FIRST WE MUST KNOW HIM

Many years ago there was a film titled “Doubt,” starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who portrayed – respectively – a no-nonsense nun who was principal of an inner city Catholic School, and a young priest who was The Assistant at the parish that was connected to the school.  The movie was set in the early 1960’s in New York City.   Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn did not get along well, to put it mildly.  And that was because she suspected him of behaving inappropriately with at least one of the students, and she was on a mission to expose him, in the midst of an institutional system that was prone to protecting priests and being somewhat dismissive of nuns.

None of the parish clergy believed sister’s stories, and yet Father Flynn was alarmed and combative with her because of her suspicions.  Sister’s evidence was all circumstantial, but for her it was more than convincing.  Near the end of the film there’s an angry showdown when Father Flynn shows up in the principal’s office to confront Sister Aloysius.  When he asks to enter, she replies twice that “a third party would be required.”  He ignores her and comes in anyway, and the shouting match ensues.  He asks how she can be so sure of herself about this, and she responds, “Because I know people.”

And at the end of it all, she says, “Very well; if you will not leave my office, I will”, but she leaves Father Flynn with a warning that she will not rest in her pursuit of justice for the little children.  And she issues an ultimatum for him to step down.  Eventually Father Flynn resign and is given a promotion to a new parish by the Bishop. 

We never learn exactly what the true story is.  Hence the title of the film: “Doubt.”

This all may seem a little removed from today’s gospel story of Jesus sending of the Twelve to proclaim the Kingdom of God to all the towns of Israel, but I think there may be several helps to understanding that one provided to us by Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn.  It also can help us understand the predicament of the prophet Amos today. 

Amos was very clear with God that he did not want the job of bearing His message of repentance to the citizens of Israel.  Like so many of the Old Testament Prophets he felt inadequate to the task.  Plus, he was a foreigner from Judah, and who wants to be scolded and called to task by an outsider?  Amos correctly predicted that he would be ignored or insulted or rejected in Israel -  or all of the above.  And indeed he was.

And yet he knew that it was God himself that was calling him to that role.  As Sister Aloysius would say, he was sure because “I Know People.” In this case, Amos knew who was the real God, because he’d been paying attention all along.

In the same way in Mark’s gospel today, there is no indication that the Twelve went out to preach and heal because they wanted to or asked to.  And in fact the conditions under which Jesus sent them would be hard to imagine as “desirable” for anyone; no food; no sack; no money; no change of clothes; no reservations for a place to stay; and no assurance that they would be welcomed. 

So why were they so faithful to the mission?  Because as Sister Aloysius would say, “they knew people.”  In their case, they knew the one person who was inviting them.  They knew Jesus.  That’s how you know you’re doing the right thing, even when it’s unpleasant.

And Mark also tells us that they were sent out two by two – never alone.  A lone self-proclaimed prophet can easily become a dangerous loose cannon, or a charlatan, and there was no shortage of them then, nor is there now.  Again, as Sister Aloysius would insist, “a third party would be required”, both to attest to the truth of what is being spoken and to make sure that no true prophet ever has to carry on all by himself/herself.  Part of the suffering of Amos was that he had nobody in Israel to vouch for him, nor to lean upon when the mission became difficult. 

And finally, Jesus’ instruction to the Twelve today assures them that they will be resisted, at least in some places, and that when that happens, they should not waste their time with people who are not interested in being confronted with the truth.  As Sister Aloysius said to Father Flynn, “Very well; if you will not leave this place, I will,” but don’t think that lets you off the hook or makes void the message of justice that I will continue to preach and pursue.

Father Flynn was that person who had been confronted by the fact that he was known for who he was, how he lived, and how he was required to change.  We call that the invitation to “repentance.”  It was for him an awakening to fear and to the knowledge that the truth would be told.  But rather than submit to his need for conversion, the response was anger and denial and the attempt to silence or discredit the bearer of the message.  It happened in biblical times and it happens now:

Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, said to Amos, “off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah, go back home and never come back here!”  To the Twelve Jesus said, “when that happens, shake the dust from your feet and move on, but don’t quit telling the truth.”

We Christians today live in a hard time, when God’s truth is just as vigorously resisted as it has ever been, because it is still capable of striking the same kind of fear and anger and self-awakening in to the hearts of those who have no intention to change, to repent.

To name but a few examples of Gospel Truth that is hard to hear:

• It is always wrong to kill innocent civilians in war
  
• It is always wrong to amass more wealth that you need when others don’t have enough to survive
  
• It is always wrong to destroy unborn human life deliberately and unnecessarily
  
• It is always wrong to execute convicted criminals who do not pose a threat to communities
  
• It is always wrong to abuse other human beings in any way
  
• It is always wrong to be indifferent to the destruction of the health of the natural environment
• It is always wrong to hate people on the basis of their race or religion
  

Is it any wonder why it’s hard to be part of Jesus’ prophetic tradition? Or that of Amos?

Thankfully that’s not the end of the story, because this isn’t ultimately our work.  It’s God’s work in and thru us.  We are God’s agents, but we are not God. Our task is nothing more nor less than to be faithful to the One whom we know, Jesus Christ, and to be resistant to those who advocate for something other than that.  We don’t send ourselves on mission.  Jesus does. So our task begins by knowing him. We do that here – in the breaking of the bread, just as he told us.