isolation and violence. Where all are clothed. Where the prisoner is freed.  Where the sinner is welcomed home.  Where the enemies sit at table with each other. Where healing is more important than figuring out who is right and who is wrong.   When Jesus invited the disciples to follow him and leave their nets behind and to become fishers of the human race, he invited them to with him to break bread with him and to discover the power of love.  After he formed them, sent them out to share Good News. He didn’t send them out with memorized formulas that would be imposed on others and a sword to convert the unwilling.  Today’s readings help us get at the question from the beginning, will we too become fishers of men and women?

My first reading of the book of Jonah as a young teen I had a literal understanding of the story: I understood that Jonah was as a story about a man who was swallowed by a whale. I missed the part about why Jonah was swallowed in the first place. Jonah was avoiding his duty of following God’s mandate, to preach repentance and forgiveness in Nineveh and when he refused to go to Nineveh, God created a storm and his shipmates tossed him over the side where a whale swallowed him and spit him up on the shore. In the seminary we studied the Jonah story and learned about why Jonah was so reluctant to preach to the Ninevites.  They were considered unclean and unworthy of saving by the Israelites. They were enemies and Jonah didn’t want to save his enemies - even if God sent him to get them to change. In my reading of Jonah today after experience in parish ministry and working with people who are from other religions - each of our religions claiming to contain the one and only truth - that maybe our claims of who is “saved” or who is more saved than others - has led me to read Jonah in a deeper, more reflective way.  The story is about self-righteousness.

After years of conversation with clergy colleagues from other religion and churches, I’ve come to see elements of “truth” in another person’s religious tradition. I’ve learned to appreciate rituals and doctrines of other religions without diminishing my belief in my own.  When we have multi-religious dialog with other clergy, it’s not for the purpose of winning people to our side, but rather, to appreciate what they see as truth and what they teach as doctrine.  Clergy and laity that are threatened by inter-religious dialog tend not to do well with this approach. If Jonah were here, he would run for the hills!  You see, the story is about God wanting Jonah to repent of his self-righteousness so that he could LOVE the people as his brothers and sisters.  Sadly, Jonah couldn’t love them. His self-righteousness prevented his conversion. The story ends with him filled with resentment, sitting alone.

This past week I saw this Indian movie, PK (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PK_(film)) that tells the story about self-righteousness in a different way: with dancing, singing and humor. The movie is about an alien, known as “PK” who came down to study the human race.  He lands in India - a country that is one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world. As soon as his space ship lands, a thief robs him of the special remote control for the space ship.  Without the remote control, he is stuck on earth. So PK sets out to look for the device. He discovers that humans speak and that they lie.  Because he doesn’t know how to lie and that he uses only thoughts to communicate, he has to learn the language the the only way he can learn the language is to hold someone’s hands.  Of course no one wants to hold his hands, so a musician that befriended him, took him to a lady who gets paid to “hold men’s hands.” He learns the language after holding hands with her - and that’s all he did - hold hands. PK had no sense of what is acceptable or not acceptable, he’s simply an innocent child.

PK doesn’t understand why people lie and why they hide the truth from one another.  So…on his journey he is asking where he can find his special remote control.  And of course no one could help him, but everyone told him to ask God for help. He knew that people were sincere in their belief so PK looked for God. He started out in a Hindu temple, then went to Catholic church, then a Mosque. At each place he made an huge ruckus - accompanied by songs, dances and a lot of laughs. After experiencing more confusion and getting no guidance from the clergy, PK came to see that the human family worshiped 2 gods. The God that made the universe, who loves the human race and who wants only the best for his children and a second god: the god that human beings made up: the god of capricious will who demands favors from the people in order to grant prayers, threatens people with damnation and controls people by fear and the use of violence. PK came to the conclusion that the clergy are “bad managers” who promote the second god.  These managers were interested in promoting their own will, rather than God’s will.  The movie is done in jest and doesn’t take itself too seriously.  And, like most Indian movies, there is a love story…but in this Indian movie, the love story is between a Pakistani boy (who is Muslim) and a high caste Indian girl who is Hindu. Will the love between the lovers be stronger than their differences?

The movie wasn’t shown in India because it would upset many people and could very well incite some to commit violent acts. It is sad that religious extremism has brought us to this sad place in history. Attacks against Muslims and Jews is on the rise and here and in Europe. In the US religious zealots have taken it upon themselves to kill others here and even take their violence abroad. (See http://thehumanist.com/news/religion/5-dangerous-christian-hate-groups and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/25/anti-gay-belize_n_3653609.html) Hyper-sensitive religious zealots go on murderous rampages against unbelievers or anyone that disagrees with them. Hyper-vigilant, so-called “super-patriots” fool themselves in thinking that they have the moral high ground when they choose to suspend civil rights and due process in the name of security or when they invade another country in the name of national interest. Self-righteousness whether it be motivated by religion or misguided patriotism, will always result in violence. 

As religious people, we have the unique responsibility to stop this insidious cycle. We must reflect Jesus’ words, “The kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Pope Francis recognizes that each believer must confront his or her own self-righteousness (see http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/the-self-righteous-can-cook-in-their-own-stew-says-pope/) and engage in dialog, not a diatribe.  We have to achieve a new perspective of one another and gain understanding and mutual respect, we would continue to resort to violence.  “Perhaps more than ever, such a need is felt, because the most effective attitude against all forms of violence is education towards the discovery and acceptance of differences.” (http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/01/24/pope_francis_listening_is_essential_in_effective_interrelig/1119849)  The Church’s tragic history of involvement in inquisitions, pogroms, and ethnic cleansing tells us that we are not unacquainted with the use of violence to prove a point. Religious folk must rise above our sins.  We must engage in dialog, not shrill debate.  We must be more concerned for finding truth in one another rather than to determine who is right and who is wrong. Sadly, Jonah never learned the lesson, will we?