Pentecost 6 (Luke 10:1-11: 16-20)
The harvest is plentiful.
The Son of God came to Earth to bring salvation.
He did many other things in the process. He healed people. He fed them. He comforted the afflicted. He challenged the abuse of religious authority. He taught the Bible. He performed amazing miracles. Preeminently, he came to save souls.
The salvation Jesus brought was not the salvation people were looking for. It was the salvation proclaimed by Moses and the prophets. It was not the salvation the religious and nationalist leaders of the day expected.
They observed that God had delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt at the hand of Moses. God had united the twelve tribes under a single king at the hand of Saul and David. The Kingdom of Israel reached its peak of military and economic power under David’s son, Solomon. Then, the leadership failed and it was all downhill from there.
A closer reading of Moses and the prophets reveals a more complete picture. The picture reveals the pride, self will and fear that define all humanity. The Bible is a record of centuries of observation of the human condition. Despite the many different people who wrote the books of the Bible over the course of a thousand years, their conclusion about the human condition is consistent.
The Biblical writers observe that the great problem facing humanity is separation from God. This is what traditional Christian theology terms: original sin.
The Biblical writers observe that actual sin, called “transgression” is a consequence of original sin.
The Biblical writers assert the hypothesis that human beings are not only incapable of finding God by our own efforts but that we actually do everything we can to hide from God. Religious people hide from God in the laws and rituals of religions. Non- religious people hide from God in the intellectual constructs of philosophy or in the elaborate mythologies of science.
This is why God declares the first commandment to be: I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods but me.
This is why God reveals his name is: I am. God is not and cannot be defined by human created religion, philosophy or science. God is who God is. God is God’s own person.
This is why God visited this planet some two thousand years ago in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Bible observes the human condition is lost, broken, and rebellious. The Bible sets forth the principle that a lost humanity needs a savior who is both Divine, untouched by original sin, and human, fully and completely involved in the human condition with the sole exception of sin.
For centuries God worked with one family, the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. The name Jacob means “cheater”. The name Israel can mean “Prince of God,” or, “he who strives with God”.
In those centuries Moses and the prophets worked to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. In the fullness of time the Messiah came. In the course of time the people developed distorted ideas and expectations about the Messiah. That is why they did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
Jesus knew this distorted expectation was also part of the fallen human condition. As people time and time again rejected the God whose name is “I am” and recreated gods and goddesses to suit their needs and desires, so the people who met Jesus chose not to see the fullness of who he was, the fullness of who he is.
Nevertheless, Jesus came into the world to save the world. He did not come to favor one nation or race over all others. He did not come to condemn. He came to trap sin and death in his own body. He came to die. He came to transform sin and death back into love and life. He was only able to do this because he is both man and God.
Jesus fulfilled the Plan of Salvation on the cross in a single moment of time that encompasses all of human history: past, present and future.
Jesus sent out seventy of his students to proclaim the Good News of God’s Kingdom. The Good News is that God himself is reaching out to everyone everywhere. The Good News is that harvest of souls is plentiful. The abundance of the Kingdom of God is the rich diversity of humanity. The Good News is that God just doesn’t have love or show love, God is love.
The harvest is the human species stretching across time and throughout the world. The harvest is rich in diversity. The harvest is plentiful.
What Jesus observes is that while the harvest is plentiful the laborers are few. There have always been a limited number of people willing to share the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ. Jesus understands this.
One of the great obstacles for Christians to share the Good News is fear. Some of us fear rejection. Some of us fear failure. Some of fear our own inadequacy. Jesus’ answer to all of these fears is faith.
Faith is assurance and evidence. Faith is not about religion. Faith is about the trust we develop in Jesus as we draw close to him.
There are three urgent commands to Christians in the gospel reading this morning. The commands are to pray, to ask and to send.
Whether or not our faith is sufficient for us to share the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ with other people, Jesus still invites us to pray.
There are three basic forms of prayer: intercession, meditation, and contemplation. Intercession is about asking God for something. Jesus instructs us to set the priority for our intercessions on Evangelism.
Everyone can pray. So, Jesus starts to apply the Plan of Salvation to those who believe in him by inviting us to pray. Jesus very specifically instructs us to pray for evangelism. Jesus wants us to value what he values. What he values most is the salvation of souls. So, he asks to us to pray that the Lord of the Harvest, God the Holy Spirit, would infuse the desire for evangelism into many who call themselves Christians.
Jesus asks us to pray that as the Holy Spirit cultivates the desire for evangelism in the souls of believers He would also send those believers into the world to share the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ. The pattern of evangelism is always the same. It starts within our families and circle of friends. It expands into our community. It extends to all the world.
Jesus sent the seventy only to towns in Israel. The people in those towns already knew about Moses and the prophets. They all spoke the same language, ate the same foods, wore the same kind of clothes, sang the same songs, and played the same games. They were open to religious discussion and familiar with a religious vocabulary. It was a relatively safe training ground to prepare the disciples for the greater task to come.
Jesus was perfectly honest. Not everyone would receive them or the message. Some people and some entire towns would reject them. Jesus encouraged the seventy by telling them this would happen. He prepared them by giving them advice on how to handle rejection. He told them to move on.
Jesus never authorizes us to argue or fight about the Plan of Salvation. He never even suggests we should debate matters of religion. His command is to share the Good News. If people are open to discussion then continue the discussion. If people are offended then step back. If people reject the message then respect their choice and move on to share the Good News with some one else.
We are laborers. The Holy Spirit is the Lord of the Harvest. Our job is to share the message. It is the Holy Spirit who works in human hearts and minds and wills to produce the result.
How does this make a difference to us? Jesus has set all of us and each of us a goal. We can help him achieve the goal through general prayer, through focused intercession and through action. Which aspect of the Plan of Salvation can you participate in today as Jesus instructs us here at this time and in this place to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His harvest? The Harvest is plentiful.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Pentecost 5
Pentecost 5 Luke 9:51-62 Follow me.
Jesus invited all to become his students. And, all who asked to be his students he asked to go and proclaim the Kingdom of God
There is an urgency in Jesus’ command “follow me.”
The immediate urgency is in Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. His time is short. His death is near. The Plan of Salvation is coming to its fulfillment. From a worldly perspective, there is so much more still to teach his disciples. They still don’t understand. There is so much more to teach those who are coming to Jesus looking for answers. They still don’t understand that Jesus just doesn’t have the answer he is the answer. They still don’t understand that Jesus just doesn’t point out one way to find God. Jesus is the way God finds us.
Many are trying to discredit Jesus. Others are seeking a way to kill him. He knows they will succeed. This is part of the Plan of Salvation. This is Jesus offering himself to humanity with the full knowledge that humanity is lost in separation, sin and death. Humanity is not looking for what Jesus offers. Humanity is looking for the quick fix. Jesus offers eternal life.
Peter had declared Jesus to be the Christ then asserted his desire for a savior without the cross. James and John had seen and experienced the love and compassion of Jesus yet still wanted to destroy a Samaritan village when it failed to receive him. People were coming to Jesus for many reasons and with many expectations. Few heard the message Jesus brought. Fewer still had the desire to accept the message.
Still, Jesus proclaims the Kingdom. Still, Jesus models the new way of living that he offers all people through his own choices and actions. Still Jesus instructs his students and his followers: follow me.
The Kingdom of God not in the external world of politics, economics and war. The Kingdom of God is not about who is in charge. The Kingdom of God is not in submission to laws, rituals, or institutions. The Kingdom of God is the new life Jesus gives us.
That new life is a gift we can only receive by faith. The faith is not a blind leap into the dark. The faith is in a person, Jesus himself. Jesus cried out to the people of Israel two thousand years ago and continues to cry out to the peoples of the world today. His cry is: follow me. Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come and receive the gift of God.
The proclamation Jesus gives for us to share with the world is that God permanently and irrevocably united his divinity with our humanity in Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God overcomes sin and death. In Jesus, God transforms sin and death back into love and life. It is a new life. It is a life of reunification with the Father and transformation in the Holy Spirit.
God doesn’t wait for us to find him. God makes himself known to us and available to us in Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is not a puzzle to be solved or a reward for sincere effort. It is a gift. The gift is Jesus. The gift is the new way of living God reveals in Jesus Christ and makes available to us in Jesus Christ.
Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within you. It is that place where the Holy Spirit lives within us. It is that place where the Holy Spirit gently, persistently and patiently invites us to change.
More than any other aspect of Jesus teaching, change is central. It is also the most threatening. What makes this change possible to consider is the person who invites us to change. Jesus is the fullness of divine love and holiness. Jesus is the compassion of God inviting all people into a new relationship of faith, hope and love. Jesus tells us and shows us that the change comes from the personal relationship God initiates with us in Jesus Christ.
Many in Jesus’ day had something they needed to leave behind before they could accept the gift Jesus gave them. Many were too burdened with possessions or expectations to receive the gift. The greatest burden is the burden of separation from God. The most weighty of all possessions is sin.
Jesus’ call to follow him is a call to surrender our pride of separation. It is a call to yield our possession of our sins. These are choices we can only make from deep within our soul. There is no law or ritual or religious practice that can substitute for this choice. The reward is not in power, possessions or prestige. The reward is the relationship that produces the new way of living.
Such a call was incomprehensible to the people of Jesus’ day. The disciples began to understand it at the resurrection. They received clarity on the day of Pentecost. But, the record of scripture is very honest. It took them all of their lives to grow into the relationship with God that Jesus offered. It took their entire lifetime to yield their old way of thinking, and their old way of behaving.
The Kingdom of God becomes real to us with a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God becomes more present to us each day of our lives through worship, prayer, Bible study, service to others.
The Kingdom of God is our personal relationship with God the Father, through God the Son, by the indwelling Presence of God the Holy Spirit. That is why eternal life begins here and now at the baptismal font. Eternal life is not a reward or a right it is a gift. The gift is in the relationship.
Jesus invites us all into this new relationship. The new relationship produces a new way of living. We live into the relationship as we make a conscious choice to open our minds and hearts and wills to the transforming power of Divine love and holiness.
As soon as we enter into the relationship Jesus asks us to follow him. As we make a real choice to fulfill Jesus’ instruction we grow closer in our relationship with him. He slowly reveals to us where we need to make changes in our attitude and actions. He slowly reveals to us what we need to unlearn. He slowly reveals to us what old habits of behavior we need to surrender to him so we can be free to live life more joyfully. He waits patiently for us to unburden ourselves of the heavy weight of those sins that possess us.
As we change so our character changes. As our character changes so the message we proclaim in word and action broadens and deepens.
The key to the new life in Christ is the desire to grow in our friendship with Christ. Jesus knew his disciples were far from perfect but he sent them into the world any way. Jesus knew they would only mature as they stepped forward in faith one step at a time one day at a time. The same is true for us.
Where ever you are in your spiritual life is where Jesus meets you and invites you to follow him. He stands before us and he goes before us. He is the light of light that shows us the path forward.
As you follow Jesus into this action, the Holy Spirit will be with you to help you and to encourage you. As the Holy Spirit reveals Himself to you in your choice to follow Jesus, so He will offer new gifts and new transformation to equip you to accomplish God’s will for your life.
Religious people sometimes struggle with knowing God’s will. God has revealed his will in Jesus Christ. We can know God’s will as we grow in the gift of God in Christ. The gift God offers us today in the message of Jesus Christ is: follow me.
Jesus invited all to become his students. And, all who asked to be his students he asked to go and proclaim the Kingdom of God
There is an urgency in Jesus’ command “follow me.”
The immediate urgency is in Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. His time is short. His death is near. The Plan of Salvation is coming to its fulfillment. From a worldly perspective, there is so much more still to teach his disciples. They still don’t understand. There is so much more to teach those who are coming to Jesus looking for answers. They still don’t understand that Jesus just doesn’t have the answer he is the answer. They still don’t understand that Jesus just doesn’t point out one way to find God. Jesus is the way God finds us.
Many are trying to discredit Jesus. Others are seeking a way to kill him. He knows they will succeed. This is part of the Plan of Salvation. This is Jesus offering himself to humanity with the full knowledge that humanity is lost in separation, sin and death. Humanity is not looking for what Jesus offers. Humanity is looking for the quick fix. Jesus offers eternal life.
Peter had declared Jesus to be the Christ then asserted his desire for a savior without the cross. James and John had seen and experienced the love and compassion of Jesus yet still wanted to destroy a Samaritan village when it failed to receive him. People were coming to Jesus for many reasons and with many expectations. Few heard the message Jesus brought. Fewer still had the desire to accept the message.
Still, Jesus proclaims the Kingdom. Still, Jesus models the new way of living that he offers all people through his own choices and actions. Still Jesus instructs his students and his followers: follow me.
The Kingdom of God not in the external world of politics, economics and war. The Kingdom of God is not about who is in charge. The Kingdom of God is not in submission to laws, rituals, or institutions. The Kingdom of God is the new life Jesus gives us.
That new life is a gift we can only receive by faith. The faith is not a blind leap into the dark. The faith is in a person, Jesus himself. Jesus cried out to the people of Israel two thousand years ago and continues to cry out to the peoples of the world today. His cry is: follow me. Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come and receive the gift of God.
The proclamation Jesus gives for us to share with the world is that God permanently and irrevocably united his divinity with our humanity in Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God overcomes sin and death. In Jesus, God transforms sin and death back into love and life. It is a new life. It is a life of reunification with the Father and transformation in the Holy Spirit.
God doesn’t wait for us to find him. God makes himself known to us and available to us in Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is not a puzzle to be solved or a reward for sincere effort. It is a gift. The gift is Jesus. The gift is the new way of living God reveals in Jesus Christ and makes available to us in Jesus Christ.
Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within you. It is that place where the Holy Spirit lives within us. It is that place where the Holy Spirit gently, persistently and patiently invites us to change.
More than any other aspect of Jesus teaching, change is central. It is also the most threatening. What makes this change possible to consider is the person who invites us to change. Jesus is the fullness of divine love and holiness. Jesus is the compassion of God inviting all people into a new relationship of faith, hope and love. Jesus tells us and shows us that the change comes from the personal relationship God initiates with us in Jesus Christ.
Many in Jesus’ day had something they needed to leave behind before they could accept the gift Jesus gave them. Many were too burdened with possessions or expectations to receive the gift. The greatest burden is the burden of separation from God. The most weighty of all possessions is sin.
Jesus’ call to follow him is a call to surrender our pride of separation. It is a call to yield our possession of our sins. These are choices we can only make from deep within our soul. There is no law or ritual or religious practice that can substitute for this choice. The reward is not in power, possessions or prestige. The reward is the relationship that produces the new way of living.
Such a call was incomprehensible to the people of Jesus’ day. The disciples began to understand it at the resurrection. They received clarity on the day of Pentecost. But, the record of scripture is very honest. It took them all of their lives to grow into the relationship with God that Jesus offered. It took their entire lifetime to yield their old way of thinking, and their old way of behaving.
The Kingdom of God becomes real to us with a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God becomes more present to us each day of our lives through worship, prayer, Bible study, service to others.
The Kingdom of God is our personal relationship with God the Father, through God the Son, by the indwelling Presence of God the Holy Spirit. That is why eternal life begins here and now at the baptismal font. Eternal life is not a reward or a right it is a gift. The gift is in the relationship.
Jesus invites us all into this new relationship. The new relationship produces a new way of living. We live into the relationship as we make a conscious choice to open our minds and hearts and wills to the transforming power of Divine love and holiness.
As soon as we enter into the relationship Jesus asks us to follow him. As we make a real choice to fulfill Jesus’ instruction we grow closer in our relationship with him. He slowly reveals to us where we need to make changes in our attitude and actions. He slowly reveals to us what we need to unlearn. He slowly reveals to us what old habits of behavior we need to surrender to him so we can be free to live life more joyfully. He waits patiently for us to unburden ourselves of the heavy weight of those sins that possess us.
As we change so our character changes. As our character changes so the message we proclaim in word and action broadens and deepens.
The key to the new life in Christ is the desire to grow in our friendship with Christ. Jesus knew his disciples were far from perfect but he sent them into the world any way. Jesus knew they would only mature as they stepped forward in faith one step at a time one day at a time. The same is true for us.
Where ever you are in your spiritual life is where Jesus meets you and invites you to follow him. He stands before us and he goes before us. He is the light of light that shows us the path forward.
As you follow Jesus into this action, the Holy Spirit will be with you to help you and to encourage you. As the Holy Spirit reveals Himself to you in your choice to follow Jesus, so He will offer new gifts and new transformation to equip you to accomplish God’s will for your life.
Religious people sometimes struggle with knowing God’s will. God has revealed his will in Jesus Christ. We can know God’s will as we grow in the gift of God in Christ. The gift God offers us today in the message of Jesus Christ is: follow me.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Pentecost 4
Pentecost 4
Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.
Separation from God has many consequences.
We see three examples of these consequences in this passage.
The first example is that of the demons. Demons are the burnt out remnants of once glorious and magnificent angelic beings. We all know the story how the most beautiful and exalted of the angels, a Seraph, named Light Bearer, seduced one third of the angelic beings to give themselves to him. They gave themselves to him by worshipping him.
Light Bearer promised the angels greater knowledge and greater power if they would immerse themselves in the glory of his own essential light. It was, of course, a lie. It was also a choice. The principle the Bible sets forth from this angelic choice in the heavenly realms is that it does matter who you choose to worship and how you choose to worship. You become who or what you worship.
Jesus describes Light Bearer, Lucifer, as a liar and a murderer from the beginning. His lie was that he was like God. His seductive promise based on that lie was that he could and would share his immense knowledge and power with those who worshipped him. The murder took place when Light Bearer attacked Michael, the smallest and least of the angels. In his pride Light Bearer not only believed he could defeat Michael, he knew he could defeat Michael. Heaven would be his and God would have no choice but to appoint him as his infallible all powerful co-regent of the heavenly realm.
But Light Bearer could not defeat Michael. Against all logic and reason Michael proved to be far more powerful than any of the angels imagined. As Light Bearer lost the battle with Michael he summoned his worshippers and ripped the power from them to magnify his own power. In that action he murdered the angelic beings.
When Michael finally won the battle he cast Light Bearer out of the heavenly realm, out of the realm of the infinite and eternal, into the realm of time and space, into our universe. As he fell from the heavenly realm Light Bear, now called Satan- the Enemy- reached out and claimed his followers as his slaves. They had given themselves to him willingly in worship. He had ripped them apart to seize their power, now he pulled them out of heaven to serve as his slaves.
The demons are desiccated burnt out remnants of their former glory. By their own choice they separated from God. By their own choice they unified themselves to Lucifer. By their own choice they abandoned love and holiness for knowledge and power. By their own choice they put their trust in Lucifer. Lucifer lied to them, betrayed them, and murdered their true essence.
The fallen angels abandoned eternal life and now only experience endless tedious existence. They will not and cannot repent. But they do seek some relief from their self inflicted torment. One means of relief is to possess a human being.
Human beings also chose to separate from God. But, unlike the demons, humans did not give themselves to Satan in worship. Satan has no right or authority to enslave a human being as he once seized and enslaved his angelic followers. Human beings can still repent and return to God.
For humans, the choice remains open. Humans are lost in separation but can still be found and given a choice to reunite with God. Human also have the choice to persist in separation. The Gerasene people had made some choices that produced consequences. Some of these consequences seemed desirable, in the short term.
The Gerasenes were Israelites who had compromised on one very specific command. God had commanded Moses that certain animals were to be classified as unclean for the people of Israel. Now, the command was given for two reasons. It was a boundary to protect the people from the excess of self will. And it was an image of holiness.
The Gerasenes had broken this command for a very practical and ordinary reason: money. There were many gentiles living in the nearby provinces. The gentiles did not observe the Law of Moses. Pork was perfectly good meat for the gentiles. The Gerasenes probably reasoned amongst themselves that they would not eat the unclean meat but they could sell it to the unclean gentiles. The Law not only forbade consuming pork for food. It also declared that the people should not even touch a pig. The Gerasnes probably did not eat the pork. But they did selectively violate the law by raising the pigs for export to the gentiles.
Such compromises reveal the problem that besets human nature. God says yes, and people say- well –maybe. God says- no, and people say- why not. Eventually, the compromise results in disobedience and the disobedience only creates greater division and separation.
Moses and the prophets clearly and distinctly taught that the love of God is the single most important priority in our lives. The love of God is expressed in worship. Under the Law of Moses part of that worship involved a choice for people to sacrifice a portion of their time and a portion of their means. God had declared pigs off limits to the Israelites. The command was a boundary set to help the people grow in trust and to grow in love. The people of the Gerasenes made a different choice. They chose money.
The man possessed by the demon is both an individual tragedy and a symbol of the spiritual state of his people. The individual tragedy is that because this man had accepted the compromises of his people he abandoned the worship of God. I doubt he ever meant to allow the demons to possess him. But, in the choices he made based on compromise and separation he opened himself to the possibility of demon possession. The precise detail of how this happened is unimportant. It was only possible because he had accepted an approach to life where money was more important that worship; and, where his own will to power was more important than the love and holiness of God’s will.
The Gerasenes were lost in their worship of money. Jesus had come to them as he came to others in Israel to find them and to offer them a different choice. The possessed man was lost in a Legion of demons. Jesus came to find him and to restore him to health and wholeness and to holiness.
The demons asked for relief of their suffering but did not ask for Jesus to restore their relationship with God. Jesus cast them out of the place where they had no right to be. He allowed them to enter the herd of pigs. The corporeal cannot sustain the demonic presence. As the demonic presence had driven the man insane so the pigs suffered the same state. They panicked, ran aimlessly, and eventually found relief by plunging to their death the Lake.
The principle revealed in this terrifying event is one of the basic principles in scripture. Be sure your sins will find you out. There is pleasure in sin for a time but after that the judgment. Human choice always enters into the world of cause and effect and always produces a result consistent with God’s Law. It may take minutes, it may take hours, it may take years. The Bible is a record of a thousand years of human experience that concludes: no one ever successfully breaks God’s Law. God law always stand immutable perfect and inviolate. Human choice enters the world of cause and effect and produces a result. There probably will be pleasure in sin for a time. But, without fail the consequence is disastrous. The consequence is separation, sin and death.
The man who had been tormented was now healed. His sanity had been restored. He recognized God in Jesus Christ and received the completion of his healing by proclaiming his faith in Christ. His family, friends and neighbors were astonished and fearful. As he so often did and continues to do, Jesus stood in their midst as a perfect mirror to their souls. They did not like what they saw in that perfect mirror. They reacted with fear.
They feared the power of Jesus. They feared the perfection of Jesus. They feared the Divine Presence in Jesus. They feared because they were unwilling to change. They made a choice not to change. So, they asked Jesus to leave. And, he did.
Jesus imposes himself on no one. He offers himself to everyone. Salvation is a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. It is always a real choice.
The man wanted to go with Jesus but Jesus had a job for him to do. The people had rejected the personal presence of God in Jesus Christ so Jesus asked the man to stay where he was and to share his personal experience with God in his own home.
Why would Jesus do this?
Jesus is the lover of souls. He loves all people everywhere. His love is unconditional and eternal. The Gerasenes were too fearful to speak with Jesus any longer so Jesus appointed the man he had healed to be his representative in that place at that time. Jesus appoints no co-regents to rule. Jesus appoints personal representatives to share his divine love and compassion with others.
The same principle is true for us. As we have received the gift of reunification with God the Father through our personal relationship with God the Son, so Jesus asks us to proclaim to our family, friends and neighbors how much good God has done for us. Jesus asks us to be his personal representative to the people we know and the people we meet.
Moses and the prophets observed the human condition for over a thousand years. They all came to the same conclusion. Human beings are lost in separation, enmeshed in rebellion, and broken by sin. We need a savior. That savior is Jesus Christ. Jesus has come to find the lost, reunite us to love and transform us in holiness. Jesus asks each of us to work and pray for that same goal.
As Jesus said to the man he had healed so long ago so he says to us today. You were lost and I have found you. You were broken and I am healing you. You are rebellious and I am transforming you as you make a real choice to immerse yourself in the real presence of Divine love and holiness in the blessed sacrament of the altar.
As you leave this building today in the sacramental power of divine love and holiness Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.
Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.
Separation from God has many consequences.
We see three examples of these consequences in this passage.
The first example is that of the demons. Demons are the burnt out remnants of once glorious and magnificent angelic beings. We all know the story how the most beautiful and exalted of the angels, a Seraph, named Light Bearer, seduced one third of the angelic beings to give themselves to him. They gave themselves to him by worshipping him.
Light Bearer promised the angels greater knowledge and greater power if they would immerse themselves in the glory of his own essential light. It was, of course, a lie. It was also a choice. The principle the Bible sets forth from this angelic choice in the heavenly realms is that it does matter who you choose to worship and how you choose to worship. You become who or what you worship.
Jesus describes Light Bearer, Lucifer, as a liar and a murderer from the beginning. His lie was that he was like God. His seductive promise based on that lie was that he could and would share his immense knowledge and power with those who worshipped him. The murder took place when Light Bearer attacked Michael, the smallest and least of the angels. In his pride Light Bearer not only believed he could defeat Michael, he knew he could defeat Michael. Heaven would be his and God would have no choice but to appoint him as his infallible all powerful co-regent of the heavenly realm.
But Light Bearer could not defeat Michael. Against all logic and reason Michael proved to be far more powerful than any of the angels imagined. As Light Bearer lost the battle with Michael he summoned his worshippers and ripped the power from them to magnify his own power. In that action he murdered the angelic beings.
When Michael finally won the battle he cast Light Bearer out of the heavenly realm, out of the realm of the infinite and eternal, into the realm of time and space, into our universe. As he fell from the heavenly realm Light Bear, now called Satan- the Enemy- reached out and claimed his followers as his slaves. They had given themselves to him willingly in worship. He had ripped them apart to seize their power, now he pulled them out of heaven to serve as his slaves.
The demons are desiccated burnt out remnants of their former glory. By their own choice they separated from God. By their own choice they unified themselves to Lucifer. By their own choice they abandoned love and holiness for knowledge and power. By their own choice they put their trust in Lucifer. Lucifer lied to them, betrayed them, and murdered their true essence.
The fallen angels abandoned eternal life and now only experience endless tedious existence. They will not and cannot repent. But they do seek some relief from their self inflicted torment. One means of relief is to possess a human being.
Human beings also chose to separate from God. But, unlike the demons, humans did not give themselves to Satan in worship. Satan has no right or authority to enslave a human being as he once seized and enslaved his angelic followers. Human beings can still repent and return to God.
For humans, the choice remains open. Humans are lost in separation but can still be found and given a choice to reunite with God. Human also have the choice to persist in separation. The Gerasene people had made some choices that produced consequences. Some of these consequences seemed desirable, in the short term.
The Gerasenes were Israelites who had compromised on one very specific command. God had commanded Moses that certain animals were to be classified as unclean for the people of Israel. Now, the command was given for two reasons. It was a boundary to protect the people from the excess of self will. And it was an image of holiness.
The Gerasenes had broken this command for a very practical and ordinary reason: money. There were many gentiles living in the nearby provinces. The gentiles did not observe the Law of Moses. Pork was perfectly good meat for the gentiles. The Gerasenes probably reasoned amongst themselves that they would not eat the unclean meat but they could sell it to the unclean gentiles. The Law not only forbade consuming pork for food. It also declared that the people should not even touch a pig. The Gerasnes probably did not eat the pork. But they did selectively violate the law by raising the pigs for export to the gentiles.
Such compromises reveal the problem that besets human nature. God says yes, and people say- well –maybe. God says- no, and people say- why not. Eventually, the compromise results in disobedience and the disobedience only creates greater division and separation.
Moses and the prophets clearly and distinctly taught that the love of God is the single most important priority in our lives. The love of God is expressed in worship. Under the Law of Moses part of that worship involved a choice for people to sacrifice a portion of their time and a portion of their means. God had declared pigs off limits to the Israelites. The command was a boundary set to help the people grow in trust and to grow in love. The people of the Gerasenes made a different choice. They chose money.
The man possessed by the demon is both an individual tragedy and a symbol of the spiritual state of his people. The individual tragedy is that because this man had accepted the compromises of his people he abandoned the worship of God. I doubt he ever meant to allow the demons to possess him. But, in the choices he made based on compromise and separation he opened himself to the possibility of demon possession. The precise detail of how this happened is unimportant. It was only possible because he had accepted an approach to life where money was more important that worship; and, where his own will to power was more important than the love and holiness of God’s will.
The Gerasenes were lost in their worship of money. Jesus had come to them as he came to others in Israel to find them and to offer them a different choice. The possessed man was lost in a Legion of demons. Jesus came to find him and to restore him to health and wholeness and to holiness.
The demons asked for relief of their suffering but did not ask for Jesus to restore their relationship with God. Jesus cast them out of the place where they had no right to be. He allowed them to enter the herd of pigs. The corporeal cannot sustain the demonic presence. As the demonic presence had driven the man insane so the pigs suffered the same state. They panicked, ran aimlessly, and eventually found relief by plunging to their death the Lake.
The principle revealed in this terrifying event is one of the basic principles in scripture. Be sure your sins will find you out. There is pleasure in sin for a time but after that the judgment. Human choice always enters into the world of cause and effect and always produces a result consistent with God’s Law. It may take minutes, it may take hours, it may take years. The Bible is a record of a thousand years of human experience that concludes: no one ever successfully breaks God’s Law. God law always stand immutable perfect and inviolate. Human choice enters the world of cause and effect and produces a result. There probably will be pleasure in sin for a time. But, without fail the consequence is disastrous. The consequence is separation, sin and death.
The man who had been tormented was now healed. His sanity had been restored. He recognized God in Jesus Christ and received the completion of his healing by proclaiming his faith in Christ. His family, friends and neighbors were astonished and fearful. As he so often did and continues to do, Jesus stood in their midst as a perfect mirror to their souls. They did not like what they saw in that perfect mirror. They reacted with fear.
They feared the power of Jesus. They feared the perfection of Jesus. They feared the Divine Presence in Jesus. They feared because they were unwilling to change. They made a choice not to change. So, they asked Jesus to leave. And, he did.
Jesus imposes himself on no one. He offers himself to everyone. Salvation is a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. It is always a real choice.
The man wanted to go with Jesus but Jesus had a job for him to do. The people had rejected the personal presence of God in Jesus Christ so Jesus asked the man to stay where he was and to share his personal experience with God in his own home.
Why would Jesus do this?
Jesus is the lover of souls. He loves all people everywhere. His love is unconditional and eternal. The Gerasenes were too fearful to speak with Jesus any longer so Jesus appointed the man he had healed to be his representative in that place at that time. Jesus appoints no co-regents to rule. Jesus appoints personal representatives to share his divine love and compassion with others.
The same principle is true for us. As we have received the gift of reunification with God the Father through our personal relationship with God the Son, so Jesus asks us to proclaim to our family, friends and neighbors how much good God has done for us. Jesus asks us to be his personal representative to the people we know and the people we meet.
Moses and the prophets observed the human condition for over a thousand years. They all came to the same conclusion. Human beings are lost in separation, enmeshed in rebellion, and broken by sin. We need a savior. That savior is Jesus Christ. Jesus has come to find the lost, reunite us to love and transform us in holiness. Jesus asks each of us to work and pray for that same goal.
As Jesus said to the man he had healed so long ago so he says to us today. You were lost and I have found you. You were broken and I am healing you. You are rebellious and I am transforming you as you make a real choice to immerse yourself in the real presence of Divine love and holiness in the blessed sacrament of the altar.
As you leave this building today in the sacramental power of divine love and holiness Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Pentecost 3
Pentecost 3 Your sins are forgiven
The Bible frequently reveals truth through the observation of contrast.
In the gospel reading this morning we see such a contrast. Luke records an incident at a dinner party that reveals fundamental truth about the human condition.
The contrast is many layered. Primarily, there is the contrast between a religious man and a sinful woman. The religious man, a Pharisee named Simon, is considered righteous by the cultural standards of the day. He gives every evidence that he has studied the commentaries on the Law and obeys the law. He wears the right clothes, washes his hands in the right way, eats the right food, says the right prayers and stays away from the wrong sort of people. He does what is right and so he has earned the right to be called personally by name: Simon.
The woman in the story is not named. She has been defined by the people as a sinner. There is no further description or information given about her or her sin. Whatever the sin may be she has become so identified with it that she is no longer identified by her personal name but by the impersonal description: sinner.
The contrast between righteous Simon and the unrighteous woman takes a sudden and unexpected turn. For, it is the sinner who offers Jesus the basic courtesies of sacred hospitality. All people in the Middle East at that time understood the sacred responsibilities of showing hospitality to a visitor. All people understood that at times the Divine realm tested humanity to see if people practiced the fundamental principles of compassion.
It is at this point, the point of compassion, that Simon fails the test. Simon had invited Jesus to dinner and made no effort to treat him according to the fundamental principles of respect.
The custom called for a servant to wash the feet of a guest as a sign of welcome. Simon made no such provision for Jesus. The custom called for the host to honor the guest with a ritual kiss of peace. Simon made no such offer. The custom called for the host to anoint the guest with oil as a sign of respect. Simon showed no respect to Jesus.
Simon invited Jesus to dinner but he very noticeably failed to welcome Jesus, honor Jesus, and show respect to Jesus. Everyone present would understand this to be an insult. Everyone present would understand that this was a gross violation of the principles of hospitality. Everyone would know that Simon’s failure bordered on blasphemy. For God had given a command through Moses to show honor to a visitor and to a stranger.
So why did Simon invite Jesus to dinner only to insult him? The key is in the encounter with the sinner. She could not have entered the house if Simon had not permitted it. This was a test. Throughout his three years of public ministry Jesus encountered many such tests from the religious leaders of the day.
Simon did not welcome, honor or respect Jesus because Simon wanted to test and to trap Jesus. He wanted to discredit Jesus. So, Simon insulted Jesus to provoke a reaction. When Jesus did not react to the insult, Simon allowed the sinner access to Jesus to test him.
By Simon’ standards, Jesus failed the test. First, he allowed a woman to touch him. A righteous man would not touch a woman who was not his wife or a close relative. Second, despite the fact people acclaimed Jesus as a great prophet, Jesus failed to discern the woman was a sinner. He should have perceived her sin and condemned her.
It was one of those no win scenarios that the Pharisees set up to embarrass and discredit Jesus. It worked. But it worked against the Pharisees.
No one could dispute Jesus’ assessment of the situation. Simon had violated a fundamental religious and social principle when he failed to provide the basics of sacred hospitality. The woman, for all of her reputation as sinner, had been the one to show welcome, honor and respect.
There is one more element in the story that is easy to miss. The woman just didn’t provide the minimum requirements of sacred hospitality. She offered Jesus an extravagance beyond imagination. She not only treated Jesus as an honored guest, she treated him as though he was royalty.
Jesus turned the tables on Simon as he told the parable of the debtors. He used Simon’s own words to reveal to Simon where Simon was not righteous. And, he transformed the entire concept of sin and righteousness.
Jesus constantly and consistently taught what Moses and the prophets taught. Jesus taught that the essence of righteousness is right relationship. It is the right relationship that produces right action. That right action is not rigid perfection. Right action is compassion.
This is the next contrast in the story. The religious leaders of the day taught that right action is a rigid perfection that produces right relationship. For all of his right actions, Simon lacked right relationship. He lacked compassion. And so, when God came to Simon’s house, Simon not only failed to recognize him, he failed to show even the basic welcome, honor and respect. He was not present to Jesus. He asked no questions. He shut himself away from his moment of grace. He received no blessing. His one overwhelming and deadly sin was pride. It was pride in his own self proclaimed perfection.
The woman understood she was a sinner. She, too, might have reacted with pride. She made a different choice. She chose humility. She chose to show welcome, honor and respect to Jesus. As she did this, she entered into a new relationship with God.
Jesus describes the final contrast when he looks at the woman and says: your faith has saved you. The contrast is between the woman’s faith in Jesus as the personal Presence of God and Simon’s rejection of Jesus and pride in his sense of his own right actions. The contrast is between faith and works.
The point of the story is the principle revealed by Moses and the prophets. The basic problem confronting humanity is our choice to separate from God. That choice proceeds from pride and is lost in pride. The pride of the lost is the refusal to be found by the personal presence of the living God.
The only solution to this problem is the solution God himself offers. It is the solution of making a real choice to be found by the one whom God has sent into the world to save us from separation.
At that dinner party so many centuries ago, Simon chose to remain in separation. The woman chose to be found by God in Jesus Christ. The key element is faith.
Simon had no room in his religious system of command and control for faith. The woman entered into the realm of faith when she welcomed, honored and showed respect to Jesus.
St. Paul would later summarize Jesus’ teaching about sin and salvation from sin by writing: we are saved by grace through faith and not by works. Simon thought he had the works and had no need for the gift God offered in Jesus Christ. The woman knew she lacked the works and recognized the gift of God in Christ.
Salvation is the gift God offers all people in Jesus Christ. It is a salvation from a life of pride, self will and fear. It is salvation into a new relationship of faith in God through Jesus Christ.
Jesus had offered himself to Simon but Simon through pride rejected the offer. Jesus had come to seek and to find Simon but Simon did not want to be found. As he had offered himself to Simon so Jesus offered himself to the sinner. As he offered himself to her so he offers himself to all people everywhere. His words to the woman at the dinner party are his words to us and to all people today.
Jesus continues to proclaim: your sins are forgiven. I accomplished that for you on the cross. Your faith will save you. Your trust in the one whom God has sent into the world to find you will reunite you to God. You can’t find God but God will find you. As you allow yourself to be found by God in Christ you will go into the world in peace. The peace is the Personal Presence of God in your mind and heart and will. The Peace is Jesus Christ.
The Bible frequently reveals truth through the observation of contrast.
In the gospel reading this morning we see such a contrast. Luke records an incident at a dinner party that reveals fundamental truth about the human condition.
The contrast is many layered. Primarily, there is the contrast between a religious man and a sinful woman. The religious man, a Pharisee named Simon, is considered righteous by the cultural standards of the day. He gives every evidence that he has studied the commentaries on the Law and obeys the law. He wears the right clothes, washes his hands in the right way, eats the right food, says the right prayers and stays away from the wrong sort of people. He does what is right and so he has earned the right to be called personally by name: Simon.
The woman in the story is not named. She has been defined by the people as a sinner. There is no further description or information given about her or her sin. Whatever the sin may be she has become so identified with it that she is no longer identified by her personal name but by the impersonal description: sinner.
The contrast between righteous Simon and the unrighteous woman takes a sudden and unexpected turn. For, it is the sinner who offers Jesus the basic courtesies of sacred hospitality. All people in the Middle East at that time understood the sacred responsibilities of showing hospitality to a visitor. All people understood that at times the Divine realm tested humanity to see if people practiced the fundamental principles of compassion.
It is at this point, the point of compassion, that Simon fails the test. Simon had invited Jesus to dinner and made no effort to treat him according to the fundamental principles of respect.
The custom called for a servant to wash the feet of a guest as a sign of welcome. Simon made no such provision for Jesus. The custom called for the host to honor the guest with a ritual kiss of peace. Simon made no such offer. The custom called for the host to anoint the guest with oil as a sign of respect. Simon showed no respect to Jesus.
Simon invited Jesus to dinner but he very noticeably failed to welcome Jesus, honor Jesus, and show respect to Jesus. Everyone present would understand this to be an insult. Everyone present would understand that this was a gross violation of the principles of hospitality. Everyone would know that Simon’s failure bordered on blasphemy. For God had given a command through Moses to show honor to a visitor and to a stranger.
So why did Simon invite Jesus to dinner only to insult him? The key is in the encounter with the sinner. She could not have entered the house if Simon had not permitted it. This was a test. Throughout his three years of public ministry Jesus encountered many such tests from the religious leaders of the day.
Simon did not welcome, honor or respect Jesus because Simon wanted to test and to trap Jesus. He wanted to discredit Jesus. So, Simon insulted Jesus to provoke a reaction. When Jesus did not react to the insult, Simon allowed the sinner access to Jesus to test him.
By Simon’ standards, Jesus failed the test. First, he allowed a woman to touch him. A righteous man would not touch a woman who was not his wife or a close relative. Second, despite the fact people acclaimed Jesus as a great prophet, Jesus failed to discern the woman was a sinner. He should have perceived her sin and condemned her.
It was one of those no win scenarios that the Pharisees set up to embarrass and discredit Jesus. It worked. But it worked against the Pharisees.
No one could dispute Jesus’ assessment of the situation. Simon had violated a fundamental religious and social principle when he failed to provide the basics of sacred hospitality. The woman, for all of her reputation as sinner, had been the one to show welcome, honor and respect.
There is one more element in the story that is easy to miss. The woman just didn’t provide the minimum requirements of sacred hospitality. She offered Jesus an extravagance beyond imagination. She not only treated Jesus as an honored guest, she treated him as though he was royalty.
Jesus turned the tables on Simon as he told the parable of the debtors. He used Simon’s own words to reveal to Simon where Simon was not righteous. And, he transformed the entire concept of sin and righteousness.
Jesus constantly and consistently taught what Moses and the prophets taught. Jesus taught that the essence of righteousness is right relationship. It is the right relationship that produces right action. That right action is not rigid perfection. Right action is compassion.
This is the next contrast in the story. The religious leaders of the day taught that right action is a rigid perfection that produces right relationship. For all of his right actions, Simon lacked right relationship. He lacked compassion. And so, when God came to Simon’s house, Simon not only failed to recognize him, he failed to show even the basic welcome, honor and respect. He was not present to Jesus. He asked no questions. He shut himself away from his moment of grace. He received no blessing. His one overwhelming and deadly sin was pride. It was pride in his own self proclaimed perfection.
The woman understood she was a sinner. She, too, might have reacted with pride. She made a different choice. She chose humility. She chose to show welcome, honor and respect to Jesus. As she did this, she entered into a new relationship with God.
Jesus describes the final contrast when he looks at the woman and says: your faith has saved you. The contrast is between the woman’s faith in Jesus as the personal Presence of God and Simon’s rejection of Jesus and pride in his sense of his own right actions. The contrast is between faith and works.
The point of the story is the principle revealed by Moses and the prophets. The basic problem confronting humanity is our choice to separate from God. That choice proceeds from pride and is lost in pride. The pride of the lost is the refusal to be found by the personal presence of the living God.
The only solution to this problem is the solution God himself offers. It is the solution of making a real choice to be found by the one whom God has sent into the world to save us from separation.
At that dinner party so many centuries ago, Simon chose to remain in separation. The woman chose to be found by God in Jesus Christ. The key element is faith.
Simon had no room in his religious system of command and control for faith. The woman entered into the realm of faith when she welcomed, honored and showed respect to Jesus.
St. Paul would later summarize Jesus’ teaching about sin and salvation from sin by writing: we are saved by grace through faith and not by works. Simon thought he had the works and had no need for the gift God offered in Jesus Christ. The woman knew she lacked the works and recognized the gift of God in Christ.
Salvation is the gift God offers all people in Jesus Christ. It is a salvation from a life of pride, self will and fear. It is salvation into a new relationship of faith in God through Jesus Christ.
Jesus had offered himself to Simon but Simon through pride rejected the offer. Jesus had come to seek and to find Simon but Simon did not want to be found. As he had offered himself to Simon so Jesus offered himself to the sinner. As he offered himself to her so he offers himself to all people everywhere. His words to the woman at the dinner party are his words to us and to all people today.
Jesus continues to proclaim: your sins are forgiven. I accomplished that for you on the cross. Your faith will save you. Your trust in the one whom God has sent into the world to find you will reunite you to God. You can’t find God but God will find you. As you allow yourself to be found by God in Christ you will go into the world in peace. The peace is the Personal Presence of God in your mind and heart and will. The Peace is Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday 2010
They began to accuse him.
There is only one God.
The One God is love. The One God is holy. The One God created the universe and all life. The One God created us.
The pattern of our species is the logos. The logos is the rational creative pattern of the universe. He is also the co-eternal Son of God who became a man in Jesus Christ.
God the Father created all things including all of us and each of us as a gift to God the Son, Jesus Christ.
Once before the Son had walked in this world. Once before the pre incarnate Son of God had offered his friendship, his love, his delight to the human race. And once before humanity had rejected the Son and said no.
That “no” forms the ground of our being. That “no” forms the way we think, feel, and make choices.
The Son of God knew this when he came into the world. He had been here before in his radiance and glory. Humanity had rejected him and in that rejection declared the fatal intent for each of us to be our own God.
The essence of sin is separation from God. The motivating principle underlying separation is the desire to be God. All people everywhere are trapped in the illusion of control. That illusion so warps the soul that we are enslaved to fear, self will and pride.
The religious leaders who cursed and condemned Jesus were no different from the greater mass of humanity who rebel against God’s self disclosure of himself in Jesus Christ. They wanted to define God according to their own rational analysis, needs, and desires. They did not want Jesus defining God. For if Jesus really is God in human flesh then he not only defines God, he also defines all that God has created, including each of us. A soul lost in rebellion and separation cannot and will not accept what Jesus brings into the world.
People frequently declare how unfair and exclusive Jesus Christ is to claim to be God. The real question is: is it true? Because if it is true it changes everything.
As with all Biblical teaching, the Holy Spirit invites each of us to test what He revealed to Moses, the prophets and the apostles. He invites us to ask the question: is this true? The answer to the question comes through observation.
How do the masses of people in our society respond or react to Jesus Christ? The Holy Spirit only asks that we wake up, pay attention, observe.
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were rebellious, cynical, deceitful and brutally honest about their demand. They simply did not want Jesus Christ to be the Messiah.
For Jesus to be the Messiah meant that everything they had chosen to believe about God was at best incomplete. For Jesus to be the Messiah meant that God was now visiting humanity in person. For Jesus to be the Messiah meant that they were wrong. They believed that in order for Jesus to be right they had to be wrong and if they were wrong they would lose everything they valued. For Jesus to be the Messiah meant that God was not only real he was now personally present.
Most religious people prefer either a distant transcendent deity that works through law or a vague impersonal diffuse deity that makes no demands and places no restrictions. Such a deity is ideal for a lost, broken and rebellious humanity. Such a deity can be molded and shaped and formed to fit our changing moods, needs and desires.
An incarnate deity is dangerous. He is in fact an affront to human pride. He immediately reveals that God is God. God is “I am.” God has his own character, nature and identity whether we agree, accept or approve. We cannot use such a God.
In the end, humanity rejected the co-eternal Son a second time.
Only this time, humanity sought to accomplish what the philosopher Friedrich Neitzsche claimed. God is dead. Long live the human will to power.
Of course, God knew all this. He had created us for love and we had instead used the free will that love embodies to choose power. God had created us for holiness- health- wholeness- happiness- and instead we chose rebellion, self indulgence and separation. God created us for a joyful eternal friendship with the Son by which we would discover endless joy and delight in the love of the Son. Instead, we chose to reject that relationship. The result is that we as a species and each of us as individuals are lost.
We are lost in fear, self will and pride. We are lost in the dark underside of pride which is despair. We are lost in our anger, and recycled pain. We are lost in the confusion of our thoughts. For as much as we might seek to dominate and control life we know we can’t. And so, we blame. We blame other people. We blame institutions, we blame God.
There was and is only one way for God to seek and save the lost. He had to come in person. He had to become fully vulnerable to humanity’s fear and anger. He had to receive the full force of human wrath so he could take it into himself, transform it, purify it, and offer it back as eternal unconditional love.
There is only one God. The One God became a human being in Jesus Christ. The people of that time and all time rejected Jesus, falsely accused him, blamed him for all of their suffering, tortured him and then killed him.
Jesus knew this would happen. He also knew it was the only way to rescue humanity from the folly of our choice to separate from God.
He’s gone now. He returned to heaven. His life, death and resurrection are public record. His experience with a lost, broken and rebellious humanity continues to be written in human history and in current events. Only now, we know the rest of the story.
Now we have the image and reality of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Now we have the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Infinite and Eternal Trinity, in our midst inviting us to ask the same question Pontus Pilate asked: what is truth? What is true?
Ask. Seek. Knock. The co-eternal Son of God stands before us today with that invitation. Test the assertions. Test the conclusions the Bible makes about human nature, the human condition, the human tragedy.
Taste and see whether the Lord Jesus Christ is who he claimed and still claims to be. He is the co-eternal Beloved who has visited this planet twice. He is the plan, the pattern and the purpose for our lives.
Jesus has taken human rebellion and separation and transformed it by his own eternal love into the gift of eternal life. The gift is nothing more and nothing less than the personal relationship Jesus continues to offer all people everywhere.
Have you received the gift? If you haven’t or aren’t sure simply pray: Heavenly Father, I receive the gift of your Son Jesus Christ.
If you have received the gift where are you standing? Are you standing with Holy Mother Mary and the Beloved Apostle John at the foot of the cross, at the empty tomb, in the midst of the Temple?
Are you walking with Jesus and inviting him to walk with you?
Jesus has transformed the accusations of the religious and political leadership into an invitation. That invitation is to receive the gift of his friendship and his love. Jesus is salvation.
Jesus is the fulness of God in person reaching out to all people everywhere, patiently, persistently. He has already borne the arrogance of a species that falsely accused him in person.
He continues to bear the accusations and arrogance of a species that seeks to redefine him and control him.
Jesus is who he is. Jesus is not control. Jesus doesn’t need to impose control. Jesus is the logos, the rational creative defining pattern of the universe. Jesus is the steadfast, holy, unconditional love of God reaching out to all people everywhere.
Test his claims in your own life experience. Wake up. Pay attention to the world as it is. Observe. Then, taste and see the goodness of God in Jesus Christ. Taste and delight in the transforming power of God the Father in God the Son through the indwelling Divine Presence of God the Holy Spirit.
They began to accuse him.
There is only one God.
The One God is love. The One God is holy. The One God created the universe and all life. The One God created us.
The pattern of our species is the logos. The logos is the rational creative pattern of the universe. He is also the co-eternal Son of God who became a man in Jesus Christ.
God the Father created all things including all of us and each of us as a gift to God the Son, Jesus Christ.
Once before the Son had walked in this world. Once before the pre incarnate Son of God had offered his friendship, his love, his delight to the human race. And once before humanity had rejected the Son and said no.
That “no” forms the ground of our being. That “no” forms the way we think, feel, and make choices.
The Son of God knew this when he came into the world. He had been here before in his radiance and glory. Humanity had rejected him and in that rejection declared the fatal intent for each of us to be our own God.
The essence of sin is separation from God. The motivating principle underlying separation is the desire to be God. All people everywhere are trapped in the illusion of control. That illusion so warps the soul that we are enslaved to fear, self will and pride.
The religious leaders who cursed and condemned Jesus were no different from the greater mass of humanity who rebel against God’s self disclosure of himself in Jesus Christ. They wanted to define God according to their own rational analysis, needs, and desires. They did not want Jesus defining God. For if Jesus really is God in human flesh then he not only defines God, he also defines all that God has created, including each of us. A soul lost in rebellion and separation cannot and will not accept what Jesus brings into the world.
People frequently declare how unfair and exclusive Jesus Christ is to claim to be God. The real question is: is it true? Because if it is true it changes everything.
As with all Biblical teaching, the Holy Spirit invites each of us to test what He revealed to Moses, the prophets and the apostles. He invites us to ask the question: is this true? The answer to the question comes through observation.
How do the masses of people in our society respond or react to Jesus Christ? The Holy Spirit only asks that we wake up, pay attention, observe.
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were rebellious, cynical, deceitful and brutally honest about their demand. They simply did not want Jesus Christ to be the Messiah.
For Jesus to be the Messiah meant that everything they had chosen to believe about God was at best incomplete. For Jesus to be the Messiah meant that God was now visiting humanity in person. For Jesus to be the Messiah meant that they were wrong. They believed that in order for Jesus to be right they had to be wrong and if they were wrong they would lose everything they valued. For Jesus to be the Messiah meant that God was not only real he was now personally present.
Most religious people prefer either a distant transcendent deity that works through law or a vague impersonal diffuse deity that makes no demands and places no restrictions. Such a deity is ideal for a lost, broken and rebellious humanity. Such a deity can be molded and shaped and formed to fit our changing moods, needs and desires.
An incarnate deity is dangerous. He is in fact an affront to human pride. He immediately reveals that God is God. God is “I am.” God has his own character, nature and identity whether we agree, accept or approve. We cannot use such a God.
In the end, humanity rejected the co-eternal Son a second time.
Only this time, humanity sought to accomplish what the philosopher Friedrich Neitzsche claimed. God is dead. Long live the human will to power.
Of course, God knew all this. He had created us for love and we had instead used the free will that love embodies to choose power. God had created us for holiness- health- wholeness- happiness- and instead we chose rebellion, self indulgence and separation. God created us for a joyful eternal friendship with the Son by which we would discover endless joy and delight in the love of the Son. Instead, we chose to reject that relationship. The result is that we as a species and each of us as individuals are lost.
We are lost in fear, self will and pride. We are lost in the dark underside of pride which is despair. We are lost in our anger, and recycled pain. We are lost in the confusion of our thoughts. For as much as we might seek to dominate and control life we know we can’t. And so, we blame. We blame other people. We blame institutions, we blame God.
There was and is only one way for God to seek and save the lost. He had to come in person. He had to become fully vulnerable to humanity’s fear and anger. He had to receive the full force of human wrath so he could take it into himself, transform it, purify it, and offer it back as eternal unconditional love.
There is only one God. The One God became a human being in Jesus Christ. The people of that time and all time rejected Jesus, falsely accused him, blamed him for all of their suffering, tortured him and then killed him.
Jesus knew this would happen. He also knew it was the only way to rescue humanity from the folly of our choice to separate from God.
He’s gone now. He returned to heaven. His life, death and resurrection are public record. His experience with a lost, broken and rebellious humanity continues to be written in human history and in current events. Only now, we know the rest of the story.
Now we have the image and reality of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Now we have the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Infinite and Eternal Trinity, in our midst inviting us to ask the same question Pontus Pilate asked: what is truth? What is true?
Ask. Seek. Knock. The co-eternal Son of God stands before us today with that invitation. Test the assertions. Test the conclusions the Bible makes about human nature, the human condition, the human tragedy.
Taste and see whether the Lord Jesus Christ is who he claimed and still claims to be. He is the co-eternal Beloved who has visited this planet twice. He is the plan, the pattern and the purpose for our lives.
Jesus has taken human rebellion and separation and transformed it by his own eternal love into the gift of eternal life. The gift is nothing more and nothing less than the personal relationship Jesus continues to offer all people everywhere.
Have you received the gift? If you haven’t or aren’t sure simply pray: Heavenly Father, I receive the gift of your Son Jesus Christ.
If you have received the gift where are you standing? Are you standing with Holy Mother Mary and the Beloved Apostle John at the foot of the cross, at the empty tomb, in the midst of the Temple?
Are you walking with Jesus and inviting him to walk with you?
Jesus has transformed the accusations of the religious and political leadership into an invitation. That invitation is to receive the gift of his friendship and his love. Jesus is salvation.
Jesus is the fulness of God in person reaching out to all people everywhere, patiently, persistently. He has already borne the arrogance of a species that falsely accused him in person.
He continues to bear the accusations and arrogance of a species that seeks to redefine him and control him.
Jesus is who he is. Jesus is not control. Jesus doesn’t need to impose control. Jesus is the logos, the rational creative defining pattern of the universe. Jesus is the steadfast, holy, unconditional love of God reaching out to all people everywhere.
Test his claims in your own life experience. Wake up. Pay attention to the world as it is. Observe. Then, taste and see the goodness of God in Jesus Christ. Taste and delight in the transforming power of God the Father in God the Son through the indwelling Divine Presence of God the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost 3
Pentecost 3 Your sins are forgiven
The Bible frequently reveals truth through the observation of contrast.
In the gospel reading this morning we see such a contrast. Luke records an incident at dinner party that reveals fundamental truth about the human condition.
The contrast is many layered.
Primarily, there is the contrast between a religious man and a sinful woman. The religious man, a Pharisee named Simon, is considered righteous by the cultural standards of the day. He gives every evidence that he has studied the commentaries on the Law and obeys the law. He wears the right clothes, washes his hands in the right way, eats the right food, says the right prayers and stays away from the wrong sort of people. He does what is right and so he has earned the right to be called personally by name: Simon.
The woman in the story is not named. She has been defined by the people as a sinner. There is no further description or information given about her or her sin. Whatever the sin may be she has become so identified with it that she is no longer identified by her personal name but by the impersonal description: sinner.
The contrast between righteous Simon and the unrighteous woman takes a sudden and unexpected turn. For, it is the sinner who offers Jesus the basic courtesies of sacred hospitality. All people in the Middle East at that time understood the sacred responsibilities of showing hospitality to a visitor. All people understood that at times the Divine realm tested humanity to see if people practiced the fundamental principles of compassion.
It is at this point, the point of compassion, that Simon fails the test. Simon had invited Jesus to dinner and made no effort to treat him according to the fundamental principles of respect.
The custom called for a servant to wash the feet of a guest as a sign of welcome. Simon made no such provision for Jesus. The custom called for the host to honor the guest with a ritual kiss of peace. Simon made no such offer. The custom called for the host to anoint the guest with oil as a sign of respect. Simon showed no respect to Jesus.
Simon invited Jesus to dinner but he very noticeably failed to welcome Jesus, honor Jesus, and show respect to Jesus. Everyone present would understand this to be an insult. Everyone present would understand that this was a gross violation of the principles of hospitality. Everyone would know that Simon’s failure bordered on blasphemy. For God had given a command through Moses to show honor to a visitor and to a stranger.
So why did Simon invite Jesus to dinner only to insult him? The key is in the encounter with the sinner. She could not have entered the house if Simon had not permitted it. This was a test. Throughout his three years of public ministry Jesus encountered many such tests from the religious leaders of the day.
Simon did not welcome, honor or respect Jesus because Simon wanted to test and to trap Jesus. He wanted to discredit Jesus. So, Simon insulted Jesus to provoke a reaction. When Jesus did not react to the insult, Simon allowed the sinner access to Jesus to test him.
By Simon’ standards, Jesus failed the test. First, he allowed a woman to touch him. A righteous man would not touch a woman who was not his wife or a close relative. Second, despite the fact people acclaimed Jesus as a great prophet, Jesus failed to discern the woman was a sinner. He should have perceived her sin and condemned her.
It was one of those no win scenarios that the Pharisees set up to embarrass and discredit Jesus. It worked. But it worked against the Pharisees.
No one could dispute Jesus’ assessment of the situation. Simon had violated a basic religious and social principle when he failed to provide the basics of sacred hospitality. The woman, for all of her reputation as sinner, had been the one to show welcome, honor and respect.
There is one more element in the story that is easy to miss. The woman just didn’t provide the minimum requirements of sacred hospitality. She offered Jesus an extravagance beyond imagination. She not only treated Jesus as an honored guest, she treated him as though he was royalty.
Jesus turned the tables on Simon as he told the parable of the debtors. He used Simon’s own words to reveal to Simon where Simon was not righteous. And, he transformed the entire concept of sin and righteousness.
Jesus constantly and consistently taught what Moses and the prophets taught. Jesus taught that the essence of righteousness is right relationship. It is the right relationship that produces right action.
This is the next contrast in the story. The religious leaders of the day taught that right action produces right relationship. For all of his right actions, Simon lacked right relationship. And so, when God came to Simon’s house, Simon not only failed to recognize him, he failed to show even the basic welcome, honor and respect. He was not present to Jesus. He asked no questions. He shut himself away from his moment of grace. He received no blessing. His one overwhelming and deadly sin was pride.
The woman understood she was a sinner. She, too, might have reacted with pride. She made a different choice. She chose humility. She chose to show welcome, honor and respect to Jesus. As she did this, she entered into a new relationship with God.
Jesus describes the final contrast when he looks at the woman and says: your faith has saved you. The contrast is between the woman’s faith in Jesus as the personal Presence of God and Simon’s rejection of Jesus and pride in his sense of his own right actions. The contrast is between faith and works.
The point of the story is the principle revealed by Moses and the prophets. The basic problem confronting humanity is our choice to separate from God. That choice proceeds from pride and is lost in pride. The pride of the lost is the refusal to be found by the personal presence of the living God.
The only solution to this problem is the solution God himself offers. It is the solution of making a real choice to be found by the one whom God has sent into the world to save us from separation.
At that dinner party so many centuries ago, Simon chose to remain in separation. The woman chose to be found by God in Jesus Christ. The key element is faith.
Simon had no room in his religious system of command and control for faith. The woman entered into the realm of faith when she welcomed, honored and showed respect to Jesus.
St. Paul would later summarize Jesus’ teaching about sin and salvation from sin by writing: we are saved by grace through faith and not by works. Simon thought he had the works and had no need for the gift God offered in Jesus Christ. The woman knew she lacked the works and recognized the gift of God in Christ.
Salvation is the gift God offers all people in Jesus Christ. It is a salvation from a life of pride, self will and fear. It is salvation into a new relationship of faith in God through Jesus Christ.
Jesus had offered himself to Simon but Simon through pride rejected the offer. Jesus had come to seek and to find Simon but Simon did not want to be found. As he had offered himself to Simon so Jesus offered himself to the sinner. As he offered himself to her so he offers himself to all people everywhere. His words to the woman at the dinner party are his words to us and to all people today.
Jesus continues to proclaim: your sins are forgiven. I accomplished that for you on the cross. Your faith will save you. Your trust in the one whom God has sent into the world to find you will reunite you to God. You can’t find God but God will find you. As you allow yourself to be found by God in Christ you will go into the world in peace.
The peace is the Personal Presence of God in your mind and heart and will. The Peace is Jesus Christ.
The Bible frequently reveals truth through the observation of contrast.
In the gospel reading this morning we see such a contrast. Luke records an incident at dinner party that reveals fundamental truth about the human condition.
The contrast is many layered.
Primarily, there is the contrast between a religious man and a sinful woman. The religious man, a Pharisee named Simon, is considered righteous by the cultural standards of the day. He gives every evidence that he has studied the commentaries on the Law and obeys the law. He wears the right clothes, washes his hands in the right way, eats the right food, says the right prayers and stays away from the wrong sort of people. He does what is right and so he has earned the right to be called personally by name: Simon.
The woman in the story is not named. She has been defined by the people as a sinner. There is no further description or information given about her or her sin. Whatever the sin may be she has become so identified with it that she is no longer identified by her personal name but by the impersonal description: sinner.
The contrast between righteous Simon and the unrighteous woman takes a sudden and unexpected turn. For, it is the sinner who offers Jesus the basic courtesies of sacred hospitality. All people in the Middle East at that time understood the sacred responsibilities of showing hospitality to a visitor. All people understood that at times the Divine realm tested humanity to see if people practiced the fundamental principles of compassion.
It is at this point, the point of compassion, that Simon fails the test. Simon had invited Jesus to dinner and made no effort to treat him according to the fundamental principles of respect.
The custom called for a servant to wash the feet of a guest as a sign of welcome. Simon made no such provision for Jesus. The custom called for the host to honor the guest with a ritual kiss of peace. Simon made no such offer. The custom called for the host to anoint the guest with oil as a sign of respect. Simon showed no respect to Jesus.
Simon invited Jesus to dinner but he very noticeably failed to welcome Jesus, honor Jesus, and show respect to Jesus. Everyone present would understand this to be an insult. Everyone present would understand that this was a gross violation of the principles of hospitality. Everyone would know that Simon’s failure bordered on blasphemy. For God had given a command through Moses to show honor to a visitor and to a stranger.
So why did Simon invite Jesus to dinner only to insult him? The key is in the encounter with the sinner. She could not have entered the house if Simon had not permitted it. This was a test. Throughout his three years of public ministry Jesus encountered many such tests from the religious leaders of the day.
Simon did not welcome, honor or respect Jesus because Simon wanted to test and to trap Jesus. He wanted to discredit Jesus. So, Simon insulted Jesus to provoke a reaction. When Jesus did not react to the insult, Simon allowed the sinner access to Jesus to test him.
By Simon’ standards, Jesus failed the test. First, he allowed a woman to touch him. A righteous man would not touch a woman who was not his wife or a close relative. Second, despite the fact people acclaimed Jesus as a great prophet, Jesus failed to discern the woman was a sinner. He should have perceived her sin and condemned her.
It was one of those no win scenarios that the Pharisees set up to embarrass and discredit Jesus. It worked. But it worked against the Pharisees.
No one could dispute Jesus’ assessment of the situation. Simon had violated a basic religious and social principle when he failed to provide the basics of sacred hospitality. The woman, for all of her reputation as sinner, had been the one to show welcome, honor and respect.
There is one more element in the story that is easy to miss. The woman just didn’t provide the minimum requirements of sacred hospitality. She offered Jesus an extravagance beyond imagination. She not only treated Jesus as an honored guest, she treated him as though he was royalty.
Jesus turned the tables on Simon as he told the parable of the debtors. He used Simon’s own words to reveal to Simon where Simon was not righteous. And, he transformed the entire concept of sin and righteousness.
Jesus constantly and consistently taught what Moses and the prophets taught. Jesus taught that the essence of righteousness is right relationship. It is the right relationship that produces right action.
This is the next contrast in the story. The religious leaders of the day taught that right action produces right relationship. For all of his right actions, Simon lacked right relationship. And so, when God came to Simon’s house, Simon not only failed to recognize him, he failed to show even the basic welcome, honor and respect. He was not present to Jesus. He asked no questions. He shut himself away from his moment of grace. He received no blessing. His one overwhelming and deadly sin was pride.
The woman understood she was a sinner. She, too, might have reacted with pride. She made a different choice. She chose humility. She chose to show welcome, honor and respect to Jesus. As she did this, she entered into a new relationship with God.
Jesus describes the final contrast when he looks at the woman and says: your faith has saved you. The contrast is between the woman’s faith in Jesus as the personal Presence of God and Simon’s rejection of Jesus and pride in his sense of his own right actions. The contrast is between faith and works.
The point of the story is the principle revealed by Moses and the prophets. The basic problem confronting humanity is our choice to separate from God. That choice proceeds from pride and is lost in pride. The pride of the lost is the refusal to be found by the personal presence of the living God.
The only solution to this problem is the solution God himself offers. It is the solution of making a real choice to be found by the one whom God has sent into the world to save us from separation.
At that dinner party so many centuries ago, Simon chose to remain in separation. The woman chose to be found by God in Jesus Christ. The key element is faith.
Simon had no room in his religious system of command and control for faith. The woman entered into the realm of faith when she welcomed, honored and showed respect to Jesus.
St. Paul would later summarize Jesus’ teaching about sin and salvation from sin by writing: we are saved by grace through faith and not by works. Simon thought he had the works and had no need for the gift God offered in Jesus Christ. The woman knew she lacked the works and recognized the gift of God in Christ.
Salvation is the gift God offers all people in Jesus Christ. It is a salvation from a life of pride, self will and fear. It is salvation into a new relationship of faith in God through Jesus Christ.
Jesus had offered himself to Simon but Simon through pride rejected the offer. Jesus had come to seek and to find Simon but Simon did not want to be found. As he had offered himself to Simon so Jesus offered himself to the sinner. As he offered himself to her so he offers himself to all people everywhere. His words to the woman at the dinner party are his words to us and to all people today.
Jesus continues to proclaim: your sins are forgiven. I accomplished that for you on the cross. Your faith will save you. Your trust in the one whom God has sent into the world to find you will reunite you to God. You can’t find God but God will find you. As you allow yourself to be found by God in Christ you will go into the world in peace.
The peace is the Personal Presence of God in your mind and heart and will. The Peace is Jesus Christ.
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