Compassion is a Verb

There are probably half-a-dozen important messages that can stand alone as topics for discussion in Luke 6:39-45 

Seeing our own blind spots, and recognizing - and following - someone who doesn't share our blindness.
Understanding what we don't understand, and recognizing - and learning from - someone who can teach us new understandings.
Acknowledging our own faults / biases / prejudices, and removing them. This will help us to recognize how easy it is to have biases and be gentle when addressing them in others.
Being careful not to judge a book by its cover. Focus on a person's actual conduct and its results not on what they say or look like.
It's who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.
Whenever you start something new, make sure it is built on a good foundation. And - since storms will always happen - make sure you build before the storm hits!

Jesus is calling us to live our lives out of an alternative vision of reality that reverses the values of our culture and “renews the face of the earth.”

Jesus stresses that it is not enough to come to him and hear his words. We must also act on them.

This is when the Good News becomes hard news, because all of us who come to Jesus and hear his words will have to make some major changes in our habits, attitudes and behaviors to actually act on his teachings.

He shows us how God intends us to live together. But because this age is not living in the way God desires us, it means that opting to live God's way right now will require both wisdom and innocence; courage and humility. (Adapted from David Ewart, www.holytextures.com. March 2019)

Live Your Lives As An Alternative Vision of Reality

Luke 6:27-38



   ¹ When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down ² and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said: 

   ³ "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. 


   ⁴ "You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. 


   ⁵ "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought. 


   ⁶ "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat. 


   ⁷ "You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'carefull,' you find yourselves cared for. 


   ⁸ "You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. 


   ⁹ "You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family. 


  ¹⁰ "You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom. 


  ¹¹ "Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. ¹² You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble

 Eugene Peterson (The Message) The Beatitudes

Fisher of Man

 
Yes I know it’s February and Christmas is a distant memory, and while I love the holiday, I’m glad it’s all behind us and we are well into the New Year and closing in on Lent. So then why do I choose to use what many consider a Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life as a power segue to our gospel, (Luke 5:1-11)? In this reading we are reminded that Jesus is not talking to what we might consider leaders in the community…the people with, money and authority. Jesus is talking to the common man and in words they will understand. He tells them that as fishers of men, they possess the ability to transform the world.

So what does this have to do with the movie? How well we have come to know the story of George Bailey, a struggling businessman whose dreams and aspirations are shattered as his life gets sidetracked by unintended consequences. I wonder how many of us can relate to unplanned events in our lives that have taken us far afield from our life’s plans. As we look back don’t we often wonder how different life would have been if unintended consequences had not intervened? The movie reminds us that everything that happens has consequences and that everyone in some way relates to one another.

There are two scenes in particular that reminds us that in some small way we are a force for change, although sometimes we don’t recognize it. In a discussion that George has with his father during dinner, the very evening of his father’s death, George condescendingly rejects any notion of following his father’s footsteps and take over the bank someday. His father tells him, you know, George, I feel that in a small way we are doing something important. Satisfying a fundamental urge for a man to want his own roof and walls and fireplace, and we’re helping him get those things in our shabby little office. And while not in his plan, George does follow in his father’s footsteps.

The other scene comes as George, a victim of unintended consequences and on the brink of despair, wonders if his life was all worth it. His “guardian angel,” Clarence shows and tells him that every man’s life touches so many other lives, and when he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?

We all know people who by their very presence have made us better persons just by being in our lives. How many, we wonder, have touched us without our or their knowledge. These are “Godly” people.

Truly Godly people are the ones who make a difference everywhere they go, although unintended consequences may prevent them from even knowing that they have. Somehow, they always seem to be in the right place at the right time and doing the very thing that is most needed at any given time. And the difference between Godly folks and everyone else, is that they try to live life as Jesus did by loving God the only way they can…by loving each other. We are not alone; we are not insignificant; we are loved, cared for and intended for wonderful purposes. It truly is a wonderful life.

The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me

And so in Luke 4:21-30 the day arrives…the local boy who has been making quite a name for himself, is coming home. He goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath. He reads from Isaiah. He speaks a few words. The crowd whispers to each other how good he is: "Mary and Joseph certainly raised a good son." But wait, what happened? The crowd is beginning to get a little restless as he goes on. They’ve heard all about the great things he’s done before returning home. Many of the people had gathered to see some great event – a little razzle-dazzle for the home town folks.

If Jesus would just do some healings or some other miracle, they would know that God's power was here and now, once and for all, and he would finally drive out the pagan Gentiles and their ungodly influences in the city. But Jesus performs no miracles in Nazareth, and in fact goes out of his way to defy expected convention of the respected in Israel by reaching out to sinners, toll collectors and outcasts. 



So what started as an initially positive response among the Jews, leads to anger and hatred when his mission opens up to include the Gentiles. The essence of Jesus’ ministry is the love of God for all people. What is it that sparks this abrupt shift from awe to rage for the hearers of Jesus’ words? 

As for Jesus, it’s hard enough to live up to anticipated expectations. It’s harder still, of course, to meet up with unexpected rejection. There is a very human dimension to this whole story.

When the hometown boy makes good, there are usually more than a few who resent his success. Why? As for us, there are all sorts of people in our lives who call us to compassion and justice. Some of them are very ordinary. What is it about the ordinary that’s so hard to see?

Do Whatever He Tells You

 

The Wedding at Cana is unique to the Fourth Gospel and is the first of John’s seven signs. But, why water into wine? (John2:1-11). The scene conjures up beautiful images of Jesus as a young man and reminds us that the mystery of God’s incarnation in Jesus has more to do with Jesus’ humanity than his divinity. That God could do miraculous things is easily understood. After all he is God. But that he could live fully human sharing all our fears and joy, is for me the real mystery of the incarnation. He is one of us.

And so to me, the exchange between Jesus and his mother seems on a human level, to be so personally familiar and humorous. Mary, whom John never refers to by name, senses the embarrassment of the wedding hosts and tells Jesus that they have run out of wine. Jesus’ paraphrased response is that they should have hired a better wedding planner. But then, without paying him any mind, Mother Mary tells the servants to do whatever he says. 

I have this image of my mother encouraging me to get on the diving board for the first time: “Come on, you can do it! I know you can!” “But, Ma, I’m not ready yet, it’s too hard and I’m scared.” “Don’t be afraid, I’m here, you can do it, I know your can.”

And what about a time much later in life when I was in the throes of an interview process for a job I really wanted. One day my mother shows up with a telephone number of a “big shot” son of a friend who I should call. “Ma, that’s not how it’s done;” I said; “there is a process; this is not a job you get if you know someone.” “Never mind,” she says, “call him at 10:00 AM tomorrow; he’s expecting you.”

I wonder what my mother or Mary saw at that moment. What had been revealed to them that I could be able to dive off the high board, and I could get the job that I wanted? Mary had faith in her son and believed that such a miracle was possible. How did she know that this was Jesus’ time? How did my mother know that I was ready and just needed a little push? 

And what about the unspoken “dialogue” between Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. In many ways the exchange between Mary and Jesus is somewhat reminiscent of the prompting characterized by Rosa’s refusing to yield her seat. She likely provoked King into action, although he thought his time had not yet come. She declared his moment was at hand.

It is more than coincidence that Jesus’ mother surrounds his earthly ministry. She is there at the very beginning; there at the start of his “career” and she is there at the end… as she watches him die. She is the nurturing force when he, as the Word is made flesh, shares parenthood with God, the Father. What difference does this make in this season of the Epiphany? Perhaps it is a reminder that whenever Jesus reveals his divinity, he is simultaneously revealing something about his humanity. Perhaps, in the sign that it is water into wine, we might even experience something that we need to know about ourselves?

 

YOU...Are My Beloved Son

I wonder how many of us celebrate our Baptism as we might our birthday or anniversary. I’m not sure I can even locate my baptismal certificate much less know the month or day it took place. This Sunday we will celebrate the baptism of Jesus according to Luke 3:15-16, 21-22. Despite the fact that this event in our church calendar was once considered an even more important feast than Christmas, the Baptism of Jesus is usually acknowledged with a Gospel reading and a sermon. Yet, along with the Epiphany, it is a celebration of the true nature of the incarnation of God. Perhaps we should wait a little while before we put away our manger scenes. 
I suspect that for many Christians the sacrament of Baptism is somewhat of a mystery. If you ask some why they want their children baptized they would be hard pressed to explain. Do we do it to please grandparents? Is it a cultural act? Is it some sort of “ticket to admission” to a particular church or is it a pre-qualification for communion? How many of us were raised believing that Baptism was intended to “wash away” our sins? 

Instead, the sacrament informs us that the presence of God is with us and in us and is essential to our very being. Baptism reminds us that in addition to being part of the Christian community, we were invested in God’s Kingdom long before any sprinkling of water or liturgical incantation took place. 

In this Gospel Luke seems to “be apologizing” for having to baptize Jesus, when he tells us that he is not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. Then he goes on to say that while I am baptizing you with water, the one mightier than I is coming and will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. How many times have we said “Oh Lord I am not worthy” when we really are worthy? We are worthy because of our birth rite but like Mary we are humbled.

Back to our Gospel…when all the people and Jesus had been baptized, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. This powerful affirmation of the Father made it clear to all just who Jesus was.

“In a very profound way we are in fact brothers and sisters to one another. Each of us has already received the first great gift of our spiritual inheritance: the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God resides in each of us as the source of the divine life and the source of all life…The life of God in us means that we are closely bonded to one another. We are more closely united by the living presence of the Spirit in us than we would be by family blood lines. The shared life in God, makes us family in a profoundly personal way. This is the faith vision of the reality which we call Church.” (John Powell, S.J. The Christian Vision, p131)

It's good to be king

Matthew describes Herod as a powerful king of his time who reigned strictly for his personal benefit Matthew 2:1-12. His power and influence spanned nearly a half century during which time he continued to build the great temple which pleased the Jews and the Romans, who were content that all was calm during his reign.

In a real sense Herod and Israel conspired together as they both pursued their common interests in which religious and political motives intermingled.   Each “scratched each other's back,” and bowed before legislative and religious laws. Despite more than “passing interest” in reports of a Messiah's birth, the chief priests and scribes and Herod turned a blind eye to what had happened. Both were unwilling to relinquish their world and accept the possibility that the Messiah has been born. It was more convenient if this was not true and they could keep their good thing going for a while longer.  

While the Magi are not insiders, they were a force to be reckoned with, and not readily dismissed. Their arrival was more than a nuisance; it was an “international event”… the status quo was not prepared (willing) to accept the glory of God's heavenly kingdom whose power was love as opposed to Herod’s love of power....not now; maybe later; they had a good thing going and didn’t need another king much less a Messiah to spoil it.  

 

Do we sometimes yearn for God’s Kingdom, while finding it hard to leave our comfort zone? After all, Herod’s kingdom was comfortable for the insiders