Lent 3 (Luke 13:1-8) “Unless you repent.”

People are very good at assigning shame and blame. Jesus directs us to accept personal responsibility for our own lives and to leave the judgment of other people to him.

There was a widespread belief in Jesus’ day that bad things only happened to bad people. This is an ungrounded belief. There is no basis in scripture or human experience to substantiate such a belief.

Scripture is very clear that we live in a world of duality. In the world of duality sometimes bad things happen and sometimes good things happen. Sometimes there is pleasure and sometimes there is pain. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. In most (if not all) circumstances our choices determine the outcome.

Certainly, the choice the Galilean rebels made to plot against the Romans entered into the world of cause and effect to produce a very dramatic and tragic result. Pontus Pilate hunted them down and executed them as they were offering sacrificial worship. Jesus would later comment on this kind of choice by saying: those who live by the sword will die by the sword.

According to popular belief the rebels were patriots who were performing the most meritorious act possible: worship. How could they have suffered such a fate if bad things only happen to bad people? Had they offended God? How God abandoned them? The train of thought in a religious system of rewards and punishments always leads to pride or despair.

 Pride states: I have what I have because I am righteous. God protects me. God rewards me. Despair says: I am suffering because I have somehow inadvertently offended God and incurred God’s wrath. In both pride and despair the soul is obsessed with shame and blame. It is self-obsessed.

When the tower of Siloam fell many died. Why? Was God punishing them for their sins? Did God not uphold the Divine obligation to protect the righteous?

Jesus asks these questions rhetorically. His answer makes no sense in the religious culture of rewards and punishments. His answer only makes sense in the context of Divine Love and personal responsibility.

Jesus uses the parable of the unfruitful fig tree to help us consider a different way of understanding God, humanity and ourselves.

The fig tree is not doing what a fig tree exists to do. It is not bearing fruit. In the immediate context, Israel is the fig tree. God chose Israel out of all of the nations to bear the fruit of faith, hope and love. Yet, the leadership of the nation had led people into rigid, inflexible uncompromising demands. They brought those demands to God, to each other, and to the wider world.

Jesus is the gardener who comes to Israel to do everything possible to help Israel repent of their barren sterile spiritual state. Jesus pours his own life into Israel so Israel can be the nation God called them to be. As the gardener gives the fig tree everything needed for the tree to bear fruit so Jesus does the same for Israel.

The broader application is the spiritual condition of the entire human race. In Jesus, God pours himself out to all people everywhere to be who God has created us to be. The lesson is not who we can blame for failure. The lesson is not for us to feel guilt or shame for our pride or despair.

The lesson is that Jesus is God reaching out to all of us and to each of us. The lesson is the Divine call to reunification and transformation. It starts when we hear the word of God, believe the word of God, and receive the word of God. That word is Jesus Christ.

It is only in union with divine love incarnate and personified in Jesus that we can overcome the false religion of rewards and punishments. It is only in union with Jesus that we can move past the dualism of pride and despair.

Jesus makes it clear that God just doesn’t have love- God is love. Jesus also makes is very clear that all people need to repent of our choice to separate from God. We all need to take personal responsibility for the sins we commit as a result of that separation.

The call to repentance is the call to enter into a new relationship with God in Christ. The relationship with God in Christ is the reward. Jesus’ call to repentance is not about rewards and punishments. It is about reunification and transformation. It is about a second chance for humanity to live into our meaning and purpose to bear the eternal fruit of faith, hope and love.

It is our choice. We don’t need to do it alone. Jesus does warn us that unless we repent we will stay lost in the dualism of pride and despair. If we allow ourselves to be found in Christ we will experience a new life and an abundant life.

 

 

Lent 2 (Luke 13:31-35) “On the third day I will finish my work.”

Jesus proclaimed the goodness of God in his teaching. Jesus proclaimed freedom from spiritual bondage as he cast our demons. Jesus healed the sick with a one hundred percent success rate. And, the religious and political authorities feared him. In that fear the authorities plotted to arrest and kill Jesus. Why? Why did they fear the goodness of God? Why did they fear spiritual liberation? Why did they fear healing?

The answer is very simple. And, it is as old as our species. People with authority feared Jesus because they perceived his words and his works in the context of power. Power holds the world and even God in a duality of pleasure and pain, rewards and punishments, life and death. Power defines the world and even God in terms of conflict.

The powerful always believe they know what is best for everyone. In their pride they cannot imagine they are in any way mistaken let alone wrong. They not only think they know what is best- they know they know. What did they know? They knew that God is absolute transcendent holiness and perfection. In fact, God is so perfect and so holy God would never contaminate himself by direct contact with human beings. They knew most human beings are imperfect, corrupt and sinful.

They knew God sent angels to give the law to Moses. Moses appointed priests to administer the law. The priests anointed Kings to enforce the law. And the kings promoted certain superior individuals to courts and councils to judge who was righteous and who was unrighteous.

Jesus brought God into the process up front and personal. Suddenly, the claim to Divine Presence threatened the system of intermediaries who would determine who spoke for God and defined who deserved God’s blessing and who deserved God’s wrath. Jesus removed vast categories of human speculation about God by declaring and demonstrating that God is love. God just doesn’t have love as one of many attributes. God is love.

This assertion was not only meaningless to the religious and political authorities of the time- it was also threatening. The authorities maintained their power and asserted their power from the place of pride, self-will and fear.

 Pride announced that knowledge of God was their private preserve. They and they alone were the righteous elite. By their own will to power they not only governed the manmade institutions of religion and government- they also declared who God is and who God will bless and who God will judge. They had created God in their own image. It was a God of rewards and punishments. It was a God who delegated power to the righteous elite. It was a God of duality and a God of conflict. Then, suddenly, Jesus proclaimed that God loves everyone universally and unconditionally because God is love.

What was worse for the authorities was that Jesus demonstrated what they believed and taught was the defining nature of God. Power. Jesus had the power. But, Jesus did not use the power to support the manmade structures of power. The reaction people experienced was confusion, frustration, anger and fear. Fear subverted faith. Pride subverted hope. The will to power subverted love.

Jesus knew this. It was nothing new for those who studied Moses and the Prophets, for those who had eyes to see and ears to hear. Sadly, people preferred the power to define God according to their needs and desires. Sadly, people rejected God for who God is. God is love.

Jesus reminded the Pharisees of his work. He revealed in somewhat symbolic terms the Plan of Salvation. The key to understanding the plan of salvation is what Jesus called “the third day.” The third day is the day of resolution of all duality.

The third day is the day of resurrection. It is the day love resolves the conflicts of pain and pleasure, sorrow and joy, death and life. In this world there are those dualities. They derive from the human choice to separate from God. That separation produces a terrible and profound existential pain. That pain distorts the Original Blessing of Life into the dualities of conflict. Those conflicts corrupt the soul and produce the reactions of fear, self-will and pride that block our ability to receive the blessing and live the blessing in the context of our self- imposed exile.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem as he pondered the consequences such a choice would produce. He also knew there was another way. That other way is not a religion, a book or a philosophy. It is not even in a spiritual or intellectual discipline. Those things have a place within the way. Those things are not the Way. Those things also need to be liberated from the demonic forces of conflict that produce distortion, disintegration and despair.

That other way is Jesus himself. As Jesus taught and demonstrated that God is love -so God revealed that Jesus is the personal aspect of that love in human flesh. As Divine love personified and incarnate, Jesus is the resolution of duality. Jesus is the way through conflict to wholeness. Jesus is the pattern, plan and process of reunification with the Divine that allows us to remain fully human as we transform from fear to faith, pride to hope and the will to power into the Real Presence of eternal love. Any other way leaves us less human.

This is the third alternative that resolves the conflicts of life and death to produce the new way of incarnate love made real and established forever on the third day Jesus declared. That third day is resurrection day. It is the plan and process of a new life and a new way of living. It is the eternal Day of the Lord. It is the new and infinite adventure of eternal transformation by love, in love and for love. It is Jesus.

Lent 1 (Luke 4:1-13) “It is written.”

Temptation is a lie that seduces by a false promise. Only Truth can overcome temptation. Jesus knew this. And, Jesus practiced this.

In the first temptation, Satan suggests to Jesus that he meet a legitimate need (hunger) through illegitimate means (magic). The temptation to turn stones into bread is the temptation of the occult.

By this temptation, Satan probes for knowledge and seduces through power. Satan is not entirely sure about Jesus. He wants to know more. He suspects Jesus has power but he isn’t sure how much power Jesus has. He isn’t sure how Jesus will use his power. So, he tempts Jesus to violate the natural law of cause and effect.

Miracles do not violate natural law. They raise natural law into the Real Presence of the Divine. The Real Presence of the Divine sets nature free from corruption to manifest God’s grace. Magic is a violation of cause and effect that promises immediate pleasure but delivers greater and greater levels of distortion in the human mind, heart and will.

Jesus recognizes this and counters a lie with Truth. Jesus quotes Scripture. It was Scripture he learned as a child from the Rabbis in the Synagogue. The lesson here is direct and powerful. It is essential that children learn the Bible. By learning the Bible, children have a better opportunity to discern a lie and overcome the lie with Truth.

The second temptation is religion. It is the distortion of religion through the corruption of worship. Satan himself rejected the pattern of worship when he asked the angels to worship him. Once again he is probing for information. Is Jesus one of the innumerable angelic beings in human form? Can he be seduced as so many of the angels were seduced? The bait Satan uses for Jesus is power. Satan claims power over all the nations (which is a half- truth). He offers to give this power to Jesus so Jesus can become exactly who everyone wants him to be: a military messiah who will conquer and rule the nations. Satan assumes this is who Jesus wants to become.

Satan has used this tactic over the millennia many times with much success. He fails with Jesus as once again Jesus meets the lie of power and the half- truth of Satan’s promise with the truth of scripture. Worship is not about power. Worship is the highest form of love. The only person who can hold our worship is God. The only person who can sustain our loyalty is God.

Satan’s most subtle temptation comes as he, too, quotes scripture. It is important to understand that Satan knows the Bible better than any human being ever will. Satan has the knowledge but not the understanding. We hear in the third temptation how Satan, and those who have been seduced by his deceits, can and will use scripture to tempt those who have a knowledge of the Bible but lack the understanding of the Bible.

This is the temptation of pride. Satan challenges Jesus to prove to him on his terms and at his command that Jesus is the Son of God. It is the temptation for Jesus to assert self-will over divine will in the Plan of Salvation. This temptation repeats itself every time human beings demand that God prove himself on our own terms.

Once again, Jesus quotes the Bible. He counters a misapplication of scripture by affirming a fundamental principle of scripture. God is God. It is not for the creature to put the Creator to a test and demand a miracle. Jesus met this temptation from the place of prayer. It was the prayer his mother spoke at the Annunciation. It is the prayer Jesus would most often pray. It is: Father, not my will but Thy will be done.

Temptation is always a baited hook wrapped in a lie. The bait is usually something we want. There is always pleasure in the temptation- for a moment. The hook that holds the bait is separation from God. That separation always results in a deeply rooted existential pain.

Jesus gives us the pattern to meet temptation. We meet the lie of temptation with the Truth of God’s word revealed in the Bible. The lesson is: read the Bible. Study the Bible. Memorize the Bible. The Holy Spirit will help us. And, He will call to mind the pertinent scriptures we have placed in our minds when we need them.

We hold fast to the truth as we choose to live in the Real Presence of the Living Lord of Truth, Jesus Christ. The lesson is: meet Jesus where Jesus has agreed to meet u. Meet him in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar on the Day of Real Presence. Our Heavenly Father created time itself to hold the seventh day as the day of eternal love through worship. Cultivate the personal relationship with Jesus by making worship your chief priority.

As we hold fast to Christ we receive the infusion of divine grace that enables us to know and understand scripture. In relationship with Jesus we can meet temptation with courage and conviction. We can with Jesus live by the affirmation of Truth: It is written.

 

Ash Wednesday 2013 (Matthew6:1-6;16-21)

“Where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”

What do you treasure?

What is your bottom line value that you will not surrender and for which you are willing to make sacrifices?

What you treasure defines who you are becoming. What you value creates your destiny.

Based on observation, many- perhaps most- people in our world answer that question in one word: money. Oh, that isn’t what people generally say with words. There is still some sense of the Divine Pattern in human consciousness that people will generally say what we think we should say. Our actions tell a different story. Our actions speak louder than our words.

Our Heavenly Father knows this about us. Jesus experienced this aspect of human nature. He witnessed the religious hypocrisy of people. He observed how people performed the outward and visible acts of religious devotion but rejected the inward and spiritual reality of religious devotion.

Prayer, fasting, Bible study, worship, charity are all good actions in and of themselves. Moses and the prophets observed how people can and do perform the acts from the place of fear, self- will and pride rather than from the place of faith, hope and love.

What difference does it make? Jesus tells us very clearly, concisely and bluntly. Where your treasure is- what your bottom line value is- forms your heart, your mind, your soul.

The pain of original separation distorts our minds, hearts and wills. Those distortions subvert and corrupt the original virtues with which God anointed our souls. Sin is the result. In the gospel reading today Jesus addresses the sin of religious hypocrisy. He is not addressing secular people who have rejected religion. He is addressing religious people who hold the forms of religion as a mask to hide their own separation from God.

During this holy season of Lent, Jesus invites us to consider what we value most. Where is our priority? What is our bottom line?

The standard is love. The original blessing of God is the threefold pattern of love that manifests through our relationships. The prime relationship is our friendship with the Son, Jesus Christ. The outward and visible manifestation of this value is worship, The inward and spiritual grace is the Real Presence of Jesus in our minds, hearts and wills.

The secondary relationship is revealed in how we treat others and in how we set our priorities in life. Do we seek to practice compassion?  Do we seek to grow in grace and transform our attitudes and actions in grace?

The Holy Spirit stands ready to reveal to us where we live with religious hypocrisy. He will, if we ask, help us to discern where we need to reset our priorities according to the Original Blessing. And, He will transform particular sin back into its original virtue as we surrender self-will to divine will.

To keep a holy Lent is to ask the Holy Spirit to give us the courage to acknowledge where we are in distortion. To keep a holy Lent is to ask the Holy Spirit to show us what steps we can take to participate in the transformation of our hearts, our deepest and defining desires. To keep a holy Lent is to make a sincere pledge to hear the word of God, believe the Word of God, and act on the Word of God. For, where your treasure is, where your bottom line value is, there will your heart be also- there will you set your path in this life and in the life of the worl

Transfiguration 2013 (Luke 9:28-36)

 “This is my son, my Chosen, listen to him.”

Only God can reveal God.

Jesus is God’s revelation of Himself.

Prophets, priests, theologians and teachers offer speculative insights about God. Each individual human being claims the right to define God. God chooses to reveal Himself to us in Jesus Christ.

Does this make sense to you?

If God is real, if God is the infinite and eternal transcendent reality, does it make sense that it is God Himself who chooses to reveal his reality to us? Is it reasonable that only God can reveal God?

Certainly, it came to make sense to Moses and the prophets. Most assuredly, it took a while for Moses and the prophets to come to this conclusion. By Moses’ own account it took him eighty years of life experience to recognize the simple truth that only God can reveal God.

Moses spent his first forty years learning that there are many deities for many occasions and purposes. He learned that man creates these deities in wood, and stone and metal. He spent another forty years unlearning the teachings of his youth. It wasn’t until he was eighty years old that he could accept the truth. God is. God is simply and powerfully the One who declares: I am.

Elijah experienced God in a similar way. During a time of religious syncretism, Elijah proclaimed: The Lord is my God. There is only one God. God is. He is the One who declares: I Am. God spoke to Elijah, as God speaks to all people everywhere. Elijah made a real to let God be God. In that choice Elijah laid the foundation of faith that opened his eyes and ears to the reality of God.

Certainly, most of the prophets heard the word of God and saw the reality of God at an early age. Some experienced God as children. Some experienced God as teens. Although the prophets came from different backgrounds and social classes, all made a choice to let God be God. All made a choice to see the world as it is rather that as they might want it to be.

The universal pattern of revelation is present in the Transfiguration of Jesus. Certainly, Peter, James and John had some serious misconceptions about who God is and what God is accomplishing.

The pattern is simple, direct, reasonable and experiential.

First: God invites the three apostles to take a journey. They walk up the side of a mountain. They experience the reality of nature. God’s revelation to human beings is grounded in the creation, in nature. Nature is not the revelation. It is the literal ground of revelation for human beings. Be wary of any claim to revelation that is ethereal or relies on occult knowledge.

Second: God sets the parameters for the revelation in the context of what He has already declared. The context of revelation is Moses and the Prophets. Be wary of any claim to revelation that rejects the Old Testament.

Third: The reality of revelation is God himself. The principle of revelation is that only God can reveal God. Jesus is God who reveals God. In the Transfiguration Jesus reveals that the One God who declares: I am is three persons. The cloud is the divine glory of the Holy Spirit. The voice is the voice of the Father. The Father declares that Jesus is the Chosen, the Beloved, The Revelation of God on earth. Jesus is the standard of revelation and the test of revelation. Be wary of people who claim the prophetic office and speak the prophetic voice but reject God’s revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ. Jesus is God revealing God.

Fourth: Jesus is found alone. At the completion of the Transfiguration there is only Jesus. Jesus is the Chosen means by which the One God in Three Persons has chosen to reveal himself to us. Jesus is the Chosen. There is no other.

Only God can reveal God. Nature is the ground of this revelation. Moses and the prophets provide the framework. Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the reality of revelation. Jesus is God in human flesh. The eternal Father declares for all people for all time: “This is My Son, My Chosen, listen to Him!”