JOHN 20:19-31
ABOUT 1900 YEARS AGO IN WHAT IS WESTERN TURKEY TODAY, THE LAST LIVING APOSTLE SAT IN HIS STUDY, WONDERING WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HIS FLOCK. WHEN HE HAD FIRST MOVED TO THIS AREA TAKING ALONG MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS, HE HAD PREACHED THE GOOD NEWS, AND ATTRACTED MANY CONVERTS. HE HAD ORDAINED DEACONS AND PRESBYTERS AND HAD A THRIVING, ENTHUSIASTIC CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY, AND ALL THIS WAS HELPED BECAUSE THIS WAS AN AREA WHERE THE HEAVY HAND OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE WAS NOT SO MUCH IN EVIDENCE. HIS FLOCK WAS NOT PARTICULARLY PERSECUTED, AND THEY GOT ALONG WITH THEIR PAGAN NEIGHBORS AND WITH THE JEWISH COMMUNITY AS WELL.; MAYBE THAT WAS BECAUSE THE MOTHER OF JESUS LIVED IN THEIR MIDST. GOD HAD TRULY BLESSED THEM AND SPARED THEM FROM THE TERRIBLE THINGS WHICH HAPPENED TO CHRISTIANS IN ALMOST EVERY OTHER PART OF THE EMPIRE.
BUT JOHN SENSED THAT SOMETHING HAD CHANGED. THE PEOPLE WERE CONTENT; THEY HAD LOST THEIR EDGE. THEY WENT TO CHURCH AND PARTICIPATED IN THE LITURGY, BUT YOU COULDN'T TELL THEM FROM THEIR NEIGHBORS ANYMORE. PROSPEROUS BUSINESSMEN, WELL-DRESSED MATRONS – RICH CHRISTIANS SPENT MORE TIME WITH RICH PAGANS THAN WITH THE POOR CHRISTIANS. AND THE OLD BISHOP KNOWING THAT HIS LIFE WAS DRAWING TO A CLOSE, DECIDED TO WRITE AN ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF JESUS IN THE HOPES THAT IF HE COULD MAKE THIS MORE REAL TO HIS PEOPLE, THEY COULD BELIEVE – AND BY BELIEF, HE MEANT THEY WOULD TAKE THE MESSAGE OF JESUS SERIOUSLY.
THINGS ARE NOT TOO DIFFERENT TODAY. OUR DIOCESE HAS COME A LONG WAY DURING MY LIFETIME AND YOURS, AND IN THE WRONG WAY. THE LAST FEW YEARS HAVE SEEN CLOSING OF PARISHES, A LOSS OF ABOUT A THIRD OF THE PERSONNEL WORKING FOR THE DIOCESE; HARDLY ANY PRESENCE OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS – AND OF COURSE THE SCANDALS AND THE LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY THAT HAVE BEEN GIVEN IN SETTLEMENTS. I WON'T BORE YOU WITH STATISTICS, BUT THEY ARE PRETTY DEPRESSING.
AND YOU KNOW, WE DON'T SEEM TO KNOW WHAT TO DO. WE ARE GOING THROUGH A BIG EFFORT TO REVISE THE LITURGY. THAT'S WONDERFUL, BUT WILL IT BRING PEOPLE BACK TO THE CHURCH? I DOUBT IT. WE JUST GOT THROUGH ANOTHER EASTER. HUGE CROWDS AT EVERY MASS. WHERE ARE THEY TODAY?
WHAT'S THE ANSWER? I DON'T KNOW. BUT THE READINGS TODAY ARE INTERESTING, ESPECIALLY IF YOU READ THEM BACKWARD. THINK ABOUT THOSE APOSTLES – AFRAID, LOCKED IN A ROOM, NOT LETTING ANYONE IN, NOT DARING TO GO OUT. AND JESUS APPEARS IN THEIR MIDST, AND GIVES THEM HIS PEACE, AND GIVES THEM HIS SPIRIT, AND GIVES THEM SOMETHING NO KING, NO EMPEROR, NO PROPHET HAD EVER HAD – THE POWER TO FORGIVE SINS. AND HE TELLS THEM TO GO OUT, TO TRANSFORM THE WORLD.
THAT'S GREAT, ISN'T IT? BUT NOTICE, A WEEK LATER, THEY ARE STILL THERE, STILL LOCKED UP, STILL WONDERING WHETHER IT IS SAFE TO GO OUT. AND THOMAS SAYS, WHEN THEY TELL HIM THEY HAVE SEEN THE LORD, “I WILL NOT BELIEVE”. IS THOMAS JUST A WORLD-CLASS SKEPTIC? AFTER ALL, THE WORDS “DOUBTING THOMAS” HAVE BECOME PART OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. IS THOMAS BEING STUBBORN, BECAUSE JESUS APPEARED TO THE OTHER APOSTLES, BUT NOT TO HIM? WE CAN SPECULATE. BUT MAYBE THE ANSWER IS STARING US IN THE FACE.
“YOU TELL ME YOU SAW JESUS ALIVE? YOU TELL ME THAT HE GAVE YOU HIS SPIRIT AND SENT YOU TO PREACH HIS GOSPEL? YOU TELL ME HE GAVE YOU THE PEACE THAT WAS ALWAYS WITH HIM, THE PEACE THAT GAVE HIM THE COURAGE TO TELL THE TRUTH, TO CONFRONT THE AUTHORITIES, TO LIVE WITHOUT FEAR? AND YOU ARE STILL HERE, LOCKED IN THIS ROOM? I DON'T BELIEVE YOU.”
AND MAYBE THAT'S OUR PROBLEM TOO. WE ARE LIKE THOSE TEN APOSTLES, LOADED WITH GREAT SPIRITUAL GIFTS, GIVEN PROMISES BY GOD HIMSELF WHO CANNOT LIE; AND LET'S FACE IT, WE'VE WITNESSED GOD'S WORK IN OUR LIVES, THE BIRTH OF A CHILD, THE WEDDING TO OUR BEST FRIEND, AND LITTLE GRACES AS WELL, LIKE THE FLOWERS THAT ARE BLOOMING OUTSIDE THE CHURCH AND GIVING US BEAUTY, AS A PURE GIFT, FOR NO OTHER PURPOSE THAN TO DELIGHT US. AND LIKE THE APOSTLES, WE STAY LOCKED UP, AFRAID TO VENTURE OUT, AFRAID TO WITNESS TO THE WORLD WHAT WE KNOW – CHRIST HAS RISEN, DEATH IS CONQUERED, ETERNAL LIFE IS OURS.
THE SECOND READING FROM THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER IS A SERMON. NOW PETER IS FIRED UP. HE TELLS US OF AN INHERITANCE WHICH CANNOT BE DESTROYED, WAITING FOR US IN HEAVEN. EVEN OUR SUFFERINGS ARE VALUABLE BECAUSE THEY STRENGTHEN OUR FAITH AND THUS OUR LOVE.
AND IN THE FIRST READING, WE GET A GLIMPSE OF HOW IT WAS IN THOSE FIRST DAYS OF THE CHURCH – A COMMUNITY WHICH BY THE WAY THEY LIVED THE GOSPELS BECAME A UNIVERSAL CHURCH THAT GREW AND PROSPERED DESPITE PERSECUTIONS AND CORRUPT POPES AND KINGS, DESPITE SCHISMS AND HERESIES. AND DOWN THROUGH THE AGES, CHRISTIANS HAVE SEEN THEIR COMMUNITIES WITHER AND SOMETIMES DISAPPEAR AND FELT DESPAIR. BUT EVERY NOW AND THEN AN INDIVIDUAL OR A COMMUNITY REALLY LISTENED TO WHAT THAT OLD BISHOP JOHN HAD TO SAY, AND THEY HEARD THE PROMISES AND HEARD ABOUT THE RESURRECTION WHICH GUARANTEED THOSE PROMISES. AND EVERY NOW AND THEN A REAL CHRISTIAN WOULD FALL ON HIS OR HER KNEES AND SAY “MY LORD AND MY GOD!” BECAUSE IF YOU SAY THAT FROM THE BOTTOM OF YOUR SOUL, YOU CAN'T HELP BUT BE CHANGED, THE PEACE OF JESUS WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR FEAR, AND THE SPIRIT OF JESUS WILL PUT THE WORDS IN YOUR MOUTH AND GUIDE YOUR ACTIONS, AND THE CHURCH WILL CATCH ON FIRE ONCE AGAIN, AND JOHN'S GOSPEL WILL ACHIEVE IT'S GOAL, SO THAT YOU WILL BELIEVE, SO THAT YOU WILL HAVE LIFE.
THIS IS MERCY SUNDAY. GOD HAS FORGIVEN US. HE HAS GIVEN US JESUS HIS SON. HE HAS FORGIVEN OUR SINS, AND STANDS READY TO FORGIVE US AGAIN AND AGAIN. AND JESUS LIVES! CAN YOU REALLY BELIEVE THIS AND KEEP QUIET? AND IF YOU ARE QUIET, WHO WILL SEE YOU AND SAY, “I DO NOT BELIEVE, BECAUSE IF YOUR BELIEF MAKES NO DIFFERENCE IN YOUR LIFE, IF YOUR BELIEF IN THIS STUPENDOUS SET OF IDEAS DOES NOT MAKE YOU DIFFERENT, IF YOU BELIEVE ALL THIS AND DON'T SAY SOMETHING, THEN YOU DON'T REALLY BELIEVE IT AT ALL, DO YOU?”
AS ANOTHER FRIEND OF JESUS ONCE SAID, "LORD, I BELIEVE; HELP MY UNBELIEF."
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Easter, 2011
JOHN 20:1-9
WHEN I WAS IN COLLEGE I WORKED FOR THE UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE ONE SUMMER. I WAS WHAT THEY CALLED A FIRE PREVENTION AIDE. WE LIVED IN THE BARRACKS AT A RANGER STATION WAY OUT IN THE BOONDOCKS. THE LITTLE TOWN WHERE WE WENT TO BUY GROCERIES HAD A GENERAL STORE, A GAS STATION, AND TWO BARS. IT ALSO HAD A NON-DENOMINATIONAL CHURCH WHERE ONE SUNDAY THERE WOULD BE A CATHOLIC MASS AND THE NEXT A PROTESTANT SERVICE. THE NEAREST REAL TOWN WAS FORTY MILES AWAY.
AT THE BEGINNING OF MY SUMMER AS A FIRE PREVENTION AIDE, I HAD TO TAKE AN INTENSIVE WEEK-LONG COURSE TO LEARN HOW TO PUT OUT FOREST FIRES. WE LEARNED HOW TO FIGURE OUT WHERE THE FIRE WAS GOING TO BURN NEXT, WHAT TO AVOID, WHEN TO CALL IN THE SO-CALLED SMOKE-JUMPERS WHO WERE AN ELITE CORPS OF MEN WHO JUMPED FROM AIRPLANES TO PUT OUT FIRES WHICH WERE TOO REMOTE TO GET TO BY CAR. I STILL REMEMBER A LOT OF THINGS ABOUT FOREST FIRES, AND I PUT IN A LOT OF HOURS FIGHTING FIRES THAT SUMMER – MOSTLY SMALL, BUT ONE OR TWO WHICH WERE REAL SCARY.
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT GETTING ALONG WITH FOREST FIRES IS A SIMPLE, SELF-EVIDENT FACT. THE FIRE WILL NOT BURN WHERE IT HAS ALREADY BURNED. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN A FIRE, YOU RUN THROUGH IT TO GET BEHIND IT. IT CAN'T BURN WHERE IT'S BEEN. IF YOU FIGURE OUT WHERE IT IS GOING, YOU CAN ACTUALLY START A FIRE AHEAD OF IT IF THE CONDITIONS ARE RIGHT. THE FIRE CAN'T BURN WHERE FIRE HAS BEEN.
AND BY NOW YOU ARE PROBABLY WONDERING WHAT FOREST FIRES HAVE TO DO WITH THE RESURRECTION. LETS TAKE A LOOK.
FIRST WE HAVE TO GET REAL. IN THE UNITED STATES, IN LONGMEADOW, MASSACHUSETTS, IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, WE DON'T HAVE AN APPRECIATION FOR DEATH – AT LEAST, NOTHING LIKE OUR ANCESTORS HAD. WE ARE A DEATH-DENYING SOCIETY. WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME BEING DISTRACTED SO THAT WE DON'T HAVE TO THINK ABOUT DEATH. EVERY SENSE WE HAVE IS CONSTANTLY BOMBARDED, IF WE LET IT HAPPEN. OUR DAYS ARE SO FULL OF ACTIVITY; AND WHEN WE AREN'T ACTING, WE'RE WATCHING TELEVISION OR WE'RE SURFING THE NET. WE DON'T SPEND MUCH TIME AT ALL THINKING ABOUT ULTIMATE REALITIES. AND EVEN WHEN SOMEONE DOES DIE, IT'S IN A HOSPITAL, OR SOMETIMES IT'S HOME WITH HOSPICE; AND WHEN DEATH TAKES PLACE, THE BODY IS WHISKED OFF TO A FUNERAL HOME AND MADE TO LOOK LIKE THE PERSON IS SLEEPING PEACEFULLY. THERE ARE PEOPLE, NEIGHBORS, FRIENDS, WHO GRIEVE DEEPLY OVER THE LOSS OF A LOVED ONE, BUT IN OUR SOCIETY, IT ISN'T POLITE TO GRIEVE PUBLICLY, EXCEPT AT THE WAKE, MAYBE. WE DENY DEATH AND WE ARE WORSE OFF FOR IT. DEATH IS THE ENEMY, AND WE DON'T KNOW OUR ENEMY.
IN JESUS' TIME AND FOR MOST OF THE HUMAN RACE, DOWN THROUGH TIME AND EVEN NOW, IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD, DEATH IS BETTER UNDERSTOOD. IT COMES OUT OF THE BLUE. IT MAY ROB A NEW MOTHER OF LIFE IN THE MIDDLE OF HER GIVING BIRTH. IT MAY TAKE A BELOVED CHILD WHO ONE DAY IS CHARMING HIS PARENTS AND THE NEXT IS COLD AND STILL, A VICTIM OF PNEUMONIA. THE FATHER OF A FAMILY MAY CUT HIMSELF WHILE WORKING, AND A FEW DAYS LATER DIE FROM AN INFECTION. SOMETIMES DEATH SEEMS TO BE WELCOME, BUT MOST OF THE TIME IT IS AN ENEMY, INTRUDING AT THE WRONG TIME, DESTROYING FUTURES, CREATING WIDOWS AND ORPHANS, BREAKING HEARTS. AND MOST PEOPLE DON'T HAVE ALL THE THINGS WE HAVE TO DISTRACT THEM.
WE CHRISTIANS AND EVEN THOSE WHO AREN'T CHRISTIAN IN OUR SOCIETY TO SOME EXTENT BELIEVE THAT WE WILL LIVE ON AFTER DEATH. THERE AREN'T VERY MANY PEOPLE WHO REALLY BELIEVE THIS LIFE IS ALL THERE IS. IN JESUS' TIME, EVEN AMONG RELIGIOUS JEWS, THERE WAS NO CERTAINTY; AND IN FACT IF YOU READ THE OLD TESTAMENT, THERE IS NO ONE OPINION ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS AFTER DEATH; IN FACT IT ISN'T UNTIL YOU GET TO THE PROPHETS THAT AN EXPLICIT BELIEF IN THE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE AFTER DEATH EVEN SHOWS UP. AND EVEN THERE, THOSE JEWS WHO BELIEVED IN LIFE AFTER DEATH SAW IT EITHER AS GOD RAISING HIS FAITHFUL TO LIFE TO LIVE ON THE EARTH AGAIN; OR LIVING ON AS A SORT OF GHOST IN SHEOL, A STATE OF BEING WHERE THERE WASN'T MUCH GOING ON, WHERE YOU WERE LITERALLY A PALE SHADOW OF YOUR FORMER SELF.
BUT WHAT WE CELEBRATE TODAY IS A MOMENT IN TIME, A REAL MOMENT, WHEN A MAN DIED A CRUEL DEATH NAILED TO A CROSS. HIS DEATH WAS A HUMAN DEATH, JUST LIKE YOU AND I AND EVERY HUMAN BEING WILL SOONER OR LATER UNDERGO. BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS MAN. HE WAS COMPLETELY HUMAN, BUT HE WAS ALSO GOD HIMSELF. AND THE MAN DIED LIKE EVERY MAN, BUT BECAUSE HE WAS GOD, HE COULD NOT DIE, AND THAT IS A GREAT MYSTERY, BUT THAT IS OUR FAITH. THE MAN DIED, REALLY. THE GOD COULD NOT BE KILLED, COULD NOT BE SNUFFED OUT; AND THIS JESUS, FULLY MAN AND FULLY GOD, APPEARED TO MANY PEOPLE AFTER HE HAD BEEN CRUCIFIED AND BURIED; SAINT PAUL TELLS US THAT ABOUT 500 PEOPLE HAD WITNESSED THAT HE WAS ALIVE EVEN THOUGH HE HAD BEEN KILLED.
THOSE WHO WITNESSED THIS WERE COMPLETELY CHANGED. THEY COULDN'T WAIT TO TELL THEIR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HUMAN NATURE IN THIS MAN WHO WAS GOD. MANY WENT TO THEIR DEATHS AT THE HANDS OF THE ROMAN AUTHORITIES, AND WENT GLADLY, BECAUSE THEY WERE SO FIRMLY CONVINCED THAT NOT ONLY WAS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH, BUT IT WAS LIFE WITH GOD HIMSELF, BECAUSE GOD AND MAN COULD NEVER BE SEPARATED IN THIS PERSON JESUS.
A FIRE CAN'T BURN WHERE IT'S BEEN. AND DEATH CAN'T GO WHERE IT'S ALREADY DONE IT'S WORST. AND IF YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER WITH GOD HIMSELF, YOU HAVE THAT RIGHT, THAT REAL POSSIBILITY. YOU NEED TO GO WHERE DEATH HAS BEEN, AND BEEN CONQUERED. YOU NEED TO GO TO THE CROSS. BECAUSE DEATH HAS LOST EVERYTHING TO THAT CROSS. THERE IS NO LONGER A BLEEDING, UNCONSCIOUS BODY HANGING THERE, MOMENTS FROM DEATH. THE CROSS IS AS EMPTY AS DEATH IS EMPTY. AND YOU NEED TO GO TO THE TOMB. IF YOU ROLL BACK THE STONE TO FIND DEATH, YOU WILL FIND NOTHING, BECAUSE DEATH HAS BEEN CONQUERED. A FIRE CAN'T GO WHERE IT HAS ALREADY BURNED.
SO DON'T FORGET THAT DEATH CAN NO LONGER BE VICTORIOUS OVER THOSE WHO CLING TO THE CROSS, THOSE WHO HAVE PEERED INTO THE TOMB, THOSE WHO ARE YOU AND I. A FIRE CAN'T BURN WHERE IT'S BEEN; AND DEATH CANNOT WIN WHERE IT HAS LOST.
WHEN I WAS IN COLLEGE I WORKED FOR THE UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE ONE SUMMER. I WAS WHAT THEY CALLED A FIRE PREVENTION AIDE. WE LIVED IN THE BARRACKS AT A RANGER STATION WAY OUT IN THE BOONDOCKS. THE LITTLE TOWN WHERE WE WENT TO BUY GROCERIES HAD A GENERAL STORE, A GAS STATION, AND TWO BARS. IT ALSO HAD A NON-DENOMINATIONAL CHURCH WHERE ONE SUNDAY THERE WOULD BE A CATHOLIC MASS AND THE NEXT A PROTESTANT SERVICE. THE NEAREST REAL TOWN WAS FORTY MILES AWAY.
AT THE BEGINNING OF MY SUMMER AS A FIRE PREVENTION AIDE, I HAD TO TAKE AN INTENSIVE WEEK-LONG COURSE TO LEARN HOW TO PUT OUT FOREST FIRES. WE LEARNED HOW TO FIGURE OUT WHERE THE FIRE WAS GOING TO BURN NEXT, WHAT TO AVOID, WHEN TO CALL IN THE SO-CALLED SMOKE-JUMPERS WHO WERE AN ELITE CORPS OF MEN WHO JUMPED FROM AIRPLANES TO PUT OUT FIRES WHICH WERE TOO REMOTE TO GET TO BY CAR. I STILL REMEMBER A LOT OF THINGS ABOUT FOREST FIRES, AND I PUT IN A LOT OF HOURS FIGHTING FIRES THAT SUMMER – MOSTLY SMALL, BUT ONE OR TWO WHICH WERE REAL SCARY.
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT GETTING ALONG WITH FOREST FIRES IS A SIMPLE, SELF-EVIDENT FACT. THE FIRE WILL NOT BURN WHERE IT HAS ALREADY BURNED. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN A FIRE, YOU RUN THROUGH IT TO GET BEHIND IT. IT CAN'T BURN WHERE IT'S BEEN. IF YOU FIGURE OUT WHERE IT IS GOING, YOU CAN ACTUALLY START A FIRE AHEAD OF IT IF THE CONDITIONS ARE RIGHT. THE FIRE CAN'T BURN WHERE FIRE HAS BEEN.
AND BY NOW YOU ARE PROBABLY WONDERING WHAT FOREST FIRES HAVE TO DO WITH THE RESURRECTION. LETS TAKE A LOOK.
FIRST WE HAVE TO GET REAL. IN THE UNITED STATES, IN LONGMEADOW, MASSACHUSETTS, IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, WE DON'T HAVE AN APPRECIATION FOR DEATH – AT LEAST, NOTHING LIKE OUR ANCESTORS HAD. WE ARE A DEATH-DENYING SOCIETY. WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME BEING DISTRACTED SO THAT WE DON'T HAVE TO THINK ABOUT DEATH. EVERY SENSE WE HAVE IS CONSTANTLY BOMBARDED, IF WE LET IT HAPPEN. OUR DAYS ARE SO FULL OF ACTIVITY; AND WHEN WE AREN'T ACTING, WE'RE WATCHING TELEVISION OR WE'RE SURFING THE NET. WE DON'T SPEND MUCH TIME AT ALL THINKING ABOUT ULTIMATE REALITIES. AND EVEN WHEN SOMEONE DOES DIE, IT'S IN A HOSPITAL, OR SOMETIMES IT'S HOME WITH HOSPICE; AND WHEN DEATH TAKES PLACE, THE BODY IS WHISKED OFF TO A FUNERAL HOME AND MADE TO LOOK LIKE THE PERSON IS SLEEPING PEACEFULLY. THERE ARE PEOPLE, NEIGHBORS, FRIENDS, WHO GRIEVE DEEPLY OVER THE LOSS OF A LOVED ONE, BUT IN OUR SOCIETY, IT ISN'T POLITE TO GRIEVE PUBLICLY, EXCEPT AT THE WAKE, MAYBE. WE DENY DEATH AND WE ARE WORSE OFF FOR IT. DEATH IS THE ENEMY, AND WE DON'T KNOW OUR ENEMY.
IN JESUS' TIME AND FOR MOST OF THE HUMAN RACE, DOWN THROUGH TIME AND EVEN NOW, IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD, DEATH IS BETTER UNDERSTOOD. IT COMES OUT OF THE BLUE. IT MAY ROB A NEW MOTHER OF LIFE IN THE MIDDLE OF HER GIVING BIRTH. IT MAY TAKE A BELOVED CHILD WHO ONE DAY IS CHARMING HIS PARENTS AND THE NEXT IS COLD AND STILL, A VICTIM OF PNEUMONIA. THE FATHER OF A FAMILY MAY CUT HIMSELF WHILE WORKING, AND A FEW DAYS LATER DIE FROM AN INFECTION. SOMETIMES DEATH SEEMS TO BE WELCOME, BUT MOST OF THE TIME IT IS AN ENEMY, INTRUDING AT THE WRONG TIME, DESTROYING FUTURES, CREATING WIDOWS AND ORPHANS, BREAKING HEARTS. AND MOST PEOPLE DON'T HAVE ALL THE THINGS WE HAVE TO DISTRACT THEM.
WE CHRISTIANS AND EVEN THOSE WHO AREN'T CHRISTIAN IN OUR SOCIETY TO SOME EXTENT BELIEVE THAT WE WILL LIVE ON AFTER DEATH. THERE AREN'T VERY MANY PEOPLE WHO REALLY BELIEVE THIS LIFE IS ALL THERE IS. IN JESUS' TIME, EVEN AMONG RELIGIOUS JEWS, THERE WAS NO CERTAINTY; AND IN FACT IF YOU READ THE OLD TESTAMENT, THERE IS NO ONE OPINION ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS AFTER DEATH; IN FACT IT ISN'T UNTIL YOU GET TO THE PROPHETS THAT AN EXPLICIT BELIEF IN THE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE AFTER DEATH EVEN SHOWS UP. AND EVEN THERE, THOSE JEWS WHO BELIEVED IN LIFE AFTER DEATH SAW IT EITHER AS GOD RAISING HIS FAITHFUL TO LIFE TO LIVE ON THE EARTH AGAIN; OR LIVING ON AS A SORT OF GHOST IN SHEOL, A STATE OF BEING WHERE THERE WASN'T MUCH GOING ON, WHERE YOU WERE LITERALLY A PALE SHADOW OF YOUR FORMER SELF.
BUT WHAT WE CELEBRATE TODAY IS A MOMENT IN TIME, A REAL MOMENT, WHEN A MAN DIED A CRUEL DEATH NAILED TO A CROSS. HIS DEATH WAS A HUMAN DEATH, JUST LIKE YOU AND I AND EVERY HUMAN BEING WILL SOONER OR LATER UNDERGO. BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS MAN. HE WAS COMPLETELY HUMAN, BUT HE WAS ALSO GOD HIMSELF. AND THE MAN DIED LIKE EVERY MAN, BUT BECAUSE HE WAS GOD, HE COULD NOT DIE, AND THAT IS A GREAT MYSTERY, BUT THAT IS OUR FAITH. THE MAN DIED, REALLY. THE GOD COULD NOT BE KILLED, COULD NOT BE SNUFFED OUT; AND THIS JESUS, FULLY MAN AND FULLY GOD, APPEARED TO MANY PEOPLE AFTER HE HAD BEEN CRUCIFIED AND BURIED; SAINT PAUL TELLS US THAT ABOUT 500 PEOPLE HAD WITNESSED THAT HE WAS ALIVE EVEN THOUGH HE HAD BEEN KILLED.
THOSE WHO WITNESSED THIS WERE COMPLETELY CHANGED. THEY COULDN'T WAIT TO TELL THEIR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HUMAN NATURE IN THIS MAN WHO WAS GOD. MANY WENT TO THEIR DEATHS AT THE HANDS OF THE ROMAN AUTHORITIES, AND WENT GLADLY, BECAUSE THEY WERE SO FIRMLY CONVINCED THAT NOT ONLY WAS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH, BUT IT WAS LIFE WITH GOD HIMSELF, BECAUSE GOD AND MAN COULD NEVER BE SEPARATED IN THIS PERSON JESUS.
A FIRE CAN'T BURN WHERE IT'S BEEN. AND DEATH CAN'T GO WHERE IT'S ALREADY DONE IT'S WORST. AND IF YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER WITH GOD HIMSELF, YOU HAVE THAT RIGHT, THAT REAL POSSIBILITY. YOU NEED TO GO WHERE DEATH HAS BEEN, AND BEEN CONQUERED. YOU NEED TO GO TO THE CROSS. BECAUSE DEATH HAS LOST EVERYTHING TO THAT CROSS. THERE IS NO LONGER A BLEEDING, UNCONSCIOUS BODY HANGING THERE, MOMENTS FROM DEATH. THE CROSS IS AS EMPTY AS DEATH IS EMPTY. AND YOU NEED TO GO TO THE TOMB. IF YOU ROLL BACK THE STONE TO FIND DEATH, YOU WILL FIND NOTHING, BECAUSE DEATH HAS BEEN CONQUERED. A FIRE CAN'T GO WHERE IT HAS ALREADY BURNED.
SO DON'T FORGET THAT DEATH CAN NO LONGER BE VICTORIOUS OVER THOSE WHO CLING TO THE CROSS, THOSE WHO HAVE PEERED INTO THE TOMB, THOSE WHO ARE YOU AND I. A FIRE CAN'T BURN WHERE IT'S BEEN; AND DEATH CANNOT WIN WHERE IT HAS LOST.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Holy Thursday, cycle A
JOHN 13:1-15
IN OUR CHURCH WE CELEBRATE SEVEN SACRAMENTS. MOST OF OUR PROTESTANT BROTHERS CELEBRATE TWO, BAPTISM AND THE EUCHARIST. MANY DENOMINATIONS HAVE RITES LIKE ORDINATION AND MARRIAGE WHICH THEY DO NOT CALL SACRAMENTS, BUT CONSIDER SACRED, NEVERTHELESS. BUT MOST CHRISTIAN BODIES DO NOT CELEBRATE THE WASHING OF FEET, EXCEPT ONCE A YEAR, IF THAT; AND CERTAINLY DON'T SEE IT AS A SACRAMENT. BUT JESUS TOLD HIS DISCIPLES TO DO THIS, JUST AS HE TOLD THEM TO CELEBRATE THE EUCHARIST, AND TO BAPTIZE ALL NATIONS. I WONDER WHY CHRISTIANS HAVEN'T MADE MUCH OF FOOT-WASHING? OBVIOUSLY, THE HOLY SPIRIT IS INVOLVED, AND HE GUIDES THE CHURCH, SO I'M NOT BEING CRITICAL HERE. BUT I CAN THINK OF SOME REASONS WHY FOOT WASHING NEVER CAUGHT ON LIKE THE SACRAMENTS AND OTHER SACRED RITES.
FIRST OF ALL, IT'S MESSY, AT LEAST THE WAY JESUS DID IT. IT WASN'T SYMBOLIC FOR JESUS. HE GOT DOWN ON HIS KNEES AND SCRUBBED THE FEET OF HIS DISCIPLES. THEY WERE DUSTY AND SMELLY, AND HE SET OUT TO CLEAN THEM. BY THE TIME HE GOT TO THE YOUNGEST APOSTLE, JOHN, THAT TOWEL HE HAD WRAPPED AROUND HIS WAIST MUST HAVE BEEN PRETTY DIRTY, AND THERE WAS PROBABLY A LOT OF WATER THAT HAD BEEN SPILLED ON THE FLOOR. IT WASN'T LIKE THE CEREMONY THAT WE ARE ABOUT TO WITNESS – IF YOU ARE SELECTED TO HAVE YOUR FEET WASHED, I'LL BET THEY ARE THE CLEANEST FEET IN THE CHURCH. THE SOCKS ARE NEW, AND MAYBE YOU'VE EVEN PUT AN ODOR EATER INTO THE SHOE.
SECOND, FOOT-WASHING IS INTIMATE. IN JESUS' TIME IT WAS SOMETHING A WIFE DID FOR HER HUSBAND AND NO ONE ELSE. IF YOU HAD A GUEST WHOM YOU WANTED TO HONOR, WASHING FEET WAS A WAY TO SHOW THAT HONOR – BUT SINCE IT WAS AN INTIMATE ACT, YOU HAD AN ANONYMOUS SERVANT DO IT. REMEMBER THE SHOCK THAT THE BYSTANDERS EXPERIENCED WHEN THE WOMAN WASHED JESUS' FEET – THE WOMAN WHO WAS A GREAT SINNER? THE INTIMACY THAT THIS IMPLIED IS WHAT UPSET THE PEOPLE WHO WITNESSED THIS ACT.
THIRD, FOOT-WASHING IS THREATENING. PETER RECOGNIZED THIS – LORD, YOU WILL NEVER WASH MY FEET! THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE WASHER AND THE WASHED IS CHANGED – IN REAL FOOT-WASHING, NOT IN THE SYMBOL. THE ONE BEING WASHED BECOMES VULNERABLE; IN OUR SOCIETY WHERE WE ALWAYS WEAR SOMETHING ON OUR FEET EXCEPT AT THE BEACH, TO REMOVE YOUR FOOTWEAR IN FRONT OF A STRANGER IS A LITTLE LIKE BEING NAKED, AND TO PUT YOUR FOOT IN SOMEONE'S HANDS IS TO GIVE UP A LITTLE OF YOUR AUTONOMY.
AND THAT IS JESUS' POINT. IF WE ARE TO WASH EACH OTHER'S FEET, THIS IMPLIES SOMETHING WE DO, AND SOMETHING WE HAVE DONE TO US. WE NEED TO WASH AND BE WASHED, WE NEED TO SERVE AND BE SERVED. IF ALL WE DO IS SERVE, WE ARE MAKING OURSELVES SUPERIOR TO THOSE WE SERVE. SO EVEN THOSE WHO ARE MODELS OF SERVICE MUST ALLOW THOSE THEY SERVE TO SERVE THEM. JESUS DID AFTER ALL BRING A NEW POLITICAL SYSTEM INTO BEING, ONE WHICH STILL HASN'T CAUGHT ON EXCEPT IN SOME MONASTERIES. IT IS NOT CAPITALISM AND IT IS NOT COMMUNISM. ONE NAME FOR IT IS COMMUNITARIANISM. THERE IS PRIVATE PROPERTY, THERE ARE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PEOPLE IN TERMS OF TALENTS, LEADERSHIP, AND SO ON. BUT EACH PERSON PUTS WHAT IS HIS AT THE SERVICE OF THE OTHER, AND AT THE SAME TIME GLADLY ACCEPTS WHAT THE OTHER CAN GIVE HIM THAT HE DOES NOT HAVE. EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING SHE CAN GIVE, AND EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING SHE NEEDS FROM SOMEONE ELSE. IN JESUS' VISION, TRUE JOY COMES WHEN WE SERVE EACH OTHER.
AND REAL SERVICE IS MESSY. IF WE START OUT TO SERVE SOMEONE'S NEEDS, THE FIRST THING WE FIND OUT IS THAT WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS A NEED IS PROBABLY NOT THE REAL NEED. YOU BRING A HOT MEAL TO SOMEONE, AND NEXT THING YOU KNOW YOU ARE SITTING THERE LISTENING TO THAT PERSON TALKING, BECAUSE THE REAL NEED IS NOT THE MEAL, BUT AN ATTENTIVE EAR. AND IF YOU DECIDE TO VOLUNTEER TO TEACH FAITH FORMATION, IT WILL BE COMPLICATED BY INATTENTIVE KIDS AND DISINTERESTED PARENTS, AND YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF TEACHING MORE BY EXAMPLE THAN BY WORDS.
REAL SERVICE DEMANDS INTIMACY. TO REALLY SERVE SOMEONE, YOU NEED TO KNOW THEM MORE THAN SUPERFICIALLY, BECAUSE THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO DISCOVER WHAT HE REALLY NEEDS FROM YOU. AND WHEN YOU SERVE SOMEONE, YOU SHOW HIM SOMETHING OF YOURSELF, SOMETIMES SOMETHING YOU'D RATHER HAVE KEPT HIDDEN.
AND REAL SERVICE THREATENS. YOU MAY MEET HOSTILITY. THE PERSON YOU ASSIST MAY TURN AROUND AND BETRAY YOU. THERE'S BEEN MORE THAN ONE GOOD SAMARITAN WHO GOT SUED BY THE PERSON HE HELPED, AND MORE THAN ONE PERSON WHO GOT TAKEN BY SOMEONE WHO TOOK ADVANTAGE OF HIS GENEROSITY.
MESSY, INTIMATE, AND THREATENING: AND THAT'S JUST WHEN YOU SERVE. WHEN YOU ARE THE ONE BEING SERVED, IT'S EVEN WORSE.
SO THERE ARE A LOT OF IMPLICATIONS IN THIS ACTION OF JESUS, THIS MOMENT WHEN HE TIED A TOWEL AROUND HIS WAIST AND KNELT ON THE FLOOR AND WASHED THOSE DIRTY FEET. AND IT'S EASY TO HEAR THIS GOSPEL BUT NOT QUITE REGISTER THOSE WORDS HE ADDRESSES TO THE DISCIPLES AND TO US: WASH EACH OTHER'S FEET.
TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE INSTITUTION OF THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE INSTITUTION OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST. WHEN YOU THINK OF THE SCRIPTURES WE HEARD TODAY, OR ALL THROUGH THE YEAR; WHEN YOU THINK OF THE RELATIONSHIP YOU HAVE WITH THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST, WHETHER IT IS BARELY THERE OR VERY DEEP AND INTIMATE; WHEN YOU THINK OF THE ONGOING EFFORT OF THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST ON EARTH, TO REMAKE THE WORLD INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN DESPITE SETBACKS AND ALL-TOO-HUMAN LEADERS AND LUKEWARM FOLLOWERS, IT IS THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE EUCHARIST THAT HOLD THE ENTERPRISE TOGETHER, THAT TRANSMIT THE TEACHINGS OF OUR LORD, THAT BRING HIS PRESENCE BEFORE US SUNDAY AFTER SUNDAY. THE PRIESTHOOD IS NOTHING WITHOUT THE EUCHARIST, AND THE EUCHARIST CANNOT BE WITHOUT THE PRIESTHOOD. A TRUE PRIEST IS THE VERY IMAGE OF JESUS SERVING HIS DISCIPLES, AND A MODEL FOR OUR OWN CALL TO SERVICE.
SO LET US GO FORTH TONIGHT RECOGNIZING THAT CALL TO SERVE, AND THAT CALL TO BE SERVED; LET US GO RESOLVED TO MAKE THIS COMMUNITY OF SAINT MARY'S AN EXAMPLE TO EVERYONE OF HOW JESUS WANTS US TO LIVE. LET US FOLLOW THAT EXAMPLE OF TRUE SERVICE, MESSY, INTIMATE, AND THREATENING – BUT WHEN WE GET IT RIGHT, WE FIND THAT JESUS LIVES IN US, AND WE MEET HIM IN THOSE WE SERVE. WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN THAT?
IN OUR CHURCH WE CELEBRATE SEVEN SACRAMENTS. MOST OF OUR PROTESTANT BROTHERS CELEBRATE TWO, BAPTISM AND THE EUCHARIST. MANY DENOMINATIONS HAVE RITES LIKE ORDINATION AND MARRIAGE WHICH THEY DO NOT CALL SACRAMENTS, BUT CONSIDER SACRED, NEVERTHELESS. BUT MOST CHRISTIAN BODIES DO NOT CELEBRATE THE WASHING OF FEET, EXCEPT ONCE A YEAR, IF THAT; AND CERTAINLY DON'T SEE IT AS A SACRAMENT. BUT JESUS TOLD HIS DISCIPLES TO DO THIS, JUST AS HE TOLD THEM TO CELEBRATE THE EUCHARIST, AND TO BAPTIZE ALL NATIONS. I WONDER WHY CHRISTIANS HAVEN'T MADE MUCH OF FOOT-WASHING? OBVIOUSLY, THE HOLY SPIRIT IS INVOLVED, AND HE GUIDES THE CHURCH, SO I'M NOT BEING CRITICAL HERE. BUT I CAN THINK OF SOME REASONS WHY FOOT WASHING NEVER CAUGHT ON LIKE THE SACRAMENTS AND OTHER SACRED RITES.
FIRST OF ALL, IT'S MESSY, AT LEAST THE WAY JESUS DID IT. IT WASN'T SYMBOLIC FOR JESUS. HE GOT DOWN ON HIS KNEES AND SCRUBBED THE FEET OF HIS DISCIPLES. THEY WERE DUSTY AND SMELLY, AND HE SET OUT TO CLEAN THEM. BY THE TIME HE GOT TO THE YOUNGEST APOSTLE, JOHN, THAT TOWEL HE HAD WRAPPED AROUND HIS WAIST MUST HAVE BEEN PRETTY DIRTY, AND THERE WAS PROBABLY A LOT OF WATER THAT HAD BEEN SPILLED ON THE FLOOR. IT WASN'T LIKE THE CEREMONY THAT WE ARE ABOUT TO WITNESS – IF YOU ARE SELECTED TO HAVE YOUR FEET WASHED, I'LL BET THEY ARE THE CLEANEST FEET IN THE CHURCH. THE SOCKS ARE NEW, AND MAYBE YOU'VE EVEN PUT AN ODOR EATER INTO THE SHOE.
SECOND, FOOT-WASHING IS INTIMATE. IN JESUS' TIME IT WAS SOMETHING A WIFE DID FOR HER HUSBAND AND NO ONE ELSE. IF YOU HAD A GUEST WHOM YOU WANTED TO HONOR, WASHING FEET WAS A WAY TO SHOW THAT HONOR – BUT SINCE IT WAS AN INTIMATE ACT, YOU HAD AN ANONYMOUS SERVANT DO IT. REMEMBER THE SHOCK THAT THE BYSTANDERS EXPERIENCED WHEN THE WOMAN WASHED JESUS' FEET – THE WOMAN WHO WAS A GREAT SINNER? THE INTIMACY THAT THIS IMPLIED IS WHAT UPSET THE PEOPLE WHO WITNESSED THIS ACT.
THIRD, FOOT-WASHING IS THREATENING. PETER RECOGNIZED THIS – LORD, YOU WILL NEVER WASH MY FEET! THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE WASHER AND THE WASHED IS CHANGED – IN REAL FOOT-WASHING, NOT IN THE SYMBOL. THE ONE BEING WASHED BECOMES VULNERABLE; IN OUR SOCIETY WHERE WE ALWAYS WEAR SOMETHING ON OUR FEET EXCEPT AT THE BEACH, TO REMOVE YOUR FOOTWEAR IN FRONT OF A STRANGER IS A LITTLE LIKE BEING NAKED, AND TO PUT YOUR FOOT IN SOMEONE'S HANDS IS TO GIVE UP A LITTLE OF YOUR AUTONOMY.
AND THAT IS JESUS' POINT. IF WE ARE TO WASH EACH OTHER'S FEET, THIS IMPLIES SOMETHING WE DO, AND SOMETHING WE HAVE DONE TO US. WE NEED TO WASH AND BE WASHED, WE NEED TO SERVE AND BE SERVED. IF ALL WE DO IS SERVE, WE ARE MAKING OURSELVES SUPERIOR TO THOSE WE SERVE. SO EVEN THOSE WHO ARE MODELS OF SERVICE MUST ALLOW THOSE THEY SERVE TO SERVE THEM. JESUS DID AFTER ALL BRING A NEW POLITICAL SYSTEM INTO BEING, ONE WHICH STILL HASN'T CAUGHT ON EXCEPT IN SOME MONASTERIES. IT IS NOT CAPITALISM AND IT IS NOT COMMUNISM. ONE NAME FOR IT IS COMMUNITARIANISM. THERE IS PRIVATE PROPERTY, THERE ARE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PEOPLE IN TERMS OF TALENTS, LEADERSHIP, AND SO ON. BUT EACH PERSON PUTS WHAT IS HIS AT THE SERVICE OF THE OTHER, AND AT THE SAME TIME GLADLY ACCEPTS WHAT THE OTHER CAN GIVE HIM THAT HE DOES NOT HAVE. EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING SHE CAN GIVE, AND EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING SHE NEEDS FROM SOMEONE ELSE. IN JESUS' VISION, TRUE JOY COMES WHEN WE SERVE EACH OTHER.
AND REAL SERVICE IS MESSY. IF WE START OUT TO SERVE SOMEONE'S NEEDS, THE FIRST THING WE FIND OUT IS THAT WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS A NEED IS PROBABLY NOT THE REAL NEED. YOU BRING A HOT MEAL TO SOMEONE, AND NEXT THING YOU KNOW YOU ARE SITTING THERE LISTENING TO THAT PERSON TALKING, BECAUSE THE REAL NEED IS NOT THE MEAL, BUT AN ATTENTIVE EAR. AND IF YOU DECIDE TO VOLUNTEER TO TEACH FAITH FORMATION, IT WILL BE COMPLICATED BY INATTENTIVE KIDS AND DISINTERESTED PARENTS, AND YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF TEACHING MORE BY EXAMPLE THAN BY WORDS.
REAL SERVICE DEMANDS INTIMACY. TO REALLY SERVE SOMEONE, YOU NEED TO KNOW THEM MORE THAN SUPERFICIALLY, BECAUSE THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO DISCOVER WHAT HE REALLY NEEDS FROM YOU. AND WHEN YOU SERVE SOMEONE, YOU SHOW HIM SOMETHING OF YOURSELF, SOMETIMES SOMETHING YOU'D RATHER HAVE KEPT HIDDEN.
AND REAL SERVICE THREATENS. YOU MAY MEET HOSTILITY. THE PERSON YOU ASSIST MAY TURN AROUND AND BETRAY YOU. THERE'S BEEN MORE THAN ONE GOOD SAMARITAN WHO GOT SUED BY THE PERSON HE HELPED, AND MORE THAN ONE PERSON WHO GOT TAKEN BY SOMEONE WHO TOOK ADVANTAGE OF HIS GENEROSITY.
MESSY, INTIMATE, AND THREATENING: AND THAT'S JUST WHEN YOU SERVE. WHEN YOU ARE THE ONE BEING SERVED, IT'S EVEN WORSE.
SO THERE ARE A LOT OF IMPLICATIONS IN THIS ACTION OF JESUS, THIS MOMENT WHEN HE TIED A TOWEL AROUND HIS WAIST AND KNELT ON THE FLOOR AND WASHED THOSE DIRTY FEET. AND IT'S EASY TO HEAR THIS GOSPEL BUT NOT QUITE REGISTER THOSE WORDS HE ADDRESSES TO THE DISCIPLES AND TO US: WASH EACH OTHER'S FEET.
TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE INSTITUTION OF THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE INSTITUTION OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST. WHEN YOU THINK OF THE SCRIPTURES WE HEARD TODAY, OR ALL THROUGH THE YEAR; WHEN YOU THINK OF THE RELATIONSHIP YOU HAVE WITH THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST, WHETHER IT IS BARELY THERE OR VERY DEEP AND INTIMATE; WHEN YOU THINK OF THE ONGOING EFFORT OF THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST ON EARTH, TO REMAKE THE WORLD INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN DESPITE SETBACKS AND ALL-TOO-HUMAN LEADERS AND LUKEWARM FOLLOWERS, IT IS THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE EUCHARIST THAT HOLD THE ENTERPRISE TOGETHER, THAT TRANSMIT THE TEACHINGS OF OUR LORD, THAT BRING HIS PRESENCE BEFORE US SUNDAY AFTER SUNDAY. THE PRIESTHOOD IS NOTHING WITHOUT THE EUCHARIST, AND THE EUCHARIST CANNOT BE WITHOUT THE PRIESTHOOD. A TRUE PRIEST IS THE VERY IMAGE OF JESUS SERVING HIS DISCIPLES, AND A MODEL FOR OUR OWN CALL TO SERVICE.
SO LET US GO FORTH TONIGHT RECOGNIZING THAT CALL TO SERVE, AND THAT CALL TO BE SERVED; LET US GO RESOLVED TO MAKE THIS COMMUNITY OF SAINT MARY'S AN EXAMPLE TO EVERYONE OF HOW JESUS WANTS US TO LIVE. LET US FOLLOW THAT EXAMPLE OF TRUE SERVICE, MESSY, INTIMATE, AND THREATENING – BUT WHEN WE GET IT RIGHT, WE FIND THAT JESUS LIVES IN US, AND WE MEET HIM IN THOSE WE SERVE. WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN THAT?
Monday, April 18, 2011
Palm Sunday, cycle A
MATTHEW 26:14 - 27:66
“I DO NOT KNOW THE MAN!”
PETER SAYS THIS OUT OF FEAR, BUT WE CAN HARDLY BLAME HIM. IT'S PRETTY CLEAR IN THE PASSION STORY THAT NO ONE REALLY KNOWS THIS MAN. THE DISCIPLES WHO HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING HIM EXPECTED TRIUMPH. DURING THOSE THREE YEARS, THEY GRADUALLY REALIZED THAT JESUS HAD A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER, SO MUCH SO THAT HE COULD CALL HIMSELF THE SON. AND YET, HERE HE WAS ABOUT TO BE CRUCIFIED. AND AS THEY HIDE, THEY MUST HAVE SAID TO THEMSELVES, “WE DON'T KNOW THE MAN”.
JUDAS ISCARIOT'S LAST NAME MEANT “LITTLE SWORD”, AND INDICATED THAT HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A JEWISH PATRIOT WHO BELONGED TO AN ORGANIZATION THAT ATTEMPTED TO ASSASSINATE ROMANS. AND HE LOOKED FORWARD TO JESUS LEADING AN ARMED UPRISING AGAINST THE OCCUPIERS, AND A RETURN TO AN INDEPENDENT ISRAEL. AND HE HAD COME TO REALIZE THAT THIS WASN'T JESUS' WAY; AND HE REALIZED THAT HE DID NOT KNOW THE MAN.
THE PHARISEES HAD ALWAYS HAD A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS. SOMETIMES THEY FOUND THEMSELVES LISTENING TO HIM WITH RAPT ATTENTION, AND OTHER TIMES HE HORRIFIED THEM. AND THERE WERE ARGUMENTS AMONG THEM ABOUT WHETHER JESUS WAS OF GOD OR OF SATAN. HE CURED PEOPLE – THAT WAS GOD-LIKE; BUT HE DID SO ON THE SABBATH – THAT WAS DEMONIC. JESUS VERY PRESENCE UPSET THEIR TIDY WORLD, AND MOST WERE GLAD TO BE RID OF HIM. THEY DID NOT KNOW THE MAN.
AND PILATE? IT'S HARD TO FIGURE HIM OUT. SOMETIMES HE SEEMS TO BE CYNICAL AND CALCULATING – HE SAYS, “WHAT IS TRUTH?” AND HE OFFERS THE CROWD THE CHOICE OF JESUS OR BARABBAS. JUSTICE MATTERS LITTLE TO HIM. IN ANOTHER PLACE THOUGH, HE INSISTS THAT HE IS INNOCENT OF THE BLOOD OF JESUS. BUT WHATEVER ELSE YOU CAN SAY ABOUT PILATE, JESUS DIDN'T MATTER TO HIM. HE DID NOT KNOW THE MAN.
AND SO IT GOES, EVEN DOWN TO THE PRESENT DAY. YOU AND I ON ASH WEDNESDAY RECEIVED A BLACK SMUDGE ON OUR FOREHEADS AND WERE TOLD THAT JUST AS WE CAME FROM DUST, WE ARE GOING BACK TO DUST. A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW WE WON'T EVEN BE REMEMBERED. AND WE'VE JOURNEYED THROUGH LENT, AND SEEN JESUS AT WORK. WE SAW HIM TRANSFIGURED. WE SAW HIM HEAL A MAN BLIND FROM BIRTH. WE SAW HIM RAISE A MAN FROM THE DEAD, A MAN WHO HAD BEEN ROTTING IN THE GRAVE FOR FOUR DAYS. AND TODAY WE SEE HIM TAKE UP HIS CROSS AND SUFFER AND DIE SO THAT THE REAL PERSON WHO IS YOU AND I WILL NOT CRUMBLE INTO DUST; THE REAL PERSON WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN, BECAUSE WE WILL LIVE FOREVER. AND UNLIKE THOSE APOSTLES AND OTHERS WE HEARD ABOUT TODAY, WE KNOW HOW THE STORY WILL END, WE KNOW JESUS HIMSELF WILL RISE.
BUT LET US BE CLEAR; IF WE ARE NOT CHANGED BY WHAT WE'VE HEARD AND WHAT WE KNOW – IF WE AREN'T MOVED TO RESPOND TO GOD'S WONDERFUL GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH HIS SON, WELL, THEN, WE WILL JOIN PETER AND PILATE AND JUDAS AND THE PHARISEES – BECAUSE IF WE AREN'T CHANGED, THEN IT IS CLEAR THAT WE DO NOT KNOW THE MAN, WE'VE MISSED THE WHOLE POINT.
MAY JESUS NOT HAVE DIED FOR US IN VAIN.
“I DO NOT KNOW THE MAN!”
PETER SAYS THIS OUT OF FEAR, BUT WE CAN HARDLY BLAME HIM. IT'S PRETTY CLEAR IN THE PASSION STORY THAT NO ONE REALLY KNOWS THIS MAN. THE DISCIPLES WHO HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING HIM EXPECTED TRIUMPH. DURING THOSE THREE YEARS, THEY GRADUALLY REALIZED THAT JESUS HAD A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER, SO MUCH SO THAT HE COULD CALL HIMSELF THE SON. AND YET, HERE HE WAS ABOUT TO BE CRUCIFIED. AND AS THEY HIDE, THEY MUST HAVE SAID TO THEMSELVES, “WE DON'T KNOW THE MAN”.
JUDAS ISCARIOT'S LAST NAME MEANT “LITTLE SWORD”, AND INDICATED THAT HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A JEWISH PATRIOT WHO BELONGED TO AN ORGANIZATION THAT ATTEMPTED TO ASSASSINATE ROMANS. AND HE LOOKED FORWARD TO JESUS LEADING AN ARMED UPRISING AGAINST THE OCCUPIERS, AND A RETURN TO AN INDEPENDENT ISRAEL. AND HE HAD COME TO REALIZE THAT THIS WASN'T JESUS' WAY; AND HE REALIZED THAT HE DID NOT KNOW THE MAN.
THE PHARISEES HAD ALWAYS HAD A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS. SOMETIMES THEY FOUND THEMSELVES LISTENING TO HIM WITH RAPT ATTENTION, AND OTHER TIMES HE HORRIFIED THEM. AND THERE WERE ARGUMENTS AMONG THEM ABOUT WHETHER JESUS WAS OF GOD OR OF SATAN. HE CURED PEOPLE – THAT WAS GOD-LIKE; BUT HE DID SO ON THE SABBATH – THAT WAS DEMONIC. JESUS VERY PRESENCE UPSET THEIR TIDY WORLD, AND MOST WERE GLAD TO BE RID OF HIM. THEY DID NOT KNOW THE MAN.
AND PILATE? IT'S HARD TO FIGURE HIM OUT. SOMETIMES HE SEEMS TO BE CYNICAL AND CALCULATING – HE SAYS, “WHAT IS TRUTH?” AND HE OFFERS THE CROWD THE CHOICE OF JESUS OR BARABBAS. JUSTICE MATTERS LITTLE TO HIM. IN ANOTHER PLACE THOUGH, HE INSISTS THAT HE IS INNOCENT OF THE BLOOD OF JESUS. BUT WHATEVER ELSE YOU CAN SAY ABOUT PILATE, JESUS DIDN'T MATTER TO HIM. HE DID NOT KNOW THE MAN.
AND SO IT GOES, EVEN DOWN TO THE PRESENT DAY. YOU AND I ON ASH WEDNESDAY RECEIVED A BLACK SMUDGE ON OUR FOREHEADS AND WERE TOLD THAT JUST AS WE CAME FROM DUST, WE ARE GOING BACK TO DUST. A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW WE WON'T EVEN BE REMEMBERED. AND WE'VE JOURNEYED THROUGH LENT, AND SEEN JESUS AT WORK. WE SAW HIM TRANSFIGURED. WE SAW HIM HEAL A MAN BLIND FROM BIRTH. WE SAW HIM RAISE A MAN FROM THE DEAD, A MAN WHO HAD BEEN ROTTING IN THE GRAVE FOR FOUR DAYS. AND TODAY WE SEE HIM TAKE UP HIS CROSS AND SUFFER AND DIE SO THAT THE REAL PERSON WHO IS YOU AND I WILL NOT CRUMBLE INTO DUST; THE REAL PERSON WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN, BECAUSE WE WILL LIVE FOREVER. AND UNLIKE THOSE APOSTLES AND OTHERS WE HEARD ABOUT TODAY, WE KNOW HOW THE STORY WILL END, WE KNOW JESUS HIMSELF WILL RISE.
BUT LET US BE CLEAR; IF WE ARE NOT CHANGED BY WHAT WE'VE HEARD AND WHAT WE KNOW – IF WE AREN'T MOVED TO RESPOND TO GOD'S WONDERFUL GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH HIS SON, WELL, THEN, WE WILL JOIN PETER AND PILATE AND JUDAS AND THE PHARISEES – BECAUSE IF WE AREN'T CHANGED, THEN IT IS CLEAR THAT WE DO NOT KNOW THE MAN, WE'VE MISSED THE WHOLE POINT.
MAY JESUS NOT HAVE DIED FOR US IN VAIN.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Fifth Sunday of Lent, cycle A
JOHN 11:1-45
I'VE SPENT MY CAREER TAKING CARE OF CANCER PATIENTS, AND AS YOU MIGHT EXPECT, I'VE ACCOMPANIED A LOT OF PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES ON THAT LAST JOURNEY, BECAUSE WE STILL HAVEN'T BEATEN CANCER. SOME PEOPLE DIE IN OLD AGE, FULL OF YEARS, AND WHILE WE ALL HATE TO SEE A LOVED ONE DIE, SOMETIMES IT SEEMS RIGHT. SOME PEOPLE DIE AFTER A LONG TIME OF BEING DISABLED AND HELPLESS, RELYING ON DRUGS TO STAY OUT OF PAIN. SOMETIMES DEATH COMES AS A RELIEF. BUT THERE ARE TIMES WHEN DEATH SEEMS WRONG, SO WRONG.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO I MET A YOUNG WOMAN WHO WAS A DEVOUT CHRISTIAN. SHE AND HER HUSBAND HAD SEVERAL CHILDREN, AND WERE VERY ACTIVE IN THEIR CHURCH, AND THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT. THIS COUPLE HELPED US WHEN WE WERE TEACHING NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING. AFTER JOAN AND I STOPPED TEACHING, WE LOST TOUCH. ONE DAY I GOT A CALL TO DO A CONSULTATION AND SHE WAS THE PATIENT. HER FACE WAS ALMOST LIKE A SKULL, AND SHE HAD LOST ALL HER HAIR; HER LEGS WERE BLOATED WITH FLUID, AND SHE WAS BARELY ABLE TO MOVE AROUND. SHE AND HER HUSBAND, AND ALL HER MANY FRIENDS AND THE MEMBERS OF HER CHURCH WERE PRAYING DESPERATELY – HOPING FOR A MIRACLE, A MIRACLE THAT JESUS SEEMED TO HAVE PROMISED HIS FOLLOWERS, WHEN HE SAID “ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE,” AND “WHATEVER YOU ASK THE FATHER IN MY NAME WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU.” BUT TO NO AVAIL. A WEEK AFTER I SAW HER, THIS GENEROUS, LOVING WIFE AND MOTHER OF SEVERAL YOUNG CHILDREN DIED.
WHERE WAS JESUS?
I DOUBT THAT ANY SERIOUS CHRISTIAN HAS GONE THROUGH LIFE WITHOUT ASKING THAT QUESTION. BECAUSE LIFE HAS TRAGEDIES, AND SOMETIMES WE CAN SEE THEM COMING. AND WHEN WE DO, WE PRAY THAT GOD WILL COME TO OUR RESCUE, GOD WILL AVERT THE DISASTER; MAYBE JUST A LITTLE MIRACLE THAT MIGHT SAVE MY BUSINESS, THAT MIGHT HEAL MY CHILD, THAT MIGHT SAVE MY MARRIAGE. AND YOUR BUSINESS FAILS, AND YOUR CHILD DIES, AND YOUR MARRIAGE FALLS APART.
WHERE WAS JESUS?
MARTHA AND MARY HAD LOST THEIR BROTHER. HE HAD BEEN SICK AND EVERYTHING HAD BEEN GETTING WORSE. THEY PRAYED TO GOD AND LAZARUS GOT WORSE. AND FINALLY THEY DECIDED TO CALL ON THEIR FRIEND, JESUS. AFTER ALL, HE WAS A HEALER; MAYBE IF HE COULD JUST COME AND LAY HIS HANDS ON LAZARUS. BUT DAYS WENT BY AND LAZARUS DIED. HE WAS IN THE GROUND FOUR DAYS BEFORE JESUS FINALLY SHOWED UP. AND MARY SPOKE FOR ALL CHRISTIANS WHO CALL UPON JESUS WHEN EVERYTHING IS GOING WRONG: “LORD, IF YOU HAD BEEN HERE, MY BROTHER WOULD NEVER HAVE DIED.”
WHY DOES IT SAY THAT JESUS WEPT? WAS IT BECAUSE LAZARUS HAD DIED? BUT JESUS SURELY KNEW THAT LAZARUS WOULD RISE AGAIN AT HIS CALL – AFTER ALL, HE JUST TOLD MARTHA THAT HE WAS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. WAS IT BECAUSE JESUS, THE MOST PERFECT HUMAN BEING WHO EVER LIVED, SO POWERFULLY FELT THE GRIEF OF THE TWO WOMEN WHO WERE AMONG HIS CLOSEST FRIENDS? OR WAS IT BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF FAITH AMONG THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BETTER THAN ANYONE – AND HAD NOT YET ACCEPTED THAT HE WAS GOD IN THE FLESH? I DON'T THINK ANY OF THESE REASONS ARE WHY JESUS WEPT. I THINK JESUS WEPT BECAUSE HE LONGED FOR WHAT HE KNEW WOULD SOMEDAY COME – A WORLD WHEN THERE WOULD BE NO MORE PAIN, NO MORE FAILURE, NO MORE DEATH. DO YOU REMEMBER? ONCE JESUS SAID, “I CAME TO BRING FIRE UPON THE EARTH, AND HOW I LONG FOR IT TO BE KINDLED!” AND ANOTHER TIME HE SAID, “HOW LONG MUST I PUT UP WITH THIS GENERATION?” JESUS KNEW WHAT WAS TO COME, AND WANTED THIS WITH HIS WHOLE BEING.
AND HE CALLED LAZARUS FROM THE TOMB, AND LAZARUS, WHOSE LAST MEMORY WAS OF PANIC AND PAIN AS HIS LIFE LEFT HIS BODY, WOKE UP AND STRUGGLED TO HIS FEET AND WALKED TOWARDS THAT VOICE, THE VOICE THAT HE COULD NOT RESIST EVEN WHEN DEAD, THE VOICE OF HIS FRIEND, THE VOICE OF GOD.
JESUS WEPT, BECAUSE HE REMEMBERS FORWARD, JUST AS WE REMEMBER BACKWARD. JESUS BEING THE SON OF GOD KNOWS HOW IT WILL ALL TURN OUT. HE KNOWS THAT LIFE ON EARTH IS ONLY THE PRELUDE TO REAL LIFE. AND HE SEES SO MANY OF US WHO LIVE AS THOUGH THIS IS ALL THERE IS, AS WE STRUGGLE TO MAKE SURE WE ARE SECURE, HEALTHY, COMFORTABLE. AND HE SEES US SETTLING, SETTLING FOR THE APPETIZER, WHEN WE SHOULD BE GETTING READY FOR THE FULL COURSE SUPPER. HOW MANY OF US REMEMBER FORWARD, BELIEVING, REALLY BELIEVING, THAT WHAT HE PROMISED IS TRUE? CHRISTIAN MARTYRS BELIEVED THIS. THOMAS MORE, TO NAME ONE, HAD NO DOUBT, AND CHOSE TO DIE WHEN HE COULD HAVE SAVED HIMSELF. HE REMEMBERED FORWARD.
AND WHEN JESUS CALLED LAZARUS FORTH FROM THE TOMB, HE DID NOT DO IT BECAUSE HE LOVED MARTHA AND MARY AND THEIR BROTHER. HE DID IT TO SHOW THOSE AROUND HIM WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE, WHEN THE KINGDOM OF GOD WAS FULLY REALIZED. HE DID IT SO THAT YOU AND I WOULD KNOW THAT WHEN WE GO DOWN INTO THE GRAVE, IT ISN'T THE LAST WORD, IT ISN'T THE END. LIKE LAZARUS ALL OF US, IF WE ARE FAITHFUL, IF WE ARE HIS FRIENDS, CAN WITH CONFIDENCE FALL ASLEEP AT THE END OF OUR LIVES KNOWING THAT THE NEXT VOICE WE HEAR WILL BE HIS VOICE, CALLING US OUT OF THE GRAVE.
WHERE IS JESUS? WHERE IS HE IN THE MIDST OF PAIN AND SUFFERING AND DEATH? HE COMES ACCORDING TO HIS SCHEDULE, NOT OURS. BUT HE COMES. AND BECAUSE HE CAME INTO THE WORLD, BECAUSE HE SHARES OUR HUMAN NATURE, BECAUSE HE HAS ALREADY GONE THROUGH THE GATES OF DEATH AND RISEN AGAIN, WE CAN BE ASSURED THAT HE COMES FOR US, AND THAT OUR PAIN WILL TURN TO JOY, OUR WEEPING TO LAUGHTER, OUR DEATH TO LIFE.
LAZARUS DID DIE, YOU KNOW. I DON'T KNOW WHEN HE DIED, OR HOW OLD HE WAS, OR UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES. WE CAN BE SURE THAT HE DIED AFTER JESUS HIMSELF DIED. LAZARUS AND HIS SISTERS WERE AMONG THE FIRST CHRISTIANS. AND YOU CAN BE SURE THAT WHEN LAZARUS DIED THAT SECOND TIME, PERHAPS WITH MARTHA AND MARY AT HIS SIDE, THERE WAS NO FEAR, THERE WAS ONLY ANTICIPATION. BECAUSE JESUS HAD ALREADY SHOWN THAT HE WAS GREATER THAN DEATH, THAT TO HIM DEATH WAS NOTHING. AND THIS TIME LAZARUS AND MARTHA AND MARY KNEW THAT JESUS WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF DEATH, AND WAITING FOR EACH OF THEM.
WHERE WAS JESUS?
TODAY, AND EVERY DAY IF WE ARE SUFFERING, HE IS THERE; IF WE ARE IN PAIN, HE IS THERE; AND IF WE ARE DYING, HE IS THERE, CALLING US FORTH FROM THE GRAVE INTO NEW LIFE.
I'VE SPENT MY CAREER TAKING CARE OF CANCER PATIENTS, AND AS YOU MIGHT EXPECT, I'VE ACCOMPANIED A LOT OF PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES ON THAT LAST JOURNEY, BECAUSE WE STILL HAVEN'T BEATEN CANCER. SOME PEOPLE DIE IN OLD AGE, FULL OF YEARS, AND WHILE WE ALL HATE TO SEE A LOVED ONE DIE, SOMETIMES IT SEEMS RIGHT. SOME PEOPLE DIE AFTER A LONG TIME OF BEING DISABLED AND HELPLESS, RELYING ON DRUGS TO STAY OUT OF PAIN. SOMETIMES DEATH COMES AS A RELIEF. BUT THERE ARE TIMES WHEN DEATH SEEMS WRONG, SO WRONG.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO I MET A YOUNG WOMAN WHO WAS A DEVOUT CHRISTIAN. SHE AND HER HUSBAND HAD SEVERAL CHILDREN, AND WERE VERY ACTIVE IN THEIR CHURCH, AND THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT. THIS COUPLE HELPED US WHEN WE WERE TEACHING NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING. AFTER JOAN AND I STOPPED TEACHING, WE LOST TOUCH. ONE DAY I GOT A CALL TO DO A CONSULTATION AND SHE WAS THE PATIENT. HER FACE WAS ALMOST LIKE A SKULL, AND SHE HAD LOST ALL HER HAIR; HER LEGS WERE BLOATED WITH FLUID, AND SHE WAS BARELY ABLE TO MOVE AROUND. SHE AND HER HUSBAND, AND ALL HER MANY FRIENDS AND THE MEMBERS OF HER CHURCH WERE PRAYING DESPERATELY – HOPING FOR A MIRACLE, A MIRACLE THAT JESUS SEEMED TO HAVE PROMISED HIS FOLLOWERS, WHEN HE SAID “ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE,” AND “WHATEVER YOU ASK THE FATHER IN MY NAME WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU.” BUT TO NO AVAIL. A WEEK AFTER I SAW HER, THIS GENEROUS, LOVING WIFE AND MOTHER OF SEVERAL YOUNG CHILDREN DIED.
WHERE WAS JESUS?
I DOUBT THAT ANY SERIOUS CHRISTIAN HAS GONE THROUGH LIFE WITHOUT ASKING THAT QUESTION. BECAUSE LIFE HAS TRAGEDIES, AND SOMETIMES WE CAN SEE THEM COMING. AND WHEN WE DO, WE PRAY THAT GOD WILL COME TO OUR RESCUE, GOD WILL AVERT THE DISASTER; MAYBE JUST A LITTLE MIRACLE THAT MIGHT SAVE MY BUSINESS, THAT MIGHT HEAL MY CHILD, THAT MIGHT SAVE MY MARRIAGE. AND YOUR BUSINESS FAILS, AND YOUR CHILD DIES, AND YOUR MARRIAGE FALLS APART.
WHERE WAS JESUS?
MARTHA AND MARY HAD LOST THEIR BROTHER. HE HAD BEEN SICK AND EVERYTHING HAD BEEN GETTING WORSE. THEY PRAYED TO GOD AND LAZARUS GOT WORSE. AND FINALLY THEY DECIDED TO CALL ON THEIR FRIEND, JESUS. AFTER ALL, HE WAS A HEALER; MAYBE IF HE COULD JUST COME AND LAY HIS HANDS ON LAZARUS. BUT DAYS WENT BY AND LAZARUS DIED. HE WAS IN THE GROUND FOUR DAYS BEFORE JESUS FINALLY SHOWED UP. AND MARY SPOKE FOR ALL CHRISTIANS WHO CALL UPON JESUS WHEN EVERYTHING IS GOING WRONG: “LORD, IF YOU HAD BEEN HERE, MY BROTHER WOULD NEVER HAVE DIED.”
WHY DOES IT SAY THAT JESUS WEPT? WAS IT BECAUSE LAZARUS HAD DIED? BUT JESUS SURELY KNEW THAT LAZARUS WOULD RISE AGAIN AT HIS CALL – AFTER ALL, HE JUST TOLD MARTHA THAT HE WAS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. WAS IT BECAUSE JESUS, THE MOST PERFECT HUMAN BEING WHO EVER LIVED, SO POWERFULLY FELT THE GRIEF OF THE TWO WOMEN WHO WERE AMONG HIS CLOSEST FRIENDS? OR WAS IT BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF FAITH AMONG THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BETTER THAN ANYONE – AND HAD NOT YET ACCEPTED THAT HE WAS GOD IN THE FLESH? I DON'T THINK ANY OF THESE REASONS ARE WHY JESUS WEPT. I THINK JESUS WEPT BECAUSE HE LONGED FOR WHAT HE KNEW WOULD SOMEDAY COME – A WORLD WHEN THERE WOULD BE NO MORE PAIN, NO MORE FAILURE, NO MORE DEATH. DO YOU REMEMBER? ONCE JESUS SAID, “I CAME TO BRING FIRE UPON THE EARTH, AND HOW I LONG FOR IT TO BE KINDLED!” AND ANOTHER TIME HE SAID, “HOW LONG MUST I PUT UP WITH THIS GENERATION?” JESUS KNEW WHAT WAS TO COME, AND WANTED THIS WITH HIS WHOLE BEING.
AND HE CALLED LAZARUS FROM THE TOMB, AND LAZARUS, WHOSE LAST MEMORY WAS OF PANIC AND PAIN AS HIS LIFE LEFT HIS BODY, WOKE UP AND STRUGGLED TO HIS FEET AND WALKED TOWARDS THAT VOICE, THE VOICE THAT HE COULD NOT RESIST EVEN WHEN DEAD, THE VOICE OF HIS FRIEND, THE VOICE OF GOD.
JESUS WEPT, BECAUSE HE REMEMBERS FORWARD, JUST AS WE REMEMBER BACKWARD. JESUS BEING THE SON OF GOD KNOWS HOW IT WILL ALL TURN OUT. HE KNOWS THAT LIFE ON EARTH IS ONLY THE PRELUDE TO REAL LIFE. AND HE SEES SO MANY OF US WHO LIVE AS THOUGH THIS IS ALL THERE IS, AS WE STRUGGLE TO MAKE SURE WE ARE SECURE, HEALTHY, COMFORTABLE. AND HE SEES US SETTLING, SETTLING FOR THE APPETIZER, WHEN WE SHOULD BE GETTING READY FOR THE FULL COURSE SUPPER. HOW MANY OF US REMEMBER FORWARD, BELIEVING, REALLY BELIEVING, THAT WHAT HE PROMISED IS TRUE? CHRISTIAN MARTYRS BELIEVED THIS. THOMAS MORE, TO NAME ONE, HAD NO DOUBT, AND CHOSE TO DIE WHEN HE COULD HAVE SAVED HIMSELF. HE REMEMBERED FORWARD.
AND WHEN JESUS CALLED LAZARUS FORTH FROM THE TOMB, HE DID NOT DO IT BECAUSE HE LOVED MARTHA AND MARY AND THEIR BROTHER. HE DID IT TO SHOW THOSE AROUND HIM WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE, WHEN THE KINGDOM OF GOD WAS FULLY REALIZED. HE DID IT SO THAT YOU AND I WOULD KNOW THAT WHEN WE GO DOWN INTO THE GRAVE, IT ISN'T THE LAST WORD, IT ISN'T THE END. LIKE LAZARUS ALL OF US, IF WE ARE FAITHFUL, IF WE ARE HIS FRIENDS, CAN WITH CONFIDENCE FALL ASLEEP AT THE END OF OUR LIVES KNOWING THAT THE NEXT VOICE WE HEAR WILL BE HIS VOICE, CALLING US OUT OF THE GRAVE.
WHERE IS JESUS? WHERE IS HE IN THE MIDST OF PAIN AND SUFFERING AND DEATH? HE COMES ACCORDING TO HIS SCHEDULE, NOT OURS. BUT HE COMES. AND BECAUSE HE CAME INTO THE WORLD, BECAUSE HE SHARES OUR HUMAN NATURE, BECAUSE HE HAS ALREADY GONE THROUGH THE GATES OF DEATH AND RISEN AGAIN, WE CAN BE ASSURED THAT HE COMES FOR US, AND THAT OUR PAIN WILL TURN TO JOY, OUR WEEPING TO LAUGHTER, OUR DEATH TO LIFE.
LAZARUS DID DIE, YOU KNOW. I DON'T KNOW WHEN HE DIED, OR HOW OLD HE WAS, OR UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES. WE CAN BE SURE THAT HE DIED AFTER JESUS HIMSELF DIED. LAZARUS AND HIS SISTERS WERE AMONG THE FIRST CHRISTIANS. AND YOU CAN BE SURE THAT WHEN LAZARUS DIED THAT SECOND TIME, PERHAPS WITH MARTHA AND MARY AT HIS SIDE, THERE WAS NO FEAR, THERE WAS ONLY ANTICIPATION. BECAUSE JESUS HAD ALREADY SHOWN THAT HE WAS GREATER THAN DEATH, THAT TO HIM DEATH WAS NOTHING. AND THIS TIME LAZARUS AND MARTHA AND MARY KNEW THAT JESUS WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF DEATH, AND WAITING FOR EACH OF THEM.
WHERE WAS JESUS?
TODAY, AND EVERY DAY IF WE ARE SUFFERING, HE IS THERE; IF WE ARE IN PAIN, HE IS THERE; AND IF WE ARE DYING, HE IS THERE, CALLING US FORTH FROM THE GRAVE INTO NEW LIFE.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Fourth Sunday of Lent, Cycle A
JOHN 9:1-41
SOME PEOPLE SPEND A LOT OF MENTAL ENERGY TRYING TO IGNORE THE OBVIOUS. SAM HARRIS, A PROMINENT ATHEIST, ARGUES THAT HE AND CHRISTIANS AREN'T TOO FAR APART – OF ALL THE GODS THAT THE HUMAN RACE HAS WORSHIPED, CHRISTIANS ONLY BELIEVE IN ONE, AND HE BELIEVES IN NONE. CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, ANOTHER ATHEIST, TRIED TO SHOW THAT RELIGION IS A FORCE FOR EVIL, AND THAT ANYONE YOU COULD POINT TO WHO WAS RELIGIOUS AND WORTHY OF IMITATING WASN'T REALLY IN TUNE WITH THEIR RELIGION – AFTER ALL, YOU CAN FIND WRITINGS IN THE SCRIPTURES OF ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY, AND JUDAISM WHICH SEEM TO CONDONE AND EVEN BLESS VIOLENCE, SO IF SOMEONE IS NOT VIOLENT, THEY CLEARLY AREN'T LISTENING TO THEIR OWN SCRIPTURES. AND RICHARD DAWKINS ARGUES AGAINST RELIGION BECAUSE OF EVOLUTION – BY HIS REASONING, IF GOD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE, HE CAN'T BE A VERY SMART GOD BECAUSE IN THE COURSE OF CREATING THE HUMAN RACE THOUSANDS OF SPECIES BECAME EXTINCT, MILLIONS OF YEARS WENT BY, AND ALL LIFE ON EARTH, INCLUDING HUMAN BEINGS, HAVE BEEN SUBJECTED TO UNIMAGINABLE PAIN AND DESTRUCTION AND DEATH ALL THROUGH THE HISTORY OF LIFE. THESE GENTLEMEN AND MANY OTHERS HAVE THEIR POINTS. IN FACT, I THINK THAT ANYONE WHO DOESN'T ONCE IN A WHILE DOUBT THE EXISTENCE OF GOD IS PROBABLY NOT THINKING VERY HARD. MAYBE THAT'S A GOOD THING, BUT I'VE BEEN THERE, AND THOSE MOMENTS STILL HAPPEN TO ME.
THE BLIND MAN WE MEET TODAY IS A GOOD ANSWER TO DOUBT. HOW MUST HE HAVE FELT, BEING BORN BLIND? WHAT DID HIS PARENTS DO? BECAUSE EVERYONE KNEW THAT THE SINS OF THE PARENTS WOULD BE VISITED ON THEIR CHILDREN; AND BEING BLIND WAS A REAL CURSE. I WONDER IF HE EVER FELT HOPELESS? HE WAS COMPLETELY DEPENDENT ON OTHERS JUST TO SURVIVE; AND EVERY DAY HE HAD TO HUMILIATE HIMSELF BY BEGGING. HE COULD HEAR PEOPLE WALKING BY, SOMETIMES TALKING ABOUT HIM, SOMETIMES CURSING HIM. NOW AND THEN A COUPLE OF TEENAGERS WOULD TIPTOE UP TO HIM AND SHOUT IN HIS FACE, OR HIT HIM. AND NO ONE MINDED TOO MUCH, BECAUSE IF GOD TREATED THIS MAN IN THIS WAY, HE WAS OBVIOUSLY CURSED.
THE BLIND MAN IS HEALED OF HIS BLINDNESS. THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM DON'T KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF IT, SO THEY BRING HIM TO THE PHARISEES. AND WE HAVE THIS WONDERFUL CONVERSATION.
THE PHARISEES TRY TO FIND HOLES IN HIS STORY – MAYBE HE'S NOT REALLY THE MAN WHO WAS BORN BLIND, MAYBE HE JUST LOOKS LIKE HIM. MAYBE HE WASN'T REALLY BORN BLIND – CALL HIS PARENTS AND LETS QUESTION THEM. AFTER ALL, JESUS IS A SINNER, AND SINNERS CAN'T DO MIRACLES. SOMETHING IS FISHY HERE.
BUT THE BLIND MAN CLINGS TO HIS EXPERIENCE. “ALL I KNOW,” HE SAYS, “IS THAT I WAS BLIND, AND THIS MAN SMEARED SOME MUD IN MY EYES, AND NOW I CAN SEE.” AND WHEN THEY TELL HIM THAT THE MAN WHO HEALED HIM IS A SINNER, HE REPLIES, “I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THAT, BUT I DO KNOW THAT HE HEALED ME”. AND FINALLY, HE SAYS WHAT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS TO THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE WITNESSED THIS: “GOD DOES NOT LISTEN TO SINNERS. HE ONLY LISTENS TO THE DEVOUT. IF THIS MAN WERE NOT OF GOD, HE COULD NOT HAVE OPENED MY EYES.”
THE BEDROCK OF OUR FAITH IS OUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. EVERY ONE OF US HAS EXPERIENCED GOOD, EVERY ONE OF US HAS PERSONALLY RECEIVED SOMETHING IN LIFE WE DID NOT DESERVE, WE DID NOT EARN. IT MAY HAVE BEEN, AS IN MY CASE, A WONDERFUL SPOUSE. IT MAY HAVE BEEN BEING BORN HERE, RATHER THAN IN LIBYA, MAYBE AT THIS TIME IN MY LIFE I DON'T HAVE MUCH IN THE WAY OF BLESSINGS, BUT THEY'VE BEEN THERE IN THE PAST. AND THE ATTITUDE OF THE BLIND MAN SHOULD BE OURS AS WELL. “YOU MAKE A GOOD ARGUMENT, SAM HARRIS, CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, RICHARD DAWKINS; BUT ALL I KNOW IS THAT I'VE BEEN BLESSED – I CAN POINT TO SO MANY GOOD THINGS THAT HAVE GRACED MY LIFE. AND I CAN ONLY CONCLUDE THAT THERE IS SOMEONE WHO IS GOOD, WHO HAS GIVEN ME WHAT I DON'T DESERVE, WHAT I HAVEN'T EARNED, BEGINNING WITH LIFE ITSELF. THE REAL PROBLEM WITH ATHEISM, OR FOR THAT MATTER, PEOPLE WHO TRY TO ARGUE WITH ATHEISTS, IS THAT NEITHER SIDE KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT WHEN THEY USE THE WORD “GOD”. I DON'T KNOW MYSELF – DO YOU? WE CAN MAKE DEFINITIONS – GOD IS ALL POWERFUL, ALL KNOWING, ALL MERCIFUL – BUT THAT DOESN'T HELP BECAUSE WE ARE JUST PROJECTING HUMAN QUALITIES ON GOD AND MAGNIFYING THEM TO THE FULLEST. EVEN WHEN WE SAY “GOD IS THE SUPREME BEING” IT IMPLIES THAT GOD IS A BEING LIKE YOU AND I. AND THAT'S NOT TRUE EITHER. WE CAN'T DEFINE GOD AS AN OBJECT, AS SOMETHING SET APART THAT WE CAN EXAMINE. TO DEFINE MEANS TO DESCRIBE WHAT IS AND WHAT ISN'T. IF I DEFINE A PIANO, I CAN THEN TELL WHAT IS A PIANO AND WHAT IS NOT. WE CAN'T DO THAT WITH GOD, BECAUSE ALTHOUGH GOD IS DISTINCT FROM CREATION, GOD IS EVERYWHERE CREATION IS.
I RECENTLY READ AN ARTICLE BY A HINDU. WE ALL THINK THAT HINDUS BELIEVE IN MANY GODS, AND IN A SENSE, THEY DO. BUT AN EDUCATED HINDU WOULD TELL YOU THAT THEY ARE REALLY MONOTHEISTS; ALL THOSE GODS ARE JUST VARIOUS WAYS THE ONLY GOD SHOWS HIMSELF – BECAUSE THAT GOD CANNOT BE DESCRIBED IN AND OF HIMSELF.
IN THE STORY OF THE MAN BORN BLIND, THE REASON THE PHARISEES GOT SO UPSET IS NOT BECAUSE OF THE CURE. I'M SURE THERE HAD BEEN OTHER PEOPLE WHO HAD LOST THEIR SIGHT AND REGAINED IT. BUT FOR SOMEONE WHO HAD NEVER HAD SIGHT TO GET SIGHT – THAT'S A GOD-LIKE ACT, THAT'S AN ACT OF CREATION. AND IF YOU BELIEVE THAT BEING BORN BLIND WAS A SIGN OF SIN, EITHER ON THE PART OF THE PARENTS OR THE INDIVIDUAL HIMSELF, THEN SOMEONE WHO GAVE YOU SIGHT COULD ALSO FORGIVE SIN. IF THIS EVENT HAPPENED, THEN THE ONE WHO MADE IT HAPPEN IS OF GOD – PERHAPS GOD HIMSELF.
THE MAN BORN BLIND IS SUCH A WONDERFUL EXAMPLE TO US. “ALL I KNOW,” HE SAYS, “IS THAT I WAS BLIND, AND THIS MAN MADE ME SEE.”
WE CAN'T DEFINE GOD. WE CAN'T IMAGINE GOD. BUT WE CAN SEE THE CONSEQUENCES OF GOD IN OUR LIVES, AS DID THIS BLIND MAN. AND LIKE THE BLIND MAN, ALL WE CAN DO IS TO LOOK AT THOSE TRACES OF GOD IN OUR OWN EXPERIENCE, AND FALL ON OUR KNEES AND SAY, “I DO BELIEVE, LORD.”
BECAUSE WHILE WE CAN'T GRASP WHAT GOD IS, WHAT GOD DOES – WE DO KNOW ONE THING, AND THAT IS WHAT JESUS TOLD PHILIP SO LONG AGO. “IF YOU HAVE SEEN ME, YOU HAVE SEEN THE FATHER.” YOU AND I HAVE SEEN JESUS, WE'VE EXPERIENCED HIM IN OUR LIVES; AND THEREFORE NO ONE CAN CONVINCE US THAT THERE IS NO GOD.
SOME PEOPLE SPEND A LOT OF MENTAL ENERGY TRYING TO IGNORE THE OBVIOUS. SAM HARRIS, A PROMINENT ATHEIST, ARGUES THAT HE AND CHRISTIANS AREN'T TOO FAR APART – OF ALL THE GODS THAT THE HUMAN RACE HAS WORSHIPED, CHRISTIANS ONLY BELIEVE IN ONE, AND HE BELIEVES IN NONE. CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, ANOTHER ATHEIST, TRIED TO SHOW THAT RELIGION IS A FORCE FOR EVIL, AND THAT ANYONE YOU COULD POINT TO WHO WAS RELIGIOUS AND WORTHY OF IMITATING WASN'T REALLY IN TUNE WITH THEIR RELIGION – AFTER ALL, YOU CAN FIND WRITINGS IN THE SCRIPTURES OF ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY, AND JUDAISM WHICH SEEM TO CONDONE AND EVEN BLESS VIOLENCE, SO IF SOMEONE IS NOT VIOLENT, THEY CLEARLY AREN'T LISTENING TO THEIR OWN SCRIPTURES. AND RICHARD DAWKINS ARGUES AGAINST RELIGION BECAUSE OF EVOLUTION – BY HIS REASONING, IF GOD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE, HE CAN'T BE A VERY SMART GOD BECAUSE IN THE COURSE OF CREATING THE HUMAN RACE THOUSANDS OF SPECIES BECAME EXTINCT, MILLIONS OF YEARS WENT BY, AND ALL LIFE ON EARTH, INCLUDING HUMAN BEINGS, HAVE BEEN SUBJECTED TO UNIMAGINABLE PAIN AND DESTRUCTION AND DEATH ALL THROUGH THE HISTORY OF LIFE. THESE GENTLEMEN AND MANY OTHERS HAVE THEIR POINTS. IN FACT, I THINK THAT ANYONE WHO DOESN'T ONCE IN A WHILE DOUBT THE EXISTENCE OF GOD IS PROBABLY NOT THINKING VERY HARD. MAYBE THAT'S A GOOD THING, BUT I'VE BEEN THERE, AND THOSE MOMENTS STILL HAPPEN TO ME.
THE BLIND MAN WE MEET TODAY IS A GOOD ANSWER TO DOUBT. HOW MUST HE HAVE FELT, BEING BORN BLIND? WHAT DID HIS PARENTS DO? BECAUSE EVERYONE KNEW THAT THE SINS OF THE PARENTS WOULD BE VISITED ON THEIR CHILDREN; AND BEING BLIND WAS A REAL CURSE. I WONDER IF HE EVER FELT HOPELESS? HE WAS COMPLETELY DEPENDENT ON OTHERS JUST TO SURVIVE; AND EVERY DAY HE HAD TO HUMILIATE HIMSELF BY BEGGING. HE COULD HEAR PEOPLE WALKING BY, SOMETIMES TALKING ABOUT HIM, SOMETIMES CURSING HIM. NOW AND THEN A COUPLE OF TEENAGERS WOULD TIPTOE UP TO HIM AND SHOUT IN HIS FACE, OR HIT HIM. AND NO ONE MINDED TOO MUCH, BECAUSE IF GOD TREATED THIS MAN IN THIS WAY, HE WAS OBVIOUSLY CURSED.
THE BLIND MAN IS HEALED OF HIS BLINDNESS. THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM DON'T KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF IT, SO THEY BRING HIM TO THE PHARISEES. AND WE HAVE THIS WONDERFUL CONVERSATION.
THE PHARISEES TRY TO FIND HOLES IN HIS STORY – MAYBE HE'S NOT REALLY THE MAN WHO WAS BORN BLIND, MAYBE HE JUST LOOKS LIKE HIM. MAYBE HE WASN'T REALLY BORN BLIND – CALL HIS PARENTS AND LETS QUESTION THEM. AFTER ALL, JESUS IS A SINNER, AND SINNERS CAN'T DO MIRACLES. SOMETHING IS FISHY HERE.
BUT THE BLIND MAN CLINGS TO HIS EXPERIENCE. “ALL I KNOW,” HE SAYS, “IS THAT I WAS BLIND, AND THIS MAN SMEARED SOME MUD IN MY EYES, AND NOW I CAN SEE.” AND WHEN THEY TELL HIM THAT THE MAN WHO HEALED HIM IS A SINNER, HE REPLIES, “I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THAT, BUT I DO KNOW THAT HE HEALED ME”. AND FINALLY, HE SAYS WHAT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS TO THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE WITNESSED THIS: “GOD DOES NOT LISTEN TO SINNERS. HE ONLY LISTENS TO THE DEVOUT. IF THIS MAN WERE NOT OF GOD, HE COULD NOT HAVE OPENED MY EYES.”
THE BEDROCK OF OUR FAITH IS OUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. EVERY ONE OF US HAS EXPERIENCED GOOD, EVERY ONE OF US HAS PERSONALLY RECEIVED SOMETHING IN LIFE WE DID NOT DESERVE, WE DID NOT EARN. IT MAY HAVE BEEN, AS IN MY CASE, A WONDERFUL SPOUSE. IT MAY HAVE BEEN BEING BORN HERE, RATHER THAN IN LIBYA, MAYBE AT THIS TIME IN MY LIFE I DON'T HAVE MUCH IN THE WAY OF BLESSINGS, BUT THEY'VE BEEN THERE IN THE PAST. AND THE ATTITUDE OF THE BLIND MAN SHOULD BE OURS AS WELL. “YOU MAKE A GOOD ARGUMENT, SAM HARRIS, CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, RICHARD DAWKINS; BUT ALL I KNOW IS THAT I'VE BEEN BLESSED – I CAN POINT TO SO MANY GOOD THINGS THAT HAVE GRACED MY LIFE. AND I CAN ONLY CONCLUDE THAT THERE IS SOMEONE WHO IS GOOD, WHO HAS GIVEN ME WHAT I DON'T DESERVE, WHAT I HAVEN'T EARNED, BEGINNING WITH LIFE ITSELF. THE REAL PROBLEM WITH ATHEISM, OR FOR THAT MATTER, PEOPLE WHO TRY TO ARGUE WITH ATHEISTS, IS THAT NEITHER SIDE KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT WHEN THEY USE THE WORD “GOD”. I DON'T KNOW MYSELF – DO YOU? WE CAN MAKE DEFINITIONS – GOD IS ALL POWERFUL, ALL KNOWING, ALL MERCIFUL – BUT THAT DOESN'T HELP BECAUSE WE ARE JUST PROJECTING HUMAN QUALITIES ON GOD AND MAGNIFYING THEM TO THE FULLEST. EVEN WHEN WE SAY “GOD IS THE SUPREME BEING” IT IMPLIES THAT GOD IS A BEING LIKE YOU AND I. AND THAT'S NOT TRUE EITHER. WE CAN'T DEFINE GOD AS AN OBJECT, AS SOMETHING SET APART THAT WE CAN EXAMINE. TO DEFINE MEANS TO DESCRIBE WHAT IS AND WHAT ISN'T. IF I DEFINE A PIANO, I CAN THEN TELL WHAT IS A PIANO AND WHAT IS NOT. WE CAN'T DO THAT WITH GOD, BECAUSE ALTHOUGH GOD IS DISTINCT FROM CREATION, GOD IS EVERYWHERE CREATION IS.
I RECENTLY READ AN ARTICLE BY A HINDU. WE ALL THINK THAT HINDUS BELIEVE IN MANY GODS, AND IN A SENSE, THEY DO. BUT AN EDUCATED HINDU WOULD TELL YOU THAT THEY ARE REALLY MONOTHEISTS; ALL THOSE GODS ARE JUST VARIOUS WAYS THE ONLY GOD SHOWS HIMSELF – BECAUSE THAT GOD CANNOT BE DESCRIBED IN AND OF HIMSELF.
IN THE STORY OF THE MAN BORN BLIND, THE REASON THE PHARISEES GOT SO UPSET IS NOT BECAUSE OF THE CURE. I'M SURE THERE HAD BEEN OTHER PEOPLE WHO HAD LOST THEIR SIGHT AND REGAINED IT. BUT FOR SOMEONE WHO HAD NEVER HAD SIGHT TO GET SIGHT – THAT'S A GOD-LIKE ACT, THAT'S AN ACT OF CREATION. AND IF YOU BELIEVE THAT BEING BORN BLIND WAS A SIGN OF SIN, EITHER ON THE PART OF THE PARENTS OR THE INDIVIDUAL HIMSELF, THEN SOMEONE WHO GAVE YOU SIGHT COULD ALSO FORGIVE SIN. IF THIS EVENT HAPPENED, THEN THE ONE WHO MADE IT HAPPEN IS OF GOD – PERHAPS GOD HIMSELF.
THE MAN BORN BLIND IS SUCH A WONDERFUL EXAMPLE TO US. “ALL I KNOW,” HE SAYS, “IS THAT I WAS BLIND, AND THIS MAN MADE ME SEE.”
WE CAN'T DEFINE GOD. WE CAN'T IMAGINE GOD. BUT WE CAN SEE THE CONSEQUENCES OF GOD IN OUR LIVES, AS DID THIS BLIND MAN. AND LIKE THE BLIND MAN, ALL WE CAN DO IS TO LOOK AT THOSE TRACES OF GOD IN OUR OWN EXPERIENCE, AND FALL ON OUR KNEES AND SAY, “I DO BELIEVE, LORD.”
BECAUSE WHILE WE CAN'T GRASP WHAT GOD IS, WHAT GOD DOES – WE DO KNOW ONE THING, AND THAT IS WHAT JESUS TOLD PHILIP SO LONG AGO. “IF YOU HAVE SEEN ME, YOU HAVE SEEN THE FATHER.” YOU AND I HAVE SEEN JESUS, WE'VE EXPERIENCED HIM IN OUR LIVES; AND THEREFORE NO ONE CAN CONVINCE US THAT THERE IS NO GOD.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Third Sunday of Lent, Cycle A
JOHN 4:5-42
SOMETIMES WHEN YOU READ A GOSPEL STORY SLOWLY AND TRY TO HEAR IT AS IF YOU'D NEVER HEARD IT BEFORE, YOU COME UP WITH QUESTIONS. AND THE QUESTIONS LEAD YOU TO OTHER QUESTIONS, AND YOU CAN SPEND A LOT OF TIME TRYING TO FIND THE ANSWERS. THAT HAPPENED TO ME AS I STUDIED TODAY'S GOSPEL, DURING THE WEEK THAT THE DEATH OF ELIZABETH TAYLOR WAS ALL OVER THE NEWS. THE SAMARITAN WOMAN HAD FIVE HUSBANDS. ELIZABETH TAYLOR HAD HER BEAT – SHE HAD EIGHT HUSBANDS. BUT IN JESUS' TIME, HOW COULD A WOMAN EVER HAVE FIVE HUSBANDS, ESPECIALLY IN A LITTLE TOWN IN THE NORTHERN PART OF WHAT IS NOW ISRAEL? IF ONE AFTER THE OTHER HUSBAND HAD DIED, IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE MEN WOULD HAVE WISED UP QUICKLY AND WOULD WONDER IF SHE WAS AN AX MURDERER OR SOMETHING. AND IF THOSE FIRST COUPLE OF HUSBANDS HAD DIVORCED HER, A PROCESS THAT WAS PRETTY EASY IN THOSE DAYS, SHE WOULD HAVE DEVELOPED A REPUTATION AS BEING VERY HARD TO LIVE WITH, AND WHO WOULD WANT TO BOTHER. SO IT MAY BE THAT JOHN IS WRITING ON A DIFFERENT LEVEL, AS HE DOES THROUGHOUT HIS GOSPEL. JOHN NEVER SPEAKS ABOUT JESUS INSTITUTING THE EUCHARIST AT THE LAST SUPPER; BUT IN JOHN, JESUS SPENDS A LOT OF TIME TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF AS THE EUCHARIST, AS THE BREAD COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN. SO MAYBE THIS STORY NEEDS TO BE UNDERSTOOD AT A DEEPER LEVEL.
FIVE HUSBANDS. IT TURNS OUT THAT THAT ISN'T TOO HARD TO FIGURE OUT. ABOUT A CENTURY AFTER KING DAVID, THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE TOOK THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL LEADERS OF ISRAEL INTO EXILE, AND THEN SETTLED FIVE PAGAN TRIBES ON THE LAND. OVER TIME, THE JEWS AND PAGANS INTERMARRIED, AND ADOPTED EACH OTHERS CUSTOMS, AND OVER TIME THE SAMARITAN RELIGION DEVELOPED. TO THE JEWS, WHO LOOKED DOWN ON INTERMARRIAGE WITH NON JEWS, AND WHO BELIEVED THAT THE ONLY PLACE YOU COULD WORSHIP GOD PROPERLY WAS THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM, THE SAMARITANS WERE AN INSULT, AN ABOMINATION. THEY REPRESENTED WHAT WAS ABSOLUTELY THE WORST OF HUMANKIND. SO, FIVE HUSBANDS, FIVE PAGAN TRIBES, FIVE SETS OF RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS, NONE OF WHICH WORKED; AND NOW, A RELIGION OF SORTS, BUT NOT LEGITIMATE.
AND HERE'S ANOTHER THING. JESUS MEETS THE WOMAN AT A WELL. TO THE JEWS, THAT BROUGHT MEMORIES – ABRAHAM SENT HIS SERVANT TO FIND A WIFE FOR HIS SON ISAAC, AND THE SERVANT FINDS HER AT A WELL. ISAAC'S SON JACOB FINDS HIS WIFE, RACHEL, AT A WELL. MOSES FINDS HIS WIFE, ZIPPORAH, AT A WELL. IN EACH CASE, BY THE WAY, THE MAN DOES SOMETHING TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR THE WOMAN TO GET AT THE WATER. SO PEOPLE HEARING JOHN'S STORY WOULD BE TUNED IN TO THIS IDEA. AND JESUS PROMISES THE WOMAN LIVING WATER – HE MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR HER TO HAVE THE WATER WHICH SHE CAN'T GET OTHERWISE.
WHEN JOHN WAS AN OLD MAN, MAYBE 70 YEARS AFTER JESUS HAD DIED, THERE WAS A FLOURISHING CHURCH, ALREADY FULL OF TRADITIONS. JOHN WROTE HIS GOSPEL FOR A COMMUNITY OF CHRISTIANS WHO WERE MADE UP OF JEWS AND GENTILES. PERHAPS THERE WAS SOME RESIDUAL TENSION IN THE COMMUNITY. AND PERHAPS THIS STORY WAS JOHN'S WAY OF DEALING WITH THAT TENSION. THE IDEA THAT THE CHURCH IS THE BRIDE OF CHRIST MUST HAVE ALREADY BEEN WIDELY CIRCULATED, BECAUSE PAUL, WHO WROTE HIS LETTERS LONG BEFORE JOHN WROTE HIS GOSPEL, TALKS ABOUT THAT IN THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS; AND IN THE JEWISH SCRIPTURES, THE IDEA OF GOD BEING THE HUSBAND OF HIS PEOPLE IS EVIDENT THROUGHOUT, AND HERE IN THE STORY OF THE SAMARITAN WOMAN, JESUS MEETS HIS FUTURE BRIDE AT THE WELL, AND PROVIDES HER WITH LIVING WATER. THE FUTURE BRIDE IS A SAMARITAN, A COMBINATION OF JEW AND GENTILE, NOW WORSHIPING WHAT SHE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND; SHE WAS ESTRANGED FROM GOD; THE ONE SHE WAS LIVING WITH WAS NOT HER HUSBAND. AND WHEN THE WOMAN ACCEPTS JESUS AS MESSIAH, SHE LEAVES HER BUCKET, HAVING NO MORE NEED OF IT SINCE NOW SHE HAS THE LIVING WATER. THE SAMARITAN WOMAN REPRESENTS THE CHURCH – WHERE THERE IS NEITHER JEW NOR GENTILE; A CHURCH MADE UP OF PEOPLE CALLED OUT OF THE DARKNESS, WHETHER JEW OR GENTILE IN THE PAST, THEY NOW WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH, NO LONGER IN THE TEMPLE OR ON THE MOUNTAIN.
THERE IS ANOTHER IDEA IN THIS STORY THAT'S WORTH THINKING ABOUT. THE FIRST THING THE WOMAN DOES WHEN SHE RECOGNIZES JESUS IS RUSH TO BRING OTHERS TO HIM. FROM THE MOMENT THE CHURCH BEGINS, THIS MISSIONARY IMPULSE IS PRESENT. IF MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH FIND JESUS, IF THEY TRULY ENTER INTO THIS NUPTUAL RELATIONSHIP WHERE JESUS IS THE GROOM AND THE CHURCH IS HIS BRIDE, THEN THEY SHOULD WANT TO SHARE THE GOOD NEWS WITH OTHERS; THEY SHOULD WANT TO BEAR FRUIT. IF I HAVE BEEN TAKEN INTO THE EMBRACE OF THE INFINITE GOD, SURELY I WILL SHARE HIS DESIRE TO BRING EVERYONE INTO THAT RELATIONSHIP. THE BRIDE WILL TRULY BEGIN TO BE WORTHY OF HER HUSBAND WHEN THE CHURCH BECOMES WHAT HE DESIRES HER TO BE – HIS KINGDOM ON EARTH.
TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO, JOHN'S COMMUNITY HEARD THIS STORY READ TO THEM, THIS STORY WHICH IS DENSE WITH MEANING; AND THEY UNDERSTOOD WHAT WE DON'T, AT LEAST WITHOUT HELP. AND THEY SAW THEMSELVES IN THE SAMARITAN WOMAN, AND THEY SAW SOMETHING ABOUT THE LOVE JESUS HAD FOR THEM IN THE STORY OF THE WELL, THE LOVE LIKE A HUSBAND FOR HIS WIFE. AND THEY SAW THAT THERE WAS NO NEED TO FEAR, BECAUSE THEY HAD THE LIVING WATER, AND IT COULDN'T BE TAKEN FROM THEM. AND THEY FELT JOY IN THEIR HEARTS, SO MUCH SO THAT THEY HAD TO TELL THEIR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS AND INVITE THEM TO COME AND SEE, TO MEET THE MESSIAH, SO THAT THEY TOO COULD ENTER THIS RELATIONSHIP.
AND I HOPE I'VE GIVEN YOU A NEW WAY TO LOOK AT THIS STORY. I THINK IT'S PROBABLY NOT TOO FAR FROM THE WAY JOHN WOULD HAVE WANTED HIS COMMUNITY TO LOOK AT IT SO LONG AGO. AND AS WE THINK ABOUT IT, MAYBE WE WILL BE MOVED TO REALIZE WHAT WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN, AND WE ALSO WILL NOT BE ABLE TO KEEP THE GOOD NEWS TO OURSELVES. AND MAYBE WE WILL THINK OF SOMEONE WHO COULD USE THE GOOD NEWS, SOMEONE WHOM WE CAN BRING TO THE DIVINE BRIDEGROOM, WHO CAN THEN SAY, “I BELIEVE NO LONGER BECAUSE OF YOUR WORD, BUT BECAUSE OF WHAT I HAVE HEARD FOR MYSELF; HE IS TRULY THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD.”
SOMETIMES WHEN YOU READ A GOSPEL STORY SLOWLY AND TRY TO HEAR IT AS IF YOU'D NEVER HEARD IT BEFORE, YOU COME UP WITH QUESTIONS. AND THE QUESTIONS LEAD YOU TO OTHER QUESTIONS, AND YOU CAN SPEND A LOT OF TIME TRYING TO FIND THE ANSWERS. THAT HAPPENED TO ME AS I STUDIED TODAY'S GOSPEL, DURING THE WEEK THAT THE DEATH OF ELIZABETH TAYLOR WAS ALL OVER THE NEWS. THE SAMARITAN WOMAN HAD FIVE HUSBANDS. ELIZABETH TAYLOR HAD HER BEAT – SHE HAD EIGHT HUSBANDS. BUT IN JESUS' TIME, HOW COULD A WOMAN EVER HAVE FIVE HUSBANDS, ESPECIALLY IN A LITTLE TOWN IN THE NORTHERN PART OF WHAT IS NOW ISRAEL? IF ONE AFTER THE OTHER HUSBAND HAD DIED, IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE MEN WOULD HAVE WISED UP QUICKLY AND WOULD WONDER IF SHE WAS AN AX MURDERER OR SOMETHING. AND IF THOSE FIRST COUPLE OF HUSBANDS HAD DIVORCED HER, A PROCESS THAT WAS PRETTY EASY IN THOSE DAYS, SHE WOULD HAVE DEVELOPED A REPUTATION AS BEING VERY HARD TO LIVE WITH, AND WHO WOULD WANT TO BOTHER. SO IT MAY BE THAT JOHN IS WRITING ON A DIFFERENT LEVEL, AS HE DOES THROUGHOUT HIS GOSPEL. JOHN NEVER SPEAKS ABOUT JESUS INSTITUTING THE EUCHARIST AT THE LAST SUPPER; BUT IN JOHN, JESUS SPENDS A LOT OF TIME TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF AS THE EUCHARIST, AS THE BREAD COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN. SO MAYBE THIS STORY NEEDS TO BE UNDERSTOOD AT A DEEPER LEVEL.
FIVE HUSBANDS. IT TURNS OUT THAT THAT ISN'T TOO HARD TO FIGURE OUT. ABOUT A CENTURY AFTER KING DAVID, THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE TOOK THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL LEADERS OF ISRAEL INTO EXILE, AND THEN SETTLED FIVE PAGAN TRIBES ON THE LAND. OVER TIME, THE JEWS AND PAGANS INTERMARRIED, AND ADOPTED EACH OTHERS CUSTOMS, AND OVER TIME THE SAMARITAN RELIGION DEVELOPED. TO THE JEWS, WHO LOOKED DOWN ON INTERMARRIAGE WITH NON JEWS, AND WHO BELIEVED THAT THE ONLY PLACE YOU COULD WORSHIP GOD PROPERLY WAS THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM, THE SAMARITANS WERE AN INSULT, AN ABOMINATION. THEY REPRESENTED WHAT WAS ABSOLUTELY THE WORST OF HUMANKIND. SO, FIVE HUSBANDS, FIVE PAGAN TRIBES, FIVE SETS OF RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS, NONE OF WHICH WORKED; AND NOW, A RELIGION OF SORTS, BUT NOT LEGITIMATE.
AND HERE'S ANOTHER THING. JESUS MEETS THE WOMAN AT A WELL. TO THE JEWS, THAT BROUGHT MEMORIES – ABRAHAM SENT HIS SERVANT TO FIND A WIFE FOR HIS SON ISAAC, AND THE SERVANT FINDS HER AT A WELL. ISAAC'S SON JACOB FINDS HIS WIFE, RACHEL, AT A WELL. MOSES FINDS HIS WIFE, ZIPPORAH, AT A WELL. IN EACH CASE, BY THE WAY, THE MAN DOES SOMETHING TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR THE WOMAN TO GET AT THE WATER. SO PEOPLE HEARING JOHN'S STORY WOULD BE TUNED IN TO THIS IDEA. AND JESUS PROMISES THE WOMAN LIVING WATER – HE MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR HER TO HAVE THE WATER WHICH SHE CAN'T GET OTHERWISE.
WHEN JOHN WAS AN OLD MAN, MAYBE 70 YEARS AFTER JESUS HAD DIED, THERE WAS A FLOURISHING CHURCH, ALREADY FULL OF TRADITIONS. JOHN WROTE HIS GOSPEL FOR A COMMUNITY OF CHRISTIANS WHO WERE MADE UP OF JEWS AND GENTILES. PERHAPS THERE WAS SOME RESIDUAL TENSION IN THE COMMUNITY. AND PERHAPS THIS STORY WAS JOHN'S WAY OF DEALING WITH THAT TENSION. THE IDEA THAT THE CHURCH IS THE BRIDE OF CHRIST MUST HAVE ALREADY BEEN WIDELY CIRCULATED, BECAUSE PAUL, WHO WROTE HIS LETTERS LONG BEFORE JOHN WROTE HIS GOSPEL, TALKS ABOUT THAT IN THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS; AND IN THE JEWISH SCRIPTURES, THE IDEA OF GOD BEING THE HUSBAND OF HIS PEOPLE IS EVIDENT THROUGHOUT, AND HERE IN THE STORY OF THE SAMARITAN WOMAN, JESUS MEETS HIS FUTURE BRIDE AT THE WELL, AND PROVIDES HER WITH LIVING WATER. THE FUTURE BRIDE IS A SAMARITAN, A COMBINATION OF JEW AND GENTILE, NOW WORSHIPING WHAT SHE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND; SHE WAS ESTRANGED FROM GOD; THE ONE SHE WAS LIVING WITH WAS NOT HER HUSBAND. AND WHEN THE WOMAN ACCEPTS JESUS AS MESSIAH, SHE LEAVES HER BUCKET, HAVING NO MORE NEED OF IT SINCE NOW SHE HAS THE LIVING WATER. THE SAMARITAN WOMAN REPRESENTS THE CHURCH – WHERE THERE IS NEITHER JEW NOR GENTILE; A CHURCH MADE UP OF PEOPLE CALLED OUT OF THE DARKNESS, WHETHER JEW OR GENTILE IN THE PAST, THEY NOW WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH, NO LONGER IN THE TEMPLE OR ON THE MOUNTAIN.
THERE IS ANOTHER IDEA IN THIS STORY THAT'S WORTH THINKING ABOUT. THE FIRST THING THE WOMAN DOES WHEN SHE RECOGNIZES JESUS IS RUSH TO BRING OTHERS TO HIM. FROM THE MOMENT THE CHURCH BEGINS, THIS MISSIONARY IMPULSE IS PRESENT. IF MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH FIND JESUS, IF THEY TRULY ENTER INTO THIS NUPTUAL RELATIONSHIP WHERE JESUS IS THE GROOM AND THE CHURCH IS HIS BRIDE, THEN THEY SHOULD WANT TO SHARE THE GOOD NEWS WITH OTHERS; THEY SHOULD WANT TO BEAR FRUIT. IF I HAVE BEEN TAKEN INTO THE EMBRACE OF THE INFINITE GOD, SURELY I WILL SHARE HIS DESIRE TO BRING EVERYONE INTO THAT RELATIONSHIP. THE BRIDE WILL TRULY BEGIN TO BE WORTHY OF HER HUSBAND WHEN THE CHURCH BECOMES WHAT HE DESIRES HER TO BE – HIS KINGDOM ON EARTH.
TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO, JOHN'S COMMUNITY HEARD THIS STORY READ TO THEM, THIS STORY WHICH IS DENSE WITH MEANING; AND THEY UNDERSTOOD WHAT WE DON'T, AT LEAST WITHOUT HELP. AND THEY SAW THEMSELVES IN THE SAMARITAN WOMAN, AND THEY SAW SOMETHING ABOUT THE LOVE JESUS HAD FOR THEM IN THE STORY OF THE WELL, THE LOVE LIKE A HUSBAND FOR HIS WIFE. AND THEY SAW THAT THERE WAS NO NEED TO FEAR, BECAUSE THEY HAD THE LIVING WATER, AND IT COULDN'T BE TAKEN FROM THEM. AND THEY FELT JOY IN THEIR HEARTS, SO MUCH SO THAT THEY HAD TO TELL THEIR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS AND INVITE THEM TO COME AND SEE, TO MEET THE MESSIAH, SO THAT THEY TOO COULD ENTER THIS RELATIONSHIP.
AND I HOPE I'VE GIVEN YOU A NEW WAY TO LOOK AT THIS STORY. I THINK IT'S PROBABLY NOT TOO FAR FROM THE WAY JOHN WOULD HAVE WANTED HIS COMMUNITY TO LOOK AT IT SO LONG AGO. AND AS WE THINK ABOUT IT, MAYBE WE WILL BE MOVED TO REALIZE WHAT WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN, AND WE ALSO WILL NOT BE ABLE TO KEEP THE GOOD NEWS TO OURSELVES. AND MAYBE WE WILL THINK OF SOMEONE WHO COULD USE THE GOOD NEWS, SOMEONE WHOM WE CAN BRING TO THE DIVINE BRIDEGROOM, WHO CAN THEN SAY, “I BELIEVE NO LONGER BECAUSE OF YOUR WORD, BUT BECAUSE OF WHAT I HAVE HEARD FOR MYSELF; HE IS TRULY THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD.”
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