Gospel text for Sunday 6 February 2022

 Luke 5:1-11       Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. 

And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Reflection       Can you feel Simon’s weary shoulders sagging after a fruitless night of fishing? Can you see his fingers fumbling with the empty fishing nets? Can you feel dread grabbing his gut as he notices Jesus walking toward his boat?  Can you hear his heart murmur, “Oh no, Jesus, why are you stepping into my boat? I have tried every fishing trick I know and still my nets are empty. I have nothing to offer you. I just want to go home?”  But Jesus asks Simon to put out a little way from the shore so that he can teach the crowds of people who have heard rumors about exorcisms and healings.

Adrift on Lake Gennesaret, I imagine Jesus’ words soothe Simon’s weary soul. “Ahhh, I could rest here forever sitting near the teacher,” until Jesus asks Simon to move into the deep water and cast out his nets. Simon resists,  “James, John and I have been fishing all night. We have studied the stars and  plumbed the best fishing spots still our nets are empty. What is the use?”  

But Jesus is sure and sanguine so Simon rows to the deep waters and lets down his nets. Then, wonder of wonders, so many fish find his net that Simon has to call on friends James and John to help him haul the catch to shore. Amazed by the eye opening bounty Simon recognizes Jesus as his superior or benefactor and falls to his knees. 

I believe we are like Simon, James, John and the crowd standing on the shore at the edge of the lake, content to remain on the sidelines of faith and listen to Jesus preach. But, preaching to the intractable choir is not enough for Jesus. Jesus wants us to get our feet wet walking into deeper water, a metaphor for growing into more intimate relationship with our selves, one another and God. 

Walking through Luke’s parable we watch as Simon gradually moves into deeper relationship with Jesus; first seeing Jesus in the distance, then watching as he draws near, sitting next to Jesus in his boat, absorbing his presence and words, pushing back and doubting Jesus before submitting to his invitation to venture into deep water. 

Then, stunned by the unbelievable bounty of fish Simon awakens to awe and humility, “Go away from me Jesus…. this is too big, I am not worthy of all this,” until, fortified by Jesus’ pronouncement,"Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people,” Simon is emboldened to leave his old way of standing on the sidelines of faith and wholeheartedly saying “Yes,” stepping away from his old way of life and following Jesus. 

It is time for us to set aside our well reasoned positions on the sidelines of our faith, time for us to follow Jesus and cast our nets into unknown territory, risking everything for the incomprehensible bounty of deep and meaningful relationships with our selves, one another and God. “Do not be afraid….”

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Gospel text for Sunday 16 May 2021

John 17:6-19        Jesus prayed for his disciples, “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. 

And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.

Reflection       “Trauma that is not transformed is transmitted.” I cannot count the number of times I have heard this statement since the first time it grabbed my attention. Years ago speaking at a conference on Recovery Ministries the Franciscan priest Richard Rohr averred, “I am not sure who first said this, but it is true. “Trauma that is not transformed is transmitted.”" 

In one of my several previous vocations I designed and oversaw treatment programs for adjudicated adolescent sex offenders. This is what I discovered. One hundred percent of the boys between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two who were convicted of a sexual offense had been victims of repeated sexual abuse from as early as age three.  “Trauma that is not transformed is transmitted.” This is true.

On March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization declared we were living in the throes of a global pandemic. By the middle of April cases were reported in all North American territories. One month later more than 161 million cases were confirmed and 3.35 million deaths were attributed to the coronavirus. Like deer caught in a car’s headlights, we were frozen in our tracks as we learned that the air we breathed and every surface we touched could be deadly. In a flash family, friends and neighbors were recast in the role of masked grim reapers. The routine work, school and pleasures of life were stripped away as we were locked down and locked out of relationships. Trauma; individual, community and global trauma. And what we know is this. “Trauma that is not transformed is transmitted.”

What are we to do when an invisible enemy lurks in the air and all of our programs for happiness have been over turned? What are we to do to transform and not transmit  trauma?

This is the question that wakes me in the middle of the night and pokes my groin every time a new bit of breaking news tells me to put on a mask (or two), take them off or beware of a virulent South African variant. What are we to do when what we are told to do changes every breaking hour? What are we to do to transform and not transmit the trauma? 

I believe a clue is tied to the tangle of perplexing words we hear Jesus praying for the disciples and us.  “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them…  Protect them so that they may be one, as we are one. “ Jesus’ desire for the disciples and us it that we find our security, safety, esteem, power and control in our intimate relationship with God. This is what being at one means;  being in relationship with God rather than being at the mercy of the stormy sea changes of worldly circumstance. 

Unlike the dramatic parables, epic exorcisms and fervent calls to repentance found in the three synoptic gospels, the Johanine Jesus gives us lengthy discourses and prayers, lots of words intended to articulate his relationship with God characterized by the intimacy of Father and Son. Listening to Jesus’ words we witness a relationship that fosters his well-being even in the midst of harrowing circumstance. And Jesus desires the same for us, a trustworthy relationship that enables us to endure excruciating events without losing our peace or perspective, without transmitting trauma. 

Jesus prays for us to participate in the profoundly intimate and life sustaining relationship he has with the Father so that our trauma will be transformed. In other words, Jesus is praying for us to be allied and unified by putting our faith and finding our peace in our intimate relationship with God.  Which of course means we turn toward God rather than the world to find security, safety, esteem, power and control. And, this does not mean we reject the world nor look for a way out of it. 

Jesus continues praying, “I am not asking you to take them (the disciples and us) out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.” Jesus understands the grave consequence of living a God centric life. He lived and died as a result of upsetting the status quo, acting deliberately to overturn systems that keep people marginalized, offering healing and inclusion rather than judgment and exclusion, daring to forgive rather than retaliate. Yes, Jesus comprehends the piercing consequence of transforming rather than transmitting trauma. 

As followers of the Way of Jesus we are meant to rise to the God’s eye perspective and allow our trauma to be transformed which means we cannot deny, hide or run away from the trauma. With our brother Jesus we must turn our faces toward Jerusalem, step into the fray,  speak truth to power,  act deliberately to dignify all people, extend mercy and demand justice for the marginalized, provide comfort and care for the vulnerable and forgive the wrong doers. And if you protest, "This is dangerous business, it too hard," be assured. It was too hard for Jesus which is why he prayed and prayed and put his faith and found his peace being at one in God. 

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Gospel text for Sunday of the Passion 29 March 2015

Mark 14.1-15.47 

As this week’s gospel text is exceedingly long I invite you to click on the below link to read it in its entirety. 

http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/HolyWeek/BPalmSun_RCL.html#GOSPEL2

Reflection       What do you think about the notion that each one of our life stories is a variation on the theme of Jesus’ story? Some of us were planned from birth, others, not so much. Some were welcomed to the world with gifts, ( I don’t know about frankincense and myrrh, possibly a silver spoon) others driven into hiding. All of us are “tempted.”All of us encounter “other” people; the sick, wealthy, poor, wise, powerful, weak, fearful, bold. A few of us have friends who really know who we are but most people only think they do. We have families who love us and misjudge us; civil and religious officials who try to tell us who and how we ought to be. And, if we dare to pick up our cross and live our lives by faith rather than fear, by love rather than power and privilege, there is every chance we will be misunderstood, spit at, persecuted and possibly killed. 

Jesus is not a parable, a metaphor or an analogy. Jesus is a living, breathing, human person who experienced the full range of messiness and temptations with which life is fraught. This is essential because if Jesus was not a real human person than his story has little to do with us. But, like the rest of us humans, Jesus lived and breathed and found his being in relationship with God. 

Please hear Jesus’ words from the gospel according to John. "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”  (John 5:19) "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of the One who sent Me.” (John 6.38)

Jesus’ relationship with God the Father is the hallmark of his identity and of his way of life. It is into this relationship of unspeakable intimacy with God that each and every one of us is invited. As faithful Christians we are intended to experience a qualitatively new reality in which moment by moment, day by day we submit our will to the will of the One, Holy and Living God. When we no longer live to satisfy our inordinate desires for safety, security, affection, esteem, power and control we are free to live our lives as an expression of God’s love. Likewise, we are free to lay down our lives into the hands of our Father God.  

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