Author: Msgr. Charles Pope

I am often struck by the mystery of the relationship that dogs and cats have with their owners. While I realize that we humans do a lot of projecting of what we want their behavior to mean, it still remains a deeply mysterious reality to me how our pets come to “know” us and set up a kind of communication with us.

Dogs, especially, are very demonstrative, interactive, and able to make knowing responses. Cats are more subtle, but my own cat, Daniel, knows my patterns and also knows how to communicate when he wants water, food, or just a back rub. He’s also a big talker, meowing all day long to greet people and get attention from them.

As I say, this interaction with our animals is a mysterious thing. I do not raise this to suggest they are on a par with us intellectually or morally. Scripture is clear enough that animals are given to us by God and that we are sovereign stewards over them. And while it is never right to abuse animals, it is right that we make use of them in appropriate ways and even make use of some of them as a food source (cf Gen 9:1-3).

But animals, especially our pets, are also to be appreciated as gifts from God. Scripture is also clear that animals will be part of the renewed creation that God will bring about when Christ shall come again in glory:

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:6-9).

In Revelation, John speaks of speaks of seeing a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21:1), and he describes Christ from his judgment seat finally saying, Behold, I make all things new (Rev 21:5). I have little doubt that animals will share in that recreated and renewed kingdom where death shall be no more (Rev 21:4).

Part of the Kingdom! Without elevating pets (no matter how precious) to the full dignity of human beings, it is not wrong to think that they will be part of the Kingdom of God in all its restored harmony and beauty.

Perhaps in the mystery of our interaction with pets, God is giving us a glimpse of the harmony we will one day enjoy with all of creation. Scripture says,

For indeed, creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God (Romans 8:19-21).

Yes, creation itself is eagerly waiting the day when God says (in the words of an old spiritual), Oh preacher fold your bible, for the last soul’s converted! And then creation itself will be set free from its bondage to death and decay and be remade into its original harmony and the life-possessing glory that was once paradise.

Perhaps the mystery of our pets is that they are ambassadors for the rest of creation, a kind of early delegation sent by God to prepare the way and the connections of the new and restored creation. Perhaps they are urging us on in our task to make the number of the elect complete so that all creation can sooner receive its renewal and be restored to the glory and harmony it once had. Who knows? But I see a kind of urgency in the pets I have had. They are filled with joy, enthusiasm, and the expectation of something great.

Joyful expectation! Yes, I have powerful memories of the dogs of my youth running circles around me, running to greet me when I arrived home, and jumping for joy when I announced a car ride or a walk. Even my cats of recent years, though more subdued, saunter over to meet me at the door with a meow and an arched back, rubbing up against my leg. And when I see this joy and expectation in my pets the words of Romans 8 (above) will sometimes come to mind: creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

All deep mysteries to be sure, but surely pregnant with meaning for us, humanity and all creation, for the birth of a new creation.

****

Photo Credit Above: This is a picture I took of my brother’s Alaskan Malamute, Kaila, lying down with the family parakeet in early fulfillment of Isaiah 11 (quoted above)!

Enjoy this video of a dog looking with eager expectation to his owner. A friend of mine thinks this video was doctored, but I do not. Obviously the human voice coming from the dog is added, but as for the mannerisms, they are just what I used to see in my dogs. The appearance of the eyes and ears mean the dog is hearing his owner suggest a treat of some kind. This leads to nervous gestures such as standing, yawning, pacing, and even a moaning, which makes the dog’s mouth move as though talking; but actually he is just making small sighs, yips, and moans.  As you view this video, consider the words, creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

What we fear controls us. Consider the following story.

Trichloroethane, an aerosol propellant that was used in the spray cans of many household cleaners, is toxic when inhaled in large concentrations. Back in the 1980s, teenagers discovered that they could get high by spraying the cleaner into bags and breathing in the fumes.

A  label on the can clearly warned of death or serious injury if the product was inhaled. But the young people who inhaled it simply ignored these sorts of warnings, leading to a number of deaths.

The president of one aerosol company was told by his lawyers to make the warning larger. But the president argued against this since the warning was clear enough now but was simply being ignored. He said, “Death and serious injury do not seem very real to most young people thus they do not fear them.” “Instead,” the company president said, “Let’s consider … What do kids worry about more than death or injury? … How they look, of course!”  

Thus the company president directed that the warning instead say, “Inhaling  the fumes of this product may cause death, extreme hair loss, or facial disfigurement.”  But the attorney objected, saying that the warning was a lie. “No,” replied the company president, “It is not a lie. After death, extreme hair loss and facial disfigurement do in fact follow.”

The new warning really scared the target audience and the liability claims against the aerosol company dropped to zero.

What we fear controls us. Satan knows this and so do marketers. And while the story here features a company using fear to save lives, the more frequent use of fear is to control people for less noble purposes.

A good bit of marketing does not merely target our needs but also our fears. Thus many commercials begin their appeal by subtly indicating that we are not pretty enough, or not popular enough, or that we might have bad breath, or that we haven’t really lived and will not reach our potential unless we use “Product X.” If we do not have or use “Product X” we are inadequate; our life is a failure and others will surpass us or look and be more successful than we are. Other commercials warn us of every disease, calamity, or possible trouble. Then after inciting these fears, they offer to sell us medicines, insurance, alarm systems, or financial securities.

Of themselves, these sorts of appeals are not evil, but they do show how effective fear is in motivating and even controlling us. Companies spend billions on these commercials because they know that they work. 

Satan, too, uses fear to control us—especially the fear of rejection. Most of us have a natural desire to get along with others and to avoid unnecessary conflict. But given our fallen nature, we have this desire to a great fault. The desperate desire to fit in and be approved is one of the deepest wounds in the human heart. So pervasive is this sinful drive of fear that I have often wondered why it isn’t the “Eighth Deadly Sin.” As a sinful drive, this fear leads us to countless other sins.

So much do we fear rejection and not being popular that we will sin in very serious ways in order to gain the approval of others and the world. Young girls will give away their bodies to mere boyfriends in order to be approved. Young men will join gangs and get in all sorts of trouble to be approved and accepted. People will spend enormous amounts of money buying things they cannot really afford just to impress people they do not even really know or like. People will walk up to a group engaged in very ugly gossip or unchaste conversation and join right in just to gain entrance to the group. People will dress and act immodestly, even if it’s uncomfortable, just because “everyone else is doing it” and they feel they must also in order to be accepted and approved.

The list could go on but you get the point. What we fear controls us.

Well, God has a solution: fear the Lord. It’s a pretty good deal, actually, since fearing the Lord is easier than fearing ten thousand people, possibilities, and things. Hmm … one or ten thousand? … I think I’ll choose the fear of the one Lord! And while the fear that comes from Satan and the world is often a sinful fear, the fear of the Lord is a saving fear!

To be sure, the Lord would prefer us to have something more than cringing, servile fear (i.e., fear of punishment). But if that’s all you’ve got, start there. (You can read more on this topic here: Servile Fear is Salutary Fear.) The Lord will begin a process of perfecting your fear with increasing love so that it becomes a filial fear based in wonder and awe, a fear rooted in love of God, a fear that dreads offending someone we love and who has been so good to us.

Yes, what we fear will control us. But it is so much better to be controlled by the Lord, who loves us, than by Satan, who hates and lies to us, or by the world, which doesn’t really care about us. Choose the fear of the Lord and let him gently and lovingly take control.

There is a remarkable line in the first reading from Mass today (Monday of the 18th Week of the year) that is worthy of meditation for us all. It is a phrase that is practical, profound, and sweeping in its implications. It comes to us from the Lord through the mouth of Jeremiah the Prophet, who warns,

By breaking a wooden yoke, you forge an iron yoke! (Jeremiah 28:13)

The words have a historical context to be sure, but they also have a timeless context. (If you are not interested in the historical meaning, skip to the red text below). Jeremiah was commanded by God to wear a wooden yoke about his neck to symbolize the fact that God had delivered the land of Judah and the Jewish people into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar (a name which, strangely, means “Large Wine Bottle”), the King of Babylon. God had done this to punish all of them for their infidelity and to purify them; they were to wear this yoke until God loosed it.

In doing this, God was resorting to a tactic he had used in the past: I will provoke them with a foolish nation (Deut 32:21). Considering the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar’s name, the people would surely have remembered the Psalm: Thou hast made thy people suffer hard things; thou hast given us wine to drink that made us reel (Ps 60:3).

And thus the Lord said through Jeremiah,

In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD. 2 Thus the LORD said to me: “Make yourself thongs and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck … 4 Give them this charge: ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel … 6 I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant … 7 All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave … 8 But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation … 9 So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’ 10 For it is a lie which they are prophesying to you, with the result that you … will perish. 11 But any nation which will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, to till it and dwell there, says the LORD … 14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for it is a lie which they are prophesying to you. 15 I have not sent them, says the LORD, but they are prophesying falsely in my name … (Jeremiah 27, indicated verses)

Yes, God had chosen to use a foreign land to purify his people from their infidelities. The Lord even goes so far as to call Nebuchadnezzar “my servant” (verse 6).

Jeremiah was to display this by the wooden yoke he was to wear about his neck. Yet God is clear that the yoke is only a temporary measure (vaguely described as lasting for three generations in verse 7). After this time, God will act.

Nevertheless, and despite the warnings, false “prosperity” prophets arose and did just what God forbade: announced a quick end to the yoke. Thus we read the following in today’s passage:

That same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the prophet, son of Azzur, from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the LORD in the sight of the priests and all the people: 2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 Within two years I … all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon, I will bring back to this place—oracle of the LORD—for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.” … 10 Thereupon Hananiah the prophet took the yoke bar from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it. 11 He said in the sight of all the people: “Thus says the LORD: Like this, within two years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, from the neck of all the nations.” At that, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way. (Jeremiah 28, indicated verses)

And then comes our warning text, the text for our mediation:

12 After Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke bar off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 13 Go tell Hananiah this: Thus says the LORD: By breaking a wooden yoke, you make an iron yoke! (Jeremiah 28, indicated verses).

That is what it meant then. Sure enough, the sufferings were intensified. The Babylonian captivity lasted for 80 years. Many Jews never returned from the diaspora.

But what does a text like this mean for us today?

By breaking a wooden yoke, you forge an iron yoke! (Jeremiah 28:13)

What is the wooden yoke if it is not the cross? Indeed the Lord says as much: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matt 11:28-30).

And thus the Lord has a paradoxical answer to us who labor and are heavenly burdened. He tells us to take the yoke and burden He has for us. The yoke is a symbol for the cross, and like most yokes, it connects us with another—in this case with the Lord! But to be sure he DOES have a yoke for us. We DO need purification and discipline. But the yoke He has for us is “easy.” The Greek word used is χρηστός (chrestos), a word which also has the connotation of being well fitting, serviceable, or adapted to its purpose. And thus the Lord’s yoke for us is productive unto the end He has in mind: our healing and salvation.

But do not turn the yoke (cross) into something abstract or think of it only in terms of big things such as cancer. The cross also has real, practical, daily dimensions such as adopting self-control and moderation. The cross (yoke) includes resisting sin, learning to forgive, and living chastely and courageously despite difficulties or persecution. These are common to all true Christians. There are also some specific crosses that we each carry, crosses that the Lord permits for our humility and purification. Perhaps it is a physical illness or infirmity; perhaps it is a spiritual emotional struggle; perhaps it is the loss of a loved one, job, or home.

These are the wooden yokes, the cross of the Lord, and He carries it with us, for we are yoked with Him (praise God). And since these burdens are from Him, they are “chrestos.” They are well suited to us; they are just what we need to avoid even worse things, including Hell itself.

But what if we break and cast aside the wooden yoke, as many do today by ridiculing the Christian moral vision and the wisdom of the Cross given to us by Jesus? As Jeremiah puts it,

By breaking a wooden yoke, you forge an iron yoke! (Jeremiah 28:13)

How is this? Well consider the toll that indulging in the moment can take. In rejecting the wooden yoke of moderation, chastity, and the limits of God’s moral law we forge the iron yoke of addiction, DUI arrests, obesity, financial trouble, sexually transmitted diseases, broken families, and all the heartache and social chaos that results. Pornography, lust, alcohol, and drugs enslave with an iron yoke. In refusing the grace to forgive, we fuel violence and conflict. Many wars in the world today are about grievances that stretch back many hundreds or even thousands of years. Our greed causes us to have an insatiable desire for more, and we begin to live beyond our means or to live lives that bring us more stress than happiness. Even just the simple neglect of our daily duties causes work to pile up and seem overwhelming.

All of these are like iron yokes; they come upon us because we break the wooden yoke of the cross. To be sure, fulfilling our daily duties, living moderately, chastely, and soberly are all crosses because they involve some degree of self-denial, at least in the moment. But the wooden yoke is a lot easier than the iron yoke that results if we cast aside the more gentle, manageable, and well fitting yoke of the cross.

Pay attention fellow Christian—Satan is a liar. He offers to lift the gentle yoke of the Lord. He expresses “outrage” that the Lord should require any suffering or discipline from us. He “takes our side” and utters a complaint on our behalf. But he is a liar and a fraud. And once we let him lift the wooden yoke he locks us in an iron yoke. Do not forsake the wooden yoke of the cross! For if you do, an iron yoke is sure to follow—soon!

It is a simple pearl of wisdom, yet it is so often ignored: By breaking a wooden yoke, you forge an iron yoke! (Jeremiah 28:13)

Jesus said, “What God has joined together, let no one divide.” But this is exactly what we have done in our divisive and reductionist time. We have done so not only with marriage but also with sexuality, procreation, and the raising of children. God has weaved together sex, marriage, and procreation. But we have separated and isolated them:

1. Regarding sex, we have said that there is no necessary connection between sex and procreation—we have done this with the contraceptive mentality.
2. Regarding marriage, we have said that there is no necessary connection between getting married and having children—we have done this through the widespread use of contraception and now by embracing the notion of same-sex unions.
3. Regarding children, we have even said that there is no necessary connection between having children and having sex—we have done this by in vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood, and the like.

We have separated and isolated things that God has designed to be joined together. Sex, marriage, and procreation are meant to go together and each exists for and on behalf of the others. We have sown the wind and are reaping the whirlwind.

1. If it is widely held that sex is just about pleasure or “showing love” and has nothing to do with procreation, then for many it no longer makes sense to restrict sex to marriage or even to heterosexuals.
2. If it is widely held that having children is not an essential work of marriage and that marriage is just about two adults being happy, then for many it no longer makes sense to restrict marriage to heterosexuals.
3. If it is widely held that conceiving a child is no longer necessarily linked to the marital act, then it no longer makes sense to many that conceiving children in test tubes, borrowing sperm or eggs, or renting a womb (or any combination of thereof) is strange or problematic.

In separating what God has joined, we have become lost in a strange world in which life is on the one hand hated (via contraception and abortion), and on the other turned into a commercial product that is “up for sale” (via IVF, etc.). Indeed we have arrived at the era of designer babies; we are already into the first stages of cloning, gene splicing, and “Heather having three (or more) parents.” We are heading for the “hatchery” of the Huxley novel Brave New World and are also not far removed from the world of Orwell’s 1984.

And very few today bat an eyelash at the prospect. Very few have considered the darkness of turning human life into a designer product that is for sale: an egg from here, a sperm from there, a rented womb from over there, a couple of strands of DNA from here, and some more from there. Heather has four “parents” and a fifth “mother” in the womb that was rented to gestate her.

Even fewer seem to care that it is children who going to be born into this utter chaos and who are having this social experiment foisted upon them—an experiment in which they are the guinea pigs.  No, who cares about them; haven’t you gotten the memo that this world is all about adults and what they want? Marriage isn’t about what is best for children, it’s about adults and their feelings and what they want. Sex isn’t about children either; it’s about what adults want to do. And even having children isn’t about children! It’s about what adults want, when they want it, and in the way they want it. Yes, even having children is all about adults. And Heaven protect the child who has a disability—the vast majority simply aborted. Heaven protect the excess embryos (i.e., children) resulting from in vitro fertilization who don’t get selected for implantation by the doctor—it’s into the freezer or worse for them. And if you don’t think sex selection has been going on for a long time in this designer baby world, you’d better wake up and think again. Heaven protect the infant who is the wrong sex!

Dark (not brave) new world. Here is an excerpt from an article describing yet another dark side of the designer baby world:

A Thai woman who carried a baby with Down’s syndrome as a surrogate mother has vowed to take care of the boy after his natural parents gave him up …

The Australian couple left Gammy, now six months old, with Pattaramon Chanbua but took his healthy twin sister. Gammy has a congenital heart condition, a lung infection and Down’s and is in a Thai hospital for urgent treatment. [God is watching. Can you imagine appearing before the judgment seat of Christ with this on your record? Let’s hope they repent.]

A campaign to help the baby begun online after Thai newspaper Thairath published Gammy’s story last week. It has raised more than $150,000 (140,000 USD; £83,000) from 3,400 donors in 11 days. [OK, that’s nice, but how about a campaign to end the practice of surrogacy? Can’t folk sees that hideous outcomes like this are going to be more an more frequent when people turn human life into a product to be bought and sold, when they seek designer babies and throw away “imperfect” products and “misprints”?]

In Australia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott expressed his sadness: “I guess it illustrates some of the pitfalls involved in this particular business.” [Really, is this the best outrage that Mr. Abbott can muster? “Pitfall”?  “Business”?]

Ms Pattaramon was paid $15,000 (£9,000) to be a surrogate for the couple, whose identities remain unknown. She was told of the child’s condition four months after becoming pregnant, prompting the couple to ask her to have an abortion. She refused, saying it was against her Buddhist beliefs. [Great couple, huh? Also, too bad the woman’s Buddhist beliefs didn’t prevent her from renting her womb for $15K!]  (The full article is available here: Surrogate Mother Cares for Disabled Child Rejected by Biological “Parents”.)

So the darkness continues to grow, and as it gets darker it gets colder—in this case a lot colder. In this secular age some like to boast that there is no God. But the problem is that if there is no God then everyone is God. Stories like this remind us that if we try to play God, we’re going to do a lousy job of it.

The atheists and secularists may think of our God, the God of the Bible, in poor terms but at least in God’s world there is room for imperfection and mercy. Stories like the one above remind us that in this dark (not brave) new world, in which man becomes God, there is little room for imperfect children, and little mercy for them either. Designer life, up for sale, is not just a bad idea; it’s a dangerous and heartless one. It amounts to genocide against the disabled, who bring us gifts whether we acknowledge them or not. 

Where have these heartless, merciless notions come from? Pride? Sure, because we want to be gods who design and toy with life and reserve the right to kill what we have made. Lust? Yes indeed, because we want “sex” without cost or responsibility. Anger? Yes again, for increasingly we kill what does not please us. Sloth? That too, for most are too busy to care about the arcane stuff and relegate the matter to the “none of my business as long as no one gets hurt” file. Well many have been hurt and killed and lot more are going to be on death row mighty soon.

We have sown the wind and now we are reaping the whirlwind. It began with a great divorce wherein we separated what God has joined. Sex, marriage, and having children are meant to go together. We have separated and isolated them and thus we sowed the wind. And then came the whirlwind of abortion, promiscuity, AIDS, STDs, teenage pregnancy, divorce, cohabitation, single motherhood, homosexual confusion, and the entire meltdown of the meaning of marriage and human sexuality. In the end it is the children who suffer; it is always the children.

Call the Church out of touch; call us old fashioned; but don’t call us inconsistent. We are just as opposed to abortion and contraception (which facilitates sex without procreation) as we are to IVF, surrogate motherhood, cloning, and every other dark art on the way that wants children without sex or marriage. I guess we’re just strange that way. We really think that sex, marriage, and having children ought to go together. It’s what God set forth; it’s what’s best for children; and we ought not separate what God has joined.

We have in today’s Gospel the very familiar miracle of the loaves and fish. One is tempted to say, “Oh that one…” and then tune out. But if we will accept it, the Gospel today contains a very personal appeal from the Lord’s lips to your (my) ears: “There is no need to dismiss the crowds; give them some food yourself.”

Immediately all the objections begin to swim through our minds. But be still, and let us allow the Lord to instruct us and apply this Gospel in five stages.

I. THE IMAGE THAT IS EXTOLLED – The text says, When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.  The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.  When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.

The text begins on a very sad note, with the death of Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist. We should not simply dismiss the kind of human grief Jesus must have experienced, and the text says He wanted to go away for a while, presumably to pray and grieve. It would seem that at the pinnacle of His public ministry He could only get apart by going out on a boat; and so He does. The text is unclear as to how long He was out on the water but it implies that it was only a short time.

Approaching the opposite shore, Jesus sees a large crowd and is moved with pity. He teaches them at great length and heals the sick. And here is the image that is extolled: although Jesus allowed himself this moment of grief, He also shows that the way out of grief is through love and concern for others. It is too easy for us in our own grief, anger, sorrow, or anxiety to retreat, to hide away. As an immediate reaction, this is understandable. But it is not a disposition we ought to maintain for long. For others have needs, and even in our grief and with our limitations we are still called to reach out to others. And that very reaching out often provides our own healing as well.

Just because we have needs does not mean that others stop having them. Jesus shows the courage and the love to still recognize the needs of others even in his own grief. So He goes ashore and shares love with others.

II. THE ISSUE THAT IS EVADED – The text says, When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.”

There is a human tendency to want needy people to go away, to disappear. The apostles, noticing the needy crowd (a crowd about to have a hunger problem), want it to go away before there is a problem.

We too, both individually and collectively, often desire the needy and poor to just disappear. If we see a beggar we may cross to the other side of the street or refuse to look at him. If our caller ID indicates a troubled family member is calling, one who might ask for money or want to talk for a long time, we may let the call go to voice mail rather than answering. In society we tend to segregate the poor and needy. The “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) syndrome seeks to confine the poor, the mentally handicapped, and others to certain marginal sections of the city largely out of sight and out of mind. The sick and the dying, too, are often relegated to nursing homes. Perhaps this is necessary for proper care, but the thought of an elderly relative living and dying in our own homes is too much for many, even when it is possible. So generally people go away to die.

Notice the threefold basis of the disciples’ evasion:

1. They are DESPAIRING – for they say, this is a deserted place and it is already late.
2. They are DISMISSIVE –  for they want Jesus to dismiss the crowd, to send them away.
3. They are DETACHED – for instead of wanting to help, they want the crowd to go away and get food for themselves.

Yes, it is a sad human tendency to want to be rid of people who have problems. And so the disciples beg Jesus to send the increasingly troublesome crowd away. The issue is evaded rather than accepted as a shared problem to be solved together.

III. THE INSTRUCTION THAT ENSUES – Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.”

Uh oh, this is starting to get personal! Jesus is not willing to keep this merely as a problem that “they” have; He wants me to do something!

Yes, He rejects their premise by saying there is no need for them to go away. And He redirects their plan by saying, give them something to eat yourselves.

Refusing to accept the presence of the poor and needy is simply not a viable option for Jesus, nor is it for us who would be His disciples. Jesus wants and expects us to get started with a solution, a solution that includes both “them” and us. It looks like we are our brother’s keeper.

This is the instruction that ensues when the apostles, or we, try to evade the issue.

IV. THE INSUFFICIENCY THAT IS EXPRESSED – The text says, But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”

But we can’t possibly pull this thing off; their needs are far too great! The Lord is not interested in our excuses; He just says, “Let’s get started.”

Observe two things about the five loaves and two fish:

1. First, as John’s Gospel (6:9) notes, the loaves and fish came from among the poor themselves. Hence this is not mere “do-good-ism.” The teaching here is not to be a “limousine liberal” who rolls down the window, throws money to the poor, an then goes back to his mansion. Neither is it a “We’re from the government and we’re here to help you” sort of solution. For we should not do for others what they can reasonably do for themselves. Rather we ought to work with the poor, engaging them in what they do have, in the talents and leadership they do possess, and solve problems with them rather than for them. There are loaves and fish even among the poor; there are talents and resources to be included in the solution.
2. Second, regardless of where the loaves and fish come from, they are not nothing, and the Lord expects all of us to be part of the solution. Simply telling God (or these days the government) to go do something about the problem is not a full or authentic Christian response.

Hence our complaints about meager resources do not impress the Lord, who says, simply, Bring them here to me. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And thus we go to the principal point.

V.  THE IMMENSITY THAT IS EXPERIENCED – The text says, Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.  Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.  They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over—twelve wicker baskets full.  Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.

Now this story is so familiar that you and I are not surprised by the outcome. But no matter how many times we hear it, we still do not really accept its astonishing truth:

1. I can do all things in God who strengthens me (Phil 4:13).
2. All things are possible to him who believes (Mk 9:23).
3. For man it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God (Mk 10:27).
4. Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness (2 Cor 9:10).

Now take special note of that last quote, for this Gospel is about more than caring for the poor (although it is about that). This Gospel is also about taking this world back for Christ.

We all know that this world is in an increasingly bad state: rampant secularism, moral relativism, a Church with many self-inflicted wounds.  All of this has led to the real mess we have on our hands today. And the problems are overwhelming: sexual confusion, the culture of death, the breakdown of marriage, compulsive sin, compulsive overspending, greed, insensitivity to the poor, deep and widespread addiction to pornography, drugs, alcohol abuse, abortion, widespread promiscuity, adultery, corruption, cynicism, low mass attendance, and on and on.

The problems seem overwhelming and our resources seem so limited to turn back the tide. What will we ever do with only five loaves and two fish?

Jesus says, Bring them here to me.

Yet again, the journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step. The conversion of the whole world begins with me. As I look at the huge problems before me, I (and this means you, too) assess my loaves and fish:

1. I work on my own conversion. For a holier world has to start with me. If I get holier, the world gets holier.
2. I look to the poor I can serve; maybe with money, maybe with talents like tutoring and counseling, maybe just with my time by listening.
3. I pick up the phone and call a family member I know is hurting.
4. I love my spouse and children.
5. I spend the time to raise my own children properly—to know the Lord and seek His kingdom.
6. I exhort the weak in my own family. And, with love, I rebuke sin and encourage righteousness.
7. If I am a priest or religious, I live my vocation faithfully and heroically call others to Christ by teaching and proclaiming the Gospel without compromise.
8. If I am a young person, I seek to prepare myself devoutly for a vocation to marriage or the priesthood or religious life.
9. If I am older, I seek to manifest wisdom and a good example to the young.
10. If I am elderly, I seek to prepare myself for death devoutly and to be a good example in this. I witness to the desire for Heaven.
11. I pray for this world and attend mass faithfully, begging God’s mercy on this sin-soaked world.

It is too easy to simply lament this world’s condition and, like the apostles, feel overwhelmed. Jesus just says, bring me what you have, and let’s get started. The conversion of the whole world will begin with me, with my meager loaves and fish.

And Jesus will surely multiply them; he will not fail. Already there is renewal evident in the Church through a faithful core willing to bring their loaves and fish: some of the things mentioned above and more besides. They are bringing them to Jesus and He is multiplying them. Renewal is happening and signs of spring are evident in the Church.

There is a saying that it is easier to wear slippers than to carpet the whole world. Indeed it is. If it is to be a converted world you want start with yourself. Bring your loaves and fish to Jesus, bring your slippers, and let’s get started.  It begins with me.

This song says,

If I can help somebody, as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody, with a word or song,
If I can show somebody, how they’re traveling wrong,
Then my living shall not be in vain.

If I can do my duty, as a good man ought,
If I can bring back beauty, to a world up wrought,
If I can spread love’s message, as the Master taught,
Then my living shall not be in vain.

One of the lost insights in our current age, which emphasizes rights, is that rights also bring with them responsibilities and expectations. If I am free to do something then I must also accept responsibility for what I do. Further, my freedom and ability to do something often means that others ask me to use my ability in ways that may inconvenience or challenge me.

Jesus says, To whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much, they will demand the more (Luke 12:48). And James also warns, Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness (James 3:1).

Riches, too, bring perils and responsibilities. Jesus warns, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! (Mk 10:24) And Paul advises the rich as to their responsibilities: As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God who richly furnishes us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good deeds, liberal and generous, thus laying up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life which is life indeed (1 Ti 6:17–19).

Yes, these are good reminders for us, who so easily want rights and claim that we should be allowed to do many things. Fine, but beware of the dangers as well as the additional responsibilities that go along with these things.

All this is wonderfully illustrated in this rather clever Subaru commercial. A young boy is playfully offered the keys to the family car by his father. At first the son thinks about how “cool” it will be to drive by his friends and impress them. But very soon he has premonitions of all the new duties and responsibilities that will open up for him. He wisely reconsiders, realizing that he cannot have the joys and “coolness” without the headaches and troubles as well as new duties and expenses.

He’s a smart kid! How about you and me?

One of the more difficult biblical themes to understand is the concept of God hardening the hearts and minds of certain human beings. The most memorable case is that of Pharaoh wherein, before sending Moses to him, God said he would “harden Pharaoh’s heart” (Ex 4:21). But there are other instances in which biblical texts speak of God as hardening the hearts of sinners, even from among his own people.

Jesus also hinted at such a theme in the Sunday readings two weeks ago (Matt 13) when He said He spoke in parables (here understood more as “riddles”) in such a way as to affirm that the hearts of most people “outside the house” were hardened. He quotes Isaiah 6:9-10 as He does so. Jesus’ own apostles wondered why He spoke plainly only to them and a close company of disciples, but in riddle-like parables to the crowds outside. In His answer we are left to wonder if Jesus has not perchance written off the crowds and left them in the hardness of their hearts. To be fair, His remark is ambiguous and open to interpretation.

What are we to make of texts like these which explicitly or implicitly speak of God hardening the hearts of people? How can God, who does no evil, be the source of a sinful mind or hard heart? Why would God do such a thing when he has said following elsewhere?

1. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel? (Ez 33:11)
2. God our Savior … wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4).

To be sure, these questions involve very deep mysteries, mysteries about God’s sovereignty and how it interacts with our freedom, mysteries of time, and mysteries of causality. As a mystery within mysteries, the question of God hardening hearts cannot be resolved simply. Greater minds than mine have pondered these things,  and it would be foolish to think that an easy resolution can be found in a blog post.

But some distinctions can and should be made and some context supplied. We do not want to understand the “hardening texts” in simplistic ways or in ways that use one truth to cancel out other important truths that balance it. So please permit a modest summary of the ancient discussion.

I propose that we examine these sorts of texts along four lines:

1. The Context of Connivance
2. The Mystery of Time
3. The Mystery of Primary Causality
4. The Necessity of Humility

To begin, it is important simply to list a selection of the hardening texts. The following are not the only ones, but they provide a wide enough sample:

1. The LORD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go” (Ex 4:21).
2. Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country (Ex 11:10).
3. Why, O LORD, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes that are your inheritance (Is 63:17).
4. He [God] has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn–and I would heal them (Jesus quoting Isaiah 6:9-10, in John 12:40).
5. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie (2 Thess 2:11).
6. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another … Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done (Rom 1:24, 28).

Point I. –  THE CONTEXT OF CONNIVANCE – In properly assessing texts like these we ought first consider the contexts in which they were made and written. Generally speaking, most of these declarations that God “hardens the heart” come after a significant period of disobedience on the part of those whose hearts were hardened. In a way, God “cements the deal” and gives them what they really want. For seeing that they have hardened their own hearts to God, He determines that their disposition is to be a permanent one, and in a sovereign exercise of His will (for nothing can happen without God’s allowance), declares and permits their hearts to be hardened in a definitive kind of way. In this sense there is a judgment of God upon the individual that recognizes the person’s definitive decision against Him. Hence this hardening can be understood as voluntary on the part of the one hardened, for God hardens in such a way that He uses the person’s own will for the executing of His judgment. God accepts that the individual’s will against Him is definitive.

A. In the case of Pharaoh, although God indicated to Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart, the actual working out of this is a bit more complicated. We see in the first five plagues that it is Pharaoh who hardens his own heart (Ex 7:13; 7:22; 8:11; 8:28; & 9:7). It is only after this repeated hardening by Pharaoh of his own heart that the Exodus text speaks of God as the one who hardens (Ex 9:12; 9:34; 10:1; 10:20; 10:27). Hence the hardening here is not without Pharaoh’s repeated demonstration of his own hardness. God, if you will, “cements the deal” as a kind of sovereign judgment on Pharaoh.

B. The Isaiah texts (many in number) that speak of a hardening being visited upon Israel by God (e.g., #3 and #4 above),  are  also the culmination of a long testimony by Isaiah of Israel’s hardness. At the beginning of Isaiah’s ministry, God describes (through Isaiah) Israel’s hardness as being of their own doing: For the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him (Is 1:2-4). There follows a long list of their crimes, their hardness, and their refusal to repent.

1. St. John Chrysostom – Of the numerous texts later in Isaiah (and also referenced by Jesus (e.g., Jn 12:40)) that speak of Israel as being hardened by God (and having their eyes shut by Him), St John Chrysostom says, That the saying of Isaiah might be fulfilled: that here is expressive not of the cause, but of the event. They did not disbelieve because Isaiah said they would; but because they would disbelieve, Isaiah said they would … For He does not leave us, except we wish Him … Whereby it is plain that we begin to forsake first, and are the cause of our own perdition. For as it is not the fault of the sun, that it hurts weak eyes, so neither is God to blame for punishing those who do not attend to His words (on a gloss of Is. 6:9-10 at Jn 12:40, quoted in the Catena Aurea).

2. St Augustine also says, This is not said to be the devil’s doing, but God’s. Yet if any ask why they could not believe, I answer, because they would not … But the Prophet, you say, mentions another cause, not their will; but that God had blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart. But I answer, that they well deserved this. For God hardens and blinds a man, by forsaking and not supporting him; and this He makes by a secret sentence, for by an unjust one He cannot (quoted in the Catena Aurea at Jn 12:40).

C. Of the text of 2 Thessalonians,  God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie (from #5 above), while the text speaks of God as having sent the delusion, the verses before and after make clear the sinful role of the punished, saying, They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved … so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness (2 Thess 2:10,12).

1. Of this text St. Augustine says, From a hidden judgment of God comes perversity of heart, so that the refusal to hear the truth leads to the commission of sin, and this sin is itself a punishment for the preceding sin [of refusing to hear the truth] (Against Julian 5.3.12).

2. St John Damascus says, [God does this] so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (The Orthodox Faith 4.26).

D. The texts from Romans 1 speak  of God handing them over only after they have suppressed the truth (1:18), persevered in their wickedness (1:18), and preferred lust and idolatry (1:23-24). Hence, as a just judgment, God hands them over to sexual confusion (homosexuality) and countless other destructive drives. So here, too, though it is said that God hands them over, it is really not that simple. God has, in effect, “cemented the deal.” They do not want to serve Him and so God, knowing their definitive decision, gives them what they want.

E. Thus our first point of distinction in understanding the “hardening” texts is that the context of connivance is important in assessing them. It is not asserted by Scripture that God takes a reasonably righteous man and, out of the blue, hardens his heart, confuses his mind, or causes him (against his will) to become obstinate. The texts are usually presented as a kind of prevenient judgment by God, that the state of the person’s hardness has now become permanent. They refuse and so God “cements the deal” and “causes” them to walk in their own sinful ways since they have insisted on doing so.

Point II.  – THE MYSTERY OF TIME – In understanding these hardening texts (which we have seen are akin to judgment texts) we must strive to recall that God does not live in time in the same way that we do. Scripture speaks often of God’s knowledge and vision of time as being comprehensive rather than speculative or serial (e.g., Ex 3:14; Ps 90:2-4; Ps 93:2; Is 43:13; Ps 139; 2 Peter 3:8; James 1:17).

A. To say that God is eternal and lives in eternity is to say that He lives in the fullness of time. For God, past, present, and future are all the same. God is not wondering what I will do tomorrow, neither is He waiting for it to happen. For Him, my tomorrow has always been present. All of my days were written in His book before one of them ever came to be (Ps 139:16). Whether and how long I live has always been known to Him. Before He ever formed me in my mother’s womb He knew me (Jer 1:4). My final destiny is already known and present to Him.

B. Hence, when we strive to understand God’s judgments in the form of hardening the hearts of certain people, we must be careful not to think He lives in time the way we do. It is not as though God is watching my life like a movie. He already knows the choices I will make. Thus, when God hardens the hearts of some, it is not as though He were merely trying to negatively influence the outcome and trip certain people up. He already knows the outcome and has always known it; He knows the destiny they have chosen.

C. Now be very careful with this insight, for it is a mystery to us. We cannot really know what it is like to live in eternity, in the fullness of time, where the future is just as present as the past. And even if you think you know, you really don’t. What is essential for us to realize is that God does not live in time the way we do. If we try too hard to solve the mystery (rather than merely accept and respect it) we risk falling into the denial of human freedom, or double predestination, or other misguided notions that sacrifice one truth for another rather than holding them in balance. That God knows what I will do tomorrow does not destroy my freedom to actually do it. How this all works out is mysterious. But we are free (Scripture teaches this) and God holds us accountable for our choices. Further, even though God knows my destiny already (and yours as well), this does not mean that He is revealing anything about that to us, so that we should look for signs and seek to call ourselves saved or lost. We ought to work out our salvation in reverential fear and trembling (Phil 2:12).

D. The key point here is mystery. Striving to understand how, why, and when God hardens the heart of anyone is caught up in the mysterious fact that He lives outside of time and knows all things before they happen. Thus He acts with comprehensive knowledge of all outcomes.

Point III. – THE MYSTERY OF CAUSALITY – One of the major differences between the ancient and the modern world is that the ancient world was much more comfortable dealing with something known as primary causality.

A. Up until the Renaissance, God was at the center of all things and people instinctively saw the hand of God in everything, even terrible things. Job of old said, The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised … if we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil?” (Job 1:21; 2:10). Thus the ancients would commonly attribute everything as coming from the hand of God, for He was the “first cause” of everything that happened. This is what is meant by primary causality. The ancients were thus much more comfortable attributing things to God, even things that we are not. In speaking like this, they were not engaging in superstitious or primitive thinking, rather they were emphasizing that God was sovereign, omnipotent, and omnipresent and that nothing happened apart from His sovereign will. God is the primary cause of all that is.

1. Of this ancient and scriptural way of thinking the Catechism says, And so we see the Holy Spirit, the principal author of Sacred Scripture, often attributing actions to God without mentioning any secondary causes [e.g., human or natural]. This is not a “primitive mode of speech,” but a profound way of recalling God’s primacy and absolute Lordship over history and the world, and so of educating his people to trust in him (CCC # 304).

2. The key point here is understanding that the ancient biblical texts, while often speaking of God as hardening the hearts of sinners, did not mean to say that man had no role, no responsibility. Neither did the texts mean to say that God acted in a merely arbitrary way. Rather, the emphasis was on God’s sovereign power as the first cause of all that is. Hence He is often called the cause of all things and His hand is seen in everything.  As we shall see, we moderns are uncomfortable in speaking this way.

B. After the Renaissance, man moved himself to the center and God was gradually “escorted” to the periphery. Thus man’s manner of thinking and speaking began to shift to secondary causes (causes related to man and nature). If something happens we look to natural causes, or in human situations, to the humans who caused it. These are secondary causes, however, since I cannot cause something to happen unless God causes me. Yet increasingly the modern mind struggles to maintain a balance between the two mysteries: our freedom and responsibility, and God’s sovereignty and omnipotence.

C. In effect we have largely thrown primary causality overboard as a category. Even modern believers unconsciously do this and thus exhibit three related issues:

1. We fail to maintain the proper balance between two mysteries: God’s sovereignty and our freedom.

2. We exhibit shock at things like the “hardening texts” of the Bible because we understand them poorly.

3. We try to resolve the shock by favoring one truth over the other. Maybe we just brush aside the ancient biblical texts as a “primitive mode of speech” and say, inappropriately, “God didn’t have anything to do with this or that.” Or we go to the other extreme and become fatalistic, denying human freedom, denying secondary causality (our part),  and accusing God of everything (as if He were the only cause and had the sole blame for everything). We either read the hardening texts with a clumsy literalism or we dismiss them as misguided notions from an immature, primitive, and pre-scientific age.

D. The point here is that we have to balance the mysteries of primary and secondary causality. We cannot fully understand how they interrelate, but they do. Both mysteries need to be held. The ancients were more sophisticated in holding these mysteries in the proper balance. We are not. We handle causality very clumsily and do not appreciate the distinctions of primary causality (God’s part) and secondary causality (our own and nature’s part). We try to resolve the mystery rather than holding it in balance and speaking to both realities. As such, we are poor interpreters of the “hardening texts.”

Point IV. – THE NECESSITY OF HUMILITY – By now it will be seen that we are dealing with a mysterious interrelationship of God and Man, between God’s sovereignty and our freedom, between primary and secondary causality. In the face of such mysteries we have to be very humble. We ought not think more of the details than is proper for us, for, frankly, they are largely hidden from us. Too many moderns either dismiss the hardening texts or accept them and then sit in harsh judgment over God (as if we could do such a thing). Neither approach bespeaks humility. Consider a shocking but very humbling text in which Paul warns us in this very matter:

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!  For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” (Romans 9:14-20)

None of us can demand an absolute account of God for what He does. Even if He were to tell us, could our small and worldly minds ever really comprehend it? My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways, says the Lord (Is 55:8).

Summary – In this (rather too long) post, we have considered the “hardening texts” in which it seems that God hardens the hearts of certain people and groups. And so He does. But texts like these must be approached carefully, humbly, and with proper distinctions as to the scriptural and historical context. At work here are profound mysteries: God’s sovereignty, our freedom, His mercy, and His justice.

We should be careful to admit the limits of our knowledge when it comes to such texts. As the Catechism so beautifully states, when it comes to texts like these they are to be appreciated as a profound way of recalling God’s primacy and absolute Lordship over history and the world, and so of educating his people to trust in him (CCC # 304).

This song says, “Be not angry any longer Lord and no more remember our iniquities. Behold and regard us; we are all your people!”

For the sake of thy sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.