Pentecost 24 (Luke 20:27-38 (God is the God of the living.)
God did not design human beings for death.
From the very first moment of creation, God designed human beings for life. The life derives from God who is life. God’s life is eternal.
Death entered the world when human beings chose to separate from God. As we separate from God we separate from Life, from Love and from Holiness. The result of this separation is sin and death. The effect of sin and death on the soul is to produce an existence characterized by fear, self will and pride.
From the first moment our first parents chose that original sin, that original separation from God, God set forth his plan of salvation to rescue us from sin and death.
God gave the Law to restrain the power of sin in our societies. God gave the law to serve as a perfect mirror to our souls to convict us and to convince us that we are lost in separation. God sent the prophets to call us to repentance and to preparation.
The prophets hold up the perfect mirror of divine law to remind us how far we have fallen. The prophets proclaim the coming of the Messiah to remind us that we are not only lost in sin but we are incapable of finding our way out of sin. The evidence of this is death.
Death is the first and final reminder that humanity is lost and cannot find its way back. The way back is the way of life, the way of love, the way of holiness. The way back is not the Law. If it were, people could choose perfection and claim immortality as a right.
The way back is not in religion. The Prophets clearly demonstrate that the religious are lost in separation and produce only further levels of separation.
The Sadducees are one of many religious groups that prove the point.
The Sadducees only accepted the first five books of the Bible as God’s word. The Sadducees asserted that God was so holy, so perfect, so transcendent that any human reference to God or name for God was not only inadequate but meaningless. God is the ineffable Mystery.
The Sadducees taught that any teaching about God is not only futile but counterproductive. And so, they also taught that miracles are superstitious interpretations of natural events. Angles are a figment of an over active imagination. And, life after death- especially the teaching of resurrection- is a narcotic that dulls the mind and weakens the will.
The Sadducees taught that belief in an afterlife undermined all human effort to live well in this life and to work to improve society here and now. They viewed the resurrection as particularly offense and nonsensical.
Resurrection means that at some future time God will recreate our bodies and restore not only our lives but our personalities to live in a new and perfect world. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection.
Sadducees believed dead is dead. Once the body dies the person dies. The body decays. Nothing remains and there is no mechanism by which any one, not even God, can reconstruct a dead body and restore to it life and personality.
Neither the Pharisees or the Sadducees believed in an immortal soul that was separate from the body and self existent apart from the body. Both groups believed dead was dead. The Pharisees also believed the resurrection of the body was the means by which the righteous would experience an afterlife.
Jesus spoke of the resurrection. So, the Sadducees challenged Jesus by presenting what they believed would be a plausible but absurd scenario about the resurrection.
Of course, the Sadducees were lost in their own logic and in their own self will. They did not want the resurrection to be real. They were a small segment of the population. They were rich, powerful, and dominated the Temple. Many temple priests were Sadducees. They were quite satisfied to perform the Temple sacrifices and rituals, to collect their fees and to dominate the religious life of the nation.
Jesus quoted Moses to confront their assumptions. They claimed to accept the religious authority of Moses. So, Jesus directs them to what Moses recorded when he heard God speak to him from the burning bush.
God reveals his name as “I am”. I am is eternal self existence. I am is life that has no beginning at some point in the past neither an ending at some point in the future. God says I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
As God is self existence, as God is eternal life, all who are in a relationship with God by grace through faith partake of that divine self existence, that eternal life.
Of course, the proof of this teaching is very close to the Sadducees, the Pharisees and every one else in that generation. The resurrection is not a fantasy, as the Sadducees claimed, nor an esoteric unproven belief as the Pharisees asserted. The resurrection is an historical fact.
It is the personal and physical resurrection of Jesus Christ at a particular moment in time and at a particular place on earth that establishes the fact of the general resurrection God promises to all people. The personal and physical resurrection of Jesus Christ is an event in human history that invites all people everywhere into faith.
Faith is not the same as belief. Belief is the object of speculation. Faith is the result of a personal encounter with the living God in Jesus Christ.
The resurrection can be an object of belief. It can also be the subject of faith.
Jesus reassures us this morning: God is life and all who enter into a relationship with God by grace through faith are reunited with that eternal life that has no beginning and has no end. For God is the God of the living who live forever in the steadfast holy love of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Pentecost 23
Pentecost 23 (Luke 19:1-10) The Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost.
Zacchaeus was lost.
He was lost in crime, in sin, and in separation from God and other people. He was also lost in his wealth. His soul had disintegrated to that place where he was possessed by his possessions.
Jesus came to earth to seek and to find and to restore the lost. He came to Jericho that day for that purpose.
It is unclear if Zacchaeus knew anything about Jesus. As a Chief Tax Collector in Judea, Zacchaeus focused his time and attention on what he valued most: money. Yet, when Jesus entered the city there were many in Jericho who had heard of his reputation as a teacher, a healer, and a miracle worker. Whether they believed in Jesus or not they were curious about him. They wanted to see him.
Zacchaeus heard the commotion. He saw the gathering crowd. He, too was curious. He wanted to see what was going on. Zacchaeus had a problem that prevented him from seeing Jesus. He was short. It is an interesting and almost irrelevant detail in the story.
In the excitement of the moment Zacchaeus was caught up in the press of the crowd to see Jesus. Yet, Zacchaeus was too short to see over the crowd. So, he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a tree further down the street. He knew Jesus would pass that way. He knew he would be able to see over the crowd. He did not expect Jesus to speak to him personally.
Zaccaheus was a Chief Tax Collector. He was little more than a legalized gangster hired by Rome to collect taxes by any means, People hated him. The religious people would not speak with him.
Jesus spoke with him. Jesus initiated the conversation. I suspect Jesus saw the humor in this short self important self obsessed official sitting in a tree to get a better view of him. Jesus looked at him, saw him, recognized him and then called him by name. Zacchaeus.
The co-eternal Son of God had emptied himself of his omnipotence and omniscient when he became a particular man. He lived life as we live life- one day at a time, moment by moment. Unlike all of us, Jesus never separated from the Father. He lived each moment of life in communion with the Father. Jesus paid attention to other people, the world around him and to his heavenly Father is a way we do not.
Jesus learned the name of this short Chief Tax Collector and he called him by name. He showed him respect even though by the standards of the time he deserved condemnation. But, Jesus had come to Jericho to save the lost. And, Zacchaeus was among the lost.
Jesus paused and saw Zacchaeus for who was and in spite of who Zacchaeus was Jesus had compassion on him. Jesus gives Zacchaeus an invitation: “Come on down, Zacchaeus. Come on down from that tree. Hurry up. Come down now.”
This was Zacchaeus’ moment of grace. It was at an unexpected time under unusual circumstances. It was the moment Jesus saw him, spoke to him and invited him to make a real choice.
Then, Jesus offers Zaccaeus an amazing gift. “I must stay at your house today.” People avoided Zacchaeus. People hated him and would not even speak with him. Jesus asked to come to Zacchaeus’s house and to dine with him. A Pharisee would never think of doing this. A priest would never think of doing this. The religious people of Jesus’ day brought forth condemnation and separation. Jesus came with compassion and reconciliation.
People began to talk. People began to grumble. How can Jesus be so good when he associates with people who are so bad? How can Jesus be a righteous man when he enters the home of the unrighteous? How can Jesus be a religious teacher when he engages the corrupt and immoral people in conversation and fellowship.
The assumption is that the righteous exclude and condemn the unrighteous. The assumption is that the religious reject and ostracize the irreligious. The assumption is that God favors some people and rejects all others. The assumption is wrong.
Jesus is the reality that God accepts all people. Jesus is the perfect mirror to the human soul that reveals all are lost. All are lost and none wish to be found. Yet, Jesus has come to seek the lost, to find the lost and to save the lost.
Zacchaeus experienced salvation that day that Jesus called him by name and came to his house. He experienced what so many religious people who were caught up in their own rules and regulations could not appreciate.
Zacchaeus experienced conversion. He experienced a change of heart and a change of direction. He received a new life and entered into a new way of living. “I give half my wealth to the poor,” he told Jesus.“ I will restore four fold what I have stolen,” he continues.
Before he met Jesus, Zacchaeus lived only for money. He worked to build his wealth. He schemed, lied, cheated and bullied people to increase his wealth. He worshipped only money and his soul was collapsing into the dark abyss of separation from God.
God met Zacchaeus in Jesus Christ. God found Zacchaeus in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, Zaccaheus, I must stay with you today. And, Zacchaeus recognized his moment of grace and said “yes.”
Salvation is not about religion, philosophy or science. Salvation is not about our search for God. Salvation is about God coming to earth in person to seek, find and restore the lost. Salvation is Jesus Christ.
Jesus met Zacchaeus at a very precise moment in time under some very unusual circumstances. The moment of grace is always very precise. The circumstances in that moment are always unusual. In the moment of grace God finds us where we are, accepts us for who we are, and invites us to become more than who we are.
In the moment of grace, Jesus offers us the gift of forgiveness, the gift of reunification with God the Father, the gift of transformation in God the Holy Spirit. Salvation is a gift God the Father offers us in Jesus Christ. It is the gift of a new life and a new way of living. It is God in Christ who seeks the lost who do not want to be seen, who finds the lost who do not want to be found, and who saves the lost who stubbornly insist on going our own way.
The way of salvation is Jesus Christ. It is the way of love and compassion. It is the way of daily transformation. It is the way our Heavenly Father seeks out and saves the lost.
Zacchaeus was lost.
He was lost in crime, in sin, and in separation from God and other people. He was also lost in his wealth. His soul had disintegrated to that place where he was possessed by his possessions.
Jesus came to earth to seek and to find and to restore the lost. He came to Jericho that day for that purpose.
It is unclear if Zacchaeus knew anything about Jesus. As a Chief Tax Collector in Judea, Zacchaeus focused his time and attention on what he valued most: money. Yet, when Jesus entered the city there were many in Jericho who had heard of his reputation as a teacher, a healer, and a miracle worker. Whether they believed in Jesus or not they were curious about him. They wanted to see him.
Zacchaeus heard the commotion. He saw the gathering crowd. He, too was curious. He wanted to see what was going on. Zacchaeus had a problem that prevented him from seeing Jesus. He was short. It is an interesting and almost irrelevant detail in the story.
In the excitement of the moment Zacchaeus was caught up in the press of the crowd to see Jesus. Yet, Zacchaeus was too short to see over the crowd. So, he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a tree further down the street. He knew Jesus would pass that way. He knew he would be able to see over the crowd. He did not expect Jesus to speak to him personally.
Zaccaheus was a Chief Tax Collector. He was little more than a legalized gangster hired by Rome to collect taxes by any means, People hated him. The religious people would not speak with him.
Jesus spoke with him. Jesus initiated the conversation. I suspect Jesus saw the humor in this short self important self obsessed official sitting in a tree to get a better view of him. Jesus looked at him, saw him, recognized him and then called him by name. Zacchaeus.
The co-eternal Son of God had emptied himself of his omnipotence and omniscient when he became a particular man. He lived life as we live life- one day at a time, moment by moment. Unlike all of us, Jesus never separated from the Father. He lived each moment of life in communion with the Father. Jesus paid attention to other people, the world around him and to his heavenly Father is a way we do not.
Jesus learned the name of this short Chief Tax Collector and he called him by name. He showed him respect even though by the standards of the time he deserved condemnation. But, Jesus had come to Jericho to save the lost. And, Zacchaeus was among the lost.
Jesus paused and saw Zacchaeus for who was and in spite of who Zacchaeus was Jesus had compassion on him. Jesus gives Zacchaeus an invitation: “Come on down, Zacchaeus. Come on down from that tree. Hurry up. Come down now.”
This was Zacchaeus’ moment of grace. It was at an unexpected time under unusual circumstances. It was the moment Jesus saw him, spoke to him and invited him to make a real choice.
Then, Jesus offers Zaccaeus an amazing gift. “I must stay at your house today.” People avoided Zacchaeus. People hated him and would not even speak with him. Jesus asked to come to Zacchaeus’s house and to dine with him. A Pharisee would never think of doing this. A priest would never think of doing this. The religious people of Jesus’ day brought forth condemnation and separation. Jesus came with compassion and reconciliation.
People began to talk. People began to grumble. How can Jesus be so good when he associates with people who are so bad? How can Jesus be a righteous man when he enters the home of the unrighteous? How can Jesus be a religious teacher when he engages the corrupt and immoral people in conversation and fellowship.
The assumption is that the righteous exclude and condemn the unrighteous. The assumption is that the religious reject and ostracize the irreligious. The assumption is that God favors some people and rejects all others. The assumption is wrong.
Jesus is the reality that God accepts all people. Jesus is the perfect mirror to the human soul that reveals all are lost. All are lost and none wish to be found. Yet, Jesus has come to seek the lost, to find the lost and to save the lost.
Zacchaeus experienced salvation that day that Jesus called him by name and came to his house. He experienced what so many religious people who were caught up in their own rules and regulations could not appreciate.
Zacchaeus experienced conversion. He experienced a change of heart and a change of direction. He received a new life and entered into a new way of living. “I give half my wealth to the poor,” he told Jesus.“ I will restore four fold what I have stolen,” he continues.
Before he met Jesus, Zacchaeus lived only for money. He worked to build his wealth. He schemed, lied, cheated and bullied people to increase his wealth. He worshipped only money and his soul was collapsing into the dark abyss of separation from God.
God met Zacchaeus in Jesus Christ. God found Zacchaeus in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, Zaccaheus, I must stay with you today. And, Zacchaeus recognized his moment of grace and said “yes.”
Salvation is not about religion, philosophy or science. Salvation is not about our search for God. Salvation is about God coming to earth in person to seek, find and restore the lost. Salvation is Jesus Christ.
Jesus met Zacchaeus at a very precise moment in time under some very unusual circumstances. The moment of grace is always very precise. The circumstances in that moment are always unusual. In the moment of grace God finds us where we are, accepts us for who we are, and invites us to become more than who we are.
In the moment of grace, Jesus offers us the gift of forgiveness, the gift of reunification with God the Father, the gift of transformation in God the Holy Spirit. Salvation is a gift God the Father offers us in Jesus Christ. It is the gift of a new life and a new way of living. It is God in Christ who seeks the lost who do not want to be seen, who finds the lost who do not want to be found, and who saves the lost who stubbornly insist on going our own way.
The way of salvation is Jesus Christ. It is the way of love and compassion. It is the way of daily transformation. It is the way our Heavenly Father seeks out and saves the lost.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Pentecost 22
Pentecost 22 (Luke 18:9-14)
“He who exalts himself will be humbled.”
Pride goeth before a fall. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins and is in fact near the root of all sin.
We hear the voice of pride in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, the tax collector. According to the standards of the day the Pharisee is the virtuous religious and patriotic man. The tax collector is a traitor to his nation, his religion and to ordinary ethical standards of behavior.
Tax Collectors worked for Rome. They extorted money from ordinary citizens to enrich themselves. They stayed away from the synagogues and the Temple. People hated them. They despised and used the people. They were the bad guys in every morality tale and in every religious parable.
Pharisees would not even peak with Romans. They kept themselves separated from pagans. They worshipped regularly in the Temple, studied the scriptures in the synagogue, and gave money to support the religious institutions of Israel. They were the good guys in the morality tales and religious parables of the time.
Jesus reversed the standard roles assigned to these two people to illustrate a point. The Bible often confounds people by praising those whom the world condemns. It is a way to get people to think outside the box. It is a way to break through layers of cultural expectations and demands to the truth God wants to reveal to people.
Jesus inverted the expected roles of the Pharisee and the Publican in his parable to demonstrate a very precise and important point. That point might be summarized in the statement: the “I”s have it.
The Pharisee begins his prayer with the word “I’. That word defines his prayer. That prayer forms his worship. That worship reveals who he is and who he is choosing to become.
The Pharisee prays, God, I thank you that I am not like other people. And then he lists all the sins and sinners in the world , all of the things he asserts he is not; and, of the things that set him apart from and superior to everyone else. In fact, all of the things he lists are sins. His assessment of these activities is correct.
Next, he lists all of his virtues, good works, and religious observances. I fast. I give. I- me. Once again, the things he is doing are good. The defect is the motive. The motive is revealed in that little word “I” that so dominates his prayer that it leaves no room for God.
For the Pharisee, God is simply the backlighting that reveals the Pharisee’s own stellar spiritual condition. God is simply a rhetorical device the Pharisee can summon to contrast his virtue with the Publican’s vice.
He had so much going for him. He had achieved so much. But, he used it to glorify himself. I. me. His motive was no different than the motive which led the Publican into a life of sin. Me. What’s in it for me. Where the Publican asserted his self indulgent pride by breaking the law, the Pharisee asserted his self indulgent pride by asserting that he had kept the law.
Both men were self absorbed. Both men made choices to assert their will to power to dominate their world. One dominated by sin. The other dominated by an outward display of virtue.
The difference comes when the Publican prays. There is no “I” in his prayer. There is no comparison to others. He doesn’t say: God, I may not be all that good but at least I’m not a Samaritan. Those guys are really disgusting. He doesn’t say that. He simply stands before the living God.
There. In the Divine Presence, God’s holiness reveals the Publican’s many sins and his single virtue. He has one virtue left. Just one. It is enough. The virtue is humility. In the Divine Presence he has the one quality that God seeks from all people. He has the humility to accept the truth.
He is a sinner. He deserves judgment. As he recognizes this aspect of himself he does not try to argue with God. He does not try to blame others. He accepts full responsibility for his sin and simply asks for mercy. God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
The Pharisee stood in the Divine Presence and compared himself to the sinners. His conclusion was: I am here to show you, God. How wonderful I am. I need nothing from you because I have already done it all. So thank you God that I am so righteous and everyone else is so sinful.
Jesus said: it was the Publican who experienced reunification (justification) with God. The Pharisee was simply there to tell God how wonderful he was. His pride would not allow him to admit that he, too, for all of his good deeds, needed to be reunited to God through God’s justifying grace.
This is the core of the Good News. All have sinned. All need to be reunited to God. In Jesus Christ, God has accomplished this reunification and now offers the blessing as a gift. We need only receive the gift to experience the blessing.
It is so straightforward. It is so simple. But, it is not easy. It requires we stop comparing ourselves to others. It requires a shift in our awareness. It requires a transformation in our basic attitude to ourselves, others, the world around us, and God.
Pride is the great obstacle to salvation. Pride inflates the ego. The ego builds itself by comparing itself to others, condemning others and blaming others. The soul which is caught in pride is a soul that is creating its own destruction. Pride has no room for grace. Pride says, I can do it. I know what is best. Religious pride says: I know the best way to practice my religion. My God would never condemn me or anyone for our honest opinions.
Secular pride says: I am fine just the way I am. I don’t need a religious crutch to help me through life. I believe in myself. That is all I need to survive and thrive.
Humility starts when we can say: there is a mystery to life. I can’t figure it all out. I am not the superior individual I thought I was. I am willing to learn. I am even willing to unlearn what I have been taught. I am even willing to listen to the most improbable of stories ever written: the stories about Jesus.
Those who exalt themselves build a false ego based on false assumptions about themselves, other people, even God. These false assumptions are so embedded in our culture that we take them for granted. We take them for granted in much the same way people in Jesus’ time took for granted that the hero of the story should be the righteous Pharisee and the villain the corrupt Tax Collector.
God sees things from a very different perspective. God’s perspective is revealed in part in the Bible. God’s perspective is fully and completely revealed in his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Those who know that they know about God, whether religious or secular- don’t know. They have no room in their minds, hearts or wills to experience the infinite and eternal reality that is God. They have no need of faith. They have knowledge. They are their own God.
Those who think they know about God are a little closer to faith. Whether religious or secular, righteous or sinful, they have some room to consider another possibility. They have the some place where the seed of faith might fall and grow and blossom.
Those who know they don’t know are blessed. They are the ones who stand in the Divine Presence with an attitude of humility. Whether they are religious or secular, righteous or sinful, their prayer is: God be merciful to me . God- be who you are and transform me according to your divine nature.
Those who know they don’t know are those who have entered into the Divine Presence with the necessary and sufficient humility to acknowledge a reality beyond themselves, beyond their false ego, beyond their preconceived ideas about knowledge and power. These are the ones who experience exaltation in the steadfast holy love of the divine nature.
Through pride we fall into the inner recesses of our own egos.
Through humility, we stand before God by grace through faith so that God can lift us up and bless us in the Mystery of Divine Love made flesh and revealed in Jesus Christ.
“He who exalts himself will be humbled.”
Pride goeth before a fall. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins and is in fact near the root of all sin.
We hear the voice of pride in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, the tax collector. According to the standards of the day the Pharisee is the virtuous religious and patriotic man. The tax collector is a traitor to his nation, his religion and to ordinary ethical standards of behavior.
Tax Collectors worked for Rome. They extorted money from ordinary citizens to enrich themselves. They stayed away from the synagogues and the Temple. People hated them. They despised and used the people. They were the bad guys in every morality tale and in every religious parable.
Pharisees would not even peak with Romans. They kept themselves separated from pagans. They worshipped regularly in the Temple, studied the scriptures in the synagogue, and gave money to support the religious institutions of Israel. They were the good guys in the morality tales and religious parables of the time.
Jesus reversed the standard roles assigned to these two people to illustrate a point. The Bible often confounds people by praising those whom the world condemns. It is a way to get people to think outside the box. It is a way to break through layers of cultural expectations and demands to the truth God wants to reveal to people.
Jesus inverted the expected roles of the Pharisee and the Publican in his parable to demonstrate a very precise and important point. That point might be summarized in the statement: the “I”s have it.
The Pharisee begins his prayer with the word “I’. That word defines his prayer. That prayer forms his worship. That worship reveals who he is and who he is choosing to become.
The Pharisee prays, God, I thank you that I am not like other people. And then he lists all the sins and sinners in the world , all of the things he asserts he is not; and, of the things that set him apart from and superior to everyone else. In fact, all of the things he lists are sins. His assessment of these activities is correct.
Next, he lists all of his virtues, good works, and religious observances. I fast. I give. I- me. Once again, the things he is doing are good. The defect is the motive. The motive is revealed in that little word “I” that so dominates his prayer that it leaves no room for God.
For the Pharisee, God is simply the backlighting that reveals the Pharisee’s own stellar spiritual condition. God is simply a rhetorical device the Pharisee can summon to contrast his virtue with the Publican’s vice.
He had so much going for him. He had achieved so much. But, he used it to glorify himself. I. me. His motive was no different than the motive which led the Publican into a life of sin. Me. What’s in it for me. Where the Publican asserted his self indulgent pride by breaking the law, the Pharisee asserted his self indulgent pride by asserting that he had kept the law.
Both men were self absorbed. Both men made choices to assert their will to power to dominate their world. One dominated by sin. The other dominated by an outward display of virtue.
The difference comes when the Publican prays. There is no “I” in his prayer. There is no comparison to others. He doesn’t say: God, I may not be all that good but at least I’m not a Samaritan. Those guys are really disgusting. He doesn’t say that. He simply stands before the living God.
There. In the Divine Presence, God’s holiness reveals the Publican’s many sins and his single virtue. He has one virtue left. Just one. It is enough. The virtue is humility. In the Divine Presence he has the one quality that God seeks from all people. He has the humility to accept the truth.
He is a sinner. He deserves judgment. As he recognizes this aspect of himself he does not try to argue with God. He does not try to blame others. He accepts full responsibility for his sin and simply asks for mercy. God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
The Pharisee stood in the Divine Presence and compared himself to the sinners. His conclusion was: I am here to show you, God. How wonderful I am. I need nothing from you because I have already done it all. So thank you God that I am so righteous and everyone else is so sinful.
Jesus said: it was the Publican who experienced reunification (justification) with God. The Pharisee was simply there to tell God how wonderful he was. His pride would not allow him to admit that he, too, for all of his good deeds, needed to be reunited to God through God’s justifying grace.
This is the core of the Good News. All have sinned. All need to be reunited to God. In Jesus Christ, God has accomplished this reunification and now offers the blessing as a gift. We need only receive the gift to experience the blessing.
It is so straightforward. It is so simple. But, it is not easy. It requires we stop comparing ourselves to others. It requires a shift in our awareness. It requires a transformation in our basic attitude to ourselves, others, the world around us, and God.
Pride is the great obstacle to salvation. Pride inflates the ego. The ego builds itself by comparing itself to others, condemning others and blaming others. The soul which is caught in pride is a soul that is creating its own destruction. Pride has no room for grace. Pride says, I can do it. I know what is best. Religious pride says: I know the best way to practice my religion. My God would never condemn me or anyone for our honest opinions.
Secular pride says: I am fine just the way I am. I don’t need a religious crutch to help me through life. I believe in myself. That is all I need to survive and thrive.
Humility starts when we can say: there is a mystery to life. I can’t figure it all out. I am not the superior individual I thought I was. I am willing to learn. I am even willing to unlearn what I have been taught. I am even willing to listen to the most improbable of stories ever written: the stories about Jesus.
Those who exalt themselves build a false ego based on false assumptions about themselves, other people, even God. These false assumptions are so embedded in our culture that we take them for granted. We take them for granted in much the same way people in Jesus’ time took for granted that the hero of the story should be the righteous Pharisee and the villain the corrupt Tax Collector.
God sees things from a very different perspective. God’s perspective is revealed in part in the Bible. God’s perspective is fully and completely revealed in his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Those who know that they know about God, whether religious or secular- don’t know. They have no room in their minds, hearts or wills to experience the infinite and eternal reality that is God. They have no need of faith. They have knowledge. They are their own God.
Those who think they know about God are a little closer to faith. Whether religious or secular, righteous or sinful, they have some room to consider another possibility. They have the some place where the seed of faith might fall and grow and blossom.
Those who know they don’t know are blessed. They are the ones who stand in the Divine Presence with an attitude of humility. Whether they are religious or secular, righteous or sinful, their prayer is: God be merciful to me . God- be who you are and transform me according to your divine nature.
Those who know they don’t know are those who have entered into the Divine Presence with the necessary and sufficient humility to acknowledge a reality beyond themselves, beyond their false ego, beyond their preconceived ideas about knowledge and power. These are the ones who experience exaltation in the steadfast holy love of the divine nature.
Through pride we fall into the inner recesses of our own egos.
Through humility, we stand before God by grace through faith so that God can lift us up and bless us in the Mystery of Divine Love made flesh and revealed in Jesus Christ.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Pentecost 20
Pentecost 20 (Luke 17:11-19) Where are they?
The question Jesus asked of the ten lepers is very similar to the first question God asked humanity.
That first question is recorded in the book of Genesis. Adam and Eve had chosen separation from God. In that separation they had attempted to hide from God. God asked them: where are you?
Now, God knew where Adam and Eve were and why they were hiding. Jesus also knew where the other nine lepers were and why they had not paused to give thanks. The question helps to reveal the human condition. The long record of Biblical history records an amazing and counter intuitive observation about the human condition.
Human beings have separated from God. In that separation people are lost. Most religions and many philosophies speak of humanity’s search for God. The Bible very uniquely speaks of humanity’s separation from God and our refusal to be found by God.
This, of course, is the reason the co-eternal Son of God became a particular human being at a particular point in time and at a particular place. He came to seek the lost who do not want to be found.
There is an ironic and somewhat cynical statement: no good deed goes unpunished. This statement could describe the life and even more- the death of Jesus Christ. Jesus came into the world with the one single desire to seek the lost and to find the lost. It was the one thing people did not want from God.
People who believed in God wanted all sorts of things from God. They mostly wanted to avoid God’s wrath and obtain God’s favor. Many people divided God according to their wants, desires and demands. And so there was a god of war for soldiers, a god of romance for those who sought romance, and a deity for every possible need or desire.
These deities were simply a superstitious expression of the human will to power. This is the root cause of original sin. God offered love and holiness to humanity. People chose knowledge and power.
God offered himself as a constant and reliable friend. People chose to create substitute deities for ourselves that reflected our fear and our demand. The Bible teaches that people do not seek God. We do not seek God for who he is. We do not value God for who he is. God is unconditional love.
Humanity seeks to define God according to our needs and desires in order to meet our needs and desires. We seek the gifts we believe God can give us. We do not seek or value the giver of the gifts.
Preeminently, people seek to define God in the categories of knowledge and power. We demand that if God is real then he must accept our definition of reality and readjust the universe to our will. We redefine unconditional love as indulgence and insist that if God has love then God must yield to our desires.
The record of scripture is that as soon as the One God revealed Himself through the patriarchs and prophets, people began to redefine God. God revealed himself as a loving father. People told stories of a wrathful judge.
God revealed himself as the bridegroom who seeks the love of his bride. People created a religion of rewards and punishments based on a system of credits and debits.
God revealed himself in the name: I am. People rejected the reality of God whenever they did not receive the material gifts and blessings they valued most. Very crassly worded people tell God: if you give me what I want I will believe in you. If you fail to give me what I want I will not believe in you.
God sent his only begotten son into the world to seek the lost, find the lost, and restore the lost. Most people took the benefits Christ offered but ignored the invitation. They wanted the gifts but not the giver.
The long record of human history from God’s perspective is not humanity’s search for God but rather God’s search for a lost and rebellious humanity, a people who stubbornly refuse to be found.
God calls people into a relationship of faith grounded in love and formed by holiness. People ask: what’s in it for me? Why should I have to adjust my schedule, my priorities my way of living?
God calls across time- where are you? Jesus echoes this call when he asks of the lepers: where are they?
Of the ten, only one- a foreigner who knew nothing of the God of Abraham, Moses and the prophets, only one came to give thanks. Only one thought to glorify God. And only that one received the completion of his healing.
The nine others were still healed of their leprosy. What made their healing incomplete was their lack of faith in the one who healed them. They wanted the healing but not the healer. It is the healer, God himself in the person of Jesus Christ, who completes the healing.
God completes the healing as we receive the gift he offers. The gift is Jesus Christ.
The glory of God is not in the healing or in the miracles Jesus performed. The glory of God is in the relationship that Jesus offers us and makes possible. The relationship is the realty.
Jesus healed those ten lepers of the most horrible and fearful disease known to the people of his time. He told them to present themselves to the priests so the priest could examine them and certify the healing. Only that certification would allow them to return to their families and jobs.
Jesus also waited. He waited patiently for the ten lepers to make a real choice to complete their healing and to enter into wholeness.
Only one, a Samaritan whom the people of Israel despised, made that real choice. Only one of the ten chose to embrace the healer, give thanks to God, and glorify God.
Jesus still waits. He waits for us to come to him who offers himself to us. He waits for us to say: thank you. Thank you for living for me. Thank you for dying for me. Thank you for pouring yourself out to me daily, hourly.
Jesus waits for us to make a real choice to glorify God by receiving the love and the holiness God offers us in a new life and in a new way of living. Jesus is the way. Jesus is the only way to receive and experience this new life and this new way of living.
The new life is a life of wholeness. The new way of living is holiness. Wholeness and holiness are not perfection. We grow. We transform. We learn something new about God, other people, ourselves every day. We unlearn even more.
The Samaritan had to unlearn his fear and hatred of the Jews. He had to unlearn his contempt for the religion of Israel. He had to take a step forward into the understanding that faith is trust in a person not loyalty to an ethnic group, a political system, or a religious structure. The Samaritan had to make a real choice to allow God to be God regardless of everything he had learned to expect of God and to demand from God.
In Jesus Christ, God gives us that opportunity to make that real choice. Let God be God. Let God be the One who is, the “I am” who is eternally self existent as one God in three persons. Let God offer himself to us and find us in the co-eternal Beloved, Jesus Christ.
The Bible teaches that God the Father created all people by the power of God the Holy Spirit to be the beloved companions and friends of God the Son, Jesus Christ.
In Eden, the pre incarnate Son asked humanity: where are you? I am here for you. Why have you chosen to separate from me?
In his public ministry, the incarnate Son asked: where are they? I am standing right here. I am the one who has come to seek you out, to find you, to heal you. Why have you chosen to walk away from me at the very moment of divine grace?
Jesus calls to us and to all the world today: where are you? I am here in the blessed sacrament of the altar. I wait for you. I offer myself to you in the fullness of unconditional love, eternal love, infinite love. I am here for you in your joys and in your sorrows. I will never leave you or forsake you. I will never turn you away.
The Holy Spirit calls to us and to all people and says: come. Come and receive the blessing. Let all who thirst for meaning and purpose come. Let all who are burdened by life come. Let all who yearn to know that they are loved with an everlasting love come.
Jesus says: I am here. I am here for them. Where are they?
The question Jesus asked of the ten lepers is very similar to the first question God asked humanity.
That first question is recorded in the book of Genesis. Adam and Eve had chosen separation from God. In that separation they had attempted to hide from God. God asked them: where are you?
Now, God knew where Adam and Eve were and why they were hiding. Jesus also knew where the other nine lepers were and why they had not paused to give thanks. The question helps to reveal the human condition. The long record of Biblical history records an amazing and counter intuitive observation about the human condition.
Human beings have separated from God. In that separation people are lost. Most religions and many philosophies speak of humanity’s search for God. The Bible very uniquely speaks of humanity’s separation from God and our refusal to be found by God.
This, of course, is the reason the co-eternal Son of God became a particular human being at a particular point in time and at a particular place. He came to seek the lost who do not want to be found.
There is an ironic and somewhat cynical statement: no good deed goes unpunished. This statement could describe the life and even more- the death of Jesus Christ. Jesus came into the world with the one single desire to seek the lost and to find the lost. It was the one thing people did not want from God.
People who believed in God wanted all sorts of things from God. They mostly wanted to avoid God’s wrath and obtain God’s favor. Many people divided God according to their wants, desires and demands. And so there was a god of war for soldiers, a god of romance for those who sought romance, and a deity for every possible need or desire.
These deities were simply a superstitious expression of the human will to power. This is the root cause of original sin. God offered love and holiness to humanity. People chose knowledge and power.
God offered himself as a constant and reliable friend. People chose to create substitute deities for ourselves that reflected our fear and our demand. The Bible teaches that people do not seek God. We do not seek God for who he is. We do not value God for who he is. God is unconditional love.
Humanity seeks to define God according to our needs and desires in order to meet our needs and desires. We seek the gifts we believe God can give us. We do not seek or value the giver of the gifts.
Preeminently, people seek to define God in the categories of knowledge and power. We demand that if God is real then he must accept our definition of reality and readjust the universe to our will. We redefine unconditional love as indulgence and insist that if God has love then God must yield to our desires.
The record of scripture is that as soon as the One God revealed Himself through the patriarchs and prophets, people began to redefine God. God revealed himself as a loving father. People told stories of a wrathful judge.
God revealed himself as the bridegroom who seeks the love of his bride. People created a religion of rewards and punishments based on a system of credits and debits.
God revealed himself in the name: I am. People rejected the reality of God whenever they did not receive the material gifts and blessings they valued most. Very crassly worded people tell God: if you give me what I want I will believe in you. If you fail to give me what I want I will not believe in you.
God sent his only begotten son into the world to seek the lost, find the lost, and restore the lost. Most people took the benefits Christ offered but ignored the invitation. They wanted the gifts but not the giver.
The long record of human history from God’s perspective is not humanity’s search for God but rather God’s search for a lost and rebellious humanity, a people who stubbornly refuse to be found.
God calls people into a relationship of faith grounded in love and formed by holiness. People ask: what’s in it for me? Why should I have to adjust my schedule, my priorities my way of living?
God calls across time- where are you? Jesus echoes this call when he asks of the lepers: where are they?
Of the ten, only one- a foreigner who knew nothing of the God of Abraham, Moses and the prophets, only one came to give thanks. Only one thought to glorify God. And only that one received the completion of his healing.
The nine others were still healed of their leprosy. What made their healing incomplete was their lack of faith in the one who healed them. They wanted the healing but not the healer. It is the healer, God himself in the person of Jesus Christ, who completes the healing.
God completes the healing as we receive the gift he offers. The gift is Jesus Christ.
The glory of God is not in the healing or in the miracles Jesus performed. The glory of God is in the relationship that Jesus offers us and makes possible. The relationship is the realty.
Jesus healed those ten lepers of the most horrible and fearful disease known to the people of his time. He told them to present themselves to the priests so the priest could examine them and certify the healing. Only that certification would allow them to return to their families and jobs.
Jesus also waited. He waited patiently for the ten lepers to make a real choice to complete their healing and to enter into wholeness.
Only one, a Samaritan whom the people of Israel despised, made that real choice. Only one of the ten chose to embrace the healer, give thanks to God, and glorify God.
Jesus still waits. He waits for us to come to him who offers himself to us. He waits for us to say: thank you. Thank you for living for me. Thank you for dying for me. Thank you for pouring yourself out to me daily, hourly.
Jesus waits for us to make a real choice to glorify God by receiving the love and the holiness God offers us in a new life and in a new way of living. Jesus is the way. Jesus is the only way to receive and experience this new life and this new way of living.
The new life is a life of wholeness. The new way of living is holiness. Wholeness and holiness are not perfection. We grow. We transform. We learn something new about God, other people, ourselves every day. We unlearn even more.
The Samaritan had to unlearn his fear and hatred of the Jews. He had to unlearn his contempt for the religion of Israel. He had to take a step forward into the understanding that faith is trust in a person not loyalty to an ethnic group, a political system, or a religious structure. The Samaritan had to make a real choice to allow God to be God regardless of everything he had learned to expect of God and to demand from God.
In Jesus Christ, God gives us that opportunity to make that real choice. Let God be God. Let God be the One who is, the “I am” who is eternally self existent as one God in three persons. Let God offer himself to us and find us in the co-eternal Beloved, Jesus Christ.
The Bible teaches that God the Father created all people by the power of God the Holy Spirit to be the beloved companions and friends of God the Son, Jesus Christ.
In Eden, the pre incarnate Son asked humanity: where are you? I am here for you. Why have you chosen to separate from me?
In his public ministry, the incarnate Son asked: where are they? I am standing right here. I am the one who has come to seek you out, to find you, to heal you. Why have you chosen to walk away from me at the very moment of divine grace?
Jesus calls to us and to all the world today: where are you? I am here in the blessed sacrament of the altar. I wait for you. I offer myself to you in the fullness of unconditional love, eternal love, infinite love. I am here for you in your joys and in your sorrows. I will never leave you or forsake you. I will never turn you away.
The Holy Spirit calls to us and to all people and says: come. Come and receive the blessing. Let all who thirst for meaning and purpose come. Let all who are burdened by life come. Let all who yearn to know that they are loved with an everlasting love come.
Jesus says: I am here. I am here for them. Where are they?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Pentecost 19
Pentecost 19 If You had faith
Faith is substance and evidence.
Most people consider faith to be a belief in something for which there is no evidence and can never be proved or disproved. Most people consider faith to be a measurable commodity.
So it is that the disciples, Jesus’ students, thought that they only had a small portion of faith. They asked Jesus to increase that portion and make it larger.
On the surface it seems like a good request. On the surface the statement Jesus makes in response seems odd. Jesus heard the flaw in the request.
The disciples were looking for a teaching, a discipline, a method, a seminar or a program to increase something they thought they already had. They were looking for one of those self help books that might be titled “Seven Ways in Seven Days to increase your faith.” They wanted Jesus to assume the role of an inspirational speaker who would complement them for their spiritual accomplishments and give them certain tasks to perform in order to increase their faith.
Jesus’ response: “if you had faith” tells the disciples that they actually don’t have faith, yet.
Faith is substance and evidence. The substance is the personal relationship of love with the co-eternal Son of God. The evidence is in the transformation of their character in the holiness of the co-eternal Son of God.
Even the smallest kernel of faith establishes reunification with the infinite and eternal love of God. And so, even the smallest seed of faith is more than ample to accomplish amazing things for those who enter into a new life and a new way of living.
Many people heard Jesus’ words as an invitation to create their own reality. Nothing could be further from the truth. The substance of faith is the relationship that we have with the one who is the way, the truth and the life.
By faith we learn to pray: Heavenly Father not my will but your will be done. In union with the Father, through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit we learn to surrender self will to divine will. In that surrender we become co-creators with God in the great plan of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Faith removes obstacles because faith is the union of human will with divine will that allows each of us to become agents of grace in this world.
The evidence of faith is in the transformation of our minds and hearts. The evidence of faith is in the priorities we set for our lives and in the work. The evidence of faith is the attitude we bring to life and to God.
The disciples wanted more faith so they could accomplish their goals. Their religion taught them that right action and right belief produced righteousness and resulted in rewards. Jesus came to remind people that righteousness is right relationship. The relationship is the reward.
The change in attitude for those who have faith is the attitude Jesus himself revealed in the way he lived his life. He surrendered his divine prerogatives and came to earth as a servant.
Faith in God produces a change in attitude. The change is from the desire to command and control to the passion for love and compassion. The change is from the question: what’s in it for me to the question: how may I help. The change is in the transformation of the soul’s demand: my will be done into the soul’s desire: Heavenly Father, Thy will be done.
The disciples wanted a list of things they could do to increase their faith so they could accomplish their goals according to their will. They lacked faith because they lacked love. The lacked love because they thought of God as the one who rewards and punishes.
God is the creator, redeemer, sanctifier and divine lover of souls.
God does not ask us to submit to his all powerful will to avoid punishment and earn a reward. God sent his only begotten Son into the world to invite us into a passionate transforming friendship.
Faith is substance. The substance is the love Jesus gives to us. The substance is the friendship Jesus offer us. The evidence of faith is in the change that friendship produces in our attitude and actions.
The change in attitude is the change from someone who wants to be in control to achieve the goals of self will to some one who embraces the role of a servant of God in order to accomplish God’s will.
The change in action is the change from self indulgence to holiness. It is the shift in priorities and release of attachment to things in order to direct our time and attention to love. Love of God through worship. Love of others through service. Love of the true essence of ourselves by our daily offering of ourselves to be the friends of God.
Faith is a gift God offers to all people everywhere through the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit invites all people everywhere to embrace faith by embracing unconditional, steadfast holy love. This love is most fully and perfectly revealed and embodied in Jesus Christ.
If you had faith you would experience the substance of faith and produce the evidence of faith. The substance of faith is Jesus Christ who makes himself available to us in the reading of his word and in the blessed sacrament of the altar. The evidence of faith is the new life and the new way of living that is formed by the prayer Jesus most frequently prayed: Heavenly Father, not my will but Thy will be done.
Faith is substance and evidence.
Most people consider faith to be a belief in something for which there is no evidence and can never be proved or disproved. Most people consider faith to be a measurable commodity.
So it is that the disciples, Jesus’ students, thought that they only had a small portion of faith. They asked Jesus to increase that portion and make it larger.
On the surface it seems like a good request. On the surface the statement Jesus makes in response seems odd. Jesus heard the flaw in the request.
The disciples were looking for a teaching, a discipline, a method, a seminar or a program to increase something they thought they already had. They were looking for one of those self help books that might be titled “Seven Ways in Seven Days to increase your faith.” They wanted Jesus to assume the role of an inspirational speaker who would complement them for their spiritual accomplishments and give them certain tasks to perform in order to increase their faith.
Jesus’ response: “if you had faith” tells the disciples that they actually don’t have faith, yet.
Faith is substance and evidence. The substance is the personal relationship of love with the co-eternal Son of God. The evidence is in the transformation of their character in the holiness of the co-eternal Son of God.
Even the smallest kernel of faith establishes reunification with the infinite and eternal love of God. And so, even the smallest seed of faith is more than ample to accomplish amazing things for those who enter into a new life and a new way of living.
Many people heard Jesus’ words as an invitation to create their own reality. Nothing could be further from the truth. The substance of faith is the relationship that we have with the one who is the way, the truth and the life.
By faith we learn to pray: Heavenly Father not my will but your will be done. In union with the Father, through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit we learn to surrender self will to divine will. In that surrender we become co-creators with God in the great plan of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Faith removes obstacles because faith is the union of human will with divine will that allows each of us to become agents of grace in this world.
The evidence of faith is in the transformation of our minds and hearts. The evidence of faith is in the priorities we set for our lives and in the work. The evidence of faith is the attitude we bring to life and to God.
The disciples wanted more faith so they could accomplish their goals. Their religion taught them that right action and right belief produced righteousness and resulted in rewards. Jesus came to remind people that righteousness is right relationship. The relationship is the reward.
The change in attitude for those who have faith is the attitude Jesus himself revealed in the way he lived his life. He surrendered his divine prerogatives and came to earth as a servant.
Faith in God produces a change in attitude. The change is from the desire to command and control to the passion for love and compassion. The change is from the question: what’s in it for me to the question: how may I help. The change is in the transformation of the soul’s demand: my will be done into the soul’s desire: Heavenly Father, Thy will be done.
The disciples wanted a list of things they could do to increase their faith so they could accomplish their goals according to their will. They lacked faith because they lacked love. The lacked love because they thought of God as the one who rewards and punishes.
God is the creator, redeemer, sanctifier and divine lover of souls.
God does not ask us to submit to his all powerful will to avoid punishment and earn a reward. God sent his only begotten Son into the world to invite us into a passionate transforming friendship.
Faith is substance. The substance is the love Jesus gives to us. The substance is the friendship Jesus offer us. The evidence of faith is in the change that friendship produces in our attitude and actions.
The change in attitude is the change from someone who wants to be in control to achieve the goals of self will to some one who embraces the role of a servant of God in order to accomplish God’s will.
The change in action is the change from self indulgence to holiness. It is the shift in priorities and release of attachment to things in order to direct our time and attention to love. Love of God through worship. Love of others through service. Love of the true essence of ourselves by our daily offering of ourselves to be the friends of God.
Faith is a gift God offers to all people everywhere through the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit invites all people everywhere to embrace faith by embracing unconditional, steadfast holy love. This love is most fully and perfectly revealed and embodied in Jesus Christ.
If you had faith you would experience the substance of faith and produce the evidence of faith. The substance of faith is Jesus Christ who makes himself available to us in the reading of his word and in the blessed sacrament of the altar. The evidence of faith is the new life and the new way of living that is formed by the prayer Jesus most frequently prayed: Heavenly Father, not my will but Thy will be done.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Pentecost 17
Pentecost 17 Whoever is faithful in little will be faithful in much.
Does God really help those who help themselves?
This could be the lesson of the story Jesus told about the embezzling estate manager. He had cheated his employer to maintain his own inflated standard of living. When his employer caught him and asked for an audit of the books, he compounded his crime by even grater levels of deceit to protect his own self interest.
The shocking conclusion to the story comes in the employer’s response to the embezzler. The employer finds out everything that he has done and commends him for his shrewdness. The story ends there because the point of the story is in Jesus’ statement that the unrighteous are more dedicated in pursing their own self interest than the righteous are in pursing God’s interests.
Of course, there is the rest of the story. The employer commends the embezzler for his shrewdness but he still fires him. He still has legal recourse in the courts. Jesus does not tell the story to endorse clever thieves who ignore their legal and moral obligations. Jesus tells the story to express a sharp contrast .
The sharp contrast is in fidelity.
The embezzler is totally dedicated to his own self interest. And, he uses all of his talents and knowledge to pursue those interests. Jesus never commends the man for his crimes. He commends him as an example of someone who single mindedly pursues his goals.
Jesus uses this most extreme example to contrast the half hearted, casual and even unfocused way in which God’s people seek to accomplish God’s plan and God’s purpose.
The contrast is that the thief is dedicated in his life of crime but the people of God are not dedicated in the life of grace.
The thief served one master- his own greed. The people of God attempt to serve two masters: God and greed.
The prophet Elijah once challenged the people of Israel: choose whom you will serve. If the Lord is God then follow him. If the Lord is God then give up the idols of false deities and serve only the living God. The people of Israel wanted it both ways. They were hedging their bets. They would worship God from time to time to see what he had to offer. They would also worship the pagan deities to see what they had to offer.
In the book of Revelation Jesus instructs the beloved apostle John to write to the church- be either hot or cold, but not lukewarm. Make a choice. Live by that choice. Be faithful in that choice.
The unrighteous servant had made his choice. Jesus did not commend him for his crime but for his dedication. By contrast, the disciples, those who claimed to follow Jesus, were still hedging their bets. Jesus challenged them with this story to clarify what they valued most.
Jesus did not come into the world to offer an opinion about God. Jesus did not come into the world to settle disputes as to which religion is the one true religion that God endorses. Jesus spoke of God as the bridegroom who is seeking his bride.
Jesus is seeking to pour himself out to people. His is seeking people who recognize their brokenness and yearn for healing. He is seeking people who recognize they are lost and need to be found. He is seeking people who understand they are empty and long to be filled.
Jesus does not give us the option of leaving him in a religious institution, a set of rituals, customs and laws. Jesus is a new way of living grounded in the eternal truth of eternal love. That love touches every aspect of our lives. That love transforms every choice we make.
That love requires a choice. If we choose to make God second in our lives we choose to make God last. We can easily assign a lower priority to religion and religious practices. Jesus is not just about religion. Jesus is the way our Heavenly Father finds us, heals us, fills us with the truth of eternal love. That truth sets us free from fear, self will and pride. That truth forms the basis for a new life and a new way of living.
The reality of that new life and that new way of living is in the small almost insignificant choices we make every day of our lives.
The new life begins with a choice to receive the gift of God in Jesus Christ by grace through faith in the sacramental waters of baptism. The new life is nourished by the study of God’s written word in the Bible and by the total immersion of the soul in the sacrament of Holy Communion.
The new life is formed by the prayer of Divine Presence. It is the prayer Jesus most frequently prayed: Heavenly Father, not my will but you will be done.
The new life is guided by a series of questions. How do we do this? What does the new life look like as I set my priorities? How does the new way of living feel as I make the innumerable choices in my day?
Jesus sets the framework for the answers to these questions when he says: love God with all of your heart, soul and mind; love your neighbor as you love yourself. God first. God preeminent. God the highest priority. Service to others second. Self responsible growth in grace next.
What are the obstacles?
Jesus identifies a very common obstacle to the new life and the new way of living God offers us in Jesus Christ. That very common obstacle is the love of money.
Note: the obstacle is not the money itself. It is the love of money. The proper subject of love is God, other people, our own souls. The distortion of sin leads us to view God as an object of religious observance and money as the subject of love.
Despite the poverty of our English language to make a proper distinction in the word “love”, Jesus is very clear that human beings lost in separation from God have chosen to distort love. Human beings use God through religion. Human beings use other people through politics and economics. Human beings love the things of this world.
God never designed the things of this world for love. He designed things to be used for our benefit and even for our pleasure. He never designed things to be loved. He designed people to give love and to receive love.
The choice to use God and love things enmeshes the soul in an impossible vicious circle of desire, distortion and slavery. As we use God, and other people, in order to satisfy our love for things we lose our sense of who we are and why God created us.
The problem is expressed in the rich fool who is possessed by his possessions. He no longer derives legitimate pleasure from his possessions but he cannot let them go. Love of things, love of money, leads to the dissolution of the soul. It leads to slavery even as the soul deceives itself into believing it can use things to bring security, meaning and purpose.
Jesus very sharply draws the contrast that brings clarity and choice. As you are faithful to God in the small choices of your life you evidence the primary choice, the fundamental choice, to love God and to use things in accord with God’s principles and God’s purpose.
Jesus makes it very cleat that we can’t have it both ways. We cannot serve God and money. We cannot love God and love wealth. That position is inherently unstable and corrupting.
God created all people by love, through love and for love. We are more of who God created us to be as we immerse our minds and hearts and wills in that love.
As we hear the words of Jesus Christ today the Holy Spirit is asking us these question: whom do you serve? Where do you place your love? How is you mind, your heart and your will divided and in conflict?
Jesus commended the embezzler not for his crime but for his shrewdness in analyzing the situation and making a clear choice to solve the problem. It was indeed the wrong solution but it was a very shrewd decision.
How much more, then, does God expect us to exercise wisdom in how we choose to live our lives? How much more then does our Heavenly Father invite us to choose the love of his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as the priority and principle that underlies all of our choices?
Jesus warns us we can’t have it both ways. We can’t serve God and money. We can’t use God and love things. They are mutually exclusive categories. The test of who we serve and who we love is in the little choices we make in our daily lives.
There is an urgency in Jesus’ statement. It is the urgency of the one who loves us and wants to fill us with his love. It is the urgency of the universal savior who longs to set us free from the slavery of things into the freedom of Divine grace. It is the urgency of the Bridegroom who is preparing the wedding feast for all but who will never require any of us to attend.
The truth of Jesus Christ is the truth of eternal love. The reality of that love for human beings is choice. Who ever is faithful in little will be faithful in much. Choose shrewdly. Choose wisely. Choose Jesus.
Does God really help those who help themselves?
This could be the lesson of the story Jesus told about the embezzling estate manager. He had cheated his employer to maintain his own inflated standard of living. When his employer caught him and asked for an audit of the books, he compounded his crime by even grater levels of deceit to protect his own self interest.
The shocking conclusion to the story comes in the employer’s response to the embezzler. The employer finds out everything that he has done and commends him for his shrewdness. The story ends there because the point of the story is in Jesus’ statement that the unrighteous are more dedicated in pursing their own self interest than the righteous are in pursing God’s interests.
Of course, there is the rest of the story. The employer commends the embezzler for his shrewdness but he still fires him. He still has legal recourse in the courts. Jesus does not tell the story to endorse clever thieves who ignore their legal and moral obligations. Jesus tells the story to express a sharp contrast .
The sharp contrast is in fidelity.
The embezzler is totally dedicated to his own self interest. And, he uses all of his talents and knowledge to pursue those interests. Jesus never commends the man for his crimes. He commends him as an example of someone who single mindedly pursues his goals.
Jesus uses this most extreme example to contrast the half hearted, casual and even unfocused way in which God’s people seek to accomplish God’s plan and God’s purpose.
The contrast is that the thief is dedicated in his life of crime but the people of God are not dedicated in the life of grace.
The thief served one master- his own greed. The people of God attempt to serve two masters: God and greed.
The prophet Elijah once challenged the people of Israel: choose whom you will serve. If the Lord is God then follow him. If the Lord is God then give up the idols of false deities and serve only the living God. The people of Israel wanted it both ways. They were hedging their bets. They would worship God from time to time to see what he had to offer. They would also worship the pagan deities to see what they had to offer.
In the book of Revelation Jesus instructs the beloved apostle John to write to the church- be either hot or cold, but not lukewarm. Make a choice. Live by that choice. Be faithful in that choice.
The unrighteous servant had made his choice. Jesus did not commend him for his crime but for his dedication. By contrast, the disciples, those who claimed to follow Jesus, were still hedging their bets. Jesus challenged them with this story to clarify what they valued most.
Jesus did not come into the world to offer an opinion about God. Jesus did not come into the world to settle disputes as to which religion is the one true religion that God endorses. Jesus spoke of God as the bridegroom who is seeking his bride.
Jesus is seeking to pour himself out to people. His is seeking people who recognize their brokenness and yearn for healing. He is seeking people who recognize they are lost and need to be found. He is seeking people who understand they are empty and long to be filled.
Jesus does not give us the option of leaving him in a religious institution, a set of rituals, customs and laws. Jesus is a new way of living grounded in the eternal truth of eternal love. That love touches every aspect of our lives. That love transforms every choice we make.
That love requires a choice. If we choose to make God second in our lives we choose to make God last. We can easily assign a lower priority to religion and religious practices. Jesus is not just about religion. Jesus is the way our Heavenly Father finds us, heals us, fills us with the truth of eternal love. That truth sets us free from fear, self will and pride. That truth forms the basis for a new life and a new way of living.
The reality of that new life and that new way of living is in the small almost insignificant choices we make every day of our lives.
The new life begins with a choice to receive the gift of God in Jesus Christ by grace through faith in the sacramental waters of baptism. The new life is nourished by the study of God’s written word in the Bible and by the total immersion of the soul in the sacrament of Holy Communion.
The new life is formed by the prayer of Divine Presence. It is the prayer Jesus most frequently prayed: Heavenly Father, not my will but you will be done.
The new life is guided by a series of questions. How do we do this? What does the new life look like as I set my priorities? How does the new way of living feel as I make the innumerable choices in my day?
Jesus sets the framework for the answers to these questions when he says: love God with all of your heart, soul and mind; love your neighbor as you love yourself. God first. God preeminent. God the highest priority. Service to others second. Self responsible growth in grace next.
What are the obstacles?
Jesus identifies a very common obstacle to the new life and the new way of living God offers us in Jesus Christ. That very common obstacle is the love of money.
Note: the obstacle is not the money itself. It is the love of money. The proper subject of love is God, other people, our own souls. The distortion of sin leads us to view God as an object of religious observance and money as the subject of love.
Despite the poverty of our English language to make a proper distinction in the word “love”, Jesus is very clear that human beings lost in separation from God have chosen to distort love. Human beings use God through religion. Human beings use other people through politics and economics. Human beings love the things of this world.
God never designed the things of this world for love. He designed things to be used for our benefit and even for our pleasure. He never designed things to be loved. He designed people to give love and to receive love.
The choice to use God and love things enmeshes the soul in an impossible vicious circle of desire, distortion and slavery. As we use God, and other people, in order to satisfy our love for things we lose our sense of who we are and why God created us.
The problem is expressed in the rich fool who is possessed by his possessions. He no longer derives legitimate pleasure from his possessions but he cannot let them go. Love of things, love of money, leads to the dissolution of the soul. It leads to slavery even as the soul deceives itself into believing it can use things to bring security, meaning and purpose.
Jesus very sharply draws the contrast that brings clarity and choice. As you are faithful to God in the small choices of your life you evidence the primary choice, the fundamental choice, to love God and to use things in accord with God’s principles and God’s purpose.
Jesus makes it very cleat that we can’t have it both ways. We cannot serve God and money. We cannot love God and love wealth. That position is inherently unstable and corrupting.
God created all people by love, through love and for love. We are more of who God created us to be as we immerse our minds and hearts and wills in that love.
As we hear the words of Jesus Christ today the Holy Spirit is asking us these question: whom do you serve? Where do you place your love? How is you mind, your heart and your will divided and in conflict?
Jesus commended the embezzler not for his crime but for his shrewdness in analyzing the situation and making a clear choice to solve the problem. It was indeed the wrong solution but it was a very shrewd decision.
How much more, then, does God expect us to exercise wisdom in how we choose to live our lives? How much more then does our Heavenly Father invite us to choose the love of his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as the priority and principle that underlies all of our choices?
Jesus warns us we can’t have it both ways. We can’t serve God and money. We can’t use God and love things. They are mutually exclusive categories. The test of who we serve and who we love is in the little choices we make in our daily lives.
There is an urgency in Jesus’ statement. It is the urgency of the one who loves us and wants to fill us with his love. It is the urgency of the universal savior who longs to set us free from the slavery of things into the freedom of Divine grace. It is the urgency of the Bridegroom who is preparing the wedding feast for all but who will never require any of us to attend.
The truth of Jesus Christ is the truth of eternal love. The reality of that love for human beings is choice. Who ever is faithful in little will be faithful in much. Choose shrewdly. Choose wisely. Choose Jesus.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Pentecost 16
Pentecost 16 Holy Cross Sunday (Luke 15:1-10
I have found what was lost.
Jesus came to seek, to find, and to restore the lost.
The Biblical writers observe that the fundamental problem that defines the human race is separation from God. In our choice to separate from God we are now lost. Not only are we lost but we can’t find our way back. Even worse, we stubbornly refuse to be found.
The parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin illustrate this for us. Only the shepherd can find the lost sheep. The sheep has wandered off and cannot find its way home. Only the woman can find the lost coin for the coin is lost in her house and only she knows the house well enough to explore the hidden cracks and recesses where the coin lies.
Our Heavenly Father sent his co-eternal Beloved son into the world to seek the lost who refuse to be found. Human beings willfully and stubbornly hide from God yet yearn for a greater meaning and purpose in life that God alone can fufill.
Some people hide from God in religion. Jesus did not come to address the issue of which religion and which sect within that religion is the way to God. God so loved the world that he did not send a prophet to create a religion. God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son to be the Way by which the lost can be found.
Some people hide from God in philosophy or science. Some people hide from God in their pursuit of pleasure, possessions, prestige or power. Some people hide from God by defining God out of existence. Some people hide from God by saying all paths to God and all names of God are equally valid and equally efficacious. We create consumer driven cafeteria style religion.
God did not send his only begotten Son into the world to found a philosophical school, to debate scientific theories, or to affirm some human right to define life, the universe, other people and God himself according to our individual whims and desires.
God sent Jesus Christ into the world to seek the lost, to find the lost, and to restore the lost to what the lost chose to abandon and refuse to accept. In Jesus Christ God permanently and irrevocably unites his divinity with our humanity.
In Jesus Christ God finds us so we can find ourselves. As we find ourselves in Christ we discover the Great Mystery of divine love and compassion. We begin to live life in a new way, the way God intended for us when he created us.
The sign and symbol of this new life and this new way of living is the cross. The cross is a symbol of death, rebirth and transformation. Christ took the preeminent symbol of death, embraced it, experienced it fully, conquered it, then transformed it. He has done the same for each of us.
Our Heavenly Father has already found us and forgiven us in Jesus Christ. No religion, philosophy, science or mysticism can accomplish this. God has already done all of the work. God is not an idea to debate. He is not a power to manipulate. He does not play favorites with the various nations, tribes, families and individuals in the world. Jesus is the gift of Divine Love to all people.
Divine love is eternal. Divine love is the very nature of God. Divine love is not just an attribute of God. There is no way we can earn God’s love. There is no way we can lose God’s love. God is love. Jesus Christ is the co-eternal Beloved Son of God seeking the lost, finding the lost who stubbornly refuse to be found , restoring the lost to the original blessing we chose to reject, transforming the lost in the Joy of the finding.
The lost sheep simply accepted the shepherd who found it and rejoiced over it. The lost coin simply accepted the woman who found it and rejoiced over it. Only human beings stubbornly refuse to be found by the one God the Father has sent into the world to seek and to find.
During this church age it is our responsibility as servants of Christ to remind all people everywhere that God pours himself out to them in Jesus Christ. The ongoing work of the church is to cooperate with the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit speaks to every one in the world and he speaks the one word who is the co-eternal word of God: Jesus.
The church is not called to convert. Conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit. The church is called to share the Good News that God is real, God is personal, God is love, God is Jesus Christ. The church is called to evangelize the world one person at a time by offering all people everywhere the gift of God in Jesus Christ.
Do you seek God? Then rejoice, for God has already found you in Jesus Christ. His arms are wide open to welcome you into the new life of eternal love and into the new way of living that is holy and wholesome and transforming.
Do you reject the very concept of God? Then rejoice. Jesus has already found you. You have already rejected so much of what so many people use to hide from the living God. You have rejected the false images and self serving religions that people use to assert their will to power. Relax into the awareness of what you can observe. Jesus is there. He is there in every sunrise, forest, star, subatomic particle. He is the pattern by which, through which, and for which the world of matter, energy, time and space were created.
Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and savior? Then rejoice. For you have not chosen him; he has chosen you. You are the beloved of the co-eternal Beloved. You are now on a path of discovery, adventure, and infinite possibilities as you relax into the Divine Love of Jesus Christ, as you surrender to the transforming Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit.
The great joy of the Holy Trinity is in the words of Jesus Christ as he looks at his church and says: I have found what was lost.
I have found what was lost.
Jesus came to seek, to find, and to restore the lost.
The Biblical writers observe that the fundamental problem that defines the human race is separation from God. In our choice to separate from God we are now lost. Not only are we lost but we can’t find our way back. Even worse, we stubbornly refuse to be found.
The parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin illustrate this for us. Only the shepherd can find the lost sheep. The sheep has wandered off and cannot find its way home. Only the woman can find the lost coin for the coin is lost in her house and only she knows the house well enough to explore the hidden cracks and recesses where the coin lies.
Our Heavenly Father sent his co-eternal Beloved son into the world to seek the lost who refuse to be found. Human beings willfully and stubbornly hide from God yet yearn for a greater meaning and purpose in life that God alone can fufill.
Some people hide from God in religion. Jesus did not come to address the issue of which religion and which sect within that religion is the way to God. God so loved the world that he did not send a prophet to create a religion. God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son to be the Way by which the lost can be found.
Some people hide from God in philosophy or science. Some people hide from God in their pursuit of pleasure, possessions, prestige or power. Some people hide from God by defining God out of existence. Some people hide from God by saying all paths to God and all names of God are equally valid and equally efficacious. We create consumer driven cafeteria style religion.
God did not send his only begotten Son into the world to found a philosophical school, to debate scientific theories, or to affirm some human right to define life, the universe, other people and God himself according to our individual whims and desires.
God sent Jesus Christ into the world to seek the lost, to find the lost, and to restore the lost to what the lost chose to abandon and refuse to accept. In Jesus Christ God permanently and irrevocably unites his divinity with our humanity.
In Jesus Christ God finds us so we can find ourselves. As we find ourselves in Christ we discover the Great Mystery of divine love and compassion. We begin to live life in a new way, the way God intended for us when he created us.
The sign and symbol of this new life and this new way of living is the cross. The cross is a symbol of death, rebirth and transformation. Christ took the preeminent symbol of death, embraced it, experienced it fully, conquered it, then transformed it. He has done the same for each of us.
Our Heavenly Father has already found us and forgiven us in Jesus Christ. No religion, philosophy, science or mysticism can accomplish this. God has already done all of the work. God is not an idea to debate. He is not a power to manipulate. He does not play favorites with the various nations, tribes, families and individuals in the world. Jesus is the gift of Divine Love to all people.
Divine love is eternal. Divine love is the very nature of God. Divine love is not just an attribute of God. There is no way we can earn God’s love. There is no way we can lose God’s love. God is love. Jesus Christ is the co-eternal Beloved Son of God seeking the lost, finding the lost who stubbornly refuse to be found , restoring the lost to the original blessing we chose to reject, transforming the lost in the Joy of the finding.
The lost sheep simply accepted the shepherd who found it and rejoiced over it. The lost coin simply accepted the woman who found it and rejoiced over it. Only human beings stubbornly refuse to be found by the one God the Father has sent into the world to seek and to find.
During this church age it is our responsibility as servants of Christ to remind all people everywhere that God pours himself out to them in Jesus Christ. The ongoing work of the church is to cooperate with the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit speaks to every one in the world and he speaks the one word who is the co-eternal word of God: Jesus.
The church is not called to convert. Conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit. The church is called to share the Good News that God is real, God is personal, God is love, God is Jesus Christ. The church is called to evangelize the world one person at a time by offering all people everywhere the gift of God in Jesus Christ.
Do you seek God? Then rejoice, for God has already found you in Jesus Christ. His arms are wide open to welcome you into the new life of eternal love and into the new way of living that is holy and wholesome and transforming.
Do you reject the very concept of God? Then rejoice. Jesus has already found you. You have already rejected so much of what so many people use to hide from the living God. You have rejected the false images and self serving religions that people use to assert their will to power. Relax into the awareness of what you can observe. Jesus is there. He is there in every sunrise, forest, star, subatomic particle. He is the pattern by which, through which, and for which the world of matter, energy, time and space were created.
Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and savior? Then rejoice. For you have not chosen him; he has chosen you. You are the beloved of the co-eternal Beloved. You are now on a path of discovery, adventure, and infinite possibilities as you relax into the Divine Love of Jesus Christ, as you surrender to the transforming Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit.
The great joy of the Holy Trinity is in the words of Jesus Christ as he looks at his church and says: I have found what was lost.
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