Pentecost 10 (Luke 12:13-21)
Take care. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.
Greed kills.
Greed is one of the seven deadly sins. The essence of sin is separation. It is separation from God, other people and from the image and likeness of God imprinted on our souls. The end result of sin is always the same: death.
Greed is one specific form of sin that diverts the mind, the heart and the will from God and redirects it to material objects. Greed is deadly in the same way heroin is deadly, in the same way all of the seven deadly sins are deadly.
Greed is subject to the law of diminishing return. That law states that the more you have, the more you want, and the less you are satisfied. That is how sin kills. It offers us a substitute for God that distorts and diminishes our desire for a loving relationship with God. Sin substitutes some else for God.
The substitute always brings some initial pleasure. That pleasure always carriers a price. The price is the disintegration of our souls.
We don’t always experience the disintegration at first. There are warning signs that we have departed from the path of life. Those signs come in many ways. Usually, the signs come from a twinge of conscience that alerts us to the danger. Deadly sins are deadly because they appear to promise so much. Deadly sins are deadly because they stimulate our senses and appeal to our pride.
The object of greed is generally material possession. There is nothing wrong with the objects. The allure of greed is the pleasure we derive from the possession. There is nothing wrong with pleasure. God designed human beings to experience pleasure.
The corrosive quality of greed is the human will to power. That will to power is grounded in the pride that says: “I and I alone decide what is true, what is valuable, what is God.”
This is why Jesus would not intervene in the dispute over the inheritance. The dispute set the terms and conditions of what the family valued. Jesus revealed to the man who asked for justice that he was really motivated by greed.
Jesus saw very clearly that the man had come to define life in terms of money. That is why Jesus said: life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.
There is nothing inherently wrong with money. There is nothing inherently wrong with material possessions. The problem lies in the choice people make to define the abundance of life in terms of money and possessions.
Jesus came to preach and teach and demonstrate that the abundance of life is the relationship God offers us- all of us- each of us- through him.
Jesus once sadly acknowledged that there will always be poverty until he returns. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins that produces poverty.
The parable of the rich farmer demonstrates this. God had blessed the man with material abundance. God had even revealed through Moses and the prophets that God expects those who have been blessed with material abundance to share the blessing with the less fortunate.
Pride steps in and declares: I have accumulated this wealth by my own will. By my own work and righteous living I have become wealthy. What then shall I do? The prophets say: help others. That is foolish. Let them work. Let them perform righteous acts to earn the blessing of God. I did it on my own. Let them do the same.
The rich farmer decides to hold onto his material abundance heedless of the moral, ethical and spiritual principles that God has woven into the pattern of life. Moses and the prophets reveal those principles. Jesus repeated them and then lived them to demonstrate to us how it is possible to make a different choice in life.
The conclusion of Jesus’ parable is in a single word of God to the wealthy self made man. The word is “fool”. It is an echo of Psalm 14 which begins with the words: the fool has said in his heart there is no God.
The parable is a warning to the man and to us. Where is our heart/ What do we value most? How do we respond to the material abundance God gives us? By what principle do we make choices to use our money?
God gave Moses the principle. It is: make the love of God the first priority in your life. God comes first. Worship, prayer, Bible study, the sacraments come first. The second priority is to love other people.
Worship comes first because worship is the only way a human being can offer love to God. Service to others comes next. Service answers the question the rich farmer in the parable posed to himself. What then shall I do with my money and possessions?
The rich farmer answered the question by declaring his intent to build larger storage facilities so he could hold on to everything he had. Jesus recommends we answer the question by refocusing on God.
The rich farmer could have reframed the question from what shall I do to how shall I help? There was and still is overwhelming poverty in the world. No one of us can solve the entire problem of poverty. Each of us can make a difference.
Jesus identifies greed as a barrier to the abundant life.
It seems counter intuitive. It seems illogical that the pursuit of wealth and the acquisition of material possessions fails to satisfy. It takes faith to perceive the reality and the root of the problem.
The faith comes as we hear the word of God in the Bible. That word is a thousand year record of human behavior and human suffering.
That faith comes as we hear the word of God in Jesus Christ. Jesus just doesn’t speak God’s word. Jesus is God’s word. Jesus is the plan and pattern of creation.
That faith comes as we hear the word of God that God speaks to us in worship, in prayer, and in human need. Poverty is God’s invitation for people to share their abundance.
Jesus tells us and shows us that the blessing of abundance comes in the way we choose to live our lives. The blessing is not in the money or the possessions. The blessing is in how we choose to use the money and the possessions.
Take care. Pay attention. Ask yourself and God: how am I doing today? How am I doing in fulfilling the law of love?
Be on your guard. Temptations come from many sources. The world culture is for the most part contrary to the values God reveals through Moses and the prophets. Our own pride leads us to reject divine principles of love and compassion. Our own self will leads us to rebel against the person and plan and pattern of reality in Jesus Christ.
Hear the principle. Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. The abundant life is a life immersed in the steadfast holy love of God in Jesus Christ. The abundant life is rich towards God in the time and attention we offer to God to fill with the abundance of his love. And, it is rich towards God in the choices we make to become channels of blessings to others.
Jesus fed the hungry, healed the sick, comforted the lonely, worshipped weekly in the synagogue, offered himself daily to God in prayer. This is the abundance of spiritual treasure that brings us an eternal blessing here and now.
Take heed. Be on your guard. Choose the abundance which is inexhaustible and fulfilling. Choose the Way of Life revealed in the pattern, plan and purpose of life in Jesus Christ.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Pentecost 9 Year C
Pentecost 9 (Luke 11:1-13)
Father, hallowed be thy name.
God’s name is holy. God’s name is holy because God is holy. Holiness is not just an attribute or an aspect of God. Holiness is the essential nature of God.
God is love. That love is holy.
When the disciples observed Jesus praying they asked him to teach them to pray. They were probably asking for a specific prayer. Rabbis and other religious leaders some times gave a special prayer to their students. It was a unique prayer that expressed the teaching and helped build the group identity.
The prayer Jesus taught, in its original form. Is more of a prayer outline. It reflects the outline but not necessarily the exact words Jesus used in his prayer life
Prayer is a conversation with our heavenly Father. While God never changes we do. The prayer of a seven year old is very different from the prayer of a seventeen year old and even more different than that of a twenty seven year old and a seventy year old.
Our needs, desires and concerns change over time and circumstance. Our maturity level evolves, hopefully.
As our conversation with our own children changes and evolves over time, so it is with our conversation with God. This is the purpose of prayer. It is an ongoing conversation with someone who cares for us and seeks a personal relationship with us.
Prayer does not change God. Prayer changes us. So it is that Jesus’ prayer outline begins with the words: Father, hallowed be your name. The invitation to prayer is the invitation to personal holiness.
Jesus shared with his disciples his experience of prayer. It is the experience of a son speaking with his father. It is the personal experience of divine love. Jesus asks his students, if your son asks you for a fish will you give him a snake? If he asks for an egg will you give him a scorpion?
People have many misconceptions about God. Through his teaching on prayer, Jesus reminds us that God is real, God is personal, God is love. God is our heavenly Father who delights to hear from us.
Many people perceive God as an impersonal force. For these people, prayer is a form of magic. If you say the right words at the right time in the right way you can access and use divine power for your benefit.
Many people perceive God as a blind judge. If you ask for something in the right way God will reward you by giving you what you want. If you ask the wrong way, God will with hold what you want and may even give you something you don’t want.
Many people perceive God simply as an extension of their own needs and desires. They reason, if God is real then God will give me what I need and what I want. If I do not receive what I need and want it can only mean God is not real.
When the disciples ask Jesus to teach them a prayer Jesus first wants to clarify who it is they think they are praying to. Is it the impersonal God, the blind judge, the indulgent God? Jesus clarifies who God is by describing how he prays. When Jesus prays he addresses God as Father.
Father is not only personal it is intimate. It is a recognition that God has a deep and abiding love for us. It is a recognition that prayer is not about manipulating divine power to get God to give us what we need or want. Prayer is personal conversation with a Father who cares for us.
Such prayer is open, evolving and transforming. God is always our Father. We are always God’s children. As we grow and develop in life so God invites us to grow and develop in our relationship with him. Prayer facilitates this growth.
The first petition in the outline of prayer Jesus gives us is about God. Jesus teaches us to pray according to the principle of personal holiness. “Hallowed be your name. May your name, God, be holy.” God is holy. We are not asking God to be anything other than he is. In that request we yield our inclination to define God.
The great challenge humanity faces in its relationship with God is our demand to define God. Humans have even invented a right to define God however we choose. God is God. He cannot be defined. He can only be experienced.
We experience God in prayer as we enter into the personal relationship God himself offers us. We grow into that relationship as we declare our intent to accept God for who God is.
The great obstacle to human relationships is our tendency to define people according to our needs and desires. It is the tendency to see in another person only that which appeals to us and brings us pleasure. This is the experience of infatuation.
None of us has that power. As the illusion of who we want the other person to be for us wears thin and begins to evaporate so the infatuation vanishes. More often than not, we feel betrayed that the other person is not who we thought he was.
Our relationship with God takes the same form. We create God in our own image and then feel betrayed when that God fails us. In his teaching on prayer, Jesus instructs us that we need to pray in spirit and in truth. We need to enter into a conversation with some one who has gone on record in the Bible over the course of a thousand years of history to reveal himself, his personality, his nature, and his name.
Jesus sets the example by naming God “Father”. Jesus sets the intent by forming the first petition with the words” Father, may your name be holy.”
May you name be holy in the heavens. May you name be holy in the creation. May your name be holy amongst the nations. May you name be holy in my life.
Holiness is personal as love is personal.
Personal Holiness is God’s goal for our lives. As we pray that God’s Name, God’s nature, would be universally recognized as holy, so we ask God to release us from our rebellious tendency to redefine God.
The first four of the ten commandments offer a practical guide how we can fulfill this petition. I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods except me. Keep the Sabbath day holy. Do not make idols. Do not take the name of God in vain.
There is a lot there in those four statements. The secular demand to remove the ten commandments from public life has less to do with the six moral commandments than the absolute nature of the first four commandments about God. Human beings in general resist and rebel against the Lord God who declares himself in the words: I am.
Be sure you understand what you pray and to whom you pray if you choose to use the outline of prayer Jesus taught. The outline sets the definition of terms in the first few words.
God is real. God is personal. God is our loving heavenly Father. God is holy. The remaining categories in the outline all derive from this introduction. The additional petitions only make sense and become real as we begin to appreciate and live into the first words.
Jesus reveals to us that it is the personal relationship with our Heavenly Father that rescues prayer from the realm of magic, manipulation or empty ritual. As the relationship is open ended, evolving, and transforming so is the conversation, the prayer.
We grow in prayer as we spend time in prayer. Our lives change and transform as we immerse our thoughts, words, desires and will in the holiness of God’s Name, God’s nature.
God spoke to Moses and through Moses to all Israel and through Israel to all people everywhere: you shall be holy for the Lord you God is holy. Do not pray the Lord’s prayer, the Our Father, if you do not believe God is personal steadfast holy love.
Do not pray the Lord’s payer if you do not wish for God to recreate you in every aspect of your life according to the plan and the pattern and the purpose of holiness. Moses observes that every aspect of human nature is distorted by sin. The prophets teach that every aspect of human nature needs to be reclaimed and recreated. Jesus not only shows us the way to the recreation of fallen and distorted human nature, Jesus is the Way. If you want to know what personal holiness looks like in terms of thoughts, words and deeds- study the life of Jesus Christ as it is recorded in the four apostolic biographies of Jesus. Receive the fullness of that life in the real presence of Jesus in the sacraments.
Jesus taught his students an outline of prayer to help us enter into the process of prayer. The words of the Lord’s Prayer are a starting place for the conversation to begin. The conversation develops and deepens and becomes more meaningful as we ponder the words and seek God’s help to live into the words.
The first step in prayer is always the same. The first step is for us to surrender our self will to the divine Love of God in Jesus Christ. The disciples took this first step when they asked Jesus to teach them.
The second step is to declare with Moses and the Prophets that there is only one God. He is who he is. We take this next step when we accept Jesus’ revelation that God is our heavenly Father and we pray the words Jesus taught us: Our Father.
The third step is to follow Jesus into the plan and pattern and purpose of God. We take that step when we pray: Father, hallowed be your name. May your name be holy. May your name be holy in your world, in your people, and in my life.
That third step is the journey through life that is formed and transformed by our personal conversation with God in prayer. As we take the next step into that journey, how much more will our heavenly Father give us the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us to become more fully who he has created us to be and redeemed us to become.
Father, hallowed be thy name.
God’s name is holy. God’s name is holy because God is holy. Holiness is not just an attribute or an aspect of God. Holiness is the essential nature of God.
God is love. That love is holy.
When the disciples observed Jesus praying they asked him to teach them to pray. They were probably asking for a specific prayer. Rabbis and other religious leaders some times gave a special prayer to their students. It was a unique prayer that expressed the teaching and helped build the group identity.
The prayer Jesus taught, in its original form. Is more of a prayer outline. It reflects the outline but not necessarily the exact words Jesus used in his prayer life
Prayer is a conversation with our heavenly Father. While God never changes we do. The prayer of a seven year old is very different from the prayer of a seventeen year old and even more different than that of a twenty seven year old and a seventy year old.
Our needs, desires and concerns change over time and circumstance. Our maturity level evolves, hopefully.
As our conversation with our own children changes and evolves over time, so it is with our conversation with God. This is the purpose of prayer. It is an ongoing conversation with someone who cares for us and seeks a personal relationship with us.
Prayer does not change God. Prayer changes us. So it is that Jesus’ prayer outline begins with the words: Father, hallowed be your name. The invitation to prayer is the invitation to personal holiness.
Jesus shared with his disciples his experience of prayer. It is the experience of a son speaking with his father. It is the personal experience of divine love. Jesus asks his students, if your son asks you for a fish will you give him a snake? If he asks for an egg will you give him a scorpion?
People have many misconceptions about God. Through his teaching on prayer, Jesus reminds us that God is real, God is personal, God is love. God is our heavenly Father who delights to hear from us.
Many people perceive God as an impersonal force. For these people, prayer is a form of magic. If you say the right words at the right time in the right way you can access and use divine power for your benefit.
Many people perceive God as a blind judge. If you ask for something in the right way God will reward you by giving you what you want. If you ask the wrong way, God will with hold what you want and may even give you something you don’t want.
Many people perceive God simply as an extension of their own needs and desires. They reason, if God is real then God will give me what I need and what I want. If I do not receive what I need and want it can only mean God is not real.
When the disciples ask Jesus to teach them a prayer Jesus first wants to clarify who it is they think they are praying to. Is it the impersonal God, the blind judge, the indulgent God? Jesus clarifies who God is by describing how he prays. When Jesus prays he addresses God as Father.
Father is not only personal it is intimate. It is a recognition that God has a deep and abiding love for us. It is a recognition that prayer is not about manipulating divine power to get God to give us what we need or want. Prayer is personal conversation with a Father who cares for us.
Such prayer is open, evolving and transforming. God is always our Father. We are always God’s children. As we grow and develop in life so God invites us to grow and develop in our relationship with him. Prayer facilitates this growth.
The first petition in the outline of prayer Jesus gives us is about God. Jesus teaches us to pray according to the principle of personal holiness. “Hallowed be your name. May your name, God, be holy.” God is holy. We are not asking God to be anything other than he is. In that request we yield our inclination to define God.
The great challenge humanity faces in its relationship with God is our demand to define God. Humans have even invented a right to define God however we choose. God is God. He cannot be defined. He can only be experienced.
We experience God in prayer as we enter into the personal relationship God himself offers us. We grow into that relationship as we declare our intent to accept God for who God is.
The great obstacle to human relationships is our tendency to define people according to our needs and desires. It is the tendency to see in another person only that which appeals to us and brings us pleasure. This is the experience of infatuation.
None of us has that power. As the illusion of who we want the other person to be for us wears thin and begins to evaporate so the infatuation vanishes. More often than not, we feel betrayed that the other person is not who we thought he was.
Our relationship with God takes the same form. We create God in our own image and then feel betrayed when that God fails us. In his teaching on prayer, Jesus instructs us that we need to pray in spirit and in truth. We need to enter into a conversation with some one who has gone on record in the Bible over the course of a thousand years of history to reveal himself, his personality, his nature, and his name.
Jesus sets the example by naming God “Father”. Jesus sets the intent by forming the first petition with the words” Father, may your name be holy.”
May you name be holy in the heavens. May you name be holy in the creation. May your name be holy amongst the nations. May you name be holy in my life.
Holiness is personal as love is personal.
Personal Holiness is God’s goal for our lives. As we pray that God’s Name, God’s nature, would be universally recognized as holy, so we ask God to release us from our rebellious tendency to redefine God.
The first four of the ten commandments offer a practical guide how we can fulfill this petition. I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods except me. Keep the Sabbath day holy. Do not make idols. Do not take the name of God in vain.
There is a lot there in those four statements. The secular demand to remove the ten commandments from public life has less to do with the six moral commandments than the absolute nature of the first four commandments about God. Human beings in general resist and rebel against the Lord God who declares himself in the words: I am.
Be sure you understand what you pray and to whom you pray if you choose to use the outline of prayer Jesus taught. The outline sets the definition of terms in the first few words.
God is real. God is personal. God is our loving heavenly Father. God is holy. The remaining categories in the outline all derive from this introduction. The additional petitions only make sense and become real as we begin to appreciate and live into the first words.
Jesus reveals to us that it is the personal relationship with our Heavenly Father that rescues prayer from the realm of magic, manipulation or empty ritual. As the relationship is open ended, evolving, and transforming so is the conversation, the prayer.
We grow in prayer as we spend time in prayer. Our lives change and transform as we immerse our thoughts, words, desires and will in the holiness of God’s Name, God’s nature.
God spoke to Moses and through Moses to all Israel and through Israel to all people everywhere: you shall be holy for the Lord you God is holy. Do not pray the Lord’s prayer, the Our Father, if you do not believe God is personal steadfast holy love.
Do not pray the Lord’s payer if you do not wish for God to recreate you in every aspect of your life according to the plan and the pattern and the purpose of holiness. Moses observes that every aspect of human nature is distorted by sin. The prophets teach that every aspect of human nature needs to be reclaimed and recreated. Jesus not only shows us the way to the recreation of fallen and distorted human nature, Jesus is the Way. If you want to know what personal holiness looks like in terms of thoughts, words and deeds- study the life of Jesus Christ as it is recorded in the four apostolic biographies of Jesus. Receive the fullness of that life in the real presence of Jesus in the sacraments.
Jesus taught his students an outline of prayer to help us enter into the process of prayer. The words of the Lord’s Prayer are a starting place for the conversation to begin. The conversation develops and deepens and becomes more meaningful as we ponder the words and seek God’s help to live into the words.
The first step in prayer is always the same. The first step is for us to surrender our self will to the divine Love of God in Jesus Christ. The disciples took this first step when they asked Jesus to teach them.
The second step is to declare with Moses and the Prophets that there is only one God. He is who he is. We take this next step when we accept Jesus’ revelation that God is our heavenly Father and we pray the words Jesus taught us: Our Father.
The third step is to follow Jesus into the plan and pattern and purpose of God. We take that step when we pray: Father, hallowed be your name. May your name be holy. May your name be holy in your world, in your people, and in my life.
That third step is the journey through life that is formed and transformed by our personal conversation with God in prayer. As we take the next step into that journey, how much more will our heavenly Father give us the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us to become more fully who he has created us to be and redeemed us to become.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Pentecost 8
Pentecost 8 (Luke 10:38-42)
You are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.
Worry and distraction erode faith.
Jesus had chosen to visit Martha and Mary. Martha received Jesus into her home them promptly ignored him. She turned to the hustle and bustle of work. In that flurry of activity she felt frustration and anger that her sister, Mary, wasn’t helping her. She missed the point of Jesus’ visit.
Jesus was visiting Martha and Mary to get to know them. He was not interested in being entertained. He was not interested in a formal dinner. He came to visit.
Mary understood this. She perceived the gift Jesus was offering. She responded to that gift and sat in Jesus’ presence. She gave Jesus her time and attention. She listened to him.
Martha avoided Jesus. She with held her time and attention from Jesus and directed it to business. She was worried and distracted. In that worry she chose fear over faith.
Perhaps she was fearful that Jesus would think less of her if the house was not perfectly spotless. Perhaps she was fearful that Jesus would judge her if the meal she prepared was not perfectly cooked, perfectly, presented, and perfectly served. Perhaps she was fearful that she lacked something that she should have, something more, something different, something perfectly suited to honor and to impress her guest.
The fear came from her own interior demand to make everything perfect. Her faith in Jesus eroded as her demand to be in control of the situation shifted her attention from Jesus to her own self will.
Martha was also distracted. Distractions are usually self created. Distractions come when there is a higher priority we seek to evade.
The priority may be a homework paper due the next day. The distraction may be the sudden realization that you need to completely reorganize all of your comic books and baseball cards.
The priority may be getting to work on time. The distraction may be the sudden realization that you couldn’t possibly leave the house until the beds are made, the laundry is folded and the furniture is rearranged.
The priority may be to receive an honored guest who offers his friendship. The distraction may be the feeling that you really aren’t interested in the friendship as much as you are impressing an important person who could very easily become the next King.
Fear creates the worry. Worry creates the distraction. Distraction substantiates the fear. The fear is that unless I am perfect I am worthless. The fear results in anger.
Martha complained to Jesus that her sister should abandon him and help her. Martha wanted Mary to turn her back on Jesus so together they could create the perfect meal for Jesus.
Sadly, the worry and the distraction are the clues that Martha missed her moment of grace. She acted as though the moment was all about her. Since the moment was all about her she had to assert her will and make everything perfect.
Jesus very gently, and I believe with a compassionate humor, responds to Martha’s complaint by showing her the folly of her choice. Martha- you’ve chosen to make my visit into an occasion for worry and distraction. Mary has chosen to make my visit into a moment of grace. Mary has made the better choice.
In her worry and her distraction Martha is not present to Jesus. He is right there in her house. But for Martha, he might just as well be on the other side of the world. He might just as well not exist at all. She experiences only her own demands, fears, distractions and anger even as Jesus is offering her the most amazing gift possible- the gift of reunification with God, friendship with God.
That is what Mary chose. At that moment- that was the priority. Jesus commends Mary’s choice. He comments that Mary’s choice is not only the better choice but it is also the choice with eternal value. Mary’s choice will never be taken away from her.
Martha’s choice not only fails to satisfy but immediately falls apart. Her demand for perfection is unattainable. Her desire to impose her will is fruitless. She needs to stop. Reflect. Repent. Change her sense of priority. She needs to turn to Jesus and receive the gift of his friendship.
There is a time and a place for housework, cooking and serving. There is a time and a place for doing. There is also a time and a place for being. The being comes as we receive the gift Jesus offers us. The gift is himself.
Jesus is the incarnation of the co-eternal Son of God. Friendship with Jesus begins in a moment of grace. Jesus seeks us out amid the worries and distractions of the world. He finds where we are caught in our self created frustration, fear and anger. He offers himself to us in a moment of grace. But, he never imposes himself on us. The choice is ours.
Distractions come from within the soul. The dist5raction are not in the outer world. The distraction are in our personal interior world. We choose to create distractions to avoid our moment of grace.
Anything can become a distraction. It may be frivolous or it may have some importance. We choose doing over being in an effort to create the illusion we are in control. Distractions are always a means to avoid our moment of grace.
The moment of grace is that moment in time when God reveals to us that life is not about our will. Life is not about us.
The moment of grace is that moment when God reveals to us we are not perfect and by our own efforts we can never be perfect. In fact, the more we focus on our own demand for perfection the greater the anxiety we experience.
The moment of grace is that moment when God reveals to us we are lost and broken and he has come to us to find us and to heal us.
That is what Jesus does. That is who Jesus is. Jesus saves us from sin and death by saving us from ourselves- our own self will, fear and pride. As we open to the moment of grace Jesus offers that moment sets us free from fear into a new life of faith.
Even in the physical presence of Jesus Christ, Martha continued to assert her self will to control the moment. Mary released her will into the moment. Martha experienced anxiety, fear and anger. Mary experienced the real presence of God in Jesus Christ. The real presence of God in Jesus Christ is eternal love.
The Holy Spirit inspired St. Luke to record this event in the life of Martha and Mart to reveal to all future generations the nature of real choice. Real Choice opens the mind, the heart and the will to the eternal love of the real presence of Jesus Christ.
The message of Christ is the reality of a new life and a new way of living. That new life comes from the personal relationship God offers us and all people. It is the personal relationship that recreates the moment. It is the personal relationship that offers the promise of a life of transformation.
As with all relationships, our relationship with Jesus Christ requires time and attention. As with the most important relationships in our life, our relationship with Jesus Christ can only be as meaningful as it becomes our priority.
Martha devoted her time and attention to becoming the perfect hostess who would produce the perfect dinner for a guest she largely ignored. Her sister Mary chose to devote her time and attention to listening to Jesus and speaking with him.
Which was the better choice? Which is the better choice for us? Jesus himself answers this question as he speaks to Martha, and as he speaks to us today: You are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.
That one thing is the new life and the new way of living in a personal relationship with the co-eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ.
You are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.
Worry and distraction erode faith.
Jesus had chosen to visit Martha and Mary. Martha received Jesus into her home them promptly ignored him. She turned to the hustle and bustle of work. In that flurry of activity she felt frustration and anger that her sister, Mary, wasn’t helping her. She missed the point of Jesus’ visit.
Jesus was visiting Martha and Mary to get to know them. He was not interested in being entertained. He was not interested in a formal dinner. He came to visit.
Mary understood this. She perceived the gift Jesus was offering. She responded to that gift and sat in Jesus’ presence. She gave Jesus her time and attention. She listened to him.
Martha avoided Jesus. She with held her time and attention from Jesus and directed it to business. She was worried and distracted. In that worry she chose fear over faith.
Perhaps she was fearful that Jesus would think less of her if the house was not perfectly spotless. Perhaps she was fearful that Jesus would judge her if the meal she prepared was not perfectly cooked, perfectly, presented, and perfectly served. Perhaps she was fearful that she lacked something that she should have, something more, something different, something perfectly suited to honor and to impress her guest.
The fear came from her own interior demand to make everything perfect. Her faith in Jesus eroded as her demand to be in control of the situation shifted her attention from Jesus to her own self will.
Martha was also distracted. Distractions are usually self created. Distractions come when there is a higher priority we seek to evade.
The priority may be a homework paper due the next day. The distraction may be the sudden realization that you need to completely reorganize all of your comic books and baseball cards.
The priority may be getting to work on time. The distraction may be the sudden realization that you couldn’t possibly leave the house until the beds are made, the laundry is folded and the furniture is rearranged.
The priority may be to receive an honored guest who offers his friendship. The distraction may be the feeling that you really aren’t interested in the friendship as much as you are impressing an important person who could very easily become the next King.
Fear creates the worry. Worry creates the distraction. Distraction substantiates the fear. The fear is that unless I am perfect I am worthless. The fear results in anger.
Martha complained to Jesus that her sister should abandon him and help her. Martha wanted Mary to turn her back on Jesus so together they could create the perfect meal for Jesus.
Sadly, the worry and the distraction are the clues that Martha missed her moment of grace. She acted as though the moment was all about her. Since the moment was all about her she had to assert her will and make everything perfect.
Jesus very gently, and I believe with a compassionate humor, responds to Martha’s complaint by showing her the folly of her choice. Martha- you’ve chosen to make my visit into an occasion for worry and distraction. Mary has chosen to make my visit into a moment of grace. Mary has made the better choice.
In her worry and her distraction Martha is not present to Jesus. He is right there in her house. But for Martha, he might just as well be on the other side of the world. He might just as well not exist at all. She experiences only her own demands, fears, distractions and anger even as Jesus is offering her the most amazing gift possible- the gift of reunification with God, friendship with God.
That is what Mary chose. At that moment- that was the priority. Jesus commends Mary’s choice. He comments that Mary’s choice is not only the better choice but it is also the choice with eternal value. Mary’s choice will never be taken away from her.
Martha’s choice not only fails to satisfy but immediately falls apart. Her demand for perfection is unattainable. Her desire to impose her will is fruitless. She needs to stop. Reflect. Repent. Change her sense of priority. She needs to turn to Jesus and receive the gift of his friendship.
There is a time and a place for housework, cooking and serving. There is a time and a place for doing. There is also a time and a place for being. The being comes as we receive the gift Jesus offers us. The gift is himself.
Jesus is the incarnation of the co-eternal Son of God. Friendship with Jesus begins in a moment of grace. Jesus seeks us out amid the worries and distractions of the world. He finds where we are caught in our self created frustration, fear and anger. He offers himself to us in a moment of grace. But, he never imposes himself on us. The choice is ours.
Distractions come from within the soul. The dist5raction are not in the outer world. The distraction are in our personal interior world. We choose to create distractions to avoid our moment of grace.
Anything can become a distraction. It may be frivolous or it may have some importance. We choose doing over being in an effort to create the illusion we are in control. Distractions are always a means to avoid our moment of grace.
The moment of grace is that moment in time when God reveals to us that life is not about our will. Life is not about us.
The moment of grace is that moment when God reveals to us we are not perfect and by our own efforts we can never be perfect. In fact, the more we focus on our own demand for perfection the greater the anxiety we experience.
The moment of grace is that moment when God reveals to us we are lost and broken and he has come to us to find us and to heal us.
That is what Jesus does. That is who Jesus is. Jesus saves us from sin and death by saving us from ourselves- our own self will, fear and pride. As we open to the moment of grace Jesus offers that moment sets us free from fear into a new life of faith.
Even in the physical presence of Jesus Christ, Martha continued to assert her self will to control the moment. Mary released her will into the moment. Martha experienced anxiety, fear and anger. Mary experienced the real presence of God in Jesus Christ. The real presence of God in Jesus Christ is eternal love.
The Holy Spirit inspired St. Luke to record this event in the life of Martha and Mart to reveal to all future generations the nature of real choice. Real Choice opens the mind, the heart and the will to the eternal love of the real presence of Jesus Christ.
The message of Christ is the reality of a new life and a new way of living. That new life comes from the personal relationship God offers us and all people. It is the personal relationship that recreates the moment. It is the personal relationship that offers the promise of a life of transformation.
As with all relationships, our relationship with Jesus Christ requires time and attention. As with the most important relationships in our life, our relationship with Jesus Christ can only be as meaningful as it becomes our priority.
Martha devoted her time and attention to becoming the perfect hostess who would produce the perfect dinner for a guest she largely ignored. Her sister Mary chose to devote her time and attention to listening to Jesus and speaking with him.
Which was the better choice? Which is the better choice for us? Jesus himself answers this question as he speaks to Martha, and as he speaks to us today: You are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.
That one thing is the new life and the new way of living in a personal relationship with the co-eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Pentecost 7
Pentecost 7 (Luke 10:25-37)
What is written in the Law?
There are two fundamental distortions of religion. Both distortions come from the sin nature of separation from God. Both distortions are represented in this parable.
The first distortion is self righteousness. The self righteous form religion into a tight package of very specific and narrowly defined rules and regulations. Their view of God is a transcendent perfection that cannot and will not tolerate even the slightest deviation from the Law. This God is a God of rewards and punishments.
The second distortion is self indulgence. The self indulgent reinterpret and sometimes even rewrite religion to suit their needs and desires. Their view of God is a vast vague nebulous impersonal force that fills the world and encompasses all aspects of the world. This God is a God of individual desire and opinion.
The common element to the self righteous and self indulgent is the word “self”. Both distortions start with the self, proceed from the self, and end with the self. The self is that ego which the soul in separation from God creates and maintains. The false ego always engages the world with the question: “what’s in it for me?”
Jesus understood the distortions of religion very well. The people he encountered in the holy land were mostly trapped in the distortion of self righteousness. The preeminent sin that results from this distortion of relgion is pride.
So it is that the religious lawyer in the story does not seek God. He seeks to justify himself. In response to Jesus’ question he gives the correct answer. But, when he asks Jesus the follow up question: who is my neighbor, he reveals his self obsession.
Law based religion rapidly deteriorates into a system of loop holes and a culture of hypocrisy. It also manifests an attitude of condemnation. It is important to know the minimum requirements. And, it is important to know who is righteous and who is unrighteous. What is not important is a personal relationship with the Living God.
Seeking to justify himself the religious lawyer only needs God to condemn the unrighteous and to reward him for his right belief and right action. Strangely enough, he had the right answer to Jesus’ question: what is written in the law?
The answer is love. Love God fully and completely. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. This is the underlying principle of the entire law, all 613 commandments God gave to Moses.
Sadly, the religious lawyer misses the principle and seeks to find the rigid definition of specific rules. There is not a book large enough to provide all the rules to govern every situation in life. That is why the principle underlying the Law is so important. That is why Jesus seeks to save the religious lawyer from his religion by telling a story, a parable.
In the story the two distortions of religion are represented. But, Jesus turns the tables on the assumptions of his audience by turning the obvious villain in the piece into the hero.
The obvious villain is the Samaritans. Samaritans represent self indulgent religion to the religious lawyer. The Samaritans were Israelites who centuries before had violated some basic laws God gave to Moses. One of these laws related to marriage and the other related to worship.
The Jews hated the Samaritans as traitors and blasphemers. The Samaritans hated the Jews with an equal passion. For the Samaritans, the Jews represented self righteous hypocrisy. Each blamed the other for what they perceived as God’s judgment on Israel in the form of foreign conquest.
The heroes of the parable should have been the priest and the Levite. All Levites were priests, according to the Law of Moses. But, the priestly families who controlled the Temple restricted the ministry of the Levites. A Levite might only have one opportunity in his life to offer the sacrifice in the Temple.
The Book of Leviticus governs the priesthood. In that Law are the rules governing ritual purity. Among those rules are the prohibition from coming into contact with blood and from touching a dead body.
Neither the Temple priest nor the Levite knew if the man on the side of the road was dead or alive. To draw closer to him to discover his condition meant risking their opportunity to offer the sacrifice in the Temple. If they touched him and he was bleeding or dead they would become ritually unclean and unfit to offer the sacrifice. Under the Law of Moses it would take two to four weeks for them to purify themselves.
The Temple priest would lose income. The Levite would lose his only opportunity to offer the sacrifice in the Temple. The choice was difficult, but not impossible. Their self interest led them to choose ritual purity over compassion.
For the Samaritan there was a different problem. He was a hated foreigner traveling among his enemies. The man lying by the side of the road was a Jew. He might be a decoy set there by terrorists who wanted to kill the Samaritan. If the Samaritan touched him and he died the Samaritan might be blamed.
The Samaritan also had a difficult but not impossible choice. He could have chosen safety for himself. Instead, he chose compassion.
Compassion is the middle way between self indulgence and self righteousness. Compassion is also the way of extravagant love in action.
As the story unfolds, the Samaritan not only helped the man, he bound his wounds and administered first aid. He took the man to an inn, cared for him that night, and paid the innkeeper to provide for his needs with a promise to cover all future expenses. The compassion he showed had a practical effect and an immediate cost.
At the end of the story Jesus asks the religious lawyer: who in the story was the neighbor referenced in the Law? Who fulfilled the underlying principle of the Law.
The Lawyer cannot bring himself to acknowledge the Samaritan by name. He grudgingly says: the one who showed mercy.
The point of the parable is that the Law is a manifestation of the divine principle of Love. There is no set of laws that can cover all circumstances in life. The very effort to make life fit into the narrow list of dos and don’ts subverts the very principle on which the Law is built.
The principle underlying the Law challenges the distortions of self righteousness and self indulgence. The principle of divine love and compassion invites us to make a real choice What makes that real choice possible is our ability to set side the false self, the false ego of pride and self will. That is only possible as we enter into the personal relationship of love God offers us in Jesus Christ. As we experience that love we begin to lose the false self our sin nature has constructed. We discover our authentic self in the image and likeness of God imprinted on our souls.
There will be a cost. We will have to give something up. What we give up is the unreality of a false self. What we gain is the real presence of the living God in our minds, and hearts and wills.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is the story of how people are trapped in a false self. The false self is the sin nature. The sin nature distorts every aspect of our lives, including our religion. The solution to this problem is not more religion. It is not less religion. The solution is a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ.
That personal relationship infuses divine love and compassion into our souls. That personal relationship sets us free to make a real choice to practice love. Love does not annul the law. Love fulfills the law.
The way of compassion is the middle way of living amongst various extremes of self preoccupation. It is the way of questioning our own assumptions about life, religion, God.
Jesus asks: what is written in the Law? What is the underlying principle in the law? How can you live your life by that principle? What would you need to change to make that way of living possible?
The way of compassion is the way of love. The way of love is not self righteous adherence to rules and regulations. Neither is it the pride of self indulgence. The way of love is Jesus himself.
What is written in the Law?
What is written in the law is the pattern, plan and purpose of God. What is written in the Law is the principle of divine love and compassion. The relationship is the reality. The reality is Jesus Christ.
What is written in the Law?
There are two fundamental distortions of religion. Both distortions come from the sin nature of separation from God. Both distortions are represented in this parable.
The first distortion is self righteousness. The self righteous form religion into a tight package of very specific and narrowly defined rules and regulations. Their view of God is a transcendent perfection that cannot and will not tolerate even the slightest deviation from the Law. This God is a God of rewards and punishments.
The second distortion is self indulgence. The self indulgent reinterpret and sometimes even rewrite religion to suit their needs and desires. Their view of God is a vast vague nebulous impersonal force that fills the world and encompasses all aspects of the world. This God is a God of individual desire and opinion.
The common element to the self righteous and self indulgent is the word “self”. Both distortions start with the self, proceed from the self, and end with the self. The self is that ego which the soul in separation from God creates and maintains. The false ego always engages the world with the question: “what’s in it for me?”
Jesus understood the distortions of religion very well. The people he encountered in the holy land were mostly trapped in the distortion of self righteousness. The preeminent sin that results from this distortion of relgion is pride.
So it is that the religious lawyer in the story does not seek God. He seeks to justify himself. In response to Jesus’ question he gives the correct answer. But, when he asks Jesus the follow up question: who is my neighbor, he reveals his self obsession.
Law based religion rapidly deteriorates into a system of loop holes and a culture of hypocrisy. It also manifests an attitude of condemnation. It is important to know the minimum requirements. And, it is important to know who is righteous and who is unrighteous. What is not important is a personal relationship with the Living God.
Seeking to justify himself the religious lawyer only needs God to condemn the unrighteous and to reward him for his right belief and right action. Strangely enough, he had the right answer to Jesus’ question: what is written in the law?
The answer is love. Love God fully and completely. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. This is the underlying principle of the entire law, all 613 commandments God gave to Moses.
Sadly, the religious lawyer misses the principle and seeks to find the rigid definition of specific rules. There is not a book large enough to provide all the rules to govern every situation in life. That is why the principle underlying the Law is so important. That is why Jesus seeks to save the religious lawyer from his religion by telling a story, a parable.
In the story the two distortions of religion are represented. But, Jesus turns the tables on the assumptions of his audience by turning the obvious villain in the piece into the hero.
The obvious villain is the Samaritans. Samaritans represent self indulgent religion to the religious lawyer. The Samaritans were Israelites who centuries before had violated some basic laws God gave to Moses. One of these laws related to marriage and the other related to worship.
The Jews hated the Samaritans as traitors and blasphemers. The Samaritans hated the Jews with an equal passion. For the Samaritans, the Jews represented self righteous hypocrisy. Each blamed the other for what they perceived as God’s judgment on Israel in the form of foreign conquest.
The heroes of the parable should have been the priest and the Levite. All Levites were priests, according to the Law of Moses. But, the priestly families who controlled the Temple restricted the ministry of the Levites. A Levite might only have one opportunity in his life to offer the sacrifice in the Temple.
The Book of Leviticus governs the priesthood. In that Law are the rules governing ritual purity. Among those rules are the prohibition from coming into contact with blood and from touching a dead body.
Neither the Temple priest nor the Levite knew if the man on the side of the road was dead or alive. To draw closer to him to discover his condition meant risking their opportunity to offer the sacrifice in the Temple. If they touched him and he was bleeding or dead they would become ritually unclean and unfit to offer the sacrifice. Under the Law of Moses it would take two to four weeks for them to purify themselves.
The Temple priest would lose income. The Levite would lose his only opportunity to offer the sacrifice in the Temple. The choice was difficult, but not impossible. Their self interest led them to choose ritual purity over compassion.
For the Samaritan there was a different problem. He was a hated foreigner traveling among his enemies. The man lying by the side of the road was a Jew. He might be a decoy set there by terrorists who wanted to kill the Samaritan. If the Samaritan touched him and he died the Samaritan might be blamed.
The Samaritan also had a difficult but not impossible choice. He could have chosen safety for himself. Instead, he chose compassion.
Compassion is the middle way between self indulgence and self righteousness. Compassion is also the way of extravagant love in action.
As the story unfolds, the Samaritan not only helped the man, he bound his wounds and administered first aid. He took the man to an inn, cared for him that night, and paid the innkeeper to provide for his needs with a promise to cover all future expenses. The compassion he showed had a practical effect and an immediate cost.
At the end of the story Jesus asks the religious lawyer: who in the story was the neighbor referenced in the Law? Who fulfilled the underlying principle of the Law.
The Lawyer cannot bring himself to acknowledge the Samaritan by name. He grudgingly says: the one who showed mercy.
The point of the parable is that the Law is a manifestation of the divine principle of Love. There is no set of laws that can cover all circumstances in life. The very effort to make life fit into the narrow list of dos and don’ts subverts the very principle on which the Law is built.
The principle underlying the Law challenges the distortions of self righteousness and self indulgence. The principle of divine love and compassion invites us to make a real choice What makes that real choice possible is our ability to set side the false self, the false ego of pride and self will. That is only possible as we enter into the personal relationship of love God offers us in Jesus Christ. As we experience that love we begin to lose the false self our sin nature has constructed. We discover our authentic self in the image and likeness of God imprinted on our souls.
There will be a cost. We will have to give something up. What we give up is the unreality of a false self. What we gain is the real presence of the living God in our minds, and hearts and wills.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is the story of how people are trapped in a false self. The false self is the sin nature. The sin nature distorts every aspect of our lives, including our religion. The solution to this problem is not more religion. It is not less religion. The solution is a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ.
That personal relationship infuses divine love and compassion into our souls. That personal relationship sets us free to make a real choice to practice love. Love does not annul the law. Love fulfills the law.
The way of compassion is the middle way of living amongst various extremes of self preoccupation. It is the way of questioning our own assumptions about life, religion, God.
Jesus asks: what is written in the Law? What is the underlying principle in the law? How can you live your life by that principle? What would you need to change to make that way of living possible?
The way of compassion is the way of love. The way of love is not self righteous adherence to rules and regulations. Neither is it the pride of self indulgence. The way of love is Jesus himself.
What is written in the Law?
What is written in the law is the pattern, plan and purpose of God. What is written in the Law is the principle of divine love and compassion. The relationship is the reality. The reality is Jesus Christ.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)