The Smell of the Sheep

Gospel: John 10: 1-10

It would seem axiomatic that a shepherd would be good to his sheep.  Even the motive of self-interest would seem to suggest care for the sheep, as it would benefit the shepherd at market to have all his sheep available for sale or for shearing than not.  But it is precisely the motive of self-interest that Jesus intends to criticize in today's Gospel reading, for it is never a good motive if one seeks to be a good shepherd.

While the self-interested shepherd may indeed want all the sheep available for market, does it follow that he loves the sheep? If danger threatened him and the flock, would the self-interested shepherd give up his own life to save the sheep, or would he instead sacrifice one or more of the sheep for his own welfare?  A good shepherd is known by his actions on behalf of the flock.  

When people cannot find good shepherds they wander about in search of one or give up altogether.  When parishes are closed while the episcopal residence of 7500 square feet is retained...when building campaigns for new residences for clergy take priority over the needs of the people...the sheep know and pray ever more fervently for a good shepherd - one who lives among them and cares for them.  The Lord Jesus is that very shepherd who is at the same time the lamb offered in our ransom.   

Will You Leave Too?

Gospel: John 6: 60-69

The entire sixth chapter of John's Gospel is a foreshadowing of Holy Week in the life of Jesus.  We began this chapter with huge crowds following Jesus wherever he goes, just as what will occur on Palm Sunday.  By the end of the chapter we find everyone abandoning him and Jesus nearly alone, just as we will on Good Friday in Holy Week.  In both cases the motivations are the same.

At the beginning of this chapter the crowds wanted to make Jesus a king so that he might provide bread for them always.  They were looking for a faith that did not require anything of them: the Messiah would do it all and we would just enjoy the benefits.  But as the chapter progresses Jesus speaks of believing in him and eating the bread of life, just as he will tell the disciples at the Last Supper to "do this in remembrance of me."  He was not talking about creating a ritual, but rather in each one of us living and offering our lives for others as he did.  

This is what the crowd could not accept; this is what frightened the disciples and they hid in fear for a time.  It is not enough to accept the mercy and gifts of God; we ourselves must become the mercy and gift of God to others in the world.  To partake of the bread of life, to be in communion with the Lord Jesus is to become Christ in the world.  Our faith invites us to repeat the words of Peter - Lord, to whom shall we go? Or, to quote a modern sage: Where else would you rather be but right here, right now? 

Eating and Living

Gospel: John 6: 52-59

Every human being has life and existence solely through God's love and mercy.  Existence is not owed to us, nor is it anything we earned.  It is entirely a gift of God. Similarly in our redemption from sin which gives us spiritual life: it is given to us all completely as a gift of God's love and mercy.  No one in any way merits this gift of God.

So in partaking of the bread of life, Jesus tells us that through it we have life - life in its fullness of body and spirit.  It is to partake of the redemption of the Lord Jesus and to abide in the life it provides for us.  To have this life is to then manifest the love and mercy of God in the world as well.  To participate in the Eucharist is a pledge to become Christ in the world, to show forth God's love and mercy to others.  

If we do not find ourselves living this love and mercy of God, it is to our blame and fault.  At the same time we should not despair, and we should continue to participate in the supper of the Lord.  Remember Peter and the other disciples: they failed time and again to manifest this love and mercy.  But Jesus time and again invited them to the table and to their credit they continued to accept the invitation.  Over time this food from heaven, these encounters with the Lord had its intended effect for them, and it will be so for us as well.   

Bread of Life

Gospel: John 6: 44-51

The Eucharist is not a magic food; we do not consume it once and automatically transformed into something entirely new like a Marvel superhero.  In giving us the image of bread, Jesus is noting that the Eucharist is like our daily bread of ordinary food: its effect on us is gradual and cumulative.  So too in the spiritual life the process of illumination and divinization is gradual and cumulative.  Just as Nicodemus did not move from darkness to light immediately but over time, so too do we progress in the spiritual life through participation in the bread of life.  

The disciples of Jesus were continually with him over a span of a few years.  They were with him at table quite often, and yet they continually misunderstood and failed the Lord in so many ways.  However, over time they gradually came to see what the Lord Jesus intended for them to see - they grew in illumination.  These moments of communion were not in vain; they had been building one upon another to greater and greater identification with the Lord Jesus: they were becoming like him in their love and mercy to others.  

So in our lives we cannot grow weary or despair in our relationship with the Lord.  We might feel like failures as the disciples did in the Gospels, but if we step back and reflect on our time with the Lord we will see that we are different than we were in years past, that God has used these moments of communion to good effect in our lives, and God will continue to do so throughout our life.  Let us not discourage ourselves - let us not discourage others - from partaking of the bread of life, for by it we grow in life and love and mercy with the Lord. 

What is "God's Will"?

Gospel: John 6: 35-40

In today's reading Jesus tells the crowd that his mission is to do the will of the one who sent him, i.e. to do God's will.  We often ask ourselves what God's will is for us in our lives, and very often this has to do with vocational choice and the like.  But if our life as Christians is to live in imitation of the Lord Jesus, then it is important for us to know what God's will meant for Jesus, for that will be ours as well.

Earlier in the Gospel Jesus told Nicodemus that he came not to condemn the world, but to offer mercy and love to the world.  That is God's will for Jesus, and so this is God's will for us.  We are to provide love and mercy to others as Jesus did.  We are to be loving and merciful for others because God first showed love and mercy to us.  It is the sole condition of salvation: in the measure you show mercy, mercy will be shown to you.  

All other considerations regarding God's will - vocational choices, where to live, and the like are all secondary and in many respects are up to us.  What is fundamental in the question of God's will is the mission to offer love and mercy to the world in whatever vocation we choose and in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.   

Proclaiming Good News

Gospel: Mark 16: 15-20

"Proclaim the Good News to every creature." What does it mean to proclaim 'good news'? In ancient times this meant that a conquering general would enter a city to proclaim its 'liberation.' People would line the streets of the army's procession and shout "Have mercy" and the general would throw the spoils of war out into the crowd for them to struggle for.  As we know, this 'liberation' became in fact a bondage, and the money tossed to the crowd was a short lived boon that would soon be replaced by the poverty of occupation.

The Good News Jesus brings is that our liberation from the bondage of sin is a permanent one, and that God's mercy is for everyone; it is not something people have to fight for, and it is not a temporary condition.  God's love for each person is permanent and irrevocable.  This is the message we are to carry into every town, through every highway and byway.  

We proclaim this message of Good News by showing mercy to others in the same way that God has shown mercy to us, in the ways that Jesus did while on earth: in feeding and eating with others, in healing people in every way, in forgiving others.  For God has shown mercy to us and we must now extend that mercy to all people in concrete ways.  This is Good News indeed. 

The All Important Question

Gospel: John 6: 22-29

"Teacher, what must we do to perform the works of God?" This question begins and forms the rest of this chapter in John's Gospel.  It is the guiding question of the conversation, for it was - and is - the central question in Judaism.  The rabbinic tradition for centuries guides its discussions around this central question, for it is about living the law God has provided for his people.  Various answers are given to the question based upon different rabbinic schools and interpretations of the law.  

Jesus provides a different way of answering the question.  Rather than offer an interpretation Jesus decides to provide an example through deeds.  By healing others, by feeding people in need, and in offering mercy Jesus sets an example to follow in performing the works of God and following the law.  Rather than engage in disputations on the law, Jesus sets about to do these good deeds, showing others the way by deeds rather than words.  

So, to have faith in Jesus is to imitate his example.  It is not to recite some creedal statement; it is to perform the good deeds of mercy and love in the world.  To perform the works of God, to live the law of God is to follow the way and example of Jesus - to do works of love and mercy to others we encounter in our lives.   

How Slow of Heart to Believe

Gospel: Luke 24: 13-35

Let us revisit our friends from Emmaus, these men slow to learn and recognize the presence of Jesus in their very midst.  Here it is in the daylight and Jesus walks among them explaining the scriptures to them - and all the while they cannot see who it is who walks among them.  It is, ironically, in the evening when it is dark that they come to know Jesus' presence among them when he breaks the bread and is in communion with them through table fellowship.  

How different this was from Mary Magdalene's recognition of Jesus in the garden that first morning.  At the mere sound of her name she know the Lord; nothing else was needed.  But lest we get too judgmental on our friends at Emmaus we might well see ourselves in them.  How slow have we been to recognize the Lord in our midst, in our neighbor, in the stranger, in the life of every person we meet?

It is also worth considering that our faith is about authentic deeds of fellowship and mercy and love.  It is more about the breaking of bread than in words we utter, for we come to discover authentic Christian faith lived in deeds more than in preached words.  Consider which is more powerful: a sermon on loving our enemy, or a man walking into the jail cell of his would-be killer to forgive him?  If we are to preach an Easter message let it be in raising up another with our kind deeds and works of love and mercy.  

The Lake - A Metaphor

Gospel: John 6: 16-21

The disciples decide to get into their boat to go to the opposite shore.  It is dark; Jesus is not with them.  In the midst of the journey the weather turns rough and the going is difficult.  They see Jesus walking toward them on the water.  They invite him into their boat, but he walks right by them.  At dawn they arrive at the shore and find Jesus waiting for them there.  

Is not this a metaphor for so much of our life? We set off on our tasks often in the dark, without a thought of the Lord being present with us or not.  Our task then gets rough and difficult and we become aware of God's presence.  We invite God into our boat, but is it because we really want God present to us or because we see God in utilitarian terms and invite God only when useful for us?

The journey of four miles takes us an entire night, but at dawn the Lord is present on the shore waiting for us.  We now look back on the previous night and the journey.  Before the Lord now we are ashamed.  We set off on our own, relying on our own lights, treating God as merely a transactional relationship in our life.  But God waits for us anyway, awaiting our arrival at the shore, waiting for our love and deeper commitment.  We are Nicodemus - in the dark, but moving toward light.  

Are You a King?

Gospel: John 6: 1-15

Recall just a few weeks ago Jesus stood before Pilate, and Pilate asked: "You are a king, then." Jesus replied: "My kingdom is not of this world.  If my kingdom were of this world my followers would be rising up to rescue me.  But as it is my kingdom is not here." Today in this miracle of the multiplication of loaves the people want to make him king, and Jesus runs away - alone - to a mountain to escape this fate.  

Recall too that after God fed Israel in the desert with manna, the people established a nation, and over time the people wanted a king to rule over them like other nations.  God did not want this, knowing that the people would no longer regard God as king.  And so it happened; the kings of Israel lead the people away time and again.  

No matter how many times Jesus insists that his kingdom is not of this earth, no matter how many times Jesus runs away when people rush to make him a king, his followers throughout history have made him a political king for their own purposes and designs: Jesus is made into a Barabbas for crusaders, inquisitors, devotees of monarchies and political parties and movements of our own times.  Jesus is scourged beyond recognition each and every time.  But each time Jesus rises again, overcoming our misrepresentations to shine ever anew in our world as a beacon of hope and love for all.  For Jesus will be found in the fellowship of the meal shared together, not in the palaces of the powerful. 

God Shows No Partiality

Gospel: John 3: 31-36

"He does not ration his gift of the Spirit." Jesus makes this statement to Nicodemus in today's reading.  It is a remarkable statement for its setting: every culture believed their deities showed preference to them over and against others; many still have this belief today.  But Jesus makes a bold statement that God is not at all like that.  

God is singularly one; God cannot be divided into parts or rationed.  So every person experiences God fully, for God is present in the heart of every person and at work in the life of every person.  God's spirit pervades over the entire world.  We think God shows partiality because we do.  We think God rations out grace and love because that is what we do.  We place limits on God because we ourselves are limited.  Jesus reminds us that no such limits exist in God.

Because we are limited we seek to limit God and to make God in our own image.  In reality the opposite is true: God made us in God's image and calls us to be divine in our actions and all aspects of our life.  God is love; God extends mercy to every human being.  We are then called to be love and to extend mercy to all people without exception.  This is the way to be God's image and likeness fully actualized in the world. 

Faith is a Verb

Gospel: John 3: 16-21

Western religion has fallen into the trap of equating religions with a series of abstract propositions that require the assent of the intellect.  Faith in this context is an intellectual exercise and nothing more, a matter for the mind and not the heart.  This phenomenon explains our incessant perseveration over creeds, statements of faith, catechisms, and loyalty oaths.  Devotees of such exercises will point to today's Gospel passage to justify such activities.

But is that really what Jesus is saying?  Throughout the passage Jesus equates belief in him with actions and behaviors.  We just spent an entire week reflecting on the futility of loyalty oaths among the disciples, noting how their behavior did not at all correspond to these pledges.  In fact, every teaching and parable of Jesus on judgment - Matthew 25, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus - refer to our performing or failure to perform mitzvah: good deeds, deeds of loving kindness, works of mercy to others.  In no place is judgment a catechism quiz, a profession of faith, or an attendance record at a particular liturgical form.  

We are to perform mitzvah and deeds of mercy because God did so for us.  God saved us from slavery and sin; God showed mercy to us.  To be like God - to be Godlike - is to live a life of mercy toward others.  This is what it is to believe in Jesus; it is to live as he did, performing loving-kindness wherever we go to everyone we meet.   

Be Led by the Wind

Gospel: John 3: 7-15

Boaters and kite fliers are well-versed in today's lesson on the wind.  It is useless to ask where it comes from or where it goes.  It is even more useless to resist it.  The wise person adjusts her sails, redirects their course, and alters the kite position in order to take advantage of the wind.  For to resist the wind and insist on our own way will lead to destruction; it is the resistance, not the wind itself, that causes ruin.  

The same is true in our life with God.  It cannot be understood in terms of origins or where it will lead.  We cannot map it out logically or through reason any more than we could in a marital relationship, for love has reasons that reason does not know.  To resist God is as futile as resisting the wind, for to resist God is to resist love - we close ourselves off from God's love and we fail to love others.  It leads to our ruin and the ruin of other people.  

Nicodemus could not understand.  He came from a tradition of argumentation to understand God and God's plan through law.  But if God is love, then it cannot be measured by reason or framed by law.  It is a wind that blows where it wills and is folly to resist.  Nicodemus will be led by love to a place he never imagined - to a crucifixion, to a grave, and to a life beyond.   

From Darkness to Light

Gospel: John 3: 1-8

Nicodemus is a fitting figure to consider during the Easter Season.  He only appears in John's Gospel in four episodes, but each of his stage appearances tells a continuous story of a particular individual, and one for us all.  It is a story of rebirth, moving from darkness to light, from complete incomprehension to understanding.

Today's first act is the famous conversation with Jesus about being born again, one that Nicodemus cannot understand at all, for he has come to Jesus at night - out of fear and in ignorance, and fails to see that Jesus is speaking of being born from above in a new reality and understanding.  Later, Nicodemus will come to Jesus at sunset - in partial light, where he has some understanding.  He will also defend Jesus before the other religious leaders of his day.  Finally, he will appear in full daylight at the crucifixion with Joseph of Arimathea asking for Jesus' body and assisting with his burial.  At the cross Nicodemus comes to full understanding and rebirth.

Nicodemus' story is not unlike our own and that of every disciple.  We begin our faith journey in total darkness and misunderstanding and fear.  But we continue to visit the Lord and over time we slowly gain some light.  It is only at the cross do we fully come to understanding, to being born anew from above, and are fully in the light asking for the body of the Lord, wanting to help in the work of mercy and reconciliation.   

Once More in the Room

Gospel: John 20: 19-31

This week has been full of appearances of Jesus after his resurrection, and today our focus is once again on the male disciples locked away in the upper room.  Reviewing their activity this week: Mary Magdalene and other women first reported Jesus risen, but they were dismissed.  So too were the two men from Emmaus.  John and Peter go to see the empty tomb but return to the locked upper room, which is where we find them today, twice.

Jesus first appears to ten of them, Thomas being absent.  One week later Jesus reappears in the same locked room with Thomas now present.  But consider: they are still locked away in fear in the upper room - why?  The women had not been afraid to go to the tomb, not afraid to tell skeptical men about the risen Jesus.  Nor were the two men at Emmaus.  Despite the testimony of fellow believers, despite seeing the Lord and knowing he is risen, they remain locked up in fear.

How often do we have a tendency to do the same thing? We long to create "communities" cut off from contact with others, sheltered from the threats of the world.  We create our own upper rooms, places of navel gazing and skepticism.  But the Lord still breaks through, and the Holy Spirit eventually pushes us out, for it is our place to be in the midst of the world living lives of joyful service and mercy to others which is what the resurrection is all about. 

Why They Don't Believe

Gospel: Mark 16: 9-15

Today's Gospel passage is blunt in its assessment of the men locked within the upper room.  Their failure to believe Mary Magdalene, the other women, and the two disciples of Emmaus bring a sharp rebuke from Jesus.  As we read each of these passages this week we may have harbored similar thoughts of rebuke that now Mark makes quite plain.  However, we have to ask why these men failed to believe.

Recall that during Jesus' ministry these same men argued time and again over which one was greatest in the kingdom. Two of them even had their mother go and ask Jesus for the privileged seats in the kingdom for them! Time and again Jesus tried in many ways to show them that no such ranks exist in God's kingdom, and if there were it was based on service to others.  So in appearing to Mary, the women, and two unnamed disciples before them, these men are indignant - how could Jesus appear to these people before us?  Aren't we the important ones?

How often do we ourselves have this same line of thinking as these men, whether it be about status in the church or even before God? How often do we think God owes us something when in fact no such debt exists for the deity? The point is that Jesus rose from the dead and this is the great day of rejoicing.  It matters not how we came to know it, only that it happened and a new life of freedom and possibility is now ours to share with others.   

A Restorative Encounter

Gospel: John 21: 1-14

Throughout the Gospels Jesus has used meals and table fellowship as the way in which to bring healing and restoration to those who are on the margins of society, those alienated from others, and those labeled as sinners.  In today's Gospel passage Jesus continues that practice in a post-resurrection appearance to his disciples who are in need of such restoration.  

Recall that these disciples who one by one all swore to die with Jesus abandoned him and ran away.  What is more, Peter, the one Jesus chose to be leader, denies him three times.  So Jesus recreates the scene of Peter's denials by setting up a mean before a charcoal fire, and he invites everyone to eat, to be restored to bodily and spiritual health - to be restored in their relationship with Jesus and with one another.  

The Eucharist is the meal of reconciliation and restoration for us.  It is the continuation of Jesus' ministry of reconciliation.  By our participation in this table fellowship we are restored in body and soul, restored in our relationship with the Lord and in our relationships with one another.  The Eucharist is not a reserved table as a reward for the elite; it is an open table where all are welcome to find refreshment, healing, and grace. 

Doubts and Fears

Gospel: Luke 24: 35-48

A few days ago women came to tell us that they had seen the risen Jesus, but we found their story to be nonsense.  Now we have these two men who claimed to have see the risen Lord while on their way to Emmaus, but their story makes little sense to us as well.  But today the Lord himself came and appeared in our midst, and after some time of questioning and observation we finally have come to accept the fact of Jesus' resurrection.  

Why were the women so ready to believe and these men continued to doubt, even with the Lord in their midst? The women did not have to bear the shame of having abandoned Jesus and running away in fear.  They remained with the Lord at the cross and at the tomb.  The women did not have words of bravado - I will die for you, Lord! - and the like which they did not live up to.  The women did not shut themselves up in the upper room, but went out to the garden in order to see the Lord.  

We all have the tendency to shut ourselves away in an upper room, literal or metaphorical.  We have our doubts and fears, driven largely by our failures of the past.  But the Lord comes even in our places of hiding, offering peace and inviting us to be with him in his presence and in the scriptures.  And one day the upper room will be a launching pad and not a hiding place, propelling us to a life of mercy extended to others.

Recognition Software Malfunction

Gospel: Luke 24: 23-35

Consider this dichotomy: two men spend an entire day with a man they consider as their teacher and Lord, and yet they do not recognize him until the very last second of the day.  Now, recall yesterday that at the mere utterance of her name by the Lord Mary Magdalene recognized him at once.  What is the difference, and what might we learn from this contrast?

These two men were on their way to Emmaus, a place where apocalyptic fulfillment was expected.  These men saw Jesus only in a sense of worldly power: the Messiah who would restore Israel and fulfill all their political hopes and expectations.  But Jesus is not a political Messiah, not an apocalyptic leader.  In spite of all Jesus' attempts to tell these men about him, they still are unable to see.  It is only in the breaking of bread - the act of humble table fellowship and communion - that they come to recognize him, but he vanishes from their midst.

Mary sought Jesus in the garden of her soul where the Lord is always present and easy to find.  These men sought the Lord in a place where he was not - in the political, the apocalyptic.  They come to find him in the simple ordinary act of breaking bread - in communion with one another at table where our soul is nourished and brought back to the garden where the Lord is ever present.  During this Easter season we will find Jesus only where Mary Magdalene and these men found him.

What Are You Looking For?

Gospel: John 20: 11-18

Mary Magdalene is wandering through a garden looking for the Lord.  At first she is distraught because she has had no success.  The empty tomb just has an angel telling her what she already knew.  Then she runs into a man who she thinks is the gardener, and she is right!  It is the gardener - the Lord Jesus - whom she finds in the garden of her soul when he speaks her name.  It is where we will find God as well, for we are all Mary Magdalene searching for God.

Recall that our spiritual journey began in a garden called Eden.  Recall too that God never left that garden; we did.  That garden is the garden of our soul that God has cultivated and tended and where God has remained all along.  We left the garden in search of a god of our own image.  We built a great city of Babel, wandered aimlessly in a desert, established complex laws and liturgies, developed a kingdom, and experienced exile and occupation by outsiders.  God was found in none of our own designs; we found only our own wretchedness and occupation by forces of evil.

But God was in the garden of our souls all along.  Mary, who herself had been occupied by seven demons and found liberation, now finds God where God has been all along.  It was we who erred and strayed seeking a god of our own making.  But now through the death of Jesus we find God resurrected within us in the garden created by God and for God where God has always been and where God will always be - in the garden of our hearts.   

The Courage of Women

Gospel: Matthew 28: 8-15

Jesus tells the women not to be afraid, which is a curious exhortation.  These women came to a tomb guarded by Roman soldiers, knowing they would likely be turned aside in their appointed task.  They then encounter the risen Jesus but are not afraid - they instead pay homage to him.  What then, are these women to fear?  It is the task that lies ahead, for they are to go and tell the menfolk about the resurrection of Jesus - a task for which they are likely to be mocked and disbelieved, which in fact does take place.  

But as they have throughout the Gospel the women carry the message of faith without fear into the world.  Mary and Elizabeth carried the message of angels with them among unbelieving husbands.  The Samaritan woman who was an outcast even among her own people carried the message of Jesus as the Messiah to her entire town who came to believe through her.  Now these women - who did not run away but stayed at the cross with Jesus - will carry the message of the risen Jesus to others.

Our Christian faith is a faith built upon the faith of women, strong women who faced doubt and opposition from men and the larger society in general.  At every stage in the Gospel it was always the women who were the first to believe and the first to carry the message forward.  Let us honor their legacy and imitate their courage as we seek to live the faith we inherited from them.  

The Rising

Gospel: Matthew 28: 1-10

The resurrection of Jesus is the raising up of all humanity to provide a new hope and new possibilities for all.  Patterns of sin and destructive habits can be overcome; new opportunities that lift people out of misery and poverty can be imagined and put into effect; old attitudes of exclusion and discrimination that keep people down can be set aside; the swords of war can be beaten into plowshares.  

This new possibility is manifest throughout the Gospels through the special role given to women.  It is women at the beginning of the Gospel who are entrusted with the new life of Jesus.  It is the Samaritan woman who is the first to evangelize an entire town to belief in Jesus.  It is the woman caught in adultery who stands in for all of humanity as one condemned but spared death by the action of Jesus.  And today it is women who are first to experience and believe in the resurrection of Jesus, the first commissioned to carry the message of the resurrection to others, the first to be rejected by an unbelieving group of men.  

Our ministry to the world must raise up all humanity, and this ministry is one to which all must participate and take on full ownership.  In every time and place the resurrection of Jesus calls us to new possibility, to new and greater freedom, a new creation of the world to something more authentically human and truly divine.  This is what we celebrate today. 

The Quiet Day

Today there is no Gospel reading, no Mass of the Day.  It is a day of quiet, something quite natural after the experience of death.  Consider the quiet that comes over a family at the death of a loved one.  Yes, there are tears and weeping, but what words can be said that provide any meaning or comfort? It is only the silence shared together in which the grief and pain is processed that loved ones find healing and the strength to move forward.  

Consider another type of silence, one that comes in the face of encountering an injustice - what could be more unjust than the execution of an innocent person? This silence is not that of cowardice, but rather its opposite.  There is the urge to rage and lash out, to protest and demonstrate and riot.  But instead we gather together in silence, a silence that speaks of great resolve in the face of injustice.  It is a silence that says: we are here, we stand in solidarity with this person who died an unjust death - she is our sister, he is our brother.  This silence is a creed more profound than any ever written or spoken aloud.  

This is our silence today as Jesus lay in the tomb.  It is for us to consider others who die an unjust death every day in our world, whether it be through capital punishment; torture and war; the willful neglect of the poor, sick, elderly, and vulnerable in our world; or the violence of racism and other forms of discrimination and hatred.  To be with them in their death is to be with Christ in his and to profess our faith once again in the power of love over hate, loving-kindness over violence.  

Crucifixion Reconsidered

Gospel: John 18: 1 - 19: 42

Today's election day focuses on the person of Pilate, the one who ultimately decides the fate of Jesus.  Imagine this large room - the praetorium.  On one end of this vast room are the religious leaders asking for the death of Jesus and clemency for Barabbas.  On the other end of the room is Jesus who speaks of truth and a kingdom not of this world.  In between, walking from one to the other time and again is Pilate whose vote hangs in the balance.  

The religious leaders appeal to Pilate's vanity and desire for power: you are not a friend of Caesar if you let Jesus go.  Pilate understands this; he is Roman - pragmatic, utilitarian.  He does not understand Jesus at all - truth, what does that mean?  In the end, he votes to put Jesus to death, but with a twist: he gets the religious leaders to swear fealty to the Roman Empire, thereby putting them in a trap.  Jesus is merely a pawn in a chess match of power between religious and political leaders.

How many people in our world suffer and die as mere pawns in the quest for power by religious and political leaders? How often are we persuaded to join a rabid crowd, further pawns in this game of the powerful? The crucifixion replays itself a thousand times a day, and in a very real sense our sins have put Jesus to death - Jesus in the person of our suffering, exploited neighbor - the one we neglect, ignore, betray, deny, hand over to death for expediency sake.  

So You Must Do

Gospel: John 13: 1-15

In a medieval village there was a man who needed to bring a load of goods to someone in another town.  He owned a donkey he intended to use to carry the load, but the man was unable to get the donkey to work.  Frustrated and exasperated, he finally reached out to some friends seeking advice on how to get the donkey to move.

One friend said: "Beat the donkey - that'll get him to move." The man tried this without success.  Another friend suggested: "Add more weight to the load - that'll teach that donkey!" This too failed.  Yet a further bit of advice: "Yell and berate that beast - he'll move for that!" But that friend's pedagogy was also a failed enterprise.  

Finally, a friend came along and said, "Share the burden with the animal.  Carry the load and the donkey will follow." The man took this advice, and lo and behold it worked!  Once the man took the burden on himself the donkey was inspired to carry the burden as well.  

This is the lesson Jesus provides in washing our feet.  "As I have done, so also you must do." Jesus takes the initiative in carrying the burden, in teaching us to live in service to others.  We are now inspired and have a pattern to follow for our lives, even to the point of death.  

One, all, Will Betray Me

Gospel: Matthew 26: 14-25

"One of you will betray me." At these words all the disciples tremble in fear and they all say - "Surely it is not I, Lord."  Why do they all fear this statement of Jesus? Why do they think this statement all applies to them? All of these disciples who have argued over which is greatest among them and swearing to die for the Lord now all cower at this statement.

We are all betrayers of the Lord, even they in their own way were as well.  While we have not exchanged money to hand Jesus over to death we have all in many ways betrayed the Lord in the person of our neighbor and other human beings.  By our disdain for others, our neglect, abandonment, denial, and indifference we have betrayed the Lord time and again to a cruel torture and death in so many different ways.  

Holy Week is our annual realization that there are no "faithful" or "loyal" Christians.  There are only Judases and Peters, only disciples stung by the statement of Jesus: "One of you will betray me", for at our deepest core we realize that this sentence does indeed apply to us, that we have much to repent of, much to change in our lives.  But in this election week let us choose to run off and weep with Peter rather than hang ourselves with Judas.   

Betrayal and Denial

Gospel: John 13: 21-33, 36-38

"One of you will betray me."  Nay, all of us will betray you, Lord.  "Peter, this very night you will deny me three times." - Aye, and all the rest of us will do so as well.  This election week is the time for hard examination for those who profess to be disciples of the Lord Jesus.  Like Peter and the other disciples we make our bravado professions of faith in Jesus, but what will our actions truly reveal?

Consider: we will make claims to care for the poor and marginalized, but instead give priority to purchasing padded pews for the nave.  We pledge solidarity with immigrants and refugees, but offer no assistance or lodging as they seek a permanent home.  We declare to value both mother and unborn child but oppose Medicaid expansion that would help both.  

This election week we recall that Jesus is present in our neighbor in need.  Will our actions correspond to our professions of faith in them, or will they be acts of betrayal, denial, and abandonment? So few stood by Jesus to the end during the first Holy Week.  So few support the neighbor in need.  Election week is upon us: will we be like the women at the cross, or the men hiding in the upper room? 

Jesus and the Poor

Gospel: John 12: 1-11

"The poor you will always have with you, but me you will not always have." 

John's Gospel is filled with ironic comments like this one. Those who preach neglect and indifference to the poor love this passage as an apologetic for their neglect and indifference, but such misses the irony of the statement in the Gospel.  This neglect and indifference, seen in Judas using money set aside for the poor for his own personal use, is why we will always have the poor with us always.

For we know that Jesus is present in the poor (Matthew 25) as we will realize on judgment day.  We also know that the highest form of worship we can provide to God is in our care for the poor, marginalized, and abused as we see in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37), a parable Jesus proclaims just before visiting Martha and Mary.  

Again Holy Week is election season.  Lent called us prioritize our care for the poor by direct support of them and our detachment from worldly goods in our lives.  We can choose to care for the poor and by extension the Lord Jesus as a priority, or we can neglect and show indifference to the poor.  We can create structures of support for the poor, or structures that give priority to subsidizing opulent episcopal residences while closing parishes and schools for the poor.  It is our election week, a time to make different choices than we have previously.  

Holy Week - Election Season!

Gospel: Matthew 26: 14 - 27: 54

The candidates on the ballot are Jesus and Barabbas.  Both have similar names, both being "Son of the Father" so confusion arises as to name recognition.  As election week begins the polls look good for Jesus.  Big crowds turn out for him and the people are abuzz with enthusiasm for the candidate of hope.  But as the week progresses, the smear tactics against him start to have their effect and Barabbas begins to rise in popularity.  We know the outcome of this race.

The platforms of Jesus and Barabbas could not be more different.  Barabbas was a violent revolutionary who only sees solutions in political terms: salvation for Israel will come only through violent uprising and political maneuvering.  By contrast the message of Jesus is that the world will be transformed through loving-kindness, works of mercy and service toward others, even to the point of death.  

The crowd then as now will choose Barabbas and in each rendering of this story we find different ways to mock Jesus.  Nowadays we turn Jesus into Barabbas, changing the message of love and nonviolence to that of the crassly political and overtly violent.  But once again we are given the choice, once again it is election week.  We have the opportunity to choose differently than we have, to choose the savior and the means of salvation that will truly save us from sin and from ourselves.   

By What Authority?

Gospel: John 11: 45-56

The religious leaders gather together and conspire to put Jesus to death after he raises Lazarus from the dead.  In their thinking, if Jesus is the Messiah, the people will follow him and sweep the Romans out of power in order to restore the kingdom of Israel.  They would then be out of power since they only have their positions because Rome appointed them; they are not legitimate leaders according to the Law of Israel.  

Those in positions of power tend to rely on the fact of appointment or the position itself as justification for their authority.  The religious leaders of Jesus' day do so as well.  As noted before, Jesus relies on the good deeds he performs to speak on his behalf; in short, Jesus relies on moral authority as the basis for his work and ministry.  Good deeds come from God and the one who performs good deeds has God's authority.  

Someday religious leaders will learn that moral authority is far more important than authority of position or rank.  If one does not possess moral authority then they in fact have no authority at all.  When scandals are allowed to exist and when religious leaders have sold themselves out as mere mouthpieces for political agendas, moral authority is lost and it is difficult to recover.  This Lenten time of repentance and reform is an occasion for such recovery and conversion for us all.