Christian Testament Text for Sunday 10 April 2016

Acts 9:1-20

Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord." The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God.”

Reflection         I have no idea if Pope Francis ever had a road to Damascus experience. But I believe on Friday morning the Roman Catholic Church was knocked off its proverbial horse when the Vatican released Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation — “Amoris Laetitia,” or “The Joy of Love” in which he “urges church leaders to serve as nurturing pastors, not as rigid enforcers of doctrine.” In a game changing proclamation the bishop of Rome called for the Roman Church “to be more welcoming and less judgmental, and he seemingly signaled a pastoral path for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive holy communion.” Francis does not stop there. He “calls for priests to welcome single parents, gay people and unmarried straight couples who are living together.” Even though he maintained the singularity of heterosexual marriage, the bishop of Rome writes, “A pastor cannot feel that it is enough to simply apply moral laws to those living in ‘irregular’ situations, as if they were stones to throw at people’s lives.” He continues, “I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion.” (Read - there are those who want the black and white certainly of unbending rules and regulations) “But, I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a Church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness… We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them..”*

Which brings us to an earlier world changing moment. “Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” For the rigorist Saul there is no room for confusion. If you dare to break or even question the religious or political status quo, you are to be apprehended and exported.  That is, until something inexplicable happens. The lights go on and Saul hears the Lord ask him, “Why do you persecute me?” Could this have been the birth of Saul’s inner voice of conscience? Could it have been the seed of goodness “which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness?” 

Saul and Pope Francis are both affiliates of religions traditionally bound by principles and rules laid down by authorities as incontrovertibly true. And it appears both Saul and Pope Francis have personal experience that disputes the legalistic boundaries of their religions. Both Saul and Pope Francis’ actions indicate, we are not people of the dogma. We are not people of the doctrine. We are people of The Way. The Way  is the way of encountering God deeply, truly and personally. 

All that we experience is in and of, with and through God. Every moment we breathe in relationship with God. Everything we think and feel, say and do is in relationship with God, the goodness “which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness.” The thing is, as with Saul, we cannot wrap our minds around it. Our encounter with the Divine is too much to apprehend. We cannot see it until those who have gone before us help us open our eyes and remember how God is acting in our lives. Which is what I believe Pope Francis is doing in the world today. Like Ananias, Pope Francis is answering God’s call to lay his healing hands upon the peoples of this world, to open our eyes and remember our baptism as sisters and brothers of One, Holy Family of God.

 *http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/08/world/europe/pope-francis-statement-on-family.html accessed April 8, 2016.                      

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Mark 9:38-50        John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

"If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

"For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Reflection    Jesus’ story is not about in group privilege and access to exclusive power. The story is about a man, like Jesus, who even though he was not in the in group, was reaching out and healing people. Which is to say, the unknown man who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name was promoting the kingdom of God, not only by healing people but also by tearing down walls, stumbling blocks, that separate people into in groups and out groups that protect proprietary interests and territory. The man dared to step over a stumbling block that avers, some groups have an exclusive claim to God.

Most of us hear this story and react with revulsion  to the notion of chopping off body parts because much like the disciples we miss the mark. We don’t want to give up our agency (hands), autonomy (feet), preferred way of seeing things (eyes) or our exclusive relationship with God.  But Jesus calls this scandalizó, Greek for stumbling. Some translations  call this sin. Whatever words we use, the meaning derives from the ancient Jewish tradition that counsels people of God not to turn away from God, but rather to repent, teshuvah, the Hebrew word for returning to God or God oriented consciousness. 

This week the people of the United States and the world have witnessed a series of messages from the Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis. I believe the heart of his message is simple, “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” Though Francis did not overtly add, “and cut off or turn away from anything that prevents you from doing so,” I am willing to wager he would agree because that is what returns us to all that is true, all that is good, God. Christians call this repentance. Jews, teshuvah. Muslims, tawbe. We all agree, what is true and good occurs when we are turned toward God.

Our individual and collective lives are saturated with distractions and attractions that lure our bodies, minds and souls to make idols of things that are not holy (food, drugs, sex, alcohol, adulation, exercise even compulsive seeking of the holy). We worship at the altars of security, esteem, power and control. We justify tiny lies, bits of gossip, self-aggrandizement. We fail to hold ourselves and each other to account. And so, bit by bit we turn further away from God.

Speaking to world leaders at the United Nations in New York, Pope Francis called for all 193 member nations to cut off the “boundless thirst for power and material prosperity.” That pretty much cuts to the marrow of the issues besetting the entire globe. It is time for us to chop off those parts, individually and collectively, that lead to the untold suffering of people and irreparable damage to our planet. 

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Gospel text for Sunday 6 July 2014

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30        Jesus said to the crowd, "To what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,

`We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.'For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, `He has a demon'; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."

At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Reflection   Caught between a rock and a hard place. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Basically Jesus is saying, nothing pleases these people! They hear great music and do not respond with joy. They witness great suffering and do not respond with sadness. All they do is sit around in coffee shops, flaunt their intelligence and complain.    Quite the social commentary two thousand years ago and today.

But Jesus does not leave us there, stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. Jesus offers a way into freedom. “Come to me… take my yoke… learn from me…” The thing is, we cannot come to Jesus when we are caught up in the local social political commentary. We cannot take from Jesus when we are full of our selves. We cannot learn from Jesus when we rely on our intellect. 

Still, there is a way to freedom. We come to Jesus when we are as infants; artless, guileless and unpretentious. We take from Jesus when we yoke ourselves to him, finding our identity in him even as he finds his identity in God the Father.  We learn from Jesus when we empty our selves of our intellects. In the words of the ancient wisdom teacher Lao-Tzu, “A wise man has no extensive knowledge; he who has extensive knowledge is not a wise man.” (Tao te Ching, c550 BCE) 

Another wise man, Pope Francis, wrote, “If one has the answers to all the questions, that is proof that God is not with him. It means that he is a false prophet using religion for himself. The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt. You must leave room for the Lord, not for our certainties; we must be humble.” How might our world be transformed if everyone prayed for the grace to be “gentle and humble in heart?” How glorious if althogether we found “rest for our souls?” 

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