TGIMMinception2

August 23

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Saturday, August 23

MATTHEW 23:1-12
Religious Leaders

Prayerthoughts

a. The Lord is outspoken and critical about the religious leaders of his time. No doubt there is some criticism that I have of religious and political leaders. Do I argue from facts as Jesus did?

b. In general, I should practice what I preach. Do I say things that people ought to do and not do them myself? Think of your strongest criticisms of others.

c. When I see people who are really hurting, do I try to remedy what I can?

d. Do I expect others to honor me for whatever by wearing something special or a place of honor or a proper name?

e. Am I truly a servant to others? Think of the people you see every day.

f. Am I too prideful wanting others to think of me in some “exalted” way?

g. My prayerthoughts…

Today, I will read Ruth 2:1-3,8-11;4:13-17 and write an important thought from it.

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Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

THE POSSIBILITY OF HYPOCRISY

+ The weekday liturgy closes its very short presentation of the book of Ruth with the story of how God directs everything toward the good when basically good people are involved

- Boaz and Ruth were good people who wanted to do the right thing

+ The focus of Matthew’s chapter 23 of the New Testament are the ones who specifically teach about God, namely, the clergy, the religious of the Hebrew people who should have been basically good people

- every religious era has leaders whose job it is to remind people of God’s presence

- and unfortunately, many of those leaders fall into hypocrisy

- that is, they know what should be done, they know the way to bring it about and no doubt did at one time

- but they fall into what may be called the fundamental sin of the clergy and those who are in control of others

- they don’t follow what they teach and preach

+ There are no stronger words in Scripture than Matthew 23 and their parallel parts in the other Gospels

- Jesus—here with the evangelist Matthew giving his own nuance to Jesus’ thoughts and words—

- Jesus has the most difficulty in his ministry with people who claim to be religious and they are not

- in Matthew’s Gospel, this is what leads to his execution

- Jesus is willing to die rather than allow religious hypocrisy

- therefore, the greatest sin for Jesus is people who merely toy with religion

+ This section of Matthew’s Gospel has profound significance for me

- being a person to whom the title “Father” has been re-introduced over the years, a tradition contrary to the tradition of the early Church who never wanted a title of reverence to be used, as seen from the Gospel today

- therefore, the source of great personal meditation

- but these words also must mean something to us who claim religion as a significant part of our lives--you

- we claim religion to be a significant part of our lives because we are here, we go to Mass often, that is, we acknowledge God as our King, Jesus as personal Savior--often

- since that is the case, the primary meditation from this first part of Matthew’s chapter 23: do we do what we say as we are here

- and the primary way to show it is by being a servant

The greatest among you must be your servant.

+ It’s a relatively simple meditation

- if we are trying to serve others in some way, we are understanding religion

- if we are not trying to serve in whatever form that comes, then we may be indeed be falling into the hypocrisy that Jesus spoke of.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Inception" -- final session

THE SELFISH DREAM

The Gospel

LUKE 11:42-44

LUKE 11:42-44

Jesus said: "Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. These you should have done, without overlooking the others. Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seat of honor in synagogues and greetings in marketplaces. Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk."

Gospelthink: I was quite direct to the Pharisees because they were not doing what they should have done and would not recognize it. Am I following through with my promise to be a Christian?

In the movie "Inception," Cobb's team accomplished the three levels of dreams necessary to achieve "inception" to implant an idea in their subject's mind. But, one of Cobb's constant struggles was the projection of his beloved wife Mal who constantly came into his dreams. Meeting the projection of Mal again in his limbo, Mal begged Cobb to stay so they could once again experience the happiness of having anything they wanted in their dream world. Cobb argued with her, saying to her that she was not real. He had to let her go, telling her, "I wish I could be with you more than anything. But I can't imagine you with all your complexity, all your perfection, all your imperfection. Look at you. You are just a shade of my real wife. You're the best I can do; but I'm sorry, you are just not good enough." His statement is a statement of the "gift" of reality.

It is easier to live in a dream existence, when all we have to do is imagine, completely satisfying our every desire. Jesus sensed that problem with the scribes and Pharisees when he told them what they were doing. In Jesus’ eyes, the scribes and Pharisees were living two lives. In one life, they were acting like they were good upstanding religious citizens, paying tithes to God. But it was a dream world because they were paying no attention to the final judgment or to the love of God, the very things that religious people should have been doing.

In fact, they were insidiously leading others astray--leading them to be in contact with graves which brought about impurity for the Jewish mind--and only acting like they were paying attention to the Jewish law. Jesus wanted the Pharisees to face what they were really doing, and stop pretending to be holy when all they were doing was following the selfish desires of human nature.

When we live in a world that we have made up, we will end up missing exactly what life is all about. In the movie "Inception," Cobb tells the projection of his wife Mal that he wants to live with his projection of her, but it is not real. He cannot live such a fake life because life really is complicated and we must learn to live with the imperfections of life. In essence, he is telling her that as difficult as it is to live with reality, it is exactly what must happen. Facing a world of complexity and imperfection is what makes up the real life.

We have been given the "gift of life." We want it to be only good, beautiful and wonderful--as dreams can make it. But the reality is that life is not always good, beautiful and wonderful because the real world must deal with human nature, our own and others. Reality means facing the selfishness that is ingrained in each of us, selfishness which is always trying to disguise itself as reality or religion as in the Pharisees' case. We must live in our world and work with what happens to us. We must recognize the temptation to live in a dream world that caters to only what we want. Our task is to choose to live lives that deal not only with ourselves, but with others and what they want. It will be demanding because we will attack our selfishness, but in the end, we will truly live.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, too often we try to live in a world that we have defined according to our own interests, and often that world turns to evil because we are selfish people. Help us be people who are dedicated to the reality of life, and help us be people who want to improve that life. Be with us, we pray.

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GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: We want to live in a dream world where we can selfishly have our way, but we must live in the real world, working with the lives we have.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 66 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking? Why?
2. In the Gospel, Jesus accuses the Pharisees of emphasizing externals in religion while overlooking the essentials in their own conduct. Do you see this happening today in the Church? Yes or no? Explain your answer.
3. What should religious leaders be most concerned about in the Church today?
4. The meditation says that the "dream world" is fundamentally a selfish world. Define selfishness and give some examples of that selfishness in the world today.
5. What makes real life so complicated and complex? What is the best way to deal with it?
6. Some people have a very difficult time dealing with their lives the way they are. How can we help them?
7. In what areas do you see selfishness displayed in high schools? In college? In married life?
8. Scene analysis: Cobb and Mal talk about reality. This is the theme of this session of the movie. What is your definition of reality? When people are accused of being "fake" in this world, what is the meaning? What is the best way to help someone who is "fake"?
9. Dialogue analysis: Mal and Cobb talk about the truth. In your opinion, in real life, do people tell the truth most of the time? Yes or no and why?
10. Scene analysis: Fisher begins to think the way the team wanted, and therefore the "inception" was successful. In general, what is the best way to "change" people's minds?
11. Scene analysis: The movie ends with Cobb's totem-trinket, with the audience wondering whether the scene is real or not. In your opinion, was the scene real? Yes or no and why?
12. What does the movie "Inception" teach young people?