[Craic] my gospel reflection. for this time

[Arthur Blomme]

Hi all.

Below is my reflection for this Sunday.  I think that it speaks to a 
reality beyond left and right.  Following it is a short video essay on 
Bonhoeffer.

Art Blomme

**

*Jesus Encounters Mob Madness***

In this Sunday’s gospel Jesus encounters the same mob madness that 
precipitated his crucifixion. Luke continues the story from last Sunday 
where the people of Nazareth are “amazed at Jesus’ gracious word. His 
message is from Isaiah. “Give sight to the blind” … liberation and 
acceptance to the marginalized and “good news to the poor”. In essence 
it is a proclamation of universal inclusivity or catholicity.All peoples 
are the chosen people of God.

The Nazarenes spoke highly of him recognizing him as a member of their 
tribe.When Jesus exposes their ethnocentrism or tribal ideology their 
adulation turns to rage.With the Jews as with many ethnic groups, they 
believe in their moral superiority.They are the chosen people of 
God.They create their identity against the backdrop of fear for the 
other.When Jesus provides scriptural evidence that the widow an outsider 
from Siden is chosen and another outsider Nasman from Syria is chosen 
the crowd gathered turns furious and they attempt to throw Jesus over 
the cliff.

Luke identifies a characteristic of human society that has occurred 
repeatedly in the history of our civilization with the burning of 
witches and heretics, the gassing at Auschwitz, other genocides and war 
after war in modern and ancient  history. Society protects its delusion 
of moral superiority by destroying the messenger. Karl Jung says of this 
phenomenon; “It is not empire nor earthquakes, not microbes, not cancer, 
but man himself, who is man’s greatest danger to man; for the simple 
reason that there are no adequate protections against psycho epidemics 
which are definitely more devastating than the worst natural catastrophes.

Luke identifies this social madness as the great enemy of the catholic 
kingdom of God.It is the darkness residing in our hearts that can erupt 
in a fit of emotional violence that can exceed the level of vigilance- 
to which we are capable of as individuals.

The God of love and creation is all powerful.The antidote for this 
madness lies in the Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians.“Love is 
patient. Love is kind… It does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices 
with the truth… when I was a child I used to talk as a child, think as a 
child reason as a child when I became a man, I put aside childish 
things”. To be an adult is to discard our need to feel morally superior 
to the other.

Arthur Blomme
Jan 27 2022



<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww47bR86wSc><https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww47bR86wSc> 

5:59 Now playing
Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww47bR86wSc>
Sprouts <https://www.youtube.com/c/SproutsVideos>1.5M views
Dietrich Bonhoeffer argued that stupid people are more dangerous than 
evil ones. This is because while we can protest against or fight evil 
people, against stupid ones we are defenseless —...

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