The 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, "Look, we are your bone and flesh. 2 For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The LORD said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel." 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel. 4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5 At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years. 6 The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, "You will not come in here, even the blind and the lame will turn you back"-- thinking, "David cannot come in here." 7 Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, which is now the city of David. 8 David had said on that day, "Whoever would strike down the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind, those whom David hates." Therefore it is said, "The blind and the lame shall not come into the house." 9 David occupied the stronghold, and named it the city of David. David built the city all around from the Millo inward. 10 And David became greater and greater, for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him. (2 Samuel 5:1-10 NRSV)
He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. 4 Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. (Mark 6:1-13 NRSV)
“GETTING MAD AT JESUS”
We picture Jesus in different ways. You might have the Holman Hunt painting in mind with Jesus knocking at the doors of our souls. You might have the Good Shepherd rescuing the sheep or Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Perhaps it is of the feeding of the multitudes or of the baby Jesus in the manger. When I was in seminary, the assignment from one of the professors for a class was to find a picture of Jesus we liked. Most of the class liked one that was popular a few years ago, the laughing Jesus. No one had a picture of Jesus making people angry. And very few of our pictures of Jesus are that of the kid next door.
That is the picture in the Gospel reading this morning. Jesus went to his hometown with the disciples following him. He began to teach in the synagogue on the Sabbath. The people were astounded. But then the questions arise. Isn’t he from around here? Isn’t his family our neighbors? How did he get this way? What starts out as amazement and admiration ends up as being offended by him. Or, perhaps to put it another way, “This is just the kid next door, how did he get to be so great?”
Jesus replies with a proverb: “Prophets have honor, except in their hometowns and with their family.” Jesus was teaching, acting as prophets do, telling the people what God is saying to them. There is something about being one of them, though, that they can’t get past so as to see that Jesus knows more than they do. It is like the consultant who comes into a church and says the same things that the leaders have been telling the people for years. But suddenly they listen to the consultant. Jesus is telling them the truth, but he is from there. They can’t see past that, and so miss what he is saying.
There are times in life when we can’t see what we have and take that for granted as Gina Bridgeman talks about a time when they visited Phoenix’s WaterWorks at Arizona Falls on a hot, hot Saturday and enjoyed the spray from the artificial water falls. Then she recalled how they had just been at San Diego, staying near the ocean and on some of the days did not even go into the water. She was amazed at how easy it is to take God’s gifts for granted. Blessed are those who get the second chance. The people in Nazareth missed the chance to hear Jesus. It wasn’t that the crowd was too large for them to hear him or that they were not there on the right day, it was that they rejected him and what he said.
The other part of the Gospel reading is that Jesus sent out the disciples to proclaim the good news. They offered authority over unclean spirits and directed people to turn from their ways and repent. There is something interesting in the directions he gives. What they were to take along on the journey was to be simple and when they entered a house they were to stay until they left. And if the people do not welcome them they were to simply leave. The instructions are not to argue or bully people into agreement with them, but if they refuse to hear, to leave them alone. But even in this there is something surprising. It is that some of the people who hear the proclamation will reject it. It will not be welcome. It will not be good news to them. If the Kingdom of God comes to them, they will not want to have a part in it. And it makes a little bit of sense if you think your life is just fine and doesn’t need anything else. To accept the good news means that some part of what you had was not good. To accept the good news means that you are going to live differently. Some people won’t take the better thing that is offered, even though it is better; that is the part that doesn’t make sense. Some people can’t take that kind of challenge to their thinking or new way of life.
Some leaders are popular, just like King David in the Old Testament reading. He has been successful and the people proclaim him king. We like winners. Sometimes we don’t bother to look very deeply at them. It is an odd part of human behavior. The scariest part of all are the studies that say that people like to hear good things, even when they know it is a lie. They want people to tell them what they want to hear. That is the opposite of a prophet. A prophet is to speak for God. A prophet is to tell the truth, even if unpleasant. We have to learn to hear the truth even when it isn’t what we want to hear, wherever it comes from, even the kid next door.
We need to hear Jesus again, not as someone so familiar to us that we stop listening to him. We need to embrace the good news of the gospel, not just only the parts we like. Only then will we hear the good news, only then can we respond in genuine faith. It is always good when good news finds us and can lead us into doing something better.
The Gospel is truthful when it points out that even in Jesus’ day there were those who did not listen to him, who were angry with him and ignored him. And when his message went out, there were those who did not listen to it. Jesus compares himself to a prophet and that is what he is. He has a bigger purpose than to tell people what they want to hear. A prophet tells people the truth of God. Sometimes it is the news that things are not right. Other times it is the good news that God has a better way than how we are living now. Either way, let us hear it, let us believe it, let us welcome it, let us live by it.
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Saturday, December 22, 2012
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Losing Your Best Friend
The 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
After the death of Saul, when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag.
17 David intoned this lamentation over Saul and his son Jonathan. 18 (He ordered that The Song of the Bow be taught to the people of Judah; it is written in the Book of Jashar.) He said: 19 Your glory, O Israel, lies slain upon your high places! How the mighty have fallen! 20 Tell it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon; or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice, the daughters of the uncircumcised will exult. 21 You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor bounteous fields! For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, anointed with oil no more. 22 From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, nor the sword of Saul return empty. 23 Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely! In life and in death they were not divided; they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. 24 O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you with crimson, in luxury, who put ornaments of gold on your apparel. 25 How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan lies slain upon your high places. 26 I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; greatly beloved were you to me; your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. 27 How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished! (2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27 NRSV)
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. 2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! 3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. 5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. 7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. 8 It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities. (Psalm 130 NRSV)
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. 22 Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23 and begged him repeatedly, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live." 24 So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. 26 She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 for she said, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well." 29 Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" 31 And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say,'Who touched me?'" 32 He looked all around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." 35 While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader's house to say, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?" 36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." 37 He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38 When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 When he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." 40 And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!" 42 And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43 He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. (Mark 5:21-43 NRSV)
“LOSING YOUR BEST FRIEND”
At the end of my first year of college I had a Physics final exam. I didn’t like the class. It was required and not well taught, by Dr. Goldberger. The only bright spot was that my best friend, Doug, was in it. I wasn’t doing that well in the class. So, it came down to this—one of the questions on the exam saved me. If you could drill a hole through the earth, through the axis, and drop a bowling ball into the hole, what would happen? Well, assuming that there is no air in the hole and that the interior of the earth is not made up of molten rock and metal, the ball would get to the end, then be drawn back by gravity, get to the other end and be drawn back, and so on, and so on. When I turned in the exam, the lack of confidence was showing on my face, and Dr. Goldberger said that I looked like I just lost my best friend. Well, in a way I was. It was the end of the school year. We all were leaving. Doug and some of his friends were going to take a year off to travel the country. They did. Something I valued greatly was being taken away from me. When he came back, things had changed, we were in different circles.
The reading from 2 Samuel this morning is David’s song of mourning over Saul, who was king, and Saul’s son, Jonathan, who was David’s best friend. He pours out his heart in this song. He said that Israel’s glory died with them, and told them not to speak about it or the Philistines would hear it and rejoice over it. There should be no life-giving dew or rain on the mountains. The fields where they fell should not yield produce. Their weapons are now idle and their power is now only a memory. So David tells them to weep and he is greatly distressed. This is something he must let out.
This type of poem or song is present in the Bible, but rare in our lives. It is called lament, the outpouring of feelings and thoughts of sadness. We like happy endings and want to forget that there is much of life that does not have a happy ending. Often we do not make time to be sad for our losses or let others be sad for theirs. Most rarely of all is when we are sad for the losses of others. We are like Linda Loman in Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman. When Willy is having a life crisis all she offers is an aspirin. “Don’t feel the pain,” it says. In lament, you take the time to know and feel and express grief. It might be elegant like David’s or simple and direct. It helps when those around you, in a supportive way, can let you grieve as you grieve and not push you to where they want you to be. It is not always easy to hear someone’s pain.
Bill Tammeus is a Presbyterian elder who has recently written about the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, certainly a major event of our times, when his own nephew was among those killed. The changes in his life in the following ten years include his nephew’s son being born, never knowing his father, and the remarriage of the widow, the mourning of his sister and her husband for the loss of their son and comforting the daughters and grandchildren. He reflects on what has not changed in those ten years. The evening news still declares disaster and violence. We have not lost our need for comfort, he says, and we still want to know that God is a loving God. He writes that churches can be the space for people to grieve. The danger is when we are too superficial to allow this. When we are with people in grief, we become the church for them. He writes: “Maybe what 10 years of living with 9/11 should teach us is that we are, finally, our brother’s keeper, our sister’s shoulder to cry on. And that’s a high calling, indeed.”
We cannot control the events of our world, or the losses that come into our lives, but there is something else. That is the message of the Gospel, that there is more than what we have here. The Gospel reading is the story of Jesus in our world. As he was traveling, a crowd gathered around him. A leader of the synagogue stopped him and begged him to heal his little daughter. On the way, a woman who had been suffering for twelve years was healed. When Jesus and Jairus approach his home they find that his daughter has died. Jesus raised her from the dead. Sometimes people focus on the supernatural event in the miracle, but I think it is better to ask what the miracle does for the people who receive it. This miracle is a taste of the resurrection. It points ahead to a day when all will be raised from the dead. It also points us to God who can give meaning to our sorrows. We do not always see that when we are in the middle of them. God is with us in our difficulties. With God, we find not only strength but meaning. Because of this hope we can keep moving with purpose in life. It is a reminder that losses are not forever.
We live in a world in which we are not free from losses. Some can be small and others, well, they are like losing your best friend. David poured out his heart in song about it. We might not be able to do that but we can find a community that can hear what is in our hearts, or be that community for others. We can find hope in unlikely places, hope in the midst of loss, which reminds us that we are not alone. That might be what we gain in loss. The journey of life moves on here. For everyone that journey involves some loss. That is why we need to know what we can take on that journey.
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After the death of Saul, when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag.
17 David intoned this lamentation over Saul and his son Jonathan. 18 (He ordered that The Song of the Bow be taught to the people of Judah; it is written in the Book of Jashar.) He said: 19 Your glory, O Israel, lies slain upon your high places! How the mighty have fallen! 20 Tell it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon; or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice, the daughters of the uncircumcised will exult. 21 You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor bounteous fields! For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, anointed with oil no more. 22 From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, nor the sword of Saul return empty. 23 Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely! In life and in death they were not divided; they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. 24 O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you with crimson, in luxury, who put ornaments of gold on your apparel. 25 How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan lies slain upon your high places. 26 I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; greatly beloved were you to me; your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. 27 How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished! (2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27 NRSV)
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. 2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! 3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. 5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. 7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. 8 It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities. (Psalm 130 NRSV)
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. 22 Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23 and begged him repeatedly, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live." 24 So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. 26 She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 for she said, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well." 29 Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" 31 And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say,'Who touched me?'" 32 He looked all around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." 35 While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader's house to say, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?" 36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." 37 He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38 When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 When he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." 40 And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!" 42 And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43 He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. (Mark 5:21-43 NRSV)
“LOSING YOUR BEST FRIEND”
At the end of my first year of college I had a Physics final exam. I didn’t like the class. It was required and not well taught, by Dr. Goldberger. The only bright spot was that my best friend, Doug, was in it. I wasn’t doing that well in the class. So, it came down to this—one of the questions on the exam saved me. If you could drill a hole through the earth, through the axis, and drop a bowling ball into the hole, what would happen? Well, assuming that there is no air in the hole and that the interior of the earth is not made up of molten rock and metal, the ball would get to the end, then be drawn back by gravity, get to the other end and be drawn back, and so on, and so on. When I turned in the exam, the lack of confidence was showing on my face, and Dr. Goldberger said that I looked like I just lost my best friend. Well, in a way I was. It was the end of the school year. We all were leaving. Doug and some of his friends were going to take a year off to travel the country. They did. Something I valued greatly was being taken away from me. When he came back, things had changed, we were in different circles.
The reading from 2 Samuel this morning is David’s song of mourning over Saul, who was king, and Saul’s son, Jonathan, who was David’s best friend. He pours out his heart in this song. He said that Israel’s glory died with them, and told them not to speak about it or the Philistines would hear it and rejoice over it. There should be no life-giving dew or rain on the mountains. The fields where they fell should not yield produce. Their weapons are now idle and their power is now only a memory. So David tells them to weep and he is greatly distressed. This is something he must let out.
This type of poem or song is present in the Bible, but rare in our lives. It is called lament, the outpouring of feelings and thoughts of sadness. We like happy endings and want to forget that there is much of life that does not have a happy ending. Often we do not make time to be sad for our losses or let others be sad for theirs. Most rarely of all is when we are sad for the losses of others. We are like Linda Loman in Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman. When Willy is having a life crisis all she offers is an aspirin. “Don’t feel the pain,” it says. In lament, you take the time to know and feel and express grief. It might be elegant like David’s or simple and direct. It helps when those around you, in a supportive way, can let you grieve as you grieve and not push you to where they want you to be. It is not always easy to hear someone’s pain.
Bill Tammeus is a Presbyterian elder who has recently written about the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, certainly a major event of our times, when his own nephew was among those killed. The changes in his life in the following ten years include his nephew’s son being born, never knowing his father, and the remarriage of the widow, the mourning of his sister and her husband for the loss of their son and comforting the daughters and grandchildren. He reflects on what has not changed in those ten years. The evening news still declares disaster and violence. We have not lost our need for comfort, he says, and we still want to know that God is a loving God. He writes that churches can be the space for people to grieve. The danger is when we are too superficial to allow this. When we are with people in grief, we become the church for them. He writes: “Maybe what 10 years of living with 9/11 should teach us is that we are, finally, our brother’s keeper, our sister’s shoulder to cry on. And that’s a high calling, indeed.”
We cannot control the events of our world, or the losses that come into our lives, but there is something else. That is the message of the Gospel, that there is more than what we have here. The Gospel reading is the story of Jesus in our world. As he was traveling, a crowd gathered around him. A leader of the synagogue stopped him and begged him to heal his little daughter. On the way, a woman who had been suffering for twelve years was healed. When Jesus and Jairus approach his home they find that his daughter has died. Jesus raised her from the dead. Sometimes people focus on the supernatural event in the miracle, but I think it is better to ask what the miracle does for the people who receive it. This miracle is a taste of the resurrection. It points ahead to a day when all will be raised from the dead. It also points us to God who can give meaning to our sorrows. We do not always see that when we are in the middle of them. God is with us in our difficulties. With God, we find not only strength but meaning. Because of this hope we can keep moving with purpose in life. It is a reminder that losses are not forever.
We live in a world in which we are not free from losses. Some can be small and others, well, they are like losing your best friend. David poured out his heart in song about it. We might not be able to do that but we can find a community that can hear what is in our hearts, or be that community for others. We can find hope in unlikely places, hope in the midst of loss, which reminds us that we are not alone. That might be what we gain in loss. The journey of life moves on here. For everyone that journey involves some loss. That is why we need to know what we can take on that journey.
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Thursday, December 6, 2012
Davey and Goliath
The 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle;
4 And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. 8 He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us." 10 And the Philistine said, "Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together." 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20 David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment as the army was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. 22 David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. 23 As he talked with them, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.
32 David said to Saul, "Let no one's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." 33 Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth." 34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. 36 Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God." 37 David said, "The LORD, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine." So Saul said to David, "Go, and may the LORD be with you!" 38 Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. 39 David strapped Saul's sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them." So David removed them. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. 41 The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43 The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field." 45 But David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's and he will give you into our hand." 48 When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. (1 Samuel 17: 1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49a NRSV)
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mark 4:35 NRSV)
“DAVEY AND GOLIATH”
One of my first introductions, growing up Catholic, to the Protestant faith was through a TV show, a cartoon called, “Davey and Goliath”. It started in the 1960s and the theme music was based on the great Lutheran hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”. They presented simple lessons in faith and morality to children. It was done in stop-motion animation and told stories about the Hansen family, especially Davey and his dog, Goliath. Goliath is no ordinary dog, but one who talks, although only Davey hears him. Well, sort of hears him. Many of the stories involve something that Davey wants to do and adults or Goliath gently advise him not to, “I don’t know, Davey.” When the situation goes wrong for him or for others, Goliath and others come to the rescue and there is a review of the lesson learned, “Oh, Davey.” The lesson is often about doing the right thing or asking for help. Some of the adventures were when Davey went into an abandoned silver mine or skated on thin ice, was stranded on an island, or trapped on a train. One was: “To the Rescue”: At Roaring River Camp, Davey, Goliath, and friends find that chores spoil their fun, and refuse to cooperate when their counselors plan a canoe trip. It takes a forest fire and a plane crash to teach them that people have to work together to protect the land and help each other.
This morning’s reading is a story with David and Goliath that is a lot scarier than any cartoon. Well, it isn’t if you know the ending and rush to the end. But if we read it slowly, with attention, we might see and feel what is happening as the story unfolds. We will see again what this passage has to tell us. The Philistines gathered for battle and they had a champion, a man ten feet tall, with armor weighing 150 pounds. He would call out to the Israelites and challenge them to send a warrior to fight him. A lot would be riding on the fight. They would be representatives of the groups and the losing champion’s group would serve the winning champion’s group. Everyone who heard this was afraid. Not only would he be fighting a giant, if he lost, they would become slaves of the Philistines. No one from the Israelite side came forth until David went to the front to bring provisions to his brothers. There he saw and heard the challenge. And he wanted to be the one to face him. He is not being young and reckless; he has faced big opponents like lions and bears and won. And he sees one more thing. Goliath challenges the God of the Israelites and God will help David defeat him. They put Saul’s armor on David and it does not fit, so he will not use them. He takes his weapon, five smooth stones from the brook and his sling. No huge sword. Goliath sees that he is facing a boy, and mocks them all the more. And David points out that he has one more weapon, he comes in the name of the Lord. He used the sling, struck the giant in the forehead and he went down. Boom. The boy defeated the giant.
We all face things in life that are bigger than we are. There are two kinds of things, though. One kind is the one where we are afraid of something big, something that we could do, should do. They can be such things as repairing a relationship, getting a better job, serving others in a new way, bringing fairness to a situation. All these can require us to act in new ways, to face something that frightens us. Those situations call us to be more courageous, like David was. We can do them in that same way, facing them with courage rather than fear, with confidence from the way God has led us in the past, with faith in God’s power. God made David’s arm and skill and made those five little stones. And one last thing. We must look at the enemy. It is big. It is armored. It is frightening. But if we use wisdom we will aim our weapons at where it is not armored. There is at least one spot, like Goliath’s forehead, where it is vulnerable. Too often, when we face the foe, we do not look. We shoot at it and do not aim. Then our stones go pinging off the helmet and the giant laughs. We face situations and direct our anger and our effort at everything but that one spot on the enemy that can change it. We need to aim at that spot. Otherwise we do things that do not address the situation. And then we do not win over it. There are times we need to face the challenge ahead of us.
A storm is greater than a giant warrior. The Gospel reading talks about this second type of big thing. The disciples went into the boat to cross the lake. Then came a storm. This is nothing new, there are storms all the time, but out on the lake they can be dangerous. The waves came into the boat. They woke Jesus up and asked him if he cared. He did, but to be asleep during the storm is the sign that he was not frightened like they were. He rebuked the wind and it obeyed and he asked about their faith. They, in turn, asked each other who Jesus was that he could even command the storm. He is greater than any storm and was with them. And he can be with us in ours.
There are no giants walking around challenging our armies these days. But in another way we still have giants, there are things which challenge our faith and courage and lives. There is a lesson here. Even a boy can bring down a giant, if he does it with faith, and courage, and the right small stone in the right place. If he faces it well. And we are not lost in the storms of life, those things that are above us, beyond us, around us, if we remember who is beside us. And so, knowing this, Martin Luther wrote this almost five hundred years ago:
Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus it is He,
Lord Sabaoth His name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
This is what we must know when we find ourselves in life at the front of a struggle. This is what gives us faith and courage to sling our stones or wake Jesus up. This is how we win the battle.
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Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle;
4 And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. 8 He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us." 10 And the Philistine said, "Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together." 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20 David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment as the army was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. 22 David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. 23 As he talked with them, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.
32 David said to Saul, "Let no one's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." 33 Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth." 34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. 36 Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God." 37 David said, "The LORD, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine." So Saul said to David, "Go, and may the LORD be with you!" 38 Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. 39 David strapped Saul's sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them." So David removed them. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. 41 The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43 The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field." 45 But David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's and he will give you into our hand." 48 When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. (1 Samuel 17: 1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49a NRSV)
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mark 4:35 NRSV)
“DAVEY AND GOLIATH”
One of my first introductions, growing up Catholic, to the Protestant faith was through a TV show, a cartoon called, “Davey and Goliath”. It started in the 1960s and the theme music was based on the great Lutheran hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”. They presented simple lessons in faith and morality to children. It was done in stop-motion animation and told stories about the Hansen family, especially Davey and his dog, Goliath. Goliath is no ordinary dog, but one who talks, although only Davey hears him. Well, sort of hears him. Many of the stories involve something that Davey wants to do and adults or Goliath gently advise him not to, “I don’t know, Davey.” When the situation goes wrong for him or for others, Goliath and others come to the rescue and there is a review of the lesson learned, “Oh, Davey.” The lesson is often about doing the right thing or asking for help. Some of the adventures were when Davey went into an abandoned silver mine or skated on thin ice, was stranded on an island, or trapped on a train. One was: “To the Rescue”: At Roaring River Camp, Davey, Goliath, and friends find that chores spoil their fun, and refuse to cooperate when their counselors plan a canoe trip. It takes a forest fire and a plane crash to teach them that people have to work together to protect the land and help each other.
This morning’s reading is a story with David and Goliath that is a lot scarier than any cartoon. Well, it isn’t if you know the ending and rush to the end. But if we read it slowly, with attention, we might see and feel what is happening as the story unfolds. We will see again what this passage has to tell us. The Philistines gathered for battle and they had a champion, a man ten feet tall, with armor weighing 150 pounds. He would call out to the Israelites and challenge them to send a warrior to fight him. A lot would be riding on the fight. They would be representatives of the groups and the losing champion’s group would serve the winning champion’s group. Everyone who heard this was afraid. Not only would he be fighting a giant, if he lost, they would become slaves of the Philistines. No one from the Israelite side came forth until David went to the front to bring provisions to his brothers. There he saw and heard the challenge. And he wanted to be the one to face him. He is not being young and reckless; he has faced big opponents like lions and bears and won. And he sees one more thing. Goliath challenges the God of the Israelites and God will help David defeat him. They put Saul’s armor on David and it does not fit, so he will not use them. He takes his weapon, five smooth stones from the brook and his sling. No huge sword. Goliath sees that he is facing a boy, and mocks them all the more. And David points out that he has one more weapon, he comes in the name of the Lord. He used the sling, struck the giant in the forehead and he went down. Boom. The boy defeated the giant.
We all face things in life that are bigger than we are. There are two kinds of things, though. One kind is the one where we are afraid of something big, something that we could do, should do. They can be such things as repairing a relationship, getting a better job, serving others in a new way, bringing fairness to a situation. All these can require us to act in new ways, to face something that frightens us. Those situations call us to be more courageous, like David was. We can do them in that same way, facing them with courage rather than fear, with confidence from the way God has led us in the past, with faith in God’s power. God made David’s arm and skill and made those five little stones. And one last thing. We must look at the enemy. It is big. It is armored. It is frightening. But if we use wisdom we will aim our weapons at where it is not armored. There is at least one spot, like Goliath’s forehead, where it is vulnerable. Too often, when we face the foe, we do not look. We shoot at it and do not aim. Then our stones go pinging off the helmet and the giant laughs. We face situations and direct our anger and our effort at everything but that one spot on the enemy that can change it. We need to aim at that spot. Otherwise we do things that do not address the situation. And then we do not win over it. There are times we need to face the challenge ahead of us.
A storm is greater than a giant warrior. The Gospel reading talks about this second type of big thing. The disciples went into the boat to cross the lake. Then came a storm. This is nothing new, there are storms all the time, but out on the lake they can be dangerous. The waves came into the boat. They woke Jesus up and asked him if he cared. He did, but to be asleep during the storm is the sign that he was not frightened like they were. He rebuked the wind and it obeyed and he asked about their faith. They, in turn, asked each other who Jesus was that he could even command the storm. He is greater than any storm and was with them. And he can be with us in ours.
There are no giants walking around challenging our armies these days. But in another way we still have giants, there are things which challenge our faith and courage and lives. There is a lesson here. Even a boy can bring down a giant, if he does it with faith, and courage, and the right small stone in the right place. If he faces it well. And we are not lost in the storms of life, those things that are above us, beyond us, around us, if we remember who is beside us. And so, knowing this, Martin Luther wrote this almost five hundred years ago:
Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus it is He,
Lord Sabaoth His name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
This is what we must know when we find ourselves in life at the front of a struggle. This is what gives us faith and courage to sling our stones or wake Jesus up. This is how we win the battle.
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Rich and Poor
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 2 For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3 and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? 8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 11 For the one who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. 14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (James 2:1-17 NRSV)
From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." 28 But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." 29 Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go-- the demon has left your daughter." 30 So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. 31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." 35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak." (Mark 7:24-37 NRSV)
The 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
“REDISTRIBUTING WEALTH”
I had perfect attendance in grade school. It wasn’t that I never got sick; I just only got sick on weekends and holidays. I was very careful about it. One year it was the day before Christmas break. I felt fine in the morning and the teacher gave us each a Mounds candy bar. A whole Mounds bar! I started to feel ill. I finished the school day out. On the way home I started to feel really ill. By the time I got home I was in horrible shape. It was obvious to everyone. One of my brothers said, “You still want your candy bar?” Redistributing wealth is on our minds a lot. Statistics are saying that those with wealth are getting wealthier at a rate never heard of before in our history. Inequality is becoming greater. That is very clear.
Let’s talk about wealth for a minute. In organic chemistry there is a rule, called Markovnikov’s Rule. “The rule states that, with the addition of a protic acid HX to an alkene, the acid hydrogen (H) becomes attached to the carbon with fewer alkyl substituents, and the halide (X) group becomes attached to the carbon with more alkyl substituents.. Or, as my college textbook stated, “Those that have, gets.” In life as well, those who have, have the means to make or have more. Those who don’t have, have little with which to make more. I believe we have become confused that wealth is some kind of virtue. We are getting the idea that those who have money are somehow better people. At least in many cases, they are treated better. There are even those who are hinting that wealth is a sign of special favor from God. Wealth is not virtue, it is using common sense, using opportunities. Virtue is what you do with the wealth you have.
The passage from James has to do with inequality. He says that favoritism shows that their faith is not genuine. How one treats people is based on faith, to James. It seems that the wealthy came into the gathering, into church, and got treated well, treated specially. A person of lower economic means comes in and is treated differently, not as well as the wealthy. James tells them that this is not to be so. This is an example of how the Early Church had the idea of equality in a society which was very unequal, ranging from the Emperor all the way down to slaves. It threatens to ruin this equality when people start treating others based on their social status. James reminds them something: God has chosen the poor also. Their riches are of a different kind. They can be the riches of faith. And one last thing, James points out how the rich treat them in the marketplace, in daily life. So why are they so eager to curry favor with them?
An example of faith is found in the Gospel reading. It is the story of a woman, not a Jewish woman, but a gentile, who came to Jesus seeking healing for her daughter from an unclean spirit. She had heard about him. When she begged for this, his answer was that favor was to be given to the people of Israel. They were the special people. She responded to this challenge with the idea that there is so much favor from God that it can even come to those who are not the chosen people. Her faith was demonstrated in her confidence in God’s goodness.
The reality is that wealth, while it appears to give comfort, can be dangerous. It is that when we make money, gain our wealth, we can lose the other things. There are things in life that are greater than financial gain. One is peace of mind. I had a friend in Iowa City whose anxiety level went up and down daily based on the stock market. Money changes our lives. Henry David Thoreau, raised the question, as did others, of whether we own our possessions or our possessions own us. Wealth can make us see people as objects to be used in some way. When getting money is the only object, people can forget how it is gained. It matters how. Wealth has an addictive quality. In a survey they asked people how much money felt like enough. The answer was over 7 million dollars. Wealth can make us think we are self-made people and forget all that we were given by others to make what we have possible. The problem with having some is that there can always be more to have. Money can also cause us to forget at times it doesn’t solve life’s problems. They require something else—character, or patience, or kindness. Wealth isolates people. When we depend on others less, we stop thinking about them, their lives, their needs. Money typically turns us inward. We talk about the American Dream as if it is only making money. That is only part of the American Dream. The American Dream starting out was for a classless society, one based on the equal dignity of persons from one which was very unequal, kings and peasants. Is the American Dream about making money or about living in a society which values all persons?
The reality of wealth is that it does make some of life easier. Health care, but not health; living arrangements, but not life; enjoyable activities, but not joy, all depend on money. So it is not nonsense why people would want more. There are things you can do with money. Those things can be good things or not so good things. Money by itself is not a virtue. The danger is that we forget that money is only a means. People forget that and money becomes the goal of life. The Bible never says that money is all bad. Our society says, nowadays, that there is nothing bad about it. The reality, both in life and in the wisdom of God, is that it is something which can be used well. But can also be a destructive force. It can use us.
Real virtue is not the same as wealth. The real wealth is something other than money. There are things that money, by itself, cannot provide. The Week recently reported that former Army medic Augie Angerame began to visit a fellow resident in the nursing home. Because of illness they can’t communicate. His son John found that the men had both served in the same unit in the Korean War—and that his father had cared for the other when he was wounded. “‘Sixty years later,’ said John, his dad is ‘still checking on his guys.’” There can be honor and commitment, valuable things in life, that have nothing to do with financial success.
The pursuit of wealth and status is part of human life. Many think it is an unquestionable good. The Gospels and the Early Church remind us that it is not. Scripture gives us a larger vision of life. In a world which increasingly confused over the meaning of life, we have some ideas. Pick character over money. Pick love over wealth. Those, and other things, like fellowship, are closer to the meaning of life than riches. James tells the church not to forget that. If they do, the character of the church will be destroyed. The question before we rush off in pursuit of gain is, “What will we lose?” We would do well to remember this prayer:
God, make us wise to see
What’s passing, what’s for eternity.
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From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." 28 But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." 29 Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go-- the demon has left your daughter." 30 So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. 31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." 35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak." (Mark 7:24-37 NRSV)
The 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
“REDISTRIBUTING WEALTH”
I had perfect attendance in grade school. It wasn’t that I never got sick; I just only got sick on weekends and holidays. I was very careful about it. One year it was the day before Christmas break. I felt fine in the morning and the teacher gave us each a Mounds candy bar. A whole Mounds bar! I started to feel ill. I finished the school day out. On the way home I started to feel really ill. By the time I got home I was in horrible shape. It was obvious to everyone. One of my brothers said, “You still want your candy bar?” Redistributing wealth is on our minds a lot. Statistics are saying that those with wealth are getting wealthier at a rate never heard of before in our history. Inequality is becoming greater. That is very clear.
Let’s talk about wealth for a minute. In organic chemistry there is a rule, called Markovnikov’s Rule. “The rule states that, with the addition of a protic acid HX to an alkene, the acid hydrogen (H) becomes attached to the carbon with fewer alkyl substituents, and the halide (X) group becomes attached to the carbon with more alkyl substituents.. Or, as my college textbook stated, “Those that have, gets.” In life as well, those who have, have the means to make or have more. Those who don’t have, have little with which to make more. I believe we have become confused that wealth is some kind of virtue. We are getting the idea that those who have money are somehow better people. At least in many cases, they are treated better. There are even those who are hinting that wealth is a sign of special favor from God. Wealth is not virtue, it is using common sense, using opportunities. Virtue is what you do with the wealth you have.
The passage from James has to do with inequality. He says that favoritism shows that their faith is not genuine. How one treats people is based on faith, to James. It seems that the wealthy came into the gathering, into church, and got treated well, treated specially. A person of lower economic means comes in and is treated differently, not as well as the wealthy. James tells them that this is not to be so. This is an example of how the Early Church had the idea of equality in a society which was very unequal, ranging from the Emperor all the way down to slaves. It threatens to ruin this equality when people start treating others based on their social status. James reminds them something: God has chosen the poor also. Their riches are of a different kind. They can be the riches of faith. And one last thing, James points out how the rich treat them in the marketplace, in daily life. So why are they so eager to curry favor with them?
An example of faith is found in the Gospel reading. It is the story of a woman, not a Jewish woman, but a gentile, who came to Jesus seeking healing for her daughter from an unclean spirit. She had heard about him. When she begged for this, his answer was that favor was to be given to the people of Israel. They were the special people. She responded to this challenge with the idea that there is so much favor from God that it can even come to those who are not the chosen people. Her faith was demonstrated in her confidence in God’s goodness.
The reality is that wealth, while it appears to give comfort, can be dangerous. It is that when we make money, gain our wealth, we can lose the other things. There are things in life that are greater than financial gain. One is peace of mind. I had a friend in Iowa City whose anxiety level went up and down daily based on the stock market. Money changes our lives. Henry David Thoreau, raised the question, as did others, of whether we own our possessions or our possessions own us. Wealth can make us see people as objects to be used in some way. When getting money is the only object, people can forget how it is gained. It matters how. Wealth has an addictive quality. In a survey they asked people how much money felt like enough. The answer was over 7 million dollars. Wealth can make us think we are self-made people and forget all that we were given by others to make what we have possible. The problem with having some is that there can always be more to have. Money can also cause us to forget at times it doesn’t solve life’s problems. They require something else—character, or patience, or kindness. Wealth isolates people. When we depend on others less, we stop thinking about them, their lives, their needs. Money typically turns us inward. We talk about the American Dream as if it is only making money. That is only part of the American Dream. The American Dream starting out was for a classless society, one based on the equal dignity of persons from one which was very unequal, kings and peasants. Is the American Dream about making money or about living in a society which values all persons?
The reality of wealth is that it does make some of life easier. Health care, but not health; living arrangements, but not life; enjoyable activities, but not joy, all depend on money. So it is not nonsense why people would want more. There are things you can do with money. Those things can be good things or not so good things. Money by itself is not a virtue. The danger is that we forget that money is only a means. People forget that and money becomes the goal of life. The Bible never says that money is all bad. Our society says, nowadays, that there is nothing bad about it. The reality, both in life and in the wisdom of God, is that it is something which can be used well. But can also be a destructive force. It can use us.
Real virtue is not the same as wealth. The real wealth is something other than money. There are things that money, by itself, cannot provide. The Week recently reported that former Army medic Augie Angerame began to visit a fellow resident in the nursing home. Because of illness they can’t communicate. His son John found that the men had both served in the same unit in the Korean War—and that his father had cared for the other when he was wounded. “‘Sixty years later,’ said John, his dad is ‘still checking on his guys.’” There can be honor and commitment, valuable things in life, that have nothing to do with financial success.
The pursuit of wealth and status is part of human life. Many think it is an unquestionable good. The Gospels and the Early Church remind us that it is not. Scripture gives us a larger vision of life. In a world which increasingly confused over the meaning of life, we have some ideas. Pick character over money. Pick love over wealth. Those, and other things, like fellowship, are closer to the meaning of life than riches. James tells the church not to forget that. If they do, the character of the church will be destroyed. The question before we rush off in pursuit of gain is, “What will we lose?” We would do well to remember this prayer:
God, make us wise to see
What’s passing, what’s for eternity.
+++++
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Do Not Worry
Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things! 22 Do not fear, you animals of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and vine give their full yield. 23 O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the LORD your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. 24 The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25 I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you. 26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. 27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame. (Joel 2:21-27 NRSV)
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you -- you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:25-33 NRSV)
The 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
“WHAT CAN YOU ADD?”
Worry is a part of life. We all have concerns, but some people take it really far. Take, for example, part of the song by Randy Newman which was the theme song for the TV show, “Monk”:
People think I'm crazy, ’cause I worry all the time
If you paid attention, you’d be worried too
You better pay attention
Or this world we love so much might just kill you
I could be wrong now, but I don’t think so!
’Cause there’s a jungle out there.
It’s a jungle out there.
Maybe we know people like this, or even have been like this ourselves. Perhaps we can laugh a bit at this outlook, but there are many things in a day that can cause us to worry, from the news of the world to our own personal circumstances.
Jesus had some things to say about worry and that, by itself, is a bit surprising. Of all the great topics of faith and life, he talks about this. But it can consume us and so is dangerous, ironically as dangerous as all the things we worry about. Worry is an attitude towards life. In the extreme, it can rob us of joy and peace and make us fearful of the future and of others. So it is something significant in our spiritual lives. It matters in how we live.
Jesus’ words challenge the way many live their lives. Few would put worry on the lists of the great sins, but there it is. Don’t worry about your lives, Jesus says. Of course what he is not telling us is to be careless. This is no excuse for stupidity or laziness or bad behavior toward others. We are to exercise responsibility for our lives and choices, not neglecting the opportunities we have. Jesus did not say that life would be trouble-free, just to let today’s troubles belong to today and tomorrow’s belong to tomorrow. We worry sometimes just to avoid doing what we need to be doing today. The nature of worry is to be preoccupied with things, the future, threats—real and possible—and that is what we are to avoid.
So Jesus points out some things. The first is that worry can be about unimportant things. It often forgets what is essential and what is not. Worry changes our perspective and we forget that the birds go about finding what food God provides, they do not sit there and worry about it. They do not pass over God’s gifts because they are not the biggest or most stylish. Jesus reminds us of God’s care. Worry focuses us on us, even when things are not about us. Will it rain tomorrow? That can be an important question. But whether it does or not, we still have to face tomorrow, whatever there is in it. Or as in the old proverb, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes.”
Speaking about the weather, worry often focuses on things that are beyond our control, acting as if somehow being concerned about it will change it. Now, caution is always important, but what does worry do to the weather? What does it do about other things? Does worry make you grow taller? The ancient philosopher Epictetus said, “Some things are under our control, while others are not under our control.” The ability to know what you can do and what you must simply endure is one of the most important life skills.
Worry gets ahead of itself. We imagine things and spend our time on things that do not come to pass. Worry can leave reality behind. My internship supervisor’s young son, Dale, would run up to him all bothered by something and I would hear Mark say, “Wait until you have something to worry about before you worry.”
Worry changes our picture of God. God gets forgotten in the cares of life. We forget God’s generosity. God not only provides, but it is like the lilies, so stunning in beauty, abundant in goodness. God gives us the gift of this day, among many other blessings. We are reminded of this when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. This meal we come back to month after month, throughout our lives, shows us that God is with us and continually gives us what we need, whether it is food or forgiveness or fellowship. And today we particularly recognize that we share it with millions around the world. The reading from Joel reminds us again of the great care God takes of the creatures and people of the earth. What we are not to forget is that God cares about us, cares for us.
When we worry we are not at our best. Worry unsettles our minds and that can’t help spill over into how we behave toward others. That usually robs us of their companionship and help, if we drive them away.
Worry cheats us because it robs us of today. Yes, we need to plan for the future, but when we spend all our time and energy facing it, we forget today. Today has enough challenges. Worry might motivate us a little, but it really can’t add anything to the day we have. Can it make our lives longer? Can it add a minute to the day? No, in fact, you would almost be subtracting time, that is, time lost to worrying. No, we can’t make it longer, but what we do with the day can add value to it.
Elsie Larson tells this story about what worry does to life’s priorities. She was teaching her oldest grandson, Richard, some art lessons and he only drew lines. So she changed the lesson and wanted him to draw a tiger. She wanted him to start, not with lines, but with the imagination and placing patches of tiger-like color on the piece of paper. Then once the shaped was done, could he add the eyes, nose, mouth and stripes. After seeing the picture, she realized that life is her canvas. She wants to draw in the details of her life before she has the basic design.
What if we looked at today, not like something to be rushed through on our way to tomorrow or ignored because of all the concerns that fill our minds, but the way a creator would look at it? It is a place for the birds of the air to feed and for the lilies to display their splendor. What if we looked at today as a gift from the One who cares for us? What if we looked at today not to be wasted in fretting, but to be used to accomplish and enjoy great things? What if we looked at today like an artist—like the block of stone, or blank canvas, or a lump of clay and rather than waste it, asked what we are going to create out of it? That is what we can add to the day.
+++++
Timothy J. Gerarden
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you -- you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:25-33 NRSV)
The 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
“WHAT CAN YOU ADD?”
Worry is a part of life. We all have concerns, but some people take it really far. Take, for example, part of the song by Randy Newman which was the theme song for the TV show, “Monk”:
People think I'm crazy, ’cause I worry all the time
If you paid attention, you’d be worried too
You better pay attention
Or this world we love so much might just kill you
I could be wrong now, but I don’t think so!
’Cause there’s a jungle out there.
It’s a jungle out there.
Maybe we know people like this, or even have been like this ourselves. Perhaps we can laugh a bit at this outlook, but there are many things in a day that can cause us to worry, from the news of the world to our own personal circumstances.
Jesus had some things to say about worry and that, by itself, is a bit surprising. Of all the great topics of faith and life, he talks about this. But it can consume us and so is dangerous, ironically as dangerous as all the things we worry about. Worry is an attitude towards life. In the extreme, it can rob us of joy and peace and make us fearful of the future and of others. So it is something significant in our spiritual lives. It matters in how we live.
Jesus’ words challenge the way many live their lives. Few would put worry on the lists of the great sins, but there it is. Don’t worry about your lives, Jesus says. Of course what he is not telling us is to be careless. This is no excuse for stupidity or laziness or bad behavior toward others. We are to exercise responsibility for our lives and choices, not neglecting the opportunities we have. Jesus did not say that life would be trouble-free, just to let today’s troubles belong to today and tomorrow’s belong to tomorrow. We worry sometimes just to avoid doing what we need to be doing today. The nature of worry is to be preoccupied with things, the future, threats—real and possible—and that is what we are to avoid.
So Jesus points out some things. The first is that worry can be about unimportant things. It often forgets what is essential and what is not. Worry changes our perspective and we forget that the birds go about finding what food God provides, they do not sit there and worry about it. They do not pass over God’s gifts because they are not the biggest or most stylish. Jesus reminds us of God’s care. Worry focuses us on us, even when things are not about us. Will it rain tomorrow? That can be an important question. But whether it does or not, we still have to face tomorrow, whatever there is in it. Or as in the old proverb, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes.”
Speaking about the weather, worry often focuses on things that are beyond our control, acting as if somehow being concerned about it will change it. Now, caution is always important, but what does worry do to the weather? What does it do about other things? Does worry make you grow taller? The ancient philosopher Epictetus said, “Some things are under our control, while others are not under our control.” The ability to know what you can do and what you must simply endure is one of the most important life skills.
Worry gets ahead of itself. We imagine things and spend our time on things that do not come to pass. Worry can leave reality behind. My internship supervisor’s young son, Dale, would run up to him all bothered by something and I would hear Mark say, “Wait until you have something to worry about before you worry.”
Worry changes our picture of God. God gets forgotten in the cares of life. We forget God’s generosity. God not only provides, but it is like the lilies, so stunning in beauty, abundant in goodness. God gives us the gift of this day, among many other blessings. We are reminded of this when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. This meal we come back to month after month, throughout our lives, shows us that God is with us and continually gives us what we need, whether it is food or forgiveness or fellowship. And today we particularly recognize that we share it with millions around the world. The reading from Joel reminds us again of the great care God takes of the creatures and people of the earth. What we are not to forget is that God cares about us, cares for us.
When we worry we are not at our best. Worry unsettles our minds and that can’t help spill over into how we behave toward others. That usually robs us of their companionship and help, if we drive them away.
Worry cheats us because it robs us of today. Yes, we need to plan for the future, but when we spend all our time and energy facing it, we forget today. Today has enough challenges. Worry might motivate us a little, but it really can’t add anything to the day we have. Can it make our lives longer? Can it add a minute to the day? No, in fact, you would almost be subtracting time, that is, time lost to worrying. No, we can’t make it longer, but what we do with the day can add value to it.
Elsie Larson tells this story about what worry does to life’s priorities. She was teaching her oldest grandson, Richard, some art lessons and he only drew lines. So she changed the lesson and wanted him to draw a tiger. She wanted him to start, not with lines, but with the imagination and placing patches of tiger-like color on the piece of paper. Then once the shaped was done, could he add the eyes, nose, mouth and stripes. After seeing the picture, she realized that life is her canvas. She wants to draw in the details of her life before she has the basic design.
What if we looked at today, not like something to be rushed through on our way to tomorrow or ignored because of all the concerns that fill our minds, but the way a creator would look at it? It is a place for the birds of the air to feed and for the lilies to display their splendor. What if we looked at today as a gift from the One who cares for us? What if we looked at today not to be wasted in fretting, but to be used to accomplish and enjoy great things? What if we looked at today like an artist—like the block of stone, or blank canvas, or a lump of clay and rather than waste it, asked what we are going to create out of it? That is what we can add to the day.
+++++
Timothy J. Gerarden
Monday, October 29, 2012
The 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Furthermore, the former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
26 For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. (Hebrews 7:23-28 NRSV)
They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 49 Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you." 50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again." 52 Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way. (Mark 10:46-52 NRSV)
“SEEING AGAIN”
When I was in the fourth grade I got glasses. I remember getting them. There was a trip to the eye doctor on Washington Avenue, then getting the glasses. I remember putting them on for the first time and seeing again. Things were so clear. People talk about when something “pops”, that is, comes alive, is transformed, stands out. That was what it was like. I went into the bank lobby to say hello to my dad and I could see everything. It was all crisp and bright. Now, I don’t remember needing glasses. I don’t remember not being able to see the blackboard in the classroom or the ball on the playground. I can’t recall things fading into a haze or walking into walls. But somehow the message came back that I needed them. It is funny that I don’t remember that need, only how it was remedied. But I will never forget the results.
The Gospel reading this morning is of a time when Jesus was near Jericho with his disciples and a blind man, Bartimaeus, approached him. He heard that it was Jesus and began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” There is nothing subtle about him. There is no slight impairment—he was blind and had to beg in order to survive. There is no confusion about what he wants—he wants to see again. He makes no half-hearted effort—he yells. When some told him to be quiet, he became louder.
What happened was that he had the chance to speak to Jesus and the Lord asked him what he wanted. It was not riches or power; it was to be made whole again. He took the chance, sprang up, it says, to talk with him. And when asked, he made his request simply, to see again. He is told to go, but he stays and follows the Lord on the way.
Why do we have and read and reread this story? If it is only the account of one person being healed, it is inspirational, touching, heart-warning. But it reaches deeper than that. It is so that we, like Bartimaeus, can hear the words of those in the crowd who said, “Take heart.” It is so that we can see that glimpse of God’s power which can heal and change. It is so that we can see our lives given life again. Where has God’s power been present in your life? Has there been a moment in your life when you were taken from blindness in some way and given sight? Is something keeping you at the side of the road? What kind of eye-opening moment do you need? What would you ask Jesus for if he came down the road?
The center of the story is Jesus. He is also the center of the passage from Hebrews. The priests in the Old Testament were many, because they were human and died. Now, under the new covenant, there only needs to be one, is only one, because he is eternal. That makes it possible for him to be able to save anyone, help anyone. We need someone who will change our lives and he is the one who is able to do that.
A man named Parker Palmer, a famous author who works with educational institutions now living in Wisconsin, so he knows something about Midwest weather, wrote about his life in the book Let Your Life Speak. He had a promising career but found himself so depressed at one point that he could not move. He had to stop and take a look at his life, where it was going, what was wrong, what was right. He found that we get into trouble when we ignore who we are with our individual abilities and interests and try to do things we are not able to do. We need to find what God calls us to do, keeping in mind the reality of our God-given lives. He had also forgotten to pay attention to what was inside him in his desire to change the world around him. He had to pay attention to the inner life of feelings, thoughts, desires, even limitations. Only then could he begin to start the work of repairing his soul. It was the result of his seeing that he desperately needed help and then looking for it until he found it. He concludes the book by writing about life. How we see it matters in how we live it. Some see it as war, conflict, some as struggle, but he sees it as seasons in which things come, grow and die away to make room for other things. Our lives are part of the fundamental power of the world. Each season has its gifts, he says, including winter which has the gift of being a necessary time of dormancy and rest for living things. It has a beauty of all its own and part of it is the clarity of the season. In summer trees hide things, but in winter they are visible. One can see the ground things are rooted in. Sometimes, the real gift we are given, the real miracle, is insight to see who we are and that there is help for us whatever our need is. We need to find the ground we are rooted in before we can change how we see the world and our lives. Once we discover the meaning in our lives and of our lives, we can see the world anew to join it and serve it.
When we have the blessing of another chance, of healing, of renewal, then things can change, our lives can change. It involves seeing not just our need but the help for it. That is where faith comes in. Dr. Rachel Remen talks about the time she was asked to lead a retreat for a hospice center with a staff of over forty-five. There was tension between those who worked directly with patient services and those who worked behind the scenes. She asked them to bring objects which represented their part of the organization, the meaning of their work. She asked everyone to sit in a large circle, to say his or her name and talk about what they brought. She says there was a silence at first and then a young man named John, showed the group a small ceramic bridge, which he had taken from his aquarium that morning. His reason was that it was a symbol of his work; it was a bridge between those who were dying and their loved ones, and what the hospice could offer them for healing. He was one of the telephone operators. Another person was a middle-aged woman who had brought a crystal paperweight in the shape of a heart. She was a social worker who listened to people. She found a change in her life and work through her role in the hospice. She went from listening with her head to listening with her heart. The objects were placed in the center and everyone else talked about the meaning of their contributions to the hospice’s mission. They also discovered how they all were tied together. They found what was already there.
The Gospel tells us about this one man’s encounter with Jesus. Blind Bartimaeus one day had the opportunity to find his wholeness. He found it because he could see his blindness, but that did not stop him. He found it because he knew what he wanted and needed. He knew what was in his soul. He found it because he found the one who can change darkness into light. He had faith that these things existed, that they were true, and that they were for him. He found the one who could heal him. He saw what he could, what was important, and he could see again. Take heart.
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Furthermore, the former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
26 For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. (Hebrews 7:23-28 NRSV)
They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 49 Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you." 50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again." 52 Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way. (Mark 10:46-52 NRSV)
“SEEING AGAIN”
When I was in the fourth grade I got glasses. I remember getting them. There was a trip to the eye doctor on Washington Avenue, then getting the glasses. I remember putting them on for the first time and seeing again. Things were so clear. People talk about when something “pops”, that is, comes alive, is transformed, stands out. That was what it was like. I went into the bank lobby to say hello to my dad and I could see everything. It was all crisp and bright. Now, I don’t remember needing glasses. I don’t remember not being able to see the blackboard in the classroom or the ball on the playground. I can’t recall things fading into a haze or walking into walls. But somehow the message came back that I needed them. It is funny that I don’t remember that need, only how it was remedied. But I will never forget the results.
The Gospel reading this morning is of a time when Jesus was near Jericho with his disciples and a blind man, Bartimaeus, approached him. He heard that it was Jesus and began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” There is nothing subtle about him. There is no slight impairment—he was blind and had to beg in order to survive. There is no confusion about what he wants—he wants to see again. He makes no half-hearted effort—he yells. When some told him to be quiet, he became louder.
What happened was that he had the chance to speak to Jesus and the Lord asked him what he wanted. It was not riches or power; it was to be made whole again. He took the chance, sprang up, it says, to talk with him. And when asked, he made his request simply, to see again. He is told to go, but he stays and follows the Lord on the way.
Why do we have and read and reread this story? If it is only the account of one person being healed, it is inspirational, touching, heart-warning. But it reaches deeper than that. It is so that we, like Bartimaeus, can hear the words of those in the crowd who said, “Take heart.” It is so that we can see that glimpse of God’s power which can heal and change. It is so that we can see our lives given life again. Where has God’s power been present in your life? Has there been a moment in your life when you were taken from blindness in some way and given sight? Is something keeping you at the side of the road? What kind of eye-opening moment do you need? What would you ask Jesus for if he came down the road?
The center of the story is Jesus. He is also the center of the passage from Hebrews. The priests in the Old Testament were many, because they were human and died. Now, under the new covenant, there only needs to be one, is only one, because he is eternal. That makes it possible for him to be able to save anyone, help anyone. We need someone who will change our lives and he is the one who is able to do that.
A man named Parker Palmer, a famous author who works with educational institutions now living in Wisconsin, so he knows something about Midwest weather, wrote about his life in the book Let Your Life Speak. He had a promising career but found himself so depressed at one point that he could not move. He had to stop and take a look at his life, where it was going, what was wrong, what was right. He found that we get into trouble when we ignore who we are with our individual abilities and interests and try to do things we are not able to do. We need to find what God calls us to do, keeping in mind the reality of our God-given lives. He had also forgotten to pay attention to what was inside him in his desire to change the world around him. He had to pay attention to the inner life of feelings, thoughts, desires, even limitations. Only then could he begin to start the work of repairing his soul. It was the result of his seeing that he desperately needed help and then looking for it until he found it. He concludes the book by writing about life. How we see it matters in how we live it. Some see it as war, conflict, some as struggle, but he sees it as seasons in which things come, grow and die away to make room for other things. Our lives are part of the fundamental power of the world. Each season has its gifts, he says, including winter which has the gift of being a necessary time of dormancy and rest for living things. It has a beauty of all its own and part of it is the clarity of the season. In summer trees hide things, but in winter they are visible. One can see the ground things are rooted in. Sometimes, the real gift we are given, the real miracle, is insight to see who we are and that there is help for us whatever our need is. We need to find the ground we are rooted in before we can change how we see the world and our lives. Once we discover the meaning in our lives and of our lives, we can see the world anew to join it and serve it.
When we have the blessing of another chance, of healing, of renewal, then things can change, our lives can change. It involves seeing not just our need but the help for it. That is where faith comes in. Dr. Rachel Remen talks about the time she was asked to lead a retreat for a hospice center with a staff of over forty-five. There was tension between those who worked directly with patient services and those who worked behind the scenes. She asked them to bring objects which represented their part of the organization, the meaning of their work. She asked everyone to sit in a large circle, to say his or her name and talk about what they brought. She says there was a silence at first and then a young man named John, showed the group a small ceramic bridge, which he had taken from his aquarium that morning. His reason was that it was a symbol of his work; it was a bridge between those who were dying and their loved ones, and what the hospice could offer them for healing. He was one of the telephone operators. Another person was a middle-aged woman who had brought a crystal paperweight in the shape of a heart. She was a social worker who listened to people. She found a change in her life and work through her role in the hospice. She went from listening with her head to listening with her heart. The objects were placed in the center and everyone else talked about the meaning of their contributions to the hospice’s mission. They also discovered how they all were tied together. They found what was already there.
The Gospel tells us about this one man’s encounter with Jesus. Blind Bartimaeus one day had the opportunity to find his wholeness. He found it because he could see his blindness, but that did not stop him. He found it because he knew what he wanted and needed. He knew what was in his soul. He found it because he found the one who can change darkness into light. He had faith that these things existed, that they were true, and that they were for him. He found the one who could heal him. He saw what he could, what was important, and he could see again. Take heart.
+++++
Saturday, July 21, 2012
The 3rd Sunday of Easter, Year B
When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, "You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. 14 But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you. 17 "And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out. (Acts 3:12-19 NRSV)
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:36-48 NRSV)
“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!”
When you are small, little things can scare you. Ghost stories around the campfire, for example. I remember one was called “The Monkey’s Paw” or something like that. Or the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz. Although I have to admit the tornado in that movie scared me more. Or movies like “The Mummy” or “Creature from the Black Lagoon” or “Frankenstein”. We screamed when we saw them. The 1950s had a lot of them. Monsters seem to be back in style. Vampires are really big nowadays, although they look more like fashion models than monsters. Zombies are big, too; one article in Newsweek said that the undead are very busy nowadays. Hollywood has a long history of manufacturing things that frighten us. I think that suspense actually can be more frightening than showing the monsters. Say, the movie “Quarantine” or “Cloverfield”. Or realistically portrayed possibilities, like in “Contagion”, describing a worldwide flu pandemic.
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles is Peter’s speech after healing a man who was lame from birth. He was at one of the gates of the temple to beg and asked the disciples for money. They said that they did not have any money, but would give him what they had, so they healed the man. The people in the temple saw what had taken place and were filled with wonder and amazement. Peter tells them that it is not extraordinary, that they really have no cause to wonder since it was not due to their own power or holiness. They are not superheroes. It was God who did it, the same God who raised Jesus from the dead. This plan for Jesus’ life, they say, goes back, way back to the days of Abraham and before. And Peter adds that Jesus was dead in the first place because he was rejected by the people and killed. That is truly ironic, that they killed the Creator of the world, the One who designed life. But now he is alive. It was by faith in Jesus’ name that the lame man in the temple was healed. If God can raise Jesus from the dead, why can’t God heal a lame man? They see God’s power. So they are to repent and believe. The possibility of forgiveness is offered to them.
The Gospel reading is of one of the appearances of Jesus after the Resurrection. Here, too, they see God’s power. At this one, they thought he was a ghost. They were terrified. You could imagine how this idea might come to mind with his appearing to them after being killed and just walking through locked doors. Those are ghost-like qualities. But he invites them to look at him to recognize him. To touch him. He has bones. And then he eats a piece of fish. He is no ghost. This is to fulfill everything written about him. The Messiah was to suffer and die and be raised. This was the plan. Now they are to proclaim Jesus’ name to all nations. They have not seen a ghost; they have seen the Savior and are to be witnesses. He is not dead, but has defeated death. He offers to us freedom from fear.
The monsters that Hollywood shows us are imaginary and good for some excitement, kinda like riding a roller coaster or watching a scary movie. It lasts for five minutes or two hours and most people like getting a little spooked and then going back to real life where we are safe. There is something comforting in feeling we are OK; we enjoy that feeling. But if we think of it, it is real life that provides what truly frightens us. There are things that can happen to us—storms and crime and illness. Life can end. There are things that are not so extraordinary, really, things that happened to us or could happen to us or will happen to everyone, the losses of life, and they are much more frightening than any movie monster ever could be.
We, like the disciples in those days after the first Easter, look to a risen Savior. He comes among us, sometimes as we expect, but other times he surprises us. He bids us to be at peace and puts our fears to rest. He can bring that peace to us. He has power to make our lives right. He has power to heal and power to forgive. We can share that with others. Phyllis Hobe found that it is possible when she insulted with a look a supermarket cashier, who was very young and didn’t know what cranberries were. She saw the hurt in the girl’s eyes. She realized that not intending to hurt the cashier wasn’t enough and so asked for forgiveness. She received it.
Jesus, the Risen Lord, also comes among us to remove our fears. The Resurrection is proof of life beyond death, life conquering death. When we understand that, we know that our fears are small compared with God’s care for us. When we know that, we live in hope. It is the lesson of those who have learned to live seeing what is stronger in life as Elizabeth Sherrill describes David Waite, the brother of Terry Waite, who was held hostage in Lebanon. He disappeared in Beirut in early 1987, and almost five years of total silence had gone by without a word. David never lost hope as the years went by until his release in 1991. He learned this hope as a small, frail, crippled child. In growing up with continuous struggles strength of character was formed. And so when Terry was released, David was not surprised. Once we know that death has been defeated, all our other fears are small compared to our hope.
One of the ways of talking about people who are frightened is to say that they look like they have just seen a ghost. There is much that can frighten us. The apostles saw no ghost. They saw Jesus and know that he is alive. Jesus comes in power. Jesus comes not to frighten us but to take away our sin, fears, losses. The story of his life is the story of death and new life. It is the story of where we find freedom. Jesus walks among us. Of this we are witnesses.
When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, "You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. 14 But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you. 17 "And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out. (Acts 3:12-19 NRSV)
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:36-48 NRSV)
“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!”
When you are small, little things can scare you. Ghost stories around the campfire, for example. I remember one was called “The Monkey’s Paw” or something like that. Or the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz. Although I have to admit the tornado in that movie scared me more. Or movies like “The Mummy” or “Creature from the Black Lagoon” or “Frankenstein”. We screamed when we saw them. The 1950s had a lot of them. Monsters seem to be back in style. Vampires are really big nowadays, although they look more like fashion models than monsters. Zombies are big, too; one article in Newsweek said that the undead are very busy nowadays. Hollywood has a long history of manufacturing things that frighten us. I think that suspense actually can be more frightening than showing the monsters. Say, the movie “Quarantine” or “Cloverfield”. Or realistically portrayed possibilities, like in “Contagion”, describing a worldwide flu pandemic.
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles is Peter’s speech after healing a man who was lame from birth. He was at one of the gates of the temple to beg and asked the disciples for money. They said that they did not have any money, but would give him what they had, so they healed the man. The people in the temple saw what had taken place and were filled with wonder and amazement. Peter tells them that it is not extraordinary, that they really have no cause to wonder since it was not due to their own power or holiness. They are not superheroes. It was God who did it, the same God who raised Jesus from the dead. This plan for Jesus’ life, they say, goes back, way back to the days of Abraham and before. And Peter adds that Jesus was dead in the first place because he was rejected by the people and killed. That is truly ironic, that they killed the Creator of the world, the One who designed life. But now he is alive. It was by faith in Jesus’ name that the lame man in the temple was healed. If God can raise Jesus from the dead, why can’t God heal a lame man? They see God’s power. So they are to repent and believe. The possibility of forgiveness is offered to them.
The Gospel reading is of one of the appearances of Jesus after the Resurrection. Here, too, they see God’s power. At this one, they thought he was a ghost. They were terrified. You could imagine how this idea might come to mind with his appearing to them after being killed and just walking through locked doors. Those are ghost-like qualities. But he invites them to look at him to recognize him. To touch him. He has bones. And then he eats a piece of fish. He is no ghost. This is to fulfill everything written about him. The Messiah was to suffer and die and be raised. This was the plan. Now they are to proclaim Jesus’ name to all nations. They have not seen a ghost; they have seen the Savior and are to be witnesses. He is not dead, but has defeated death. He offers to us freedom from fear.
The monsters that Hollywood shows us are imaginary and good for some excitement, kinda like riding a roller coaster or watching a scary movie. It lasts for five minutes or two hours and most people like getting a little spooked and then going back to real life where we are safe. There is something comforting in feeling we are OK; we enjoy that feeling. But if we think of it, it is real life that provides what truly frightens us. There are things that can happen to us—storms and crime and illness. Life can end. There are things that are not so extraordinary, really, things that happened to us or could happen to us or will happen to everyone, the losses of life, and they are much more frightening than any movie monster ever could be.
We, like the disciples in those days after the first Easter, look to a risen Savior. He comes among us, sometimes as we expect, but other times he surprises us. He bids us to be at peace and puts our fears to rest. He can bring that peace to us. He has power to make our lives right. He has power to heal and power to forgive. We can share that with others. Phyllis Hobe found that it is possible when she insulted with a look a supermarket cashier, who was very young and didn’t know what cranberries were. She saw the hurt in the girl’s eyes. She realized that not intending to hurt the cashier wasn’t enough and so asked for forgiveness. She received it.
Jesus, the Risen Lord, also comes among us to remove our fears. The Resurrection is proof of life beyond death, life conquering death. When we understand that, we know that our fears are small compared with God’s care for us. When we know that, we live in hope. It is the lesson of those who have learned to live seeing what is stronger in life as Elizabeth Sherrill describes David Waite, the brother of Terry Waite, who was held hostage in Lebanon. He disappeared in Beirut in early 1987, and almost five years of total silence had gone by without a word. David never lost hope as the years went by until his release in 1991. He learned this hope as a small, frail, crippled child. In growing up with continuous struggles strength of character was formed. And so when Terry was released, David was not surprised. Once we know that death has been defeated, all our other fears are small compared to our hope.
One of the ways of talking about people who are frightened is to say that they look like they have just seen a ghost. There is much that can frighten us. The apostles saw no ghost. They saw Jesus and know that he is alive. Jesus comes in power. Jesus comes not to frighten us but to take away our sin, fears, losses. The story of his life is the story of death and new life. It is the story of where we find freedom. Jesus walks among us. Of this we are witnesses.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
The Second Sunday of Easter, Year B
We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- 2 this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us-- 3 we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 1:1-2:2 NRSV)
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin ), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:19-31 NRSV)
“THOMAS, WHO?”
Faith is important to life. Without some faith we don’t get out of bed in the morning, don’t go to work, get married, have children. Without possibility, we don’t plan or hope. Without faith, life can defeat us. Some degree of faith is required because there are things you can’t see, like the future. Like a reward for daily faithfulness. Like a better life you are making for yourself and your loved ones. You have to head in that direction and trust. Life can be difficult if you can’t see some possibility of good beyond where you are now or what you can see. What causes you to trust?
This morning we have heard some biblical viewpoints on faith. In The First Letter of John, John states that he declares what was from the beginning of the faith—the things they have heard and seen and touched. What was from the beginning of the faith is Jesus with us. John testifies to this life they have seen and heard and touched. It is for those who have not heard him, seen him, or touched him for themselves. If they hear this and believe, then they share faith. Then their joy will be complete. Those who wish to share that faith must walk in the light. If we have not walked in the light, God can forgive our sins through Jesus. God makes it possible for those who have walked in darkness to walk in the light.
What if you have not seen? What if you have not touched? How then do you find faith? That is the problem of one man in the Gospel reading, Thomas. He is often called “Doubting Thomas”. What started this all was that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he rose from the dead. He showed them his hands and side. They saw, believed, and rejoiced. But one of them was not there. Thomas was not there. The disciples tell him what had happened, but he didn’t believe it. He heard but had not seen. He said, in fact, that he would not believe unless he saw and touched the marks of the nails and his side. He wants proof. The next week he gets that chance as Jesus appeared to them again. Again he enters, even though the doors were shut. He knows what Thomas said earlier. And he offers to him the chance to get the proof he wanted. Thomas responds in complete faith. He is blessed. But blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.
Thomas is an example of one who must hear second-hand. The first generation of Christians knew what they saw and heard. That is the foundation both of their faith and the faith that they handed on to others who came after Jesus no longer walked the earth. Time came when generation after generation heard the good news about Jesus. We are those people. But, here, in the Gospel, Jesus makes himself known to one disciple. Who Thomas is matters. He has doubts. He is resistant. Perhaps the disciples who believed called him stubborn. Perhaps Thomas called the disciples gullible. They did not share a faith at that point. But Jesus meets Thomas as he is, with his doubts. Jesus helps Thomas overcome the doubts he has.
Sometimes seeing and believing are portrayed as the same thing. After all, as the saying goes: “Seeing is believing.” But we are not always at every place in life. Things happen when we are not there. We cannot see everything. At some point we have to trust, even if it is only in what others say. And the things we experience, the things we see, can be misunderstood. The reality is that we need both. We need to experience God in our lives and we need that word that helps us understand what we experience. A few years ago, I was on a plane heading to week one of Interim Ministry training reading a book. It said that we understand life and work and churches in part because of our birth order. I am a second child. I love my older brother, but at times I have noticed there is a little tension between us. The book explained that the second child comes into the world, the family, and has to define his or her personality in it. So it is very likely that he or she will be deliberately what the first child is not. That is who he or she is—not the first one. And there will likely be tension until that personality is formed. After reading, I understood the idea better that I had actually felt and lived. The book helped me understand what I experienced. The word interprets experience. Experience makes ideas come alive. We need them both, seeing and believing.
Jesus helped Thomas find his faith. Then he could truly see who Jesus is. Then he could declare Jesus Lord and God. The foundation of our faith is what we have heard and seen and touched. Jesus is a touchable God.
Thomas was blessed when Jesus heard his doubts. He accepted him as he was and helped him become someone better, a man of faith. We need faith because we cannot see the future. We need faith to guide us through challenging times. Part of how we learn it is to know how God has guided us in the past. Mary Lou Carney recalled a grade school teacher who told them that faith was our country’s most powerful resource. She found that to be true in her life through education, military deployment, and illness in her family. She concludes: “In situation after situation, the knowledge that God was in control through faith enabled me to triumph.” Our faith is strengthened by how God has shown us faithfulness, that God’s word is true.
Our foundation is the word we hear, but it is also in experiencing Christ in our daily lives. Thomas wanted to see Jesus. The other disciples had seen Jesus, but he was alone in his doubts. He did not believe at first, but then he had a chance. Jesus came to him and changed his life. His faith was born. Lisa Isenhower tells the story of her son’s favorite book as a boy, about a rabbit who didn’t want to go to bed. It had a tiny mouse hidden on each page and he searched for it and sometimes in frustration he would cry out, “Where is he, Mommy?” She tells us this: “When Christ performed miracles, He often came to people unexpectedly, at unexpected times and places .... Over and over, Christ showed that He was present to believers in every facet of human experience, in the ordinary as well as the extraordinary.” Like the mouse, Christ is present even though we can’t always see him. Christ also appeared in Thomas’ doubt. Sometimes having faith can be a struggle. Faith is the discovery that Christ has not only appeared to the disciples, not only appeared to Thomas, but we can see him, too. We can open our eyes for him, because he is with us.
Seeing and believing? Seeing or hearing? We come to faith through both. We need to hear what we cannot see. We need to see God’s power at work so that we can believe. We rejoice that Christ is risen. We rejoice, too, that he is among us, leading us to faith, all of us. Then our joy will be complete. Christ is risen; he lives among us!
We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- 2 this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us-- 3 we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 1:1-2:2 NRSV)
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin ), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:19-31 NRSV)
“THOMAS, WHO?”
Faith is important to life. Without some faith we don’t get out of bed in the morning, don’t go to work, get married, have children. Without possibility, we don’t plan or hope. Without faith, life can defeat us. Some degree of faith is required because there are things you can’t see, like the future. Like a reward for daily faithfulness. Like a better life you are making for yourself and your loved ones. You have to head in that direction and trust. Life can be difficult if you can’t see some possibility of good beyond where you are now or what you can see. What causes you to trust?
This morning we have heard some biblical viewpoints on faith. In The First Letter of John, John states that he declares what was from the beginning of the faith—the things they have heard and seen and touched. What was from the beginning of the faith is Jesus with us. John testifies to this life they have seen and heard and touched. It is for those who have not heard him, seen him, or touched him for themselves. If they hear this and believe, then they share faith. Then their joy will be complete. Those who wish to share that faith must walk in the light. If we have not walked in the light, God can forgive our sins through Jesus. God makes it possible for those who have walked in darkness to walk in the light.
What if you have not seen? What if you have not touched? How then do you find faith? That is the problem of one man in the Gospel reading, Thomas. He is often called “Doubting Thomas”. What started this all was that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he rose from the dead. He showed them his hands and side. They saw, believed, and rejoiced. But one of them was not there. Thomas was not there. The disciples tell him what had happened, but he didn’t believe it. He heard but had not seen. He said, in fact, that he would not believe unless he saw and touched the marks of the nails and his side. He wants proof. The next week he gets that chance as Jesus appeared to them again. Again he enters, even though the doors were shut. He knows what Thomas said earlier. And he offers to him the chance to get the proof he wanted. Thomas responds in complete faith. He is blessed. But blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.
Thomas is an example of one who must hear second-hand. The first generation of Christians knew what they saw and heard. That is the foundation both of their faith and the faith that they handed on to others who came after Jesus no longer walked the earth. Time came when generation after generation heard the good news about Jesus. We are those people. But, here, in the Gospel, Jesus makes himself known to one disciple. Who Thomas is matters. He has doubts. He is resistant. Perhaps the disciples who believed called him stubborn. Perhaps Thomas called the disciples gullible. They did not share a faith at that point. But Jesus meets Thomas as he is, with his doubts. Jesus helps Thomas overcome the doubts he has.
Sometimes seeing and believing are portrayed as the same thing. After all, as the saying goes: “Seeing is believing.” But we are not always at every place in life. Things happen when we are not there. We cannot see everything. At some point we have to trust, even if it is only in what others say. And the things we experience, the things we see, can be misunderstood. The reality is that we need both. We need to experience God in our lives and we need that word that helps us understand what we experience. A few years ago, I was on a plane heading to week one of Interim Ministry training reading a book. It said that we understand life and work and churches in part because of our birth order. I am a second child. I love my older brother, but at times I have noticed there is a little tension between us. The book explained that the second child comes into the world, the family, and has to define his or her personality in it. So it is very likely that he or she will be deliberately what the first child is not. That is who he or she is—not the first one. And there will likely be tension until that personality is formed. After reading, I understood the idea better that I had actually felt and lived. The book helped me understand what I experienced. The word interprets experience. Experience makes ideas come alive. We need them both, seeing and believing.
Jesus helped Thomas find his faith. Then he could truly see who Jesus is. Then he could declare Jesus Lord and God. The foundation of our faith is what we have heard and seen and touched. Jesus is a touchable God.
Thomas was blessed when Jesus heard his doubts. He accepted him as he was and helped him become someone better, a man of faith. We need faith because we cannot see the future. We need faith to guide us through challenging times. Part of how we learn it is to know how God has guided us in the past. Mary Lou Carney recalled a grade school teacher who told them that faith was our country’s most powerful resource. She found that to be true in her life through education, military deployment, and illness in her family. She concludes: “In situation after situation, the knowledge that God was in control through faith enabled me to triumph.” Our faith is strengthened by how God has shown us faithfulness, that God’s word is true.
Our foundation is the word we hear, but it is also in experiencing Christ in our daily lives. Thomas wanted to see Jesus. The other disciples had seen Jesus, but he was alone in his doubts. He did not believe at first, but then he had a chance. Jesus came to him and changed his life. His faith was born. Lisa Isenhower tells the story of her son’s favorite book as a boy, about a rabbit who didn’t want to go to bed. It had a tiny mouse hidden on each page and he searched for it and sometimes in frustration he would cry out, “Where is he, Mommy?” She tells us this: “When Christ performed miracles, He often came to people unexpectedly, at unexpected times and places .... Over and over, Christ showed that He was present to believers in every facet of human experience, in the ordinary as well as the extraordinary.” Like the mouse, Christ is present even though we can’t always see him. Christ also appeared in Thomas’ doubt. Sometimes having faith can be a struggle. Faith is the discovery that Christ has not only appeared to the disciples, not only appeared to Thomas, but we can see him, too. We can open our eyes for him, because he is with us.
Seeing and believing? Seeing or hearing? We come to faith through both. We need to hear what we cannot see. We need to see God’s power at work so that we can believe. We rejoice that Christ is risen. We rejoice, too, that he is among us, leading us to faith, all of us. Then our joy will be complete. Christ is risen; he lives among us!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Easter/Resurrection of the Lord, Year B
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. 7 And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. 9 It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. (Isaiah 25:6-9 NRSV)
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them,'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:1-18 NRSV)
“WHERE ARE THEY?”
The Easter story is familiar to us. We hear it year after year. We hear it again this morning in the Gospel reading. Before daylight Mary Magdalene went to the tomb where Jesus had been buried and saw that that the huge stone sealing the tomb was gone. She went back and told Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved about it. They went to the tomb and John outran Peter and looked in. Peter, though, was the first to enter the tomb. They saw where Jesus had been, but he was no longer there. Mary had returned to the tomb and saw two angels sitting where Jesus had been. They ask her why she is crying. It is because the Lord is gone and she does not know where he is. It is so important to her to know where he is. It is then that she sees Jesus and he, too, asks her what she is looking for. She answers—she wants to know where Jesus is. Then he calls her name and she recognizes him. It is he, the one she is looking for, and she finds him. It is a moment of indescribable joy. But she cannot hold him because he must ascend. She goes back to tell the disciples.
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians addresses a problem of that church. Many believed that Jesus was going to return soon. Some of the believers died before that return. So some began to lose hope in the resurrection of the dead and Paul bases this on the resurrection of Christ. Christ has been raised from the dead, we have proof, and we have seen it. And because he has risen we will, too. And Paul responds to those who question what has happened, with this word on the reality of the resurrection:
But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. 42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.”
They doubt because they do not know where the dead are. The dead, Paul says, will be in new bodies, far better than the old ones, just as the new plant is so much better than the seed. Those who have gone before us have already experienced the resurrection. They are not merely wisps floating around; they are in a new life. We do not lose hope because we do not see them. Death does not hold them. The Lord holds them. That is why we do not see them anymore. We, who are alive, will see them again at the last trumpet. That is what gives us hope, too, for those we love, for ourselves.
Our hope looks beyond this world. To look only at this world, death is the end. It is like the stone which seals the tomb. We cannot see through it. We cannot go through it. It must be rolled away by another power, a power greater than death. We live in the faith that God has removed it, that there is another place we go to in order to be among those who belong to Jesus. Scott Walker is a pastor in Texas who describes this hope. He came to say goodbye to a friend with cancer and knew that he was not likely to see him again in this world. He struggled with how to say goodbye and gave him a cross. With it he hoped to give his friend faith, as he put it: “A faith that believes that God can take death and change it into life.” When his friend died the cross was passed on to his wife as a reminder of the promise that they will meet again.
Like Mary and Peter and John we sometimes look for what we have lost. We look for what we can’t see anymore. It is natural to want to see it again. But even though we try, we can’t always find it here. That is why we place our trust both in the world beyond this one and in the one who can take us there. That is the faith of Easter.
The faith of Easter grows like its story did on that first day. The disciples heard from Mary that Jesus was not in the tomb. John saw what was not there and believed. Death was gone. There is much that we cannot see. But there is much that we see or we touch or touches us, and when we share it we create hope in others and proclaim the invitation that those who hear us can also join in what we discovered. Karen Valentin was showing her photos of trips to Europe to a friend, who was enjoying each story behind the photos, when he said that he would like to see it all for himself. She encouraged him to do so. Hearing about the resurrection of the Lord is simply an invitation to others to find it for themselves.
Our hope is in the plan that God has laid out. It is to defeat death. We know that Jesus lived, died, and rose again. Christ walks among us. That is what we celebrate on this day. We know the tomb is empty, that the stone is rolled away, not just there, back then, but the stones that block all of our ways. We, too, run to the tomb. But it is not to look for Jesus. We know the Easter story, we know he is not there. We run to the tomb to see that it is empty, that death is powerless, that death is changed into life, that the resurrection has begun. We, too, see Jesus in the garden. We hear him call our names. We see him again. And we tell each other the good news. Our faith is formed; our faith is strengthened by that good news. “Here is not here. He is risen.” Let us not run to the tomb, let us run to the resurrection in hope. Let us look there, where Christ is.
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. 7 And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. 9 It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. (Isaiah 25:6-9 NRSV)
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them,'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:1-18 NRSV)
“WHERE ARE THEY?”
The Easter story is familiar to us. We hear it year after year. We hear it again this morning in the Gospel reading. Before daylight Mary Magdalene went to the tomb where Jesus had been buried and saw that that the huge stone sealing the tomb was gone. She went back and told Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved about it. They went to the tomb and John outran Peter and looked in. Peter, though, was the first to enter the tomb. They saw where Jesus had been, but he was no longer there. Mary had returned to the tomb and saw two angels sitting where Jesus had been. They ask her why she is crying. It is because the Lord is gone and she does not know where he is. It is so important to her to know where he is. It is then that she sees Jesus and he, too, asks her what she is looking for. She answers—she wants to know where Jesus is. Then he calls her name and she recognizes him. It is he, the one she is looking for, and she finds him. It is a moment of indescribable joy. But she cannot hold him because he must ascend. She goes back to tell the disciples.
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians addresses a problem of that church. Many believed that Jesus was going to return soon. Some of the believers died before that return. So some began to lose hope in the resurrection of the dead and Paul bases this on the resurrection of Christ. Christ has been raised from the dead, we have proof, and we have seen it. And because he has risen we will, too. And Paul responds to those who question what has happened, with this word on the reality of the resurrection:
But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. 42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.”
They doubt because they do not know where the dead are. The dead, Paul says, will be in new bodies, far better than the old ones, just as the new plant is so much better than the seed. Those who have gone before us have already experienced the resurrection. They are not merely wisps floating around; they are in a new life. We do not lose hope because we do not see them. Death does not hold them. The Lord holds them. That is why we do not see them anymore. We, who are alive, will see them again at the last trumpet. That is what gives us hope, too, for those we love, for ourselves.
Our hope looks beyond this world. To look only at this world, death is the end. It is like the stone which seals the tomb. We cannot see through it. We cannot go through it. It must be rolled away by another power, a power greater than death. We live in the faith that God has removed it, that there is another place we go to in order to be among those who belong to Jesus. Scott Walker is a pastor in Texas who describes this hope. He came to say goodbye to a friend with cancer and knew that he was not likely to see him again in this world. He struggled with how to say goodbye and gave him a cross. With it he hoped to give his friend faith, as he put it: “A faith that believes that God can take death and change it into life.” When his friend died the cross was passed on to his wife as a reminder of the promise that they will meet again.
Like Mary and Peter and John we sometimes look for what we have lost. We look for what we can’t see anymore. It is natural to want to see it again. But even though we try, we can’t always find it here. That is why we place our trust both in the world beyond this one and in the one who can take us there. That is the faith of Easter.
The faith of Easter grows like its story did on that first day. The disciples heard from Mary that Jesus was not in the tomb. John saw what was not there and believed. Death was gone. There is much that we cannot see. But there is much that we see or we touch or touches us, and when we share it we create hope in others and proclaim the invitation that those who hear us can also join in what we discovered. Karen Valentin was showing her photos of trips to Europe to a friend, who was enjoying each story behind the photos, when he said that he would like to see it all for himself. She encouraged him to do so. Hearing about the resurrection of the Lord is simply an invitation to others to find it for themselves.
Our hope is in the plan that God has laid out. It is to defeat death. We know that Jesus lived, died, and rose again. Christ walks among us. That is what we celebrate on this day. We know the tomb is empty, that the stone is rolled away, not just there, back then, but the stones that block all of our ways. We, too, run to the tomb. But it is not to look for Jesus. We know the Easter story, we know he is not there. We run to the tomb to see that it is empty, that death is powerless, that death is changed into life, that the resurrection has begun. We, too, see Jesus in the garden. We hear him call our names. We see him again. And we tell each other the good news. Our faith is formed; our faith is strengthened by that good news. “Here is not here. He is risen.” Let us not run to the tomb, let us run to the resurrection in hope. Let us look there, where Christ is.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
I was not born a morning person, but through necessity have become one. One of the stops on that journey was when I worked in a cannery on the cleanup crew for a summer. It meant starting at about 11 p.m. and finishing at about 5 a.m., after all the other workers were already done. Going home on my bicycle, I found that the world is very quiet, very peaceful, at that hour. It has a certain quality as the sun comes up, something full of beauty and potential. I started liking morning more after that. Nowadays, my home office window faces east and sometimes I see the sunrise. This morning it was gorgeous. But the tricky thing with sunrise is that it will not wait for you, if you are going to enjoy it you have to pay attention to is as it occurs. If you miss it, the beauty of that moment is gone forever. That is like the day it begins. It is an opportunity, a unique event, that will never be repeated.
What will you do today with the opportunity you have?
What will you do today with the opportunity you have?
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Since October I have renewed my practice of seeking some inspiration in the Bible and prayer each morning. It is a chance to get set for the day and orient my outlook in life. Once in a while something else also captures my attention. The other day, Garrison Keillor’s daily radio program, “The Writer’s Almanac,” had a poem, “Reading Hemingway,” by James Cummins. When you read Hemingway, you become hungry, cold, and dry. When you read Hemingway you take on his style, feel his moods, share his interests. I had the thought: “What do we do when we read the Bible?
Questions for Reflection
Which ways of God do we pick up? Do we become like what we read? What do we do when we read God’s word?
Friday, May 25, 2012
Good Friday
Luke 23:32-34 “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Luke 23:35-43 “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
John 19:25-27 “Here is your son. Here is your mother.”
Matthew 27:45-47 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
John 19:28-29 “I am thirsty.”
John 19:30a “It is finished.”
Luke 23:44-49 “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
“LAST WORDS”
Often people have taken notice of the last words of famous people. They tell us sometimes how they lived and how they died. Over the centuries people have collected them. Here are some prominent ones. Czar Alexander II of Russia said, “Home to the palace to die,” after an assassination attempt. Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph said, “Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad,” (“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God! The Lord is One!”) as he was being killed for teaching the Jewish law, and many after him began to use those words as their last ones. The second U.S. President, John Adams, said, “Oh, yes; it is the glorious Fourth of July. It is a great day. It is a good day. God bless it. God bless you all.” Then after a period of unconsciousness; he mumbled, “Thomas Jefferson …” He died on July 4, 1826, and it is assumed that he meant that it was good that Thomas Jefferson was still alive, when, in fact, Jefferson had died several hours earlier. The Emperor Augustus said, “I found Rome brick, I leave it marble.” P. T. Barnum said, “How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?” John Jacob Astor IV said, according to some, to his wife who was about to get into one of the Titanic’s lifeboats, “The ladies have to go first. Goodbye, dearie. I'll see you later.” Benedict Arnold said, “Let me die in the old uniform in which I fought my battles for freedom, May God forgive me for putting on another.”
Jesus’ last statements are different than these in many ways. The last words of people are sometimes given without thought or awareness. Often, they do not know that what they are saying are their last words. Jesus, we are told from the Gospels, knows where he is going and chooses this path. He asked to be spared this, if it is God’s will. But this is the way it must be and so Jesus obeys.
Sometimes the last words of people demonstrate their work in life. Jesus’ words do this. They show his concern for others and his life’s purpose is only complete with this. They show that with this, his work is finished. Sometimes last words are expressions of regret. There is none of that in Jesus’ last words. As he suffers, he does not talk about regret for past mistakes. There is no anger, not even towards those who insult and hurt him. His hope is that they will be forgiven. Some people’s last words are hopeful, too. But Jesus knows the future, whereas they do not. Sometimes people will say things that sound so ordinary, so mundane, at a most important time. What Jesus says on the cross is important and shows that what he does is vital to us.
We traditionally call these seven statements the Last Words of Christ. But in fact they are not his last words. Sometimes they are called the Last Words from the Cross. That is better. They do mark the end of his earthly life, but only in a way. We will see in the Gospels that he will soon talk again with his disciples, in the garden, in the upper room, on the road to Emmaus. These, what we hear tonight, are not Jesus’ last words.
As we are reminded of Christ’s death, though, we talk about these as the last words. They are not the last words, because he will speak more, but in a very important way they are the last words. They are what he says as he does something final for us. It is a different use of the word “last”. Another word that is used of this day is “good”, as this is Good Friday. That, too, is a strange way of using a word. Frederick Buechner talks about this word by reminding us that God so loved the world that God gave the only Son. God gave the Son at infinite cost. It is good because out of his death came eternal life and the power to heal a broken world.
On this day it is appropriate to talk about the last words of Christ because of what he did. This is what we hear. He died so that he would have the last word over those things that threaten us—sin, lostness, death. He died to live again, be raised from the dead, and be present among us, to speak words of grace. He died to lead us into life. He died so that death would not have the last word. +++++
Luke 23:32-34 “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Luke 23:35-43 “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
John 19:25-27 “Here is your son. Here is your mother.”
Matthew 27:45-47 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
John 19:28-29 “I am thirsty.”
John 19:30a “It is finished.”
Luke 23:44-49 “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
“LAST WORDS”
Often people have taken notice of the last words of famous people. They tell us sometimes how they lived and how they died. Over the centuries people have collected them. Here are some prominent ones. Czar Alexander II of Russia said, “Home to the palace to die,” after an assassination attempt. Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph said, “Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad,” (“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God! The Lord is One!”) as he was being killed for teaching the Jewish law, and many after him began to use those words as their last ones. The second U.S. President, John Adams, said, “Oh, yes; it is the glorious Fourth of July. It is a great day. It is a good day. God bless it. God bless you all.” Then after a period of unconsciousness; he mumbled, “Thomas Jefferson …” He died on July 4, 1826, and it is assumed that he meant that it was good that Thomas Jefferson was still alive, when, in fact, Jefferson had died several hours earlier. The Emperor Augustus said, “I found Rome brick, I leave it marble.” P. T. Barnum said, “How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?” John Jacob Astor IV said, according to some, to his wife who was about to get into one of the Titanic’s lifeboats, “The ladies have to go first. Goodbye, dearie. I'll see you later.” Benedict Arnold said, “Let me die in the old uniform in which I fought my battles for freedom, May God forgive me for putting on another.”
Jesus’ last statements are different than these in many ways. The last words of people are sometimes given without thought or awareness. Often, they do not know that what they are saying are their last words. Jesus, we are told from the Gospels, knows where he is going and chooses this path. He asked to be spared this, if it is God’s will. But this is the way it must be and so Jesus obeys.
Sometimes the last words of people demonstrate their work in life. Jesus’ words do this. They show his concern for others and his life’s purpose is only complete with this. They show that with this, his work is finished. Sometimes last words are expressions of regret. There is none of that in Jesus’ last words. As he suffers, he does not talk about regret for past mistakes. There is no anger, not even towards those who insult and hurt him. His hope is that they will be forgiven. Some people’s last words are hopeful, too. But Jesus knows the future, whereas they do not. Sometimes people will say things that sound so ordinary, so mundane, at a most important time. What Jesus says on the cross is important and shows that what he does is vital to us.
We traditionally call these seven statements the Last Words of Christ. But in fact they are not his last words. Sometimes they are called the Last Words from the Cross. That is better. They do mark the end of his earthly life, but only in a way. We will see in the Gospels that he will soon talk again with his disciples, in the garden, in the upper room, on the road to Emmaus. These, what we hear tonight, are not Jesus’ last words.
As we are reminded of Christ’s death, though, we talk about these as the last words. They are not the last words, because he will speak more, but in a very important way they are the last words. They are what he says as he does something final for us. It is a different use of the word “last”. Another word that is used of this day is “good”, as this is Good Friday. That, too, is a strange way of using a word. Frederick Buechner talks about this word by reminding us that God so loved the world that God gave the only Son. God gave the Son at infinite cost. It is good because out of his death came eternal life and the power to heal a broken world.
On this day it is appropriate to talk about the last words of Christ because of what he did. This is what we hear. He died so that he would have the last word over those things that threaten us—sin, lostness, death. He died to live again, be raised from the dead, and be present among us, to speak words of grace. He died to lead us into life. He died so that death would not have the last word. +++++
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Maundy Thursday, Year B
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" 7 Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." 8 Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." 9 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" 10 Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you." 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean." 12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord -- and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. 31 Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13.1-17, 31b-35 NRSV)
“LAST SUPPER”
We know that the combination of food, people, and a purpose is one of the powerful things in life. Those combinations form much of our lives together. They define who we are and go with us along the year, year after year, into the years of our whole lives. Take, for example, a group of family and friends with chips and dip and a big-screen TV in late January. They are gathered to watch the Super Bowl together. A couple with roses, strawberries dipped in chocolate, champagne, and love in the air in February. Celebrating St. Valentine’s Day. Cake, candles, a special song, and gifts and best wishes. A birthday. Burgers, potato salad, brats, and fireworks and a reminder of freedom. The Fourth of July. Formal attire, music, the promise of the future, and rings amid a huge crowd. A wedding. Turkey (or ham), stuffing, prayers of gratitude, and a chill in the air. Thanksgiving. Holly, cider, a tree with lights, a child in a manger. Christmas, of course. We go through the year with these expected and sometimes unexpected holidays and events. We get together to join in the festivities of the seasons with loved ones and acquaintances, to eat familiar foods, do familiar things. There is something about celebrating these events that binds us together.
This evening we hear again about the last supper of Jesus with his disciples. It was the time of Passover, when the Jewish people recall the deliverance from slavery in Egypt. They do it by coming together, telling the story, eating familiar things. We see the scene as depicted by Leonardo da Vinci in his painting. It is marvelous, but is it correctly named? Is this the last supper? In a way it is, as it is the last meal before our Lord’s death on the cross. The time had come for him to depart from the world, the Gospel says. But it is not the last supper. In three days he will be eating again, in a new way, with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. The time will come when he will eat fish with them and have breakfast by the sea. And not only that, this meal is itself a commandment. The words of its institution tell us that we are to continue this meal until Christ returns. This, what we hear about in the Gospel, is not the final meal, not the last supper. It will continue on, as so many of our family and cultural traditions do, from generation to generation.
Jesus leaves behind a community. They are joined together in belief in him and in the life he set out for them. He brought them together and will keep them together. He gives them commands to do that. One is that they love each other. That is the foundation. They also share many things. They share Jesus’ washing their feet. It is a reminder that Christ serves them. The master is willing to be their servant. They share in forgiveness. When Peter refuses to let Jesus wash his feet, he misunderstands. It is not a simple cleaning up after the day on the dusty roads he offers. It is to have a part in his work, his sacrifice for the world. They, and we, are to trust in that work for us. That is what brings them together.
Jesus leaves behind a meal. It is simple meal, bread and wine, but behind it is the memory of who gave it to us. It is like the retelling of one’s romance, or life’s story, or the tale of our independence, or how the first settlers survived and were grateful, or Christmases past. It invokes the memory of the one who gave it to us and how we are thankful for God’s grace and hand on our lives. It is also the presence of Jesus with us, that as we celebrate this meal, he honors his promise to be with us in it.
Jesus leaves behind a tradition. It is like the old purpose, to remind the people of long ago when God liberated them from slavery. But it is also new. The slavery we are freed from is slavery to sin, slavery to self, slavery to the world. It is a new life, putting aside the old one. It is a new freedom to be the people of God. It is to be passed down from generation to generation as the best tradition.
All this is found in this sacred meal, this holy feast. It shows us who God is and who we are. It shows us the community to which we belong. Oscar Greene talks about how this meal brings past and present together. He is proud of his grandson Shawn who came with them to church on World Communion Sunday. At the age of eleven, this would be his first opportunity to take communion. Oscar thought back to the first time he took Communion over 70 years ago and how the sacrament never lost its meaning to him. He says this, “‘Do this in the remembrance of me,’ Christ said, and for nearly two thousand years, people have followed Him. Now it was Shawn’s turn.” This tradition was delivered to us, given to us so that we can take part in it.
This evening we remember a supper. It was not the first. It is not the last. But it is one with everlasting significance. It gathers a community around it, as it has done over the centuries. That community continues on as the commands of the Lord are followed. It is one of special food, taken from the ordinary way we live our lives, but a reminder of God as the source of and support for our lives. That meal continues on as we hear the eternal word and promise of God. It is a sign of our freedom. That continues on as we live in Christ’s presence daily. This is not the last supper, but it is one that carries us into eternity.
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