May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 8
PROPER: 12C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: July 26,1998
TEXT: Luke 11:1-13 - The Lord's Prayer and Parable of the Importunate Friend
"So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches, finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."
ISSUE: For Jesus, God is the ultimate patron, and God will provide for his creation. Therefore, we are called upon to be faithfully persistent in our relationship with God. There is a real sense in which the Lord's Prayer is revolutionary. God is the ultimate patron and his people shall insist upon justice: daily bread, forgiveness and justice, and an escape from evil. This prayer is the continual yearning of the people of God.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
One of the truly great treasures of our Christian Faith is the ever familiar Lord's Prayer. How many times have some of us recited it. I often recite it either out loud or to myself several times each day. It is beautiful and meaningful in its utter simplicity. However, in its regular use we may sometimes find that in its familiarity, the prayer loses some of its deep meaning for us. The reading from Luke this morning wherein Jesus reportedly teaches his disciples the prayer brings the Prayer to our attention. We are given the opportunity to study it and reflect upon its original and deep meaning. We have probably lost, and maybe never really appreciated that the prayer originally was a prayer of a revolutionary movement. It has a real revolutionary motif to it. It might be good for ust to reclaim something of that appreciation for the prayer. Americans today don't normally think of themselves as revolutionaries. In fact today we kind of look down on revolutionaries, and they are often labeled as communists.
It's helpful to appreciate a few things about Jesus' time and his own movement and mission. Keep in mind that in the 1st century about 90 percent of the people of the time were peasants. The other 10 percent were the rich. There was no middle class to speak of. The peasants were subject to whoever was in control of their lives. Landowners told them what they could plant. The Romans told them how much tax they had to pay. Who you married, your education, if any, was dependent upon you controlling patron or father. In this paternalistic society, people were under control of the controlling male in a family. Thus, to have any control in your life, you had to know who to try to influence. You had to know in various instances who your patron was. Peasants were clients and rulers or leaders were the patrons. So for any kind of control you had to appeal to them, try to influence the patron (father-figure) in your life. Only the patron could get for you what you yourself could not get.
Now in this kind of culture, people had to do a lot of asking, seeking, and knocking upon the doors of their patrons to have an influence. Jesus, who was an itinerant preacher. Jesus along with his band of followers had to do a lot of asking, seeking, and knocking as they traveled through Palestine to find their way and have places to stay. Thus, Jesus' disciples were familiar with asking, seeking, and knocking. The ministry of Jesus was by and large a ministry that was intended to reveal the importance of the God of love in people's lives. Jesus proclaims a ministry which calls people's attention to the fact that the Kingdom of God is at hand a revolutionary kingdom where the poor had a place. The ultimate patron of their lives and in this kingdom is God, the Father.
In this scene today, the disciples ask Jesus, "Teach us to pray." They are asking, "How do we influence God, the Ultimate Patron." The issue is a matter of how do we have and establish a relationship with God. Rabbi's of the time were teachers of prayer, as John the Baptist had been for his disciples. So Jesus begins the Lord's Prayer by teaching them to address God as Abba, Father. The Aramaic word "Abba" is the familiar form of the word "Father." In English "Abba" is similar to our word "Daddy." You say when you pray, "Father, hallowed (or holy) is your name. Let your kingdom come." "Abba" gives that sense of intimacy with the divine Father, with the ultimate patron. Yet recognize that God is Holy Sacred, unique, set apart. His kingdom is the be all and the end all of our lives. Jesus teaches his disciples to address The initmate Father with great respect and honor recognizing our place in his Kingdom. For Jesus, the focus of his disciples lives is to be upon the ultimate patronage of God the Father. All other patrons are lesser figures in the world.
Then says Jesus, make these three basic petitions: 1. Give us this day our daily bread. 2. Forgive us our sins as we will forgive the debts of others. Remember this is a prayer of peasants. They were all deeply indebt. To be sinful was to be alienated from God. To be indebt was to be obligated. To be forgiven of sins and not obligated to one another was to be in union with God, to be in a right relationship with God, and to be free from indebtedness was great liberation and unity of community. 3. Do not bring us to a time of trial. (or hard testing.) 'Hard testing 'or 'time of trial' meant to deliver God's people from their ever falling away from Him. God was to keep them from apostasy and seeking influence elsewhere in the more evil places of the world.
God is the ultimate Patron. God is the one who provides our food, our forgiveness and our freedom, and the eternal place in his Kingdom. What more did they need? Note the revolutionary content: God is King, no one else. Honor Him. God is the one who provides, forgives, and saves. Turn to him and live. It is not the Romans, not the state, not the Landowner, not the rich. There is another Kingdom and another Patron to whom they may turn to influence. This is the prayer of the community of God. It turned its back on all other worldly patrons and mortal human powers. Jesus' prayer is about being focused upon the prevailing Goodness of God. United as a family in God was the hope of the community.
Then Lukes says that Jesus told this parable. There was a man who had unexpected guests arrive in the middle of the night. Hospitality was very important, so he must provide the hungry travelers with bread. So he runs next door to wake up the neighbor to loan him some bread for his guests. Now the next door neighbor is very resistant to get up and wake up all his kids and get the animals rowled up. If the neighbor says, "Go away; don't bother me, everything is lokck for the night and the kids are in bed." Persist in getting him up. Tell him you will tell all the neighborhood the next day that he was shameful in not helping you provide hospitality. He would be dishonored in the community. Once you remind him of his obligation to be honorable he will get up and give you bread. Keep knocking; keep seeking, keep asking, says Jesus. Be persistent with God in your prayers. Be faithful.
Afterall, in all of our own imperfections, when our children ask for a fish to eat, you don't give them an eel, an unedible fish. If you child asks for an egg, you don't give them a scorpion. (Rolled up scorpions looked like eggs). "How then," says Jesus, "could God the Father who is the creator of all not respond to the needs of his children?" It would be shameful of God not to respond to his people. Ask, seek, keep knocking, remain faithful in your pursuit of God and God's justice for his world. Simple, profound, and revolutionary was this prayer of Jesus the rabbi who called upon his God's people to be faithful.
Obvously our world today is different in many ways from the 1st Century. We are much more affluent. Prayer is not so important to us, as many of our needs are met. This age is a scientific age, a more sophisticated age. We see ourselves as knowledgeable, educated, more in control. We don't have a lot of need for prayer, or see its importance expect in more extreme cases when we do feel out of control. What I see in this passage on Prayer is the call or demand, a profound expression to maintain a faithfulness and trust in God. It is the reminder to be in a continuing relationship with God. We remember that God is the ultimate Creator to be hallowed. It is God who desires that his children have their bread, be forgiven, loved, know justice, and remain faithful. In prayerful relationship, in faithfulness we are the people in God's world. We want all people to be seen as worthy of sitting down to the banquet of God. We want, like in the Feeding of the 5,000, for the whole people of God to feast. We want to be right with God and want all to be forgiven of debts that may separate us from God and from one another. We want an end to poverty, and human humiliation or lack of esteem. We want to never fall away, be tempted away from our calling to be the clients of God through whom his grace may flow and abound.
The issue for us is long for, top desire, to yearn for all nations and communities to have enough to eat. We as Christians, followers of Christ, yearn and long for all people to have a reasonable and comfortable place to live. We should desire that all people in whatever afflictions may have the hope of healing, and the facilities of hospitals, home, centers of healing to be made available. We should want through our prayer the goodness to be in relationship with the afflicted as truly good neighbors who are involved in the needs of the poor and the afflicted. To pray for daily bread and forgivness of sin and debt is to be in communion, relationship, and fellowship with prejudices resolved.
Lord Jesus teach us to pray. Teach us to know God and to hallow him, to be aware that this place is His Kingdom. Teach us to want the spiritual food of life that sustains us and all people. Teach us to accept forgiveness from our alienation, and not to be alienated from our brothers and sisters. Teach us to stay faithful so that we can continune to be channels of God's grace and trust that God shall never abandon us. The Lord's Prayer is not only the prayer Jesus taught us, but it is our theme song, the simplest creed of our Christian community that affirms God is above and beyond. Yet God is intimate, like a father. God is Holy. God provides what we need and we are his own in faithful relationship with him. AMEN.
Addendum:
In our own prayer book, at each Eucharist the priest says: "And now as our savior Christ has taught us we are bold to say." For the people of Jesus time, especially the Jewish community, God was indeed awesome. God in prayer was approached with great respect. Perhaps, there were at times a fear of even approaching God in respect to human sinfulness. Who is worthy to approach God. But in this passage, Jesus makes his followers bold and worthy to pray "Our Father." They may approach the Lord God with boldness and ask for, seek, yearn for, knock for what they need. In faithful persistence, we are assured that God is mindful of all we need and ask for, and loves us for our daring relationship with Him.
Sunday, July 26, 1998
Sunday, July 19, 1998
Pentecost 7
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 7
PROPER: 11 C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: July 19, 1998
TEXT: Luke 10:38-42 - The Account of Martha & Mary
. . . Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listend to what he was saying.
ISSUE: The story of Mary and Martha is startling as Jesus is portrayed alone with women, and Mary sits at his feet. Mary's relationship here is uncommon for the period. Martha's hospitality is also tainted with anxiety and distraction. It is, in fact, Jesus the Lord who extends the real and genuine hospitality as he calls both into a close relationship. We cannot be a hospitable people in any Christian sense until we ourselves sit at the feet of the Lord and become faithful.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The account of Jesus meeting with Martha and Mary in their home is a very curious story. And for the people who first heard it, it was another one of those rather startling stories about Jesus. The meeting of Jesus in the home of Martha and Mary does, in fact, immediately follow in Luke the account of Jesus' encounter with the lawyer and the Parable of the Good Samaritan. You will recall that the lawyer was challenging Jesus, as they did in those days. He had asked Jesus: What do I do to receive eternal life? Jesus' then asked him the question: What do the scriptures say? The lawyer responded with the familiar "Shema:" Hear O Israel, you shall love the Lord your god with all your hearet, mind, and strength. He also adds from Leviticus. You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. The story continued with the discussion of who was your neighbor which became spelled out the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The lawyer was forced to admit that even a hated Samaritan could be a good neighbor. The emphasis of all that exchange for Luke was the revelation of what it means to love your neighbor and the great depth of that kind of commitment. The early church if it was to be unique in the world had to set aside its old prejudices and hatreds and learn a deeper and profounder understanding of neighbor.
In the subsequent story in Luke, Jesus goes to the home of Mary and Martha. Martha is busy preparing a meal, but Mary is seen, much to Martha's displeasure, at the feet of Jesus. Martha refers to Jesus as Lord. And according to the story, Mary is doing the better thing. She is seated at the feet of the Lord. So while we heard last week all about what it means to be a neighbor, as the story continues the emphasis is upon how do we love the Lord God. Mary sits at the Lord's feet.
It is a startling story, and would have captured the attention of Luke's readers, certainly more than it gets our attention. It is curious that Luke says that Jesus went to Martha's house where he is welcomed. Women in Jesus' time rarely held property. The idea that it was Martha's house is curious. Maybe Luke is simply implying that it was the house where Martha lived. Perhaps, Luke is making a statement about the place of women in the early church, that women might be given some greater sense of ownership in the life of the church. We can't be absolutely sure as to what Luke has in mind but women are significant in the story. What's more is that Jesus enters the home of Martha and Mary and appears to be alone with them. In Jesus' time men did not associate with women, and would not have been alone with them. Women lived in a very private world among themselves. Even married women spent little time even with their husbands, seeing them only a meals and at bedtime. They were closer to other women and the children. They were very task oriented: caring for children and attending to the household tasks. When Jesus sits with Mary, it is Martha who is complains that Mary is not helping her. Remember too that when Jesus went to the home of Simon Peter and heals his sick mother-in-law, she gets up immediately from her sick bed and begins preparing a meal.
In the account of Mary and Martha once again Luke seems to be implying that Jesus challenged the strict and rigid order of the time. Martha is given ownership. Mary and Martha are given a closer relationship with Jesus. The role of women is changing. Mary is given and assumes the right to sit at the Lord's feet, to put aside the task oriented role of women and to take the role of men who sat at or were attentive to the teachings of the rabbi. In the story women become worthy of being taught. Women become worthy of being educated and have the right to be with the Lord in the same way that men were.
Look at what's happening. In the story of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan breaks out of the conventional role of Samaritans who hated Jews. He risks being impure by touching the naked and unclean victim. In this story today, Mary steps out of the conventional role of women by being alone with a man and by sitting at the feet of a teacher to learn. The Samaritan learns to love his neighbor. Mary learns to love the Lord her God. These are important values for the church that have to be kept in balance. Luke conveys that when Jesus comes on the scene, the conventions, the prejudices and hatreds of the world are indeed challenged, and all who come to know him will find their own ways challenged.
Another important point to be made in this story is that Martha is distracted and anxious, and she asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her. I have often heard it said that if it were not for the Martha's of this world nothing would ever get done. Keep in mind that Martha is not scolded by Jesus for doing what is expected of her. Martha is scolded for being anxious and distracted. Distraction is very different from being busy. Martha is not scolded for being busy. The Greek words indicate that Martha is anxious, divided, has too many causes, making uproar, troubled distrubed, disordered, confusion, groaning, madness, frenzied. (Lk 10:41- ) The Greek words give the impression of person out of control. It expresses nearly a craziness in terms of a being out of focus and out of touch with what is really basically important. Mary has found something better to be focused upon. It is the Lord. He is the source of wellness, healing, forgiveness, calm, serenity.
Luke's world was a crazy world. Jews hated Gentile and Samaritans. Samaritans hated Jews. Romans crucified anybody they could without much question or second thoughts. Lying and cheating was very common. Religion was caught up in rules and regulations and had little effect upon the suffering. Women were considered property and had no rights or citizenship. It was a hostile world. It was not a very hospitable world. Neither is our own.
Many Gentiles still hate Jews, and blacks, hispanics. Our prejudices remain still deeply rooted. There is still much confusion and anxiety in the human condition. Our religion still doesn't always do much for the poor, the suffering and the oppressed. We are sometimes so distracted that we accomplish little. We put one another off by our insecurities and our anxieties. We try to be good to one another, polite, nice, and mouth the words of respectability, but we still can't or find it hard to be genuinely hospitable to one another, accepting, welcoming, open, ready to make and be in a real and genuine relationship. We remain exclusive and trapped by the conventions of our times, the traditions that keep us locked-up in old unchanging, and thereby dying ways. The old crazy ways don't seem to go away. We often respond to the world in a re-actionary way, We become defensive or guilty, or feel a sense of hopelessness. We are inclined to quickly fight back at hostility and violence. We find it hard to change and find new hope and new ways.
Jesus comes to the home of Martha and Mary. He is something of an intrusion that challenges the way things are supposed to be. Woman separated from men, and not educated. God in Christ Jesus has dropped in among us int he midst of all of our madness. Martha tries to offer him hospitality, but she cannot escape being cranky, crazy, distraught, anxious. She tries to drag Mary into her fear and confusion. So what happens? Jesus ends up being the one who offers the greater hospitality. Let me show you something that is better. Come to me all of you who are in travail, heavy laden, distracted, caught up in the hurt, the pain, the suffering of the world, and I will give you rest. I will give you peace, I will give you hope. The ministry of Jesus is one meant to convey the mystery and wonder of God and his love. It is God who is the true and and generous Good Samaritan. It is God who is the one who offers to the world the greatest hospitality. Come sit at my feet and learn from me.
In our reactionary way of life, like the women we can keep ourselves very busy. Like so many of the men of Jesus own time and ours, the men are often spontaneous and too quick for their own good. Sometimes we need a sabbath, a sabbatical, a time for quiet, a time to let the Lord be our host, and reveal to us his wonder and his glory. Sometimes we have to receive God's hospitality and feast at his table in quiet and peacefulness. Jesus calls the women, Jesus calls the world into precious moments of relationship to see ourselves as God's children, God's friends, graciously accepting his hospitality and his ways. None of us can teach and be for others, and for the world, what we ourselves have not learned from our teacher. Keeping busy and doing our work and fulfilling our calling in the world is not bad. Unfortunately we do and are inclined to become distracted and lose focus on what is our real calling as Christians and as the people of God. But God in Christ who is still the giver of the finest hospitality says, Come sit with me, let me show you a better way to be calm and in focus. Learn from me. Mary sat at the Lord's feet. Martha, Martha, Do you hear the call? Do you know who is sitting here with you, and who it is that calls? Anybody with an ounce of good sense knows the importance of getting away once in awhile for rest, relaxation, for a change of scenery. We know it is good for us. Sometimes it's so much better to let somebody else be the host and provide the hospitality. We learn from it, and we are renewed by it. People with good sense also know you can't be on a perpetual vacation or sabbath either. Even retired people have to find meaningful activities. There is a need for balance. We need to let God be our host, to drop-in on us and challenge our ruts and time treasured traditions, and our craziness and frenzy, so that we can be renewed in things that are really important and push aside the things that keep us from being spiritually sane and focused on what is truly good, lovely, valuable, and just.
SEASON: Pentecost 7
PROPER: 11 C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: July 19, 1998
TEXT: Luke 10:38-42 - The Account of Martha & Mary
. . . Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listend to what he was saying.
ISSUE: The story of Mary and Martha is startling as Jesus is portrayed alone with women, and Mary sits at his feet. Mary's relationship here is uncommon for the period. Martha's hospitality is also tainted with anxiety and distraction. It is, in fact, Jesus the Lord who extends the real and genuine hospitality as he calls both into a close relationship. We cannot be a hospitable people in any Christian sense until we ourselves sit at the feet of the Lord and become faithful.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The account of Jesus meeting with Martha and Mary in their home is a very curious story. And for the people who first heard it, it was another one of those rather startling stories about Jesus. The meeting of Jesus in the home of Martha and Mary does, in fact, immediately follow in Luke the account of Jesus' encounter with the lawyer and the Parable of the Good Samaritan. You will recall that the lawyer was challenging Jesus, as they did in those days. He had asked Jesus: What do I do to receive eternal life? Jesus' then asked him the question: What do the scriptures say? The lawyer responded with the familiar "Shema:" Hear O Israel, you shall love the Lord your god with all your hearet, mind, and strength. He also adds from Leviticus. You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. The story continued with the discussion of who was your neighbor which became spelled out the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The lawyer was forced to admit that even a hated Samaritan could be a good neighbor. The emphasis of all that exchange for Luke was the revelation of what it means to love your neighbor and the great depth of that kind of commitment. The early church if it was to be unique in the world had to set aside its old prejudices and hatreds and learn a deeper and profounder understanding of neighbor.
In the subsequent story in Luke, Jesus goes to the home of Mary and Martha. Martha is busy preparing a meal, but Mary is seen, much to Martha's displeasure, at the feet of Jesus. Martha refers to Jesus as Lord. And according to the story, Mary is doing the better thing. She is seated at the feet of the Lord. So while we heard last week all about what it means to be a neighbor, as the story continues the emphasis is upon how do we love the Lord God. Mary sits at the Lord's feet.
It is a startling story, and would have captured the attention of Luke's readers, certainly more than it gets our attention. It is curious that Luke says that Jesus went to Martha's house where he is welcomed. Women in Jesus' time rarely held property. The idea that it was Martha's house is curious. Maybe Luke is simply implying that it was the house where Martha lived. Perhaps, Luke is making a statement about the place of women in the early church, that women might be given some greater sense of ownership in the life of the church. We can't be absolutely sure as to what Luke has in mind but women are significant in the story. What's more is that Jesus enters the home of Martha and Mary and appears to be alone with them. In Jesus' time men did not associate with women, and would not have been alone with them. Women lived in a very private world among themselves. Even married women spent little time even with their husbands, seeing them only a meals and at bedtime. They were closer to other women and the children. They were very task oriented: caring for children and attending to the household tasks. When Jesus sits with Mary, it is Martha who is complains that Mary is not helping her. Remember too that when Jesus went to the home of Simon Peter and heals his sick mother-in-law, she gets up immediately from her sick bed and begins preparing a meal.
In the account of Mary and Martha once again Luke seems to be implying that Jesus challenged the strict and rigid order of the time. Martha is given ownership. Mary and Martha are given a closer relationship with Jesus. The role of women is changing. Mary is given and assumes the right to sit at the Lord's feet, to put aside the task oriented role of women and to take the role of men who sat at or were attentive to the teachings of the rabbi. In the story women become worthy of being taught. Women become worthy of being educated and have the right to be with the Lord in the same way that men were.
Look at what's happening. In the story of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan breaks out of the conventional role of Samaritans who hated Jews. He risks being impure by touching the naked and unclean victim. In this story today, Mary steps out of the conventional role of women by being alone with a man and by sitting at the feet of a teacher to learn. The Samaritan learns to love his neighbor. Mary learns to love the Lord her God. These are important values for the church that have to be kept in balance. Luke conveys that when Jesus comes on the scene, the conventions, the prejudices and hatreds of the world are indeed challenged, and all who come to know him will find their own ways challenged.
Another important point to be made in this story is that Martha is distracted and anxious, and she asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her. I have often heard it said that if it were not for the Martha's of this world nothing would ever get done. Keep in mind that Martha is not scolded by Jesus for doing what is expected of her. Martha is scolded for being anxious and distracted. Distraction is very different from being busy. Martha is not scolded for being busy. The Greek words indicate that Martha is anxious, divided, has too many causes, making uproar, troubled distrubed, disordered, confusion, groaning, madness, frenzied. (Lk 10:41- ) The Greek words give the impression of person out of control. It expresses nearly a craziness in terms of a being out of focus and out of touch with what is really basically important. Mary has found something better to be focused upon. It is the Lord. He is the source of wellness, healing, forgiveness, calm, serenity.
Luke's world was a crazy world. Jews hated Gentile and Samaritans. Samaritans hated Jews. Romans crucified anybody they could without much question or second thoughts. Lying and cheating was very common. Religion was caught up in rules and regulations and had little effect upon the suffering. Women were considered property and had no rights or citizenship. It was a hostile world. It was not a very hospitable world. Neither is our own.
Many Gentiles still hate Jews, and blacks, hispanics. Our prejudices remain still deeply rooted. There is still much confusion and anxiety in the human condition. Our religion still doesn't always do much for the poor, the suffering and the oppressed. We are sometimes so distracted that we accomplish little. We put one another off by our insecurities and our anxieties. We try to be good to one another, polite, nice, and mouth the words of respectability, but we still can't or find it hard to be genuinely hospitable to one another, accepting, welcoming, open, ready to make and be in a real and genuine relationship. We remain exclusive and trapped by the conventions of our times, the traditions that keep us locked-up in old unchanging, and thereby dying ways. The old crazy ways don't seem to go away. We often respond to the world in a re-actionary way, We become defensive or guilty, or feel a sense of hopelessness. We are inclined to quickly fight back at hostility and violence. We find it hard to change and find new hope and new ways.
Jesus comes to the home of Martha and Mary. He is something of an intrusion that challenges the way things are supposed to be. Woman separated from men, and not educated. God in Christ Jesus has dropped in among us int he midst of all of our madness. Martha tries to offer him hospitality, but she cannot escape being cranky, crazy, distraught, anxious. She tries to drag Mary into her fear and confusion. So what happens? Jesus ends up being the one who offers the greater hospitality. Let me show you something that is better. Come to me all of you who are in travail, heavy laden, distracted, caught up in the hurt, the pain, the suffering of the world, and I will give you rest. I will give you peace, I will give you hope. The ministry of Jesus is one meant to convey the mystery and wonder of God and his love. It is God who is the true and and generous Good Samaritan. It is God who is the one who offers to the world the greatest hospitality. Come sit at my feet and learn from me.
In our reactionary way of life, like the women we can keep ourselves very busy. Like so many of the men of Jesus own time and ours, the men are often spontaneous and too quick for their own good. Sometimes we need a sabbath, a sabbatical, a time for quiet, a time to let the Lord be our host, and reveal to us his wonder and his glory. Sometimes we have to receive God's hospitality and feast at his table in quiet and peacefulness. Jesus calls the women, Jesus calls the world into precious moments of relationship to see ourselves as God's children, God's friends, graciously accepting his hospitality and his ways. None of us can teach and be for others, and for the world, what we ourselves have not learned from our teacher. Keeping busy and doing our work and fulfilling our calling in the world is not bad. Unfortunately we do and are inclined to become distracted and lose focus on what is our real calling as Christians and as the people of God. But God in Christ who is still the giver of the finest hospitality says, Come sit with me, let me show you a better way to be calm and in focus. Learn from me. Mary sat at the Lord's feet. Martha, Martha, Do you hear the call? Do you know who is sitting here with you, and who it is that calls? Anybody with an ounce of good sense knows the importance of getting away once in awhile for rest, relaxation, for a change of scenery. We know it is good for us. Sometimes it's so much better to let somebody else be the host and provide the hospitality. We learn from it, and we are renewed by it. People with good sense also know you can't be on a perpetual vacation or sabbath either. Even retired people have to find meaningful activities. There is a need for balance. We need to let God be our host, to drop-in on us and challenge our ruts and time treasured traditions, and our craziness and frenzy, so that we can be renewed in things that are really important and push aside the things that keep us from being spiritually sane and focused on what is truly good, lovely, valuable, and just.
Sunday, July 12, 1998
6 Pentecost
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: 6 Pentecost
PROPER: 10 C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: July 12,1998
TEXT: Luke 10:25-37 - Parable of the Good Samaritan, or Parable of the Caring God - "Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy."
ISSUE: This is another of the frequently misunderstood parables of the Jesus. The situation between the lawyer and Jesus is a testing and an attempt to humiliate Jesus, which backfires. The lawyer is left to publicly admit that the hated outcast, low class, thief-like Samaritan in the parable is the good neighbor in this parable. A second important aspect of the parable is not that we must do good works, i.e. be good caring neighbors, but that God is the Good Neighbor who enters into the suffering of his people. The suffering victim is like Jesus, like humanity, in need of God's redeeming grace.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The so called Parable of the Good Samaritan is indeed one of Jesus' finest parables. However it is also one of the most misunderstood and probably the one most poorly interpreted of all of Jesus parables. May God forgive me for all the times I so badly misled people when I have preached on this parable. The majority of us, myself included, learned and continued to perpetuate the belief that this parable is about being nice to one another. We should be good neighbors and love one another. Occasionally we should give a little money to the poor and hurting. After all aren't we supposed to go and do likewise, as did the Good Samaritan in the parable? Our Sunday School interpretation and learning of this parable ususally led us to believe that we should do good works or good deeds. Our general interpretation of the parable is that we should be like the Good Samaritan and help out the poor guys in the ditch. If Jesus on his way to Jerusalem went around teaching that people should be nice to one another, and give to the poor, and be neighborly, Why, in God's name, would he have been crucified when he got to Jerusalem?
I want to do two things. First, let's consider what it going on, so far as St. Luke is concerned, between the lawyer in the story and Jesus. Then, secondly, we'll deal with the parable itself.
According to Luke, a lawyer (scribe-pharisee) comes forward to test Jesus as he is making his way to Jerusalem. There are probably a number of poor people standing around when this public incident takes place. It was the poor who were mostly attracted to what Jesus had to say. Actually the lawyer is trying to challenge the honor and status that this lowly carpenter has attained, who is now an itinerant preacher. Who does he think he is? So the lawyer asks him a question which is really a challenge. He asks Jesus a question that he already knows the answer to: "What do I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus ups the ante by responding with the question, thereby challenging the lawyer, "What do the scriptures say?" And the lawyer replies with the Shema: Love the Lord you God . . . and adds, love your neighbor as yourself." Neighbor, of course meant you own kin and race. Very good says Jesus, you knew the answer all along. You were just kidding, i.e. lying, when you asked me the original question, and thereby Jesus maintains his status and turns the lawyer into a liar. In order to get out of this situation, and to try to justify himself, the lawyer then asks, "And who is my neighbor?" Then Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan:
A man is going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, which is a down hill journey, and falls among thieves. Since the man was probably a trader, he was himself considered to be a thief, and at least a no account. In any event he is beaten, stipped naked, and left for dead. A priest and a Levite, also a religious man, come by and see the dead man along the side of the road. If the priest stops and touches the possibly dead man, he will be unclean and impure and will have to return to Jerusalem for a long ritual act of cleansing. Priests didn't touch naked dead bodies (Ezek. 44:25) or strangers, who might not be of the same race. So he passes by as does the Levite. But then a Samaritan happens by and does stop. Samaritans were by Jewish standards sub-human and impure. He was probably a trader too, and considered to be an impure thief. But he stops and anoints the victim, actually touching him. The he puts him on his ass, takes him down to the bottom of the hill to Jericho, gives and inkeeper a large sum of money to care for him, and says if he needs more money that when he returns he'll foot the entire bill whatever it is.
Well Jesus says to his hot shot lawyer, which of these do you think was the neighbor. The answer is obvious: the one who showed him mercy. What else can the lawyer say? He has to admit that his hated and detested enemies can also be good neighbors. Jesus has humiliated his contender, and maintained his own honor. The poor people standing around would have been cheering, possibly rolling on the ground in laughter, to see the lawyer humiliated. The event and the parable for Luke reveals the hypocricies that people live with, and Jesus exposes them. Why is Jesus crucified? Not because he is nice, but because he challenges the hypocrisy of his time and because he humiliated and publicly dishonored one of the leaders or at the very least maintained his own position of honor. The mighty are brought low.
So far as Luke is concerned, he wants the early church to know that it must set aside its prejudices, hatreds, ancient feuds and see the poor, the Samaritans, the Gentiles, and the Jews, the traders, the outcasts, the lepers, the lame, the blind, the deaf, as an essential part of the new faith whose purpose is to proclaim the Goodnews of God. This event is a most significant and profound challenge to the culture, of that time, and to our own. Human prejudices and hatreds are often deeply rooted in our backgrounds and psyches. It is very hard to give them up and let them go. That's why Hitler got away with murdering Jews, and why white Americans murdered and humiliated Indians and maintain their prejudices against the niggers. We still today like to maintain the status-quo and keep out Juvenile Detention Centers, Homes for Recovering Alcoholics and Drug Addicts, low income housing out of our neighborhoods, and even in very subtle ways we try to keep new people out of our churches, or at least keep them in their place of second class members who are acceptable so long as they don't want to change anything. Luke's scene between Jesus and the Lawyer challenged the early church, as it challenges the church today to get on with letting go of the old and proclaiming the Goodnews. . . . which brings me to part two.
The majority of Biblical Scholars believe that this parable (excluding the exhange between Jesus and the lawyer, which is more likely Luke's invention and which we refer to as the Parable of the Good Samaritan) is proably one hundred percent (100%) authentic to Jesus. Basically it is about a poor soul who is likely an outcast (trader) who falls among thieves and is about murdered. He is left naked and dying. The religion of the time is passing him by. It walks around him, and ignores him. But another outcast comes by coming down from Jerusalem that most holy city and stops to get down on the ground and into the ditch to anoint the body and to lift it up on the ass. The Samaritan outcast then takes the victim to the inn and gracious gives the innkeeper a great sum of money, to provide for the victim and then offers any amount a great abundance of assistance for his ultimate cure.
Now I know we like to think that the Good Samaritan is like Jesus who comes to heal the sinners, and to fix them up. And we are all called to be Good Samaritans and do good deeds and help the poor and the needy, in response to "Go and do likewise." Robert Capon, in his book The Parables of Grace says that that interpretation is absurd. I'm inclined to agree. When was the last time any of us brought in a stranger and fixed them up? Some people do, but we think they're foolish, if not crazy. We are afraid of the strangers and good common sense tells us to be cautious. Helping panhandlers on the side of the road can be condoning and contributing to scams and con-artists. To be caring and sensible . . . . and safe . . . . we look for established organizations to give to: the church' social ministries, Salvation Army, shelters, food pantries. More often than not these donations are meagre. But we feel, think, and moralize "every little bit helps." We trick ourselves into thinking we're hotshots too, when in our hearts we know we are not. We are modest givers because of our own uncertainties, anxieties, and insecurities. Like children on the playground, we're afraid that if we give up our toys we'll be losers. We can't stand to think of ourselves as losers, or as the lost and least. Yet look at the human condition. A large number of us drink too much, smoke too much. A high percentage of us abuse drugs. More than half of us are divorced. We grab whatever and we can get and try desperately to cling to it. We're not the hobo on the city street corner. We have a great deal and then whine and feel desperation and unhappiness. Some have lost family, friends, children. We fear for our own health and well-being. Some of us who are the most well off are the biggest whiners and the most unhappy of people, who also make terrible messes out of their lives. We participate in scandals and live in the midst of violence and cruelty, and impose it ourselves on one another in passive aggressive ways. Who is in the ditch and victimized along side the road? None other than ourselves.
But what's more is that Christ Jesus came to live with us. He was the one who got beaten, bludgeoned, whipped, mocked, and murdered. The victim in the parable is Christ Jesus having come to his own, and they received him not. He revealed what we don't like to see or accept, that we are the ones in the mess, and we're often killing one another and committing spiritual suicide. Our only hope lies in the Good Samaritan, who is often the very one we reject and see as the stranger and foreigner in our lives. The Good Samaritan is not us. The Good Samaritan is God. He's the one who is the strange foreigner. Our purity and religion is not what saves us, or even our good works. It is God alone who is our saving hope. It is God who puts up the abundance of love to heal the suffering and the brokeness of the world. God alone will persist in his abundant love until we are healed and well. Our saving hope does not come from our doing good deeds. It comes from the free and abundant grace of God. God is my neighbor. God is the one who shows abundant mercy.
It is usually good common sense for us to do good things for one another. That is the given in a civilized society, if that's what we are. We often have to be very careful as to what we think the Good is. I've done some things I thought were good, only to find the opposite to be true. I learned well in the Boy Scouts of America that a profusely bleeding person needs a tourniquet to help stop the bleeding, only to find that is no longer the good thing to do. Think of the mate at the wheel aboard the Titanic who with the best intentions but who wrongly called at that fateful moment called out: Hard to the port." causing the ship to ripped apart along starboard side. Though we may think of ourselves as the unsinkable ones, we are often our own worst enemies. We are humans with good intentions that are sometimes very wrong. Our ultimate hope resides in the Creator. It is God who is Good. And we feebly do what we can. But we walk through the valley in the shadow of death. We are the robbers, the bandits, the victims of our alienation and separation from God. Yet it is God, the One so foreign to us, like a Samaritan, who sets the table which makes our cups run over. Surely it is God's goodness and mercy that shall follow us all the days of our lives, and the faithful shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
SEASON: 6 Pentecost
PROPER: 10 C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: July 12,1998
TEXT: Luke 10:25-37 - Parable of the Good Samaritan, or Parable of the Caring God - "Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy."
ISSUE: This is another of the frequently misunderstood parables of the Jesus. The situation between the lawyer and Jesus is a testing and an attempt to humiliate Jesus, which backfires. The lawyer is left to publicly admit that the hated outcast, low class, thief-like Samaritan in the parable is the good neighbor in this parable. A second important aspect of the parable is not that we must do good works, i.e. be good caring neighbors, but that God is the Good Neighbor who enters into the suffering of his people. The suffering victim is like Jesus, like humanity, in need of God's redeeming grace.
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The so called Parable of the Good Samaritan is indeed one of Jesus' finest parables. However it is also one of the most misunderstood and probably the one most poorly interpreted of all of Jesus parables. May God forgive me for all the times I so badly misled people when I have preached on this parable. The majority of us, myself included, learned and continued to perpetuate the belief that this parable is about being nice to one another. We should be good neighbors and love one another. Occasionally we should give a little money to the poor and hurting. After all aren't we supposed to go and do likewise, as did the Good Samaritan in the parable? Our Sunday School interpretation and learning of this parable ususally led us to believe that we should do good works or good deeds. Our general interpretation of the parable is that we should be like the Good Samaritan and help out the poor guys in the ditch. If Jesus on his way to Jerusalem went around teaching that people should be nice to one another, and give to the poor, and be neighborly, Why, in God's name, would he have been crucified when he got to Jerusalem?
I want to do two things. First, let's consider what it going on, so far as St. Luke is concerned, between the lawyer in the story and Jesus. Then, secondly, we'll deal with the parable itself.
According to Luke, a lawyer (scribe-pharisee) comes forward to test Jesus as he is making his way to Jerusalem. There are probably a number of poor people standing around when this public incident takes place. It was the poor who were mostly attracted to what Jesus had to say. Actually the lawyer is trying to challenge the honor and status that this lowly carpenter has attained, who is now an itinerant preacher. Who does he think he is? So the lawyer asks him a question which is really a challenge. He asks Jesus a question that he already knows the answer to: "What do I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus ups the ante by responding with the question, thereby challenging the lawyer, "What do the scriptures say?" And the lawyer replies with the Shema: Love the Lord you God . . . and adds, love your neighbor as yourself." Neighbor, of course meant you own kin and race. Very good says Jesus, you knew the answer all along. You were just kidding, i.e. lying, when you asked me the original question, and thereby Jesus maintains his status and turns the lawyer into a liar. In order to get out of this situation, and to try to justify himself, the lawyer then asks, "And who is my neighbor?" Then Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan:
A man is going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, which is a down hill journey, and falls among thieves. Since the man was probably a trader, he was himself considered to be a thief, and at least a no account. In any event he is beaten, stipped naked, and left for dead. A priest and a Levite, also a religious man, come by and see the dead man along the side of the road. If the priest stops and touches the possibly dead man, he will be unclean and impure and will have to return to Jerusalem for a long ritual act of cleansing. Priests didn't touch naked dead bodies (Ezek. 44:25) or strangers, who might not be of the same race. So he passes by as does the Levite. But then a Samaritan happens by and does stop. Samaritans were by Jewish standards sub-human and impure. He was probably a trader too, and considered to be an impure thief. But he stops and anoints the victim, actually touching him. The he puts him on his ass, takes him down to the bottom of the hill to Jericho, gives and inkeeper a large sum of money to care for him, and says if he needs more money that when he returns he'll foot the entire bill whatever it is.
Well Jesus says to his hot shot lawyer, which of these do you think was the neighbor. The answer is obvious: the one who showed him mercy. What else can the lawyer say? He has to admit that his hated and detested enemies can also be good neighbors. Jesus has humiliated his contender, and maintained his own honor. The poor people standing around would have been cheering, possibly rolling on the ground in laughter, to see the lawyer humiliated. The event and the parable for Luke reveals the hypocricies that people live with, and Jesus exposes them. Why is Jesus crucified? Not because he is nice, but because he challenges the hypocrisy of his time and because he humiliated and publicly dishonored one of the leaders or at the very least maintained his own position of honor. The mighty are brought low.
So far as Luke is concerned, he wants the early church to know that it must set aside its prejudices, hatreds, ancient feuds and see the poor, the Samaritans, the Gentiles, and the Jews, the traders, the outcasts, the lepers, the lame, the blind, the deaf, as an essential part of the new faith whose purpose is to proclaim the Goodnews of God. This event is a most significant and profound challenge to the culture, of that time, and to our own. Human prejudices and hatreds are often deeply rooted in our backgrounds and psyches. It is very hard to give them up and let them go. That's why Hitler got away with murdering Jews, and why white Americans murdered and humiliated Indians and maintain their prejudices against the niggers. We still today like to maintain the status-quo and keep out Juvenile Detention Centers, Homes for Recovering Alcoholics and Drug Addicts, low income housing out of our neighborhoods, and even in very subtle ways we try to keep new people out of our churches, or at least keep them in their place of second class members who are acceptable so long as they don't want to change anything. Luke's scene between Jesus and the Lawyer challenged the early church, as it challenges the church today to get on with letting go of the old and proclaiming the Goodnews. . . . which brings me to part two.
The majority of Biblical Scholars believe that this parable (excluding the exhange between Jesus and the lawyer, which is more likely Luke's invention and which we refer to as the Parable of the Good Samaritan) is proably one hundred percent (100%) authentic to Jesus. Basically it is about a poor soul who is likely an outcast (trader) who falls among thieves and is about murdered. He is left naked and dying. The religion of the time is passing him by. It walks around him, and ignores him. But another outcast comes by coming down from Jerusalem that most holy city and stops to get down on the ground and into the ditch to anoint the body and to lift it up on the ass. The Samaritan outcast then takes the victim to the inn and gracious gives the innkeeper a great sum of money, to provide for the victim and then offers any amount a great abundance of assistance for his ultimate cure.
Now I know we like to think that the Good Samaritan is like Jesus who comes to heal the sinners, and to fix them up. And we are all called to be Good Samaritans and do good deeds and help the poor and the needy, in response to "Go and do likewise." Robert Capon, in his book The Parables of Grace says that that interpretation is absurd. I'm inclined to agree. When was the last time any of us brought in a stranger and fixed them up? Some people do, but we think they're foolish, if not crazy. We are afraid of the strangers and good common sense tells us to be cautious. Helping panhandlers on the side of the road can be condoning and contributing to scams and con-artists. To be caring and sensible . . . . and safe . . . . we look for established organizations to give to: the church' social ministries, Salvation Army, shelters, food pantries. More often than not these donations are meagre. But we feel, think, and moralize "every little bit helps." We trick ourselves into thinking we're hotshots too, when in our hearts we know we are not. We are modest givers because of our own uncertainties, anxieties, and insecurities. Like children on the playground, we're afraid that if we give up our toys we'll be losers. We can't stand to think of ourselves as losers, or as the lost and least. Yet look at the human condition. A large number of us drink too much, smoke too much. A high percentage of us abuse drugs. More than half of us are divorced. We grab whatever and we can get and try desperately to cling to it. We're not the hobo on the city street corner. We have a great deal and then whine and feel desperation and unhappiness. Some have lost family, friends, children. We fear for our own health and well-being. Some of us who are the most well off are the biggest whiners and the most unhappy of people, who also make terrible messes out of their lives. We participate in scandals and live in the midst of violence and cruelty, and impose it ourselves on one another in passive aggressive ways. Who is in the ditch and victimized along side the road? None other than ourselves.
But what's more is that Christ Jesus came to live with us. He was the one who got beaten, bludgeoned, whipped, mocked, and murdered. The victim in the parable is Christ Jesus having come to his own, and they received him not. He revealed what we don't like to see or accept, that we are the ones in the mess, and we're often killing one another and committing spiritual suicide. Our only hope lies in the Good Samaritan, who is often the very one we reject and see as the stranger and foreigner in our lives. The Good Samaritan is not us. The Good Samaritan is God. He's the one who is the strange foreigner. Our purity and religion is not what saves us, or even our good works. It is God alone who is our saving hope. It is God who puts up the abundance of love to heal the suffering and the brokeness of the world. God alone will persist in his abundant love until we are healed and well. Our saving hope does not come from our doing good deeds. It comes from the free and abundant grace of God. God is my neighbor. God is the one who shows abundant mercy.
It is usually good common sense for us to do good things for one another. That is the given in a civilized society, if that's what we are. We often have to be very careful as to what we think the Good is. I've done some things I thought were good, only to find the opposite to be true. I learned well in the Boy Scouts of America that a profusely bleeding person needs a tourniquet to help stop the bleeding, only to find that is no longer the good thing to do. Think of the mate at the wheel aboard the Titanic who with the best intentions but who wrongly called at that fateful moment called out: Hard to the port." causing the ship to ripped apart along starboard side. Though we may think of ourselves as the unsinkable ones, we are often our own worst enemies. We are humans with good intentions that are sometimes very wrong. Our ultimate hope resides in the Creator. It is God who is Good. And we feebly do what we can. But we walk through the valley in the shadow of death. We are the robbers, the bandits, the victims of our alienation and separation from God. Yet it is God, the One so foreign to us, like a Samaritan, who sets the table which makes our cups run over. Surely it is God's goodness and mercy that shall follow us all the days of our lives, and the faithful shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Sunday, July 5, 1998
Pentecost 5
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 5
PROPER: 9C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: July 5,1998
TEXT: Luke 10:1-12-16-20 - "The Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. . . . . . . and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'"
ISSUE: Luke presents an urgent and very intentional mission for the early church. It is recognized that they are like sheep in the midst of wolves. The scene is similar and closely related to the Moses and the Jews wandering in the wilderness, a people in exile, but who are close to the Promised Land. The church today is in a similar situation, even in the U.S. of A. We are called to an intense mission in an otherwise very secular and a culture seemingly distanced from God.
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As much as we might like to escape it, we cannot. The Scriptures constantly call the church, the people of God, to an urgent, focused, and intentional mission. To avoid that calling is to stand outside of the Christian movement. The passage from Luke is certainly another clear example of the early chruch's call to intention and urgent mission.
Let me give some background. Earlier in Luke 9, Jesus sends his twelve disciples out on missionary journey to heal the sick and preach the Goodnews. In this later Luke 10, Jesus sends out, not merely the 12 disciples, but a crowd of some seventy, (some manuscripts say 72, but the meaning is the same.) The number of seventy (70-72) has obvious symbolic meaning to the people first hearing this passage, which also gives deeper understanding of the passage. Here are some considerations of the meaning of 70 sent missionaries:
1. Seventy was a standard number for groups: There were 70 descendants of Jacob, and 70 descendants of King Ahab.
2. Seventy was the number of men selected by Moses, when the Israelites were wonder in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. They were selected leaders assigned by Moses, at God's command to be leaders and to assist Moses with settling divisions and disputes among a complaining and rebellious people. (Numbers 11:16-30)
3. There were seventy members of the Jewish Sanhedrin, that is, the council members at the Temple in Jerusalem, which was derived from the 70 selected elders of Moses' time.
3. There were supposedly 70 translators who translated the O.T. into Greek, and called it the Septuagint, LXX.
4. It was believed that there were some 70 Gentile Nations at the time, and thus, the sending of the 70 missionaries into various towns and villages was symbolic of the new church's mission to the Gentile world.
The overall sending of 70 missionaries was to indicative of Jesus sending Ambassadors to the Lord to the nations of the world. Ambassadors, in this period, had all the authority of a king or leaders. Thus, the seventy who are sent to the villages are to hve all of the authority of Jesus himself, bringing healing, the demise of the power of evil spirits, and the Goodnews and assurance that the Kingdom of God is near. Notewell, that the message is not if you are good someday you will go to heaven. The message is that the Kingdom of God is at hand. It comes as a gift to those of faith and trust. God's Kingdom is in the midst of his people and they are not abandoned.
Another important aspect of the passage is that the disciples, or missionaries, are themselves being sent as sheep among wolves. What's more they have the authority to tread upon snakes and scorpions, and have power over the enemy, Again as ambassadors they are empowered. But, there is also here a reference to what it was like as the Israelites wondered in the desert in Moses' time. It was a dangerous time. What's more travel in Jesus' time was extraordinarily dangerous. Travelers were always at the mercy of bandits. There was no sugar-coating of the work they were assigned. Going without purse and excess baggage made them less vulnerable. they were not to waste time on the roads, but their mission was to be focused and intentional. They were to settle in one community and receive what they needed from that community. They were not to move around, and were not to quibble over dietary rules and regulations.
They were to accept hospitality, whatever it was. If they were not received or afforded hospitality, they were to go to the village square and brush the dust off of their feet, which was major insult to that community for lack of hospitality. In this period, hospitality was an expectation among Jews. Not to provide hospitality to travelers and to provide sustenance and sanctuary from the elements and bandits was about inhuman in this culture. It was just expected. However the missionaries in hostile territories might encounter this kind of hostility. Then, they were to move on, shake the dust off, and find more fertile ground. The act of shaking the dust off one's feet came from the fact that when Jews traveled into foreign territory, which was considered unclean, or impure, when returning home and crossing the border into Jewish territory, they would shake the dust of foreign soil from their feet.
Notice too, that the seventy disciples of Jesus are never sent out alone. They are sent in pairs, two by two, for protective messages and also for a sense of comraderie, that they were not along, and maintained a sense of community. It is interesting, if not startling to our individualistic society, that rarely are the disciples ever alone. Disciples and Apostles are often mention in pairs: James and John, Peter and Andrew, Philip and Bartholomew. Even St. Paul travels in his journeys with Peter, Timothy, Bartholomew, Mark. In discipleship, mission, there is always community in the early church.
The net result of the crowd of 70 going to the towns and villages is that they return to Jesus astonished at their accomplishments. (There are other times when the results of the 12 disciples are not as successful. (Matt.17:14-21) Here Jesus concern is not with their success, but that they have been faithful in what they were sent to do. It is not that the evil spirits have been exorcised, but that their names are written in God's book. To name something is to claim it in the Scriptures. It is only important that the disciples be claimed as God's own, the successes and failures are not the issue, merely their faithful response to God's call.
This passage is an important one for the people of the church today and for the world and country we live in today. We are no longer the Christian nation we once thought we were, or claimed to be. "In God we trust." may be a noble motto, but it is hardly claimed by an overwhelming majority. Mostly we trust in keeping the stores open, even on holidays and Holy Days, for the economy is by in large in what many people trust. There is a great need for god's people to infiltrate the world community with the Spirit of God, to let them know and/or feel that the Kingdom of God has come near. We, as Christians, are exiles in a secular and violent world. We are sheep in the midst of wolves. Yet in our embracing and trust of Jesus as Lord, we embrace the love, the forgiveness, the peace, and the healing power of God. We are the healing ambassadors. Sometimes we are received and welcomed in the various circles that we travel, and we can impart that divine Spirit of Love and show our sacrifical concern for those who are alone, or troubled, or hurting. It is important that we remain fixed and faithful in our calling where we are planted. In what may appear useless or hopeless situations, you move on to other territory. But do keep in mind and don't - please don't - under estimate your potential to be God's people in the world, among the sick and dying, the lonely in nursing homes. To be in union, prayerfully, and knowledgeable of scripture, and in a partnership with Jeus Christ is to impart a profound presence in the places you frequent. Don't under estimate that potential and the possibility of bringing quiet healing and hope. We can participate in the healing of prejudices and hatreds. We can participate in caring for the lost and lonely, in being people who seek to understand and to offer compassion.
As God's people, as people of faith and trust, we do bring tremendous hope to the world. In Deuteronmy 8:15, it is told that the Israel wandered in harsh and hostile wilderness. It was a wilderness of scorpions and snakes, dry and parched. Yet the faith made it though by the grace and help of God to reach the Promised Land, a land they believed to be the Kingdom of God. Is it not true that our faith and trust in God carries us though the problems and difficulties of our lives into the peace of being a part of God's Kingdom. We have that assurance and belief to offer our world. We dare to venture into hostile territories of the inner cities, into lands of scorpions and poisonous snakes, into places of homelessness, hunger, and spiritual thirst prevail, because God calls us to do so. We trust God.
One of the more difficult issues for the church today, and its missionary endeavors is its ability to be and work in community. That is so hard for individualistic Americans. We like to do our own thing in our own time. In our denominational divisions we are in competitions with one another, as opposed to co-operation. In congregations people will volunteer to do things, but in thier own way on their own terms. It's hard to get people to work in groups. We make fun of committees: "A camel is and ugly animal because it was created by a committee," some people jest.
Let me share with you that some years ago, Bishop Eastman encouraged all of the clergy of the Diocese to meet together in groups as support for their respective ministries, as clergy work alone in their parishes. I can only tell you that being in a regularly meeting (weekly) group has made a significant difference in my ministry in terms of support, energy and vitality of ministry, in preaching. To be in community takes away the loneliness and the uncertainties, and strengthens people for trying and difficult situations. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two, not to mention that his own ministry was surrounded by a community of disciples. Even The Son of God worked within a fellowship.
The issue for us as the missionaries, disciples, people of God, the church, is not that we put together some wonderful mission that is bent on success. What is important is that we are faithful to God's call to us to be always mindful of our being his own, that he claims us and writes our names in his book as people of trust and faithfulness. Remember the Parable of the Sower who sowed much seed. An awful lot fell in the thorns and thistles. Some burned up or got eaten by birds. Some fell on good ground and there was inspite of all that was lost one bountiful harvest. Jesus sent seventy out, two by two, lambs in the midst of wolves, among snakes and scorpions, and they returned astonished that through faithful servanthood they saw the powers of evil crumble.
SEASON: Pentecost 5
PROPER: 9C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: July 5,1998
TEXT: Luke 10:1-12-16-20 - "The Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. . . . . . . and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'"
ISSUE: Luke presents an urgent and very intentional mission for the early church. It is recognized that they are like sheep in the midst of wolves. The scene is similar and closely related to the Moses and the Jews wandering in the wilderness, a people in exile, but who are close to the Promised Land. The church today is in a similar situation, even in the U.S. of A. We are called to an intense mission in an otherwise very secular and a culture seemingly distanced from God.
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As much as we might like to escape it, we cannot. The Scriptures constantly call the church, the people of God, to an urgent, focused, and intentional mission. To avoid that calling is to stand outside of the Christian movement. The passage from Luke is certainly another clear example of the early chruch's call to intention and urgent mission.
Let me give some background. Earlier in Luke 9, Jesus sends his twelve disciples out on missionary journey to heal the sick and preach the Goodnews. In this later Luke 10, Jesus sends out, not merely the 12 disciples, but a crowd of some seventy, (some manuscripts say 72, but the meaning is the same.) The number of seventy (70-72) has obvious symbolic meaning to the people first hearing this passage, which also gives deeper understanding of the passage. Here are some considerations of the meaning of 70 sent missionaries:
1. Seventy was a standard number for groups: There were 70 descendants of Jacob, and 70 descendants of King Ahab.
2. Seventy was the number of men selected by Moses, when the Israelites were wonder in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. They were selected leaders assigned by Moses, at God's command to be leaders and to assist Moses with settling divisions and disputes among a complaining and rebellious people. (Numbers 11:16-30)
3. There were seventy members of the Jewish Sanhedrin, that is, the council members at the Temple in Jerusalem, which was derived from the 70 selected elders of Moses' time.
3. There were supposedly 70 translators who translated the O.T. into Greek, and called it the Septuagint, LXX.
4. It was believed that there were some 70 Gentile Nations at the time, and thus, the sending of the 70 missionaries into various towns and villages was symbolic of the new church's mission to the Gentile world.
The overall sending of 70 missionaries was to indicative of Jesus sending Ambassadors to the Lord to the nations of the world. Ambassadors, in this period, had all the authority of a king or leaders. Thus, the seventy who are sent to the villages are to hve all of the authority of Jesus himself, bringing healing, the demise of the power of evil spirits, and the Goodnews and assurance that the Kingdom of God is near. Notewell, that the message is not if you are good someday you will go to heaven. The message is that the Kingdom of God is at hand. It comes as a gift to those of faith and trust. God's Kingdom is in the midst of his people and they are not abandoned.
Another important aspect of the passage is that the disciples, or missionaries, are themselves being sent as sheep among wolves. What's more they have the authority to tread upon snakes and scorpions, and have power over the enemy, Again as ambassadors they are empowered. But, there is also here a reference to what it was like as the Israelites wondered in the desert in Moses' time. It was a dangerous time. What's more travel in Jesus' time was extraordinarily dangerous. Travelers were always at the mercy of bandits. There was no sugar-coating of the work they were assigned. Going without purse and excess baggage made them less vulnerable. they were not to waste time on the roads, but their mission was to be focused and intentional. They were to settle in one community and receive what they needed from that community. They were not to move around, and were not to quibble over dietary rules and regulations.
They were to accept hospitality, whatever it was. If they were not received or afforded hospitality, they were to go to the village square and brush the dust off of their feet, which was major insult to that community for lack of hospitality. In this period, hospitality was an expectation among Jews. Not to provide hospitality to travelers and to provide sustenance and sanctuary from the elements and bandits was about inhuman in this culture. It was just expected. However the missionaries in hostile territories might encounter this kind of hostility. Then, they were to move on, shake the dust off, and find more fertile ground. The act of shaking the dust off one's feet came from the fact that when Jews traveled into foreign territory, which was considered unclean, or impure, when returning home and crossing the border into Jewish territory, they would shake the dust of foreign soil from their feet.
Notice too, that the seventy disciples of Jesus are never sent out alone. They are sent in pairs, two by two, for protective messages and also for a sense of comraderie, that they were not along, and maintained a sense of community. It is interesting, if not startling to our individualistic society, that rarely are the disciples ever alone. Disciples and Apostles are often mention in pairs: James and John, Peter and Andrew, Philip and Bartholomew. Even St. Paul travels in his journeys with Peter, Timothy, Bartholomew, Mark. In discipleship, mission, there is always community in the early church.
The net result of the crowd of 70 going to the towns and villages is that they return to Jesus astonished at their accomplishments. (There are other times when the results of the 12 disciples are not as successful. (Matt.17:14-21) Here Jesus concern is not with their success, but that they have been faithful in what they were sent to do. It is not that the evil spirits have been exorcised, but that their names are written in God's book. To name something is to claim it in the Scriptures. It is only important that the disciples be claimed as God's own, the successes and failures are not the issue, merely their faithful response to God's call.
This passage is an important one for the people of the church today and for the world and country we live in today. We are no longer the Christian nation we once thought we were, or claimed to be. "In God we trust." may be a noble motto, but it is hardly claimed by an overwhelming majority. Mostly we trust in keeping the stores open, even on holidays and Holy Days, for the economy is by in large in what many people trust. There is a great need for god's people to infiltrate the world community with the Spirit of God, to let them know and/or feel that the Kingdom of God has come near. We, as Christians, are exiles in a secular and violent world. We are sheep in the midst of wolves. Yet in our embracing and trust of Jesus as Lord, we embrace the love, the forgiveness, the peace, and the healing power of God. We are the healing ambassadors. Sometimes we are received and welcomed in the various circles that we travel, and we can impart that divine Spirit of Love and show our sacrifical concern for those who are alone, or troubled, or hurting. It is important that we remain fixed and faithful in our calling where we are planted. In what may appear useless or hopeless situations, you move on to other territory. But do keep in mind and don't - please don't - under estimate your potential to be God's people in the world, among the sick and dying, the lonely in nursing homes. To be in union, prayerfully, and knowledgeable of scripture, and in a partnership with Jeus Christ is to impart a profound presence in the places you frequent. Don't under estimate that potential and the possibility of bringing quiet healing and hope. We can participate in the healing of prejudices and hatreds. We can participate in caring for the lost and lonely, in being people who seek to understand and to offer compassion.
As God's people, as people of faith and trust, we do bring tremendous hope to the world. In Deuteronmy 8:15, it is told that the Israel wandered in harsh and hostile wilderness. It was a wilderness of scorpions and snakes, dry and parched. Yet the faith made it though by the grace and help of God to reach the Promised Land, a land they believed to be the Kingdom of God. Is it not true that our faith and trust in God carries us though the problems and difficulties of our lives into the peace of being a part of God's Kingdom. We have that assurance and belief to offer our world. We dare to venture into hostile territories of the inner cities, into lands of scorpions and poisonous snakes, into places of homelessness, hunger, and spiritual thirst prevail, because God calls us to do so. We trust God.
One of the more difficult issues for the church today, and its missionary endeavors is its ability to be and work in community. That is so hard for individualistic Americans. We like to do our own thing in our own time. In our denominational divisions we are in competitions with one another, as opposed to co-operation. In congregations people will volunteer to do things, but in thier own way on their own terms. It's hard to get people to work in groups. We make fun of committees: "A camel is and ugly animal because it was created by a committee," some people jest.
Let me share with you that some years ago, Bishop Eastman encouraged all of the clergy of the Diocese to meet together in groups as support for their respective ministries, as clergy work alone in their parishes. I can only tell you that being in a regularly meeting (weekly) group has made a significant difference in my ministry in terms of support, energy and vitality of ministry, in preaching. To be in community takes away the loneliness and the uncertainties, and strengthens people for trying and difficult situations. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two, not to mention that his own ministry was surrounded by a community of disciples. Even The Son of God worked within a fellowship.
The issue for us as the missionaries, disciples, people of God, the church, is not that we put together some wonderful mission that is bent on success. What is important is that we are faithful to God's call to us to be always mindful of our being his own, that he claims us and writes our names in his book as people of trust and faithfulness. Remember the Parable of the Sower who sowed much seed. An awful lot fell in the thorns and thistles. Some burned up or got eaten by birds. Some fell on good ground and there was inspite of all that was lost one bountiful harvest. Jesus sent seventy out, two by two, lambs in the midst of wolves, among snakes and scorpions, and they returned astonished that through faithful servanthood they saw the powers of evil crumble.
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