Gospel text for the 2nd Sunday of Advent 6 December 2015

Luke 3:1-6        In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

and the rough ways made smooth;

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’"

Reflection       John stood outside of Roman culture as a critic of injustice and exploitation. Though he was a descendant of the priesthood of Aaron, John foreswore his rights to the temple as a comment against corruption. Aligned with his time John expected the Messiah to come in one sweeping apocalyptic event and set the world right, which is why he quotes Isaiah saying, “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low...." in other words, the Messiah will come, it will be the end of ordinary reality and the beginning of happily ever after life in the reign of the all powerful Messiah King. I wonder if it was because of this belief that John had to die? You see, this is where he and Jesus part ways. 

Somewhere I read the contemporary Christian Testament scholar John Dominic Crossan’s description of a fundamental difference between John the Baptist and Jesus. According to Crossan both of them are interested in how the world would be transformed into the Kingdom of God. John believed the solution depended on divine intervention which means the role of the people is to wait for a God engineered catastrophic event that will result in instantaneous peace and righteousness provoked from the outside. By contrast, Jesus came to reveal that God depends on faithful people to deal with the misuse of power, position and privilege in the world. Following the way of Jesus the role of people is to take responsibility for restoring peace and righteousness from the inside out. 

I believe it is up to us to stand with the boldness of John and speak truth to power calling for dignity for all people so that “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” And, I believe we must act humbly as the hands and feet and heart of Jesus to end evil in the world by living and acting and voting to insure dignity and care for all people, beginning right where we are. This is the Kingdom of God on earth. No singular catastrophic event will bring it about. But a million, a billion, countless trillion decisions made by each of us every moment of our lives to turn toward God rather than capitulate to position, power and privilege will make a difference in peoples’ lives. The Kingdom of God is here. It is up to us to choose it.

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Gospel text for Sunday 23 November 2014

Matthew 25:31-46         Jesus said, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, `Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, `Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, `You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, `Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, `Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Reflection       From the beginning Matthew’s gospel proclaims, God is with us, among us. Which begs the question, “How do we experience God with us?” Jesus minces no words in his parable. We experience God with us when we recognize our neighbors need and respond. 

Two things are required to experience God, recognition and response. We recognize hunger and we feed, we recognize thirst and we give drink, we recognize the stranger and welcome them, we recognize the naked and give them clothes, we recognize the sick and give them comfort, we recognize the imprisioned and give them companionship. As we offer blessing to our neighbors in need we experience God’s blessing, God with us. 

Here is the twist. We need the people who need us more than they need us. We need the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the imprisioned because without them we do not have the opportunity to recognize their need and respond with blessing. Without people who need us we miss our opportunity to be counted among the God's sheep. Without the opportunity to serve the least among us we miss out on God’s blessing, we lose our place in the kingdom of God, we do not experience God with us. 

It is interesting, nowhere in Jesus’ teaching do we hear, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you…” for you crossed all your tees, dotted all your eyes, followed all the rules. Nowhere do we hear Jesus say, Blessed are you who are wildly successful, have prepared a royal festival, rich with gold and incense and elaborate prayers to welcome kings and priests and holy people. Instead we hear, blessed are you who are moved to extend God’s Spirit of compassion to those in need. For in tending to your relationship with those in need you are indeed tending to your relationship with God.

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Gospel text Sunday 8 July, 2012

Mark 6:1-13
Jesus left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them."

Reflection

Can you imagine being one of Jesus’ disciples? You’ve been following him all over creation, listening and watching him preach and teach and do astonishing deeds of power, you know, healing and casting out demons, raising a little girl from the dead.  Jesus has even given you some off line or private lessons, explaining stories to you that were not meant for the ears of those outside the inner circle of disciples. When I imagine being one of those disciples it makes me feel kind of special, but only until it gets to the part about Jesus sending me out to do what he has been doing. “Oh dear. Are you kidding me Jesus? You want me to do what you have been doing and I can’t even take any food or money?  It’s dangerous out there. Thieves lurk all along the roads. I will be incredibly vulnerable and utterly dependent on the good will of strangers.”

 
Can you imagine Jesus shaking his head and saying, “You got it. You are vulnerable. You are dependent. As you enter each town you are to present yourselves as people in need. Your survival depends on the good will of strangers. And in dong this you will provide the opportunity for the kingdom of God to flourish?” Now it’s time for me to shake my head. “Are you kidding me? We just left your hometown Jesus, and your own people wouldn’t give you the time of day. How can we depend on strangers?” And Jesus might reply, “The thing about strangers is they can’t presume to ‘know’ who you are. They can’t put you in a little box and say, “You can carve wood and hammer nails, but you sure can’t preach or teach or do deeds of great power.” When you show up with nothing, all they can presume is that you need their help. The strangers who choose to welcome you, to invite into their home and feed you, are embodying hospitality and compassion. Your very presence ignites a spark of the Good News in them. Together your need and their hospitality is the context within which God’s kingdom blossoms. Now as you sit at their table and begin to preach and teach, do healings and exercise “authority over unclean spirits” it is like a gentle breeze fanning a new flame. The spark of compassion already expressed by the stranger grows as they hear and receive the Good News of God’s kingdom present, already not yet, being shared by you.“

"When strangers choose not to welcome you, don’t waste your time or treasure. If the spark of compassion is not ignited by your need, they have already chosen to harden their hearts to the kingdom of God. Don’t begrudge them their choice.  Just be on your way. They will never know that they missed an encounter with the kingdom of God.” Which makes me think about the admonition, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13.2)