Gospel text for Sunday 9 July 2017

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        Jesus’ yoke is easy, his burden is light because he is not weighed down with the baggage of pride, insolence, disrespect and acrimony. Because Jesus consents to the present moment exactly as it is, he is not troubled, irritable, harsh, disagreeable or unkind.  Thus unburdened, Jesus is soft spoken, unpretentious and respectful. He is merciful, “gentle and humble in heart.”

As the prophet Zechariah proclaims, “The king comes humble and riding on a donkey… He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations…” (Zech 9.10-11) This is a great paradox. The true king, the one who rules and commands peace in all nations, is humble, rides a donkey not a limousine; is soft spoken not disagreeable;  unpretentious not disdainful;  respectful not unkind. The true king is merciful, “gentle and humble in heart.” 

The psalmist makes the same point, “The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great kindness. The Lord is loving to everyone and his compassion is over all his works.” (Ps 145.8-9) Here is the thing. Like Jesus we are made in the image and likeness of God and intended to embody and express the attributes of God, the true king. We are intended to be slow to anger and of great kindness, full of compassion, gentle and humble in heart. We are intended to command peace in all nations.

How are we to do or be this? How are we to ward off the news and the uncivil discourse that assaults and carries us away? We are steeped in a world that endorses pride, insolence, disrespect and acrimony. We are constantly bombarded by troubled, irritable, harsh, disagreeable and unkind words and images. If we allow this negativity to grab us and sweep us away we will not be “gentle and humble in heart.”  We will lose all hope.  

But, we are people of God and we find our hope by choosing to live “with-God lives.” So we come together to worship, study and learn from Jesus.  We come together to exchange our  troubled, irritable, harsh, disagreeable and unkind thoughts, words and actions for Jesus’ gentle and merciful ways. We come together to relieve and replace the burdens of our pride, insolence, disrespect and acrimony with Jesus’ compassion and humble heart. 

No, this is not easy, in fact we probably cannot do it by our will alone.  That is why we put our faith in Jesus’ teaching, “For humans it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matt 19.26)

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Luke 9:51-62        When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

Reflection        The Way of following Jesus to Jerusalem, the City of Peace, is opposite humanity’s impulsive inclination to react, get exercised, blame and exact revenge. The Way of Jesus is unswerving determination to proclaim the Kingdom of God’s peace for all in the face of human weakness, frustration, violence and tragedy. The Way of following Jesus to Jerusalem demands a peaceful response even, and perhaps especially, when we feel invaded, imperiled or insecure. I believe that is what the writer of Luke’s gospel means when he writes, “Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.” The idiom, ‘set your face’  means being determined to do something despite forces to the contrary.

Jesus has “set his face toward Jerusalem.” He is single- minded and determined. Nothing will distract him from fulfilling his purpose – from fulfilling God’s purpose to be the living breathing revelation of peace on earth, to reveal to people then and now exactly what peace looks like… and what it will cost. 

Which brings to mind that fateful day in October of 2006 in Nickel Mines, PA, when a man burst into a one room school house, shot eight Amish girls, killing five, then killed himself. Since then we have suffered many scenes of senseless violence. But the situation in Nickel Mines is singular because of the way the families responded. Rather than react with outrage and blame, claim social, political or religious persecution, and seek retaliation, the Amish families went to the killer’s burial service and offered forgiveness and hugs to the killer’s grieving family. 

Even though the family’s of the dead girls were brokenhearted, they choose to express forgiveness and peace rather than blame and retaliation and in so doing touched the hearts of people around the world, even then years later. This is the image of transforming  peace revealed in the midst of violence and tragedy. This is The Way to Jerusalem, the City of Peace.

Which lands us in front of a very large mirror asking, “How are we individually and collectively living the peaceful way of Jesus? What ideas or beliefs are we clinging to that stand in the way of being the revelation of peace right now? How does our desire for safety and security prevent us from being peace in the world? Are we willing to change even those things that are as fundamental to us as our comfort, personal boundaries and rights, public borders, family units and identities to  propagate peace and a place for all people? 

Are we willing to restructure our social, political and religious institutions to insure peace and a place for all people? Are we willing to redistribute wealth and resources to insure peace and a place for all people? Are we willing to pick up our crosses and meet hostility with gentleness? Violence with kindness? Hatred with love?  Are we willing to “set our face toward Jerusalem” and be peace, right now?  

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Christian Testament text for Sunday 31 January 2016

1 Corinthians 13:1-13        If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Reflection      It takes courage to stretch beyond our comfort zones. It takes faith in something greater than ourselves to reach out to strangers. This past week I was touched by a story I read in a London newspaper about a young woman who did just that. Eighteen year old Muná Adan blindfolded herself and stood near a fountain in the middle of Trafalgar Square.*To give you a bit of perspective, this is in the midst of Central London. Four thousand busses pass through Trafalgar square every day. The Underground transit never stops moving below as people make their way to businesses, the National Gallery, St. Martin in the Fields and Buckingham Palace. Trafalgar Square is also notorious for its masterful pick-pockets, whose handiwork I had the misfortune of experiencing.

Back to the story. In the midst of this chaos Muná blindfolded herself and stood next to a large cardboard sign that read, “I am a Muslim, not a terrorist. If you trust me, give me a hug.” She was inundated with “trust hugs,” lots of tears and the words, “I love you.”  Muná did this in response to the rise of Islamophobia happening in London. She said,”You always see negative stories about Muslims, so I wanted to do something about it.” 

It takes courage to make ourselves vulnerable (putting on a blindfold in public certainly qualifies for that). It also takes courage to respond to the vulnerable. The thing is, courage does not mean we are comfortable or unafraid. Courage means we step out and do something even though we are uncomfortable or afraid. The reason we can do this is because we have faith in something more than ourselves. We have faith in God who is with us and with all people. We have faith in God that is expressed as love in kindness for all people. I believe that is what Paul is writing to the Corinthians, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

It takes courage to reach across social, political, religious and racial barriers to deliver God’s blessings, God’s kindness, God’s endless love to all people. Fourteen years ago a program was initiated in Tucson and has spread throughout the country to do just that. Called “Ben’s Bells” it aims to promote kindness throughout the local community and was created by Jeannette Maré as a way to endure the tragic death of her three year old son Ben. 

The mission of Ben’s Bells is to “inspire, educate, and motivate people to realize the impact of intentional kindness, and to empower individuals to act according to that awareness, thereby strengthening ourselves, our relationships, and our communities.” You can visit Ben’s Bells to learn more https://bensbells.org  Meanwhile, perhaps you will join me engaging in three intentional acts of kindness each day of our upcoming Season of Lent (beginning on Ash Wednesday, February 10th). 

We are Christ’s hands and feet in the world. It is up to us to deliver God’s blessing of loving kindness for all people, without exception, without excuse. 

*http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/muslim-social-experiment-hugs_us_56a7a762e4b0172c6594393f?ir=WorldPost&section=us_world&utm_hp_ref=world 

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