Jesus was killed for
not being political correct!

In today’s liturgy at our Church there were two, short and long versions, of one of Paul’s letters for the second reading. The short version left out the part of wives being submissive to husbands, which taken out of context can be offensive to women. The reader used neither one but read a politically correct version using words like ‘partner’ instead of husband or wife. The priest, celebrating sixty year in the Capuchin religious order, clearly had not been notified a the new reading and had designed part of his homily putting into cultural context Paul’s letter about man and wife joining and being one.

Now I can understand some of the backlash about using “politically correct” language. I can understand when our priest uses “Our Mother and Our Father” in the Lord’s prayer since God is not male or female but have a hard understanding this morning’s reading where the whole letter was rewritten. I guess it is the easy way out, rather than explain the cultural context of a passage, just rewrite it so it does not offend anyone.

Avoiding conflict seems to be the name of the game today in all walks of life. A liberal talk show host on MSNBC and longtime supporter of President Obama criticized the new trade agreement that secretly is being passed and will, according to all representatives of working people, be harmful to workers in this country and around the world while being very profitable to corporations who wrote the trade agreement. As far as I can tell the other networks, conservative or liberal, have failed to give much coverage to this new major trade agreement. All the candidates for President, Republican or Democrat, are not talking about it either. The president criticized the talk host’s network and his show and he were canceled.

This avoidance of difference goes to all walks of life. You are one side or another, with us or against us. There is no clear moral right or wrong. Inquiry about the truth is called “your opinion or my opinion.” We each “do our thing” and all is find if no one is hurt. The days of ‘creative conflict’ seemed, for the most part, to be gone. ‘Conscience’ is a word seldom used in many circles of life.

Interesting enough in today’s Gospel from John 6, Jesus gives a hard message to his followers: “You need to eat my flesh and drink my blood” to have the spirit and life of God. Jesus makes it clear that is not talking his human flesh or blood but talking about life in the Spirit of God. This talk, however, which is a mystery, is too hard for some of his followers and they walk away. He asked the other disciples if they too are going to reject him. Peter answers for them saying he does not understand this talk either but will follow Jesus since they believe he is showing them the Way of God.

Jesus does not minced words and speaks the truth although it eventually get him killed for speaking the truth, in parables, paradoxes, stories and mysteries. Jesus was not “politically correct” even to some of his followers but his teachings by word and example lives

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