Powers of the World

Gospel: Mark 12: 13-17

The Herodians represent the powers of the world, those who curry favor with the Herods and Caesars who wield political power.  The Pharisees represent the powers of institutional religion and its laws and rules.  On paper these two are rivals and enemies, and often in fact they are as they seek more power for themselves.  But in the one thing that matters they are allies: both oppose Jesus and seek to trap Jesus and ultimately to destroy him.  

Each is looking to see what decision Jesus makes.  Will he choose Caesar and the power of the world, or will he choose the religious law and the power of institutional religion?  Both walk away disappointed as he chooses neither.  The choice Jesus makes is the one he has made his entire life:  he chooses God alone.  On the surface that may appear to support the powers of religion, but it does not.  God and institutional religion often have little to do with one another.  

To choose for God is to entrust oneself to our very source of being and existence.  It is the recognition that all that we have comes from God, that nothing comes from Caesar, and that what Caesar claims as his and what institutional religion claims as theirs comes from God alone.  Jesus is put to death by the collusion of state power and institutional religion, as have so many others in our world.  But God raised up Jesus, and will raise up those who make the same choice as Jesus.  

Unfaithful Stewards

Gospel: Mark 12: 1-12

We have grown accustomed to reading today's parable as an indictment on the religious leaders and institutions of Jesus' day, and no doubt this was the intent of the author, understood clearly by the original audience.  No doubt it is true that the religious leaders and institutions of Jesus' day rejected the prophetic voices sent to them, neglected the needs of the vineyard, and conspired to put to death Jesus, seen as the son in this story.  

However, we are much less likely, much less comfortable, seeing this parable as about our own stewardship of the vineyard.  We would rather not talk about the many prophetic voices we have rejected, the many people we have killed who are images of God, other Christs, temples of the Holy Spirit.  We shut our ears when people talk of the abuse and scandals they have experienced at the hands of today's religious institutions and leaders, or the neglect of the vineyard and the largesse of the so-called stewards.

As with so many other things, it is much easier to examine the consciences and behaviors of others rather than our own.  The parable, that sermon about sin - they are about that person over there, not me.  But they are about me. My stewardship has not been any better than that of the original audience of this Gospel.  Today is a day to take stock of our own stewardship, to repent of its failures, and to begin anew more faithfully and lovingly to its care.   

The Trinity

Gospel: John 3: 16-18

The Trinity is ultimately a mystery we cannot hope to ever understand.  However, this doctrine gives us a number of important implications for us human beings.  The first is that God is a community of persons so united to one another in love that they form one single entity.  From this first truth comes the second - that God is inherently relational and communal to human beings and the cosmos at large which God created in a free act solely in love.  

Since the relations of the three persons in God are perfect, we seek to perfect our own relationships in the world.  The Spirit enables us to re-store that which was lost: the sin of Adam marred our relationship with God; the sin of Cain fractured our relationships with one another; the sins of Noah's time separated us from union with the cosmos; and the sin of Babel laid bare the structures of sin we create as humans.  All of these were restored at Pentecost; we are able to have more perfect relationships in each sphere.

We human beings are inherently relational and communal beings as well.  Though our relationships are imperfect, we have a God who inspires and urges us forward each day to renew and re-create our relationships - with God, with one another, with the whole created order, and with that which we ourselves create - so that they may be more just, more loving, and more like the relationships within the Triune God who has created us in this relational and communal image.