Reversing the Roles

Gospel: Luke 6: 17, 20-26

It was a common belief in Jesus' time that God's blessings and disfavor with people were manifested in external appearances.  Those who were rich and powerful were thought to be blessed by God, while those poor and persecuted were deemed cursed by God.  This belief is one of the foundation pieces of modern Christianity as well, a belief not shared by the Lord Jesus.

In today's Gospel portion Jesus reverses the blessings and curses.  It is the poor and persecuted who find favor with God, and it is those who are rich and powerful who do not have God's blessing.  The rich and powerful have had their reward on this earth, enjoying the good things of the earth, often at the expense of everyone else.  But the poor and persecuted will find blessing in God's kingdom.

It is worth considering how it is that the rich and powerful become so: it is not through honest work and upright business dealings.  It is through the exploitation and abuse of others, through cheating and dishonesty that they come to possess their wealth and power.  This cannot be blessed by God; it is rather a curse to be shunned and avoided.  It is this fact that guides the teaching and mission of loving kindness that Jesus embodies. 

Doing Our Part

Gospel: Mark 8: 1-10

One of the many misconceptions of modern Christianity is the idea that if we but pray to God for the relief of some major problem that God will take care of it for us and it will all go away.  This suburban religion thus implies that no effort at all on our part is required other than to pray to God.  Today's well-known story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes dispels that notion entirely.  

Jesus is well aware of the problem: so many hungry people in the world with no access to food.  But we have food at our disposal - not enough to feed all, but still more than we need for ourselves and thus able to be shared.  The Lord asks us to provide what we have, and then he encourages us to trust him.  What we provide is multiplied and is able to feed everyone with leftovers to spare!  

In a land of wealth that claims to be Christian, one that will deny help to the foreigner and stranger under the pretense of needing to help those at home - though the needy at home are neglected as well - today's Gospel reading is an indictment.  The land of 4000 square foot suburban dwellings and posh episcopal residences filled with possessions only to impress others is asked by the Lord to give what you have, and the hunger of the world will be satisfied.  That it is not is an indictment not on the Lord but on we who will not give.

Humble Service

Gospel: Mark 7: 31-37

Today's healing story is instructive in how we should care for others as Jesus does.  A man approaches asking for healing in the midst of a crowd.  Jesus takes him away from the crowd and heals him in private.  Then, Jesus tells him to tell no one about this healing.  Healing of others is not done for acclaim or adulation; Jesus heals others solely out of concern and mercy for the person in need of healing.  

By contrast, such a healing in our day would not take place without some attempt to monetize the experience.  If a healing were not followed up with a slick direct mail campaign it simply did not happen.  In a culture where we cannot even make breakfast without posting it on social media, events of this import would be maximally exploited for social media content creation.  

But to follow Jesus is to perform works of love and mercy in quiet away from crowds and in pleadings to tell no one about them.  We are to care for others solely for their benefit and not at all for ours.  The way to the kingdom is not one that seeks power, wealth, and fame.  That path leads to doom.  The path of the Lord is the one less traveled by, one that leads to the care of one dying in a ditch and to a humble inn where healing and mercy are shown with no fanfare or seeking of reward.

An Unlikely Source

Gospel: Mark 7: 24-30

Jesus attempts to get away for a bit of a holiday.  He goes to a foreign territory and stays at a house where he intends not to be recognized by anyone.  But Jesus does get recognized by a woman who is a foreigner, not by anyone else.  Not a male citizen, but a foreign woman recognizes him and seeks him out so that Jesus could liberate her daughter from a demon that possesses her.  This person with no status in Jesus' society comes asking for help for her daughter who has even less status than she does!

What is more, this foreign woman exhibits a faith so great that Jesus had never seen the likes of such faith.  This woman with no status - with a negative status in his culture - shows the greatest faith of all.  In every instance within the Gospels it is women and foreigners who show the greatest faith in their encounters with Jesus, not men and not citizens.  In fact, it is the people of status who always exhibit the greatest infidelities and lacks of faith.

In an age of toxic and fragile masculinity and one marked by hatred for immigrants, migrants, and refugees, this passage is a rebuke to us.  Perhaps if we honored women and welcomed the immigrant, migrant, and refugee the Lord might expel the demon that grips us - the demon of selfishness, the demon of arrogant chauvinism and nationalism, the demon that keeps us from loving all people as Jesus did. 

Meeting the Enemy

Gospel: Mark 7: 14-23

We human beings are adept at blaming others for our sins and misfortunes of life.  We create categories of unclean things and people, then blame these things for the misfortunes of the world and our own lives.  We then come to abuse and malign such people, committing all sorts of injustices against them.  We then create a religion of ease - just avoid these things and people, and all will be well for you.  

But Jesus rejects all this thinking.  He places the blame squarely where it belongs regarding our sins and evils - with us alone.  We are the creators of our own misfortune, we alone have sinned and done what is evil.  This is much more difficult a religion, for not only does it require us to deal with the only enemy we have - ourselves - but it also requires us now to love everyone without exception, friend and foe without distinction and without hierarchy.  

Each day we must come before God and lay bare our sins, blaming no one but ourselves.  Each day we must come before God seeking to love our neighbor more and more each day - every human being without exception, just as Jesus did.  For it is love of neighbor that will enable us to overcome the evil that lurks within, the enemy that is ourselves, our egos, attachments to self-interest, and all else that is not love. 

Setting Priorities

Gospel: Mark 7: 1-13

In today's Gospel portion we find Jesus in a dispute with scholars of the law, and each side has clearly different priorities in their understanding of the law.  These scholars are obsessed with the laws of ritual purification related to table fellowship: washing of hands, cups, bowls, and food.  They find a lack of observance in these things to be of primary importance, and they castigate Jesus and his disciples for their neglect of these rituals.

Jesus, however, is more concerned about the relationships among people at the table.  It is not so important that one be clean to be present at the table as much as it is important to be present at the table.  It is in the table fellowship itself that one becomes clean, i.e. that what is of highest importance - relationships with one another - are restored, healed, and purified through food, drink, and interaction.  The ultimate act of mercy is table fellowship itself with others.

In our own day we have this same question before us, the same conflict over the law.  We often choose the path of ritual purification because it is easier.  It does not require us to encounter another or to show love and mercy to anyone.  But it is not the way of Jesus.  The way of Jesus is the encounter, the fellowship at table where the fellowship and sharing of the meal bring purification and restoration to us in showing love and mercy to others and they to us. 

The Neglected Miracle

Gospel: Mark 6: 53-56

"All who touched him were healed." In today's Gospel portion we see people who are sick reaching out to touch Jesus in order to be healed, and indeed they did find relief from all their infirmities.  We marvel at the miracles of these healings, just as we do in other miracle stories in the Gospels.  But perhaps there is a greater miracle at work in this passage that we often neglect to observe.

In today's Gospel portion the author goes out of his way to note that people in every village would bring out those who were sick to the marketplace in order to be healed by Jesus.  People came together in order to help others, in order to help one another, find healing in an encounter with the Lord Jesus.  This care for each other, the solidarity and mutual support, is perhaps the greater miracle within the text.  It is something that the presence of Jesus inspires us to do for one another.

In an age when Christians revel in denying aid to the poor across the globe; in marginalizing refugees, immigrants, and migrants; in vilifying minorities of all kinds - it is well to remember what authentic Christianity looks like.  It is coming together to care for one another, to provide love and mercy, healing, liberation, and nourishment to the most vulnerable in our society.

Go Deep!

Gospel: Luke 5: 1-11

How often do we feel that all our work and effort is in vain? We toil and labor, but we see no results or fruits from them.  In fact, there are days when we feel as though our situation is worse than when we began.  We get to the point of utter exhaustion and we decide to pack it in for the day.  We gather our things and leave for the day discouraged and with little hope.

But along comes the Lord Jesus who asks us to try one more time - to go out into deep waters even! - and let down our nets once again.  We are so exhausted we laugh incredulously at the suggestion.  But we go and do it - perhaps to prove him wrong, perhaps out of respect because it is the Lord, perhaps because we have nothing to lose.  So we do it, and to our surprise we find great success.  We are overwhelmed and exhausted - we can barely handle the success.  

This is the life of faith.  The times are dark and they are hard.  Our work does not seem to be bearing any results or fruit.  But we must continue to persevere in the works of love and mercy.  We must hear the Lord say to us - keep trying, cast out into the deep.  Keep your light shining for others, for someday it will bear fruit and the darkness will fade.  It will only happen if love and mercy are kept alive in our work.  The light will dawn again.  Someday. 

Spiritual Rest

Gospel: Mark 6: 30-34

The disciples return from their work and are excited by what they experienced.  To help another be healed of their infirmities, liberated from their demons, and be nourished in body and soul is an exhilarating phenomenon, one that brings with it a whole set of temptations.  We can easily get the idea that these results are our doing, that such outcomes are inevitable because we do them, that fame and notoriety lead us down dark paths of pride, desire for fame, wealth, power, and influence.

So, when the disciples return Jesus instructs them to go away to a secluded place and rest awhile, just as he himself has done so many times in his ministry.  The purpose of such a retreat is not to rest on one's laurels or become complacent, but instead to use that time to become aware of our utter dependence on God and each other in this work, to develop a sense of gratitude and humility, and to pray for the grace to overcome these temptations of pride, wealth, and power.  

In our own work of ministry of caring for others through deeds of mercy, it is necessary for us to continually seek out this time of rest in order to gain a proper perspective for our life and work - to be utterly dependent and grateful to God and others, to avoid the temptations to fame, wealth, and power, to be motivated solely by love for God and others.  

A Prophet's Reward

Gospel: Mark 6: 14-29

There is a false belief among modern Christians which somehow thinks that if one takes up the mantle and voice of a prophet that somehow one will come to exercise power within society and rule over some imagined just society.  To find such a precedent in the tradition would be difficult.  Consider the fate of the Jewish prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr.  All suffered the same fate - death at the hands of the ruling powers of this world.

To aspire to worldly power and dominion is not the desire of an authentic prophet.  It is the desire of someone who just wants the power others have.  They would wield it in unjust ways as much as the ones currently holding the scepter.  It is merely a matter of degree, not of kind.  The authentic prophet has a power altogether different from that of worldly dominion.  It is the power of truth, and truth has no place in the halls of power in our day any more than it did in the praetorium of Pontius Pilate.  

To be a prophet is to accept a prophet's reward: exile, persecution, and ultimately death at the hands of the worldly powers.  To stand and protect the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized is to incur the wrath of the rich, powerful, and influential.  But this is not something we should lament.  Jesus exhorts us to rejoice, for we have been found worthy to carry the mantle of the prophet.   

The Mission

Gospel: Mark 6: 7-13

The Lord Jesus invites us to participate in a mission that is not at all complex: to embody a life of simple living while going about encouraging repentance of sins, liberating people from their demons, anointing the sick with oil, and healing people from their infirmities.  If we face opposition for this work, we are simply to move on to the next place, not creating divisions or disputes with others - just going about doing the good deeds of the kingdom.

It is very distressing for many to see that most Christians do not live this way, nor do they even see this as the fundamental work of being a Christian.  It is difficult to watch the prelates of the church live in luxury, and for cleric and layman alike to pursue agendas of power, wealth, and influence in the world while maintaining a stony indifference to the poor and marginalized.  All of this can be very demoralizing and scandalous.

But we have a choice.  We can perseverate over these scandals and sink into despair, or we can simply do the work to which Jesus calls us in liberating people from their demons, caring for the sick, and healing people of their infirmities.  If we are to "organize" then let it be about these things and not in the acquisition of power or the advancement of agendas of self-interest.  Let us organize and be about the work of the Lord in our world, the work of our kingdom and true homeland. 

Small Town Kid

Gospel: Mark 6: 1-6

The story of a small town kid becoming a big success is a compelling story.  How does someone without access to education or other advantage come to find success and renown? Some find the story so captivating that they are ready to believe it, while many others find such tales too good to be true and they refuse to believe it.  What both sides are doing, however, is making a decision on the person based on their own lives - whether they are motivated by jealousy or other form of self-interest.  

So, we have the person of Jesus whose story enters this very dynamic in his own day and up to our own day.  People make decisions about him based on all sorts of biases and factors based on their own egos.  They do not look at the works Jesus performs - works of mercy and compassion for the good of others.  And yet even these they find a reason to attach to their own self-interest and ego.  Some will say Jesus expels demons by Satanic power, while others will follow him just for their own possible benefit.  

And so it is with us.  Many follow Jesus just to claim some future benefit in heaven.  Others will castigate him as when he existed on earth.  In every case no is doing what is most important: doing these good works of Jesus for the benefit of others.  Jesus ignores the din of the crowd and just goes about performing deeds of mercy and compassion.  And so it should be with us.   

Limitless Mercy

Gospel: Mark 5: 21-43

Today's Gospel portion teaches us much about priorities.  Jesus is approached by a synagogue official requesting that Jesus heal his daughter who is severely ill.  Jesus agrees to do so, but while they are walking along to the official's house, an unnamed woman approaches Jesus, seeking to touch him so that she might be healed of her long affliction with a blood loss.  Jesus takes the time to stop and have a personal encounter with this woman and talk about the healing she experienced.  

Jesus then proceeds to the official's house and proceeds to heal the young girl, who by this time had died.  Jesus restores her to life, and once again he makes the encounter personal for the girl, making it clear that he heals her not because of her father's status, but because of hers as a child of God.  He also has this encounter in private with only a few witnesses so as not to make this a spectacle for crowds.

In all of this we learn two important lessons on love and mercy.  First, Jesus heals two women who have no status in society and who were unable to be helped by anyone.  Second, there is no prioritization of love and mercy.  It is accessible to all, and if any such priority exists it is for those who are most vulnerable, poor, and marginalized in society.  May these lessons guide the work of our church communities as we seek to be the love and mercy of God in the world. 

Moral Compromises

Gospel: Mark 5: 1-20

The people of Gerasene decided among themselves that they are fine with the demons tormenting this poor man.  They make shackles and chains for him, keep him on the outskirts of the town, and perform other measures of prevention to keep the man away from them.  But when the day came for this man to be released from his demons, the people of the town were not willing to pay the price to help this man - 2000 unclean, unlawful swine.  So, they expelled Jesus from their midst, preferring the demons with which they had grown comfortable.

Jesus was the only one to take pity on this poor man and help him.  He found him on the margins of society, tormented by his demons, and Jesus delivered him from these shackles.  The man wanted to follow Jesus, which in this case meant staying in his home town, telling people of the great mercy God had shown him in his life.  The town that kept this man apart from them and would not help him must have him in their presence as a constant reminder of their failure to help this man.

How much are we like this town1 We prioritize certain issues of human life to the wholesale neglect of others, all while pretending to be pro-life.  We would sacrifice the lives of so many at home and abroad while caring only for certain pet issues of human life and dignity.  How comfortable have we become with so many demons! How many people are in our midst as a reminder of our cruelty and neglect?  

The Humble and Ordinary

Gospel: Luke 2: 22-40

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord completes the Christmas season and once again highlights the fundamental theme of the entire season.  God provides revelation to the humble and ordinary of this world, not the rich, powerful, or influential.  God comes to be among the ordinary folk here on earth, to pitch tent and eat at table with those who are the salt of the earth.

The Christmas season began with the angel appearing to Mary, a poor woman in Nazareth, an insignificant backwater town in Galilee.  Joseph her betrothed, a poor carpenter,  joins the scene.  Finding no shelter in Bethlehem, they find themselves in a manger visited by poor shepherds led to them by angels, then unnamed astrologers from the East who bring tribute.  Finally today we have Simeon and Anna, two pious folks of no title or rank who find themselves privileged to meet their humble Lord.  

Those of title and influence were in the story: Zechariah the high priest is offered a revelation that he refuses to believe.  Herod too is offered the opportunity to see the Lord, but he chooses to commit mass murder in an attempt to do away with him.  God's revelation is offered to all, but to receive and be changed by it we must be ordinary, humble, and lowly.  Only then can we move forward into the Gospel drama and be transformed by it.

Response to the Storm

Gospel: Mark 4: 31-35

Modern Christians are filled with a great many false beliefs.  One of these is the idea that the life of faith should be a primrose path of ease and comfort.  Many believe that their faith should entitle them to positions of power and privilege, wealth and prosperity, and that any discomfort, inconvenience, or difficulty is the work of the devil.  They expect a calm, tranquil sea on which to float with ease from one place to the next.

But the path across the sea is the path to divinization and transcendence, not to worldly influence, wealth, and power.  This path is one that will encounter storms and opposition from the world in all its powers.  The life of faith is a life of struggle against these difficulties, for the sea is not our homeland.  We journey to the other shore - to the place where our real citizenship lies in the reign of God.  We ought not in any way get too comfortable here.

So when the storms come, we have a choice of how to react to them.  We can be like the disciples and claim privilege and grievance, begging release from the storms of this world, a reaction that leads to rebuke from Jesus.  Or we can be like Jesus himself and remain calm and undisturbed by the storm that besets us, knowing of God's love and our ultimate destiny, knowing the storm will pass and that it cannot harm what is our core - the presence of the Lord within our boat.