Gospel text for Sunday 21 January 2018

Mark 1:14-20        After John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Reflection      Paul warns the new church in Corinth, “For the present form of this world is passing away.” (I Cor 7.31)  But no one warned Simon and Andrew, James and John when they put down their nets and followed Jesus of the apocalyptic change they would face. Paul is spot one, when we choose to follow the Way of Jesus, life as we have known it passes away. It is apocalyptic and no wonder that two thousand years later so few of us have been able to respond “immediately” as did the four famous fishermen who quit their jobs by the Sea of Galilee when Jesus called to them.

Most of us are more like Jonah. When the Word of the Lord came to Jonah, he tried to run away from “the presence of the Lord.” He found a ship, got on board and before long the ship was ravaged by a great storm. The seamen figured out that the storm was likely the result of Jonah trying to “flee the presence of the Lord,” so they decided to toss him overboard, which indeed quelled the storm for them but Jonah’s trial was not over. Jonah was swallowed by a large fish where he lived for three days and “as his life was ebbing away (he) remembered the Lord, and (his) prayer came to (God), into (God’s) holy temple.” (Paraphrase Jonah 1 & 2) 

It took a shipwreck and three more days for Jonah to figure out that by turning away from the presence of the Lord he set himself up for disaster. Finally he turned around, Jonah called out to the Lord in his distress, and he was saved. What does it take for us to turn around and set down the nets of life as we have known it to follow the Way of the Lord? How much must we suffer before we say, “Uncle” and admit our dependence on the presence of God with us? 

The lives that we cling to are like a fisherman’s net, full of holes and more than enough string to get ourselves all tangled up. What will it take for us to set our old lives down and believe “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near?” How much suffering must we endure before we decide to turn around, to change our minds and our lives?

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Gospel text for First Advent, Sunday 27 November 2016

Matthew 24:36-44        Jesus said to the disciples, “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Reflection     What were the people who chose this reading for the First Sunday of Advent thinking? Why begin the New Church Year  in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew’s gospel with Jesus warning the disciples and us to keep awake and be ready for apocalyptic change, change that will be no less traumatic than the great flood in Noah’s time?  Why not let us bask in naïve innocence anticipating the powdery smell of a newborn infant’s birth? Why not walk us through the litany of Jesus’ genealogy, who begat whom, “Abraham was the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Issac… all fourteen generations until we arrive at another “Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born.” (Matt1.1,16) 

I believe the vexing choice for this text was to insure we not get swept up in nostalgia,  not for a minute imagine we are preparing for the birth of an ordinary child. The unnerving message is, we are preparing to receive a child who will turn our world upside down. This child, this Son of Humanity, is going to shake us up and wake us up and show us the way to “beat our swords into plough shares and our spears into pruning hooks.”

There is no question. Twenty-seven hundred years after the prophet Isaiah proclaimed peace among all people,  two thousand years after Jesus walked the earth, we, the people of God, are still in dire need of teaching and guidance to become the peacemakers God is calling us to be. We must learn how to transform our weapons of destruction into tools turned for the good of all people; think  about transforming M16s into water purifiers, denaturing nerve gas into pollution control systems, converting biological agents into agricultural tools. And of course, translating our words of judgment, condemnation and hatred into words of welcome, recommendation and love. Jesus is unequivocal. In God’s economy words or weapons intended for violence will be reconfigured as the means to care for all people and institute peace on earth and it will turn our world upside down. 

How can we be proponents peace on earth when we ache over our families fractured by divisive politics? How can we extend good will to all people on earth while we squirm among friends and neighbors wondering if we dare say what we think, feel or how we voted?  Where is the vision of hope for all when so many people are suffering and worried about feeding their children, keeping their families together, holding onto their jobs or health insurance?

I believe these and many similar questions illumine our need to hear the apocalyptic story of Jesus’ intrusion into history today. Our days are rife with excess, indulgence, arrogance, irresponsibility, jealousy and greed -  nonetheless, we are preparing to welcome the birth of the Christ child. We are preparing to be made new again and remember that regardless of our situation, always we begin again shining the new light of Christ in the world. 

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