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.