Marketing has always fascinated me. Many years ago action figures called "Tales of Glory" were marketed in the Deep South and featured speaking characters like Moses, Daniel, Samson and Delilah, Saints Peter and Paul (spouting verses from a New Testament that didn't exist in their time), and Jesus himself. What a boon: if the twelve-inch Jesus started meddling, the consumer could simply hit the off switch!
In today's gospel reading [Mt. 17: 1-9], the "action figures" are real people. They are members of Jesus' Executive Committee: Peter (chairman of the Board), James (Jesus' step-brother), and John (the disciple Jesus loved). They have gone on retreat to a mountain top with Jesus. They are now celebrating the feast of Sukkoth, which is the feast of "booths," These structures are outdoor shelters where Jews down to our day gather for the vicarious experience of living outdoors in emulation of the great wandering in the wilderness. Jews expected that Elijah would return in the time of the Messiah.
The three apostles experience a common vision in which they see Jesus radiating, flanked by Moses and Elijah. Peter proposes to build a second and third sukkah, to honour these great men of old. He is dissuading from doing so. Mr. Law and Mr. Prophecy attest to Jesus' identity and fade away, even as a voice from the sky declares Jesus to be Son of God.
Following this visionary experience, the three are incapacitated. They are afraid Imagine, the future first bishops of Rome (and Antioch), Jerusalem, and Ephesus grovelling on the ground in fear. But when our Master touches them, they recover, and all head back down the mountain, and back to the future work God has in store for them.
You and I can benefit from the experience of the great retreat with God that we call Lent. Here we have a chance to challenge our fears and uncertainties, allow Jesus to touch us, and prepare once again for Good Friday, Easter, and the days of ministry lying beyond. We might even find a "mountaintop experience" with Jesus!
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Sexagesima: Jesus' Crazy Agenda
Our text from Jewish Scripture (Lev. 19: 1-2, 9-18) and our gospel passage (Mt. 5:8-48) provide an interesting contrast. We finally encounter a portion of Leviticus that is not creepy and, in fact, does challenge the reader to honesty, humility, and compassion. Important traits. And these laws that inculcate them are very positive. Law, after all, deals with minimum acceptable standards of action.
Enter Jesus, with his torqued-up Torah, his radical righteousness calling us above and beyond what other religious traditions demand. First, he calls us to be radically peaceful. He begins by talking about the lex talionis, "an eye for an eye." It is certainly a fair and balanced principle, and Jesus repeals it. He tells us that when we receive the usual challenge to a fight in his culture (backhand to the right cheek), the proper response is turning the left check to be struck as well. I still remember having been told by one of my sons that he was struck by a schoolmate, refused to retaliate and told that offender that he wouldn't fight him, that any disagreement would be worked out peacefully. His antagonist looked confused, he said, and walked away. My son heard the Gospel, I thought, cool!
Jesus next tells us that one who has been compelled to go a mile with someone should go another mile voluntarily. Here is the key: the only person who could compel a person to go with him, and only a mile, was a Roman soldier. Such a soldier would routinely accost a Jew and make him carrying that soldier's gear for a mile. Jesus' response is both Nonviolent Resistance and a strong statement against imperialism. And that, folks, is political!
Second, Jesus called us to be radically generous. He says if someone would take our coat, then we ought to give that person our cloak as well. Only the super-rich had multiple suits of clothing, thus for one to give these two garments would leave the giver naked. Does this sound like Jesus' other admonitions to give all you have away and follow him?
Finally, Jesus calls us to be radically loving. This is the tough one. Actually there is no passage that says love your neighbour and hate your enemy -- we don't know where that comes from -- but the admonition to love neighbour is strong in the Jewish texts. Now Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who hassle us? Is he nuts? Such a practice might actually help us to realize that the enemy is a child of God too, in whose shoes we have not walked, whose story we do not really know, hence benefit of the doubt. From there he goes on to tell us to give to anyone in need, never refuse to lend to the needy. I know this was a requirement my paternal grandfather practised to constant scorn by my grandmother and other family members. Of an unreturned item he was often remembersed to say, "If my neighbour can live with it, I can live without it."
Jesus finally summarizes his crazy radical agenda by saying, "You must be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Here he employs the rabbinic teaching tool of hyperbole. We humans cannot attain perfection. Still that is the goal to which we strive if we are to be like our celestial Father. I can only hope that occasionally, once in a while, people may see in me some family resemblance.
Enter Jesus, with his torqued-up Torah, his radical righteousness calling us above and beyond what other religious traditions demand. First, he calls us to be radically peaceful. He begins by talking about the lex talionis, "an eye for an eye." It is certainly a fair and balanced principle, and Jesus repeals it. He tells us that when we receive the usual challenge to a fight in his culture (backhand to the right cheek), the proper response is turning the left check to be struck as well. I still remember having been told by one of my sons that he was struck by a schoolmate, refused to retaliate and told that offender that he wouldn't fight him, that any disagreement would be worked out peacefully. His antagonist looked confused, he said, and walked away. My son heard the Gospel, I thought, cool!
Jesus next tells us that one who has been compelled to go a mile with someone should go another mile voluntarily. Here is the key: the only person who could compel a person to go with him, and only a mile, was a Roman soldier. Such a soldier would routinely accost a Jew and make him carrying that soldier's gear for a mile. Jesus' response is both Nonviolent Resistance and a strong statement against imperialism. And that, folks, is political!
Second, Jesus called us to be radically generous. He says if someone would take our coat, then we ought to give that person our cloak as well. Only the super-rich had multiple suits of clothing, thus for one to give these two garments would leave the giver naked. Does this sound like Jesus' other admonitions to give all you have away and follow him?
Finally, Jesus calls us to be radically loving. This is the tough one. Actually there is no passage that says love your neighbour and hate your enemy -- we don't know where that comes from -- but the admonition to love neighbour is strong in the Jewish texts. Now Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who hassle us? Is he nuts? Such a practice might actually help us to realize that the enemy is a child of God too, in whose shoes we have not walked, whose story we do not really know, hence benefit of the doubt. From there he goes on to tell us to give to anyone in need, never refuse to lend to the needy. I know this was a requirement my paternal grandfather practised to constant scorn by my grandmother and other family members. Of an unreturned item he was often remembersed to say, "If my neighbour can live with it, I can live without it."
Jesus finally summarizes his crazy radical agenda by saying, "You must be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Here he employs the rabbinic teaching tool of hyperbole. We humans cannot attain perfection. Still that is the goal to which we strive if we are to be like our celestial Father. I can only hope that occasionally, once in a while, people may see in me some family resemblance.
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Super-Apostles
In the passage beginning in II Corinthians 5:10, Saint Paul lambastes "super-apostles." Super-apostles are au courant, way cooler than Paul. Apparently these competitors look down on manual labour, association with "friends in low places," and that unseemly focus on Jesus' crucifixion in a society which always equates that form of execution with treason and failure. Paul is guilty of all that. If Pauline ministry is to be judged by the standards of worldly success and status, then he has failed. But here Paul goes on the defence and stands up strongly for his emphasis on the Cross of Christ. Here he addresses a Corinthian community of converts who nonetheless find out that the process of reconciliation is ongoing. What God in God's grace has already made them they must struggle to continue to be. The grace, mercy and love of God seen in Christ's self-sacrifice is the motivator.
These parishioners are to serve the Righteousness of God, meaning that they -- like we -- are commissioned to be God's blessing where we are planted, to bless the world in God's Name.
The Greek word for righteousness is diakosune (Heb. tzedakah) carrying the connotation of right action and justice. These words have nothing to do with punishment, everything to do with true reconciliation and restoration of relationships. It is akin to the Hebrew concept of tikkun olam, repairing the world -- or, in Christian language, building the Kingdom of God, creating a world in which God's will is done on earth as in heaven. Implicit in this notion is that the peace and the reconcilation we seek require the justice we are called to bring forth.
Thus the Gospel has a serious political dimension, whether we like it or not. To seek peace and justice and reconciliation is also to speak out against domination systems reliant on violence, on alienation of working people and on their exploitation. Sadly, many of today's super-apostles -- presently called tele-evangelists and mega-preachers -- are on the wrong side of the divide. They have been co-opted by the politico-economic culture, surrendered to corporatism, focussed on the criteria of growth, accumulation of wealth and bankrupt "prosperity theology" which Jesus hated, and puffed up by worldly fame, power and popularity feeding the cult of the personality.
May we remain faithful to the Gospel and its irreducible principles that charge us to work for justice, thus to promote peace and to bring about the change that God would see in our world.
These parishioners are to serve the Righteousness of God, meaning that they -- like we -- are commissioned to be God's blessing where we are planted, to bless the world in God's Name.
The Greek word for righteousness is diakosune (Heb. tzedakah) carrying the connotation of right action and justice. These words have nothing to do with punishment, everything to do with true reconciliation and restoration of relationships. It is akin to the Hebrew concept of tikkun olam, repairing the world -- or, in Christian language, building the Kingdom of God, creating a world in which God's will is done on earth as in heaven. Implicit in this notion is that the peace and the reconcilation we seek require the justice we are called to bring forth.
Thus the Gospel has a serious political dimension, whether we like it or not. To seek peace and justice and reconciliation is also to speak out against domination systems reliant on violence, on alienation of working people and on their exploitation. Sadly, many of today's super-apostles -- presently called tele-evangelists and mega-preachers -- are on the wrong side of the divide. They have been co-opted by the politico-economic culture, surrendered to corporatism, focussed on the criteria of growth, accumulation of wealth and bankrupt "prosperity theology" which Jesus hated, and puffed up by worldly fame, power and popularity feeding the cult of the personality.
May we remain faithful to the Gospel and its irreducible principles that charge us to work for justice, thus to promote peace and to bring about the change that God would see in our world.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Septuagesima: Compassion
Almost two years ago the City of Tulsa adopted a charter of compassion. The organization that grew out of that -- Compassionate Tulsa -- has invited people of all faiths to "Make Tulsa Golden" by following the Golden Rule which is common to all our faith traditions, treating others as we would like to be treated. That is a concept integrally related to compassion, a word formed from the Latin patior and cum, literally 'suffering, or experiencing, with.' Last week at the first adult Trialogue of this year, presented by the Oklahoma Conference for Community and Justice at Peace Academy, we were all given an opportunity to take the pledge to make Tulsa Golden and to receive a certificate. Each pledger was then photographed holding one's certificate. When it was my turn before the camera, I was actually photobombed by my friend Aliya Shimi, assistant director of Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry!
So here I was making this promise which I last made at my Confirmation in 1963 and to which I have not been one hundred percent faithful. Pledging to follow the Golden Rule reminds us that nothing we do is isolated. Every action radiates outwards. We only need look at the fallout in our culture from half-baked Christianity, in which our religious establishment has been re-formed by the culture and its politics rather than the other way round. As a result we see Christian leaders and groups that support war and imperialism, wealth accumulation (on the theory that being rich is a sign of divine favour and being poor is a sign you haven't had enough faith and God is not impressed with you), and judging others, especially those most different. All of these are 180 degrees away from what Jesus taught us, reminding how easily Jesus can become our mascot and not our saviour.
Actually practising compassion, living out the Golden Rule, strengthens us and strengthens the community which, in turn, further strengthens us. It is a win-win to take Jesus seriously, and to join the panoply of non-Christian religions in committing to a lifestyle that is compassionate towards all. We are always moving towards the Kingdom of God or walking away from it; we cannot walk away from it and pretend to be followers of Jesus.
So here I was making this promise which I last made at my Confirmation in 1963 and to which I have not been one hundred percent faithful. Pledging to follow the Golden Rule reminds us that nothing we do is isolated. Every action radiates outwards. We only need look at the fallout in our culture from half-baked Christianity, in which our religious establishment has been re-formed by the culture and its politics rather than the other way round. As a result we see Christian leaders and groups that support war and imperialism, wealth accumulation (on the theory that being rich is a sign of divine favour and being poor is a sign you haven't had enough faith and God is not impressed with you), and judging others, especially those most different. All of these are 180 degrees away from what Jesus taught us, reminding how easily Jesus can become our mascot and not our saviour.
Actually practising compassion, living out the Golden Rule, strengthens us and strengthens the community which, in turn, further strengthens us. It is a win-win to take Jesus seriously, and to join the panoply of non-Christian religions in committing to a lifestyle that is compassionate towards all. We are always moving towards the Kingdom of God or walking away from it; we cannot walk away from it and pretend to be followers of Jesus.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Saint Cornelius
Cornelius was a military professional in the Roman Army, a Roman citizen in charge of the discipline and conduct of one hundred soldiers. Centurions were typically noted for their courage, competence and religious piety; and they were well-paid. Cornelius was the first gentile convert to the Christian Faith. He and his entire household were baptised simultaneously into their new faith. As Roman households were typically large, the baptisms likely included very mature adults all the way to small children, perhaps infants. The notion that there is an "age of accountability" before which children are forbidden baptism was unknown in the early church. "Let the children come to me and do not hinder them," said Jesus, "for of such is the Kingdom of God."
Cornelius's conversion was a watershed moment and gentile conversions would become a strong point of contention between conservatives who wanted to continue to require converts to become Jewish and keep the Law and liberals like Saint Paul who wanted gentiles qua gentiles admitted to the church on an equal basis. A key development was a vision in which Saint Peter became convinced to relax the kashrut requirements of Torah for non-Jewish Christians. The matter was settled a few years later when an apostolic council in Jerusalem ruled that gentile converts would be full and equal partners in the Faith.
Cornelius and his family formed the core of the parish at Caesarea founded by the apostle Philip when he moved there; and in turn Cornelius was later ordained the second bishop of Caesarea. The city had been the capital of [Roman] Palestine from the year 13, BCE and would certainly have benefitted by a gentile bishop.
We know that the early church began to refuse baptism to any soldier unless he first renounced his commissios and also excluded from fellowship any baptised person who joined the military. That policy was a direct reflection of Jesus' pacifism and anti-imperialism. So, it is very likely that our friend Cornelius retired from the military following his baptism, and that act opened the door for his service in the Episcopate.
Cornelius's conversion was a watershed moment and gentile conversions would become a strong point of contention between conservatives who wanted to continue to require converts to become Jewish and keep the Law and liberals like Saint Paul who wanted gentiles qua gentiles admitted to the church on an equal basis. A key development was a vision in which Saint Peter became convinced to relax the kashrut requirements of Torah for non-Jewish Christians. The matter was settled a few years later when an apostolic council in Jerusalem ruled that gentile converts would be full and equal partners in the Faith.
Cornelius and his family formed the core of the parish at Caesarea founded by the apostle Philip when he moved there; and in turn Cornelius was later ordained the second bishop of Caesarea. The city had been the capital of [Roman] Palestine from the year 13, BCE and would certainly have benefitted by a gentile bishop.
We know that the early church began to refuse baptism to any soldier unless he first renounced his commissios and also excluded from fellowship any baptised person who joined the military. That policy was a direct reflection of Jesus' pacifism and anti-imperialism. So, it is very likely that our friend Cornelius retired from the military following his baptism, and that act opened the door for his service in the Episcopate.
Monday, February 6, 2017
Epiphany V: Salt and Light
In today's gospel pericope (Mt. 5: 13-20), Jesus uses two wonderful metaphors for his people. We are to be salt for the earth, adding significance and enrichment to everything we undertake. We are also to be light for the world, giving a new vision to a world in darkness.
I like the Spanish expression used to describe childbirth, dar a la luz, "give to the light." The mother gives the child to the light. In the same way, Mother Church brings her child from the womb of the baptismal font into the new Light to which God calls us in Christ and which we officially appropriate to ourselves in the sacrament of confirmation.
I wonder how many non-Christian and unchurched people today would say that the Christians whom they encounter daily act like salt and light. Not many, I suspect. Jesus tells his audience how to be about that work in their own time. First of all, he tells them that the Law of Moses will remain valid until the end of time, that not even a single piece of punctuation is negotiable.* Rather, he commits to fulfillment of the Law by getting serious about it, ending game-playing and loophole-finding so that each disciple from the heart acts out its intent. Jesus expresses this by torqueing-up the Torah. The Law says don't murder, Jesus says don't hate to begin with. The Law says don't have sex with your neighbour's wife, Jesus says don't lust after her. Jesus is all about getting to the root of problems and keeping it real.
In our text, Jesus' affirmation of the timelessness of the Jewish Law is followed by an observation that the person who dismisses even the tiniest commandment and teaches other that it is ok not to follow it, will be least in the Kingdom of Heaven. Here, the Matthaean Community, some fifty years after the earthly ministry of Jesus, has him firing a shot directly across the bow of Saint Paul, saying the non-observant Paul is least in the Kingdom, for the Matthaeans are observant Jews as well as Christians.
Next Jesus tells the crowd that their righteousness must exceed that of Pharisees, and their legal expert friends, or they will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Pharisees blindly impose rules and misinterpret Scriptures in order to aggrandize themselves at the expense of the most vulnerable and unschooled. When we see the same behaviour today from televangelists and mega-church pastors who accumulating millions of dollars in personal wealth and tout their influence, we may be sur e Pharisees are amongst us today. We need to call that for what it is.
I do not demean study. . But we make a mistake if we try to equate our Faith with knowledge. The intelligent and informed examination of Scripture is important, but mastery of a book, even the Bible, doesn't save us. Salvation is a free gift of God, growing in us to make us more real each day. The Word of God is not a book. The Word is Jesus, workingin us to make us the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
[* The allegation in Colossians 2:14 that Jesus abolished the Law by nailing it to his cross is completely spurious. Colossians is a pseudo-Pauline letter, not a genuine letter of Saint Paul. The very notion flies in the face of our understanding that God does not lie or go back on his promises. The ongoing validity of the Law for Jewish people has been affirmed by a variety of Christian traditions including our Anglican Tradition and the Roman Catholic Communion. And thus we do not proselytize Jews.]
I like the Spanish expression used to describe childbirth, dar a la luz, "give to the light." The mother gives the child to the light. In the same way, Mother Church brings her child from the womb of the baptismal font into the new Light to which God calls us in Christ and which we officially appropriate to ourselves in the sacrament of confirmation.
I wonder how many non-Christian and unchurched people today would say that the Christians whom they encounter daily act like salt and light. Not many, I suspect. Jesus tells his audience how to be about that work in their own time. First of all, he tells them that the Law of Moses will remain valid until the end of time, that not even a single piece of punctuation is negotiable.* Rather, he commits to fulfillment of the Law by getting serious about it, ending game-playing and loophole-finding so that each disciple from the heart acts out its intent. Jesus expresses this by torqueing-up the Torah. The Law says don't murder, Jesus says don't hate to begin with. The Law says don't have sex with your neighbour's wife, Jesus says don't lust after her. Jesus is all about getting to the root of problems and keeping it real.
In our text, Jesus' affirmation of the timelessness of the Jewish Law is followed by an observation that the person who dismisses even the tiniest commandment and teaches other that it is ok not to follow it, will be least in the Kingdom of Heaven. Here, the Matthaean Community, some fifty years after the earthly ministry of Jesus, has him firing a shot directly across the bow of Saint Paul, saying the non-observant Paul is least in the Kingdom, for the Matthaeans are observant Jews as well as Christians.
Next Jesus tells the crowd that their righteousness must exceed that of Pharisees, and their legal expert friends, or they will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Pharisees blindly impose rules and misinterpret Scriptures in order to aggrandize themselves at the expense of the most vulnerable and unschooled. When we see the same behaviour today from televangelists and mega-church pastors who accumulating millions of dollars in personal wealth and tout their influence, we may be sur e Pharisees are amongst us today. We need to call that for what it is.
I do not demean study. . But we make a mistake if we try to equate our Faith with knowledge. The intelligent and informed examination of Scripture is important, but mastery of a book, even the Bible, doesn't save us. Salvation is a free gift of God, growing in us to make us more real each day. The Word of God is not a book. The Word is Jesus, workingin us to make us the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
[* The allegation in Colossians 2:14 that Jesus abolished the Law by nailing it to his cross is completely spurious. Colossians is a pseudo-Pauline letter, not a genuine letter of Saint Paul. The very notion flies in the face of our understanding that God does not lie or go back on his promises. The ongoing validity of the Law for Jewish people has been affirmed by a variety of Christian traditions including our Anglican Tradition and the Roman Catholic Communion. And thus we do not proselytize Jews.]
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