Gospel text for Sunday 14 August 2022

Luke 1:26- 38 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee, Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the name of the virgin was Mary. And the angel came to Mary and said, “Rejoice, favored one! The Most High God is with you.” Now, she was troubled by the angel’s words and pondered what sort of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Fear not Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Sovereign God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his sovereignty there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have not known a man intimately?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit, She will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the one born will be holy. He will be called Son of God. And now, Elizabeth your kinswoman has even conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for she who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the woman-slave of God; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.

Reflection        The big, hairy, audacious idea of conceiving and giving birth to Divine Presence does not end with Mary!

How many young, virginal women did the Angel Gabriel approach who failed to “see, hear, or recognize” Divine Presence with them? How many thought they heard or saw something and decided they must have had too much wine or not enough sleep and promptly dismissed Divine Possibility? How many heard “the call” and dug deep down to the bottom of them selves and choked, “No way. This will never happen to me?” How many young women missed the opportunity to put their body, their very life on the line for the big, hairy, audacious idea of conceiving and giving birth to Divine Presence before the Angel Gabriel found Mary of Judea who, after pondering these things and questioning the angel, wholeheartedly consents? 

What would it take for you to consent to conceive and give birth to Divine Presence today?

I personally fall into the category of a not so young woman who heard “the call” and promptly reacted, “No way!”  Mine was a call to the priesthood, a position that would bend my body and stretch my mind completely out of shape. After all, I am an introvert. I would rather be invisible than in front of a crowd. Daring to preach the Word of God, well, that is for holy people, which I clearly am not. There is nothing about being a priest that sits comfortably with me. 

But that darn angel would not give up; for more than ten years, disturbing my peace, unsettling my life, twisting my gut, sending me to classes and even a convent, hoping to avoid “the call.” Until physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually spent I gave my consent. But, not without declaring, “Oh God you know I cannot do this. I cannot be this. I cannot speak in front of people. I cannot be with dying people. I cannot even say I believe all that the Church claims about you. The truth of the matter is, right now  I am utterly barren. I have nothing to give. If I go down this road, you better show up because I am going to put my faith in the angel’s promise to Mary, “Nothing will be impossible with God.”

I consented. God has been faithful, been “with me” every time I ask. The only times I have faltered or failed are when I put my faith in my self rather than pausing to consent to God’s presence and action with me. I am living, breathing proof that “nothing is impossible with God” because countless things are done through me that I cannot possibly do. 

What I have learned is this. When the writer of John’s gospel declares, “The Word became flesh,” he was not only speaking about Jesus. His proclamation is intended for all of us.  The big, hairy, audacious idea of conceiving and giving birth to Divine Presence does not end with Jesus. Rather, it depends on every human being’s consent to be the fertile womb through which Divine Presence lives and breaths and makes us new as “the home of God among the woman-born…” (Rev. 21.3)

What would it take for you to consent to conceive and give birth to Divine Presence today?

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Gospel text for Sunday 12 May 2019

John 10:22-30        At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." Jesus answered, "I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand. The Father and I are one.”

Reflection       Thanks to the brave guerilla fighter Judas Maccabee, in the year 166BCE the Temple building is restored to holiness, the center of Jewish worship is intact. Still, two hundred years later in John's gospel text the Jews  are looking for the Messiah, the king or high priest who will lead them to a happily ever after life. Lately many of them have seen and almost all of them have heard about the man Jesus, the inscrutable prophet who touches and heals, teaches with authority, forgives unconditionally, offers hope to all people, and at the same time he is irreverent, hangs out with all the wrong folks,  violates  Temple traditions and discredits the orthodoxy of the elite religious and political authorities. 

The Jews are not sure what to make of Jesus. So when they see him  “walking in the Temple, in the portico of Solomon” they ask him, “If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” But Jesus’ speech is anything but plain. Of course, they do not understand. They cannot hear the deep meaning of Jesus’ words.  They cannot see that Jesus embodies the temple, the new way of worship in Spirit and in Truth. (John 4.23) I believe this is what Jesus was alluding to earlier in John’s gospel when he drove the vendors who were selling sheep and cattle, doves and money out of the Temple and said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2.19)      

From our privileged point of view two thousand years later, we know Jesus is not talking about a superhero’s brick and mortar magical building plan.  Jesus is talking about his own body, all of our bodies, as the new temples of God, the new places of holiness. And, Jesus did not make this up.

From the very beginning we hear in one of our Genesis creation myths God speaking, “‘Let Us make humankind in Our image, in Our likeness’…. So God created humankind in God’s own image…” (Gen 1.26-27) Like Jesus, all of humanity is meant to be the dwelling place, the temple, the image of God. The contemporary theologian and wisdom bearer, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks cites Leviticus in which “The Lord says to Moses: “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them, ‘Be holy because I, the Lord, your God, am holy,’” (Lev 19.1-2) and  goes on to explain, this is the first time such an all inclusive command from God is resolutely articulated. Sacks writes, “It is life itself that is to be sanctified…  Holiness is to be made manifest in the way the nation makes its clothes and plants its fields, in the way justice is administered, workers are paid, and business conducted. The vulnerable – the deaf, the blind, the elderly, and the stranger – are to be afforded special protection. The whole society is to be governed by love, without resentments or revenge.”*

Sacks calls this “the radical democratisation of holiness.” Prior to this communication between God and Moses the Jews understood the place of the Temple to be holy and only certain designated holy people, the priests, had access to it. So this is a great re-turning point in our human story,  an expanded understanding of our relationship with God and one another. We are all meant to be holy, to be temples of the living God, which means all people are to be dignified and cared for, at least as well as we care for our temples, our churches, our homes. 

As we remember the Festival of the Dedication of the Temple shall we rededicate our selves, our souls and bodies as the new temples of God? Shall we reaffirm our commitment to dignify and care for all people as well as we care for our brick and mortar homes, churches and temples? 

* Rabbi Sacks blog  Covenant and Conversation, 8 May 2019

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