Pentecost XI: Inclusion

One of the most important breakthroughs in biblical scholarship was the recognition that Saint Paul was not the author of several late New Testament writings, including II Thessalonians, Ephesians, Colossians, and pastorals.  The clues were obvious: references in these books to historical events that had not happened during Paul's lifetime, vocabulary and theology foreign to those of the genuine apostle, and perhaps most significantly, the fact that these texts sometimes sharply contradict the teachings of the real Paul.

Today's epistle reading [Romans 11: 1-2a, 29-32] asks whether God has rejected the Jewish people.  The answer is pellucid:  "God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.  For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."  Pseudo-Paul in Colossians spouts nonsense about the Jewish Law being nullified by Jesus, nailed to the cross.  Pure rubbish.   The genuine Paul loves to speak of the incorporation of Christians into God's People by having been grafted onto the old Jewish vine. not displacing it.  Beautiful!  During the past week I watched an episode of a famous televangelist's tv program and listened to him stating that only a few Jews ("Jews for Jesus" - converts to Christ) would avoid the fires of hell.  Certainly I wonder whether these kinds of sad, uninformed articulations were not part of the anti-semitic pap that contributed to the slaughter of six million Jews in World War II, accused of being "unsaved" and "Christ-killers."

So a review of Saint Paul tells us that the two covenants, Jewish and Christian, stand side-by-side, both with integrity.  But what about even outside the Judaeo-Christian universe?

Let's look at today's Gospel [Matthew 15: 21-28].  Jesus is in Galilee, to the North, near the border shared with Phoenicia, the land of early seafarers and inventors of the first phonetic alphabet.  But, as non-Jewish Canaanites, Phoenicians retained the old pantheon of gods, so they were by definition "pagan."   As a good Jewish rabbi, Jesus maintains proper decorum.  The woman has a daughter tormented by "a demon," likely epilepsy, mental illness or chronic depression.  The woman then asks Jesus for a healing, even addressing him in Messianic terms, "Lord, Son of David."  Jesus does not answer.  That is expectable, because in Jewish culture, a man does not speak to an unrelated woman (unless accompanied by a male relative), a rabbi certainly does not speak to a Gentile (thus risking profanation), and, as Jesus says, he is called to minister only to Jews.

The woman persists.  When ignoring her doesn't work, Jesus tries an insult, telling her that the food of children (of Israel) is not to be fed to dogs.   She replies that even dogs get the scraps from the master's table.  That is the coup de grace.  Jesus remarks at her amazing faith and grants her request.  This is a watershed moment, and  notice the line has even been crossed is into pagan territory!  God can work among persons not even Judaeo-Christian!

The best biblical articulation on the point of inclusion appears in the Book of Acts where Saint Peter says, in so many words, that he finally gets it -- God does not have any preference of persons but the one in every nation who loves God and tries to do right is acceptable.   Wow, what a concept!   One might conclude that God loves and accepts all his children who respond to the call to love and justice.

Given these insights, I am quite comfortable with the Episcopal Church's orientation towards loving and accepting all people, not judging others, leaving judgement to God.  And I can do that in a spirit of respect and forbearance without setting aside my own commitment to foloow the road to God that is found in Jesus Christ through two thousand years of Catholic Christian tradition.

Assumption

A parish in Venice contains Titian's famous painting of the Assumption of Mary.  She is depicted mid-air, surrounded by angels, being taken up into glory.   This magnificent artwork would seem ideally representative of an ancient belief of the Church, that Mary, from the very last moment of earthly life, was reunited with her Son in heaven.  This was an early conviction and, indeed, it was believed long before there was a Christian Bible (AD 397) or even agreement on what books were sacred enough to be included.  Those that were included made it in precisely because they were in agreement with the Catholic Faith coming down from the apostles, not the other way around.  The insistence, so popular in the Low Church, that a bible verse be found about each ancient teaching represents the tail wagging the dog.  In any event, the Assumption is mainstream Christian belief coming down the centuries.

Still, let us ask: is it somehow "unbiblical"?  Answer:  No.  The Scriptures speak of assumption ("translation") of Moses, Elijah, and Enoch -- three who were so on God's agenda as to be taken straightaway to that next dimension.  Should Our Lady, the model disciple, whose entire life was totally dedicated to God's will, who was in the poet's expression "our tainted nature's solitary boast," not be even more "qualified" than these other biblical characters?  No, the inference works.

What are the takeaway's of this feast?  First, Mary is indeed model disciple.  She endured that inconvenient pregnancy; then raised an extraordinary, sometime difficult child,; went on with an entourage of women ministering to Jesus & Company; stood at the foot of the cross with Saint John (through whom Christ addresses all of us: "Behold your Mother!"); was in the upper room with the apostles for the coming of the Holy Spirit and birth of the Church; then went on to Ephesus to minister there with John for the rest of her life.  In all of that she unfailingly modelled trust in God, patience, prayer, perseverance, confidence and hope.  

But the story, and the message for us doesn't end there.  As Bishop Ken said, "Because she is enthroned beside her Son, we know we will join him there."   So Mary is sign of our assurance of eternal life with God.  And, beyond that, knowing that in Christ, "death no more has dominion over us," the Church believes in Mary as first among the Saints and our heavenly prayer partner.  When times get tough, check in with Mom!

I wish all a happy Assumption Day!

Transfiguration 201

When Muslim raiders were repelled from Europe at the Battle of Belgrade, Pope Callistus III celebrated by declaring that 6 August would forever be Feast of the Transfiguration, a day which takes precedence of a Sunday.   In an apparently unrelated development, the Episcopal Church always celebrates the feast on the last Sunday of the Epiphany.  So, today will have to be Transfiguration 201, but I promise no repetition from earlier in the year.

Assuming John's gospel is wrong about the one-year duration of Jesus' ministry and the Synoptics are correct about three years, imagine what it might be like to be a participating disciple that third year. You have followed this radical rebel rabbi for three years.  During that time, he has managed to alienate just about everybody.   The military establishment has to be fed up with his absolute pacifism which does not even allow violence in situations of self-defence, let alone warfare.  [The early Church would not baptise a soldier unless he renounced his commission and excommunicated any member who enlisted.]   The politico-economic establishment must have been alienated by Jesus' rejection of wealth and power and his support for social justice to the poor, oppressed and the marginalized.  The religious establishment would certainly have hated his catching them out on their hypocrisy, the manipulation of widows and orphans, and their games of inventing loopholes for the Law to allow the letter to be observed and the spirit denied.

Now he wants to go to Jerusalem, a political powder-keg.    Is he nuts? Well, that question becomes answered when Jesus leads his executive committee on a mountaintop retreat.  Matthew tells us that what happened there was ahistorical.  It was a vision in which Peter, James, and John came to realize the divinity of the Christ.  They came to know Jesus as, to borrow Ben Herbster's phrase, all of God that can be packed into a man.  That epiphany gave them to strength to make that journey on to Jerusalem from where they would scatter to the four corners and all but John would be martyred.

The point I want to drive home is that. even as the Transfiguration reminds us of Christ's divinity, the feast can also feed a disorder in Christian culture, namely to miss the humanity of Jesus.  How many really believe Jesus sweated, feared, got angry, felt sexual tension?   If Jesus is a godlet, whose miracle stories are strictly historical, how can we relate?  If Jesus is simply God in disguise, how do I follow?  I certainly can't change water to wine, and even my mother didn't think I could walk on water.  We need the real, human Jesus.  And we need to follow his real teachings in our lives.  Jesus himself told us that the 'Lord, Lord' prayer-and-praise bit doesn't cut it, that we must do the will of the Father if we are to be Kingdom people.

A balanced view of the Saviour is very important.  I know other traditions have a range of beliefs, but we, as Catholic Christians, accept the definition of the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) and thereby are called to embrace his full humanity as well as divinity.  To do otherwise is to worship a phantom.

Lammas

As everyone knows there are four quarters day each year, two solstices and two equinoces, marking the beginning of the four seasons.  Less well-known are the cross-quarter days which fall exactly in between.  They include:  Candlemas (feast of the presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the ritual purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary) on the second of February; May Day(when children dance round a maypole and sing praises to Our Lady) on the first of May; Halloween (the eve of All Saint's Day) on the last day of October; and the feast called Lammas observed on 1 August.

Like other cross-quarter days, Lammas has been observed by many names in different cultures.  For example, for pre-Christian nordic types, it was the feast of the goddess Freya, for whom Friday is named.   But for Anglo-Saxons it was hlaf maesse or "loaf mass," because on this day the first wheat brought in at harvest was baked into a loaf of unleavened bread and brought to the priest, who then consecrated it for Communion at the Mass of the day.  The very first loaf became the Bread of Life.

The day also opened hunting season, harvest of fruits of the sea like oysters, presentation of animals for slaughter, even assessment of taxes!  So Lammas was quite a turning point and provided a lot of fresh possibilities in preaching.  Here are four for us to reflect on at this time of year.

First, regrets.  The point:  let them go, they accomplish nothing and impoverish the future.

Second, farewells.  What is passing from your life?  To what do you need to say goodbye?

Third, harvest.   What have you accomplished by this time?  What do you want to do next?

Four, preserves.   What gifts of God's bounty, material and spiritual, do you really need to hold on to?  What beautiful moments will you keep dear, what sweet memories will you treasure?