Babbling Tongues, Tongues of Fire

Tower of BabelToday’s Old Testament Mass reading from Genesis features the famous building of the tower of Babel in an attempt to reach heaven by human power. God stops them by confusing their language, scattering them to the ends of the earth (Genesis 11:8-9).

Scholars have long noted that the account of Pentecost in Acts 2 is a reversal of the Babel event: People gathered from the ends of the earth in Jerusalem heard the Word of God proclaimed in their own language. They, in turn, were sent back to the four corners of the world, to proclaim the one message in many tongues. Why? So that humanity can truly be united as one (in the universal Church) on the journey toward heaven.

The difference? In Genesis people tried, as many still do today through various religious approaches, to reach God by dint of their own power and effort. Such an enterprise is doomed to failure. Pentecost proves, just as the Incarnation did, the difference of Christianity: God has descended, seeking us. We must not believe in our pride that we deserve heaven. We must stop trying to “make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4). We must recognize this fact in all humility: there is only one name that matters – Jesus, the Christ. “There is no other name under heaven…by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

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Sacramental Healing

Jesus healing a blind manToday’s Gospel reading at Mass cites a unique incident from Jesus’ career: a two-stage healing.

When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida,
people brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.
He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.
Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked,
“Do you see anything?”
Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.”
Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly;
his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.
Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village” (Mark 8:22-26).

There are two things we can learn from this:

1. This is more historical proof of Jesus as a wonderworker. No Christian is going to make up an account about Jesus’ healing not quite “working” the first time, especially when so many of Jesus’ miraculous deeds (healings, exorcisms, nature miracles) happen instantaneously, at his word, even from a distance. This smacks of authenticity and eyewitness detail. Furthermore, this is more evidence that the evangelists didn’t feel free to “invent” incidents from the life of Christ, or feel free to “edit” accounts of Jesus’ life that were passed on by tradents and collected into the Gospels. If that were the case, this account would have almost certainly been “cleaned up” by the evangelist, with the healing working at once.

2. This is a “sacramental” healing. Jesus didn’t need to take spittle and use that to heal the man’s vision. But the fact that he did shows that God can use matter to communicate his grace – that is, his very life. This should be obvious when considering the Incarnation itself. The body of Christ communicated, and was the very vehicle, of the life of God on earth. And Christ continues to communicate his healing powers through the sacraments of the Catholic Church. The sacraments each take ordinary, physical materials – water, bread, wine, oil – and, in the case of marriage, the very bodies of the spouses themselves – to communicate the life-giving power of God. The Eucharist, of course, is the greatest of all sacraments, because, as Saint Thomas aquinas once said, in all the other sacraments, the power of Christ is present; in the Eucharist, Christ himself is present – Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

The sacraments of the Church bring the power to see life and eternity – all of reality – in ever clearer and sharper focus. Like the blind man, we don’t always see this clearly at first, even after receiving the sacraments. We have to go “outside the village” and never go back in, like Christ led out the blind man – we must leave our old ways behind. And, as Saint Jerome taught, the “spittle” of Christ, which represents his word, his teaching, must be applied to our lives – that is, obeyed – for the healing of our lives to be complete.

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Being “Abel” to Love God on Valentine’s Day

The Sacred Heart of JesusToday’s Mass readings remind us of the importance of loving God. How appropriate that they happen to fall on Valentine’s Day, for God’s love, poured out in the blood and water flowing from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is the greatest experience of love we can ever hope to know. And such love can only be repaid with love. But stepping into the arena of love has it’s dangers, and this is even true in the relationship between God and humanity.

Daring to love can incite jealousy. The First Reading, from Genesis, speaks of the offering of Abel, firstborn son of Adam, made for love of God. This gift was far more pleasing to God than that of Abel’s brother, Cain. We all know what happened: Cain, in a fit of jealousy, murdered his own brother. The Church Fathers remind us that Abel was a type, or prefigurement, of Christ: he, like Jesus, was a shepherd (cf. John 10); he offered a sacrifice acceptable to the Lord (Jesus’ offering was his very self on the cross); and his blood was shed on the ground as he was murdered. The jealousy of the religious establishment of his day contributed to Jesus’ death.

Daring to love can also mean risking rejection. Today’s Gospel portrays Jesus as a sort of jilted lover:

The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus,
seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.
He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said,
“Why does this generation seek a sign?
Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
Then he left them, got into the boat again,
and went off to the other shore.

– Mark 8:11-13

Truth be told, Jesus had already given more than enough signs by this point: healings, exorcisms, miracles. Just think of the feeding miracles! Just before this incident recorded in Mark 8, Jesus had fed 4,000 people (not counting the women and children), with seven loaves and a few small fish. Dinner and a show, as it were, perfect for Valentine’s day!

But the constant demand for miracles caused Jesus to sigh with deep disappointment. I’m sure at that point he felt a lot like a lover who is being used by his beloved. We have to love Jesus Christ for who he is, not what he can do for us. The constant demand for the miraculous indicates a selfishness and superficiality in the relationship, always asking for more proof of love when more than enough evidence exists already.

In the parallel account of this event in Matthew, Jesus says, “An evil an adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Mt 12:40). “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). That Jesus died for our sins and rose again should be proof enough of his love for us. For our part, we only need to remember that love can only be repaid with love. And love is deeds, not words.

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Understanding the Creation Accounts in Genesis

Creation in GenesisPope John XXIII, before he was elected Pontiff, served as a diplomat. One evening, he was introduced at a function to a rather scantily clad woman.  “Here”, the future Pope said to her, “Why not take a bite from this apple?” The lady looked at him quizzically. He responded, “If you eat it, perhaps, like Eve, your eyes will be opened and you will realize you are naked!”

The Old Testament readings at Mass these days have been selected from Genesis. They deal with the origins of man and woman, nakedness and fig leaves, good and evil.  There are several things we as Catholics need to understand about this book, and one of them is this:

The first three chapters of Genesis deals with the creation of the world from a poetic perspective.

Now, before anyone asks, I want to get one thing straight: the Bible contains real history. The Gospels, for example – biographies of the life of Jesus, who truly lived and died and rose again on planet earth. The Acts of the Apostles – the history of the early Church. There are, of course, many historical books of the Old Testament as well.

A key to biblical interpretation is this: understand the genre that you are reading. You don’t read poetry (Like the Song of Solomon) as you would a historical narrative.  The problem with Genesis is that it is a hybrid of history and poetry (the first three chapters on Creation).

Catholics don’t run into the same sort of problems that some non-Catholic Christians do in dealing with creation from a scientific perspective (i.e. the young-earth theory, creation in six literal days, etc.). We see no conflict between faith and science. Some of the greatest scientists in the world were Catholics. A great number of craters on the moon, for example, are named for Jesuit scientist-priests who discovered them.

Science only describes how things work in God’s creation. But it can’t tell you the whys – the reason for our existence, and that of everything else. Genesis 1-3 does exactly that, using poetry. Genesis 1-3 is not a scientific document, or a documentary on how God created the universe and humanity. We know that it isn’t, for one simple reason (and there are more): the writer or writers of Genesis weren’t there, “in the beginning” to take notes!

But poetry can also communicate God’s truth, just as history can.

Christopher West, who has written so extensively on Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, has a great way of explaining this: He says that there’s a big difference between what an optometrist (a scientist) tells you when looking in your eyes, and what your lover tells you when doing the same thing – unless, of course, you’re in love with your optometrist! But what both are seeing is true – just from different perspectives.

The writer of Genesis was a lover who sees the deep truths of why God made the world – and us. It was so that we could be in relationship with him.

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You Can Vote for Me in the About.com Finals!

About.com Awards featuring The New Mass appAnd so it begins….I really can’t believe it, but I’m a finalist in four categories in the About.com Catholicism Reader’s Choice Awards! It’s so easy to vote, and it only takes a moment. I’d be so grateful if you would vote for me in the following categories:

Best Catholic iPhone app: The New Mass

Best Catholic blog: The Faith Explained with Cale Clarke

Best Catholic to follow on Twitter: @CaleClarke

Best Catholic Facebook Page: The Faith Explained

You can click on any of the above hyperlinks to start voting, or go to this url:

http://catholicism.about.com/od/thechurchintheworld/ss/2011-About-Com-Catholicism-Readers-Choice-Awards-Finalists.htm

Have fun, and, as always, thank you, thank you, thank you for all your support. Without you these pages simply wouldn’t exist!

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The Faith of BlackBerry CEO Mike Lazaridis

Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO, RIMAlthough I’m an iPhone developer, I’ve always admired the BlackBerry and the company that created it, Research in Motion (RIM). Considering the two co-CEOs, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, are fellow Canadians, how could I not? And a recent book has now shed some intriguing light on the faith of  the “Father of the BlackBerry”, Mike Lazaridis.

BlackBerry: The Inside Story of Research in Motion, by Rod McQueen, offers some fascinating anectodes about the history of both Waterloo, Ontario based RIM, and its leaders. Religion had a part to play in the whole saga from the very beginning. Mike Lazaridis was born in Turkey in 1961 to a family of Greek ancestry. As Christians, they were forced to flee the country due to a wave of religious persecution that broke out when Mike was only three. After a brief stay in Germany, the Lazaridis family sailed to a permanent home in Canada.

In recent years, Lazaridis has famously founded the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo. A think-tank of sorts, the best and the brightest in the field are invited to research theoretical physics, funded by generous donations by Lazaridis (who personally donated $100 million) and others. A fascinating anecdote in the book that takes place at a Christmas dinner for Perimeter’s board of directors at the Lazaridis’ home:

The wine was poured, but the soup was not yet served as the guests turned toward their host, who had on the table in front of him a small lectern holding a Bible. Lazaridis read a selected passage, picked out some key words, and then wove them into a five-minute homily to the assembled about physics and faith. “He is a sincere Christian and not afraid to show his Christianity”, said Ken Cork. “He’s a Christian in the sense of the instruction in the Bible – love one another – and he does. That’s part of why RIM’s such a great company. When he reads the Bible he’s not a politician trying to make a point. he’s trying to raise up his audience by reading something to them that’s uplifting. He’s pursuing the high road to get to the high goal. To him, religion is practical and that’s quite different from the politically activist type of religion.”

In this regard, Lazaridis – the engineer who is fascinated by physics – follows in famous footsteps. Einstein argued that nature could not possibly be a random place; there must be an underlying reality that causes the particles that make up our world to have defined positions and known speeds. “God does not play dice with the universe”, Einstein famously said, a concept with which countless others have been wrestling ever since.”

– “BlackBerry”, p. 226

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Vote for Me in the About.com Awards!

Hi Everybody! There’s one day left to vote for me for the About.com Catholic Reader’s Choice Awards! If you enjoy what you read in these pages, or if you like The New Mass app, I’d really appreciate it if you could nominate me for the following categories (feel free to cut and paste)!

Your Nominee for Best Catholic Blog (Name, URL): The Faith Explained with Cale Clarke, www.thefaithexplained.com

Your Nominee for Best Catholic Website (Name, URL): The Faith Explained with Cale Clarke, www.thefaithexplained.com

Your Nominee for Best Catholic iPhone App: The New Mass

Your Nominee for Best Catholic to Follow on Twitter (Name, Twitter username): Cale Clarke, CaleClarke

Your Nominee for Best Catholic Facebook Page (page name, URL): http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Faith-Explained/144059372270922

You can register your votes here!

Thanks again, folks!

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“The Rite” and Jesus the Exorcist

The new movie, The Rite, #1 at the North American box office this past weekend, once again reveals Hollywood’s fascination with exorcism. 1973’s The Exorcist began this trend in earnest, with 2005’s The Exorcism of Emily Rose a more recent example. All three movies are at least in part based on actual cases.

Whenever a movie like this appears on the scene, interest in real-life exorcisms begins to spike. It is therefore necessary to ask, “Did Jesus himself perform exorcisms?”

It may surprise some readers of the Gospels to learn that there were many exorcists who abounded in Jesus’ day. The Lord himself acknowledged this when he asked the Pharisees, “by whom do your sons cast them (demons) out?” (Matthew 12:27). According to the Jewish historian Josephus, exorcists needed: 1) A formula from Solomon to be incanted, along with 2) A piece of wood (called “bunk” or “the bunk stick”), which had a scent from the Barras root (see Josephus, JW 7.6.3; Ant. 8.2.5, 46-49).

The exorcist would use the bunk stick to draw the demon out of the nose (the ancients believed spirits would enter/exit a person via the nostrils). Heck, the person would probably sneeze (due to the scent of the Barras root), and the exorcist would say, “Look, there goes the demon!” Hmm…I wonder if that’s why people say, “God bless you” when someone sneezes!

On a more serious note, the reason why Jewish exorcists used incantations from Solomon was because, as Dr. Craig A. Evans points out in his magisterial commentary on Mark, “The tradition of Solomon as exorcist par excellence was widespread in late antiquity. The tradition began in 1 Kings 4:29-34 and was enhanced in later traditions such as Wisdom 7:17-21 and the Testament of Solomon. As ‘son of David’ (Mark 10:47, 48), Jesus would have been expected in some circles to effect cures paralleling those effected by David’s famous son Solomon” (Evans, Mark 8:27-16:20, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 34b, p. 49).

Jesus was, in fact, well known as an exorcist. The Gospels are littered with references to this, and no serious scholar of the matter doubts it. But what made Jesus’ exorcisms much more impressive than that of others in his time was the manner by which Jesus performed them. He had no need of rigmarole, incantations, the Barras root, or any other “bunk’, if you’ll pardon the pun. He simply says to the demons, in effect, “Shut up, and get out!”

And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee (Mark 1:21-28).

Many wonder why Jesus would command silence from the demon, considering it correctly identified Jesus as “the Holy One of God”. Part of the answer lies in the fact that as the Messiah, Jesus did not want acclamation from demons – that is, he doesn’t want to use them as his P.R. team! Also, given the tense political situation of the time and the possible danger to Jesus’ life that a premature public announcement of his messiahship could bring (other, false messianic claimants of the day were executed as political threats to Rome), silence was prudent for the moment. As seen in the exorcism films, exorcisms also involve a power struggle around the issue of names. Knowing someone’s name implies having some sort of power over them. Hence, the exorcist attempts to get the demon to give up its name. This is also why the demon in the aforementioned incident was attempting to make known Jesus’ true identity. Of course, Jesus silences the evil spirit, but it is always fascinating to note that, while demons do recognize Jesus’ true identity and must obey him, human beings often do not.

Should we be worried about the presence of the demonic in our own day? As C.S. Lewis once put it, in The Screwtape Letters, there are two errors we can fall into, like ditches on either side of the road: “One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased with both errors”.

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State of the Union

On a day when U.S. President Barack Obama gave the “State of the Union” address, it’s apropos that today is the feast marking the conversion of Saint Paul. This, in turn, denotes the close of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. And without true conversion, Christian unity will always be relegated to fantasy status. It seems that many Christians have either a) given up on the concept completely, or b) have a skewed vision of what true Christian unity looks like.

Pope Benedict XVI had some strong words mere hours ago for those who have given up on the possibility of Christian unity. At an ecumenical event capping the week of prayer at the Basilica of St Paul outside the wall in Rome, the Pontiff said that this attitude is a “temptation of resignation and pessimism”, and amounts to “a lack of trust in the power of the Holy Spirit.”  So much for option a)!

What of option b)? Many Catholic and Protestatnt Christians view success in ecumenism as simply “agreeing to disagree”. They believe there are “many valid expressions” of Christianity, even though they differ with each other on key aspects of faith and morality. But such an uneasy peace is not what either Jesus, Paul, or Pope Benedict has in mind.

Pope Benedict noted today that Christian unity is “a moral imperative, a response to a precise call of the Lord.” One of the passages he may have had in mind was John 17:20-21, when Jesus addressed his Father: “I do not pray for these only (the Apostles), but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they all may be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Christian disunity is not only therefore direct disobedience to Christ, but we must also recognize that Christian unity must be a corporate unity. That is, we must be visibly one, not just in agreement about some core essentials of doctrine – “Mere Christianity”, as it were (and who’s to say exactly how many elements constitute the “Mereness”?) – is not enough. The union must be visible, corporeal, for Jesus said if it was, “the world may believe that you have sent me”. Seeing is believing for the skeptic.

“That for which we yearn is the unity for which Christ himself prayed and which, by its nature, is manifested in a communion of faith, sacraments and ministry”, Pope Benedict said.

Christian disunity is not what Paul wanted, either. In fact, he was mortified at the beginnings of what amounted to “denominationalism” (denomination means “of a name” – hence Lutheranism, Calvinism, etc.) in Corinth:

I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose. For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by Chloe’s people, that there are rivalries among you. I mean that each of you is saying, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

-1 Corinthians 1:10-13

To the contrary, as Paul writes to the Ephesians, “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5).

The theme of the Week of Christian unity was, “One in the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer” (cf. Acts 2:42). There will be no Christian unity without an acceptance of all the apostles’ teaching, preserved in the Catholic Church. There’s no unity without the “breaking of the bread” – code for the Mass. And true fellowship derives from oneness in purpose and belief, for, as Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25). Another U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln, once famously quoted those words. And the Civil Wars within Christianity must likewise end.

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Did Jesus Exist?

A friend who is a spiritual seeker recently asked, “Why are there so few non-religious documents to support the existence of Jesus?”

In fact, there are numerous references to Jesus in ancient documents. Amazingly, we can actually authenticate dozens of specific facts about his life and teachings – even from non-Christian, non-New Testament sources. Let’s take a look at just one of these ancient sources – Tacitus.

The following is excerpted from The Historical Jesus, an excellent resource (although it appears to be currently out of print) written by a former professor of mine, and a leading expert on the Resurrection of Jesus, Dr. Gary Habermas:

Cornelius Tacitus (ca. 55 120 A.D.) was a Roman historian who lived through the reigns of over a half dozen Roman emperors. He has been called the “greatest historian” of ancient Rome, an individual generally acknowledged among scholars for his moral “integrity and essential goodness.”

Tacitus is best known for two works — the Annals and the Histories. The former is thought to have included eighteen books and the latter to have included twelve, for a total of thirty. The Annals cover the period from Augustus’ death in 14 A.D. to that of Nero in 68 A.D., while the Histories begin after Nero’s death and proceed to that of Domitian in 96 A.D.

Tacitus recorded at least one reference to Christ and two to early Christianity, one in each of his major works. The most important one is that found in the Annals, written about 115 A.D. The following was recounted concerning the great fire in Rome during the reign of Nero:

“Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.

“Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man’s cruelty, that they were being destroyed.”

From this report we can learn several facts, both explicit and implicit, concerning

Christ and the Christians who lived in Rome in the 60s A.D. Chronologically, we may ascertain the following information.

(1) Christians were named for their founder, Christus (from the Latin), (2) who was put to death by the Roman procurator Pontius Pilatus (also Latin), (3) during the reign of emperor Tiberius (14 37 A.D.). (4) His death ended the “superstition” for a short time, (5) but it broke out again, (6) especially in Judaea, where the teaching had its origin.

(7) His followers carried his doctrine to Rome. (8) When the great fire destroyed a large part of the city during the reign of Nero (54 68 A.D.), the emperor placed the blame on the Christians who lived in Rome. (9) Tacitus reports that this group was hated for their abominations. (10) These Christians were arrested after pleading guilty, (11) and many were convicted for “hatred for mankind.” (12) They were mocked and (13) then tortured, including being “nailed to crosses” or burnt to death. (14) Because of these actions, the people had compassion on the Christians. (15) Tacitus therefore concluded that such punishments were not for the public good but were simply “to glut one man’s cruelty.”

Several facts here are of interest. As F. F. Bruce has noted, Tacitus had to receive his information from some source and this may have been an official record. It may even have been contained in one of Pilate’s reports to the emperor, to which Tacitus would probably have had access because of his standing with the government. Of course, we cannot be sure at this point, but a couple of early writers do claim to know the contents of such a report…Also of interest is the historical context for Jesus’ death, as he is linked with both Pilate and Tiberius. Additionally, J. N. D. Anderson sees implications in Tacitus’ quote concerning Jesus’ resurrection:

“It is scarcely fanciful to suggest that when he adds that “A most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out” he is bearing indirect and unconscious testimony to the conviction of the early church that the Christ who had been crucified had risen from the grave.”

Also interesting is the mode of torture employed against the early Christians. Besides burning, a number were crucified by being “nailed to crosses.” Not only is this the method used with Jesus, but tradition reports that Nero was responsible for crucifying Peter as well, but upside down. The compassion aroused in the Roman people is also noteworthy.

– Habermas, The Historical Jesus, pp. 187-190

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