Lent: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Can you believe Lent begins on Wednesday? Image courtesy of Episcopal Center at Duke University

Yesterday afternoon as my wife and I walked along the streets of Decatur we saw the unmistakable remnants of a Mardi Gras parade: confetti, beads, crewe decorations, and half-eaten moon pies (who eats only half a moon pie anyway?). While my tree-hugging heart hurt seeing the litter strewn about on the streets, my penitent-loving soul leaped within me as I realized what this week will bring... LENT IS COMING! Joyfully, I realized it will be here quite soon, on Wednesday, in fact. Now, before you think that Lent is solely a season of sackcloth and ashes, let me invite you to get excited with the grumpy Lenten cat (above) and me about the most wonderful time of the year!

Lent, meaning spring, stands out as a particularly beautiful time when we the people of God grow and blossom, as our hearts, our heads, and our liturgy move along the forty-day journey with Jesus to the Cross. We hold special intentions during this time to turn away from everything else, so that we may focus fully on God. Quite often I find that this season brings out the best in the people that are the Church, but that is just one reason I love Lent.

On Wednesday, priests across the world will invite people to participate in a Holy Lent. The prayer, which does so in The Book of Common Prayer, bids the Church "to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word." Then, it ends in this way, "And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer" (265). This is the part when people are marked by ashen crosses. Now, you may think, "Wait a minute, I'm okay with making myself better through spiritual disciplines, but what's this mortal nature bit?" 

In our day and age perhaps more than at any other time in human history, we need this reminder of our mortal nature. Meditating on our own fragility is not cheery or peppy or happy, and yet, this season of Lent is not about self-improvement, but instead about self-denial; it's not about self-aggrandizement, but instead about inviting God to use us fully to bring about the reign of Christ; it's not about becoming better Christians, but instead about clearing pathways within us, so that God's Spirit may flow through us like the vessels we are intended to be. When we start this season by seeing our mortality something shifts, to borrow the words of John the Baptizer, "[We] must become less, that [God] may become more" (John 3:30). There is more though.

In Lent, God invites us also to remember that we cannot earn a gift we have already received, nor can we do something to un-receive the gift. This season is a time to tend the garden we already have recognizing that God will be the one that grows the fruit, still we have an opportunity to till the soil, clear the weeds, and water the seeds planted. So, how do we clear the clutter? How do we let go of the result, so that we trust God more? How do we partake in a Holy, fruitful Lent? Everyone is different, and there are a million other things out in the world, but here are a number of great resources and ideas that may help you to tend your garden this Lent:

Resources:

-40 Bags in 40 Days: This resource challenges people to de-clutter their lives, so that they may focus more fully on the Divine.

-Contemplative Outreach: This meditative arm of the Church provides an offering this year entitled, The Transformation of Suffering: A Lenten Journey, as this program calls upon some great spiritual leaders from around the globe, there is a hefty charge of $75.00 to participate.

-Episcopal Relief and Development (ER and D): ER and D is not only a fantastic mission of the Episcopal Church, but also an agency that provides free Lenten Meditations that call upon its leaders from around the globe to share their soul-deepening spiritual disciplines. You may sign up for a mailed copy here.

-Lent Madness: Learn about saints, become a Church nerd, and participate in friendly competition? YES, PLEASE!

-St. John's, Decatur: This fantastic church where I happily serve produces some great daily Lenten meditations. They are available on our FaceBook page or you may sign up here to receive a daily email. I know there are lots of other churches that do this as well, but I have to do a little self-promotion!

-The Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE): SSJE provides a daily video entitled "The 5 Marks of Love" that can be emailed to your inbox. You may sign up here.

-Additional Resources: As more Episcopal Lenten Resources are shared The Episcopal Cafe website will tag those offerings here.

Ideas:

-Bike/Walk to Work: Exercise, fresh air, and most importantly time to think about God. What's not to love?

-Break: What if you took a few short breaks throughout the day to walk around your office building, get away from your work, and say a brief prayer? How might that change your life?

-Daily Office: While this is not an innovative idea, saying the Daily Office as found in the Book of Common Prayer (Rite I begins on page 37 and Rite II begins on 75) or on the Mission of St. Clare website here has a way of reminding us of our reliance upon God who prunes and grows us. 

-Give Something Up: What gets in the way of your spiritual garden growing? Chocolate? I doubt it. How about giving up checking your phone outside of work? Spend the time instead focusing on deepening relationships with family, friends, neighbors, and God. How about you stop getting coffee from that expensive place down the street? Instead, save that money up for a meaningful family outing, a retreat, or a charitable organization that you love. 

-Social Justice: Empathy without action is merely pity, as the expression goes. Lent can be a time when we call to heart and mind those with whom Jesus spent his days: the poor, the needy, the outcasts, the lonely, the homeless, and the hungry. Allow your prayers to permeate into actions that help care for those who are most often forgotten. 

-Take Something On: It is not always possible to give something up, but as a wise man (name Robert Wisnewski) once described, new disciplines are like making coleslaw. To get the balance right you cannot take the mayo, slaw, vinegar, or pepper away, but instead you must add more of one of the missing components. 

-Thank you notes: I am terrible at writing people thank you notes (Sorry!). Lent though is a great time to call to mind random people for whom you are thankful. How do they make your life better? How do they help your spiritual garden blossom? 

-WHAT ELSE? ADD YOUR OWN RESOURCES OR IDEAS IN THE COMMENTS!

Connectivity

Each Gospel account possesses its own particular flavor. This year on Sundays the Gospel lessons mostly come from Matthew, which gives us the Sermon on the Mount with challenges to tend for the outcast, the poor, and the lowly. Luke’s distinctness derives from the details, the Songs from Anna, Simeon, Zechariah, and Mary, as well as the parables. In John we find a sophisticated way of talking and thinking about God, a festive theme, and of course, the opening verses describing the Word creating all. While I love all of these appetizing aspects of other Gospel accounts, my favorite telling of the Good News is Mark’s.

Mark tells the story with perfect pace, as though the tale of Jesus could be turned into a screenplay and then a movie. Immediately the audience moves from one story to the next, until the events of Holy Week unfold slowly and deliberately to emphasize their importance. Also, the interpretation does not get accomplished by the narrator, but by us who hear the most basic details about the Son of Man. We must decide what to make of Jesus. When we read through the pages of Mark we may experience Jesus stepping out of the story and into our lives. To top it all off the original ending leads us to go out and see the Risen Lord in our own lives, in our own Galilee. What’s not to love about Mark’s expression of the Good News?

An enveloping structure additionally stands out as one of the other hallmarks found within the Gospel account of Mark. This means that sometimes stories happen within a story or are far more connected than we might initially imagine. In Chapter 11 the cursing of the fig tree immediately precedes and follows the cleansing of the Temple, as if to show us that our spirituality will wither and die like that tree if we turn our spiritual practices into money-making mockeries. To this end, we can swiftly discover that so much in Mark connects, and the edges of stories blur into one another masterfully, such that one helps us to interpret another. Today’s passage falls into this same pattern.

As Jesus and his disciples travel through Galilee, a rough place in which Jesus’ healing, feeding, and teaching flourished, this band of travelers kept a low profile. They did this because Jesus sought to teach them about the nature of the Son of Man. The Messiah would be betrayed, undergo suffering at human hands, and even die before rising again. With the backdrop of other lessons in his ministry, Jesus tries to show his closest followers what lies ahead. Their fear though precludes them from seeing or even asking for clarification. This is where the connectivity from one story to the next comes to the forefront.

While the disciples were walking with Jesus and hearing of what the Messiah must undergo, they begin to argue over who is the greatest. This is no coincidence. Even though they could not grasp where Jesus’ ministry was going, they did still make the connection between greatness and the coming of the Christ. However, they mistook what greatness looks like—just like we do so often in our lives.

To be the Messiah requires suffering greatly, laying down one’s life for another, and rebuffing the lure of power at every turn. “Whoever wants to be first must be last and servant of all.” Those who want to be followers of Jesus must also take on the mantle of the lowly and the role of the servant. However, what does this look like?

While it might seem like a random detail thrown into the story, Jesus’ invitation of a child to come among the disciples serves at the culmination of this lesson on discipleship. Children in that day and age were sadly on the lowest rung of society. Unlike in most of our society today where we celebrate children, back then young ones were seen primarily as cheap labor. Kids had rough lives that were liabilities on their families until they could start making money for their families. Jesus wisely saw this terrible reality and sought to encourage his disciples to flip the prevailing system on its head. In this way he bid them to welcome even the lowest members of society to be welcomed as though they were welcoming Jesus himself.

Connectivity in Mark’s Gospel account provides a beautiful way of us understanding the profound wisdom that Jesus left us. While we assuredly do not have to get every connection to follow Jesus, as we dig deeper into the Living Word of God we experience all the more Life in Christ. In our daily lives we may want to consider ourselves the greatest, but Jesus challenges us, like he challenged his disciples, to see that greatness in God’s eyes stems from becoming lowly and welcoming even those whom others despise or overlook. Who can you welcome, who can you serve, who can you love that everyone else misses or hates?

Perfect Children (of God)

Now that I am an expectant father my perspective has begun to shift. Rarely if ever did I get upset with parents of unruly children, but now that I have no clue how my preacher’s kid will act I feel even less critical. I find that I am quietly observing parenting techniques for raising well-rounded children. It appears that a mix of discipline, love, diligence, sacrifice, patience, and perseverance is crucial. What I am also discovering is that when I am around parents—even those with grown children—I am getting a lot of sage wisdom.

Mentally I am writing down this parenting acumen. Sleep when the baby is sleeping. Mylicon drops help to relieve gas. Get someone to throw a diaper shower to stock up on the first few months of changing supplies. Of course, I struggle not to get ahead of myself, as I really like to plan everything out far, far in advance.

Take for example the other night, Kim and I were out walking and I began mapping out the highest levels of lessons that I hoped our child will one day learn: self-actualization, laying down one’s life for a friend, self-sacrifice, enlightenment, and even union with God. As she shot me a sideways, knowing kind of glance, I said, “Now, all we have to do is track back down from there to the lower levels, like walking, potty training, and manners.” I know, I am ridiculous. On the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator I am a Judging type, which sounds worse than it is. The Judging types want a more structured and decided life, like planning out every step of their children’s lives, as opposed to a Perceiving types who are more willing to go with the flow.

Reflecting on my craziness in that conversation, I recognize that I have not nailed down too many of the higher level lessons myself. Sure I’ve learned walking, potty training, and some manners, but spoiler alert there is more to growing up into a disciple of Christ Jesus than just social etiquette. And, following Him is more than just being nice. As shocking as this is going to sound, Jesus did not live a well-mannered life! In fact, in Matthew’s telling of the Good News, the core message of Jesus’ ministry, the Sermon on the Mount, flew in the face of the prevailing practices of the day—the manners, if you will, of his time.

The statements which Jesus started, “You have heard that it was said…” were the prevalent ways. If someone poked out your eye, it was reasonable for you to take his in return. When one slapped you across the face, you were to retaliate with a slap of your own. If a person took your coat, you went to get their jacket! You were not to give to those who did not deserve it, nor were you to trust anyone. This was the way to make it through life. Oddly enough, we so often fall into this same way of thinking.

Justice today consists of retaliation whether with violence, lawsuits, or insults. And, I am so often guilty of partaking in a vengeful way of thinking that I wonder if I have even learned that lesson taught to me in kindergarten: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. How in the world am I going to teach someone else to live, if I am struggling myself? The answer may very well sit within the last words Jesus spoke in today’s passage.

Jesus capped off this message saying, “Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Perfection does not simply mean the highest score possible, nor the unflawed Olympic routine, nor the ideal human physique as assessed by some magazine. No, perfection means completeness or fulfillment. Our God is perfect, without blemish, and also without need. All that God creates is out of God’s good will, over abundance, and overflowing-ness (that is not a word, but you know what I mean). Our call to be perfect, we often think, must be achieved on our own. However, we cannot do this by ourselves, we must do this by relying less and less on our own ability, our own works, and our own laws, so that we may be fulfilled by our heavenly Father who fulfills all!

God is our heavenly Parent who does not just look down at us as we struggle to learn how to live, no our God came to show (and still comes to show) us the way into true fulfillment. Jesus is that way, and he teaches in today’s lesson how to practically go about learning these difficult lessons—ones that I hopefully will learn, so I may teach my child. When someone wants to rip out my tooth do not seek retribution. In fact, I should not resist an evildoer. Instead, I must rely on God.

When a man wants to take my coat, do not go to a lawyer, but instead see if he needs a cloak as well. If a woman troubles me to walk with her for a mile, go an extra mile to see what life is like in her shoes. As much as I might question the motivations of people who beg, rely on God instead, and give to all who ask. Perhaps most difficultly in a world in which duality is the normal—a world in which even without trying there are enemies across political, racial, socioeconomic, and religious lines—Jesus calls me to “Love [my] enemies and pray for those who persecute [me]” (Matthew 5:43).

The things that Jesus said are hard, impossibly hard even. And, I am well aware that some of the things he said, maybe all of these things, do not make sense to us. Turning the other cheek, giving to all who ask, loving our enemies, how foolish does this all sound? Paul reminded us though, “[We] should become fools so that [we] may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:18-19). And, if we wish to become children of God we must foolishly continue to love everyone, even our enemies, Jesus said.

So how do we do the impossible? We don’t, or at least not alone. Our fulfilling of these things must come from us relying on God. Our sustenance physically, spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically cannot come from seeing our enemies fail, but by trusting in God and risking everything to boldly love those whom we want to despise or who—we believe—hate us. If we are to grow up into children of God we must become fools for Christ who rely not on ourselves, but on the overabundance of God. Turn the other cheek, give to all who beg, love your enemies, and be fulfilled children of God, just as our heavenly Father fulfills us!

Change

An instant that is all it takes. “For what?” you ask. To change the world.

Today we celebrate the life of the Rev. Thomas Bray who came over to the colony of Maryland (the land of Queen Mary) in 1696. In the blink of an eye, just ten weeks, he changed the structure of their churches, opened new schools, started a lending library program, developed a discernment process for raising up local pastors, and renewed the spirit within the entire missionary territory. While we remember him most notably for beginning a missionary support network, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and an educational and publishing program, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, both of which still function today, his two and half months in America provoke a humbling question to ponder: how do we work with God to transform the world? How can we be like Thomas and like those disciples in Luke’s Gospel lesson?

A great story within the contemplative branch of Christianity exists that just might help us to answer this question. A long, long time ago, in a galaxy country far, far away lived a man. This man was an ordinary fellow. However, he had an extraordinary desire: to change the world. So, this man set out to do just that.

First, he went off as a young man to try and change the world. He traveled far and wide. He saw many sites of the ancient world, but after years of struggle he realized that kings and queens, armies and navies, bishops and priests, and all the powers that be have a hard time listening to the voice of one man. So, the man went back to his own country.

Once back in his home country he set out to change everything there. He worked tirelessly to influence the ruler of the land. He talked to those in the royal court, but they were too busy entertaining and scheming to take over the throne to listen to the voice of one man. So, the man went back to his own town.

In his own town the man went door-to-door to try to bring about change. He sought to care for those who were injured, poor, or otherwise needy. There he made some progress. However, when he tried to those in power within his city again he met resistance. The governor was too consumed with running the affairs of the land to hear the voice of one man. So, the man went back to his own home, which he had left as a young man.

As he caught his own reflection in pond near his home, he realized he was no longer a young man, but instead wore the face of someone much older. In all his travels, in all his work, and in all his challenges he had sought to change everything else, but sitting in his home he realized that what he had neglected to challenge and transform was himself. To change the world, one must start with oneself. A woman or man cannot change the world without first changing herself or himself.

We live in a world that has more problems than solutions. Poverty, famine, disease, racism, sexism, bigotry, violence, and fear sweep across our globe. We are in desperate need for change. God yearns for us to help remake the face of the earth, but to do so we have to start first with ourselves.

If you desire to be part of this change, if you want to be like Thomas Bray or the disciples, if you feel God tugging on your heart to bring Good News to those who most need it, do not first go out to change the world, your country, or even your city. Instead, start with yourself. Take a few moments today to stop. Turn off the TV, silence the phone, close the laptop, and find a quiet place to feel God moving within you. Allow God to first work on you, in your heart, then work outward from there. All of us are called to help God transform this world into a place of love. Changing the world may happen in an instant, but it is the instant when learn to be with God. All the doing must come later.

Perfect

"Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." This is the way that this coming Sunday's Gospel passage (Matthew 5:38-48) ends. On the surface Jesus appears to be calling his followers who were listening to this portion of the Sermon on the Mount into an error-free existence. To our modern ears we may believe that Jesus calls us too into a life without sin, but if we are being honest none of us is anywhere close to being without error or sin.

I do not have to go very far into most days before I am doing something that reminds me that I am NOT perfect. While I do not typically use this kind of language I work with someone who does, we are all miserable sinners. It's true, even if I also want to hold up the Biblical truth that we were made "very good" and we are "very good." Still would Amazing Grace be such a profound song that has stood the test of time without the lines, "Save a wretch like me," "I once was lost," as well as the claim of being spiritually and otherwise blind? So if we are anything but perfect why would Jesus challenge those listening to be perfect?

Being perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect does not require that we do everything a particular way walking through life afraid that we may make a mistake. This is not the seventh inning of a perfect game when we can not talk about what is transpiring for fear of jinxing the pitcher. Our Parent in heaven is blameless, without sin, and yet God's perfection has another element that we need remember when approaching what Jesus said. God's nature is completely fulfilled. In other words, in God's nature is absolute unto God's self!

It took us some time to get to this understanding as Christian people, and we express this completely unique completeness when we talk about the Trinity. Within God exists a community of love, self-giving, opening, making room for the other, and being vulnerable that is complete. God needn't rely on anyone but God; however, out of love God created all things, including us. When we rely upon the ways of the world or our own way we inevitably feel let down or incomplete. Jesus described these paths of stumbling saying "You have heard that it was said...", and whether it was anger, lust, or lying in last week's Gospel or vengeance, selfishness, or holding grudges in this week's this way is incomplete.

This authentic type of perfection calls us to rely completely upon God. We may not get our cloak back, but God will provide. We may lose friends who think we are not loyal to their cause, but God will provide. We may face hardship, struggle, persecution, or even death, but God will provide (and bring us into the fullness of life). This perfect way of God not only sometimes seems unappealing or difficult, but it also can seem so foolish. Paul wrote about this in this week's Epistle lesson. Strangely enough I think that life sometimes makes us fools, so that we may rely more fully not on ourselves, but on God. So as you go through your day look for the places where you are relying too much on yourself, and instead lean into God's fulfilling way. It may seem foolish, but God's perfect ways so often do.

The Hits Keep Coming

We last left Jesus preaching against anger, lust, divorce, lying, and anything that separates us from our neighbor in yesterday’s Gospel lesson. We have to lay down our gift at the altar and deal with anything we are holding against our neighbor before we can be right with God. My colleague Evan gave such a clear message about our need to see this, as he said “there is a brokenness among us that can only be healed if we recognize that victory for our side isn’t as important as communion with the other.” After such a profound and pointed message from Jesus within his Sermon on the Mount, I am sure that when we open up the Lectionary to see this coming Sunday’s Gospel it will be a piece of cake… 

What? Are you serious? In this passage from Matthew Jesus says, “Turn the other cheek,” and “Give your cloak as well,” and “Go also the second mile,” and “Give to everyone who begs from you,” and “Love your enemies,” and “Pray for those who persecute you” and to top it all off, “Be perfect!” Come on man! Seriously? Could we not get a week of “It is okay to be mad at those who are mean to you.”? Or, perhaps “If someone slaps you it is appropriate to hit them back.”? How about “Be pretty good, for you are a pretty good person.” I mean this is asking a lot of us. And, in all seriousness that is precisely the point of discipleship, of following Jesus, and of taking on our true nature as a child of God. Being a Christian is not a hobby that we take up in our spare time!

As we travel through this part of Matthew we may feel as though the hits keep coming, and that every week Jesus ups the ante. We experience this sentiment because it is true. Discipleship as outlined in the Sermon on the Mount requires not just more and more of us, but all of us as we grow closer and closer to God and to one another. The examples Jesus used of how to follow God in everyday interactions with one another push us to examine how we treat ourselves, our families and friends, and our neighbors. A full life, a life in Christ, does not consist of retribution, vengeance, and defensiveness, but something else entirely.

To be a follower of Jesus calls us to live detached from the automatic, instinctive response when others treat us with disrespect, anger, or meanness. Not responding to disrespect with disrespect or anger with anger or meanness with meanness cannot happen overnight, nor can it happen on our own. We must live life differently than how we so often live. We instinctively follow the impulses in response to our thoughts, feelings, emotions, conditions, situations, or other persons. To turn the other cheek is to ignore the rage that wells up inside of us when we are mistreated, so how do we do this?

Jesus ends this passage with the answer to this question: being perfect (and this deserves more exploration throughout this week). Perfection is the way that we must live our lives if we wish to live differently than the world around us; however, perfection is not what we may think it is. It is not a perfect score, like on a standardized test or in Olympic Gymnastics, nor is it pitching a perfect game like in baseball (Pitchers and catchers report today by the way!), nor is it any other human measure of being really good at something. Perfection in the Father is about one thing: fulfillment. Being fulfilled not by the result or the outcome, but by growing ever deeper in relationship with our true self, our neighbors, and our God. Let us be fulfilled by our Almighty Parent!

Big Rocks First

When I was in college I had a strange routine to prepare for writing a big term paper. Before I would sit down to put pen to paper or fingers to computer keyboard I would set out to clean my entire dorm room. If there was dust somewhere, laundry on the floor, dirty dishes sitting on a dresser, or books askew I would spend however much time it took to set right everything. There were a few times when I decided that I did not have time to do this, so I went to write my paper at the library instead. Could I have written the paper without cleaning up? Sure, well physically I could do it, but psychologically maybe not.

I hope that you will observe that my behavior was at best peculiar and at worst bordering on a mild form of obsessive compulsive behavior. We tend to laugh at idiosyncrasies that we or a loved one possesses. And yet, what happens when we begin to construct our ritual and routine around these odd actions? I may have actually written a better paper because I was not focused on the dirty laundry I needed to do, but what happens if I let the miniscule aspects of life control my main priorities?

A long time ago my mom gave a devotion at summer camp. She had a glass cylinder about a foot tall and with a diameter of about 8 to10 inches. In the container she wanted to put some sand, big rocks, pebbles, and some medium sized rocks. At first she started with the sand, then put the pebbles, then the medium sized rocks, before finally trying to stuff the big rocks inside. Guess what! This method failed horribly. There was not enough room for one of the big rocks let alone all of them. Then, she tried another way.

During this second run through she put the big rocks inside first. Then the medium sized rocks, next the pebbles, and finally the sand. This time they all fit with a little bit of room to spare. I sat amazed thinking about how much of a difference it made to take care of the big things first. Obviously this demonstration impacted me, as I still remember this process. Jesus too challenges us to focus first on the weightier parts of life before we focus upon the small stuff.

In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus railed against the Pharisees’ over-commitment to hygienic rituals. To a group of people that had so many sanitary rituals this obviously was a big deal. Jesus thought that their practices were backwards though. They were in essence putting the sand in their jars before they took care of the big rocks. Food does not make one unholy or out of relationship with God. Rather, Jesus stated that it is the intentions that exist within the human heart that may defile a person.

We as a culture worry more than perhaps any other in history about what we eat. Instead of whether it will make us impure we wonder, “Will this make me gain weight?” Jesus bids us to let go of our worries about the religious purity of food and even how many calories it has, as he says all things that God makes are holy. Instead, we are to focus on what we have control over, that is the intentions that grow in our hearts. Let us make sure that we focus on this big rocks first, before we concentrate too much on the small sandy matters in life. Let us focus on the intentions of our hearts before we obsess too much over our rituals.

Create, Redeem, Sustain

Today's post is based on the readings for today in the Lesser Feasts and Fasts Eucharistic Lectionary:

Genesis 1:20-2:4a
Psalm 8
Mark 7:1-13

In the beginning God made all things very good. We began our Scriptural journey today with the fifth and sixth days of Creation, as well as the very first Sabbath on which God rested from creating all things! Next, we recited together a poetic recapitulation of God’s creative works with Psalm 8. Cattle, birds, fish, wild beasts, and even infants crying out to praise God who made heaven and earth; sun, moon, and stars.  Finally, we came to today’s Gospel lesson from Mark, which at first glance seems to run in juxtaposition with the first two Scriptural accounts chosen for today; however, if we look closer at this interaction be-tween Jesus and some scribes and Pharisees we will find the wiser logic of God. This logic runs through all of Scripture and it shows that God creates, redeems, and sustains all things!

As Jesus’ ministry began to gain some significance with a substantial following, some religious folk from Jerusalem came to see what was happening in Galilee. A modern analogy might be like if members of the Presiding Bishop’s staff came to see a new liturgy we were trying out or if officials from the Vatican were sent to inspect a ministry within the Catholic Church. I imagine the scribes and Pharisees carrying around clipboards like health inspectors making sure Jesus’ ministry was up to snuff. From their perspective it was not.

These Pharisees had a problem with Jesus’ disciples’ sanitary practices. Certainly this would have been of hygienic concern and at some time in the history of the people of Israel making sure their hands were clean would have saved lives. However, over the course of time it had shifted from something that was a beneficial health practice into a rigid religious tradition. Jesus spotted in the Pharisees a stark contradiction: they were focused on the motions of religion instead of seeing their religion as a vehicle to move them closer to God. In essence, the Pharisees worried about getting religion right instead of whether those practices awakened their hearts, enlivened their souls, and transformed their lives! Summarizing Isaiah Jesus said, “You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

Before going any further we must lay aside our current worldview to ensure that we can see from the perspective of the original audience. Unlike today there were no safety nets for those who would grow old: no 401ks, no Social Security, no Roth IRAs, no Mutual Funds, nor anything else of the like. Instead as family members would grow older they would be cared for within the younger generation’s home. Sometimes as many as four or five generations would all live together under one roof! This is not all that dissimilar to other cultures in different parts of the world today. The Pharisees though saw this as a way that they were losing money.

Jesus looked deeper than the surface practice of Corban to reveal the deception within the religious practice. When Jesus claimed, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!” what he was referring to was taking the crops, goods, and other funds that were to honor father and mother, and instead having those assessed as Temple taxes. In this way the Pharisees were robbing the elderly, so that they might have more vestments, bigger banquets, and a larger status within Jerusalem. God’s way though is always good, always creating, redeeming, and sustaining! God yearns to take care of those who are most vulnerable whether they are orphans, widows or widowers, the sick, the hungry, the homeless, the elderly, or whoever is being persecuted.

The act that God began in Creation continued in the redeeming work of Christ in Jesus’ life, death, and Resurrection, and it persists to this day in the all-encompassing presence of the Spirit! We are charged to perpetually examine the practices we maintain. Are they in line with the inherit goodness with which God made us? Do we need to shift how we practice our Tradition so that we might better follow God’s commandments, and in particular loving God and neighbor as ourselves? Are we neglecting the needy to maintain our own traditions? Religion is the vehicle that helps us to grow closer to God, but it is not what we worship, who we follow, or how we are sustained. We worship the Triune God, follow Jesus, and are nourished by the Spirit. If necessary reject the tradition, so that you may keep the commandments of God to love our neighbors and ourselves and through that we love God!

You Are Salt and Light

A divisive world with rivals competing for limited resources. Political adversaries fighting tooth and nail. Violence spilling out into the streets. War knocking at the door. And, the hopes and values of a nation never fully realized. If you think I am talking about the last several election cycles in the United States, I’m not. Perhaps I could be, but these unsettling phrases describe the times in which Jesus spoke. This was the world in which the words we heard in this morning’s Gospel lesson were spoken.

Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount to the people of Israel, not to a Christian community. Our eternal teacher entered into a very particular context within the history of Judaism. For years the people of Israel had been passion-ately debating, and all sides wielded their holy texts as though they were swords made uniquely for their cause. Several variables heightened this conflict to a fever pitch.

First, the people of Israel were being occupied by the Romans. “God’s Chosen People” had in fact been banished or occupied by Gentile rule since the Babylonian exile—that’s a long time! Yes, the Israelites were back in their home-land, but they had no control of the larger government. There were Roman soldiers trampling through their towns. The Temple was controlled by someone else, and all the prophecies of a divine king coming to reign had never came to fruition. From this occupied context questions arose about how to interpret the Law and the Prophets.

Three main strands of understanding emerged. One group was the Sadducees. We know from elsewhere that they did not believe in the Resurrection, but they did believe in working with the occupying powers. They sought to practically collaborate with the Romans, which often led to other Israelites claiming that they were traitors to God and His people.

A second group were the radical Zealots. As far as the Sadducees were on one side, the Zealots were on the other. Instead of working with their rulers, they wanted nothing more than to overthrow the Roman Empire. Being zealous has its roots in the Zealots’ behavior. This group even took up arms to attempt coups against local rulers.

The Pharisees, a third group, walked down a middle path. They were the most divided group of the three. Some Pharisees wanted to fight the powers, while others sought to found isolated communities that would protect the ways of being part of the tribe of Israel. This latter group would practice their piety privately (try saying that three times fast). And, if they could not stop the Roman Empire from controlling their land, they would at least preserve their covenant with God until God came back to earth. Into this divided context Jesus came to preach his Sermon on the Mount.

As the people of Israel felt strained, divided, and conflicted, Jesus spoke some-thing that did not abolish what had been written, but fulfilled the hopes, dreams, and themes of the Law and the Prophets. As one great Biblical scholar, put it, this sermon was “a challenge to Israel to be Israel” (N.T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (London: SPCK, 1996), 288). Jesus did not side with throwing over the government for we are to love our enemies as our-selves, nor did he befriend oppression or its perpetrators, nor did he go the way of the Pharisees. In fact, these Pharisees were the ones with whom Jesus most often quarreled.

I have heard it said by some priests that they could never preach something from the Old Testament as it was a series of books only focused on law, rules, and an oppressive God. What stands out about Jesus’ ministry is his extensive use of the Law and the Prophets to show us the way of God. This way is hid-den in plain sight right in the midst of the first two-thirds of our Holy Scripture. Jesus did not come to abolish what had been written, not one stroke of a letter of it in fact. Instead, Emmanual, that is God with us, came to fulfill all that had been hoped, dreamed, and otherwise written.

In this way we can approach this passage about salt, light, and righteousness, which Jesus spoke in today’s Gospel lesson in a richer way. The Sadducees’ ways had led them to losing their flavor, like salt without its saltiness. The Zealots’ ways had put them out of right relationship with God and neighbor. The Pharisees’ ways of following the Torah had driven many of them into hid-ing their light, like a lamp under a bushel. Jesus warned that they could not lose their particularity, nor place their passionate hope on God only acting in the future. God’s reign was already started, and it is still happening right now. Jesus came to inaugurate the reign of Christ, which holds onto that which is good and at the same time makes all things new!

We today may be caught up in ways that are not unlike the traditions of the people of Israel in Jesus’ day. We place our allegiance in something or some-one else over our love of God and neighbor. We become violent and aggressive toward those with whom we disagree. We seek to preserve our Traditions in secret, but deny living justly, kindly, and lovingly in public. We all too easily slip into unhealthy spirituality, losing our flavor, hiding our light, and falling out of relationship with God and other.

The way that Jesus came to walk, exemplify, and show to all was not different from the Law and the Prophets. Jesus’ way was and is the same way that God always intended, merely amplified to its loudest level. We need this way now more than ever.

In a world more divisive than I have seen in my lifetime I yearn to see the way of God. Not blind allegiance, not deaf protesting, nor stunted piety, but another way! Jesus came to fulfill the law, not to abolish it. He came to unite all those divisive groups, but many were not willing or able to listen. We are challenged to hear Jesus calling us and to respond to that call. We are called to take up our part in fulfilling God’s law. We are called to be salt and we are called to be light, and as Jesus showed us it is through Christ that we are called to be one with God. Let us preserve our flavor. Let us shine our light. Through Christ let us unite for we are more flavorful and all the brighter, as we all shine in God’s constellation together!