Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time at Mississippi Abbey

Scripture Readings: Is 45:1, 4-6;  1 Thes 1:1-5b; Mt 22:15-21

We at NM were recently honored to have a distinguished New Testament scholar, Dr. Susan Garrett of Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, as a lecturer. One of the books she has published[i] and the topic she spoke on was the testing of Jesus. It happened in many more ways than just the temptations in the desert. Today’s gospel is one of those ways.

To the Pharisees it was a testing of His political loyalties: Is He loyal to Rome or to Israel. To Jesus it was a testing of His faith and obedience to the Father and His mission, His primary purpose.

The tax issue is not part of Jesus’ primary purpose. He is a single-minded man; His primary purpose is the kingdom of God. All else is harmonized with that. What we render to God is the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. In today’s letter to the Thessalonians St. Paul commends the Thessalonians for their “work of faith, labor of love, and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The letter begins with a greeting St. Paul would use often: “Grace to you and peace.” These are fruits of the Kingdom of God. In this greeting he is reminding them of what they have received and of what is most central to the gospel he preaches. As believers in what God has done in the crucified Christ, they are beneficiaries of the gratuitously given grace and peace. They received it because God loved them first. They did not earn it; they were called and chosen for the sake of the kingdom and its spread to the people of the earth.

What is this grace? It is the establishment of a new relationship with God. It is given for the purpose of doing good and avoiding evil. It is given entirely by His favor. This grace results in peace with God. “Peace” was the first word spoken by Jesus to the disciples after His resurrection. It was then and is now a word of reconciliation with God.

That reconciliation is Jesus’ primary purpose that far outweighs the tax issue. He brushes off the tax question with a simple, “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” This has all the simplicity of “If you love Me, keep my commandments.” St. Paul seems to tell us that this simplicity or primary purpose arises from our status as receivers of the Fathers favor. This single-minded remembrance will strengthen us in times of testing and temptation. Dr. Garrett tells us that testing & temptation can be seductive or afflictive. When it is seductive we are to seek the approval of conscience rather than the applause of fame. When it is afflictive we might seek the easy way out. But instead we persevere, remembering that we receive for the purpose of passing it on.  St. Bernard calls this single-mindedness “simplicity.” Simplicity is a constant and unchanging desire for one object and that alone.

St. Bernard said that simplicity consisted in getting rid of everything that did not help the monastic to arrive at union with God by the shortest possible way. The shortest, though, is not necessarily the easiest. For us that shortest way is the Steps of Humility. I have often thought that monasteries should have a large, framed poster of a succinct version of the Steps of Humility posted prominently in the community with a sign above saying, “The escalator to holiness is out of order. Please use the Steps.”

If we stick to our primary purpose of rendering to God our faith, hope, and love, with a little grace, we will find peace.

[1] Susan R. Garrett, The Temptations of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel, Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998.