May 9, 2010

Acts 7: 55-60 + Psalm 97 + Revelation 22:12-14, 16,17,20 + John 17: 20-26

(The Ordo provides the option of using Easter 7 or Easter 6 on this Sunday because The Solemnity of the Ascension is celebrated next Sunday. I have chosen Easter 7 for use here at Saint Mark Parish.)

First, he pours out his blood. Then he pours out his Spirit. Think of that in your prayer as we move toward Pentecost in two weeks. He gives what he has been given: His life, his flesh, his blood, his spirit. The glory of the Father becomes his glory so that we might have glory. While he had every right to lay claim to it, he never claimed any privilege. Never once does this Son of God act as though or even think as though he had a right to or deserved anything. Jesus clings to nothing as though it were his privilege. Everything he has and everything he is he passes on to his friends, putting them on the path to perfection and an ever-deepening unity.

Everything given to Jesus is immediately given away to others. It is this action of self-giving that creates the unity he knows is the will of God. The very essence of Jesus is the sharing of that essence with others. Those who receive it from Jesus give it to others. And so, a living chain across time and across history is established. This receiving and this giving among the friends of Jesus then creates a unity that becomes a message to the world that knows nothing of unity; a world that lives by taking and holding and therein lies the difference and the challenge.

The message of this Gospel, the message Jesus speaks to his disciples around a table is not Take and Hold. The message is Receive and Give What he leaves behind, what he prays for at that final meal is a new way of being human. Instead of being unique, individualistic, separate, and independent, the new humanity Jesus restores is one and united.

This unity is the consequence of giving and the deliberate decision not to HOLD. Those found in unity are never people who take. They are people who receive. At the very first moment we begin to give what we have received, a bond is established that is profound and divine.

When we share the sorrow or the pain of another, we are one with them. When we share the joy and dreams of another, there a bond between us begins. The experience of this unity which is God’s will for the human family
is not just emotional or spiritual. When we share what we have received, there is peace and there is unity. If we share clean water, there is a bond between nations. If we share opportunities, education, health care, the resources of this earth because we do not have some exclusive right to them but because we know we have received them as a gift, unity and peace are not far behind. But if we take and if we hold, trouble comes.

The whole life of Jesus is summed up in his final prayer in John’s Gospel. It is a new way of being human.
Two words sum it up: Receive and Give.
The old way of taking and holding is finished if there is ever to be peace. The fulfillment of the Father’s will: “That they may all be one.” is only possible through this new way of being human
which Jesus passes on to us through his body and blood and by his spirit.

April 25, 2010 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Acts 13: 14, 43-52 +Psalm 100 + Revelation 7:9, 14-17 + John 10: 27-30

It takes more than ears to hear the Shepherd’s voice these days. The age of technology has led us into a life-style of imitation. Hardly anything is real, and finding something real these days takes skill, critical observation, and an ability to discern what is fake and cheap. Digital reproductions trick the ear and the eye, and they leave us satisfied with what is fake and false. We live now in perplexing society of wolves dressed as sheep, of pseudo-values marked as good. Political parties claim to support the politics and politicians of “values” but no one ever says what those values are.

Hearing the voice of the Shepherd is getting harder with all the noise of this society.
In fact, listening is becoming a lost skill. When we run into someone these days who is a good listener, we know that we have found someone unique.

There is something going on among us all these days that confuses hearing and listening. We have decided that people who do not listen have not heard; and then we say that those who do not agree with us or do what we want have not listened; which of course is not true. Just because we don’t get our way does not mean we have not been heard or no one listened. It seems to me that hearing comes first. It is the immediate perception of a sound. It is a recognition of the other. Listening comes next.
Listening is more involved and requires some attention and reflection. It is not something easily done while doing something else. When is no double-tasking when listening.

When Jesus says that his sheep hear his voice, he means that the sheep recognize the shepherd. It is the first step toward conversion, the first step toward the relationship, the first movement toward listening. Hearing the voice invites us to stop and then listen. For those who would be disciples of Jesus, hearing the voice of the shepherd is the ultimate, relentless priority. But there is so much noise in this world: so many fake voices, so many fake shepherds promising so many pseudo values that are all substitutes for something real.
Members of this flock who hear the voice of Jesus know their shepherd, and they stop to listen.

Yet the culture in which we live today does not value what it takes to listen……
silence, attention, devotion, respect, desire, openness are the tools or the skills of a real good listener. These are the qualities of a disciple. Those who would be disciples of Jesus Christ must be so today in a nation of choice where there is so much noise and so many conflicting voices that we can confuse freedom with license, and individual choice has boundaries: an unwanted pregnancy, a dying old man, a boring marriage
all become subject to individual discretion or choice. Any challenge, any question, any suggestion that something might not be rightis shouted down by the noise of individual freedom and the demand for one’s individual rights!

Hearing the voice of the Shepherd is impossible while individuals demand their way, ignore the common good, and shout down those who do not think their way or share their so-called “values.”  It will never be possible to hear the voice of the shepherd with all this noise. It will never be possible to tell if it was fake. We have to find some quiet time in our lives, some quiet time every day or we shall never discern the Good Shepherd, the True Shepherd, who has come to show us, to lead us, and to call us to the Father.

If we cannot hear the voice of the Shepherd, we shall never belong to the flock.

April 18, 2010

Acts 5:27-32 + Psalm 30 + Revelation 5: 11-14 + John 21: 1-19

On this date in 1968 I was ordained a priest at age 25. Wheat was growing where this church now stands: wheat that would become bread, bread that would feed us and bring us to this day. More than half of this parish was not even born, but God had a plan that one day we would be here together and that we would break and share the bread that wheat has given us; and that we would share the promise and the faith that God would stay with us and Jesus would send their Spirit. With the deepest and most intense gratitude to God, and my most sincere gratitude to you, I break the bread of life and break open this word of God today thankful that you are so patient, so kind, so willing to look beyond short-comings and inadequacies and look for the hand and the face of God in an aging servant.

Now it begins very early in life for all of us. The earliest signs are seen in tiny children who pull away from a helping hand. One of the first words in every child’s vocabulary is: “No”. Then comes: “Let me do it.” And before long, its “I want to do it my way.” And the trouble begins. I can’t think how often as a priest I have stood by helplessly and watched a spouse who has lost a partner in the midst of their grief try to go back to life as it was – or try to continue living how and sometimes where they lived for years with a husband or wife who is suddenly no longer there. Eventually it does not work. Nothing is the same, and no matter how hard or how long they try, something new must happen. We all eventually discover that you just can’t go back.

The church, the faithful followers of Jesus Christ are discovering that by the time John writes his Gospel. The disciples experienced that in the days following the death of Christ. Those who came to faith by their witness a generation later realized that coming to life in Christ was more than a profession of faith. It was a whole new way of living, of seeing, or thinking.  Peter is that church along with his fellow disciples. They have lost their companion, and in their grief, they want to go back, and so Peter says: “I’m going fishing.” But it does not work.

There are to two problems with Peter’s fishing trip. one: they are fishing at night. two: Peter starts the whole idea thinking it’s about him as he says: “I am going to fish.” By the time this story is over however, it is day light and the nets are full, but Peter didn’t do it. Peter has placed all his hopes on his own unaided efforts. When the others join in this kind of wrong-headed thinking, they are in for a night without success. Not until they are obedient, until the follow the Master’s instruction do they get anything and when they do, it’s more than they could have imagined.

There is a message here for us from John’s Gospel, and it is an important one for people like us who like to do things our way when we feel like it. This kind of thinking and approach to life cannot work for disciples of Jesus. John’s Gospel gives some important instructions to the first-generation church, and to us as well. When we come to believe in the risen Christ, nothing can ever be the same in the way we think and the way we act. If we go back to the old ways, nothing will happen – empty nets. If we start to think we can do anything on our own or do anything our way, nothing will happen – empty nets. Peter and his friends fished at night thinking that they would fill those nets on their own – empty nets but then comes the morning. Now they can see the master on the shore and following the instructions of the master on the shore, things are different. Like Easter morning, it is John and Peter again who come to this moment of faith. John proclaims his faith in word, and this time Peter proclaims his faith in action: he jumps into the water.

There are all kinds of theories, ideas, and ideologies around these days about how to fill our nets, our bank accounts or portfolios; about how to have peace, prosperity and security. Some of them are born out of disappointment or anger the same feelings shared by the disciples of Jesus in those days after their hopes collapsed on a cross and before an empty tomb they did not understand.

This Gospel affirms what we may already know from our fishing at night: If we do not follow the instructions of the master, it is all for nothing no matter how long we fish.

Remember, they had been told by Jesus that from then on they were to fish for people. In the vision of John’s Gospel and the Kingdom he proclaims, there will be no fishing in the dark for food from the sea. They will fill their nets with people who will be fed by the master on shore. Fish and Bread is what he used to feed the multitude several chapters earlier there beside the sea. The mandate for us is no different. Children of the light as we have become and celebrated in the Great Vigil of Easter, we must and shall do everything as the master has instructed. When we do there will be food for plenty, the nets will be full, and he will look at us again and say: “Follow me” not to the cross, but to glory.

April 4, 2010 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Acts 10:34 -42 + Psalm 118 + 1 Corinthians 5: 6-8 + Luke 24: 1-12

This is the Day the Lord has Made, Let us rejoice and Be Glad!
At first it was eyewitnesses whose experience of the risen Christ moved people to faith in the resurrection. We shall tell their stories in the next few weeks.

But those eyewitnesses one by one died leaving no one who had actually seen the risen Christ. Those who came to faith by the testimony of the eyewitnesses were left with a different circumstance and perhaps a greater challenge. They could not claim to have seen the Risen Lord as had the older ones. Their testimony had to rest on something else. We who celebrate this Easter might pause to think about just how it is we came to our faith in the Resurrection.  I have done just that in the past few days during the Triduum. I have wondered how I came to this faith that gives me such courage, such joy, and so much hope. I doubt that my experience is unique, which all the more gives me reason to trust this faith and the experiences that have led me here. It can hardly be different for you.

I know that I came to faith in the resurrection from a handful of witnesses none of whom claimed to have seen the risen Christ or to have discovered an empty tomb with men dressed in white robes. Their lives were hardly that exceptional.In fact, calling them “witnesses” might evoke a laugh from one or two of them.

They never stood up in church, on a street corner, or a class room and preached a sermon. They simply lived good and faithful lives marked by charity, patience, kindness, forgiveness and gentleness. Don’t get the impression that they were pious and spent more time in church than anywhere else. They didn’t. On the contrary, they were passionate, sometimes angry in face of injustice, and impatient with evil and wrong-doing. But they never judged people, only behavior. They were grateful people and simple never expecting anything when they gave. They never pushed themselves forward in line, but kept looking back in case someone needed to get a head of them. The only time they looked down on anyone was to lift them up.

What I have come to understand is that in seeing these people, in living with them, and enjoying their company and friendship, I was reminded of things that Jesus said and did. These people made me remember Jesus.
Before we can believe, we have to remember.

Luke tells us that those visitors to the empty tomb were told by the two men in dazzling garments that they should “Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee.” And then Luke says, “They remembered his words.”
Then it starts, story after story, pointing to the fact that until they remembered what he said and what he did, they did not understand or believe.

My dear Easter friends, before we can believe, we have to remember: Remember what he said, and Remember what he did. And so we must know the Scriptures not like a study-guide for countless classes of bible-study, but as the Living Word of God which creates and forms us. We can study it all our lives, but until we begin to live it, it will not give us Life. Once we do begin to live the Word, forgiving, healing, reaching out to the forgotten, challenging systems and ways of thinking that lay heavy burdens on others, we will have remembered and we will have come to believe and we will have life. I am beginning to understand from this Gospel that it is not breath that gives us life, but Faith that gives Life.

Resurrection faith is an invitation to remember what Jesus said and did. It was not the empty tomb that brought Peter and the others to faith. It was not necessarily the news those women brought to them either. Not until Peter and the others remembered did they come to believe. That is what happened to those men walking to Emmaus: that stranger opened the scriptures for them and invited them to remember.

Today we remember, my friends. We remember what Jesus said and what he did. It is far more important than remembering an empty tomb. We remember what he left us, what he called us to become, and what he gave us in the Holy Spirit; a new relationship with God and with each other. Our best and greatest hope must be that what others see in us will help them to remember what Jesus has said and done. Our best and greatest hope is that by remembering, they too will come to faith in the resurrection as we have come to faith.

What came out of that tomb was love – the one and certain thing that death cannot destroy. We who have lost loved ones know this to be true because in spite of death, we can still remember; and that is all those two men in dazzling garments suggested: Remember. When we do, we will believe; and as long as we remember, our faith will never be shaken. Only when we forget do we get into trouble and into fear.  Remember! This is the day the Lord has Made. Let us Rejoice and Be Glad.

April 4, 2010 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Acts 10:34 -42 + Psalm 118 + 1 Corinthians 5: 6-8 + Luke 24: 1-12

This is the Day the Lord has Made, Let us rejoice and Be Glad! At first it was eyewitnesses whose experience of the risen Christ moved people to faith in the resurrection. We shall tell their stories in the next few weeks. But those eyewitnesses one by one died leaving no one who had actually seen the risen Christ. Those who came to faith by the testimony of the eyewitnesses were left with a different circumstance and perhaps a greater challenge. They could not claim to have seen the Risen Lord as had the older ones. Their testimony had to rest on something else. We who celebrate this Easter might pause to think about just how it is we came to our faith in the Resurrection.  I have done just that in the past few days during the Triduum. I have wondered how I came to this faith that gives me such courage, such joy, and so much hope. I doubt that my experience is unique, which all the more gives me reason to trust this faith and the experiences that have led me here. It can hardly be different for you. I know that I came to faith in the resurrection from a handful of witnesses none of whom claimed to have seen the risen Christ or to have discovered an empty tomb with men dressed in white robes. Their lives were hardly that exceptional.In fact, calling them “witnesses” might evoke a laugh from one or two of them.

They never stood up in church, on a street corner, or a class room and preached a sermon. They simply lived good and faithful lives marked by charity, patience, kindness, forgiveness and gentleness. Don’t get the impression that they were pious and spent more time in church than anywhere else. They didn’t. On the contrary, they were passionate, sometimes angry in face of injustice, and impatient with evil and wrong-doing. But they never judged people, only behavior. They were grateful people and simple never expecting anything when they gave. They never pushed themselves forward in line, but kept looking back in case someone needed to get a head of them. The only time they looked down on anyone was to lift them up.

What I have come to understand is that in seeing these people, in living with them, and enjoying their company and friendship, I was reminded of things that Jesus said and did. These people made me remember Jesus.
Before we can believe, we have to remember.

Luke tells us that those visitors to the empty tomb were told by the two men in dazzling garments that they should “Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee.” And then Luke says, “They remembered his words.”
Then it starts, story after story, pointing to the fact that until they remembered what he said and what he did, they did not understand or believe.

My dear Easter friends, before we can believe, we have to remember: Remember what he said, and Remember what he did. And so we must know the Scriptures not like a study-guide for countless classes of bible-study, but as the Living Word of God which creates and forms us. We can study it all our lives, but until we begin to live it, it will not give us Life. Once we do begin to live the Word, forgiving, healing, reaching out to the forgotten, challenging systems and ways of thinking that lay heavy burdens on others, we will have remembered and we will have come to believe and we will have life. I am beginning to understand from this Gospel that it is not breath that gives us life, but Faith that gives Life.

Resurrection faith is an invitation to remember what Jesus said and did. It was not the empty tomb that brought Peter and the others to faith. It was not necessarily the news those women brought to them either. Not until Peter and the others remembered did they come to believe. That is what happened to those men walking to Emmaus: that stranger opened the scriptures for them and invited them to remember.

Today we remember, my friends. We remember what Jesus said and what he did. It is far more important than remembering an empty tomb. We remember what he left us, what he called us to become, and what he gave us in the Holy Spirit; a new relationship with God and with each other. Our best and greatest hope must be that what others see in us will help them to remember what Jesus has said and done. Our best and greatest hope is that by remembering, they too will come to faith in the resurrection as we have come to faith. What came out of that tomb was love – the one and certain thing that death cannot destroy. We who have lost loved ones know this to be true because in spite of death, we can still remember; and that is all those two men in dazzling garments suggested: Remember. When we do, we will believe; and as long as we remember, our faith will never be shaken. Only when we forget do we get into trouble and

April 3, 2010 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Gn 1:1-2:2 + Gn 22:1-18 + Ex 14:15-15:1 + Is 55:1-11 + Ps 51:12-19 + Rom 6:3-11 + Mt 28:1-10

I was wandering through the garden section of a store last week anxious to get some spring flowers started, but not quite trusting the Oklahoma springtime. Among the various garden tools, fountains, and ornaments was a great fire-pit on sale for $275.00. These things seem to be in style for the patio dwellers among us, and it’s not surprising. Fire light, fire warmth and the mood these can cast over us even after the fireplace inside our homes is cleaned out from the last winter evening is long lasting.

Our ancestors huddled around fires to ward off cold and the dangers of the night.
In that firelight they told stories about where to find food and water, how to survive, and they retold the stories of their great ones. As the night wore on, they wondered again and again about who they were, where they came from, and where they were going. God was in their stories; and we are still doing the same thing. Dancing flames enchant us with warmth and peace. Around them we form friendships and deepen family bonds. Sometimes we sit in silence and sometimes ask the same questions our ancestors asked about who we are, where we came from and where we are going. God too is in our stories.

Tonight with ancient ritual behavior we have done it again. We have quieted the chaos of contemporary urban life with the warmth and intimacy of a fire. We have shared our collective story of how God has called mothers and fathers like Abraham and Sarah, leaders and prophets like Moses and Miriam to birth us and lead us out of slavery. In spite of our unfaithfulness to the Covenant God has with us, God remains faithful and sent his only Son to confirm the Covenant with his own Body and Blood. He came to show us the way home, and he died to show us that no tomb cannot hold love down.

The one who is light, and truth, and the way is also the life giving water, and he has led us through that water once more to dry land and the promise. The stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty. There is nothing for us now among the dead because we are among the living. We come to know ourselves as living not because we breathe, but because we believe. Those who have gone down into the waters of Baptism have risen to new life. Those anointed with the Chrism of Salvation are anointed by and with and within the anointed one himself. Those who share the Body and Blood of Christ share in the victory feast.

We gather in the darkness of this Holy Night year after year because we have seen the light and fear no darkness. We tell again the story of who we are, where we have come from, and where we are going. This is the story of God’s faithfulness through all time, and the story of what makes us the People of God. This is the story that gives our lives meaning and hope for a future where death is only a birth into more and greater life.

For the last three nights we have been telling the greatest and most profound love story any one could imagine. Now the risen one stands among us wounded yet reaching for us to warm, heal, quench our thirst and feed our body and our souls with his Body and his Blood. What can we say: but Alleluia, Amen!

This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad.

April 2, 2010

Isaiah 52: 13- 53:12 + Hebrews 4:14-16,5: 7-9 + John 18:1-19:42

Someone once said, and I wish I had thought of it, that a cynic is a person who has given up…….. but not shut up. Isn’t that wonderful? It’s so true! This world is full of cynical people. They are everywhere. They are on radio talk shows. They write acerbic letters to editors. They are talking heads on television. They shout out in congress proclaiming Armageddon, and a few sit in theses pews hopeless and angry, cynical and negative. One great cynic is featured in John’s Gospel. He has given up but does not shut up – hopeless, his cynical exclamation ought to leave us stunned yet challenged, looking and longing, restless and miserable, dissatisfied and searching. In the 38th verse of chapter 18, the cynicism stains the page with bitterness and hopelessness. “Truth,” Pilate sneers, “What is that?”

Caught between Jesus and the leaders of the people he listens trapped between what they said and what he said both insisting that they are telling the truth. How often have we been there; trapped between what one says and what the other says, both insisting that they are telling the truth. We hear it from politicians, and sadly enough, we even hear it in the church. The New York Times says this about the Pope, the Vatican says something else. Fox News says this, and CNN says that.

Democrats say this is the truth, Republicans insist that they know the truth. In the formerly respectful, polite, halls of congress, someone shouts; “Liar” at the elected head of State. It’s the cry of a cynic. The child comes home from school and says the teacher said this, and when questioned, the teacher says, “I did not”, and the battle begins. The boss at work says one thing, and another insists that he said something else. Before long the seeds of hopelessness are sown deeply and begin to spring to life and a cynic is born.

My people, the cynic is without hope. The cynic has given up. Pilate gives up and the Truth gets crucified. In spite of all appearances, this day is about hope, and if this day does not stir hope in the human heart, all is lost, this death we remember today was in vain, and we are left to shout at each other in anger, in fear, and we shall be hopelessly lost forever.

Pilate wants to know what Truth is, and Truth is right in front of him, but it is not an angry shouting mob. We want to know truth, and we live in a world like Pilate’s not knowing who to believe even when we really do know the truth because sometimes recognizing and accepting the truth will require courage or a change in our thinking and behavior. We live in a world in which heads of state lie openly to advance their agenda or to conceal their sins; a world in which attorneys, guardians of the law, advise clients to deny the truth, conceal facts, and lie in order to “get off.”

We live in a world where parents tell their children to lie about why they have not been in school or church, or why the homework isn’t done. We live in a world just like Pilate’s where the good-old-boys hide their friends and their crimes and pass the blame. It’s all a trap into which the hopeless can fall and be lost.

What is to become of this nation?
What is to become of this church?
What is to become of us? If hopelessness and the cry of the cynic has its way?
We have no future, and there will be no Easter.
The faithful believer, the true disciple of Jesus Christ does not look to others to save, to rescue, to

relieve, heal, or calm the storm.
When we are caught and know not which way to go,
When the truth seems impossible to grasp, to find, or to hold on to,
There is only one place to look and that is to Christ Jesus, the one who is the Truth. No one possesses Christ. No one possesses the Truth.
Truth does the possessing.
What we must remember and discover in the telling of this passion story is that looking only at Christ leads us to truth, the truth about ourselves; and looking only to Christ secures our hope when there is every reason to be the cynic.

We do not give up on ourselves, or on each other.
We do not give up on our dreams and hopes
that rest upon the Gospel’s vision of the Kingdom of God.
We do not give up on this church which is founded upon a group of men who fled at the first sign of trouble and one who outright denied knowledge of Christ not once, but three times.
We do not give up on a vision of justice for all
even if securing it is expensive and means some sacrifice of comfort and security.
This day in the face of the cross and standing at the feet of a dead man is about hope believe it or not. If you believe it, there will be something to do tomorrow night in this church.
If you don’t your cynical cry will face a growing shout of Alleluia.

April 1, 2010

Exodus 12, 1-8, 11-14 + Psalm 116 + 1 Corinthians 11 23-26 + John 13: 1-15

Anthropologists and students of human history can get all excited with discussions about “homo sapiens” over the question of when this species became “human”. In other words; at what point in time do humans made in the image and likeness of God appear in this vast space of creation? If you think out of the box of biblical fundamentalism, it’s a fascinating question.
The discussion might suggest that “human” behavior and our ability to identify homo sapiens as “human” began when the first one stood upright.
That is an interesting and thought provoking idea.
Another second might suggest that homo sapiens became human when it first made tools. The idea here is that something happened when the imagination sparked to life and there was a switch from using rocks and tree limbs to actually making tools by hand. It is an idea with some merit.
A third suggestion I’ve heard from some scientists is that homo sapiens distinguished itself from all other creatures when it first began to laugh. We do believe that no other species in creation experiences or exhibits humor and laughter. The proposal then follows that the sound of the first real laughter was the moment homo sapiens emerged.

Now I am leading you into this reflection because I have yet another proposal.
Mine has no scientific back ground and is not particularly biblical; but it is profoundly theological in the sense that it leads us to reflect upon and discover something about God that is revealed to us in human nature which is very much at the heart of what we are doing here tonight, what we recall, and why we do it.

I am beginning to think that homo sapiens becomes a human being when it first made bread. That is to says, when we first planted, harvested, ground wheat, baked, broke, and shared; in other words, when we learned or discovered the consequences of doing something and waiting for the results turning those consequences into something for another.

When creation arrives at that point, it is the day of human birth.
That is the day when we begin to participate in something divine.
It is the day when we begin to realize what it means to be made in the image of God. Tonight we must ponder very deeply what it means for God to be revealed in Bread, and we must come to realize that it certainly means that we are to do more with this Bread than Eat. Until we plant a seed, wait, harvest, grind, bake, break and share, we are not anywhere near becoming a Eucharistic Community.

February 21, 2010

Isaiah 43: 16-21 + Psalm 126 + Philippians 3:8-14 + John 8: 1-11

There is something timely about this Gospel story that gives our age something to reflect upon revealing two serious issues in our lifestyle that are in conflict with the Will of God as Jesus reveals it. One cuts through every element of our society; every age, every culture, every neighborhood. The other is a more “adult” issue, but its seeds are planted early and when we look at it more seriously, it becomes a painful, sad, and serious challengeto our way of doing business as usual.

In the law of Moses, both parties to adultery are guilty and are to experience the same punishment leaving us to wonder why only the woman is brought to judgment. Herein lies the two issues. The first issue is that she got caught. More and more often in our culture it seems that getting caught is now the most serious issue. What you do, if you can get away with it is just fine. The real disgrace in our days is getting caught. I see this in our children and it frightens me. Talk with any teacher anywhere and I believe they will affirm that today’s children are more concerned with getting caught and spend more time thinking about how to avoid getting caught than they do deciding whether something is right or wrong. The shame they feel comes from getting caught not from what they did.

The problem in this Gospel story is that she got caught. Her partner seems to have avoided that scandal: never mind what the two of them were doing. At another layer of the story, the stone throwers seem very interested in dealing with the one who got caught perhaps relieved that they have not been caught. Do you not wonder if her partner in this sin might have stood there with the biggest rock relieved that he had not been caught?

Let’s not get out of here today without some serious thought about this matter. The white-collar crime of our age is the first tip of the ice berg warning us that concerns about being caught are not the best of motives for a just, moral, and good life. From athlete celebrities to politicians, the disgrace these days seems to be found in getting caught while we just shrug off real failures and sins. Not getting caught seem to give permission for continuing immorality. There is something wrong with this picture suggests the eight chapter of John’s Gospel.

The other problem exposed by this story comes from the fact that the woman stands there alone. Again, where is he? Did he get away? Was he well known? Did he have friends? Regardless of the answers, the Law they were invoking called for both to be judged and punished. Something is out of order here and a just society should be troubled. Unequal justice is not justice. The injustice of sexism is not easy to avoid. This “good-old boy” system that has a crowd of men holding rocks bringing a woman to justice while one of them is absent doesn’t seem quite right to Jesus. And so something in our culture and society comes into critique by the Gospel: sexism. Whether it has to do with adultery or more subtle forms of injustice, something is out of synch with the Gospel, and the truth is; it is evil. It worms its way through our so-called Christian society from top level boardrooms through court rooms down to classrooms and it isn’t just about equal pay for equal work either. It shows itself in divorce courts, entertainment, and commerce. The treatment of women all over this earth can be called into question by any serious reflection on this Gospel, and the Gospel intends it to be so.

Reducing this story to a lesson on the sixth or ninth commandment trivializes the bigger and more serious issues of Justice, Mercy, Compassion, and Repentance it raises. Getting out of here today without reflecting upon this matter too should not be possible. In the Kingdom of God there will be no male and female, there will be no two levels of justice, no good old boy system, and no advantages for men over women. In fact, if we listen carefully to the Magnificat and its promise, the great reversal expected at the coming of the holy one might give us cause to get anxious about maintaining things the way they are.

So, what seems to be a simple Gospel story we have heard enough times to recite by memory is not so simple. It is fun but very distracting to sit back and wonder what Jesus was writing on the ground when in fact we’re never going to know. To even be distracted by that gesture is to avoid and deny some very challenging things being raised by the Gospel itself. In the end, the one being accused in this story is not the woman. The one being accused is Jesus, and we use this Gospel in this season to prepare ourselves for the accusations to come in the next ten days. The trial of Jesus has begun.

Judgments are about acts not about people. Jesus condemns the act between this woman and some man, but he does not condemn the woman. The crowd wants to judge the person and thereby avoid any judgment of acts perhaps because in judging the act they will have to look at themselves. Let’s take a look at how much we are concerned with getting caught and how that shapes our choices. Isn’t it odd that sometimes we spend more time thinking about how to cover our actions or excuse ourselves than we do considering whether something is simply right or wrong? And then a deeper awareness of the evil and the power of sexism might awaken us to greater justice and compassion that makes us more ready for this Kingdom that Jesus proclaims has already begun.

February 14, 2010 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Joshua 5: 9-12 + Psalm 34 + 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21 + Luke 15:1-3,11-32

A parable about a Father is also a parable about the children. We know that Jesus used this parable to reveal something about God His Father. And in the person of the older sons Jesus speaks of the elders, chief priests, and Pharisees about their stubborn and hardened hearts. Luke takes the parable and uses it as the last in a series of three parables about celebrations over the recovery of something that was lost: sheep, coins, children.
We can tell the parable about ourselves, and in the middle of Lent, that might be the best reflection of all as we move into the last weeks of this holy season.  There is no doubt that a mood of joy and hint of celebration breaks into this season today; but it is about something yet to come with a parable that is unresolved. We never know from the details that Luke provides if the party ever takes place. It stops uncomfortably short with a conflict unresolved. Besides being a story of mercy and forgiveness, patience and love; This is a story of entitlement. “Give me what should come to me.” says the young man. He expects the father to hand over everything to him and to his brother, and he wants it now. He gets what he wants, and finds out it is not what he needs. His hunger is not for food because after having all that money can buy, he is still hungry and lonely. At home he had everything he needed and could ever have asked for. He has a moment of grace and goes home where there was more than food and drink, shelter and safety. There is a father who loves and waits.

Besides being a story of mercy and forgiveness, patience and love; Entitlement and enlightenment, this is a story of resentment and anger. The rule-keeper, the dependable one, the responsible one is filled with resentment.
When we tell this parable in this church it becomes our story. While there may be some here who have come home after leaving us hopefully finding what the younger son found at his return, most of us here are the rule-keepers, dependable, and responsible. While there may be some whose sense of entitlement leaves the rest of us to do all the work, contribute the funds, provide education and formation for their children, a pretty place for their weddings, comfort and food at their funerals, while they spend on themselves, we must look deeply into this parable for our own place in the story.

Resentment and anger have no place among us as a church, as a nation, as a human family. Both entitlement and resentment break the bonds that hold us together. When they meet head on, there can be no celebration, no party, no rejoicing. We are asked to do more than just our duty. More is needed than just keeping the rules and being dependable. Self-serving righteousness in the end does more damage to this family than selfish entitlement. Neither work for the common good of the family, but the resentment seems hardest to overcome. Resentment is built upon perceived inequality and comparison. This man evaluates himself in comparison to his brother. It is not surprising that he comes off looking good: too bad he did not compare himself to his father. This man is reward driven. He works for what he can get, not for what he can give. He thinks it is all about rewards, and when that attitude meets grace, resentment erupts like a volcano. We understand him because he is so much like us.

The speech of the older brother is almost stunning in its selfish righteousness. I did this, I did that, I have always, I have never….on an on he goes. It’s all about him. Perhaps he thinks that his portion is now threatened by the return of his brother. Suddenly his attitude of entitlement and privilege gets in the way. One squanders and the other hoards not spending anything to even entertain his friends. Both complain about what they have NOT been given. Greed and Jealousy have made them both blind to what they have been given.
That older one thinks it’s all about him; but it isn’t.

It’s about a father who waits and watches, and simply says: Everything I have is yours.” Can we hear that news?
Can those words melt the hardness of resentment that is killing us? Will those words ever quiet the restless hunger that makes us greedy and jealous creating the silly sense of entitlement that drives us apart and tears at our unity? “Everything I have is yours”. In the middle of Lent comes the shocking news of grace and what it uncovers.
There is still no rejoicing, no party, no celebration. For two reasons, some will not let go of their past sins and cannot quite believe that we are sons and daughters of a God who says: “Everything I have is yours.”You do not deserve it. You do not earn it. The other reason is that we continue to work for rewards and for what we can get and the simple presence of abundance means nothing to us while we grow in resentment and anger looking at what others have and judging ourselves by comparison. Only when we break loose from these ways of thinking and acting will we get inside and hear the music and know that we are home.