HOW DO WE RESPOND WHEN WE ARE OFFENDED?

HOW DO WE RESPOND WHEN WE ARE OFFENDED? Fr Luke A Veronis How many of you have been watching the Olympics this past week? Amazing athletes who have spent most of their lives sacrificing and cultivating their God-given talents, working unbelievably hard to simply make the Olympics, and then to only have three who will win a medal and only one who wins. The triumph and the tragedy. The thrill of victory and then the heart-break of not only defeat, but especially of disappointment when an athlete messes up or fails to do what they’ve done thousands of times before, making some unfortunate mistake. We all have been inspired by stories of athletes who overcame obstacles to reach their summit. I loved watching Simone Biles return to victory after her unexpected disappointments in Tokyo; her teammate Sunni Lee overcoming incurable kidney problems and never thinking that she would return to the Olympics, only to come back and win the bronze medal. And then there is our local hero, the Clark Kent of the Olympics, Stephen Nedoroschik, whom any of us could have passed by in the streets of Worcester not looking twice at him, or if we did look at him, thinking of him as some nerdy fellow (as he called himself), only to see him turn up as superman in the final set of the men’s team gymnastics competition, helping the men’s team medal for the first time since 2008. I could go on and talk about the important lessons of sacrifice, practice, commitment, focus, perseverance, drive, and other such elements of these athletes that we could apply to our Christian lives. Saint Paul used the metaphor of athletics in his own time to highlight the athlete as a prototype for our own Christian journey. “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (1 Cor 9:24-28)  Instead, of this direction, however, today I want to focus on the opening ceremony of the Olympics and the controversy that drew worldwide reaction in social media and news outlets from Christian bishops and leaders, to lay people and clergy alike, voices from the right and left reacting and responding in outrage and disbelief. For those who aren’t aware of what happened, drag queens put on what they would call an artistic performance, and others would label as an outlandish, offensive display of what appeared to depict the Last Supper. Much of the Christian world called it a mockery and disgrace to Christianity, while others defended what they said was a modern French artistic performance celebrating diversity, highlighting the Greek god of wine and pleasure. I’ll admit that my initial reaction was one of shock, which I think the performers wanted to illicit among the viewers. But then when I saw the social media storm which commenced, especially the reaction of so many Christian voices, I became uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure why I was uncomfortable until I heard a thoughtful reflection about this event from a dear friend, Fr. Michael Nasser, which summarized my uneasiness. I can understand why many Christians felt deeply offended at what they considered was a mockery of one of the most sacred moments of our faith, the Last or Mystical Supper and its connection to the Eucharist, or Holy Communion. I can understand why people of faith could say this Olympic performance was totally inappropriate and insensitive to what Christians hold sacred. What I want us to reflect on today, however, is the reaction that this event elicited among too many people who call themselves Christian. On social media, people reacted which such anger, vitriol, and hatred. It obviously has hit a cord reflecting the cultural wars of our society. People are reacting to the fear, uncertainty, and confusion from seismic societal changes we are facing. Yet, when followers of Jesus are confronted with people who offend us, who ridicule what we believe, or who we feel may even consciously attack us, how are we to respond? Think about this. When we are not only offended but even attacked and persecuted, how are we to respond? Well, when Saint Paul and his friends faced terrible, unjust physical and mental persecution, experiencing suffering which none of us can even imagine, he told the Christians in Corinth “when reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure, when slandered, we speak kindly.” Take note of this reaction to persecution. We bless those who revile us. We speak kindly to those who slander us. We endure patiently when we are persecuted. Was that the reaction of many Christians who were offended by the Olympic opening ceremony? Of course, Saint Paul’s admonition only strives to imitate our Lord Jesus Christ. How did our Savior respond to His horrible passion and suffering, to all the mockery and offense? He stayed silent when the chief priests and elders slandered and lied about him. He didn’t call down legions of angels to defend him when the soldiers mocked him with the purple robe and spit upon him and placed a crown of thorns on his head. He didn’t respond to Pilate’s insincere questions and false claims of power. And then when He was at the end of His suffering, dying on the cross, still being mocked even in His final moments of life, He looks out and cries, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Our Lord Jesus’ response isn’t one of outrage, anger, and vitriol. He doesn’t respond with hatred, insult, and indignation. He doesn’t try to punish His opponents. He humbly responds with love even for His enemies, even for those who hate Him and who mock or hurt Him. This response of extreme humility is the example our Lord has set for each of us, whenever we face any sort of temptations of persecution and offense. And we have plenty of examples of saints and martyrs throughout history who have followed this path. The young martyr Stephen, the first to die for Christ, looked out at the people throwing stones at him to kill him, and he cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When Saint Paul was unjustly imprisoned and had the threat of death hanging over his head, he writes his famous letter of joy to the Christians in Philippi, not lamenting about his unjust circumstances but instead telling them to “rejoice in the Lord always… not to be anxious about anything but to offer prayers of thanksgiving… and to learn to be content in all circumstances.” Throughout Christian history, true followers of Christ responded to persecution, to attacks, to offense and ridicule, with humility, with mercy, with grace, with love, and by forgiving the enemy. Giving in to the passions of anger, being easily offended and allowing this to lead us to respond in similar offense as the world responds isn’t the way of Jesus Christ or the way His followers should take. Let’s seriously and soberly reflect on how we respond whenever we are offended – whether to some ridiculous opening ceremony at the Olympics which we feel offends our religious sensibilities, or we could broaden the scope of affairs and think about how we take offense with the opposing sides of the political sphere within our American politics. Will we respond like the world responds when it is offended and angry? Or will we imitate our Lord Jesus Christ and strive to respond the way He taught us, the way the saints of previous generations have responded – with humility, with patience, with grace and love. Let me conclude with the words of Saint Paul in today’s epistle reading, when he exhorts all of us to “Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer.”