Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
A common critique people make about contemporary life is that we want the good stuff, all the time, and immediately - and by good stuff, we can mean anything from chocolate to a good job to nice house, car and clothes.
At some level, most of us know how to postpone one good thing in favor of another that we want more: instead of buying a latte from Starbucks, we save up the money for something larger, like going out to eat with the family. Or getting up a bit earlier (and postponing sleep) in favor of training for a marathon.
Even so, though intellectually we might know that postponing one good thing can help us attain greater things, it can be difficult to put into practice. Today's feast and scripture readings help with further reflection.
The words from today’s first reading (Revelation 10:8-11) are a bit of a puzzle: how is it that God’s words can taste sweet but yet make John’s stomach sour? It is perplexing, too, to turn from that reading to the Psalm (119), which proclaims that God’s promises are sweet to the taste! Surely, if God’s promises and God’s words are sweet, won’t the effect be sweet as well?
Deeper reflection on food, though, reminds me that it does not always feel good even if initially it tastes good. Ice cream, eaten in too great a quantity, makes me feel quite ill. Or, when I am trying to lose weight, I might eat a piece of chocolate cake but then later regret it. When I eat in these ways, I’m trading the long-term good thing (feeling good, or losing weight) for something that is good only in the moment.
Good tasting food doesn’t necessarily lead to good results. In John’s revelation, the “sour stomach” feeling comes from the results of the words of God that John has eaten. It is a reminder to John and to all of us Christians that just because we see Jesus Christ as our savior and our healer, it doesn’t mean that salvation is, in human terms, a peaceful (or tasteful) event in the immediate present. Despite the sour feeling the scroll leaves in his stomach, John still knows that Jesus’ way leads to everlasting life.
In today’s Gospel (Luke 19:45-48), we see that salvation is sometimes hard and difficult and sometimes even leads to death. But Jesus is again reminding us: rather than focus on the things that seem good in the moment, think about what will bring lasting happiness and peace. In today’s reading, Jesus is teaching in Jerusalem a few days before his death. One day he comes to the temple and sees that there are people who are buying and selling things that are necessary for worshipping God at the temple (the animals for temple sacrifice, candles, etc), and essentially making money off of God. It would be a bit like our coming to mass and discovering that if we wanted to attend, we would have to pay a small sum just to walk through the door, then another small sum to sit in a pew, then another sum to get a hymnal to be able to sing along with the congregation. The people at the temple are in need of salvation: rather than living like “thieves” stealing from God’s house, they need to recognize that God’s “house will be a house of prayer.”
Jesus himself generates exactly that "house of prayer" at the end of the Gospel reading - for we find there are so many people hanging on Jesus' words, that none of the "life as usual" stuff of temple life can go on. The people sought out the best good they knew, who is Jesus, who will quite simply disrupt our lives, including all the minor good things in our lives.
Today's Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary provides one occasion for reflecting on the small things of life we can put aside, in favor of greater things.According to tradition, Mary's parents dedicated her to temple service, to life led for God, and in so doing, they missed many of her growing-up years. Yet for them, and for Mary, temple service was far more important.
Let us take the opportunity today to reflect on "minor" good things in our lives that we may need to forego in order to follow the greater good of living our lives as disciples of Jesus.
- Jana M. Bennett