Pentecost 10

Pentecost 10 (Luke 12:13-21)
Take care. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.

Greed kills.

Greed is one of the seven deadly sins. The essence of sin is separation. It is separation from God, other people and from the image and likeness of God imprinted on our souls. The end result of sin is always the same: death.

Greed is one specific form of sin that diverts the mind, the heart and the will from God and redirects it to material objects. Greed is deadly in the same way heroin is deadly, in the same way all of the seven deadly sins are deadly.

Greed is subject to the law of diminishing return. That law states that the more you have, the more you want, and the less you are satisfied. That is how sin kills. It offers us a substitute for God that distorts and diminishes our desire for a loving relationship with God. Sin substitutes some else for God.

The substitute always brings some initial pleasure. That pleasure always carriers a price. The price is the disintegration of our souls.

We don’t always experience the disintegration at first. There are warning signs that we have departed from the path of life. Those signs come in many ways. Usually, the signs come from a twinge of conscience that alerts us to the danger. Deadly sins are deadly because they appear to promise so much. Deadly sins are deadly because they stimulate our senses and appeal to our pride.

The object of greed is generally material possession. There is nothing wrong with the objects. The allure of greed is the pleasure we derive from the possession. There is nothing wrong with pleasure. God designed human beings to experience pleasure.

The corrosive quality of greed is the human will to power. That will to power is grounded in the pride that says: “I and I alone decide what is true, what is valuable, what is God.”

This is why Jesus would not intervene in the dispute over the inheritance. The dispute set the terms and conditions of what the family valued. Jesus revealed to the man who asked for justice that he was really motivated by greed.

Jesus saw very clearly that the man had come to define life in terms of money. That is why Jesus said: life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.
There is nothing inherently wrong with money. There is nothing inherently wrong with material possessions. The problem lies in the choice people make to define the abundance of life in terms of money and possessions.

Jesus came to preach and teach and demonstrate that the abundance of life is the relationship God offers us- all of us- each of us- through him.
Jesus once sadly acknowledged that there will always be poverty until he returns. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins that produces poverty.

The parable of the rich farmer demonstrates this. God had blessed the man with material abundance. God had even revealed through Moses and the prophets that God expects those who have been blessed with material abundance to share the blessing with the less fortunate.
Pride steps in and declares: I have accumulated this wealth by my own will. By my own work and righteous living I have become wealthy. What then shall I do? The prophets say: help others. That is foolish. Let them work. Let them perform righteous acts to earn the blessing of God. I did it on my own. Let them do the same.

The rich farmer decides to hold onto his material abundance heedless of the moral, ethical and spiritual principles that God has woven into the pattern of life. Moses and the prophets reveal those principles. Jesus repeated them and then lived them to demonstrate to us how it is possible to make a different choice in life.
The conclusion of Jesus’ parable is in a single word of God to the wealthy self made man. The word is “fool”. It is an echo of Psalm 14 which begins with the words: the fool has said in his heart there is no God.

The parable is a warning to the man and to us. Where is our heart/ What do we value most? How do we respond to the material abundance God gives us? By what principle do we make choices to use our money?

God gave Moses the principle. It is: make the love of God the first priority in your life. God comes first. Worship, prayer, Bible study, the sacraments come first. The second priority is to love other people.

Worship comes first because worship is the only way a human being can offer love to God. Service to others comes next. Service answers the question the rich farmer in the parable posed to himself. What then shall I do with my money and possessions?
The rich farmer answered the question by declaring his intent to build larger storage facilities so he could hold on to everything he had. Jesus recommends we answer the question by refocusing on God.

The rich farmer could have reframed the question from what shall I do to how shall I help? There was and still is overwhelming poverty in the world. No one of us can solve the entire problem of poverty. Each of us can make a difference.

Jesus identifies greed as a barrier to the abundant life.
It seems counter intuitive. It seems illogical that the pursuit of wealth and the acquisition of material possessions fails to satisfy. It takes faith to perceive the reality and the root of the problem.

The faith comes as we hear the word of God in the Bible. That word is a thousand year record of human behavior and human suffering.

That faith comes as we hear the word of God in Jesus Christ. Jesus just doesn’t speak God’s word. Jesus is God’s word. Jesus is the plan and pattern of creation.
That faith comes as we hear the word of God that God speaks to us in worship, in prayer, and in human need. Poverty is God’s invitation for people to share their abundance.

Jesus tells us and shows us that the blessing of abundance comes in the way we choose to live our lives. The blessing is not in the money or the possessions. The blessing is in how we choose to use the money and the possessions.
Take care. Pay attention. Ask yourself and God: how am I doing today? How am I doing in fulfilling the law of love?
Be on your guard. Temptations come from many sources. The world culture is for the most part contrary to the values God reveals through Moses and the prophets. Our own pride leads us to reject divine principles of love and compassion. Our own self will leads us to rebel against the person and plan and pattern of reality in Jesus Christ.
Hear the principle. Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. The abundant life is a life immersed in the steadfast holy love of God in Jesus Christ. The abundant life is rich towards God in the time and attention we offer to God to fill with the abundance of his love. And, it is rich towards God in the choices we make to become channels of blessings to others.

Jesus fed the hungry, healed the sick, comforted the lonely, worshipped weekly in the synagogue, offered himself daily to God in prayer. This is the abundance of spiritual treasure that brings us an eternal blessing here and now.
Take heed. Be on your guard. Choose the abundance which is inexhaustible and fulfilling. Choose the Way of Life revealed in the pattern, plan and purpose of life in Jesus Christ.

Pentecost 9 Year C

Pentecost 9 (Luke 11:1-13)
Father, hallowed be thy name.

God’s name is holy. God’s name is holy because God is holy. Holiness is not just an attribute or an aspect of God. Holiness is the essential nature of God.
God is love. That love is holy.

When the disciples observed Jesus praying they asked him to teach them to pray. They were probably asking for a specific prayer. Rabbis and other religious leaders some times gave a special prayer to their students. It was a unique prayer that expressed the teaching and helped build the group identity.

The prayer Jesus taught, in its original form. Is more of a prayer outline. It reflects the outline but not necessarily the exact words Jesus used in his prayer life

Prayer is a conversation with our heavenly Father. While God never changes we do. The prayer of a seven year old is very different from the prayer of a seventeen year old and even more different than that of a twenty seven year old and a seventy year old.

Our needs, desires and concerns change over time and circumstance. Our maturity level evolves, hopefully.

As our conversation with our own children changes and evolves over time, so it is with our conversation with God. This is the purpose of prayer. It is an ongoing conversation with someone who cares for us and seeks a personal relationship with us.
Prayer does not change God. Prayer changes us. So it is that Jesus’ prayer outline begins with the words: Father, hallowed be your name. The invitation to prayer is the invitation to personal holiness.

Jesus shared with his disciples his experience of prayer. It is the experience of a son speaking with his father. It is the personal experience of divine love. Jesus asks his students, if your son asks you for a fish will you give him a snake? If he asks for an egg will you give him a scorpion?

People have many misconceptions about God. Through his teaching on prayer, Jesus reminds us that God is real, God is personal, God is love. God is our heavenly Father who delights to hear from us.

Many people perceive God as an impersonal force. For these people, prayer is a form of magic. If you say the right words at the right time in the right way you can access and use divine power for your benefit.

Many people perceive God as a blind judge. If you ask for something in the right way God will reward you by giving you what you want. If you ask the wrong way, God will with hold what you want and may even give you something you don’t want.

Many people perceive God simply as an extension of their own needs and desires. They reason, if God is real then God will give me what I need and what I want. If I do not receive what I need and want it can only mean God is not real.

When the disciples ask Jesus to teach them a prayer Jesus first wants to clarify who it is they think they are praying to. Is it the impersonal God, the blind judge, the indulgent God? Jesus clarifies who God is by describing how he prays. When Jesus prays he addresses God as Father.

Father is not only personal it is intimate. It is a recognition that God has a deep and abiding love for us. It is a recognition that prayer is not about manipulating divine power to get God to give us what we need or want. Prayer is personal conversation with a Father who cares for us.

Such prayer is open, evolving and transforming. God is always our Father. We are always God’s children. As we grow and develop in life so God invites us to grow and develop in our relationship with him. Prayer facilitates this growth.

The first petition in the outline of prayer Jesus gives us is about God. Jesus teaches us to pray according to the principle of personal holiness. “Hallowed be your name. May your name, God, be holy.” God is holy. We are not asking God to be anything other than he is. In that request we yield our inclination to define God.
The great challenge humanity faces in its relationship with God is our demand to define God. Humans have even invented a right to define God however we choose. God is God. He cannot be defined. He can only be experienced.

We experience God in prayer as we enter into the personal relationship God himself offers us. We grow into that relationship as we declare our intent to accept God for who God is.

The great obstacle to human relationships is our tendency to define people according to our needs and desires. It is the tendency to see in another person only that which appeals to us and brings us pleasure. This is the experience of infatuation.
None of us has that power. As the illusion of who we want the other person to be for us wears thin and begins to evaporate so the infatuation vanishes. More often than not, we feel betrayed that the other person is not who we thought he was.

Our relationship with God takes the same form. We create God in our own image and then feel betrayed when that God fails us. In his teaching on prayer, Jesus instructs us that we need to pray in spirit and in truth. We need to enter into a conversation with some one who has gone on record in the Bible over the course of a thousand years of history to reveal himself, his personality, his nature, and his name.

Jesus sets the example by naming God “Father”. Jesus sets the intent by forming the first petition with the words” Father, may your name be holy.”
May you name be holy in the heavens. May you name be holy in the creation. May your name be holy amongst the nations. May you name be holy in my life.
Holiness is personal as love is personal.

Personal Holiness is God’s goal for our lives. As we pray that God’s Name, God’s nature, would be universally recognized as holy, so we ask God to release us from our rebellious tendency to redefine God.

The first four of the ten commandments offer a practical guide how we can fulfill this petition. I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods except me. Keep the Sabbath day holy. Do not make idols. Do not take the name of God in vain.
There is a lot there in those four statements. The secular demand to remove the ten commandments from public life has less to do with the six moral commandments than the absolute nature of the first four commandments about God. Human beings in general resist and rebel against the Lord God who declares himself in the words: I am.

Be sure you understand what you pray and to whom you pray if you choose to use the outline of prayer Jesus taught. The outline sets the definition of terms in the first few words.

God is real. God is personal. God is our loving heavenly Father. God is holy. The remaining categories in the outline all derive from this introduction. The additional petitions only make sense and become real as we begin to appreciate and live into the first words.

Jesus reveals to us that it is the personal relationship with our Heavenly Father that rescues prayer from the realm of magic, manipulation or empty ritual. As the relationship is open ended, evolving, and transforming so is the conversation, the prayer.

We grow in prayer as we spend time in prayer. Our lives change and transform as we immerse our thoughts, words, desires and will in the holiness of God’s Name, God’s nature.

God spoke to Moses and through Moses to all Israel and through Israel to all people everywhere: you shall be holy for the Lord you God is holy. Do not pray the Lord’s prayer, the Our Father, if you do not believe God is personal steadfast holy love.
Do not pray the Lord’s payer if you do not wish for God to recreate you in every aspect of your life according to the plan and the pattern and the purpose of holiness. Moses observes that every aspect of human nature is distorted by sin. The prophets teach that every aspect of human nature needs to be reclaimed and recreated. Jesus not only shows us the way to the recreation of fallen and distorted human nature, Jesus is the Way. If you want to know what personal holiness looks like in terms of thoughts, words and deeds- study the life of Jesus Christ as it is recorded in the four apostolic biographies of Jesus. Receive the fullness of that life in the real presence of Jesus in the sacraments.

Jesus taught his students an outline of prayer to help us enter into the process of prayer. The words of the Lord’s Prayer are a starting place for the conversation to begin. The conversation develops and deepens and becomes more meaningful as we ponder the words and seek God’s help to live into the words.

The first step in prayer is always the same. The first step is for us to surrender our self will to the divine Love of God in Jesus Christ. The disciples took this first step when they asked Jesus to teach them.

The second step is to declare with Moses and the Prophets that there is only one God. He is who he is. We take this next step when we accept Jesus’ revelation that God is our heavenly Father and we pray the words Jesus taught us: Our Father.
The third step is to follow Jesus into the plan and pattern and purpose of God. We take that step when we pray: Father, hallowed be your name. May your name be holy. May your name be holy in your world, in your people, and in my life.

That third step is the journey through life that is formed and transformed by our personal conversation with God in prayer. As we take the next step into that journey, how much more will our heavenly Father give us the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us to become more fully who he has created us to be and redeemed us to become.

Pentecost 8

Pentecost 8 (Luke 10:38-42)
You are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.

Worry and distraction erode faith.

Jesus had chosen to visit Martha and Mary. Martha received Jesus into her home them promptly ignored him. She turned to the hustle and bustle of work. In that flurry of activity she felt frustration and anger that her sister, Mary, wasn’t helping her. She missed the point of Jesus’ visit.

Jesus was visiting Martha and Mary to get to know them. He was not interested in being entertained. He was not interested in a formal dinner. He came to visit.
Mary understood this. She perceived the gift Jesus was offering. She responded to that gift and sat in Jesus’ presence. She gave Jesus her time and attention. She listened to him.

Martha avoided Jesus. She with held her time and attention from Jesus and directed it to business. She was worried and distracted. In that worry she chose fear over faith.

Perhaps she was fearful that Jesus would think less of her if the house was not perfectly spotless. Perhaps she was fearful that Jesus would judge her if the meal she prepared was not perfectly cooked, perfectly, presented, and perfectly served. Perhaps she was fearful that she lacked something that she should have, something more, something different, something perfectly suited to honor and to impress her guest.

The fear came from her own interior demand to make everything perfect. Her faith in Jesus eroded as her demand to be in control of the situation shifted her attention from Jesus to her own self will.

Martha was also distracted. Distractions are usually self created. Distractions come when there is a higher priority we seek to evade.
The priority may be a homework paper due the next day. The distraction may be the sudden realization that you need to completely reorganize all of your comic books and baseball cards.

The priority may be getting to work on time. The distraction may be the sudden realization that you couldn’t possibly leave the house until the beds are made, the laundry is folded and the furniture is rearranged.

The priority may be to receive an honored guest who offers his friendship. The distraction may be the feeling that you really aren’t interested in the friendship as much as you are impressing an important person who could very easily become the next King.

Fear creates the worry. Worry creates the distraction. Distraction substantiates the fear. The fear is that unless I am perfect I am worthless. The fear results in anger.

Martha complained to Jesus that her sister should abandon him and help her. Martha wanted Mary to turn her back on Jesus so together they could create the perfect meal for Jesus.

Sadly, the worry and the distraction are the clues that Martha missed her moment of grace. She acted as though the moment was all about her. Since the moment was all about her she had to assert her will and make everything perfect.

Jesus very gently, and I believe with a compassionate humor, responds to Martha’s complaint by showing her the folly of her choice. Martha- you’ve chosen to make my visit into an occasion for worry and distraction. Mary has chosen to make my visit into a moment of grace. Mary has made the better choice.

In her worry and her distraction Martha is not present to Jesus. He is right there in her house. But for Martha, he might just as well be on the other side of the world. He might just as well not exist at all. She experiences only her own demands, fears, distractions and anger even as Jesus is offering her the most amazing gift possible- the gift of reunification with God, friendship with God.

That is what Mary chose. At that moment- that was the priority. Jesus commends Mary’s choice. He comments that Mary’s choice is not only the better choice but it is also the choice with eternal value. Mary’s choice will never be taken away from her.

Martha’s choice not only fails to satisfy but immediately falls apart. Her demand for perfection is unattainable. Her desire to impose her will is fruitless. She needs to stop. Reflect. Repent. Change her sense of priority. She needs to turn to Jesus and receive the gift of his friendship.

There is a time and a place for housework, cooking and serving. There is a time and a place for doing. There is also a time and a place for being. The being comes as we receive the gift Jesus offers us. The gift is himself.

Jesus is the incarnation of the co-eternal Son of God. Friendship with Jesus begins in a moment of grace. Jesus seeks us out amid the worries and distractions of the world. He finds where we are caught in our self created frustration, fear and anger. He offers himself to us in a moment of grace. But, he never imposes himself on us. The choice is ours.

Distractions come from within the soul. The dist5raction are not in the outer world. The distraction are in our personal interior world. We choose to create distractions to avoid our moment of grace.

Anything can become a distraction. It may be frivolous or it may have some importance. We choose doing over being in an effort to create the illusion we are in control. Distractions are always a means to avoid our moment of grace.
The moment of grace is that moment in time when God reveals to us that life is not about our will. Life is not about us.

The moment of grace is that moment when God reveals to us we are not perfect and by our own efforts we can never be perfect. In fact, the more we focus on our own demand for perfection the greater the anxiety we experience.

The moment of grace is that moment when God reveals to us we are lost and broken and he has come to us to find us and to heal us.

That is what Jesus does. That is who Jesus is. Jesus saves us from sin and death by saving us from ourselves- our own self will, fear and pride. As we open to the moment of grace Jesus offers that moment sets us free from fear into a new life of faith.

Even in the physical presence of Jesus Christ, Martha continued to assert her self will to control the moment. Mary released her will into the moment. Martha experienced anxiety, fear and anger. Mary experienced the real presence of God in Jesus Christ. The real presence of God in Jesus Christ is eternal love.

The Holy Spirit inspired St. Luke to record this event in the life of Martha and Mart to reveal to all future generations the nature of real choice. Real Choice opens the mind, the heart and the will to the eternal love of the real presence of Jesus Christ.

The message of Christ is the reality of a new life and a new way of living. That new life comes from the personal relationship God offers us and all people. It is the personal relationship that recreates the moment. It is the personal relationship that offers the promise of a life of transformation.

As with all relationships, our relationship with Jesus Christ requires time and attention. As with the most important relationships in our life, our relationship with Jesus Christ can only be as meaningful as it becomes our priority.

Martha devoted her time and attention to becoming the perfect hostess who would produce the perfect dinner for a guest she largely ignored. Her sister Mary chose to devote her time and attention to listening to Jesus and speaking with him.
Which was the better choice? Which is the better choice for us? Jesus himself answers this question as he speaks to Martha, and as he speaks to us today: You are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.
That one thing is the new life and the new way of living in a personal relationship with the co-eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Pentecost 7

Pentecost 7 (Luke 10:25-37)
What is written in the Law?

There are two fundamental distortions of religion. Both distortions come from the sin nature of separation from God. Both distortions are represented in this parable.
The first distortion is self righteousness. The self righteous form religion into a tight package of very specific and narrowly defined rules and regulations. Their view of God is a transcendent perfection that cannot and will not tolerate even the slightest deviation from the Law. This God is a God of rewards and punishments.

The second distortion is self indulgence. The self indulgent reinterpret and sometimes even rewrite religion to suit their needs and desires. Their view of God is a vast vague nebulous impersonal force that fills the world and encompasses all aspects of the world. This God is a God of individual desire and opinion.

The common element to the self righteous and self indulgent is the word “self”. Both distortions start with the self, proceed from the self, and end with the self. The self is that ego which the soul in separation from God creates and maintains. The false ego always engages the world with the question: “what’s in it for me?”

Jesus understood the distortions of religion very well. The people he encountered in the holy land were mostly trapped in the distortion of self righteousness. The preeminent sin that results from this distortion of relgion is pride.

So it is that the religious lawyer in the story does not seek God. He seeks to justify himself. In response to Jesus’ question he gives the correct answer. But, when he asks Jesus the follow up question: who is my neighbor, he reveals his self obsession.

Law based religion rapidly deteriorates into a system of loop holes and a culture of hypocrisy. It also manifests an attitude of condemnation. It is important to know the minimum requirements. And, it is important to know who is righteous and who is unrighteous. What is not important is a personal relationship with the Living God.
Seeking to justify himself the religious lawyer only needs God to condemn the unrighteous and to reward him for his right belief and right action. Strangely enough, he had the right answer to Jesus’ question: what is written in the law?
The answer is love. Love God fully and completely. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. This is the underlying principle of the entire law, all 613 commandments God gave to Moses.

Sadly, the religious lawyer misses the principle and seeks to find the rigid definition of specific rules. There is not a book large enough to provide all the rules to govern every situation in life. That is why the principle underlying the Law is so important. That is why Jesus seeks to save the religious lawyer from his religion by telling a story, a parable.

In the story the two distortions of religion are represented. But, Jesus turns the tables on the assumptions of his audience by turning the obvious villain in the piece into the hero.

The obvious villain is the Samaritans. Samaritans represent self indulgent religion to the religious lawyer. The Samaritans were Israelites who centuries before had violated some basic laws God gave to Moses. One of these laws related to marriage and the other related to worship.

The Jews hated the Samaritans as traitors and blasphemers. The Samaritans hated the Jews with an equal passion. For the Samaritans, the Jews represented self righteous hypocrisy. Each blamed the other for what they perceived as God’s judgment on Israel in the form of foreign conquest.

The heroes of the parable should have been the priest and the Levite. All Levites were priests, according to the Law of Moses. But, the priestly families who controlled the Temple restricted the ministry of the Levites. A Levite might only have one opportunity in his life to offer the sacrifice in the Temple.

The Book of Leviticus governs the priesthood. In that Law are the rules governing ritual purity. Among those rules are the prohibition from coming into contact with blood and from touching a dead body.

Neither the Temple priest nor the Levite knew if the man on the side of the road was dead or alive. To draw closer to him to discover his condition meant risking their opportunity to offer the sacrifice in the Temple. If they touched him and he was bleeding or dead they would become ritually unclean and unfit to offer the sacrifice. Under the Law of Moses it would take two to four weeks for them to purify themselves.

The Temple priest would lose income. The Levite would lose his only opportunity to offer the sacrifice in the Temple. The choice was difficult, but not impossible. Their self interest led them to choose ritual purity over compassion.

For the Samaritan there was a different problem. He was a hated foreigner traveling among his enemies. The man lying by the side of the road was a Jew. He might be a decoy set there by terrorists who wanted to kill the Samaritan. If the Samaritan touched him and he died the Samaritan might be blamed.

The Samaritan also had a difficult but not impossible choice. He could have chosen safety for himself. Instead, he chose compassion.
Compassion is the middle way between self indulgence and self righteousness. Compassion is also the way of extravagant love in action.

As the story unfolds, the Samaritan not only helped the man, he bound his wounds and administered first aid. He took the man to an inn, cared for him that night, and paid the innkeeper to provide for his needs with a promise to cover all future expenses. The compassion he showed had a practical effect and an immediate cost.
At the end of the story Jesus asks the religious lawyer: who in the story was the neighbor referenced in the Law? Who fulfilled the underlying principle of the Law.
The Lawyer cannot bring himself to acknowledge the Samaritan by name. He grudgingly says: the one who showed mercy.

The point of the parable is that the Law is a manifestation of the divine principle of Love. There is no set of laws that can cover all circumstances in life. The very effort to make life fit into the narrow list of dos and don’ts subverts the very principle on which the Law is built.

The principle underlying the Law challenges the distortions of self righteousness and self indulgence. The principle of divine love and compassion invites us to make a real choice What makes that real choice possible is our ability to set side the false self, the false ego of pride and self will. That is only possible as we enter into the personal relationship of love God offers us in Jesus Christ. As we experience that love we begin to lose the false self our sin nature has constructed. We discover our authentic self in the image and likeness of God imprinted on our souls.

There will be a cost. We will have to give something up. What we give up is the unreality of a false self. What we gain is the real presence of the living God in our minds, and hearts and wills.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is the story of how people are trapped in a false self. The false self is the sin nature. The sin nature distorts every aspect of our lives, including our religion. The solution to this problem is not more religion. It is not less religion. The solution is a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ.

That personal relationship infuses divine love and compassion into our souls. That personal relationship sets us free to make a real choice to practice love. Love does not annul the law. Love fulfills the law.

The way of compassion is the middle way of living amongst various extremes of self preoccupation. It is the way of questioning our own assumptions about life, religion, God.

Jesus asks: what is written in the Law? What is the underlying principle in the law? How can you live your life by that principle? What would you need to change to make that way of living possible?

The way of compassion is the way of love. The way of love is not self righteous adherence to rules and regulations. Neither is it the pride of self indulgence. The way of love is Jesus himself.
What is written in the Law?

What is written in the law is the pattern, plan and purpose of God. What is written in the Law is the principle of divine love and compassion. The relationship is the reality. The reality is Jesus Christ.

Pentecost 6

Pentecost 6 (Luke 10:1-11: 16-20)
The harvest is plentiful.

The Son of God came to Earth to bring salvation.

He did many other things in the process. He healed people. He fed them. He comforted the afflicted. He challenged the abuse of religious authority. He taught the Bible. He performed amazing miracles. Preeminently, he came to save souls.

The salvation Jesus brought was not the salvation people were looking for. It was the salvation proclaimed by Moses and the prophets. It was not the salvation the religious and nationalist leaders of the day expected.

They observed that God had delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt at the hand of Moses. God had united the twelve tribes under a single king at the hand of Saul and David. The Kingdom of Israel reached its peak of military and economic power under David’s son, Solomon. Then, the leadership failed and it was all downhill from there.

A closer reading of Moses and the prophets reveals a more complete picture. The picture reveals the pride, self will and fear that define all humanity. The Bible is a record of centuries of observation of the human condition. Despite the many different people who wrote the books of the Bible over the course of a thousand years, their conclusion about the human condition is consistent.

The Biblical writers observe that the great problem facing humanity is separation from God. This is what traditional Christian theology terms: original sin.
The Biblical writers observe that actual sin, called “transgression” is a consequence of original sin.

The Biblical writers assert the hypothesis that human beings are not only incapable of finding God by our own efforts but that we actually do everything we can to hide from God. Religious people hide from God in the laws and rituals of religions. Non- religious people hide from God in the intellectual constructs of philosophy or in the elaborate mythologies of science.

This is why God declares the first commandment to be: I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods but me.

This is why God reveals his name is: I am. God is not and cannot be defined by human created religion, philosophy or science. God is who God is. God is God’s own person.
This is why God visited this planet some two thousand years ago in the person of Jesus Christ.

The Bible observes the human condition is lost, broken, and rebellious. The Bible sets forth the principle that a lost humanity needs a savior who is both Divine, untouched by original sin, and human, fully and completely involved in the human condition with the sole exception of sin.

For centuries God worked with one family, the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. The name Jacob means “cheater”. The name Israel can mean “Prince of God,” or, “he who strives with God”.

In those centuries Moses and the prophets worked to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. In the fullness of time the Messiah came. In the course of time the people developed distorted ideas and expectations about the Messiah. That is why they did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

Jesus knew this distorted expectation was also part of the fallen human condition. As people time and time again rejected the God whose name is “I am” and recreated gods and goddesses to suit their needs and desires, so the people who met Jesus chose not to see the fullness of who he was, the fullness of who he is.

Nevertheless, Jesus came into the world to save the world. He did not come to favor one nation or race over all others. He did not come to condemn. He came to trap sin and death in his own body. He came to die. He came to transform sin and death back into love and life. He was only able to do this because he is both man and God.

Jesus fulfilled the Plan of Salvation on the cross in a single moment of time that encompasses all of human history: past, present and future.

Jesus sent out seventy of his students to proclaim the Good News of God’s Kingdom. The Good News is that God himself is reaching out to everyone everywhere. The Good News is that harvest of souls is plentiful. The abundance of the Kingdom of God is the rich diversity of humanity. The Good News is that God just doesn’t have love or show love, God is love.

The harvest is the human species stretching across time and throughout the world. The harvest is rich in diversity. The harvest is plentiful.

What Jesus observes is that while the harvest is plentiful the laborers are few. There have always been a limited number of people willing to share the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ. Jesus understands this.

One of the great obstacles for Christians to share the Good News is fear. Some of us fear rejection. Some of us fear failure. Some of fear our own inadequacy. Jesus’ answer to all of these fears is faith.

Faith is assurance and evidence. Faith is not about religion. Faith is about the trust we develop in Jesus as we draw close to him.
There are three urgent commands to Christians in the gospel reading this morning. The commands are to pray, to ask and to send.

Whether or not our faith is sufficient for us to share the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ with other people, Jesus still invites us to pray.
There are three basic forms of prayer: intercession, meditation, and contemplation. Intercession is about asking God for something. Jesus instructs us to set the priority for our intercessions on Evangelism.

Everyone can pray. So, Jesus starts to apply the Plan of Salvation to those who believe in him by inviting us to pray. Jesus very specifically instructs us to pray for evangelism. Jesus wants us to value what he values. What he values most is the salvation of souls. So, he asks to us to pray that the Lord of the Harvest, God the Holy Spirit, would infuse the desire for evangelism into many who call themselves Christians.

Jesus asks us to pray that as the Holy Spirit cultivates the desire for evangelism in the souls of believers He would also send those believers into the world to share the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ. The pattern of evangelism is always the same. It starts within our families and circle of friends. It expands into our community. It extends to all the world.

Jesus sent the seventy only to towns in Israel. The people in those towns already knew about Moses and the prophets. They all spoke the same language, ate the same foods, wore the same kind of clothes, sang the same songs, and played the same games. They were open to religious discussion and familiar with a religious vocabulary. It was a relatively safe training ground to prepare the disciples for the greater task to come.

Jesus was perfectly honest. Not everyone would receive them or the message. Some people and some entire towns would reject them. Jesus encouraged the seventy by telling them this would happen. He prepared them by giving them advice on how to handle rejection. He told them to move on.

Jesus never authorizes us to argue or fight about the Plan of Salvation. He never even suggests we should debate matters of religion. His command is to share the Good News. If people are open to discussion then continue the discussion. If people are offended then step back. If people reject the message then respect their choice and move on to share the Good News with some one else.

We are laborers. The Holy Spirit is the Lord of the Harvest. Our job is to share the message. It is the Holy Spirit who works in human hearts and minds and wills to produce the result.

How does this make a difference to us? Jesus has set all of us and each of us a goal. We can help him achieve the goal through general prayer, through focused intercession and through action. Which aspect of the Plan of Salvation can you participate in today as Jesus instructs us here at this time and in this place to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His harvest? The Harvest is plentiful.

Pentecost 5

Pentecost 5 Luke 9:51-62 Follow me.

Jesus invited all to become his students. And, all who asked to be his students he asked to go and proclaim the Kingdom of God

There is an urgency in Jesus’ command “follow me.”

The immediate urgency is in Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. His time is short. His death is near. The Plan of Salvation is coming to its fulfillment. From a worldly perspective, there is so much more still to teach his disciples. They still don’t understand. There is so much more to teach those who are coming to Jesus looking for answers. They still don’t understand that Jesus just doesn’t have the answer he is the answer. They still don’t understand that Jesus just doesn’t point out one way to find God. Jesus is the way God finds us.

Many are trying to discredit Jesus. Others are seeking a way to kill him. He knows they will succeed. This is part of the Plan of Salvation. This is Jesus offering himself to humanity with the full knowledge that humanity is lost in separation, sin and death. Humanity is not looking for what Jesus offers. Humanity is looking for the quick fix. Jesus offers eternal life.

Peter had declared Jesus to be the Christ then asserted his desire for a savior without the cross. James and John had seen and experienced the love and compassion of Jesus yet still wanted to destroy a Samaritan village when it failed to receive him. People were coming to Jesus for many reasons and with many expectations. Few heard the message Jesus brought. Fewer still had the desire to accept the message.
Still, Jesus proclaims the Kingdom. Still, Jesus models the new way of living that he offers all people through his own choices and actions. Still Jesus instructs his students and his followers: follow me.

The Kingdom of God not in the external world of politics, economics and war. The Kingdom of God is not about who is in charge. The Kingdom of God is not in submission to laws, rituals, or institutions. The Kingdom of God is the new life Jesus gives us.

That new life is a gift we can only receive by faith. The faith is not a blind leap into the dark. The faith is in a person, Jesus himself. Jesus cried out to the people of Israel two thousand years ago and continues to cry out to the peoples of the world today. His cry is: follow me. Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come and receive the gift of God.

The proclamation Jesus gives for us to share with the world is that God permanently and irrevocably united his divinity with our humanity in Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God overcomes sin and death. In Jesus, God transforms sin and death back into love and life. It is a new life. It is a life of reunification with the Father and transformation in the Holy Spirit.

God doesn’t wait for us to find him. God makes himself known to us and available to us in Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is not a puzzle to be solved or a reward for sincere effort. It is a gift. The gift is Jesus. The gift is the new way of living God reveals in Jesus Christ and makes available to us in Jesus Christ.

Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within you. It is that place where the Holy Spirit lives within us. It is that place where the Holy Spirit gently, persistently and patiently invites us to change.

More than any other aspect of Jesus teaching, change is central. It is also the most threatening. What makes this change possible to consider is the person who invites us to change. Jesus is the fullness of divine love and holiness. Jesus is the compassion of God inviting all people into a new relationship of faith, hope and love. Jesus tells us and shows us that the change comes from the personal relationship God initiates with us in Jesus Christ.

Many in Jesus’ day had something they needed to leave behind before they could accept the gift Jesus gave them. Many were too burdened with possessions or expectations to receive the gift. The greatest burden is the burden of separation from God. The most weighty of all possessions is sin.

Jesus’ call to follow him is a call to surrender our pride of separation. It is a call to yield our possession of our sins. These are choices we can only make from deep within our soul. There is no law or ritual or religious practice that can substitute for this choice. The reward is not in power, possessions or prestige. The reward is the relationship that produces the new way of living.

Such a call was incomprehensible to the people of Jesus’ day. The disciples began to understand it at the resurrection. They received clarity on the day of Pentecost. But, the record of scripture is very honest. It took them all of their lives to grow into the relationship with God that Jesus offered. It took their entire lifetime to yield their old way of thinking, and their old way of behaving.

The Kingdom of God becomes real to us with a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God becomes more present to us each day of our lives through worship, prayer, Bible study, service to others.

The Kingdom of God is our personal relationship with God the Father, through God the Son, by the indwelling Presence of God the Holy Spirit. That is why eternal life begins here and now at the baptismal font. Eternal life is not a reward or a right it is a gift. The gift is in the relationship.

Jesus invites us all into this new relationship. The new relationship produces a new way of living. We live into the relationship as we make a conscious choice to open our minds and hearts and wills to the transforming power of Divine love and holiness.
As soon as we enter into the relationship Jesus asks us to follow him. As we make a real choice to fulfill Jesus’ instruction we grow closer in our relationship with him. He slowly reveals to us where we need to make changes in our attitude and actions. He slowly reveals to us what we need to unlearn. He slowly reveals to us what old habits of behavior we need to surrender to him so we can be free to live life more joyfully. He waits patiently for us to unburden ourselves of the heavy weight of those sins that possess us.

As we change so our character changes. As our character changes so the message we proclaim in word and action broadens and deepens.

The key to the new life in Christ is the desire to grow in our friendship with Christ. Jesus knew his disciples were far from perfect but he sent them into the world any way. Jesus knew they would only mature as they stepped forward in faith one step at a time one day at a time. The same is true for us.

Where ever you are in your spiritual life is where Jesus meets you and invites you to follow him. He stands before us and he goes before us. He is the light of light that shows us the path forward.

As you follow Jesus into this action, the Holy Spirit will be with you to help you and to encourage you. As the Holy Spirit reveals Himself to you in your choice to follow Jesus, so He will offer new gifts and new transformation to equip you to accomplish God’s will for your life.

Religious people sometimes struggle with knowing God’s will. God has revealed his will in Jesus Christ. We can know God’s will as we grow in the gift of God in Christ. The gift God offers us today in the message of Jesus Christ is: follow me.

Pentecost 4

Pentecost 4

Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.

Separation from God has many consequences.

We see three examples of these consequences in this passage.
The first example is that of the demons. Demons are the burnt out remnants of once glorious and magnificent angelic beings. We all know the story how the most beautiful and exalted of the angels, a Seraph, named Light Bearer, seduced one third of the angelic beings to give themselves to him. They gave themselves to him by worshipping him.

Light Bearer promised the angels greater knowledge and greater power if they would immerse themselves in the glory of his own essential light. It was, of course, a lie. It was also a choice. The principle the Bible sets forth from this angelic choice in the heavenly realms is that it does matter who you choose to worship and how you choose to worship. You become who or what you worship.

Jesus describes Light Bearer, Lucifer, as a liar and a murderer from the beginning. His lie was that he was like God. His seductive promise based on that lie was that he could and would share his immense knowledge and power with those who worshipped him. The murder took place when Light Bearer attacked Michael, the smallest and least of the angels. In his pride Light Bearer not only believed he could defeat Michael, he knew he could defeat Michael. Heaven would be his and God would have no choice but to appoint him as his infallible all powerful co-regent of the heavenly realm.

But Light Bearer could not defeat Michael. Against all logic and reason Michael proved to be far more powerful than any of the angels imagined. As Light Bearer lost the battle with Michael he summoned his worshippers and ripped the power from them to magnify his own power. In that action he murdered the angelic beings.

When Michael finally won the battle he cast Light Bearer out of the heavenly realm, out of the realm of the infinite and eternal, into the realm of time and space, into our universe. As he fell from the heavenly realm Light Bear, now called Satan- the Enemy- reached out and claimed his followers as his slaves. They had given themselves to him willingly in worship. He had ripped them apart to seize their power, now he pulled them out of heaven to serve as his slaves.

The demons are desiccated burnt out remnants of their former glory. By their own choice they separated from God. By their own choice they unified themselves to Lucifer. By their own choice they abandoned love and holiness for knowledge and power. By their own choice they put their trust in Lucifer. Lucifer lied to them, betrayed them, and murdered their true essence.

The fallen angels abandoned eternal life and now only experience endless tedious existence. They will not and cannot repent. But they do seek some relief from their self inflicted torment. One means of relief is to possess a human being.
Human beings also chose to separate from God. But, unlike the demons, humans did not give themselves to Satan in worship. Satan has no right or authority to enslave a human being as he once seized and enslaved his angelic followers. Human beings can still repent and return to God.

For humans, the choice remains open. Humans are lost in separation but can still be found and given a choice to reunite with God. Human also have the choice to persist in separation. The Gerasene people had made some choices that produced consequences. Some of these consequences seemed desirable, in the short term.

The Gerasenes were Israelites who had compromised on one very specific command. God had commanded Moses that certain animals were to be classified as unclean for the people of Israel. Now, the command was given for two reasons. It was a boundary to protect the people from the excess of self will. And it was an image of holiness.
The Gerasenes had broken this command for a very practical and ordinary reason: money. There were many gentiles living in the nearby provinces. The gentiles did not observe the Law of Moses. Pork was perfectly good meat for the gentiles. The Gerasenes probably reasoned amongst themselves that they would not eat the unclean meat but they could sell it to the unclean gentiles. The Law not only forbade consuming pork for food. It also declared that the people should not even touch a pig. The Gerasnes probably did not eat the pork. But they did selectively violate the law by raising the pigs for export to the gentiles.

Such compromises reveal the problem that besets human nature. God says yes, and people say- well –maybe. God says- no, and people say- why not. Eventually, the compromise results in disobedience and the disobedience only creates greater division and separation.

Moses and the prophets clearly and distinctly taught that the love of God is the single most important priority in our lives. The love of God is expressed in worship. Under the Law of Moses part of that worship involved a choice for people to sacrifice a portion of their time and a portion of their means. God had declared pigs off limits to the Israelites. The command was a boundary set to help the people grow in trust and to grow in love. The people of the Gerasenes made a different choice. They chose money.

The man possessed by the demon is both an individual tragedy and a symbol of the spiritual state of his people. The individual tragedy is that because this man had accepted the compromises of his people he abandoned the worship of God. I doubt he ever meant to allow the demons to possess him. But, in the choices he made based on compromise and separation he opened himself to the possibility of demon possession. The precise detail of how this happened is unimportant. It was only possible because he had accepted an approach to life where money was more important that worship; and, where his own will to power was more important than the love and holiness of God’s will.

The Gerasenes were lost in their worship of money. Jesus had come to them as he came to others in Israel to find them and to offer them a different choice. The possessed man was lost in a Legion of demons. Jesus came to find him and to restore him to health and wholeness and to holiness.

The demons asked for relief of their suffering but did not ask for Jesus to restore their relationship with God. Jesus cast them out of the place where they had no right to be. He allowed them to enter the herd of pigs. The corporeal cannot sustain the demonic presence. As the demonic presence had driven the man insane so the pigs suffered the same state. They panicked, ran aimlessly, and eventually found relief by plunging to their death the Lake.

The principle revealed in this terrifying event is one of the basic principles in scripture. Be sure your sins will find you out. There is pleasure in sin for a time but after that the judgment. Human choice always enters into the world of cause and effect and always produces a result consistent with God’s Law. It may take minutes, it may take hours, it may take years. The Bible is a record of a thousand years of human experience that concludes: no one ever successfully breaks God’s Law. God law always stand immutable perfect and inviolate. Human choice enters the world of cause and effect and produces a result. There probably will be pleasure in sin for a time. But, without fail the consequence is disastrous. The consequence is separation, sin and death.

The man who had been tormented was now healed. His sanity had been restored. He recognized God in Jesus Christ and received the completion of his healing by proclaiming his faith in Christ. His family, friends and neighbors were astonished and fearful. As he so often did and continues to do, Jesus stood in their midst as a perfect mirror to their souls. They did not like what they saw in that perfect mirror. They reacted with fear.

They feared the power of Jesus. They feared the perfection of Jesus. They feared the Divine Presence in Jesus. They feared because they were unwilling to change. They made a choice not to change. So, they asked Jesus to leave. And, he did.
Jesus imposes himself on no one. He offers himself to everyone. Salvation is a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. It is always a real choice.
The man wanted to go with Jesus but Jesus had a job for him to do. The people had rejected the personal presence of God in Jesus Christ so Jesus asked the man to stay where he was and to share his personal experience with God in his own home.
Why would Jesus do this?

Jesus is the lover of souls. He loves all people everywhere. His love is unconditional and eternal. The Gerasenes were too fearful to speak with Jesus any longer so Jesus appointed the man he had healed to be his representative in that place at that time. Jesus appoints no co-regents to rule. Jesus appoints personal representatives to share his divine love and compassion with others.

The same principle is true for us. As we have received the gift of reunification with God the Father through our personal relationship with God the Son, so Jesus asks us to proclaim to our family, friends and neighbors how much good God has done for us. Jesus asks us to be his personal representative to the people we know and the people we meet.

Moses and the prophets observed the human condition for over a thousand years. They all came to the same conclusion. Human beings are lost in separation, enmeshed in rebellion, and broken by sin. We need a savior. That savior is Jesus Christ. Jesus has come to find the lost, reunite us to love and transform us in holiness. Jesus asks each of us to work and pray for that same goal.

As Jesus said to the man he had healed so long ago so he says to us today. You were lost and I have found you. You were broken and I am healing you. You are rebellious and I am transforming you as you make a real choice to immerse yourself in the real presence of Divine love and holiness in the blessed sacrament of the altar.
As you leave this building today in the sacramental power of divine love and holiness Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.