Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

The Authority to Heal

Jesus is distinguished from other teachers today by being characterized as one who “teaches with authority”; what does this imply?  For one thing, those who taught scripture in Jesus’ time would reference other sources as the basis of their teaching, not claim an independent power of interpretation. To some extent, scripture scholars do this today in what is called exegesis, or the attempt to understand through careful critical methods the intent of the original author by considering language and context of the scripture under study. When a person simply uses oneself as the basis for interpretation, it is called eisegesis.  Jesus’ method of teaching, “with authority”, and the action of commanding demons positioned Jesus as a great prophet in the line of Moses.

Jesus did not use any particular rite of exorcism, no formula, he simply commanded the demon to come out, and the demon revealed Jesus’ identity as “the Holy One of God”, the same language used to describe the priests in the line of Aaron. Jesus is being revealed in Mark as having the priestly and prophetic qualities of the Messiah. The demon is promptly silenced because to reveal him as Messiah would only fully be revealed after his resurrection and in light of his kingdom “not being of this world”; the time was not right.

Mark’s gospel portrays God’s presence in Jesus as one that is imbued with the power to act as God, to teach as God would teach, and heal as God would heal. Jesus does not initiate a “battle plan” to overthrow the Roman authorities, but ignites the world with God’s saving love.

We, like Jesus, are empowered to act. Through the Holy Spirit dwelling in all believers who follow Christ, our presence announcing God’s love is imbued with the healing authority of God. Our lives should rest on the confidence that although our world is “passing away” as St. Paul preached last Sunday, it is within this world that God continues to act with great compassion and healing.

Such radical Good News often divides, as it did in Jesus’ time, and even among his disciples. Our unity with one another doesn’t come so much in the authority of our “scribes”, though scripture and the teachings of our institutional elders is an important foundation for our faith, our unity comes through our sacramental union with the Body of Christ----one another as mediated by the Holy Spirit.

What is truly a life of radical service is more than political action, social justice and committees, although these must be an integral part of our being Good News; radical evangelical service seeks communion--being with-- with the sick, hard-hearted, and demon-possessed of the world. Rather than simply developing programs of change, we are the change, and the power of God when we become good news one person at a time. This is how the Kingdom is announced, and the reign of God proclaimed.

Third Sunday after Epiphany

Repent and Believe in The Good News!

     The gospel reading of Jesus “collecting” his disciples has always been a compelling story for me. Fishermen, like farmers, live from harvest to harvest; perhaps, fishermen even more so since you can’t really store fish for any length of time. So all the more surprising, they felt compelled to leave their nets, their boats, their way of life, and follow an itinerant rabbi, Jesus. 

     In our Old Testament reading, Jonah really wants nothing to do with carrying out what looks to be a one-way mission. Assyrians were not only non-Jews, they decorated their palace walls with images of impaled Jews. It’s no wonder Jonah walked the other way. Ironically, after being detoured from his call by being swallowed by a “big fish”, he delivers his message to the King and, amazingly, it works. The people of Nineveh repent and God spares them. Jonah, the reluctant prophet, succeeds; most other prophets of the Bible don’t. That’s why the stories of the prophets are mostly cautionary tales to the hard-hearted with a message to repent. As amazing a story as this is, though, it is less about Jonah and more about God’s great mercy and compassion for anyone who repents, who “turns around” and set out in a new direction. The people of Nineveh, having turned around, found God’s mercy. Jonah was indignant. As a Jew to brash Jew-hating Assyrians, he was hoping for God’s slaughtering of these folks. He complains bitterly to God that after all this work, the people were spared. Jonah also made a turn in this narrative; or, rather, he was turned. God turned Jonah around. He, in turn, helped turn Nineveh.
     “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men” were Jesus’ words to James, John, Simon and Andrew, who left their nets, made a 180, and began their life-changing journey with Jesus. Simon and Andrew “abandoned” their nets; James and John left their father alone--- even taking the men they hired. I’ve always wondered what kept Zebedee in the boat. I suppose not insisting that his son stay, Zebedee also had given something up: his two sons.
     Repenting is both a turning away and a turning toward something (or, in this case, someone).
The Ninevites turned away from their disrespect of God, and moved into a new life. Jesus’ fishermen didn’t turn away from sin, but turned toward a greater life in allowing themselves to follow their hearts. You don’t have to be living in sin to repent, you can turn away from something that is of lesser value. Turning towards something better may not be as spectacular as abandoning mortal sin for virtue, but more often than not, most people who follow Christ are not grand sinners living depraved lives.
     One great act of repentance might be to turn away from the extraordinary for the ordinary. It may be repenting from the praise of friends and social accolades and turning towards those whose lives are so full of pain that a “thank you” for your act of love isn’t forthcoming even on a good day. Perhaps your call is to turn away from a social life that and towards a life with more family time. For those who live alone, perhaps there is a call to abandon the security of living a predictable, secure life, where you are the CEO of everything, and embrace someone who needs your healing in their wounded life. Whatever our call, one thing is for certain, we are called to walk with Jesus. It is a journey of healing, of terrifying times well out of sight of land, with heartbreaking separations and joyful reunions, but ultimately the life that conforms most closely to our truest nature as being formed in the image of God.

The Baptism of the Lord

"This is my beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased"

            It is easy to treat today’s Baptism of the Lord as an historical feast.  Indeed, there is good historical reasons to believe Jesus was baptized by John since there has always been a controversy between the Christians and “Baptists”(those who continued to follow John the Baptist) over this event; however, what is at work in today’s readings is connected with epiphany, God’s healing presence in the world shown in Jesus. God acts through Jesus and is therefore made manifest to the world.

            In the scripture reading from Isaiah, we learn of the servant-messiah.  Jesus, as this servant-messiah, will extend God’s covenant between his chosen as “a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.”  Jesus’ baptism is a mandate of healing and a drawing together of the nations. In Luke’s Acts of the Apostles, which was originally a second part of the Gospel of Luke, it is God acting through Jesus, not Jesus simply obeying orders from on high; Jesus is in perfect relationship with the Father, and his life among us brings God’s blessings. This gives us a crucial insight as to what it means to be a follower of Christ.

            To follow Christ is more than an imitation of Jesus’ actions; it is a call to a deepening relationship with God the Father.  As Christians, we must become animated with God’s love for humanity, and that animation is only possible through God’s Holy Spirit.  As apprentices in our spiritual journey, we begin like all good apprentices by imitation. We learn to love, to heal and represent ourselves as ethical and moral people with a high calling, but this is not our end.  Our end is perfect communion with God.  What we imitate in Christ goes beyond his actions on earth and focuses on his relationship with the Father.  It is only from this fuller communion with God the Father that our true vocation as Christians is being fulfilled.  While living a life based on high moral and ethical standards is important, the much more enduring significance of Jesus’ baptism resides in coming into full communion with God the Father from whom we have been estranged since Eden.

            This need for a deeper, fuller communion is achieved only through prayer and God’s grace received in the Spirit.  That is why baptism is so essential; it invites the Holy Spirit to enable this essential communion.  To put it a different way, Thomas Merton, a monk and mystic, wrote that the Christian must do more than simply do the will of God.  He or she must will the will of God.  We cannot have this deeper communion without the Holy Spirit and the baptism that bestows upon us the calling to move beyond imitation and to manifest God to the world as Jesus made God known to the world.

The Epiphany of the Lord

Epiphany means "manifestation," that is, a revealing, an illumination, which is precisely how we experience the jubilation of Israel experiencing the fulfillment of Isaiah 40.  This passage is the joyful song of those who have returned from exile and whose reinvigorated relationship with God will serve as a beacon for "the nations" which signifies the non-Jewish peoples.  The God, who has delivered Israel in an act of great salvation, becomes, for Christians, the sign of God's supreme act of salvation that saves not only the people of Israel but the world.  Paul's epistle picks up this theme in "the mystery made manifest" and the notion of the Gentiles being "coheirs, members of the same body".  In the Gospel, we have the ultimate revelation of God's salvation in the form of Jesus' birth, being announced to Gentiles, who then come to worship the Christ child; again mirroring the idea expressed in Isaiah that "Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance."  This king has qualities of the Davidic kingship of justice and concern for the poor contrasted with the megalomaniac paranoia of King Herod.  There are a few important ideas developed in today's readings, I think.

It strikes me that God's revelation over time with the Jewish people, and then to the Gentiles, has been expansive.  Rather than simply lavishing all His attention on his "chosen", we come to see that the choosing is for a role in salvation history.  It is the God who is incredibly lavish with his love and attention; that is an essential element in understanding God's manifestation to the world.  It is a God of great inclusion rather than exclusion, yet so much of what we see in Christianity today seeks to privatize God, limits access to communion, sets up laws of access, decides who's "in communion" and who isn't, goes against God's essential movement to embrace humanity, all of humanity, in all the messiness and chaos that this momentum encounters.  We promulgate doctrines that attempt to put a legal tabernacle around God and deny anyone access except through priests who have the stamp of approval from the corporate office; perhaps chaos isn't so much a sign of evil in the world as the facade of unity that is uniformity.  When we put "Christian" in front of nouns to transform them, like "Christian writer," we mistake God's act of salvation.  
The transformation of Christ in the world came from the center of lowliness, vulnerability and exile as a child in a manger, and expanded through acts of healing and resurrection rather than from the outside in.  A "Christian writer" becomes in this new world a "writer of Christ," one whose work brings Christ to the world, helps manifest Christ.  Now we can ask if the writing brings Christ's healing and resurrection rather than concentrate as to whether or not the writer is a Christian.  "The writer who is Christian" is the focus on Christ's presence though the boundless and expansive energy of the Holy Spirit, "the Christian writer" is an investigation as to the legitimacy of affiliation with the Christian community.

When we make decisions as a faith community that defines ourselves over and against those who are not-like-us, we make feeble attempts to limit the Spirit.  When we reach across denominational and even religious boundaries to recognize the dwelling of the Holy Spirit, and of Christ, in those not-like-us, we act most in concert with God whose saving act in Christ is for "the nations", not "the nation." It is shameful that those who most need God's love, and salvation are often handed literature rather than a hug, a dismissive tone rather than a place at the table.  In a modification of St. Francis's admonition, we need to go out and preach the Good News, and if we have to, use words.

(Reposted from January 2014)

Nativity of the Lord

"Do not be afraid;  for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."

Who Woulda Thought?


I want to begin this Christmas season by focusing on the call of the shepherds rather than moving right to the Nativity.  In fact, if you follow the various gospel readings that the Church offers, you would find the vigil Mass (afternoon of the 24th) through the daytime Mass (Sunday mid-morning) you would find the Christmas story and the theology of the Christ across three of the four gospels--quite a rich fare which few, unfortunately, experience.

Back to the shepherds, then.  Shepherds were a despised lot in Jesus' time. You can lump them in with tax collectors, prostitutes, and Samaritans.  Of course, as we have seen throughout God's interaction with humanity, this makes them prime candidates for a special grace.  So, it was to them the invitation was extended.  The much discussed "wise men" or magi, come later (probably didn't arrive until a year or so after the birth).  

So, as the story goes, as with all angelic visitations, it begins with fear.  It takes a lot to scare a shepherd who defends his flock from any number of hazards; they are a grizzly lot.

  

But, as the gospel records, "...they were struck with great fear".  The appeal of the angel not to fear is based upon the message of a savior that will "be for all the people."  This is followed by a "multitude of the heavenly host" singing "Glory to God in the highest."  Quite a night for the shepherds, and some essential truths about the nature of God and salvation for us tonight.

Like God's appointing David as king (the least likely candidate), God's favor rests on Mary, Joseph, outsiders like the Magi and shepherds.  Notice the absence of anyone really important like Temple priests, scribes, Pharisees, important legates or even the chief priest.  God's dealing once again with the complete outsiders, widely believed to be outside of salvation history.  How ironic, then, that these were the people most intimately associated with God's arrival as the Christ.

If Advent has sharpened our senses for seeking justice and finding a place with the poor to be in the right place; this visitation of the shepherds remind us that we are now in the right place at the right time---with the poor, alone, late in the night. Dismal.

But it is with the outcast, far from the comfort of daylight, deep in the night, that God's greeting arrives proclaiming joy and salvation.  The line from T.S. Eliot's poem Four Quartets comes to mind "...and now, under conditions that seem unpropitious."  Like so much of what God has done in his relationship with humanity: "Who woulda thought?"

In your deepest moment of darkness and doubt,  when your prayers are bouncing back off of the ceiling, ridiculing your attempt to reconnect with God after seemingly failing every time, I want to remind you that those prayers that you think mock your devotion made it through.  They were in God's heart before they ever left your lips. Like the shepherds, the most unlikely folks in the most unlikely place, God finds us.  Search no further than your need, your loneliness, your feelings of being left out. For the still small voice of God speaks to you here, now, in this blog, inviting you to come home and find the sign of God being with you in the most humble of circumstances.  Join with Christians worldwide to not give up following the light until it rests over the manger where Christ is to be found---in the most unlikely place, at the most unlikely time. 

1st Sunday of Advent

     Today begins Advent, a time of preparation to receive Christ at Christmas, but it is more than referencing the past; it also connects with our sure hope of Christ’s return and the inauguration of God’s reign. Jesus proclaims in Matthew: "Therefore, stay awake!" What are we watching for? Are our heads turned heavenward, searching the skies for Jesus returning in glory? Remember the angel's advice after Christ’s ascension?

And as they [his disciples] were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven (Acts 1:11).

     Our mission as watchers involves looking for the dwelling of Christ among us now by the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to be alert because it is often difficult to see Christ through the layers of sin that surround others that are unappealing. We may have difficulty seeing Christ in others because we first must acknowledge Christ within ourselves as the lowly beggar, the control freak, or other undesirable.

     Let that be our beginning, then. Let us look for Christ where he is least likely to be found, both in others and those places in our lives that need healing from sin. Let us not be afraid of venturing out into the dark or inwardly into the dark places in ourselves.  Let Holy Scripture be a place to start, and let your prayer proclaim, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Ps.110:105). On this path, we will encounter Christ in the most unexpected ways as we journey in Advent, for Christ’s appearance over two thousand years ago was equally hidden and unlikely. Who would expect God among us in a backwater town, among farm animals, shepherds, and pagans, in the middle of the night?

All Saints and All Souls

"Hope Never Disappoints" St. Paul, Rom. 5:5

     Paul’s powerful declaration is one of the most powerful statements, in my opinion, that he makes among all the letters of his that we have. It is a bold statement that someone who has lost hope can sneer at as being hopelessly inept, naïve, and somewhat insulting.

     Today, our celebration of All Saints and All Souls is all about hope.  Jesus, in comforting his disciples for his impending death proclaims “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”(Jn.14:27). The peace of Christ is a supernatural gift; it doesn’t come under our control and use. It is bestowed upon us by God through Christ. Our hope then is founded on this supernatural trust in Christ’s peace. It is a peace that does not shelter us from the world’s tempests and changes, it is a place where we can stand in the midst of turmoil and still have hope.

     Henri Nouwen, the great spiritual writer, observes that “…hope born of faith becomes matured and purified through difficulty. The surprise we experience in hope, then, is not that, unexpectedly, things turn out better than expected. For even when they do not, we can still live with a keen hope. The basis of our hope has to do with the One who is stronger than life and suffering. Faith opens us up to God’s sustaining, healing presence. A person in difficulty can trust because of a belief that something else is possible. To trust is to allow for hope”(Turn my Mourning into Dancing).

     One very real sign of our hope is our prayers today to and for the ones we love, and who have died, that for them and for us death is not a final separation, but only a delay that calls for hope in the resurrection. Resurrection that plays out each day in the setting and rising of the sun; in the seasons that move from the birth of spring to the death of winter, and again to the birth of new growth; in the healing sacrament of reconciliation where death is sown in our sins and resurrection happens through forgiveness, and in Christ’s victory over death. All around us, God’s abundant love is present and anchors us in the sure hope of the resurrection.