Proper 13 Whoever comes
Whoever comes is welcome in my house.
Whoever comes I will not turn away.
Whoever comes may receive any or all of my gifts.
Whoever comes through the darkness of the void walks by the light of faith.
My house is a mansion of abundance.
My invitation inspires the whisper of the wind.
My gifts are not such as weary with the wear.
Your faith imbues my gifts with endless bliss renewed in the
Spirit’s kiss of peace.
Do you labor long to accumulate things that only satisfy in the thrill of acquisition?
Do you freeze your joy in storage bins and banks rank with stagnation?
Time erodes the romance of desire with a single sigh.
Passion freezes in the wry count of possession and disposition.
Walk with me in the Temple courts of immaterial delights.
Rediscover again your destiny in the invitation of the Beloved.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Pentecost IX
Pentecost IX Proper 13 Whoever comes to me.
People who heard Jesus preach, people who really listened to what he said, were more often than not offended.
Jesus refused to allow other people to define his plan, his purpose and his person. His constant prayer was: Heavenly Father not my will but your will be done. Because that prayer formed his every choice, Jesus never separated from the Father. Because he never separated from the Father he never sinned. Because he never sinned he never lived with the recycled pain of suffering, shame and guilt.
After the miraculous feeding of the five thousand the people wanted to make Jesus king. Consider what that meant. There were no elections in the ancient world. There was no easy way to change the ruler. Rome recognized one principle in its imperial rule: survival of the fittest.
Most offices of government in the Roman Empire were civil service positions governed by Roman Law. The top position was the one office open to any who could seize it and hold it. All senators in the Imperial Senate were emperors in waiting. They waited to perceive any sign of weakness, indecision or failure in the reigning Emperor.
For a Roman- a weak emperor was a sign for assassination or civil war. The one thing the Roman Empire did not reward in its aristocracy was weakness. If you challenged the emperor and won, popular belief attributed your success to divine approval of you intelligence and strength. If you challenged the emperor and lost, every one expected you, your family, your friends and your supporters to commit suicide as the last act of self responsibility for your failure. Otherwise, the winners executed the losers.
Jesus did not come to this planet to over throw governments, fight wars, enrich one group at the expense of others or to follow the darwinian path of power and dominance. Jesus came to earth to re unite a lost, broken and desolate humanity to God, to each other, and to itself.
Jesus refuses to become the person the crowds want him to become. Jesus refuses to alter his Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation for a substitute plan of conquest. Jesus held fast to his purpose to be the steadfast holy love of God in human flesh.
It is in this context that Jesus states: whoever comes to me will never be hungry. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
I am the bread of life.
The crowds did not understand. Jesus was telling them, what you seek most is not what you need most. The means by which you seek will not even accomplish your very narrow and short sighted goals. If you are focused only on power, pleasure, position, prestige and pride you will lose everything of value.
If you seek first what God offers, you will gain all things necessary for your health and happiness and far more than you can imagine. What God offers is not a program, or a will to power. It is not conquest and control. It is not even limited to a set of laws, rituals or spiritual discipline. What God offers is a personal relationship with the personal God who has come to earth in the person of Jesus Christ.
This is what offended so many people who heard Jesus. It is why eleven of the twelve apostles were executed and the twelfth was exiled. It is why so many governments persecute, suppress or attempt to marginalize the Christian Faith.
Jesus’ message to his generation and to all generations is unique and startling. Jesus says: I am the bread of life. To do the work of God means to believe in me for I am the one whom God the Father has sent into the world to bridge the gap between sinful humanity and the Holy God. I am the one who can and will restore all things to their original beauty, their original purity, their first love.
Jesus never presented himself as one religious option among many. He never said he was offering his insights about God. He very clearly stated that He came from God the Father and brought forth the plan and purpose the Father had given him.
C.S. Lewis once wrote that Jesus doesn’t leave us many options about his person or his teaching. Jesus clearly states: I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will live. Jesus did not direct people to a religious program or a methodology or a specific discipline. He said: Come to me.
What options did that leave the people of Jesus’ day? They ascertained that there were only two options. Despite all of Jesus’ miracles, healings, compassion and concern- if he was not telling the truth he was committing blasphemy by claiming to be the way, the truth and the life. It he was telling the truth- then the unthinkable had become real. The one God had some how taken human form and was now in their midst calling them into a new relationship with Himself.
We all know how the story evolved. No one could accept the reality that God had permanently united his divinity with our humanity in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ enemies arrested him and executed him. As Jesus was dying they called to him partly in anger and partly in fear: if you are truthfully the Son of God as you claim, then reveal the divine power to command and control. Become the person we want you to be. Do the things we want you to do. Then, we will repent and follow you.
Jesus cannot and will not allow himself to be redefined by any one. Jesus is the fullness of the co-eternal logos, the Word of God, in human flesh. Jesus cannot and will not allow himself to be redefined as a prophet, seer, teacher, moralist or any thing else because the stakes are too high. The stakes are the salvation and sanctification of souls.
Jesus did not accept the pain and torment of crucifixion to become a martyr for a cause. He accepted crucifixion in order to conquer death on our behalf. In his conquest of death Jesus experienced the desolation of all souls in their separation from God. He experienced it, transformed it by the power of steadfast holy love, and now offers us the opportunity to experience that transformation.
That offer is the moment of grace that comes to us as we hear the word of God spoken to us. The Father has sent the Holy Spirit into the world to speak to all people everywhere the simple and powerful message: God is real, God is love, God is personal, God is Jesus Christ. The issue is not that God has not spoken. The issue is that people do not listen.
That offer comes to us in the blessed sacrament of the altar whereby Jesus infuses his own body into our body and his own blood into our blood. The blessed sacrament is a divine transfusion of eternal life into our very bodies and souls. It is the most amazing and most valuable gift God gives us. It is life.
The sacrament is not insurance for a future reward. The sacrament is the present reality of Jesus offering to transform our minds, hearts and wills here and now. Eternal life is not about what happens after you die. Eternal life is not about the quantity of existence. Eternal life is about the quality of life you experience here and now. Eternal life is a relationship with the infinite and eternal God through the living Lord Jesus Christ.
What do you labor for? Where do place your time and attention? How do you spend your limited energy? What do you spend it on?
Jesus speaks to us today and says: do not work solely or even primarily for pleasure, possession, power, prestige or pride. As you need these things you will acquire them. There is nothing wrong with the things of this world. But, things cannot feed the soul. Power cannot bring more life. The things of this world are all about power and possession. They are all about quantify of existence.
What God offers is a life transforming relationship in Jesus Christ. Place your time and effort into cultivating that relationship. Re order your priorities to make your relationship with Jesus Christ first. By doing that you will find that you have chosen a way of living that is all about the quality of life. It is a way of living that is about daily renewal and transformation in divine love and holiness.
Eternal life begins now. Eternal life is Jesus Christ. The stakes are too high to play games with our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation. Jesus knew this truth. Jesus lived this reality. Jesus died so we could receive this new way of living.
Jesus says to us today: my gift to you is the bread of life, eternal life. I will give this gift with out condition and without reservation to whoever comes to me.
People who heard Jesus preach, people who really listened to what he said, were more often than not offended.
Jesus refused to allow other people to define his plan, his purpose and his person. His constant prayer was: Heavenly Father not my will but your will be done. Because that prayer formed his every choice, Jesus never separated from the Father. Because he never separated from the Father he never sinned. Because he never sinned he never lived with the recycled pain of suffering, shame and guilt.
After the miraculous feeding of the five thousand the people wanted to make Jesus king. Consider what that meant. There were no elections in the ancient world. There was no easy way to change the ruler. Rome recognized one principle in its imperial rule: survival of the fittest.
Most offices of government in the Roman Empire were civil service positions governed by Roman Law. The top position was the one office open to any who could seize it and hold it. All senators in the Imperial Senate were emperors in waiting. They waited to perceive any sign of weakness, indecision or failure in the reigning Emperor.
For a Roman- a weak emperor was a sign for assassination or civil war. The one thing the Roman Empire did not reward in its aristocracy was weakness. If you challenged the emperor and won, popular belief attributed your success to divine approval of you intelligence and strength. If you challenged the emperor and lost, every one expected you, your family, your friends and your supporters to commit suicide as the last act of self responsibility for your failure. Otherwise, the winners executed the losers.
Jesus did not come to this planet to over throw governments, fight wars, enrich one group at the expense of others or to follow the darwinian path of power and dominance. Jesus came to earth to re unite a lost, broken and desolate humanity to God, to each other, and to itself.
Jesus refuses to become the person the crowds want him to become. Jesus refuses to alter his Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation for a substitute plan of conquest. Jesus held fast to his purpose to be the steadfast holy love of God in human flesh.
It is in this context that Jesus states: whoever comes to me will never be hungry. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
I am the bread of life.
The crowds did not understand. Jesus was telling them, what you seek most is not what you need most. The means by which you seek will not even accomplish your very narrow and short sighted goals. If you are focused only on power, pleasure, position, prestige and pride you will lose everything of value.
If you seek first what God offers, you will gain all things necessary for your health and happiness and far more than you can imagine. What God offers is not a program, or a will to power. It is not conquest and control. It is not even limited to a set of laws, rituals or spiritual discipline. What God offers is a personal relationship with the personal God who has come to earth in the person of Jesus Christ.
This is what offended so many people who heard Jesus. It is why eleven of the twelve apostles were executed and the twelfth was exiled. It is why so many governments persecute, suppress or attempt to marginalize the Christian Faith.
Jesus’ message to his generation and to all generations is unique and startling. Jesus says: I am the bread of life. To do the work of God means to believe in me for I am the one whom God the Father has sent into the world to bridge the gap between sinful humanity and the Holy God. I am the one who can and will restore all things to their original beauty, their original purity, their first love.
Jesus never presented himself as one religious option among many. He never said he was offering his insights about God. He very clearly stated that He came from God the Father and brought forth the plan and purpose the Father had given him.
C.S. Lewis once wrote that Jesus doesn’t leave us many options about his person or his teaching. Jesus clearly states: I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will live. Jesus did not direct people to a religious program or a methodology or a specific discipline. He said: Come to me.
What options did that leave the people of Jesus’ day? They ascertained that there were only two options. Despite all of Jesus’ miracles, healings, compassion and concern- if he was not telling the truth he was committing blasphemy by claiming to be the way, the truth and the life. It he was telling the truth- then the unthinkable had become real. The one God had some how taken human form and was now in their midst calling them into a new relationship with Himself.
We all know how the story evolved. No one could accept the reality that God had permanently united his divinity with our humanity in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ enemies arrested him and executed him. As Jesus was dying they called to him partly in anger and partly in fear: if you are truthfully the Son of God as you claim, then reveal the divine power to command and control. Become the person we want you to be. Do the things we want you to do. Then, we will repent and follow you.
Jesus cannot and will not allow himself to be redefined by any one. Jesus is the fullness of the co-eternal logos, the Word of God, in human flesh. Jesus cannot and will not allow himself to be redefined as a prophet, seer, teacher, moralist or any thing else because the stakes are too high. The stakes are the salvation and sanctification of souls.
Jesus did not accept the pain and torment of crucifixion to become a martyr for a cause. He accepted crucifixion in order to conquer death on our behalf. In his conquest of death Jesus experienced the desolation of all souls in their separation from God. He experienced it, transformed it by the power of steadfast holy love, and now offers us the opportunity to experience that transformation.
That offer is the moment of grace that comes to us as we hear the word of God spoken to us. The Father has sent the Holy Spirit into the world to speak to all people everywhere the simple and powerful message: God is real, God is love, God is personal, God is Jesus Christ. The issue is not that God has not spoken. The issue is that people do not listen.
That offer comes to us in the blessed sacrament of the altar whereby Jesus infuses his own body into our body and his own blood into our blood. The blessed sacrament is a divine transfusion of eternal life into our very bodies and souls. It is the most amazing and most valuable gift God gives us. It is life.
The sacrament is not insurance for a future reward. The sacrament is the present reality of Jesus offering to transform our minds, hearts and wills here and now. Eternal life is not about what happens after you die. Eternal life is not about the quantity of existence. Eternal life is about the quality of life you experience here and now. Eternal life is a relationship with the infinite and eternal God through the living Lord Jesus Christ.
What do you labor for? Where do place your time and attention? How do you spend your limited energy? What do you spend it on?
Jesus speaks to us today and says: do not work solely or even primarily for pleasure, possession, power, prestige or pride. As you need these things you will acquire them. There is nothing wrong with the things of this world. But, things cannot feed the soul. Power cannot bring more life. The things of this world are all about power and possession. They are all about quantify of existence.
What God offers is a life transforming relationship in Jesus Christ. Place your time and effort into cultivating that relationship. Re order your priorities to make your relationship with Jesus Christ first. By doing that you will find that you have chosen a way of living that is all about the quality of life. It is a way of living that is about daily renewal and transformation in divine love and holiness.
Eternal life begins now. Eternal life is Jesus Christ. The stakes are too high to play games with our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation. Jesus knew this truth. Jesus lived this reality. Jesus died so we could receive this new way of living.
Jesus says to us today: my gift to you is the bread of life, eternal life. I will give this gift with out condition and without reservation to whoever comes to me.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Pentecost VIII
Pentecost VIII Proper 12 "It is I, do not be afraid."
Fear is one of three major distortions in the human soul.
The other two are self will and pride. All three are a consequence of the original choice humanity made to separate from God. All three produce a soul at war with itself, other people and with God.
Fear is the great enemy of faith. Because it is a spiritual distortion it affects all aspects of our lives. It colors our thoughts, our emotions and our wills. It diminishes our ability to perceive the world as it is. It inhibits our natural growth and development in the principles of love and compassion.
Fear is grounded in the sin nature that seeks control. The sin nature is the ongoing evolution of human life apart from the eternal life and love of the Holy Trinity. The Bible records for us numerous examples of how the evolving sin nature disrupts human societies, distorts religion and produces the disintegration of the individual psyche. We need only to listen to the news or observe the struggles of our lives to perceive the affect of the sin nature in our world.
Fear is an irrational reaction to the realities of life. And it is a reaction grounded in the self deceit of the human will to power. This self deception leads us to believe that the world should be different, better and in fact: perfect. It also leads us to believe that by right knowledge and right action we can impose our will on other people, nature, and God. In the depth of the separated soul is the demand: my will be done.
It is important to note the sequence of events that lead up to the reaction of fear the apostles experienced. Jesus performed an amazing miracle. With five small barely loves and two small fish Jesus fed thousands of people. All He did was to offer the loaves and fish to God with a prayer of thanksgiving. There is no record of Jesus asking God for help. There is no record of Jesus invoking God’s mighty miracles of the past to justify His miraculous intervention in the present. There is also no record that Jesus had any doubt that God would provide.
Jesus consecrated the need with a faithful prayer of thanksgiving for the food at hand. That prayer of faith offered five loaves and two fish. Those five loaves and two fish fed thousands of people. And, so we do not miss the miracle, John records that when every one had eaten their full there was more food left over than when they had begun. From five small barely loaves there were twelve baskets of left overs, one basket for each of the apostles to gather and wonder.
Then, Jesus withdraws. The crowds disperse. The disciples get into boats and row about four or five miles against a strong wind and waves. They are tired and exhausted and Jesus is not with them.
The fear comes when they see Jesus approach. The fear comes forth as their reaction to something extra ordinary and super natural. For, Jesus comes to them walking on the water.
Only hours before they had eaten there full of bread and fish and collected twelve baskets of left overs. They had experienced first hand a divine miracle at Jesus’ hands. They had heard the crowds proclaim Jesus a prophet and their desire to make him a king. It was a moment of triumph that Jesus quietly walked away from. And now, as Jesus approaches them, walking on the sea, they reacted with fear.
Why?
At this point, they know that Jesus is not just a prophet. At this point they realize Jesus is not just the royal heir of King David and a claimant to the throne of Israel. At this point they observe divine power at work in Jesus. It is at this point they react with fear. The internal commentary of the Bible clarifies their reaction. The Bible teaches: it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Jesus Christ is God up front and personal. Jesus leaves no doubt about who God is. He leaves no doubt about what God wants. In Jesus Christ God reveals the fullness of his steadfast holy love to the apostles and to all people every where. The truth of Jesus is the truth of Creation. It is the truth that God is the Creator and we are the creation.
Jesus Christ just doesn’t speak the truth or a version of truth, Jesus Christ is truth. And so, Jesus is the perfect mirror to our souls. He reveals to us the perfect love of God. He reveals to us our own choice to separate from God and live in the melodrama of our own stories. He reveals to us our own self will, fear and pride.
Once Jesus makes himself known, the world can never be the same. The apostles know this much. They also fear this much. Jesus walking on water is far more than what they expected. Jesus walking on the sea reveals himself as the Living God in human flesh.
The Living God is ineffably good and holy and loving. He is also his own person. He is not fixed. He is not static. He is not subject to human whim or definition. He is active, dynamic, creative, spontaneous. He is interested in a transforming relationship with the human soul.
The human soul is interested in control. Jesus cannot be controlled. The human soul is interested in deciding for itself what is true. Jesus is truth. As he makes himself known it becomes clear he will not allow himself to be redefined.
The human soul wants the deck of life to be stacked in its favor. Jesus is the wild card who changes everything and leaves nothing the same.
The human soul seeks to cheat life and shift the blame to some one else, even to God if necessary. Jesus is the reminder that we are each responsible for our own choices and that the laws of God cannot be cheated.
The fear of God is the recognition that we lack the right and the power to define God. God defines himself. He defines himself fully and completely in Jesus Christ.
The human soul, lost in the melodrama of self will and pride, fears that God will impose his will on us. The fear is not in God. The fear is in the distortions of a soul that seeks to make the universe stand still The fear is in a soul that seeks to impose its will The fear is in the soul that demands to be the center of attention.
Jesus’ presence on earth reminds us we are not the center of attention, but we are loved with an everlasting love. Perfect love casts out fear. Perfect love transforms fear into faith. Faith trusts in the abundance of a loving God.
Fear grasps and holds tightly. The more fear seeks control the more it realizes control is an illusion. And, the more fear feels control slipping away the more it seeks to redefine the laws of the universe to make control possible. Fear deadens the soul and enslaves the will to ever greater levels of illusion and self deceit.
Faith relaxes and trusts that it is not only OK that God is in control, it is wonderful. Faith discerns that free will is a will set free though total immersion into the eternal love of God through the waters of baptism. Faith learns that control is an illusion but choice is a reality. Faith helps the soul grow up and not only face the truth but to embrace the truth.
The truth is that Jesus Christ is the very meaning and purpose for our lives.
The apostles were not ready yet to make that commitment of faith. As Jesus walked on the sea and the sea and the wind yielded to his presence and supported him on his journey the apostles had the insight that following Jesus was going to involve something new and something different. Following Jesus was going to redefine their lives. They weren’t ready yet.
It is never easy to look into the reality of the Living Lord Jesus Christ and recognize that you are not the center of the universe but you are loved with an everlasting love. It is not easy to recognize that free will can only come through surrender of self will to God’s will.
It isn’t easy. But it is possible. As it was possible that a simple prayer of thanksgiving over five loaves and two fish could feed thousands with so much abundance that the left overs filled twelve baskets.
Jesus offers us that abundance. It is the abundance of a new life and a new way of living. It is the abundance of a narrow self limiting pattern of fear transformed into a endless potential of faith.
Jesus called to the apostles, It is I, do not fear. It is I, the fulness of God in human flesh. It is I, the eternal love of the Father reaching out to you from the wind and the waves.
Where there is fear there is no faith in our souls. Where there is fear there is no joy in our hearts. . Where there is fear there is Jesus standing in the midst of the storm, unaffected and undeterred , offering us himself to us to transform our fear into faith simply by the presence of his steadfast holy love. The storms come and go. The love remains forever.
Where is there fear in your life? Jesus is there in the midst of it calling to you, it is I, do not be afraid.
Fear is one of three major distortions in the human soul.
The other two are self will and pride. All three are a consequence of the original choice humanity made to separate from God. All three produce a soul at war with itself, other people and with God.
Fear is the great enemy of faith. Because it is a spiritual distortion it affects all aspects of our lives. It colors our thoughts, our emotions and our wills. It diminishes our ability to perceive the world as it is. It inhibits our natural growth and development in the principles of love and compassion.
Fear is grounded in the sin nature that seeks control. The sin nature is the ongoing evolution of human life apart from the eternal life and love of the Holy Trinity. The Bible records for us numerous examples of how the evolving sin nature disrupts human societies, distorts religion and produces the disintegration of the individual psyche. We need only to listen to the news or observe the struggles of our lives to perceive the affect of the sin nature in our world.
Fear is an irrational reaction to the realities of life. And it is a reaction grounded in the self deceit of the human will to power. This self deception leads us to believe that the world should be different, better and in fact: perfect. It also leads us to believe that by right knowledge and right action we can impose our will on other people, nature, and God. In the depth of the separated soul is the demand: my will be done.
It is important to note the sequence of events that lead up to the reaction of fear the apostles experienced. Jesus performed an amazing miracle. With five small barely loves and two small fish Jesus fed thousands of people. All He did was to offer the loaves and fish to God with a prayer of thanksgiving. There is no record of Jesus asking God for help. There is no record of Jesus invoking God’s mighty miracles of the past to justify His miraculous intervention in the present. There is also no record that Jesus had any doubt that God would provide.
Jesus consecrated the need with a faithful prayer of thanksgiving for the food at hand. That prayer of faith offered five loaves and two fish. Those five loaves and two fish fed thousands of people. And, so we do not miss the miracle, John records that when every one had eaten their full there was more food left over than when they had begun. From five small barely loaves there were twelve baskets of left overs, one basket for each of the apostles to gather and wonder.
Then, Jesus withdraws. The crowds disperse. The disciples get into boats and row about four or five miles against a strong wind and waves. They are tired and exhausted and Jesus is not with them.
The fear comes when they see Jesus approach. The fear comes forth as their reaction to something extra ordinary and super natural. For, Jesus comes to them walking on the water.
Only hours before they had eaten there full of bread and fish and collected twelve baskets of left overs. They had experienced first hand a divine miracle at Jesus’ hands. They had heard the crowds proclaim Jesus a prophet and their desire to make him a king. It was a moment of triumph that Jesus quietly walked away from. And now, as Jesus approaches them, walking on the sea, they reacted with fear.
Why?
At this point, they know that Jesus is not just a prophet. At this point they realize Jesus is not just the royal heir of King David and a claimant to the throne of Israel. At this point they observe divine power at work in Jesus. It is at this point they react with fear. The internal commentary of the Bible clarifies their reaction. The Bible teaches: it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Jesus Christ is God up front and personal. Jesus leaves no doubt about who God is. He leaves no doubt about what God wants. In Jesus Christ God reveals the fullness of his steadfast holy love to the apostles and to all people every where. The truth of Jesus is the truth of Creation. It is the truth that God is the Creator and we are the creation.
Jesus Christ just doesn’t speak the truth or a version of truth, Jesus Christ is truth. And so, Jesus is the perfect mirror to our souls. He reveals to us the perfect love of God. He reveals to us our own choice to separate from God and live in the melodrama of our own stories. He reveals to us our own self will, fear and pride.
Once Jesus makes himself known, the world can never be the same. The apostles know this much. They also fear this much. Jesus walking on water is far more than what they expected. Jesus walking on the sea reveals himself as the Living God in human flesh.
The Living God is ineffably good and holy and loving. He is also his own person. He is not fixed. He is not static. He is not subject to human whim or definition. He is active, dynamic, creative, spontaneous. He is interested in a transforming relationship with the human soul.
The human soul is interested in control. Jesus cannot be controlled. The human soul is interested in deciding for itself what is true. Jesus is truth. As he makes himself known it becomes clear he will not allow himself to be redefined.
The human soul wants the deck of life to be stacked in its favor. Jesus is the wild card who changes everything and leaves nothing the same.
The human soul seeks to cheat life and shift the blame to some one else, even to God if necessary. Jesus is the reminder that we are each responsible for our own choices and that the laws of God cannot be cheated.
The fear of God is the recognition that we lack the right and the power to define God. God defines himself. He defines himself fully and completely in Jesus Christ.
The human soul, lost in the melodrama of self will and pride, fears that God will impose his will on us. The fear is not in God. The fear is in the distortions of a soul that seeks to make the universe stand still The fear is in a soul that seeks to impose its will The fear is in the soul that demands to be the center of attention.
Jesus’ presence on earth reminds us we are not the center of attention, but we are loved with an everlasting love. Perfect love casts out fear. Perfect love transforms fear into faith. Faith trusts in the abundance of a loving God.
Fear grasps and holds tightly. The more fear seeks control the more it realizes control is an illusion. And, the more fear feels control slipping away the more it seeks to redefine the laws of the universe to make control possible. Fear deadens the soul and enslaves the will to ever greater levels of illusion and self deceit.
Faith relaxes and trusts that it is not only OK that God is in control, it is wonderful. Faith discerns that free will is a will set free though total immersion into the eternal love of God through the waters of baptism. Faith learns that control is an illusion but choice is a reality. Faith helps the soul grow up and not only face the truth but to embrace the truth.
The truth is that Jesus Christ is the very meaning and purpose for our lives.
The apostles were not ready yet to make that commitment of faith. As Jesus walked on the sea and the sea and the wind yielded to his presence and supported him on his journey the apostles had the insight that following Jesus was going to involve something new and something different. Following Jesus was going to redefine their lives. They weren’t ready yet.
It is never easy to look into the reality of the Living Lord Jesus Christ and recognize that you are not the center of the universe but you are loved with an everlasting love. It is not easy to recognize that free will can only come through surrender of self will to God’s will.
It isn’t easy. But it is possible. As it was possible that a simple prayer of thanksgiving over five loaves and two fish could feed thousands with so much abundance that the left overs filled twelve baskets.
Jesus offers us that abundance. It is the abundance of a new life and a new way of living. It is the abundance of a narrow self limiting pattern of fear transformed into a endless potential of faith.
Jesus called to the apostles, It is I, do not fear. It is I, the fulness of God in human flesh. It is I, the eternal love of the Father reaching out to you from the wind and the waves.
Where there is fear there is no faith in our souls. Where there is fear there is no joy in our hearts. . Where there is fear there is Jesus standing in the midst of the storm, unaffected and undeterred , offering us himself to us to transform our fear into faith simply by the presence of his steadfast holy love. The storms come and go. The love remains forever.
Where is there fear in your life? Jesus is there in the midst of it calling to you, it is I, do not be afraid.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Pentecost VII
Pentecost VII July 19
Come away and rest awhile.
There is an amazing pragmatism to the Bible. It reveals all of the elements of human nature, the good and the bad. It affirms the essential goodness of the physical creation. And, it deals with the various aspects of life in a very practical way. The Bible is in fact incredibly down to earth.
In this passage the teaching is in the invitation Jesus offers his apostles. Come away to a deserted place. Rest awhile.
The apostles had just completed their first mission. Jesus had sent them out two by two to the villages of Galilee to preach the Good News of God’s love, to teach the people in matters of worship and charitable service, and to heal. It had been an amazing experience for the apostles. They were exhilarated by their experience and wanted more. But Jesus knew they needed something different. They needed solitude. They needed rest. And they needed silence.
What Jesus was teaching the apostles was the principle underlying the Sabbath. The Sabbath is unique to God’s revelation to Moses. As we read in the prophets, it was one of two laws the people of God most frequently ignored.
By Jesus’ time most religious people in Israel understood the importance of the Sabbath. But, they missed the meaning. The Sabbath had become enmeshed in endless disputes about the proper form, the proper time and the list of dos and don’ts. It had become mired in human based legalism and a subject for lawyers and loopholes. More often than not, the question most people asked about the Sabbath was: what is the minimum requirement for me to do to avoid God’s wrath and earn God’s favor? The goal was not to find God according to God’s invitation but to fulfill the externals of the law while maintaining the power of self will.
The Sabbath is the simple and practical teaching that humans are physical beings, self aware individuals and spiritual persons. Jesus’ invitation to the apostles to come away and rest awhile proceeds from this simple and practical revelation about human nature.
As physical beings we need certain basic things to keep alive and healthy. These things include food, shelter, clothing, exercise, recreation and rest. The human body is not designed for constant activity, or for constant inactivity. Recreation is as important as work. Rest is equally important. God wove into the Creation this principle when he set aside one day in seven as a day of rest. It is such an important principle that God elevated it to the status of one of the Ten Commandments he revealed to Moses.
As a principle, rest seems self evident but it is often violated. It is violated because our sin nature, the place of separation from God, distorts our desires so that we always want something more or something different. It distorts our reason so we ignore the proper balance of work and rest our bodies need. And, it distorts our will so we make choices that ignore the basic laws of cause and effect.
Jesus reminded his apostles: you need rest. You are no good to God, to other people, or to yourselves if you allow the distortions of sin to distract you from the vital place rest has in your life.
Human beings are also self aware individuals. We not only are physical beings, we also have an emotional and psychological component. We need time to be with other people and we need time apart and alone. The balance point is different for each of us but the principle is the same. If we are too engaged in activities we lose ourselves. Some one once commented that all of the problems in the modern world can be traced to our inability to sit alone in silence for more that a few minutes.
As the physical body needs rest so, too, do the emotional and psychological components of our being. We can drown out the silence God placed at the center of our souls. If we make that choice we lose the sense of our own identity. We begin to experience the deeper distortions of sin that encourage us to see other people as objects for our pleasure rather than subjects for our love and compassion.
The emotional distortions lead to the tendency to use people and love things. The psychological distortions lead us to demand that other people make us happy and the fear that they will inevitably fail us.
Rest is the reset button for physical health. Solitude and silence are the reset buttons for our emotional and psychological health.
There is a third component to our nature. That is our personal spiritual identity.
The physical, emotional and psychological values of the Sabbath principle are all important and valid. They also derive their reality from the truth that each of us is created in the Image and Likeness of God. Each of us is a unique reflection in time and space of the Infinite and the Eternal. We were created by love, through love and for love.
As spiritual beings we have been designed for a specific set of interpersonal relationships. Those relationships are properly characterized by love and holiness. The first and primary relationship is our relationship with God. God the Father designed us to be in an eternal relationship with God the Son by the indwelling presence and power of God the Holy Spirit.
We were each designed to function within the context of a dynamic, active and transforming participation in the divine life of the blessed Trinity. That relationship just doesn’t happen. It requires a choice. It requires a choice to meet God at the place and time God invites us to meet him for no expectation of reward or entertainment. It is a choice to value God for who God is.
The tendency of the sin nature of separation is to redefine God in terms of condemnation or self indulgence. Condemnation produces law based religion. Law based religion teaches that if we obey certain rules then God must give us what we want. The invitation to rest and silence is distorted by law based religion into a set of rules and loop holes that miss the very purpose for the invitation. The goal becomes doing the minimum in order to get a reward.
Self indulgent based religion says God only exists to make me happy. If the invitation to rest and silence makes me happy and captivates my interest then I will do it. But, I will do it my way, in my time and for my purposes and at my convenience. Once again, the distortion blocks the reality.
Whether the distortion is legalism or self indulgence the result is self will. The principle is: my will be done. The demand is that God submit to my schedule, my plans, my goals so that I can accomplish my purpose. Self will negates divine will. Self will produces a soul lost in fear and pride.
The invitation to rest and silence is an invitation into a personal loving and transforming relationship with God in Jesus Christ.
If we are too tired from too many activities we miss that relationship. As with the apostles, those activities may even be the work God asks us to do on His behalf. The essence of the Christian Faith is the personal relationship we are cultivating with God in Christ and then with other people in Jesus’s name.
Jesus shows us the pattern of how this relationship can develop and grow in balance and harmony. It is the invitation Jesus gives us to come away and rest for awhile.
In the beginning, God set aside an entire day for this time of physical rest and spiritual renewal. And, right from the beginning, people have sought ways to redefine the invitation to limit the time we have to spend with God.
It has been said, every one wants to go to heaven but no one wants to spend any more time with God in worship than is absolutely necessary. Heaven is the state of a soul immersed in worship. We can experience the joy of heaven here and now as we make a real choice to follow Jesus’ invitation into rest and silence.
When we ignore Jesus’ invitation we do not value who God is and what God offers. We may value what we think God can do for us. When we do that, the rest and silence become an unbearable burden. They become a reminder of our own self indulgence and fear. It is in that self indulgence and fear that we experience the desolation of hell.
It is only as we hear the invitation and heed the invitation that Jesus brings to us that we find our true selves in the place of love and holiness that is the place of rest and silence. The Holy Spirit is encouraging each of us to hear Jesus’ invitation as though for the first time. To meet Jesus Christ as though for the first time. And, to discover the truth of our own identity in Christ all over again in a new and astonishing way.
Jesus invited his apostles and he invites us: Come with me. Come and step aside from the busy fretful life of work and distraction. Taste the sacramental wine of eternal life in a moment of silence. Discover that you are cherished in the stillness of your soul by the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier of souls. Take the time to step apart from time and immerse yourself in the eternal love of Jesus Christ who is the fulness of Heaven here on earth. It is there that you will find the faith, hope and charity that your soul longs for.
It is there that Jesus waits for you with the invitation: Come away and rest awhile.
Come away and rest awhile.
There is an amazing pragmatism to the Bible. It reveals all of the elements of human nature, the good and the bad. It affirms the essential goodness of the physical creation. And, it deals with the various aspects of life in a very practical way. The Bible is in fact incredibly down to earth.
In this passage the teaching is in the invitation Jesus offers his apostles. Come away to a deserted place. Rest awhile.
The apostles had just completed their first mission. Jesus had sent them out two by two to the villages of Galilee to preach the Good News of God’s love, to teach the people in matters of worship and charitable service, and to heal. It had been an amazing experience for the apostles. They were exhilarated by their experience and wanted more. But Jesus knew they needed something different. They needed solitude. They needed rest. And they needed silence.
What Jesus was teaching the apostles was the principle underlying the Sabbath. The Sabbath is unique to God’s revelation to Moses. As we read in the prophets, it was one of two laws the people of God most frequently ignored.
By Jesus’ time most religious people in Israel understood the importance of the Sabbath. But, they missed the meaning. The Sabbath had become enmeshed in endless disputes about the proper form, the proper time and the list of dos and don’ts. It had become mired in human based legalism and a subject for lawyers and loopholes. More often than not, the question most people asked about the Sabbath was: what is the minimum requirement for me to do to avoid God’s wrath and earn God’s favor? The goal was not to find God according to God’s invitation but to fulfill the externals of the law while maintaining the power of self will.
The Sabbath is the simple and practical teaching that humans are physical beings, self aware individuals and spiritual persons. Jesus’ invitation to the apostles to come away and rest awhile proceeds from this simple and practical revelation about human nature.
As physical beings we need certain basic things to keep alive and healthy. These things include food, shelter, clothing, exercise, recreation and rest. The human body is not designed for constant activity, or for constant inactivity. Recreation is as important as work. Rest is equally important. God wove into the Creation this principle when he set aside one day in seven as a day of rest. It is such an important principle that God elevated it to the status of one of the Ten Commandments he revealed to Moses.
As a principle, rest seems self evident but it is often violated. It is violated because our sin nature, the place of separation from God, distorts our desires so that we always want something more or something different. It distorts our reason so we ignore the proper balance of work and rest our bodies need. And, it distorts our will so we make choices that ignore the basic laws of cause and effect.
Jesus reminded his apostles: you need rest. You are no good to God, to other people, or to yourselves if you allow the distortions of sin to distract you from the vital place rest has in your life.
Human beings are also self aware individuals. We not only are physical beings, we also have an emotional and psychological component. We need time to be with other people and we need time apart and alone. The balance point is different for each of us but the principle is the same. If we are too engaged in activities we lose ourselves. Some one once commented that all of the problems in the modern world can be traced to our inability to sit alone in silence for more that a few minutes.
As the physical body needs rest so, too, do the emotional and psychological components of our being. We can drown out the silence God placed at the center of our souls. If we make that choice we lose the sense of our own identity. We begin to experience the deeper distortions of sin that encourage us to see other people as objects for our pleasure rather than subjects for our love and compassion.
The emotional distortions lead to the tendency to use people and love things. The psychological distortions lead us to demand that other people make us happy and the fear that they will inevitably fail us.
Rest is the reset button for physical health. Solitude and silence are the reset buttons for our emotional and psychological health.
There is a third component to our nature. That is our personal spiritual identity.
The physical, emotional and psychological values of the Sabbath principle are all important and valid. They also derive their reality from the truth that each of us is created in the Image and Likeness of God. Each of us is a unique reflection in time and space of the Infinite and the Eternal. We were created by love, through love and for love.
As spiritual beings we have been designed for a specific set of interpersonal relationships. Those relationships are properly characterized by love and holiness. The first and primary relationship is our relationship with God. God the Father designed us to be in an eternal relationship with God the Son by the indwelling presence and power of God the Holy Spirit.
We were each designed to function within the context of a dynamic, active and transforming participation in the divine life of the blessed Trinity. That relationship just doesn’t happen. It requires a choice. It requires a choice to meet God at the place and time God invites us to meet him for no expectation of reward or entertainment. It is a choice to value God for who God is.
The tendency of the sin nature of separation is to redefine God in terms of condemnation or self indulgence. Condemnation produces law based religion. Law based religion teaches that if we obey certain rules then God must give us what we want. The invitation to rest and silence is distorted by law based religion into a set of rules and loop holes that miss the very purpose for the invitation. The goal becomes doing the minimum in order to get a reward.
Self indulgent based religion says God only exists to make me happy. If the invitation to rest and silence makes me happy and captivates my interest then I will do it. But, I will do it my way, in my time and for my purposes and at my convenience. Once again, the distortion blocks the reality.
Whether the distortion is legalism or self indulgence the result is self will. The principle is: my will be done. The demand is that God submit to my schedule, my plans, my goals so that I can accomplish my purpose. Self will negates divine will. Self will produces a soul lost in fear and pride.
The invitation to rest and silence is an invitation into a personal loving and transforming relationship with God in Jesus Christ.
If we are too tired from too many activities we miss that relationship. As with the apostles, those activities may even be the work God asks us to do on His behalf. The essence of the Christian Faith is the personal relationship we are cultivating with God in Christ and then with other people in Jesus’s name.
Jesus shows us the pattern of how this relationship can develop and grow in balance and harmony. It is the invitation Jesus gives us to come away and rest for awhile.
In the beginning, God set aside an entire day for this time of physical rest and spiritual renewal. And, right from the beginning, people have sought ways to redefine the invitation to limit the time we have to spend with God.
It has been said, every one wants to go to heaven but no one wants to spend any more time with God in worship than is absolutely necessary. Heaven is the state of a soul immersed in worship. We can experience the joy of heaven here and now as we make a real choice to follow Jesus’ invitation into rest and silence.
When we ignore Jesus’ invitation we do not value who God is and what God offers. We may value what we think God can do for us. When we do that, the rest and silence become an unbearable burden. They become a reminder of our own self indulgence and fear. It is in that self indulgence and fear that we experience the desolation of hell.
It is only as we hear the invitation and heed the invitation that Jesus brings to us that we find our true selves in the place of love and holiness that is the place of rest and silence. The Holy Spirit is encouraging each of us to hear Jesus’ invitation as though for the first time. To meet Jesus Christ as though for the first time. And, to discover the truth of our own identity in Christ all over again in a new and astonishing way.
Jesus invited his apostles and he invites us: Come with me. Come and step aside from the busy fretful life of work and distraction. Taste the sacramental wine of eternal life in a moment of silence. Discover that you are cherished in the stillness of your soul by the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier of souls. Take the time to step apart from time and immerse yourself in the eternal love of Jesus Christ who is the fulness of Heaven here on earth. It is there that you will find the faith, hope and charity that your soul longs for.
It is there that Jesus waits for you with the invitation: Come away and rest awhile.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Pentecost 6 Year B
Pentecost VI Mark 6:14-29
For Jesus’ name had become known.
Through out his life, people wondered just who Jesus was.
And, through out his life, people spent more time talking about Jesus than with Jesus.
People who heard of Jesus speculated about his origin and identity. We hear in this passage that some thought Jesus was a prophet. Some thought he was the prophet Elijah returned to earth. Still others decided that Jesus was the resurrected John the Baptist. King Herod believed this later and most improbable theory.
There is a principle here for us to discern. What we believe about Jesus reveals the state of our own souls.
King Herod had just enough appreciation for religion to blind him to the truth. It wasn’t the religion that blinded him. It was the distortion of religion that produced superstition.
King Herod actually enjoyed hearing John preach. Herod was fascinated with John’s dedication to his message. Herod was impressed by John’s zeal. He was even captivated by John’s single minded devotion to God. But, Herod did not hear the message. He heard the words and saw the outward signs. But he did not allow the message to reach his soul.
John preached a simple message: repent and prepare. Repent of your sins, give up that which keeps you separated from God. Prepare for the coming of the Messiah.
Herod was fascinated with the image of John, the firey prophet who wore a camel’s hair robe and ate locusts and wild honey. But, Herod was not willing to repent. He enjoyed the pleasures of sin and ignored John’s warning that the temporary pleasures of sin only serve to divert our attention from the eternal consequences of sin.
King Herod was not willing to hear the word of God as proclaimed by John. So, Herod used what he knew of religion to fabricate his own interpretation of Jesus, who was and is the co-eternal Word of God in human flesh.
Herod lapsed into superstition to avoid conversion. The idea that Jesus was the resurrected John was absurd. Hundreds if not thousands of people had witnessed John baptizing Jesus. Large crowds had listened to Jesus preach and experienced his miracles while John was in prison. John himself had sent his disciples, his students, to speak with Jesus and to hear his message.
Superstition is the way religious people some times choose to use to avoid conversion. It is the way we sometimes try to hold onto to the forms of religion and maintain our separation from God so we can avoid giving up our sins. Superstition is the defense the soul establishes so it can hold on to sin and still use the language of what our modern world calls "spirituality."
Perhaps you have heard people say something like, I’m not religious but I am spiritual. In most instances, if you listen carefully to those who say such things, you will hear an echo of King Herod’s attitude, actions, and words.
Religion is not the solution to the basic problem confronting humanity. But, neither is it the problem. The problem is separation from God. The problem is the way that separation distorts the soul and brings forth fear, self will and pride.
Those three distortions subvert every religion, philosophy and spirituality that human beings create.
The purpose of religion is to help us find God. The purpose of the sin nature is to keep us separated from God. Rationalism and superstition are simply two ways the soul in a state of separation seeks to maintain separation.
The voice of sin is always: my will be done.
The consistent record of Jesus’ prayer is: Holy Father, not my will but your will be done.
Had King Herod really heard the message of John, he would have asked God for the help he needed to repent of his sin. Sin is a very powerful addictive force. It is so powerful that the apostle Paul tells us that we are either slaves to sin or set free in Jesus Christ.
Herod wanted the illusion of freedom to sin. There is no freedom in sin. There is only self deceit that produces anxiety, frustration and fear. There is only the voice of self will that ignores the clear message of the prophets and the eternal clarity of the co-eternal Son of God made flesh in Jesus Christ.
King Herod missed his moment of grace. He rejected faith and chose superstition. Superstition is not the only means by which a soul may reject faith. Mysticism, rationalism, even so called spirituality can assist in the rejection of faith.
God doesn’t ask to believe in abstract religious principles. God asks us to believe in Jesus Christ. The invitation to faith is an invitation into a new and transforming personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is that relationship that resolves the sin problem, the problem of separation from God, from other people, from the image and likeness of God imprinted on our souls.
The message of the prophets, including John, was that the Law of Moses could never solve the sin problem. The problem is not lack of knowledge. It is not even solely a lack of will. It is lack of love.
That love is what God gives us as a free gift in Jesus Christ.
That love is the infinite and eternal divine essence fully embodied in Jesus Christ.
There are many in the world who have heard of Jesus’ name.
The question is: what do we believe about Jesus? Do we act from the place of self will, fear and pride to define Jesus according to our own will? Do we defend against Jesus to preserve the illusion of freedom in separation from God, freedom to sin?
Or, do we stop. Look. Listen to the Living Lord Jesus Christ who even now reaches out to all people every where, to each of us, with the open invitation to be set free from sin and filled with divine love and compassion.
Throughout our lives Jesus makes himself more fully known to us. Throughout our lives the Holy Spirit uses all means to reveal to us the love of God the Father in Jesus Christ.
How is Jesus making himself known to you this day? What in your life is the Holy Spirit using to bring the reality of Jesus more fully and completely present? How would you answer the question and then live the answer: who is Jesus Christ?
For Jesus’ name had become known.
Through out his life, people wondered just who Jesus was.
And, through out his life, people spent more time talking about Jesus than with Jesus.
People who heard of Jesus speculated about his origin and identity. We hear in this passage that some thought Jesus was a prophet. Some thought he was the prophet Elijah returned to earth. Still others decided that Jesus was the resurrected John the Baptist. King Herod believed this later and most improbable theory.
There is a principle here for us to discern. What we believe about Jesus reveals the state of our own souls.
King Herod had just enough appreciation for religion to blind him to the truth. It wasn’t the religion that blinded him. It was the distortion of religion that produced superstition.
King Herod actually enjoyed hearing John preach. Herod was fascinated with John’s dedication to his message. Herod was impressed by John’s zeal. He was even captivated by John’s single minded devotion to God. But, Herod did not hear the message. He heard the words and saw the outward signs. But he did not allow the message to reach his soul.
John preached a simple message: repent and prepare. Repent of your sins, give up that which keeps you separated from God. Prepare for the coming of the Messiah.
Herod was fascinated with the image of John, the firey prophet who wore a camel’s hair robe and ate locusts and wild honey. But, Herod was not willing to repent. He enjoyed the pleasures of sin and ignored John’s warning that the temporary pleasures of sin only serve to divert our attention from the eternal consequences of sin.
King Herod was not willing to hear the word of God as proclaimed by John. So, Herod used what he knew of religion to fabricate his own interpretation of Jesus, who was and is the co-eternal Word of God in human flesh.
Herod lapsed into superstition to avoid conversion. The idea that Jesus was the resurrected John was absurd. Hundreds if not thousands of people had witnessed John baptizing Jesus. Large crowds had listened to Jesus preach and experienced his miracles while John was in prison. John himself had sent his disciples, his students, to speak with Jesus and to hear his message.
Superstition is the way religious people some times choose to use to avoid conversion. It is the way we sometimes try to hold onto to the forms of religion and maintain our separation from God so we can avoid giving up our sins. Superstition is the defense the soul establishes so it can hold on to sin and still use the language of what our modern world calls "spirituality."
Perhaps you have heard people say something like, I’m not religious but I am spiritual. In most instances, if you listen carefully to those who say such things, you will hear an echo of King Herod’s attitude, actions, and words.
Religion is not the solution to the basic problem confronting humanity. But, neither is it the problem. The problem is separation from God. The problem is the way that separation distorts the soul and brings forth fear, self will and pride.
Those three distortions subvert every religion, philosophy and spirituality that human beings create.
The purpose of religion is to help us find God. The purpose of the sin nature is to keep us separated from God. Rationalism and superstition are simply two ways the soul in a state of separation seeks to maintain separation.
The voice of sin is always: my will be done.
The consistent record of Jesus’ prayer is: Holy Father, not my will but your will be done.
Had King Herod really heard the message of John, he would have asked God for the help he needed to repent of his sin. Sin is a very powerful addictive force. It is so powerful that the apostle Paul tells us that we are either slaves to sin or set free in Jesus Christ.
Herod wanted the illusion of freedom to sin. There is no freedom in sin. There is only self deceit that produces anxiety, frustration and fear. There is only the voice of self will that ignores the clear message of the prophets and the eternal clarity of the co-eternal Son of God made flesh in Jesus Christ.
King Herod missed his moment of grace. He rejected faith and chose superstition. Superstition is not the only means by which a soul may reject faith. Mysticism, rationalism, even so called spirituality can assist in the rejection of faith.
God doesn’t ask to believe in abstract religious principles. God asks us to believe in Jesus Christ. The invitation to faith is an invitation into a new and transforming personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is that relationship that resolves the sin problem, the problem of separation from God, from other people, from the image and likeness of God imprinted on our souls.
The message of the prophets, including John, was that the Law of Moses could never solve the sin problem. The problem is not lack of knowledge. It is not even solely a lack of will. It is lack of love.
That love is what God gives us as a free gift in Jesus Christ.
That love is the infinite and eternal divine essence fully embodied in Jesus Christ.
There are many in the world who have heard of Jesus’ name.
The question is: what do we believe about Jesus? Do we act from the place of self will, fear and pride to define Jesus according to our own will? Do we defend against Jesus to preserve the illusion of freedom in separation from God, freedom to sin?
Or, do we stop. Look. Listen to the Living Lord Jesus Christ who even now reaches out to all people every where, to each of us, with the open invitation to be set free from sin and filled with divine love and compassion.
Throughout our lives Jesus makes himself more fully known to us. Throughout our lives the Holy Spirit uses all means to reveal to us the love of God the Father in Jesus Christ.
How is Jesus making himself known to you this day? What in your life is the Holy Spirit using to bring the reality of Jesus more fully and completely present? How would you answer the question and then live the answer: who is Jesus Christ?
Friday, July 3, 2009
Pentecost 5
Pentecost V
They took offense at him.
Not every one who met Jesus approved of him. The same miracles that dazzled the crowds bewildered and frightened the religious authorities. Those miracles actually offended many of the people from his home town of Nazareth.
Remember, Jesus had been born in Bethlehem. His family fled to Egypt to escape King Herod’s murderous rage. After about seven years they returned to Nazareth. There they settled into the ordinary routine of village life. Joseph worked as a carpenter. Mary over saw an extended family of Jesus’ brethren, very like step brothers and sisters as well as cousins and other closely related individuals. They all lived together and struggled to make ends meet for the good of the entire group.
People seldom took note of Jesus when he was a child, a teen, and a young man. When they did take note, the notice was tinged with scandal. We miss the scandal ancient readers of the New Testament clearly heard. The villagers refer to Jesus as the carpenter, the Son of Mary. For a first century Jewish context this reference questions Jesus paternity and Mary’s fidelity. In that culture a man was always identified as the son of his father, unless there was some question about who the father was.
In this passage there is no reference to Joseph as one might expect. Even if tradition is right and Joseph had died by this time, the proper reference to Jesus would have been, the carpenter the son of Joseph. Instead, we hear the scandal surrounding Jesus’ conception. We hear thirty year old gossip surrounding Mary’s integrity and Joseph’s wisdom in marrying her.
That was the barrier for the villagers to perceive who Jesus was. He was certainly familiar to them. But he was familiar in a specific context. With no proof, they had guarded and maintained the rumors and gossip surrounding Mary and Jesus. That careful attention to old gossip bore the fruit of spite and unbelief.
That spite had hardened their souls and darkened their minds. It had closed their hearts and set their wills in one single narrow and rigid path. The question they ask when Jesus returns home from his ministry of miracles and divine message of love and compassion is: who is this? Who does he think he is?
The villagers had defined Jesus by a false accusation and no evidence to the contrary would change their minds. In some respect they were no different from the religious authorities who reacted to Jesus with fear, or with so many of Jesus’ disciple who reacted from the place of pride. In another way, the sin of spite is the most deadly when compared to pride or fear.
Spite represents an advanced stage of spiritual decay. The spiteful person feels justified in harming the reputation of another person. Spite has no concern for truth and no desire for compassion. It takes pleasure in bringing harm. It does so because it has become so self absorbed and self obsessed that it can no longer distinguish the chain of cause and effect in its own pain. It feels the pain of separation from God and takes the path of condemnation and blame to divert that pain.
A soul that is consumed by gossip and spite is resistant to the call to conversion. It says: not me. It says: who are you to tell me what to do. It says of Jesus: who does he think he is? It takes offense where no offense is given. It rejects all offers of help when ever and however offered.
When Jesus sent his apostles out on their first mission he let them know there would be some, perhaps many, who would not listen to the message of divine love and compassion. They would even react to the healing miracles with fear, pride and spite. Jesus simply told the apostles: when you encounter such people move on.
The potential for grace is limited in the angry, the prideful and the spiteful. The potential for blessing is restricted in a community that nourishes gossip. The time is short. There are many others who want to hear the good news. At some point, Jesus tells the apostles: move on with the mission.
There is always hope for even the most hardened and resistant soul. We can always pray. We can always ask the Holy Spirit to work in their lives. The great challenge is not in the resistance we encounter in others. The great challenge is the resistance we encounter in our own souls.
Spite feeds on self deceit. Are we seeking truth? Are we reading the Bible regularly with an open heart and a teachable spirit?
Spite nourishes itself through gossip. Are we seeking compassion? Are we willing to acknowledge we can’t possibly know all of the facts with direct certainty? \
Separation from God sustains itself by defending against Jesus Christ. This defense takes many forms. Usually the defense starts when we ignore who Jesus is and why he died on the cross.
Jesus came to unify our humanity with God’s divinity. No prophet, priest or king has ever done that or can ever accomplish that.
Jesus died on the cross to transform death back into life. No religions leader, system or ritual has ever done that or can ever accomplish that.
Jesus came to transform lives. He transforms lives in the love and compassion of the Eternal Trinity. All that we seek to accomplish in our worship and parish programs in grounded in these truths. To the extent we are personally faithful to our living Lord Jesus Christ, all that we do in his name- however halting and imperfect- has eternal consequence.
Jesus came into the world to transform lives through a personal relationship with God. Pride, self will, fear, spite distract us from this purpose. They perpetuate the basic human problem of separation. That separation corrodes the spirit and produces a soul lost in spite. Such a soul rejects what God offers in Jesus Christ. It demands something completely different. It says of Jesus: who does he think he is?
But the Good News is in the divine love and compassion that continues to invite all people every where into a moment of grace. The Good News is the blessing that the Holy Spirit wishes to share with us. The Good News is that Jesus continues to work in our world: patiently, persistently and consistently.
The purpose of this passage is not to encourage us to condemn the spiteful and the resistant. The purpose of the passage is to encourage us to identify in our own souls where we resist the reality of Jesus Christ. Where do we take offense at him?
It is there, at that place where Jesus offends us for what he teaches, how he acts, who he is, that the Holy Spirit will identify the place of separation that still holds our souls apart from the truth of love and compassion. It is there that the grace of God will transform us and allow us to live more fully as vessels of grace and channels of blessing.
The villagers resisted, took offense and did not believe. The apostles trusted and went out to spread the Good News. The villagers saw few miracles. The apostles witnessed many miracles. The choice is always ours. Choose wisely. Choose Jesus.
They took offense at him.
Not every one who met Jesus approved of him. The same miracles that dazzled the crowds bewildered and frightened the religious authorities. Those miracles actually offended many of the people from his home town of Nazareth.
Remember, Jesus had been born in Bethlehem. His family fled to Egypt to escape King Herod’s murderous rage. After about seven years they returned to Nazareth. There they settled into the ordinary routine of village life. Joseph worked as a carpenter. Mary over saw an extended family of Jesus’ brethren, very like step brothers and sisters as well as cousins and other closely related individuals. They all lived together and struggled to make ends meet for the good of the entire group.
People seldom took note of Jesus when he was a child, a teen, and a young man. When they did take note, the notice was tinged with scandal. We miss the scandal ancient readers of the New Testament clearly heard. The villagers refer to Jesus as the carpenter, the Son of Mary. For a first century Jewish context this reference questions Jesus paternity and Mary’s fidelity. In that culture a man was always identified as the son of his father, unless there was some question about who the father was.
In this passage there is no reference to Joseph as one might expect. Even if tradition is right and Joseph had died by this time, the proper reference to Jesus would have been, the carpenter the son of Joseph. Instead, we hear the scandal surrounding Jesus’ conception. We hear thirty year old gossip surrounding Mary’s integrity and Joseph’s wisdom in marrying her.
That was the barrier for the villagers to perceive who Jesus was. He was certainly familiar to them. But he was familiar in a specific context. With no proof, they had guarded and maintained the rumors and gossip surrounding Mary and Jesus. That careful attention to old gossip bore the fruit of spite and unbelief.
That spite had hardened their souls and darkened their minds. It had closed their hearts and set their wills in one single narrow and rigid path. The question they ask when Jesus returns home from his ministry of miracles and divine message of love and compassion is: who is this? Who does he think he is?
The villagers had defined Jesus by a false accusation and no evidence to the contrary would change their minds. In some respect they were no different from the religious authorities who reacted to Jesus with fear, or with so many of Jesus’ disciple who reacted from the place of pride. In another way, the sin of spite is the most deadly when compared to pride or fear.
Spite represents an advanced stage of spiritual decay. The spiteful person feels justified in harming the reputation of another person. Spite has no concern for truth and no desire for compassion. It takes pleasure in bringing harm. It does so because it has become so self absorbed and self obsessed that it can no longer distinguish the chain of cause and effect in its own pain. It feels the pain of separation from God and takes the path of condemnation and blame to divert that pain.
A soul that is consumed by gossip and spite is resistant to the call to conversion. It says: not me. It says: who are you to tell me what to do. It says of Jesus: who does he think he is? It takes offense where no offense is given. It rejects all offers of help when ever and however offered.
When Jesus sent his apostles out on their first mission he let them know there would be some, perhaps many, who would not listen to the message of divine love and compassion. They would even react to the healing miracles with fear, pride and spite. Jesus simply told the apostles: when you encounter such people move on.
The potential for grace is limited in the angry, the prideful and the spiteful. The potential for blessing is restricted in a community that nourishes gossip. The time is short. There are many others who want to hear the good news. At some point, Jesus tells the apostles: move on with the mission.
There is always hope for even the most hardened and resistant soul. We can always pray. We can always ask the Holy Spirit to work in their lives. The great challenge is not in the resistance we encounter in others. The great challenge is the resistance we encounter in our own souls.
Spite feeds on self deceit. Are we seeking truth? Are we reading the Bible regularly with an open heart and a teachable spirit?
Spite nourishes itself through gossip. Are we seeking compassion? Are we willing to acknowledge we can’t possibly know all of the facts with direct certainty? \
Separation from God sustains itself by defending against Jesus Christ. This defense takes many forms. Usually the defense starts when we ignore who Jesus is and why he died on the cross.
Jesus came to unify our humanity with God’s divinity. No prophet, priest or king has ever done that or can ever accomplish that.
Jesus died on the cross to transform death back into life. No religions leader, system or ritual has ever done that or can ever accomplish that.
Jesus came to transform lives. He transforms lives in the love and compassion of the Eternal Trinity. All that we seek to accomplish in our worship and parish programs in grounded in these truths. To the extent we are personally faithful to our living Lord Jesus Christ, all that we do in his name- however halting and imperfect- has eternal consequence.
Jesus came into the world to transform lives through a personal relationship with God. Pride, self will, fear, spite distract us from this purpose. They perpetuate the basic human problem of separation. That separation corrodes the spirit and produces a soul lost in spite. Such a soul rejects what God offers in Jesus Christ. It demands something completely different. It says of Jesus: who does he think he is?
But the Good News is in the divine love and compassion that continues to invite all people every where into a moment of grace. The Good News is the blessing that the Holy Spirit wishes to share with us. The Good News is that Jesus continues to work in our world: patiently, persistently and consistently.
The purpose of this passage is not to encourage us to condemn the spiteful and the resistant. The purpose of the passage is to encourage us to identify in our own souls where we resist the reality of Jesus Christ. Where do we take offense at him?
It is there, at that place where Jesus offends us for what he teaches, how he acts, who he is, that the Holy Spirit will identify the place of separation that still holds our souls apart from the truth of love and compassion. It is there that the grace of God will transform us and allow us to live more fully as vessels of grace and channels of blessing.
The villagers resisted, took offense and did not believe. The apostles trusted and went out to spread the Good News. The villagers saw few miracles. The apostles witnessed many miracles. The choice is always ours. Choose wisely. Choose Jesus.
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