Luke 19, 28-40 + Isaiah 50, 4-7 + Psalm 22 X Philippians 2, 6-11 + Luke 22, 14 – 23, 56
March 20, 2016 at Saint Peter and Saint William Church in Naples, FL
There is a detail in the 19th chapter of Luke’s Gospel that slides by easily. There are no palms in Luke’s Gospel. Having said that, do you remember what it was they spread on the ground in front of him? Yes, their cloaks, their single most important and valuable piece of clothing. It was the most expensive article of clothing anyone had in those days. Constantly mended, it was never discarded. For the poorest of the poor, it was their shelter. For the wealthiest, it was their badge of success. There is something else unique about Luke’s Gospel not found in Matthew and Mark. The crowd is not shouting “Hosanna”. They are shouting: “Peace in Heaven and Glory in Highest.” It’s an echo or a repeat of the message angels brought at the birth of Christ. So, what began with a message of Peace and Glory, ends with that message now taken up by the people of Jerusalem. Today, what began with the ashes of Palms five weeks ago ends with Palms. What begins with a triumphant procession into Jerusalem ends with another procession of shame leaving Jerusalem. Jesus rides in with glory and shouts of joy. He walks out with jeers and scorn. Contrasts everywhere you care to look in these readings and in this liturgy. Even now we began here in song after weeks of entering in silence here at St Peter. We will depart in somber silence.
Something has happened to us, and for believers, there is not avoiding the reality and the truth of it. Jesus Christ, the Son of God has traded places with us. The innocent has traded places with the guilty.
All through Luke’s Passion account, the innocence of Jesus is announced for all. The religious leader, Herod Antipas, knew it and sent Jesus back to Pilate. That civil leader, Pilate, knew it too and said so: “There is no charge against him. He has done nothing to deserve death.” A criminal crucified beside him proclaims the innocence of Jesus. Then at the very end, a Roman Centurion knows it and says it. “Surely this was an innocent man.” The innocent one has died so that the guilty may live. There is nothing innocent about us when we tell the truth about our lives. What we must leave her pondering is how and why God would be willing and able to trade places with us suffering like a guilty one in order for us to share the life of the innocent one. That is what has happened. To give us the child’s place at the Father’s right hand, the innocent Son gave up his place there to redeem and restore us to the place the Father has prepared for us. There is much here to wonder about, and even more here to be grateful for.
Ezekiel 37, 12-14 + Psalm 130 + Romans 8, 8-11 + John 11, 1-45 (Lectionary Cycle A)
March 13, 2016 at St William Church in Naples, FL
In this Gospel, John is not telling a story about Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus. John is presenting a “sign”, one of several that make up the outline or framework of the Fourth Gospel. Because it is a sign and not a miracle story, there are a lot of details that get confusing if you simply think this is a miracle story. For instance: why did Jesus take so long to go to Bethany, or is Lazarus going to die again and leave his two sisters to grieve twice? At the very beginning we are told by John that this is for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified through it. This is not about a family crises in Bethany. It is about the crisis of the world caught up in death and sin. It is not about a corpse being resuscitated nearly as much as it is about giving life to the world.
This text is like a thin sheet of paper laid on top of another. There are words here, and there is a story, but bleeding through from beneath there is another message, the real one. This story is like a shadow that tells us something about the real event that is happening in the light. The story of Lazarus is a sign, and for us this weekend, it is a sign pointing us toward what we will celebrate, acknowledge, and affirm as the foundation of our faith in two weeks. This story is full of clues if you read the story carefully. We are told that the end of this story will be the glorifying of the Son. Thomas says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” You see, it is pointing toward the death of Jesus and his resurrection, not to the death of Lazarus. Notice that Jesus is deeply moved and troubled, that he weeps, that the tomb is near Jerusalem, that it is a cave with a large stone covering the entrance that must be rolled back. Jesus cries out in a loud voice – remember that he does that from the cross. Then, the grave cloths are removed from one dead but now alive, and we should think of the grave cloths removed and folded in an empty tomb. John wants us to think of Jesus, not focus on Lazarus.
Lazarus left the tomb, and the price of that was that Jesus had to enter it. Jesus himself said that one cannot give life unless one dies. He made no exception for his own case. This willingness to submit to the giving of life, which he had asked of his disciples, is dramatically stated when Jesus asked where Lazarus had been laid, they said to him, “Come and see.” Do you remember what he said when he called his disciples from their old lives as fishermen: “Come and See?”
It’s all here for us now, the way to life, the way to glory, the way to the Father. A weeping Jesus does not weep so much for Lazarus as he weeps for all of this world still trapped in death and violence, trapped in tombs of doubt and fear. As the weeping Jesus dries the tears of Martha and Mary, he does so for all who share and speak the faith Martha proclaims. The life and the glory that he shares with us is not cheap or easy. It means service, suffering, sacrifice, perseverance, and obedience to the Will of the Father. It will mean rest in a tomb but with readiness to come out when he calls.
March 13, 2016 at St Peter the Apostle Church in Naples, FL
It is a story of mercy well worth hearing again during this Holy Year of Mercy. The woman caught and condemned is not the only one who receives mercy even though she seems to be at the center of the story. The Scribes and Pharisees receive mercy as well. They learn a lesson and also get a second chance although we don’t know how much good it does. As sinners we may find comfort by identifying with the woman in the story, but we might learn more by shifting our attention to the Scribes and Pharisees. While there may be a few big sinners and adulterers among us, if the truth is told we are more like the Scribes and Pharisees than the woman. We judge, we embarrass, we accuse, we reveal secrets, and we often choose the moral high ground when it comes to the faults and sins of others.
The woman, whose sin is acknowledge goes away free and forgiven. She gets to experience mercy, but those others whose sin is never named nor really acknowledged just slip away trapped in their righteousness and convinced that they are doing the right thing. Of course, the “right thing” for them has nothing to do with this woman they are using. The right thing for them is trapping Jesus, catching him in violation of the law. They seem to be deaf to the very word and commands of God they want to enforce. “It is mercy I desire, not sacrifice” says God in the sixth chapter of the Old Testament Book of Hosea, but they only listen to themselves jealous of the Rabbi who draws bigger and more admiring crowds than they do. So they are willing to sacrifice this woman to their ideals forgetting all about mercy which they think she does not deserve. What lies behind all this is the fact that justice without mercy is never really just. It is only revenge.
Earlier this week while studying this text, I came across this little story that left me thinking for hours. One day a mother came to plead with Napoleon for her son’s life. The young man had committed a serious offence. The law was clear. Justice demanded his death. The emperor was determined to ensure that justice would be done. But the mother insisted, “Your Excellency, I have come to ask for mercy not for justice.” But he does not deserve mercy.” Napoleon answered. “Your Excellency, said the mother, “it would not be mercy if he deserved it.” “So be it,” said Napoleon. “I will have mercy on him.” And he set her son free.
My friends, Mercy, of its nature, is pure gift. It is something we all stand in need of and none of us deserve. It is a gift we have already received, and a gift the worthy will pass on to others remembering the words of Jesus spoken to us all: “Blessed are the merciful; they will obtain mercy.”
March 6, 2016 at Holy Spirit Church in Mustang, OK
Waiting. It is well past bed time for Mom and Dad, but sleep is out of the question. Their 16 year old son is out with friends. Curfew is eleven, and they know he will be in on time. Sure enough the door slams exactly at eleven. Coming into the living room, he says, “Why did you wait up?” Trying to be cool, they say “We weren’t waiting up – we just wanted to see the end of this movie.” Then it’s off to bed for everyone, home and family once again complete and at peace.
Mom and Dad wait. The angry words still resonate in the house. In time, this storm too will pass like hundreds of others have that rocked the family. It will blow over. Until then, Mom and Dad put aside their heartbreak and get ready to be forgiving and welcoming parents when the angry son or the put-upon daughter returns because that’s what you do when you are Mom and Dad.
Wait. Everything has been a blur since that phone call: she was crossing the street on her way home and a car came out of nowhere. The driver never saw here. Someone called 911 and….after hours of surgery, they sit by a hospital bed. Their precious daughter hooked up to a wall of blinking monitors, and for the time being, this small hospital room is home, and they wait.
The love of a parent for a child is a remarkable thing. Children have no idea how much their parents do and would do for them: while many good parents never realize what that love enables them to do. They just do it, and so it is easy to tell this story again from Luke’s Gospel. We understand it. We know what it means, and what it suggests to us about a God Jesus taught us to call, “Father.”
Yet, at the same time, it is not easy to tell this story, because there is no peace in that house as the story concludes. The reconciliation is incomplete, and while the father may have one of his sons back alive, another stands outside angry refusing to even call his father by that name and refers to his brother as, “That son of yours.” What could be a joyful story of a family united in peace is really a sad reflection on the present condition of the human family broken and angry, envious, greedy, and prideful.
When the characters are removed from the parable, it chronicles the struggle between virtue and vice that goes on within every one of us. The struggle is made all the worse by a confusion within us over values and virtues. Understanding the difference and putting them in the right order provides the insight and wisdom to see virtue victorious over vice. Virtues and Values are not the same thing. Confusing them is not helpful for those who want to grow wise and holy. Confusing them is a formula for personal, spiritual, and social disorder. A virtue is behavior that makes me good. A value is something I want. Virtue speaks to morality. Value has nothing to do with morality. Morality is about what I do with my values. For example, money is value. It is not good nor bad. I can use it to support my family, or buy drugs. I can use it to do good things or bad things. Only my behavior is good or bad when it is consistent with virtue. Values are relative. $50 is a lot of money. $500 is a greater value, but virtues are absolute. Kindness is always good. Patience is always good. Justice is always good. When we confuse these two, values often are often placed ahead of virtues. For example, our culture often places freedom, which is a value ahead of responsibility which is a virtue which can be a disaster because freedom is not a virtue. It does not make us good. Responsibility does.
The boys in this parable are good examples of Virtue and Value face to face. The older son has a lot of values, working hard, doing what is expected of him, but there is no virtue in him. As he stands there proclaiming his values, there is nothing really good about him, and none of us would want to be like him. He is arrogant, mean, proud, and very much alone. Then there is the other one whom I always like to think of in terms of virtue. He has one no one can miss, and it is probably the most important one of all: humility. That virtue makes him good again, and if you would have to choose which of the two you would want as a friend, I hope you would choose the younger one. He would be good to have around. He is wise, humble, and loving.
Tonight, Monday, and Tuesday evenings here at Holy Spirit, I have come to spend a little time with you reflecting upon virtues and vices. Whether or not such a reflection is of value to you remains to be seen, but I would like to propose that as we move through the last days of this Lenten season, it might be valuable to do something with the time we have left. I am going to speak about what our church tradition has for centuries called: “The Seven Deadly Sins.” These vices that make us miserable and continue to leave the human family broken and alienated. Lots of people these days don’t like to talk about or hear about “sin.” Many may insist that they have “issues”; but hardly does anyone like to say they have “sins.” Yet when recently asked by a reporter who he was, Pope Francis without a pause said: “I am a sinner”, and with those four words, he unmasked the lie and the denial with which we stumble through life blaming and accusing others for the choices we make every day.
It will do no good however to simply list the vice or the sin or the “issue” if you want to pretend. What we need is to learn, understand, and practice the virtue that will, when embraced, will lift us up, restore the human goodness and glory for which we were made in God’s image. I’m going to talk about those virtues each night and contrast them to the vice and the sin their absence allows to wound and fester the human soul. Pride and Envy tonight. Anger and Sloth Monday, and Greed, Gluttony, and Lust on Tuesday. I always save the best till last. So I invite you come for an hour or so to pray, reflect on the Word of God, and learn to cultivate real virtues that will eventually, if we wait long enough, and God is patient with us will get the party started with everyone in the house.
February 28, 2016 at Saint Peter Church & St William Church in Naples, FL.
If taken seriously, the first part of this Gospel text is the end to any thinking that God punishes people in this life. I have never believed that, and I have been stunned too many times by people who think or say: “They got what they deserved” suggesting that some tragedy or disaster had God’s punishing hand behind it. That’s what these righteous people are suggesting to Jesus when they come up to him with that question about the slaughter of some Galileans. When you consider that these upright citizens of Jerusalem looked down on those backward Galileans as being of less value and importance than they were, you can almost feel them tense up when Jesus turns the tables on them by asking if they also think that the disaster in Jerusalem suggested that nice and upright citizens of Jerusalem were also being punished for something. Disasters and catastrophes are never signs of God’s anger toward sinful individual people. Jesus says that this is nonsense. Neither good fortune nor calamities are indicators of one’s favor or disfavor with God. In an age to come God will judge the hearts of every soul regardless of their situation in life.
With that in mind, the second part of this Gospel text begins to make real sense and convey a powerful message to us all. I like to call this the “Gospel of the Second Chance.” We are that fig tree. God is the owner of this vineyard, and Jesus is the caretaker or gardener whose work and word among us provides our second chance because there will be, in the age to come, a harvest, and we had better be producing.
There is perhaps a third part to this Gospel being told or written here today. We are a people who are broken and too often barren. We have not produced the fruit of justice or of peace. We have not satisfied the hungry of this world who hunger for dignity and respect or for forgiveness and understanding as well as for clean water and food. We have not protected the vulnerable and given them the chance to live. Tragedies and repeated struggles cut down our lives and leave us worn, tired, and discouraged. In spite of all of this, God continues to plant in our midst opportunities to start over, to try again, to rework things, to move beyond our hurt and pain to make things right. This is the God revealed and proclaimed by these verses from Luke’s Gospel. There is no God of vengeance here. There is a God of mercy. Who waits one more time for us to get it right.
The time will come for judgement and perhaps for punishment for those who have not seized the chance to start over and try again; but that time is not here. This time is for something else, mercy. The fig tree is an invitation to hope in the unlimited love and mercy of God. This third part of the Gospel is our time to discover again the spark of humanity within us that reflects the image of God Jesus has revealed: an image that makes us loving, compassionate human beings able to realize our life’s harvest.
This event that Luke has recorded for us is about glory. It is not just about something that happened to Jesus. What happened on that mountain provided for those present a glimpse of what they might dare to hope for themselves. If we were to sum up all the work of Jesus on this earth it was simply to restore us to glory; to give us the glory of being a chosen race, a holy people who live in the presence of God. When ever Jesus encountered anything that robbed someone of glory it had to go. If someone was blind or lame, a leper or a sinner and Jesus came along, he restored them to glory not just to health. Anything that robbed someone of the glory for which they were made had to go.
On that mountain Jesus came into the presence of God just like Moses came into the presence of God in burning bush on the top of a mountain. The Bible tells us that after that experience the face of Moses was glowing and reflected the glory he had seen, but it didn’t last. It faded the moment he saw his people worshipping a golden calf. Now, the mission of Jesus Christ is to take us into the presence of God. His mission was to restore us to the glory that was ours at the beginning as God intended; the glory experienced in paradise before it was traded for something less. Today one look at the human condition, the human family makes it clear that there is not a lot of glory about us most of the time. There is then a lot of work to do. What keeps us from glory is SIN. Our failure to live up to the glory that is ours is as tragic as the unhappiness evil causes. But we don’t like to talk about sin these days unless it is someone else’s. Most people today don’t have sin, they have “issues”, and instead of facing head on the fact of sinfulness, we frequent psychiatrists and take pills. While this might be appropriates for some chronic illness, it is sometimes a way of avoiding and denying the reality of evil and consequence of our sinful choices. When Pope Francis was interviewed a year or so ago and asked by the reporter who he was, he responded without a pause, “I am a sinner.” The Holy Father went on to say that our humanity is wounded. We know how to distinguish between good and evil. We know the difference, but we often choose the evil. We make choices, and we can choose our glory.
We are living through an age of serious moral decay. Cheating and lying are a way of life today. Although anger doesn’t make most of us murderers, lust doesn’t make most of us rapists, and greed or envy do not make most of us outright criminals, together with gluttony, arrogance, and sloth, there isn’t much glory in us, and those who have to live with us are miserable.
Every deadly sin fuels harmful social phenomena: lust-pornography; gluttony-substance abuse; envy-terrorism; anger-violence; sloth-indifference to the pain and suffering of others; greed-abuse of public trust; and pride-discrimination.” As long as there is any trace of these evils in our lives there is no glory in us. We are less than human and less than what God has made us to be. Yet, we have in our faith a treasure of wisdom and tradition, teaching and revelation that leads us to a life of virtue and balance, holiness and joy; that is glory! It is not that pleasure is inappropriate, but real glory comes from character and virtue, and a right relationship of one’s self to others and to God. That is where we find pleasure, and that kind of pleasure leads to glory.
So, I am inviting you to spend three nights this week reflecting upon “The Seven Deadly Sins”. Unlike our bodies influenced by our genes; our souls, our spirit, and the lives they animate are free to be shaped by our choices. We can choose to be whole. We can choose glory. We can repent and change, and that is what this Lenten season which we have just begun is all about. There is more and better in us than we have chosen to become. One of the startling facts of life in our times is that no one wants to admit to sin and take any responsibility for its consequences. Lent is the time to do that, and this mission may well provide some time and insight about what we can do.
We have been given our nature, but we choose our character. When we say someone is a good man or a good woman, we do not suggest that they are people in whom there is no inclination to evil, but rather that they are people who have wrestled and still wrestle with it and never give in because their quality and their goodness comes from the struggle. I think that is what Jesus learned in that desert as weheard last weekend. It is what gave him what it took to really withstand the temptations that come later in his life. People who learn from the struggle are truly noble. These are people of virtue, character, and nobility. The work of Jesus and his expectation that we change leads us to glory, to Easter, to virtue and nobility.
The glory of Jesus Christ came from his willingness to suffer in obedience to the will of his Father. Calvary was no short – cut to glory. There isn’t one. We will have no glory and no Easter from short-cuts either. I want to propose to you over the next three evenings that while there are seven sins (not issues) that lead us to death there are seven virtues that when taken seriously lead us to life. I invite you to give some time with me this week for the sake of the truth and for glory; three times in this church for the sake of life itself, your life. Tomorrow night we shall reflect upon Pride and Envy, Tuesday night Anger and Sloth, Wednesday night it will be Greed, Gluttony, and Lust.I always save the best till last!So I hope to see you again for prayer this week when we might begin to consider how it is that we restore that glory that is ours by God’s plan, and let Christ Jesus lead us deeper and closer into the presence of God.
Deuteronomy 26, 4-10 X Psalm 91 X Romans 10, 8-13 X Luke 4, 1-13
No one talks about sin anymore unless it’s someone else’s. Then we’re really good at it, and we can name the offense, the cause, and often we can set the punishment. However, when referring to ourselves, we don’t have sin. We have a few “issues”, but they are hardly deadly. These temptations of Christ that lead us into Lent every year are way too fantastic and dramatic to be very real, so we stand back and admire Jesus for the strength of character he demonstrates and the courage with which he responds to Satan missing the point that perhaps what Luke is teaching us is that an effective response to any temptation might be found in the Word of God, and the use of that Word might well give us what we need to face any temptation. During the time of the Lenten Mission we begin this week, I propose to give you some scripture texts and use them as Jesus does to respond to some serious “issues” that left unaddressed and unchallenged lead to death which is why we call them “deadly sins.”
We are all engaged to one degree or another in a personal, ongoing battle with sin and vice just like Jesus in these verses from Luke’s Gospel. We are living through an age of serious moral decay. Cheating and lying are a way of life today. Although anger doesn’t make most of us murderers, and lust doesn’t make most of us rapists, and greed and envy do not make most of us outright criminals, together with gluttony, arrogance, and sloth, there isn’t much glory in us, and those who have to live with us are miserable. Our failure to live up to the glory that is ours is as tragic as the unhappiness our evil causes.
Every deadly sin fuels harmful social phenomena: lust-pornography; gluttony-substance abuse; envy-terrorism; anger-violence; sloth-indifference to the pain and suffering of others; greed-abuse of public trust; and pride-discrimination.” As long as there is any trace of these evils in our lives, we are less that human and less than what God has made us to be. We have in our faith a treasure of wisdom and tradition, teaching and revelation that leads us to a life of virtue and balance, holiness and joy; that is glory! It is not that pleasure is inappropriate, but glory comes from character and virtue, and a right relationship of one’s self to others and to God. That is where we find pleasure, and that pleasure leads to glory.
So, I am inviting you to spend three nights this week reflecting upon “The Seven Deadly Sins”. Unlike our bodies influenced by our genes; our souls, our spirit, and the lives they animate are free to be shaped by our choices. We can choose to be whole. We can choose glory. We can repent and change, and that is what this Lenten season which we have just begun is all about. I don’t know where we got the idea that giving chocolate or martinis for Lent or dropping some loose change in the poor box was what Lent is all about, but it’s silly and trivial. Besides, most people who give up chocolate more than make up for lost time with the chocolate bunnies and eggs on Easter! God wants more. God deserves more. God expects more. God wants change. There is more and better in us than we have chosen to become. One of the startling facts of life in our times is that no one wants to admit to sin and take any responsibility for its consequences. Lent is the time to do that.
We have been given our nature, but we choose our character. When we say someone is a good man or a good woman, we do not suggest that they are people in whom there is no inclination to evil, but rather that they are people who have wrestled and still wrestle with it and never give in because their quality and their goodness comes from the struggle. I think that is what Jesus learned in that desert. It is what gave him what it took to really withstand the temptations that come later in his life. People learn from the struggle are truly noble. These are people of virtue, character, and nobility. The work of Jesus and his expectation that we change leads us to glory, to Easter, to virtue and nobility.
“Morality is like art, said G.K. Chesterton, “it consists of drawing a line somewhere.” We live in an age in which no lines seem to be drawn at all, or those that have been drawn are being erased. In my 74th year of life and almost 50 years as priest I have come to recognize that an unhealed wound, a kind of sinful restlessness, afflicts humanity and robs us of glory.
Bruce Springsteen, “The Boss” wrote a song that describes our age when he sings: “Everybody has a hungry heart.” I think we are hungry for glory, hungry for the life we should have had by God’s will and God’s original plan for us. But we have traded our glory for something else, and sin is the consequence. Our hunger is for God and the glory that comes from being in God’s presence. The glory of Jesus Christ came from his willingness to suffer in obedience to the will of his Father. Calvary was no short – cut to glory. There isn’t one. We will have no glory and no Easter from a short-cut either. We cannot fill ourselves with things that do not satisfy, that do not fill us or lift us or hold us up.
I want to propose to you that while there are seven sins (not issues) that lead us to death there are seven virtues that when taken seriously lead us to life. I invite you to give some time with me this week for the sake of the truth and glory; three times in this church for the sake of life itself, your life. Sunday night (tonight) we shall reflect upon Pride and Envy, tomorrow Anger and Sloth, Tuesday, Greed, Gluttony, and Lust. I always save the best till last! I hope to see you again for prayer tonight night when we might begin to consider how it is that we satisfy our hungers and our thirst, because “everybody has a hungry heart.” The only thing that will satisfy that hunger is found here in this church nowhere else.
Joel 2, 12-18 – Psalm 51 – 2 Corinthians 5, 20-6, 2 – Matthew 6, 1-6, 16-18
February 10, 2016 at St Peter the Apostle Parish & St William Parishes in Naples, FL.
For some of us, and I may well be one of them, this will be our last Lent. With that thought, we might get serious about these forty days, because they are about being prepared for death. That is why we will mark ourselves in a few moments with the ashes to which we shall return. It might then be about time we take this season seriously since it might well be our last chance to get ready for the dawn of our new life.
The Prophet Joel shouts: “Return to me with all your heart.” Where in the world did we ever get the idea that giving up a few goodies like chocolate or martinis or dropping some loose change into the poor box was really enough to prepare us for death or lead us to celebrate the greatest event in history? In fact, is six weeks enough? Viewed in the light of what this season is really about, those things seem rather trivial and silly. God wants more. God deserves more, God expects more. God wants conversion, and that means that something about us will change. That kind of conversion of heart means a lot more than figuring out what to give up.
Fasting is not for weight loss. If that is your goal with fasting: “Amen I say to you, You have already received your reward.” God’s not interested. Real fasting stirs up our hunger for God. Instead opening the door of the refrigerator for snacks, we ought to opening the door of a church for prayer. The giving of alms is not just a seasonal or occasional gift to the poor or some worthy cause remembering to get a tax deduction. If a tax deduction is even in your mind when you give: “Amen I say to you. You have already received your reward. Expect nothing from God. The giving of alms means we stop using the money we have for only ourselves and take seriously the work of the church and the needs of others. When half this world is starving and we spend money on cosmetics, and another pair of shoes there is need for conversion of heart. When there is time to talk and gossip about the faults and mistakes others have made, there ought to be time for some serious prayer about our own mistakes, and certainly some time to ask forgiveness. That would count as a real conversion.
If every Lent was lived as if it were our last, and if every day were lived as though it was our last, we might well find ourselves prepared for that death we acknowledge today, and even more prepared for the surprise and the joy of what will follow for those have seriously and consistently turned their hearts to God.
February 7, 2016 at Saint Peter and St William Parishes in Naples, FL.
The call of Peter is so dramatic in Luke’s Gospel that it presents a problem. It is the same with the call of Isaiah and Paul heard just before the Gospel. These experiences are so unique that we can easily step back focusing only on those three as though those really called to discipleship have to accept a radical change of life, quit their jobs, leave their family, put everything up for sale on eBay, and be focused on doing God’s will and nothing more. After all, isn’t that what “they” did? Add to that the fact that we tend to think of a Prophet like Isaiah, St Paul, and St Peter as being “saints”, holy and courageous, bold and confident. These are the kind of people God goes after, the bold and the brave. Excuse me friends, this thinking is ridiculous, and it seems to gloss over the fact that Isaiah did not have a clue about what was going on around him, Paul was a notorious and violent persecutor of those who followed Christ, and Peter was a liar and a coward at the most critical moment of Christ’s life. A closer look at the three of them tells us something more important. This “call” comes to anyone and maybe everyone from an upper-class well-dressed Israelite named Isaiah, to a Roman trouble-maker like Paul, and to a simple fisherman just earning an honest living by the work of his hands.
What this episode of Luke’s Gospel calls into question is who is called, what is the call, and what does it take to respond.
At the historical level, Peter is called. At the theological level as Luke writes it is the church that is called, you and me, The Church. So what is revealed here in God’s Word is our call, and root of our vocation in life. I think it is important to understand that this is about “vocation”, the purpose of and the reason for one’s very life. There is one, you know, a reason for each one of us to be here right now, today, in this place. There is a reason in the mind of God for our very existence. God has called us into this life, not just to eat and breath, reproduce and die. There is a plan in God’s providence for each of us which is why we all have gifts that may differ, but are tools to complete the Will of God.
There is no expectation that we sell our homes, our cars, bid farewell to our families, find a tunic, an old pair of sandals, and learn how to beg. There is an expectation however that we take seriously our unique vocation and seek at every turn to understand what God asks of us and calls us to become as a disciple. It is way more than keeping the rules and going to church. This vocation to discipleship is not for the holy and the perfect, for those who have their lives all in order and spend hours in prayer. It is for people like us who have a past, who live every day conscious of our unworthiness, our mistakes, and brokenness. In fact, it is probably good to remember all of that like Peter who falls on his knees in humility. None the less, he is called, and so is the broken and sometimes sinful church which is no better or worse than any of us. Discipleship and our vocation is not about the past. It is about now and about the future.
I would propose that there are three steps to embracing one’s vocation. First, we need to be absolutely convinced that God is alive and powerfully working within and around each one of us. We need to be unshakably certain that we are loved and worthy to be called, just as we are. Second, based upon that understanding we need to hear Jesus when he clearly says to us, “Do not be afraid.” The job description for discipleship has as its first prerequisite: love. The second is “no fear.” Now the third and final thing we need to do is learn to listen. God is prompting and calling each one of us right now. This is the making of a disciple.
We have all been there: at work, at home, in a store, anywhere. We see something or hear something said and wonder, “Should I respond and help that person?” Then we start trying to figure out if it’s proper, or if we should just mind our own business and what other people might think. By the time we go through all of this rumination either someone else has responded, the person has moved on, or it’s just too late. What kingdom do we serve, the “kingdom of excuses” or the “kingdom of God”? If we are convinced that we are being loved and led, committed to removing fear from our minds and hearts, and becoming skilled at the art of listening then we would not hesitate to act on those promptings we feel within. Those promptings are from God. You are being called to respond. Jesus is saying, “Come, and follow me.” You have an opportunity to be a “fisher of men”!
It takes time to discern whether that inner voice is my own or God’s. That discernment comes once we get rid of the fear and excuses and actually start doing! In listening to these inner promptings, we begin to notice all of the opportunities that become available to us to be disciples. We will realize that my past does not matter. What is important is what I can do. If you find yourself saying, I should ask that person his or her name, then do it! If you find yourself saying, I should help that person carry that load, then do it! If you are driving and see someone in distress and say I should stop and help, then do it! If you see a homeless person and say to yourself I should do more, then figure out what to do!
After Jesus ascended to the Father all those first disciples had was God’s inner voice. They were able to recognize just as they recognized Jesus on the road to Emmaus. We can learn to recognize it as well. And with Lent beginning this Wednesday, we have a full forty days to think about love, fear and listening and how we can become better disciples and fishers of men.
January 31, 2016 at Saint Peter the Apostle Parish in Naples, FL.
Just after the end of World War II a Lutheran minister named Gunter Rutenborn wrote and staged a play he titled The Sign of Jonah that had a profound impact on the city of Berlin which was in ruins. The play takes place in Germany still reeling from the war. It begins with a group of refugees trying to determine who is to blame for the horror. Some blame Hitler. Some blame the munitions manufacturers who financed Hitler. Other claimed that the German people themselves should bear the responsibility for the destruction of their own country.
Suddenly a man in the crowd speaks up: “Do you want to know who is really to blame for the suffering we have been through? I’ll tell you. God is to blame. He created this world. He placed all of this power in such unworthy hands. He allowed all of this happen.”
At first, everyone is taken back by this accusation, but gradually the chorus is picked up by all: God is to blame! God is to blame! And so God is brought down on stage and put on trial for the crime of creation; and he is found guilty. The judge then pronounces sentence: “The crime is so severe that it demands the worst possible sentence. I hereby sentence God to live on this earth as a human being.
Three archangels are called down to execute the sentence. The first angel declares, “I’m going to see to it that when God serves his sentence, He knows what it is like to be obscure and poor. He will be born in a ghetto. There will be shame about his birth, and he will live as a Jew. The second angel vows, “I’m going to see that when God serves his sentence he knows what it is like to fail and suffer disappointment. No one will understand what He is trying to do, and he will be cursed and humiliated despite the good He does.” The third angel swears, “I’m going to see to it that when God serves his sentence, He will learn what it is to suffer physical pain. He will die the most painful and humiliating death imaginable.” And the play ends with the three angels disappearing to carry out the sentence.
And so, God’s sentence is carried out in the Gospel accounts of Jesus, God-made-human. Last month we observed the fulfillment of the first sentence regarding his birth. Today we mark the fulfillment of the second angel’s vow with the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. So convinced that they were perfect, that they were right, that they were the best there is and the most favored and blessed of all peoples by God, they were outraged to hear that there might be others who were different from them yet equally favored, blessed, and loved by God. So indignant were they that they ran off and closed their ears to the news, to the Truth, to the Prophet. No signs were worked among them.
We must take great care and draw an important lesson from this Gospel regarding our own times. A prophetic church is still chased away when the Gospel calls into question the privileges of the self-satisfied. Communism has done this, and secularism is doing it today. Sometimes masked under the veil of super patriotism, there is outrage when the church favors the poor whose poverty is the consequence of economic systems that protect the wealth of a few. The prophetic Christ in his prophetic Church is silenced with ridicule when it speaks of the value of all human life to a violent culture that legalizes murder and calls it a “right” or calls it “justice.”
The audiences who saw The Sign of Jonah and all who have met Jesus of the Gospels understand immediately that God has completed his sentence. God knows what it is to live as a human being – which means that nothing we face today is unknown to God: being misunderstood, run off, silenced, mocked when the truth is spoken, betrayed by friends, it’s all there! The central message of the Gospel Jesus is that God became what we are so that we can better understand what God is and what God is about: love, forgiveness, selflessness. Such is the good news of Jesus who enters human history and sanctifies our humanity for all time.