20 Sept 2017 - pillar and foundation

Today's Readings

For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine,
and you said, 'He is possessed by a demon.'
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said,
'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'

Aren't we like this? We're too ready to make assumptions based on what we see. We see one person and assume we see excess and gluttony. We see another and assume we see a false devotion that is over the top and forced. Anyone that doesn't hit our sweet spot makes us uncomfortable. People who can indulge a bit more make us jealous. People who are more pious make us guilty. We only readily accept those with the same level of lukewarmness as us. But this lukewarmness isn't really a good place to be.

So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth (see Revelation 3:16).

This is why it is so important that we not be the final arbiters of truth for ourselves, let alone anyone else. We are too ready to let our preconceived notions distort what we see. We are too ready to accept that which requires the least from us. In place of ourselves we are given a reliable and solid standard in the Church of the living God.

But if I should be delayed,
you should know how to behave in the household of God,
which is the Church of the living God,
the pillar and foundation of truth.

The world thinks of truth as restrictive, oppressive, and possibly even aggressive and violent. Perhaps we even see it that way at times. But where are we without pillars and a foundation? Without truth we have nowhere to stand. We collapse and are completely ruined. Truth is not a combative sport. It is a safe place where we can grow and abide. When we discern the truth about truth from the fictions the world circulates about it we come to realize what a blessing it is. We realize it is something for which we deeply long. Truth is in fact, among our highest desires. Along with beauty and goodness, truth is one of the three transcendentals, which we find in perfection in God.

Majesty and glory are his work,
and his justice endures forever.
He has won renown for his wondrous deeds;
gracious and merciful is the LORD.