When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
John 16:13-15
I am a gossip. This should disturb some people seeing that I am also a priest. People often share deep and personal things with me especially our homeless youth. The things they share would make good gossip. Of course, I am held back by my vocation. I made a promise to obey the canon laws. It is funny that there should be a law in the church to prohibit priests or anyone from betraying the confidence of another. It seems like a given. Perhaps, there are a lot of people like me. Most likely, I am surrounded by gossip mongers, blabbermouths, and rumor mongers. It is amazing that our language has a long list of names for gossips. It covers all the sophisticated ways we disguise gossip. Some people like to say that they don’t like to gossip but it doesn’t stop them from being informed about other people’s lives. The truth is we are all gossips.
This Sunday is Trinity Sunday. You might be wondering why am I writing about gossiping instead dwelling on the glorious doctrine of the Trinity. Well, just bear with me. I will get you there. Anyway, when the doctrine was officially formulated in the Nicene Creed, it generated a lot of gossip among the people. It was the first church council of its kind. There were bishops from all over the world at that time to debate the true nature of Jesus and His relation with God. Some of them disagreed with each other with a passion. Some considered the others as heretics and dangerous elements in the Christian faith. Historical documents reveal that common people were talking about the council at the barbershop and local butcher store. There were a lot of things to gossip about. The first church council had a good share of controversies, betrayals, and political maneuvering.
You can see this provided hours of gossip. It made them excited to talk about something which united them. Rich and poor gossiped freely amongst themselves without allowing their social prejudices to come between them. Most importantly, gossiping gives us a sense of connection with the other. At the same time, we don’t have to divulge our own personal life.
A renowned historian, Yuval Noah Harari, in his book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, claimed that historically gossip played an important role in helping people bond. Good or bad, it has been the glue holding people together. Animals which are social creatures hunt together and groom each other to bond. Perhaps, we did these at one point and today we have settled down and just talk about other people. Not just any person. It has to be someone whom we like or despise or even just know well. This person has to hold all our interest to the point that we feel united and connected with each other whenever we talk about him or her.
In the New Testament, Jesus was this person. The gospel tells us that even in His hometown, people were gossiping about this strange Carpenter Son of Mary. I am sure that they were talking about her being pregnant before marriage. The Pharisees went around spreading malicious lies about Jesus; claiming He acted in the devil’s name. Even Jesus asked His disciples what the local gossip was about His person. It is interesting that Jesus never told them to stop the gossip. He just wanted to set the record straight with his disciples. In other words, if there was gossip about Him, he wanted them to have the right information. You see, it is almost pointless to stop gossip.
I am not encouraging anyone to gossip. This is not about giving people the license to do anything. It is about understanding our nature. The better we understand ourselves, the easier it becomes for us to live a life worthy of the gospel.
There is something in us that seeks to be united with others. There is also a conviction in our souls that this something has to be something beyond our lives. Until we discover this, we will stick our nose in other people’s business.
The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is an answer to this need. Actually, Jesus is the answer to our need. The doctrine of the Trinity reveals to us how we should talk about Jesus and why He is an interesting subject for our personal gossip. In the church, we use the word, evangelism, a lot. It has become a religious word and sometimes it terrifies people. Most of the times it is done in a way that is extremely preachy and irrelevant. I have often times related that there is a group of preachers in the streets who have been there since the time we first worked with the homeless youth in the mid-nineties. They have preached the same message. No one stops to listen except for their own church members or some extremely drunk homeless adult who accidentally wonders in their circle. Their message is boring. They talk about Jesus, sin, and hell. These are topics that could make interesting gossip. However, this preaching lacks life. It lacks concreteness. Good gossip needs concreteness. True evangelism is like a good gossip. Actually it is gossip. We are gossiping about our Lord who is concretely present in our world. However, we cannot gossip about someone whom we cannot see in action. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in.
The Holy Spirit is the only one who can open our eyes, ears and heart to see Jesus. I am not talking about this in a metaphorical manner. Neither am I referring to a lofty idea of some doctrine. No! The doctrine of the Trinity is not a theory but it is how we, as followers of Jesus, can experience the living God in our everyday life. The Holy Spirit can and will show us Jesus present in this world. Now, if Jesus was a mere man, He would have been dead and buried. We wouldn’t have to look for Him today. However, if He is God, then His presence in this world is inevitable. Without God, this world would not exist. This world moves and acts because God is present. Unfortunately, our eyes might be so prone to negative gossip that we only see bad things in our city. We may not perceive Jesus’ active presence. Wherever Jesus is present, there is hope. Wherever Jesus is present, there is Light. Wherever Jesus is present, we see the infinite Love of our Heavenly Father. If we are able to perceive His presence, then we have something wonderful to talk about. However, not in a dry religious manner. Jesus is doing something great and exciting in the most ordinary places. It is infinitely better than any plain gossip. Jesus works in the most uncommon places. He is present in the lives of everyone we meet. He is God. God is omnipresent. He was also a hundred percent human. Therefore, He works and acts in a concrete manner moving people to become aware of the gracious Love of the Father. Without the divine presence of Jesus in this world, the world would slip into complete chaos. Then the gossip that the local media spreads would be true. Thanks to be God, the Holy Spirit only reports what is true. We have to open our hearts and minds and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus in our everyday lives. Then we have exciting things to talk about. Then we would be engaging in holy gossip, otherwise known as true evangelism.
Almost every day after our time with the homeless youth, Mary and I stop by a grocery store. It is one of the best in our neighborhood and always crowded. Unfortunately, the grocery clerks are not always in the best of moods. In fact, some of them tend to be a little grumpy. We don’t blame them. They work long hours and their salary is very low. Most of them travel literally hours to get to work. However, recently, two of the clerks started talking with us. One is from another state and is miserable here. She misses her home. Her mother died and she had to move in with her brother in this city. The other is from the outskirts where most of the poor people live. She is a single mother who has adopted a girl. Everyday, they share a little bit of their joys and struggles in the short period when we pay for our groceries. Everyday something new is happening. Jesus is doing something here. One day we met one of them in the neighborhood. She gave us a hug and we talked for a long time. Something exciting is happening. Jesus is present here. We will keep you informed. God bless.
