This week we continue our reading from Jesus' Sermon in the Plain in Luke. This is in contrast to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, in which Jesus' audience is only Jewish, male and hierarchical (the twelve apostles). There, as the New Moses, he ascends the holy mountain and gives his new law, the law of love. Now, in today's pericope, the plain is highly symbolic, for Jesus' audience is mixed -- Jewish and Gentile, male and female, all as equals. Those described no doubt closely resembled the church as it was constituted by the time the Lucan Gospel was released some sixty years after Jesus left this world. Whereas, on the Mount, Jesus' message was about torquing up Torah -- calling the people to go far above and beyond mere legal observance -- here he presents to a new way of life contrary to the conventions of Graeco-Roman culture. That world emphasized reciprocity -- helping those who could in turn help you, taking care of your own, repaying good and evil. He challenges the audience and us to go beyond common expectations to a whole, fresh approach to life.
I remember when Dr. Tony Campolo came to Tulsa and addressed a large group of Christian clergy. He began his presentation by saying that he was not a Christian and neither were we.! That shocking statement was based on today's Gospel reading [Lk 27-38]. Let's take a look at what Jesus expected our new norms of conduct to be as Kingdom people, norms very few indeed would endorse, for they challenge our culture of machismo and violence, military worship and imperialism, consumerism that feeds selfishness and fuels accumulation, and waste of resources, and feeds on inequality of wealth,.
One important teaching was peaceful non-violent resistance. We were to abjure violence, to turn the other cheek to an attacker, and to offer our shirt to someone who has stolen our coat. Imagine our meeting every form of aggression with a non-violent response. I still remember when our middle son was in high school in Texas and I was in seminary, he came home one day to tell me that a bully had punched him. I asked if he had done anything to bring it on and how he had responded. He answered that he had done nothing to provoke the attack and he reacted to his attacker by telling him that, as a Christian, he would not fight him, that violence accomplishes nothing. My son said that, at that point in the encounter, the other boy just turned and walked off. Situation defused. I was very amazed.
A second teaching was loving and praying for the wrong people. Loving and prayers for your family and friends are fine, said Jesus, there is nothing at all special about that. Instead, he said, love your enemies, do good things for those who hate you, pray for your abusers. I am reminded of the lives and ministry of Martin Luther King in our tradition, and Gandhi outside it. Hearts can be turned!
Another element in the sermon was not to ask for restitution of your property is taken, not to expect repayment of a loan, and to give to everyone who begs of you. That requires an extraordinary level of detachment from things, especially in our selfish, consumerist culture. At a family funeral many years ago, I spoke with two ladies who remembered my grandfather. They said that Grandmother used to get really upset because Grandad would not go chase after items that had been borrowed by someone and never returned. "If they can live with it, I can live without it," he would say, and that settled the matter.
So we are here challenged to be seriously counter-cultural. Just imagine a world in which everyone acted as Jesus here counsels us to do. Imagine the Kingdom of God. .
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Septuagesima: The Curse of Wealth
Jesus has a message that should disturb us. He is reversing a long-held Jewish belief, one that many evangelical Christians still hold. By way of introduction, we need to know that Jewish Scripture was clear that righteousness (meaning just deeds) lead to blessing. From that conclusion, Jewish thinkers had adopted the reverse inference, which is the false premise that the extent to which you are wealthy reflects how much God loves you. If you are obscenely wealthy, that cannot have happened because of sharp dealing or oppression of others, rather God must be mad about you. If you are in the middle, then you are ok. If you are poor, God disapproves of you: you must have done something wrong or be paying for your parents' or grandparents' sins, and so you deserve your poverty. This notion in turn goes back to the primitive, unacceptable ancient Jewish view of their tribal deity, the idea that God is a super-sized version of us on a bad-hair day. Angry, jealous, quick to judgement and rage, capricious, and cruel and -- more importantly -- micromanager of the cosmos. I am not acquainted with a god that is worse than any human father I know, and I hope you aren't either. Jesus helps us discover the God of unconditional, radical love who calls us to be all we can be in life.
In our pericope [Lk. 16: 7 et seq.] Jesus says crazy things like, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God." And, on the other hand, "Woe to you who are rich." Jesus and His Mother are very good at these radical social reversals. They tell us a time of reckoning is coming.
The bad news in all this for us is that we are rich, in first century terms. We have many financial benefits, live comfortable lives, have discretionary income, and save for rainy days. As Jesus tells us elsewhere in the Gospels, the accumulation of wealth is the greatest spiritual danger. And the author of First Timothy tells us that the love of money is the root of all evil. Why would that be? Well, because when we are relatively well-off, we lose our sense of reliance on God. At one point the Psalmist tells us that we are cursed when we trust in human resources. The poor do not have the resources standing in the way between them and God, whereas we rich people do. And we soon start to believe that we can work, think, and save our way into happiness, that we can buy joy and peace. That is a devilish delusion.
The good news is that wealth itself is morally neutral. Money is just money. What we do with it remains the issue. The problem comes when we trust in our wealth, rely on it, and hoard it, while others are in need. Our happiness and our power lie in just the opposite: surrendering to the will of God and making real the obligation to love our neighbours as much as we love ourselves.
In our pericope [Lk. 16: 7 et seq.] Jesus says crazy things like, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God." And, on the other hand, "Woe to you who are rich." Jesus and His Mother are very good at these radical social reversals. They tell us a time of reckoning is coming.
The bad news in all this for us is that we are rich, in first century terms. We have many financial benefits, live comfortable lives, have discretionary income, and save for rainy days. As Jesus tells us elsewhere in the Gospels, the accumulation of wealth is the greatest spiritual danger. And the author of First Timothy tells us that the love of money is the root of all evil. Why would that be? Well, because when we are relatively well-off, we lose our sense of reliance on God. At one point the Psalmist tells us that we are cursed when we trust in human resources. The poor do not have the resources standing in the way between them and God, whereas we rich people do. And we soon start to believe that we can work, think, and save our way into happiness, that we can buy joy and peace. That is a devilish delusion.
The good news is that wealth itself is morally neutral. Money is just money. What we do with it remains the issue. The problem comes when we trust in our wealth, rely on it, and hoard it, while others are in need. Our happiness and our power lie in just the opposite: surrendering to the will of God and making real the obligation to love our neighbours as much as we love ourselves.
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Epiphany V: Deep Water
Today's readings teach us that the call on a Christian is not easy. We hear of Isaiah, Saint Paul, and Jesus' own executive committee, all experiencing fear, indecision, and doubt, triggered by uncertain future . Yet they overcame those spiritual obstacles to become effective people. But no, it is not easy to be a real Christian. It is easy to tolerate the status quo; it is hard to proclaim uncomfortable truths. It is easy to be a spectator; it is hard to be a prophetic activist. It is easy to go along to get along; it's hard to take on the establishment.
In last Sunday's gospel, Jesus went to his hometown, refused to perform on cue, and called for the restoration of Jubilee -- radical social change. For his trouble, the people tried to kill him. Now in opening for Saint Peter's Fish Market, he isn't taking unnecessary chances. He enters the boat, has them anchor out far enough from shore that the audience can't reach him, but close enough to hear. After preaching, he challenges Peter to go out into deep water to fish. Peter replies that they have been fishing all night without catching a fish. Nevertheless, he complies; and there is a miraculous catch. Peter's mind is blown and he confesses to being unworthy to be in Jesus' company. He says that he is a "sinful man." In response, Jesus tells him that he will now begin catching humans.
Like Peter, we often focus on our shortcomings: not educated enough, not smart enough, perhaps even not good-looking enough. Nevertheless, God has a plan for every one of us and can guide us into a future of abundant life. The problem, I believe, is that we want Jesus in our boat, but we want him staying in the stern, not interfering with our journey but available in case of emergency. Instead, we need to let Jesus take the helm and guide us into dangerous, deep water where we will be truly challenged and enabled to be the Christian people we are called to be. If you subscribe to the old assertion that "God is my co-pilot," please trade places.
In last Sunday's gospel, Jesus went to his hometown, refused to perform on cue, and called for the restoration of Jubilee -- radical social change. For his trouble, the people tried to kill him. Now in opening for Saint Peter's Fish Market, he isn't taking unnecessary chances. He enters the boat, has them anchor out far enough from shore that the audience can't reach him, but close enough to hear. After preaching, he challenges Peter to go out into deep water to fish. Peter replies that they have been fishing all night without catching a fish. Nevertheless, he complies; and there is a miraculous catch. Peter's mind is blown and he confesses to being unworthy to be in Jesus' company. He says that he is a "sinful man." In response, Jesus tells him that he will now begin catching humans.
Like Peter, we often focus on our shortcomings: not educated enough, not smart enough, perhaps even not good-looking enough. Nevertheless, God has a plan for every one of us and can guide us into a future of abundant life. The problem, I believe, is that we want Jesus in our boat, but we want him staying in the stern, not interfering with our journey but available in case of emergency. Instead, we need to let Jesus take the helm and guide us into dangerous, deep water where we will be truly challenged and enabled to be the Christian people we are called to be. If you subscribe to the old assertion that "God is my co-pilot," please trade places.
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Epiphany IV: Jesus Bombs Back Home
I am addressing as a single unit the gospel readings for the last two Sundays, Luke 15-30 in total. For some reason, the lectionary divides the story into two parts, making it easy to lose the plot. Jesus has gone home and attends worship service at the little synagogue in Nazareth. Here any male can pray, read Scripture or comment on the Scripture. Jesus selects the messianic passage from Isaiah in which the author gives his vision of the Kingdom of God: good news for the poor, release of prisoners, new sight for the blind, liberation of oppressed people, and most importantly restoration of Jubilee Year. Jesus tells the faithful that this scripture is being fulfilled in him, the Anointed One.
Jesus goes on to tell them that Elijah and Elisha performed miracles for , not Jews, but gentiles. He reflects in that way on his decision not to share messianic blessings with his hometown crowd, for a prophet is accepted in his home town. After all of this, the people are enraged and take him up to a brow of a hill to throw him down to his death, but he escapes.
Two important points need to be shared. First, the traditional reading that Jesus' life is endangered because Jews are xenophobic and can't live with blessing of gentiles is common, but it is nonsense. The prophet Zechariah speaks of righteous gentiles streaming into Zion as friends of Jews. In the Second Temple, there was a court of the gentiles! Moreover, righteous gentiles, commonly called "God-fearers," attended synagogue and contributed to their construction and ongoing upkeep. In other words, Jews fully expected and supported God's blessings of righteous gentiles. Suggesting otherwise is simply an anti-Semitic reading. Rather than accosting his fellow Jews, Jesus simply refused to bestow messianic blessings on the Nazareth faithful who had no confidence in the local boy made good.
The second, and critical, point, is that Jesus has in effect endorsed enforcement of the law related to the Jubilee Year, which had been abandoned after Jews settled in the land, built a capital city, and crowned a king. Here is an explanation: Seven is a key number in Judaism. The seventh day of every week which ran from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday was Shabbat, the Sabbath, kept holy before God. Every seventh year was Shabbat ha-Aretz, when all fields were left fallow for natural recuperation. And every seventh series of seven years, the forty-ninth year, inaugurated Jubilee. That year all debts were to be cancelled in full, all slaves to be set free, all big landholdings to be broken-up and redistributed. Calling for a return to Jubilee practice shows that Jesus was truly prophetic and uncompromising in commitment to the abandoned biblical call for social justice. He had taken on the local Chamber of Commerce and they, no doubt, had no interested in seeing their accounts receivable zeroed out, or their slaves freed, or their estates turned over to the poor. That certainly makes the most sense in understanding the story.
As we are now Jesus' representatives on earth, we are tasked with his prophetic ministry. We're obligated to endorse and live out Jesus' call for radical social justice. Regardless of the cost.
Jesus goes on to tell them that Elijah and Elisha performed miracles for , not Jews, but gentiles. He reflects in that way on his decision not to share messianic blessings with his hometown crowd, for a prophet is accepted in his home town. After all of this, the people are enraged and take him up to a brow of a hill to throw him down to his death, but he escapes.
Two important points need to be shared. First, the traditional reading that Jesus' life is endangered because Jews are xenophobic and can't live with blessing of gentiles is common, but it is nonsense. The prophet Zechariah speaks of righteous gentiles streaming into Zion as friends of Jews. In the Second Temple, there was a court of the gentiles! Moreover, righteous gentiles, commonly called "God-fearers," attended synagogue and contributed to their construction and ongoing upkeep. In other words, Jews fully expected and supported God's blessings of righteous gentiles. Suggesting otherwise is simply an anti-Semitic reading. Rather than accosting his fellow Jews, Jesus simply refused to bestow messianic blessings on the Nazareth faithful who had no confidence in the local boy made good.
The second, and critical, point, is that Jesus has in effect endorsed enforcement of the law related to the Jubilee Year, which had been abandoned after Jews settled in the land, built a capital city, and crowned a king. Here is an explanation: Seven is a key number in Judaism. The seventh day of every week which ran from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday was Shabbat, the Sabbath, kept holy before God. Every seventh year was Shabbat ha-Aretz, when all fields were left fallow for natural recuperation. And every seventh series of seven years, the forty-ninth year, inaugurated Jubilee. That year all debts were to be cancelled in full, all slaves to be set free, all big landholdings to be broken-up and redistributed. Calling for a return to Jubilee practice shows that Jesus was truly prophetic and uncompromising in commitment to the abandoned biblical call for social justice. He had taken on the local Chamber of Commerce and they, no doubt, had no interested in seeing their accounts receivable zeroed out, or their slaves freed, or their estates turned over to the poor. That certainly makes the most sense in understanding the story.
As we are now Jesus' representatives on earth, we are tasked with his prophetic ministry. We're obligated to endorse and live out Jesus' call for radical social justice. Regardless of the cost.
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