Gospel text for Sunday 24 November 2019

Mark 12:41-44        He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’ 

Reflection        There is nothing comfortable about being people of faith because it means standing up, saying “Yes,” and stepping out having absolutely no idea where we are going, never mind how we will get there. This in not merely uncomfortable, it feels fraught with danger. Ah, but we are people of faith. We hale from a long line of foolishly faithful risk takers. This is our story.

Consider our twelve times twelve great grandfather Abram who was later named Abraham which means “the Father of many nations.” An ordinary married man, at the ripe young age of 75, Abram stands up, says yes answering God’s call to leave his country to go to he had no idea where and be the father of many nations even though he and his wife Sarai had no children. For twenty five years he and Sarai wander somewhere between Syria and Egypt receiving repeated promises from God that his “seed will inherit the land.” What kind of faith does it require for Abraham to wait until he is 100 years old for his son Isaac to be born and then without hesitation obey God’s command to sacrifice him?  Which ultimately he is not required to do because God substitutes a ram. This is a story about faith.  There is nothing comfortable about being people of faith because we are asked to say yes and get moving and do what seems impossible. 

Or think about Jesus rising up from the baptismal waters of the Jordan river, hearing a voice from heaven, “You are my son, with you I am well pleased,” stepping out of the river and immediately being driven onto the desert where he fasts for forty days and then is tempted to create bread out of stones to relieve his own hunger, leap from a pinnacle and rely on angels to catch him and kneel before Satan in return for all the kingdoms of the world. All three temptations represent the use of power for personal gain, and how does Jesus respond? He puts his faith in God rather than himself. Jesus turns to the words of scripture rather than succumb to temptation. There is nothing comfortable about being people of faith because we are asked to resist temptations to hedonism, egoism and materialism.

Which brings us to the widow in Luke’s text. In the presence of a crowd of people putting large sums of money into the temple treasury a poor widow rubs two small coins together before putting “everything she has to live on” in the treasury. Immediately we protest, “How could she do that? This is neither reasonable nor far-sighted. Surely God does not want her to give up everything and starve.” But wait. The poor widow only gave up two coins. Surely she knows she has something more to live on, in fact something she no doubt is very much aware she depends on. Her faith, her faith in God with her. There is nothing comfortable about being people of faith because we are asked to rely on God for our lives.

Abraham, Jesus and the poor widow have no idea how they are going to do it but they definitely know what they intended to do. Each one choses to live by faith, not by fear. Each one of them is prepared to be surprised by God.

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Hebrew Testament Text for 18 June 2017

 

Genesis 18:1-15      The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”

Reflection       A long time ago sitting on the back pew I shook my head and laughed anxiously when I caught the first glimpse of myself as an Episcopal priest.This was not the last time I would emulate my ancestor Sarah with the nervous laugh of incredulity fluttering through my shoulders. The fact that a disproportionate number of my friends were Episcopal priests with whom I found a great deal in common made me jittery. When folks put me and the word priest in the same sentence I snorted, looked anxiously away and lied, ”Oh, it’s nothing.”

My defenses began to unravel during an intensive retreat while being trained to be a spiritual director (one of my ploys to avoid the priesthood thing). I was sitting alone in a beautiful chapel, sent there with the assignment to allow my senses to take in the present moment. “See and hear, smell and touch whatever is around you.” From where I sat I could see two words carved on the stone wall behind the altar, “with God.” After staring at them for awhile I stood up and walked behind the altar to see what words proceeded “with God.” and read, “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

My human mentality leapt to attention, “Well, there are some things even God could not do with yours truly.” The  nervous laugh returned. I protested, “The words are completely out of context. Who said them? To whom? What was their point?” Wracking my brain for where I had heard them I noticed the citation,  Luke 1.37. Since I was standing near the altar Bible I turned the pages to Lukes’ gospel and found, “The Birth of Jesus Foretold.”  I knew the story. “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a woman named Mary….. and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’” With you.  

^“But Mary was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be… The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 126-29, 35-37)

My nervous laughter morphed into deep intestinal distress. Hoping to lay to rest the words screaming in my heart I closed the Bible, left the chapel and walked to the adjacent cemetery. Reading names of the dead did not shut out the echo of the word tethered to my heart, “impossible.” I do not know how many months passed with me shackled to, “impossible,” until l I realized, “This is not about what is or is not possible for me. This is about what is possible with God. With God. This is an entirely different story.

The first book of Debra read something like, “Look at Debra. Nothing will be impossible for her. See all the ways she has proven herself? See all the things she has accomplished? What you do not see is how utterly and completely terrified she has been, terrified to fail, terrified to be found out that she really is not up snuff. Anyway, she is too old to start a new vocation. Woe to Debra.  Book one is done.”

So began book two. It was as if the Spirit came and spoke into my heart, “Remember the first two words you saw carved in stone behind the altar, ‘with God?’ God  is with you. You do not have to be afraid. You see, when you choose with God life, nothing is impossible because nothing is impossible with God.” Remember Abraham? Sarah? Elizabeth? Mary? Jesus? the disciples? 

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Gospel text for Sunday 25 September 2016

Luke 16:19-31        Jesus said, "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, `Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' But Abraham said, `Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' He said, `Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house-- for I have five brothers-- that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.' Abraham replied, `They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' He said, `No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, `If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

Reflection      Three dead men. One wisdom tale. What is Jesus up to? Every hour of every day Lazarus dies a bit more as dogs lick his wounds until at last the unfathomable happens, “The poor man …. is carried away by the angels to be with Abraham.” Meanwhile the rich man lives in the lap of luxury; well fed and dressed in Tyrian purple, an expensive dye extracted from shellfish first produced by the Phoenician city of Tyre two thousand years before Jesus walked to Jerusalem. By all measures the man wearing purple is the image of success until he dies, is given a proper burial, and the  unfathomable happens; he finds himself irredeemably tormented, separated from Abraham by an impassable chasm.

Which leads us to the third dead man, Abraham, Father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, whose hospitality and generosity are immortalized in the tale of him lavishly entertaining three strangers, angels in disguise.(Gen 18.2-8) Like the rich man in Jesus’ parable, Abraham is a wealthy man. Unlike the rich man in purple whose actions are singularly self-serving, Abraham is generous and acts for the good of others. When the rich man wearing purple dies and sees Lazarus with Abraham, he does not pause to reflect on his actions, how day after day he ignored suffering Lazarus, he does not ask for forgiveness nor turn around to amend his ways. Instead, the self-important man still tries to wield power over Lazarus to get a sip of comfort. 

I believe it is the rich man’s attitude of entitlement ( not his wealth) that is the source of his torment. His singular concern with his security, safety, status, esteem, power and control makes it impossible for him to connect with the generosity and hospitality of God as embodied by Abraham. It is the rich man’s attitude, his frame of mind, that prevents him from being in right relationship with God or anyone else.

By contrast Abraham is the exemplar of what living in right relationship with God looks like. In fact, Christianity, Judaism and Islam stand together affirming Abraham as the earthly expression of God’s instruction that people who enjoy power, privilege and resource are to care for the powerless, the poor and the needy. This is what bridges the gap between the rich and the poor. This is what God’s economy looks like. 

Which begs the question, what are we doing to redistribute the power, privilege and resource we are freely given to provide for those with so much less? What are we doing to insure there is no chasm between God’s boundless generosity and ours? 

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