Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

One of the hard things about religion is that it is not about us. It’s one of the few spheres of human endeavor these days that resists the notion that we’re the center of everything. When we were in New Haven, Karrie was teaching at a college nearby. They underwent a transition in which students were to be referred to as customers and student evaluations became the primary benchmark for adjudicating a faculty member’s success. They also eliminated most tenure track positions.

Education, a field in which we should be challenged to grow and expand our awareness, was transformed into another commodity. No one could be challenged, pushed, or offended because they were “customers” now.

In the Gospel today, Jesus says, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.”

The Gospel goes on to note, “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’ But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, ‘Does this offend you?’”

Does this offend you? You could hear Jesus asking us this over and over when the hard teachings come.

Judge not.

Get behind me Satan.

Sell everything.

Forgive seven times seventy times.

Turn the other cheek.

Let the dead bury the dead.

You must hate your spouse, parents, siblings, and children.

Does this offend you?

Over and over Jesus pushes his disciples to follow him more closely, to obey God more faithfully, to trust the power of the Spirit more deeply. 

Does this offend you? The answer is probably yes! Yes, it offends us because all of his challenges upend what we want faith to be. We want it to be comfort, peace, and tranquility. Yet Jesus decides that it is more important to stir up the faithful rather than be wanly inoffensive.

Religion is not about us. That’s an offensive proposition in a consumer culture when the customer is always right. But disciples are not customers. We’re not buying anything. Disciples are deeply aware of the profound gift it is to follow the Living God — not just despite the fact that he offends our sensibilities but because of it. 

God offends us with his mercy, love, and flagrant generosity.  God offends with challenges to be ever more faithful. God offends with the call to love our neighbor. If God thought we were just customers he’d perhaps not risk offense. But we’re disciples. We’re here to be challenged. We’re here to find the living bread, to abide in him, and pray that he may abide in us.

Yours in Christ,

Fr Robert