Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church
I was recently moved by a statement from Richard Lennan, a theology professor from Boston College, that described idolatry as any attempt to limit God. This challenged me to think of idolatry as more than those times that I place my faith in something other than God. Dr. Lennan’s point surfaced in a conversation emphasizing the mystery of God, how our faith journeys calls us to deeper levels of mystery as we attempt to understand and experience God within our human capacity. The challenge Richard Lennan described in this conversation called me to wrestle with and find some comfort amidst those deepening levels of mystery, rather than attempt to define and place limits upon God in a finite manner. It led me to wonder how I had placed parameters on God or compartmentalized my relationship with God. I believe in today’s readings we encounter some of these challenges in Jephthah and the parable of the wedding banquet.
The first reading presents Jephthah, whose desire for power over the Ammonites influences him to barter with God. If God delivers the Ammonites into Jephthah’s power, then Jephthah will sacrifice the first person to emerge from his house. Jephthah places a limit upon God, only offering to express his affinity for God if God can first fulfill Jephthah’s wishes. Jephthah becomes even more conflicted when his daughter is the first to emerge from his house upon his return, but he does end up fulfilling his end of the bargain. In the Gospel we hear of Jesus’ parable of the wedding banquet, which compares the kingdom of Heaven to a King whose guests are reluctant to come to the feast that has been prepared for them. Upon their absence the King invites both the “bad and good alike” from the streets, but he becomes angry and punishes one guest who does show up to the feast without his wedding garment.
Perhaps not to the extreme of Jephthah, but so many times I have also fallen guilty of envisioning my relationship with God as a limited, give-and-take encounter that leads me to expect God to fulfill my will and once that has been I’ll fulfill God’s. “God, if you can only get me home safe during this thunderstorm, I will pray more often.” “God, if you can only help me get this job I will be so much happier and treat others with the respect they deserve.” “God, if only you can help me work through these finances, I will tithe more and give more of myself to service and charity.” But even amidst this “give-and-take” mentality and my petty requests of this world, I also fail to uphold my end of the bargain. I might not encourage the worldly limits that Jephthah seems to place upon God, but perhaps he can also teach us how much sacrifice a faith-filled relationship with God does entail.
Much like the guests invited to the banquet in today’s Gospel, I often fail to sacrifice my desire for productivity and the task at hand, therefore limiting my ability to encounter God in myself, those around me, and all of creation. In a similar way to the guest who is punished for not wearing a wedding garment, the fact that I have placed limits upon God and priority upon myself hinders my ability to prepare and focus on opportunities I do take to foster a relationship with God. How often do I sit in Church and allow my mind to focus on my own desires – “what will I eat for lunch?,” “Will the rain hold off for the softball game today?,” “If Andy Dalton isn’t playing today will the game even be worth watching?” - rather than allowing myself to focus and be open to however God might come to me in the celebration of the mass? How often have I put limits on those experiences, expecting God to break through all the noise instead of doing my best to push the noise aside?
The Gospel parable closes in a way that allows our future to seem predestined – “Many are invited, but few are chosen.” But perhaps there is an element to being chosen to actually accepting that we are invited. How might God be inviting you today to foster a deeper relationship? How have you overlooked that invitation for the trappings of this world, and in turn placed limits upon God’s infinite mystery? Amidst the reality of our flawed nature as humans, may we never forget of God’s merciful love that constantly longs for us to grow deeper in faith and action while finding comfort in the mystery of God’s vastness.
Mike Bennett
(Ite Missa Est welcome Mike Bennett as a new contributor to daily reflections. Mike and his wife Caitlin have been members of Immaculate Conception since 2011 and have been married since November of 2010. Mike is originally from Cincinnati and currently serves at the University of Dayton in Campus Ministry. Mike is also a Lay Marianist, a commitment he made when graduating from his undergraduate years at UD and has fueled his involvement in a few faith communities in Dayton).