Tomorrow, we celebrate Columbus Day. Columbus with his 15th century map calculated that if the world is round, you can reach the east by sailing west. Advisors convinced Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain to finance a journey. The rest is history.
Columbus wrote that he and his 1492 crew were warmly welcomed and nourished by people in the Caribbean. He referred to them as "Indians" because his original destination was the Far East: India. So, it is right to acknowledge the explorer and the indigenous peoples who expanded our horizons.
The word of God carries us back to the eighth century before Jesus. Isaiah tells an allegory about a vineyard. It's a lover's lament. The owner is God; the vineyard is the Jewish people, the bearers of God's revelation; and the wild or bad grapes are their infidelities. Isaiah may be asking us: how faithful are we to our commitments? Are we trying to do right by God?
Paul in his letter to the Christian community at Philippi in Greece challenges us not to be anxious but to make our needs known to God in prayer. Paul then urges us to focus on what is honorable and true and good. Good advice!
In the Gospel, Jesus tells a parable reminiscent of Isaiah’s. God is still the owner of the vineyard; the Jewish people are the vineyard; and the tenants are the religious leaders. The message is simple: they who try to do the right thing, who live a God-centered life, will inherit the kingdom of God.
Many of us carry the burden of worry throughout our lives. We forget that Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are...burdened, and I will give you rest.”
A book titled Affluenza indicated that almost a quarter of people in Britain suffer serious emotional distress, such as depression and anxiety, and another quarter are on the verge thereof. Are we Americans also in a bad way?
Jesus invites us to commit to him the burden of our fears, worries and anxieties. Jesus bears our burdens because he cares for us.
We carry other types of burdens as well. The apostle Peter realized, as most of us do from time to time, that he had failed Jesus. A sense of failure can be a great burden. But with Jesus, failure is never final. Jesus took the burden, forgave Peter, reinstated him and used him powerfully.
An injustice done to us can be a burden. One of the many things that Jesus had to bear was a rigged trial. Pontius Pilate concluded, “I find no basis for a charge.” But the crowd shouted, “No!” Jesus, the innocent, is condemned. Barabbas goes free. The symbolism is clear. Jesus, the innocent, died so that we, the sinful, could be set free and have a relationship with God forever. Again, Jesus bore the burden of our sin.
Guilt can be a burden. God has given us a moral sense: a conscience. However, our conscience is not perfect because we are “fallen creatures.” Sometimes we experience false guilt, about things that are not actually our fault. At other times we don’t feel guilty about things we should take responsibility for; in that case we need the Spirit of God to awaken our conscience.
Yes, Jesus takes on our burdens--fear, worries, injustices and guilt--and gives us rest.
In Jesus, we find purpose in life. Some people seem to have no purpose or goal. Others have goals, but the wrong ones. Many climb the ladder of “success” only to find that it's leaning against the wrong wall.
It has been said that the greatest days of our life are the day we were born and the day we find out why. God created us with a purpose: to pursue a right relationship with God and a right relationship with others. We might begin by trying to be instruments of God's peace.
St. Paul's main aim was: “We aspire to please God....For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” But how please God in everything? The prophet Micah reminds us that our God is a God of unconditional love and unconditional forgiveness. And what is our response to God's amazing love? Micah wrote, “only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with our God." This gives us the threefold purpose and goal of our lives: doing the right thing; loving goodness and showing that goodness to others; and walking with God.
I close with an African proverb: “If you think you're too small to make a difference, you haven't spent the night with a mosquito.” The mosquito makes a difference in an annoying way, but the principle is universal. One person can stop an injustice. One person can be a voice for truth. One person's kindness can save a life. Each life matters.
