July 27, 2003

2 Kings 4:42-44 + Ephesians 4:1-6 + John 6:1-15

For the next several weeks, as happens every third year in the late summer, the church turns to the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel.

It is John’s “Bread of Life” gospel, and it is a feast for the soul.

Proclaimed in the context of the Eucharist, it is even more so.

If you think of the Liturgy of the Word as a Feast in itself,

it becomes a four-course meal, and the appetizer is the first Old Testament reading.

Today it is the Book of Kings.

Next week we focus on the Manna in the desert as described in Exodus.

Then we hear the story of Elijah being fed and prepared by God for his 40-day walk to Sinai.

A Proverbs text follows Elijah’s story,

and the series ends with the renewal of the covenant at Shechem.

During this series, I am going to do something different

since you do not have the texts in your hand or before your eyes.

I am going to preach first and then we shall listen to the text and take a few moments after each reading to reflect and savor

what God’s Word says to us.

In that way, you will be prepared for what you hear, since I sometimes think that you have not settled down enough to really hear the first reading. Those who habitually come late are going to have a problem with this, but I can’t help that.

There is a detail in the first reading and the Gospel that is important to know for a wider understanding of what is happening and the implications of these texts. Barley bread is the food of the poor. It is course, bitter in taste, but cheaper than the finer grains at that time. Notice too that it is a poor man who is generous in the first reading. It is a poor man who brings his barley bread to the prophet. In the Gospel, it is a boy, another poor man, whose simple, course bread becomes the “stuff” of a miracle.

For the Jews at the time of Jesus, the miracle stories of Elijah were told and retold with great delight by all the people, but especially the poor for whom story telling then just as now was the favorite entertainment since they did have resources for more elaborate fun.  Yet their telling was not just to entertain, but also to affirm that the power of God is at work, and the poor, the needy, and the helpless can count on that power. Once you realize how popular this cycle of stories was among the Jews, and then begin to see the parallels between the miracle stories of Elisha and Jesus, you can understand why so many people thought that Jesus was the prophet returned.

The major element of the Elijah stories is the conflict with Canaanite religion that tended to identify God with the gifts of a fertile earth. The Canaanites made gods out of the gifts rather than having the gifts lead them to God. The miracles performed by the two prophets: Elisha and Elijah counter that inclination by insisting that Israel’s Lord of the Covenant controls the fertility of the earth, the cycle of death and life, and that Lord was the source of all good things. No stopping at the gifts themselves to make idols of them; but the force of the story insists that we go through the gifts to the giver.

When we sit with the Word of God on this hot summer weekend, there are two miracles here to ponder: two miracles that lead us into the mystery of God. The first is the miracle of the generous poor. Those with the least give the most. Those with the most to lose do not cling to what they have because they trust in God and believe that God sees their need, and their God will not leave them.

They preach more powerfully than any prophet or preacher. Their  faith is miraculous. The second miracle is the response of the servant in the Old Testament and the disciple/servants in the Gospel.

When they do what God asks, something they didn’t quite believe in happened. They doubted, feared, and suspected that there would not be enough; but they went ahead with the plan and the request. The miracle here is not just the consequences in terms of plenty;

but the fact that their obedience led them from doubt to faith.

May it be so here this day. May our attentiveness to God’s word

move us to discover and imitate the generosity of the poor and so find us counted among those God favors; and may our willingness to obey God’s command lead us from faltering faith, fear, and doubt to true faith in God and a joyful celebration of the bountiful gifts God has for those who hunger for what God provides. Listen now to the Word of God.

July 20, 2003

Jeremiah 23:1-6 + Ephesians 2:13-18 + Mark 6:30-34

They had been sent on their mission, these apostles; and it was over. They came back to report all that they had done and they were exhausted. Their rest was a boat ride, and we have no idea how long it took much less if it was enough rest. But when the ride was over, so was the rest. There are numerous ways to listen to this Gospel, and all of them have a point or two.

    There is something said about a balanced life of rest and work.

    There is something said about pity.

    There is something said about the crowds

    wanting to hear Jesus at all costs and rushing around to do so

    wanting to hear Jesus badly enough to skip a meal.

    It’s all in there.

Heard in the context of this Liturgy with Psalm 23 and Jeremiah 23,

we begin to focus upon Leadership, and that level of the Gospel text emerges in our consciousness. With it however comes a risk that could easily trip us and send us off in the wrong direction.

    That risk comes from a cultural flaw with which we live,

    and it emerges from a level of spiritual immaturity

    that poses great danger, and never more so than at the        present.

In the two Old Testament passages and the Gospel today, the  image of Shepherd is put before us in the context of leadership. It would be easy, and that’s the symptom of immaturity, to think that this reference is to someone else: in our context, about Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. What can trip us and send us in the wrong direction is to sit back and think that somehow God is speaking to us about “them” and that “they” really need to hear these readings.

There is a little element of this Gospel that is easy to miss……….

    the Apostles have been out on their mission.

    They have finished it and come home.

    In the sense of this story, they are finished. It’s over.

    Yet as the story goes on, there is still work to do.

    I believe this Gospel invites us to consider whose turn it is,

    or whose is going to do it?

    Now you know where God’s Word is leading us today.

This Gospel is not about them: the apostles or shepherds. It is not about Bishops or Priests, good, bad, successful or failures. It is about us all. The moment we stand and say: “I believe”, the moment we put out our hand and say “Amen”, the moment we say “Thanks be to God”, we cease to be sheep and become shepherds.

We are the ones who receive the Good News and its power to bring peace. We are the ones who know that forgiveness brings healing and restores love. We either use it or not. We are the ones entrusted with the little ones, the vulnerable, the poor, the ignorant, and the homeless. Parents, you are the leaders in your homes, the shepherds. If your children grow up without a knowledge of God, do not know how to pray, cannot make a moral decision, have no relationship with the church, you are their shepherds. If your chief concern is that they get an education and grow up to make a lot of money, the prophet Jeremiah would suggest trouble is coming. Yet in truth, making a lot of money is no fault. Not knowing how to use it is. Single persons living away from parental homes do not pass half a day without someone’s need gaining their attention. Stressed and depressed friends, and lonely parents facing empty homes and losing their youth are your sheep.

There is much to do, and the needs are great. In fact, they are getting greater by the day as injustice increases and an economy that favors the rich is the preference. The truth is that on this earth poverty is growing not wealth, and because there are no shepherds nothing happens. Nothing happens because too many sit back and think that someone else is the shepherd.

The Gospel is proclaimed, the Prophet speaks, and the Psalm is heard from the heart of God’s people. There is a room full of Shepherds here, more than a thousand will pass these doors today. In this church there is both enormous power and resource, courage and energy, vision and grace. What we choose to do this week and what we become is a matter of faith and spiritual maturity.

The days Jeremiah speaks of are our days. “The righteous shoot to David” has been raised up, and we are the ones who shall gather the scattered, and do what is just and right.

July 13, 2003

Amos 7:12-15 + Ephesians 1:3-14 + Mark 6:7-13

The prophet of this week had a lot of problems, not the least of which was that he was a layperson, a working man, a herdsman. Today we would call him a migrant worker. We would restrict his benefits, lure him to work for us in jobs no one else wants, and leave him at the bottom of the pay scale. He did not come on the scene with any credentials. He had no degree in theology. He was not part of the establishment who ran things. In fact, his authority came not from a title, an earned degree an ordination ceremony or an “inside group”; but from God’s call. He fits the model of Israel’s greatest: Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Moses, even David. It is a long line of our ancestors who were lay men and women through whom the plan and purposes of God were accomplished. Except for Isaiah and Ezekiel, all the prophets were lay people.

It is not much different in New Testament times. John the Baptist, his cousin, Jesus, and all those hey called to discipleship were, with few exceptions lay people. They were willing to leave behind the safe and familiar to set out on a mission for the sake of the good news. Those we hear about in the Gospel today were not prepared for the work Jesus gave them. They did not understand perfectly who Jesus was or what he was doing. They were full of faults, ambitious, confused, and they fought among themselves. Yet Jesus did not wait till they had it all together to send them out. I think he knew that whatever success they experienced would not be theirs, but the consequence of his Spirit. The work they were to do would not be their work, but his. If he had wanted professionals, he would have selected scribes or Pharisees.

The biggest difference between Amos and the Twelve is that the twelve went out two by two, while Amos went alone. Going together made it clear that they were not free agents but members and representatives of a community, and it assured the truth and validity of their witness. In spite of this difference however, the message was much the same Amos comes to warn the kingdom and its neighbors against reliance on military power, social injustice, immorality and shallow religiosity. Disciples are sent to invite people to rely on God with the reminder that true authority over life and death is never our own. They proclaim that Love of Neighbor is as important as Love of God. As a result, Social Justice is an issue for believing people, and it becomes a measure of faith just as surely as devotions and prayers.

Disciples of Jesus are not defined by their success. By the political and power standards of his day, Amos was a failure. Jesus was a dead man as far as the Romans were concerned, and a huge disappointment even to some of his friends at first  Our only failure would be to ignore the mission, to do nothing, to be silent in face of injustice, violent in the face of conflict, and miss the example of the one who sends us forth.

My friends, you do not belong to the church. You do not have a role in the church. You are the church because you are Baptized. The mission of the church does not belong to someone else.

It is not my job – it is yours. Whoever rights wrongs, feeds the hungry, cares for the dispossessed; Whoever is simple and honest, sensitive toward the countless heartaches people suffer, and intolerant of injustice is the presence of Christ in this world and the continuation of his mission.

These efforts must be fueled by passion. When faith becomes a passion, things change. Amos was so passionate that even when rebuffed, he would not be silent. The Twelve were so fired by the passion of Jesus, so driven by that passion that human comforts were unimportant. Today, Amos, Jesus, the Twelve, and the author of Ephesians remind us that all of us who have been chosen by Jesus are called to renew our passions, our purpose, and ourselves.

Perhaps our reflection on their lives

may help us all to retrieve some of the passion and fire that drove themand is worthy of disciples and people of faith.

July 6, 2003

Ezekiel 2:2-5 + 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 + Mark 6:1-6

We have to push through this Gospel today and not get snagged on any of the little sidetracks that are there. They are all dead ends. This Gospel is not about them. It is about us. It is not about the people back in the town where Jesus seemed to make his “home.” It is not about the Markan community, who preserved this memory either, even though they were asking the same question we are left ponder.

It is about us.

Whatever their trouble was, the people in that town where Jesus was had a good excuse for their attitude or “disbelief.” They lived with the historical Jesus who was at that moment in time a prophetic, wonder/worker, rabbi/preacher who had a somewhat political message and challenged the status quo with a new interpretation of the Law that offered everything for the poor and helpless but nothing for those who had security and some control over their lives. It isn’t hard to figure out why they were not interested in this Jesus. We don’t choose leaders for this country nor contribute to their campaign funds if they are going to take what we have and give it to someone else. We give our attention, our money, and our votes to those who preserve what we have and get us more. The people in His “native” place lived with Jesus before the resurrection. They were dealing with one of their own as far as they knew.

Had this encounter happened after they witnessed his death and resurrection, it would have been a different issue entirely, and when we read it and look at ourselves, it is a different issue entirely. There is more going on here than peer envy. The people of His native place had no problem about a wise man teaching them about God, and I doubt that they cared if he wanted to call himself God’s Son. What they had trouble with is the other way around: that God would be one of them. Jesus as God and God as Jesus are not the same thing.  In their favor, until the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, it was not all that clear that God wanted to be one with them. That is why it is different for us. We cannot use their excuse or their innocence. Yet we still try to do so.

The very first heresy was not denying the divinity of Jesus. It took awhile for that to happen. The first heresy was denying that God became human – the thinking that God was just “appearing” on earth as Jesus while remaining the old divine self in heaven. Jesus Christ is not an “appearance” of God for Christian believers. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is not Lord of Heaven – He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. It is this issue that the Gospel confronts. Lord of Earth is the issue, not Lord of Heaven. Jesus can be God in heaven without us, and he was, but come the Incarnation, for God to be Jesus on earth, our participation is needed. That is the problem in that town, his “native” place. They did not participate, and it is still the problem. We have to make Jesus Lord of Earth – without that, flood and fire control nature; without us, evil people determine history. With us, it is not so.

Jesus can work through God without us, but God cannot work through Jesus without us. That’s the point. That is the incarnation: that God actually became flesh and entered our world. The rest is up to us. We make Jesus Christ the Lord of creation when we steward nature instead of wasting it. When we take care of the earth because we believe that it is God’s creation and it is good and it is a gift to us. We make Jesus Lord of Earth. When we protect the earth, water, and the air everyone must breathe, we are believers in God present among us. We make Jesus Christ Lord of History when we oppose evil structures and create those that further the kingdom of God – because we are believers – not in Jesus in Heaven, but of Christ on earth. We make Jesus Christ Lord of our lives when we let him command what we eat, what we wear, and drive and say and do every day of our earthly lives.

If we are believers, He is Lord of our lives here and now, today;

not in heaven or at the end of time.

See, that was the problem in his native place. He was Lord everywhere by there. We can call him Lord until we’re out breath. We can sing our hymns as loudly as we can crank the volume and build our churches as big as we want,

but until we make him Lord of our lives it’s all a waist, and until we do, I suspect that he will work no wonders here either other than maybe cure a few sick people.