Gospel text for Sunday 16 February 2014

Matthew 5:21-37        Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not murder'; and `whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, `You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

"You have heard that it was said, `You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

"It was also said, `Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

"Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be `Yes, Yes' or `No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

Reflection     Thousands of years before Roe versus Wade and the social political conversations about a persons “right” to choose,’the Jewish scribe Eliezer ben Sira of Jerusalem wrote the wisdom teachings known as the Book of Ecclesiasticus or Sirach in which he made clear, it is a person’s “obligation” to choose. “If you choose, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice. (God) has placed before you fire and water; stretch out your hand for whichever you choose. Before each person are life and death, and whichever one chooses will be given.” (Eccl  15.15-20)

It is more than a right. It is our obligation to choose. Do we choose a life driven by externals, by splashes of righteousness and enslavement to the letter of the law? Or do we choose a life upheld by the interior presence of God with us? Do we choose a life consumed by lust for food, drink or sex? Or do we choose a life nourished in the wisdom of God and God’s messengers? Do we choose a life possessed by desire for security, attention, affection or power? Or do we choose a life free to give away the gifts that have been given to us?

Jesus is upping the ante by instructing the disciples and us to choose the more difficult way, the way of knowing our selves and making conscious choices to live our lives in integrity with God’s economy. When we come to church on Sunday our prayers asking God to forgive the “things we have done and the things we have left undone” and our generous plate offerings are not enough if we “harbor anger, jealousy, bitterness, hostility, infidelity or any kind of ill will toward another person.” Jesus tells us, it is what’s inside that counts.  

Coming to worship, asking God to forgive us for our desecrating feelings is not enough. We must choose to grow in self awareness, and this is really hard. It is hard because of who we really are. 

In the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, (I paraphrase) “God created humankind in God’s image… male and female God created them.” (Gen 1.27) This is an outrageous claim that carries with it enormous responsibility. Let me be crystal clear, we are not god, we are godlike. Created in the image and likeness of God, Imago Dei, we are a shadow or  snapshot of God. We are imbued with godlike qualities. The question is, are we choosing to allow our godlike qualities to show? That is the heart of self-awareness and the fruit of conscious choice.

Two questions I choose to reflect during the upcoming Lenten season are; What are my unique godlike qualities? What choices can I make to allow them to show? We are obliged to choose.

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Gospel text for Sunday 25 August 2013

Luke 13:10-17

Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day." But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

Reflection     What is truth? I ask that question because unless I know what is truth how will I know how to live? For the religious leader in Luke’s text truth was revealed in the Bible and involved lots of rules about purity, fasting and sabbath. According to his version of truth, a view he shared with the Jewish religious authorities of his time, in order to live a good, right and holy life one had to obey the rules, the religious codes as written in Liviticus and interpreted by religious officials. Then along came Jesus for whom truth had a somewhat different flavor. 

Every time Jesus turned around he managed to break the rules and offend the authorities. He hung out with (even shared meals with) the wrong people, he ate the wrong foods without washing his hands, and he dared to cure people on the sabbbath. Jesus’ actions suggest that he was not bound by the priests’ elaborate holiness codes that originated some 600 years earlier in the temple in Jerusalem.  In fact, when some of the Pharisees (religious officials) asked, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath?” (Luke 6.2) Jesus answered, “The son of man is Lord of the sabbath.” I read that as an ancient way of saying, “Your rules, your customs, have nothing to do with me when they prevent me from being merciful as my Father is merciful.”

Apparently Jesus understood truth to be a matter of perspective. Was the bent over woman a sociallly unacceptable cripple or a daughter of Abraham and full member of God’s family? Is the sabbath a day for withholding goodness or a day when even ox and donkeys require care? What is truth? 

Humanity in the early stages of social and spiritual development needs straight lines drawn in the sand; e.g. This is  black, this is white. This is left, this is right. We know which side we stand on and have little tolerance for the other. This perspective works fairly well with children and mathmatics; fire burns therefore do not put your hand in it, five plus seven is eleven. Things are either correct or incorrect. Dualistic thinking is helpful... for a season. And then there is wisdom.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace. “(Ecclesiastes 3.1-9)

Jesus embodies the inclusive wisdom of Ecclesiastes. The more simple, dualistic, externally oriented perspective of the religious officials may be a helpful starting place but was not sufficient for Jesus and is not sufficient for maturing Christians In our complex and rapidly changing world today. Jesus reminds us that the question we must ask is, “For whom is this true? “

Is the sabbath holy for a woman considered unclean and cast out of her community? Is the sabbath holy for a homeless family? For a high school student whose parents illegally entered the country when she was seven years old? For an elder person unable to receive adequate care? Is the sabbath holy for those who mourn? Those who are hated? Those whom we call enemy?

For Jesus truth is interior, personal and not relative. “Do to others as you would have them do to you... But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6,31,35-6) As Jesus did so must we dare to think differently about the world and our place in it. To do so we must stand on the shoulders of biblical revelation and reason and stretch into the unside-down world perspective modeled for us by Jesus.

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