September 5, 2004

Wisdom 9:13-18 + Philemon 9:10-17 + Luke 14:25-33

The class on discipleship continues, but there is a turn in the mood today.

Luke describes the scene suggesting that “great crowds” were traveling with Jesus; and he says that Jesus turned and addressed them.

That “turning” is important.

It is a visual detail that puts Jesus up front as the leader, the teacher, the guide.

They are going to Jerusalem, but that crowd does not get the picture.

His words sound harsh and impatient, and they may very well have been.

What he has to say to them today however is not about family relationships or carrying crosses.

In is the examples Luke provides

we get some help to understand what Jesus means.

In a word, this is all about Prudence.

Jesus counsels would-be disciples to be Prudent.

It is a quality of good moral living.

The quality of a prudent life is marked by action that is wise, well considered, responsible, reasonable, and accountable.

These are qualities of action.

Passive, timid, and negligent people are not found to be prudent, and they have no place among the disciples of Jesus.

Prudence seeks the best way to do the right thing.

Disciples of Jesus Christ are not timid, inactive, passive, and negligent.

They will be leaders: people who do the right thing,

not managers who do things right.

It is not the same thing, and we know the difference when we see it.

Disciples of Jesus have the big picture.

They have considered the consequences of their decisions and their actions.

They do not live in their own little world unconnected to others.

They never forget that what they say and what they do has something to do with the “common good”, a concept that seems to be slipping away from us.

The truly Prudent do not live isolated lives in which self interest is all that matters.

The truly Prudent disciple of Jesus “calculates”

(to use a word of this Gospel in  the example of the builder).

The truly Prudent disciple of Jesus “sits down and decides”

(emphasis upon a good decision that affects others: since he is talking about the life and death of his troops in this example).

This virtue of “prudence” becomes more a quality of life

than a kind of rehearsed behavior.

It is a way of living in relationship to others.

It is an ability of see how things fit together,

to see that there is a divine plan for goodness.

Prudent people are accountable people.

They do not forget that they shall be called upon

to account for what they do in this life

so that what they are will be consistent with what they do.

The call to renounce possessions at the end of this text today

is one more part of the call to experience discipleship

as stewardship and the challenge to use with prudence the things we have

not to get more, but to give more.

That crowd following Jesus to Jerusalem was probably there to see what they could get without the least bit of interest in what they would be called upon to give.

Having heard what Jesus says today, it cannot be the same for us.

We shall have no excuse for any behavior that is self-serving

and fails to find the way to do the right thing.

August 29, 2004

Sirach 3:17 – 29 + Hebrews 12:18-24 + Luke 14:7-14

The first reading this weekend guides us through another reflection from the lesson Jesus gives to those who would be his disciples during this Jerusalem journey.

Remember, Jesus himself was schooled in rich tradition of Wisdom.

Ben Sira wrote first in Hebrew, and his grandson translated the work into Greek.

It was a summary of Hebrew tradition written to keep the faith alive among those who were in exile, isolated from their roots and Hebrew companions.

The Greeks had no specific word for “Humility.”

Every one of their words that related to the idea

had some sense of passivity, weakness, or feebleness.

The Greeks regarded the whole idea of humility as a weakness,

and they held it in contempt.

In contrast to that culture’s perception, Ben Sira would have Hebrews see humility is a virtue, a strength to be cultivated in life as a way of drawing near to truth.

In fact, as time passed, the prophets began to use that virtue in their description of the Messiah. Even in the psalms, virtuous people are described as being humble, and the evidence of humility is trust in God, knowing that God is the source of all greatness.

The Jesus of Luke’s Gospel, headed for Jerusalem has already put his trust in God. He is man entirely in touch with the truth of who he is and who God is.

Still in contrast to the idea of humility the Greeks proposed, Jesus shows us that this strength, this virtue, this quality of a disciple’s life is an active, positive, cooperative trust solidly set upon hope in God.

Jesus and his disciples know the truth about themselves and their God.

They know who they are and what they are.

They know where they are,

and they simply embrace the truth of their trust and hope in God.

The illustration of this that Jesus uses speaks to guests and to hosts.

He proposes a social system without reciprocity.

That divine suggestion flies in the face of most of what we do and why.

Jesus proposes for disciples behavior that is fit for the Kingdom of God.

In the Kingdom, God is the host, and everyone is invited.

Behavior in that Kingdom finds everyone seated together.

There is a leveling of the things that separate people.

Only those stand out who think they are different or better than another.

The humble find their sense of self and their identity in God,

not in comparison with another like themselves.

This is a very important thing for disciples of Jesus to understand.

The consequence of finding one’s identity in God is service, not power.

There is no one freer in the entire world than the humble.

They do not cling to fame or fortune,

because they know that these things

stifle depth and growth in wisdom and in holiness.

Luke suggests in the words of Jesus,

that humility is not pretending that one is “not worthy.”

Humility is facing the truth that all is gift,

and the only proper attitude is not pride, nor arrogance, nor feeling special;

but simply Gratitude.

Luke suggests that the proud think they are worth more

because of their achievements, their status, their power, their wealth,

all of which they may have; but the proud miss the point.

All that stuff is for the service of others and nothing else.

The people around the humble table are people who in truth, need to be there.

We who have set ourselves on the road to Jerusalem as disciples of Jesus

never forget the truth that all this stuff we have is not ours,

and we are not better than anyone because of it.

We cannot ever forget that what we have is there

because we have been chosen by God to be instruments of God’s love,

of God’s mercy, and of God’s goodness.

This is the truth that bears fruit in Humility.

This is the virtue of a disciple, and it is how disciples of Jesus will be known.

August 8, 2004

Wisdom 18:6-9 + Hebrews 11:1,,8-19 + Luke 12:32-48

Fear or Faith.

It is one or the other in the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ.

The story of fear opens the Old Testament

so that the story of faith can be told.

It begins with a couple who are afraid,

afraid of God, afraid to trust, afraid even to obey.

Their fear leads to violence, and one of their children kills the other.

It is a story told again and again in the human family.

Fear leads to violence.

That first story of fear however, leads to the next story of faith,

and we have heard something of it today so that we might better open our hearts

to the lesson Jesus offers us along the way of his journey.

That second story is again about a couple.

This time it is a couple of faith not of fear: Abraham and Sara.

They are the risk takers, who live by faith, not by fear.

Unafraid, Abraham leaves his homeland for a place he’s never been.

Unafraid, old, and thinking they are finished with life;

they conceive life because they are not afraid.

Unafraid, trusting that God will provide all things, Abraham risks,

not just life in a new land, not just conceiving a child,

but he even risks that child in moment of faith

that is as much a test of God as it is a test of Abraham.

There is yet another story of faith to be told.

It is the story of our lives in this place, in this time.

It is a story shaped by the Rabbi, Jesus,

the one who teaches us during his journey how to make our own.

Each of us in here writes the verses of our story every day of our lives.

It is either a story of fear or of faith,

and our story like Abraham’s will be illustrated by how we use what we have.

It will tell of our trust in God, and it will measure our faith.

If we are afraid to follow Christ, it will never be a story of faith.

If we are afraid to love, to give life, to accept God’s gift, it will never be a story of faith.

If we fear to give up, do without, or give away anything in our lives because it is the right thing to do, because God asks it of us, we shall not have story of faith.

In just a few moments we are going to stand and profess our faith.

Thirty minutes later when we leave, the rest of the world will know how much faith we have by how we live the rest of the week.

The faith of Abraham, which is the faith of Jesus

is not a creed, a set of rules, dos and donts;

it is not a theological concept to be studied in books.

It is a relationship, a relationship to be lived.

This kind of relationship is what “love” means.

Different from affection, sexual attraction, and sentimentality,

this “Love” – God-style.

It is a gift in the context of a relationship that allows for risks in the face of fear.

It is what makes marriage a sacrament – a holy union,

because it rests upon faith that allows for no fear.

It is a love that lets two people set aside their fears and take the risk of forever.

The fear of the future, the fear of being a mother or a father,

the fear that they might find someone else and leave,

the fear that love might grow cold must be replaced by faith.

This is the faith Jesus calls forth from those who would be his disciples.

That is the faith that led him to Jerusalem and sustained him

through all that would happen there.

It is the faith we must have if we shall be with him in the New Jerusalem.

August 1, 2004

Ecclesiastes 1:2,2:21-23 + Colossians 3:1-5,9-11 + Luke 12:13-21

Several weeks ago, our church began to walk with Jesus toward to Jerusalem.

It was the Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary time, to be exact; and since then we are making our way through Luke’s Gospel from Chapter Nine to Nineteen as Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem. Along the way, in the genius of Luke’s plan, Jesus instructs his disciples and forms them in the values of true discipleship. We pause today in that journey to hear a story about Jesus being drawn into a family dispute, and the discussion that comes from that dispute puts before would-be and wanna-be disciples a clear lesson on foolishness.

We are left to wonder about ourselves: how wise we are or how foolish. We are left to wonder about the power of greed, that constant yearning for more that creates false worth, and topples authentic priorities. We are called by Jesus to a kind of Wisdom that places value on who people are and what they can become rather than on what they have. This Gospel is about Wisdom, and those who would follow Jesus learn to be wise and find by that Wisdom true riches. Wisdom becomes the great treasure, the greatest wealth, the fondest possession.

The wise then stand in contrast to the foolish. The wise possess a reverent and respectful vision of the world that challenges narcissism, and the “me-first” foolishness that considers others only have one’s own needs and wants have been satisfied. The wise know the truth about what they have and who they are. They never think that what they have should give them privilege, power, or influence.

They always remember that privilege does not come without responsibility, and there are no rights in this life without duties.

There were some in that crowd who heard what Jesus said and surely grumbled. “There he goes again, warning us about our possessions. Why doesn’t he talk about the law and keeping the Sabbath and sex like the other rabbis? Why doesn’t he stick to religion and leave economic life to us who know more about it?” They were right, of course. He did talk more about the danger of wealth than anything else; and I think it’s because in the course of one’s life, more temptation and more harm come from failure here than anywhere else. Most of the people he spoke to and called into discipleship were not going to commit murder, adultery, or robbery. But everyday, they had to face the temptations of greed and selfishness. So, he did not exactly fit in, this pilgrim headed to Jerusalem with all it’s wealth, power, and privilege. Along the way, he taught us about Wisdom; a kind of Gospel Wisdom that leaves us to stand in this world like foreigners who do not quite speak the local language. The language of consumption is not ours. The economics of power and privilege is not ours either.

This weekend and next, while walking with Jesus we get a chance to wonder about true Wisdom and the power of greed. Practically speaking it means the next time we walk through a store or through the mall and think of buying something, we might ask: Do I need this?

Those who are growing in Wisdom will ask the deeper and harder question:

“What will this do to me?”

“How will this affect my life, not today, but next month?”

“Is desire to have a sign of growing greed?

“Am I really defined by what I own?”

“Am I just building bigger barns?”

“Am I Wise or am I a Fool?”

There are no foolish disciples of Jesus.

June 6, 2004

Proverbs 8:22-31 + Romans 5:1-5 + John 16:12-15

Understanding does not necessarily lead to prayerful contemplation or to participation in the Holy Trinity; but when we get right down to the truth of the matter, the Holy Trinity is about experience not about understanding. It is about what happens to us, not what we think about. It is about what we know from experience, not what we learn from textbooks or the internet. Explanations are less important than experience, and when it comes to God and matters of the divine or matters of revelation, this is never more the truth. It seems to me that this Feast is best celebrated without wordy explanations that leave us standing outside the locked gate of mystery, but rather with a quiet waiting and watching that prepares us for the gift of God’s self giving and opens the way to realizing a union with God.

This experience of God, which is revealed to us in our faith, is an experience of relationship, not an experience of ideas. Out side of relationship, the Trinity, remains a mystery behind a locked gate; but from within relationships, it a gift that opens the way to a spirituality that is profoundly and authentically Trinitarian. Think of it in terms of the names:

“Father” is not God’s proper name. Neither is “God”.

“Father”, “Son” and “Spirit” are names or words that point to relationships rather than who God is in God’s fullness. They do not begin to tap nor express nor reveal the inexhaustible mystery of God. What they do is invite us IN. Those names are about relationships, relationships with us as much as with each other. They speak of the character of divine mystery, they speak of the One is beyond naming. We may not know God’s name; but we certainly know what God is from the names we use: God is Love, and that love is found in relationship.

The Old Testament prepares us well for images of God as Father with many wonderful stories of many wonderful fathers – Father Abraham who offers what is most precious and most valuable, his own life in his son, as a gift to God, a father who gives away what nearest and earnest to him, his own flesh and blood, and because of his willingness, life is returned to him. And there is Father Jacob who pines for his beloved child who has been plotted against and betrayed by his own brothers and sold for sliver. But the bonds between them are never broken even by age and by silent distance. Joseph the son rises to forgive his betrayers, his own brothers, and is reunited with his father. These are stories that help us to name God: “Father.” The one who is above all naming.

There comes to us another story in the New Testament about relationships and Father and Sons when a Father with two sons again gives God a name out of his behavior in relationship. Contrary to the expected behavior and patriarchy of the time, this “Father” gives all his attention not to the first born who deserves all, but to the last born who deserves nothing. The image of Father is shaped again by Love in the face of need with a gift that is pure gift, not a gift that is reward.

In these stories that lead us into precious and tender treasure of our experience we begin to touch the truth of divine presence and find our place in the Trinity, find our place in this dynamic of love so powerful that it can rise about sin and death itself.

There are three dangers to know and to avoid by those who wish to enter into the  mystery of the Trinity:

Individualism – the more we try to be different, to separate ourselves from human nature and other people, the further we get from the Trinity. It is a strange and awful power to arrange the world around us for our own interests, to become competitive. The pursuit of private interests is always at the expense of another and the detriment of community It changes the world from a playground to a battlefield.

Materialism – it’s a matter of wants, not of needs. It is a religious practice, materialism. There is no effort to justify wants, we just want more, more for all kinds and of every kind, because the more the better. We do not deny that there is a spiritual level, we simply do not get there. The result of materialism is devolution. When bears get near humans they go down hill. It is embarrassing to notice. They lose their wonderful hunting skills and dig in dumpsters. Following material instincts, humans do the same thing – they go downhill and end up digging in dumpsters.

Restlessness is the third danger. It’s the “Been there done that” mind. In this mind, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, just so long as you do something. Perpetual motion becomes and end in itself. We get like ants running here and there following the path of least resistance or the lure of the most attractive, avoiding problems and driven to something better with no goal or rest in sight.

A balance of individualism with community; materialism with spirituality, and restlessness with peace draws us into the mystery of the Trinity where in we shall discover who are to one another, who we are to God, and where we are for all eternity.

May 30, 2004

Acts 2:1-11 + 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13 + John 20:19-23

It is so easy to get caught up in the excitement of these readings today.The images are so powerful and vivid:not just tongues of fire and a mighty wind,but also these disciples who are so transformed by their experience in that room.From fear to courage,from locked doors to wide open windows,from the shame of their betrayal to the pride of their calling,from the silence of whispered wishes to the bold proclamation,even an unbeliever would have to be impressed and filled with awe.A transfomation of such significance can only be the work of God.Yet to look only at them,to wonder only about their witnessand to remember this story in terms of what they did and of how they spokeis to be removed from the story and stand like an unbeliever in the face of the facts.It is so easy, and we have all done it,so easy to hear these verses from Acts of the Apostlesand wonder “How did they do that?” How did they speak in all those tongues?all the while ignoring what they said!

The issue is not how they spoke in all those tongues;but what they had to say, and that fact that some actually LISTENED!I would like to put it another way –and give you something to take home today.Talking is not nearly as important as listening.It is the listening that makes a difference.Pay attention to the story of this day.The first important verse here for us is:“each one heard them speaking in his own language.”

Something happened that day because the crowd stopped to listen.That had to happen first.What good would the gifts of the apostles had beenif no one had been willing to listen?We are reminded today more about listening than about talking.If the apostles had not listened to Jesus, they would have had nothing to say.If the people in the streets had not listened to the apostles,nothing would have happened that would have made any difference.

The listening changed everything, not just the talking.What good can it do to say “I’m sorry.” if no one listens to the message?We have all become so good at talking,and most of us feel as though we have so much to say;but as one of the chief “talkers” in this community,I remind myself every day about the need to listen.Talking gets all wrapped up with power and the exercise of authority.No matter where it happens, at the seat of government, or the seat or religion,at the dinner table in your home or behind the wheel,there is always talking,and after awhile, some of us who find ourselves being “talked to” all the timestop listening, and in this there is great danger.

It seems to me that one of the gifts of the Spirit is the gift of listening –a little more involved, a little more important than “hearing”,it is part of the gift of Understanding and Wisdom.The image of the tongue, the tongue of fire, which artists have so quickly capturedought someday to be followed by an image of the ear.The miracle of the tongues takes us nowhere without the miracle of the ears.They are both essential to make the Pentecost experience complete.We are never going to have peace until we learn to listen:listen to the cry of the poor,listen to the anger of the oppressed,listen to the pain of the sick who get no health care or medication,listen to the silence of those treated unjustly,listen to hearts of the lonely,listen to the whispers of the old and abandoned who are no longer useful to us.The gift of Peace Jesus wishes for uswill only find a home in the hearts of those who stop talking and start listening.

May 23, 2004

Acts 1:1-11 + Ephesians 1:17-23 + John 17:20-26

For the past two Sunday John’s Gospel has described the relationship of Jesus with God and with his disciples through which we have examined the identity of Jesus and our own in the langugage of friendship, love and belonging. There was the shepherd who knew his sheep and whose sheep knew him. He laid down his life for them, and then he whispered the divine name into the darkness of the divine mystery and called God, “Father.” He spoke of the oneness between himself and this “Father”, and he called us “friends” because he had made known to us everything he had heard from this “Father.” He gave us everything the Father had given him.

This Gospel talk is “theological language.” It is not the stuff of a romance novel nor a suspense story. It is as different a language as  Greek or Arabic, Hebrew or Japanese is from our English. We are not going to understand the story if we do not learn the language

We may use the words, and they may sound familiar, but they will not lead us to Truth as we defined it last week unless we use them as they were intended.  It is the same for Unity. Biblical unity does not mean uniformity. Biblical Unity is rooted in a union of love and respect. This was the struggle of the earliest church. They had to realize that their unity in Christ did not mean uniformity in appearance nor in observance of the Jewish laws.

The words of Jesus spoken to us today call us to a vision of unity we have not yet fully realized. Somehow in these days and in this nation it seems more distant and impossible than ever. Our lives spiritually and politically have become so isolated that the unity for which Jesus prays almost seems beyond our reach. Unity that is not inclusive of human diversity is not unity at all. We are called to Unity, and the only way there is through Love.

Again, this is a new language. Unity in the language of God’s Word is not conformity; but oneness as the Father and the Son are One. Their difference is not lost in the unity of their love. Love in the language of the God’s Word is not sentiment and emotion. It is power and sacrifice and service.

The two fundamental needs of any human being are solitude and community. We want sometimes to be alone, but to be “all alone” is the essence of hell. It is not enough to be touched and greeted; our solitude must be protected and respected.  Love as we find it revealed in God’s Word is that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other. To be “all one” is the essence of heaven, sharing that total and eternal reality which Jesus taught us to call “Father”.

Today’s Feast is not about the going away of Jesus. It is about Unity. I believe that where Jesus is, we are to be found. While I cannot explain that mystery, I can hold to the conviction that in returning to God, Jesus has taken us with him. We are, in Jesus, back where we belong. If we do not hold to this hope, then the ascension seems to be a separation; but the Spirit insists that that we believe in the nearness of God.

The reign of God is a kingdom of justice, of peace, and love. It will never be achieved by human effort alone, but never without humans. And so, we pray every day and some of us more than that: “Thy Kingdom Come” and we work to bring it about. When I am just, when I am a peacemaker, when I love or am in love, I am in God. Perhaps if this truth enters more deeply into our lives and our search for understanding, we will know more truly the unity for which Christ prays and toward which the Spirit continues to draw us.

May 16, 2004

Acts: 15:1-2,22-29 + Revelation 21:10-14,22,23 + John 14,23-29

During these Sundays between Easter and Pentecost, there is no way of escaping reflections on identity: the identity of Christ the Risen the Lord, and the identity of his followers. We have heard this more clearly than ever the last two Sundays, and it comes again today.

Sometimes we identify a thing by its properties or a person by their gifts. We examine components, how they work and fit together, and then give a name based on those properties. Sometimes we do this by contrast. We look at one thing and then another, we observe what is different between them, and we name them by distinction. That is what is going on at this point in John’s Gospel.

John identifies Jesus as “Truth” by looking at his properties. “Truth” in John’s gospel has nothing to do with intellectual research. It is not the opposite of a “lie.”

“Truth” in Old Testament literature means the fidelity of God to His people. As the word develops in later literature, it came to mean the revealed mystery of God. “Truth” then, in John’s Gospel raises the issue of God’s faithful presence revealed.

When Jesus calls himself “The Truth” he is not speaking of honesty, he is speaking of his relationship with the Father. Those of us who live in the “truth” are people who live in the presence of God. To have the “truth” is not to possess something, but to be something. At the same time today, we consider identity the other way – by contrast to something else. The difference between disciples of Jesus and the world is precisely the love that consists in faithfulness to his word. We shall know who we are, and others shall recognize us by what we are not of this world.

In these weeks since Easter, we have walked with the disciples of Jesus into the mystery of what has happened to us because of the Resurrection. We have gone deeper into the mystery of what it means, and what our lives mean because of that Resurrection. A church, you and me, (not an institution), is filled with the presence of God. This world may not yet understand, believe, nor see God in us because too often we are more like this world than we are like the God whose life and whose spirit fills and sustains us. We are too slow to believe in the resurrection and what it means for us. We spend too much time thinking it is about Jesus, and that becomes a way of avoiding what it means for us. We spend too much time waiting for something to happen rather than making something happen with the gifts we already have. It is not a matter of having more or anything. It is a matter of doing something with what we have.

We are the Spirit filled Church. We are now all that Jesus has been. Our mission, our purpose in this time and in this life is identical to his. It is about Glory – about seeing the Truth in each other. It is about being the Truth.  That truth is a principal of moral living. It guides our decisions.

It guides our relationships It guides our vision of what we shall be. As long as there is revenge rather than forgiveness, there is no faith, no obedience to the Word, no life. As long as there is violence rather than peace, there is no faith, no obedience to the Word, no life. It has nothing to do with anyone else or “the world.” It has to do with us. When we are living in the Truth and filled with the Spirit, we will be different from the world, and only then will the world have hope, because without us standing in contradicion, the world is left to its violent, empty, desolate ways. It is Jesus, risen who speaks to us today. It is the Spirit that we hear in this place. It is God who says: “I will not leave you.” I will not leave you to kill and isolate, to alienate and destroy. I will send my Spirit to remind you, to teach you again what I have said through my Son. We do not have the luxury of amnesia – we do not get the excuse that we “forgot.” Baptized and raised with Christ Jesus, the presence of God will be made known in this world through us, or there is no God at all.

May 9, 2004

Acts: 14:21-27 + Revelation 21:1-5 + John 13:31-33,34,35

From the identity of Jesus and what it means in last week’s readings, we are led this week to consider our identity and what it means.

The “glorification” Jesus speaks of and anticipates in John’s Gospel chapter after chapter is that moment, that experience, when His oneness with God is unmistakable. It means that his presence can no longer be misunderstood nor seen as anything other than the presence of God. The death and resurrection of Jesus is his glorification. For those who recognize the meaning of his death and resurrection, the love of God is revealed. What seems to the unbeliever to be a scandal, a disappointment, the destruction of a human life, and the end of all hopeis really the moment of Glory.

All that Jesus had is given to the community. It was the heart of his final prayer in that upper room, and it was his mission, a mission he fulfilled. The love of the Son is revealed as the very essence of divine life, which is being poured out nto the community. All that Jesus had was love, and he gave it all. What the Father had given him was what he gave to his disciples. When he proclaimed that He and the Father were one, it was LOVE that they shared. What the Son provided was the mutual indwelling love of God. What Jesus gave was his flesh, his body, his blood, his will so that the Love of God would have a dwelling place, be accessible, be available, be ours.

Once we understand this, the commandment to “Love one another” is not simply as a moral mandate. It becomes an expression of the belief that the very life of the community, in love for one another, is the further outgrowth of the divine revelation we have received through the Son. One follows the other. “Love one another as I have loved you.” Means that the dymanic of love between us is the same mutual love found between God and Jesus, His Son. If Jesus says: “The Father and I are one.” as we heard in last week’s Gospel, then our love for one another puts us in the same relationship. If Jesus is the sign of God’s presence, then our love for one another is the same sign, and by our surrender to that love, to that presence, to that relationship, we too are “glorified”, and others will see and find what we have seen and found in Jesus. This kind of love is new to the world, and this kind of love makes the world new.

It is a love that means opening doors we may have closed against others. It is a love that means we will respond to appeals that cry out for our help, to forgive oversights or mistakes that someone may have made. This is a love that means opening our eyes to facts that we might otherise overlook: that the poor in the world belong to our family; that those who live in despair might be saved by our care for them; that peace can come to the world through our efforts.

That vision of a new heaven and a new earth we just heard about remains in the future only because we have failed to live it in the present. The resurrection of Jesus makes all things new, not just for him, but for us all. The glorification for which he longed is already accomplished. It is now and it is within our power to fashion a world, a country, a neighborhood, a family where there is genuine love for one another and sincere concern for the well-being of all.

We have been raised with Jesus, and no power on earth can really conquer us.  We have received the Spirit he promised. We have the gifts it takes to set this world on fire with love. It is no longer the gifts of the Spirit for which we wait, now it is the fruits of those gifts that remain to be manifest: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, GOODNESS, FRIENDLINESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS AND SELF CONTROL. As we look toward Pentecost, it must not be simply a matter of what gifts we receive, but rather of how those gifts are manifest in our lives, because in Jesus Christ, we and the Father are one.

May 2, 2004

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

“THE FATHER AND I ARE ONE!” It is verse thirty of chapter ten. This is the ultimate expression of what “Jesus” means. In those six English words, the identity of the risen Christ is proclaimed. In them we understand all that John has to say about Jesus. This is why his listeners picked up rocks to stone him. This is why believers have gone to their death in every generation since then. The Gospel of John, and the other gospels too for that matter, are not history reports of what Jesus said and did, they are about who Jesus is and what it means.

This Sunday the Church reflects upon who Jesus is and what it means. Next Sunday we shall reflect upon who we are and what it means. In all the other Gospels, Jesus is portrayed in one way or another as a Jew. He is a Pharisee, a Rabbi, a teacher: always in the context of Judaism. In John’s Gospel this is not so.

Listen in the Easter weeks as we work our way through the identity of Jesus from John’s perspective. Notice how Jesus stands outside of Judaism. He talks to the Jews, they react to him. Some are against him. Some are with him, but he is always distinct from them.

What is emerging in this Gospel is an image of God revealed by Jesus. This talk of Shepherd” and the image that goes with it must be heard in the context of Jesus. In the Hebrew scriptures “Shepherd” and “King” are linked together. Remember David the “King”. Remember where he came from – he was the shepherd boy. When John has Jesus speak of himself as “Shepherd” don’t be getting all sentimental and romantic with thoughts of little wooly lambs cuddling up to someone who just crawled out of a dryer with sheets of “Bounce” clinging to his white robes.

This is revolutionary talk. These are the images of a King, a Leader, whose presence and whose message sets people against one another. Hear that talk about sheep of one-fold and sheep of another. Yet this is noble talk, and in Israel, these are images of God; and so those six words of verse thirty in chapter ten are an Act of Faith, a proclamation that Israel’s Lord is present in Jesus Christ. There is then a political dimension to the Gospel, and people who belong to the “flock” of Jesus, who live by the Word of God who are God’s people are political revolutionaries.

They will stand against laws, office holders, and regimes because their first loyalty and their own identity is with God. This is not just spiritual stuff.

It is real.

It is social.

It is political.

It is economic.

It is not just about the soul, it is about the whole human person. Jesus cured people. He did not just go around and say: “God loves you.” He made a difference now, in this world, in time; not in some far off-distant “heavenly” realm. To see Jesus as an “a-political” person alters sharply the biblical figure of the Lord as Shepherd. The Bible is not a book that has an exclusively “spiritual” meaning. To think that way is to seriously misinterpret it. It is always concerned about the whole life of people. Atheists and atheistic governments have always known that which is why they out-law or ban the Bible from their realm.

Our response to Jesus Christ is not then simply a spiritual response either. It is a total response of the whole person. It does not simply make us pious. It makes us just. It does not simply make us holy. It makes us free. It does not just give us a vision of the Kingdom of God. It gives us the way to get there. Our response is not simply to pray, but to act. There is a difference in us, in our behavior, not just in our soul.

Proclaimed in these days between Easter and Pentecost, this Gospel looks ahead to what we shall become by the power of the Spirit. We shall become, or because of it, we are a force that can bring a breath of new life and the power of the Spirit like Fire to transform our world because we can see and we believe that God has come to be with us and has called us by name.