LIBERAL OR CONSERVATIVE?

Rejection! People hate it. Writers fear rejection slips from publishers. Friends, lovers fall out; one rejects the other. Pastors feel rejected when a family moves to a neighboring parish. Rejection means hurt. Mary Gordon's novel, Men and Angels, describes the lifetime devastation of a woman, Laura, who had been rejected from birth by her mother. Rejection robs a person of their sense of purpose in life. Such hurt has led to suicide.

'He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.' We heard these ominous words at Christmas from John 1:11. They describe the world's rejection of Jesus Christ. This Sunday's incident of Jesus' rejection at Nazareth is a kind of microcosm of the whole Gospel, the whole event of God's offer to save humanity from itself, and humanity's rejection of the offer. In a very small way, the townsfolk in the Gospel represent the whole of human history.

Jesus spoke to his neighbors and fellow townspeople at the Nazareth synagogue and said something that upset them. We saw last Sunday how much they were enchanted by his eloquence. This Sunday, however, Jesus crosses the line. He goes too far. They understood that salvation was for the Jews, and only for the Jews. All others were excluded.

Their understanding of the role of Israel as the chosen people meant that God's blessing is meant only for the Jews, nobody else. Jesus doesn't see it that way. Yes, the Jews are a chosen people, but they were chosen by God to bring the Messiah into the world not just for themselves but for everyone else as well - Gentiles, pagans, Romans, Samaritans, sinners of every kind - irrespective of race, color, creed or status. Nobody is excluded. God has no favorites. The Gospel is for everyone.

Are we not a bit like those townsfolk? Somebody asked whether a certain religious columnist was liberal or conservative. Labels aren't important. What's important is truth, depth. Why don't we just weigh the value of what's written or said as to truth or falsity, depth or otherwise, without having to consider whether it's being fuelled by a liberal or conservative agenda? Liberals feel they have the right interpretation of the Gospel. Conservatives are convinced their understanding of it is the only one. No ideology has a monopoly on the message of Christ.

We like to label people, including ourselves. 'She's a feminist! He's one of those young neo-conservatives! He's from Call to Action! She's Opus Dei! He's a Catechism Catholic! He's a Vatican Two type! And so on. This is unhealthy as well as misleading. As soon as we start to label people in this way we become selective in our listening and in our search for truth.

In God's house there are many rooms - John 14:2. Truth lies in many places, and the Gospel message is always colored by the software or biases of those who bring the good news: liberals, conservatives, "traditional" Catholics, social justice advocates, charismatics etc..

The challenge is to be open to the truth beyond labels, beyond our own temperament and ideological tendencies. We need to let go of labels and allow the message of the Gospel speak independently of them. The truth can set us free, no matter which pulpit it comes from. Labels have a way of fostering fear and rejection.

PASTOR EMERITUS