May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Last Epiphany
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: February 25, 2001
TEXT: Luke 9:28-36 – The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ
ISSUE: The Transfiguration experience is deeply rooted in Judaism. It’s Christian significance culminates in the fact that to be close to Jesus Christ is to experience the new Temple of God, it is to be in the very presence of God. To be in this tradition is to be in the midst of an experience, where like Moses, Elijah, and Jesus there is the victory over death in listening to, having an intimate relationship, and walking with the Son of God. We see in him the Glory of God. We see hope and resurrection. We see in him enlightenment and encouragement for our lives. Though with him we may well experience the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil, as we embrace the resurrection.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The church’s Epiphany Season comes to an end each year with the reading of the Transfiguration Experience of Jesus Christ. It is indeed a mystical experience. In the context of prayer, Jesus takes his disciples up on a mountain to pray. While they are there, Jesus seen by the disciples in conversation with the long gone Moses and Elijah are in discussion about Jesus’ departure, better translated, Jesus’ Exodus. Jesus is transfigured, his garments and stature become dazzling white. In some state between being asleep and awake, Peter suggests building booths or dwellings for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Peter, James, and John astounded and terrorized by a cloud encompassing them all, and hear the very voice of God saying words that Jesus had heard at his baptism, a story read at the beginning of the Epiphany Season, “This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him.”
Americans, and American culture is not comfortable with such mystical experiences or what might be called alternative conscious awareness experiences. We are more scientifically inclined and like to be in control of our experiences. Mystical experiences are beyond control. Biblical scholar, John Pilch, reminds us that 90% of the cultures in the world are in fact comfortable with alternate states of consciousness. Americans are among the 10% who are uncomfortable. It might be good for us to be reminded that certain paintings, works of art, dreams, a sudden insight may well be meaningful to us beyond our full understanding. There is a spiritual dimension to human life, or at least other dimensions to human existence for which we are not always aware. We might want to think about that possibility, especially as we begin the Lenten Season.
Luke sets this passage in the context of prayer. Jesus and a select inner group of disciples go up the mountain to pray. On the mountain Jesus appears to be transfigured becoming dazzling white, and in conversation with Moses and Elijah. For the people first hearing this story, these images had significant meaning. Both Moses and Elijah had been men who had mystical experiences on mountains, being close and in conversation with God. From the Exodus lesson this morning, we are also reminded that Moses himself, having been the proximity of God, has a face that is radiant. Moses’ face shown because he had talked with God. The Transfiguration experience is one of enlightenment for the disciples. Jesus shines forth in a most honorable position. This enlightenment was important to the development of the early Christian tradition, and the respected stature of Jesus.
Another important element of the story is manifest in the mystical cloud that surrounds Jesus and his disciples. When Moses led the people of Israel in the wilderness, they were led by a pillar of fire by night, and a cloud during the day. The Israelites had erected a tent in which the Law of God was kept, the Ark of the Covenant, and was believed that this was the place and presence of God. The cloud and fire symbolized the divine presence of God with his people. There was a Jewish Feast of Tabernacles that celebrated the days of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness. Jewish people would build booths on their property to celebrate how God had cared for them. Peter suggests that he should build dwellings, booths, for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus commemorating this mystical event in on the wilderness mountain. The story implies that just as Moses and his disciples were caught up in the cloud of the presence of God, the disciples of Jesus are given an equal honor. The disciples are likewise honored.
When Moses came to the end of his ministry of leading the Israelites toward the Promised Land, he had told the people that God would provide a new prophet and leader for them to follow. They were to obey, or listen to the new leader who would be like Moses in terms of his leadership. (Deut. 18:15f) Out of the cloud in the Transfiguration experience the voice of God which says, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen (obey) him!” Clearly, Jesus is perceived as the new hope for God’s people, who will lead them into The Kingdom, or Realm, the Domain, or Commonwealth of God. The mountain top experiences in the Scriptures are usually moments of transition. Moses is called by God from the Burning Bush on a mountain, and gets the Commandments on the mountain. Elijah convinces Ahab of the power of God on Mt. Carmel. Jesus trains his disciples on the mountain. At the transfiguration mountain top experience, Jesus begins the part of his ministry which turns him toward Jerusalem, his trial, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
While in our study of the Transfiguration with Jesus on the Mountain top with Elijah and Moses, it has often been thought that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. I’m not convinced that Jesus fulfills something that already has great importance. But Jesus’ ministry simply adds, breaks open, heightens, lifts up the importance of human dignity that is to be immersed in love and forgiveness. He accentuates the law of God with the law of mercy, compassion, love, and forgiveness. He accentuates the prophetic importance of embracing the justice of God. The great prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures were largely concerned with justice of the poor and oppressed of the nation. Jesus’ ministry is so prophetic in his concerns for the poor and the oppressed and extends that beyond the nation of Israel to the whole world.
While in the Transfiguration experience, Jesus is clearly associated with the great men and leaders of Israel’s history, there is still another dimension to the story that is often missed. Both Moses and Elijah came an unusual end. Moses went up on Mt. Nebo where God showed him all the Promised Land. Deut. 33) Moses supposedly died, but his grave was never identified. There is an assumption that he was taken up immediately to be with God. Elijah’s dramatic end is told in the story of the Fiery Chariot that sweeps Elijah away. (2Kings 2:11) These outstanding men were glorified by God, and lifted up to God’s presence. Now Jesus in the presence of God, a truly great prophet, honored and glorified with the name, Son of God, chosen will lead his people though the valley of the shadow of death, and beyond to a joyful resurrection with God the Father.
Recent scholarship brings still another dimension to this story. There is a theory that the Christian Scriptures related to Jesus were written to correspond with the Jewish Lectionary. Just as we have appointed readings for certain seasons and feasts, the Jews also had a lectionary they used in their synagogues. It is thought that Transfiguration Story of Jesus was associated with the Jewish Holiday we know as Hanukkah. Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Jewish Temple after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanies in 165 B.C. E. It became known also as the Feast of Lights. The lights in the temple were lit once again, and the Temple was seen as the place where Heaven and earth meet. Be mindful also that the Temple was a great work of art and was know to radiate great light when its gold doors reflected the sunlight. By the time Luke was writing, the Temple had been destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. Its radiance and glory was completely diminished. It is thought that the story of the Transfiguration was to show that God’s presence where Heaven and earth meet was with Jesus Christ. The early church declares that Jesus Christ is the new Temple of God, and to embrace Jesus as your Lord is to be in union with God. The light now comes from the dazzling Christ. He is the manifestation, the epiphany of God’s presence in the midst of his people. After the mystical experience Jesus and his disciples begin the journey to Jerusalem and his eventual crucifixion, foreshadowed resurrection, and the profound expression of sacrificial love.
The church now is about to begin its time of prolonged prayer. Christians participating in the Lenten experience search for a closer more intimate relationship with God. The Lenten Season is just about to begin. In the light of the send off that the Transfiguration gives us, we are reminded that Jesus Christ is our Light in the darkness, that he is our approach to the presence of God. Maybe it is our time to seek a meaningful mystical experience. What is God calling each of us in our lives to be and become as his servants. What is our mission and calling. In what ways shall we follow him and be in his obedient disciples. In all of our lives at various times we experience bad times, down times, experiences of loss, uncertainty, and anxiety. We experience this moments of being in the valley of the shadow of death. Yet, the light of Christ shines in the loneliness of our own spiritual wilderness. With difficult and uncertainties the hope of resurrection, of being lifted up is there before us. Our hope and love stands before us. Through Christ, the new Temple that has no boundaries, no fixed position; we are never far from the Presence. It is a presence that embraces the faithful, that raises them up, that gives their lives validity, meaning, value, and purpose. The mystical, the spiritual, the presence of God is as much an important part of our lives as any other aspect, if we are to be truly human.
Sunday, February 25, 2001
Sunday, February 18, 2001
Epiphany 7
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Epiphany 7
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: February 18,2001
TEXT: Luke 6:27-38 – But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
ISSUE: This passage is a daring call to love of enemies, and a call to courageous stand for non-violence and human dignity. It is another radical reversal teaching. The passage is often seen a passive philosophy, and as wimpish. Preacher and interpreters of the passage may be inclined to soft-pedal the passage into doing the best you can in the face of Jesus’ non-aggressive teaching. People will say that you can’t do this in the world we live in today, but without radical change, the violence, vengeance, and aggressive handling of personal and world problems persist. The passage calls for the disciples to be children of the Most High, Sons and Daughters of God, and to find ways out of vicious cycles.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The scripture readings from the Hebrew Scripture this morning, and the Christian Scripture from Luke are two very powerful and beautiful readings. It is interesting how the two build on one another. The Joseph Story is one of great forgiveness on the part of Joseph toward his brothers. Joseph had been sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. In the course of considerable good fortune and his ability to interpret dreams of the Pharaoh, Joseph had become the Prime Minister of Egypt. During the time of great famine, his brothers, unaware of Joseph’s good fortune, come to Egypt seeking food. Joseph eventually reveals his identity to his brothers who fear him, because of his power over them, and his right to take revenge, are startled and relieved by Joseph’s forgiveness. Out of that forgiveness, his family and the Hebrew Nation find food and consolation in Egypt. In a world of eye for an eye, and tooth for tooth, of taking revenge, it is a beautiful story of forgiveness and renewal, at least within family.
In the reading from Luke’s gospel, Jesus expands the whole concept of forgiveness from within family into a love and forgiveness in a much broader sense. Love your enemies. Give to everyone who begs from you. Love sinners. Become the children of the Most High, or sons and daughters of God. The concept here is broadening, but also quite radical in terms of the way in which it reverses the common way of thinking. It is radical and carries a punch with it.
The teaching of Jesus was, indeed, radical for its time. In Jesus’ culture a person’s honor was of great importance. If someone offended you or injured you, you were shamed. It was expected that you would redeem your honor and status by taking revenge, or avenging the dishonor to you. Yet, Jesus is teaching a new kind of honor, the new and divine honor of being a strong person, resisting the way of the world to become a forgiving person.
The concept of forgiveness is heightened even more when Jesus dares to say, if someone strikes you on the cheek, in response, dare to turn the other cheek as well. There is an interesting background to this matter of turning the other cheek. A master would slap a slave with the back of his hand with the knuckles. You slapped a person of equal rank with the palm of your hand. Notice the imagery here. If an oppressor, enemy, slaps you with the back of his hand, then turn the other cheek, which forces him to slap you with the palm of his hand. You therefore declare your courageous stand as an equal, and as a person of courageous non-violence. Such action is creating a new honor, a new way of being that begins to break, crack open, the old cycle of revenge and gives birth to a new form of honor. You dare to state your equality as a child of God in an oppressive world. There is nothing wimpish about that courageous stance. Remember the stance of Jesus on the cross, and the centurion who says, “Truly, this man is a Son of God. It is the silent non-whimpering, non-complaining, non-resistant Christ who is deemed with the greatest honor of being a Son of the Most High.
The teaching continues with the statement that, if a man takes away you coat give him your shirt as well. Understand what this meant in Jesus’ time. Most people only had one coat. Most had only one shirt. If someone took your coat, and you gave them your shirt as well, you had nothing left. You stood stark naked! You were humiliated and experienced a near ultimate shame. You were dishonored. A significant part of the great shame of Jesus on the cross was his being stripped naked.
Now says Jesus, give to everyone who begs from you. There were many beggars in Jesus time, and if anyone takes away your goods, never ask for them back. This statement is a prescription for ultimate poverty and starvation. Isn’t it? In this time, a man was expected to respond to the generosity of family and friends by returning favors. If you loaned money, an honorable person was supposed to pay it back. If someone invited you to dinner, you were expected to invite him back for dinner. It was an honorable system of balanced reciprocity. The only time you did not expect a return was when you extended hospitality to a traveling stranger. Thus, Jesus is saying treat everyone as strangers, giving complete and full hospitality to all, and never expect or demand anything in return. It is easy to love your own, and people who are like you. Even sinners do that! What’s new or different in that? “I tell you to Love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing in return.” You are to be sons and daughters of God, of the Most High, un-condemned and forgiven. This was and still is radical teaching.
Again notice the images: A beaten, naked, starving emaciated figure stands before the world. Sounds an awful lot like Jesus on the cross doesn’t it? A beaten, naked, starving emaciated figure before the world of violence, greed, and brutality. And, unless we die to the ways of this world there will not be a change, a resurrection, and a new hope. To die to this way of life is to begin the journey into the Kingdom of God where people are equal, free, loved, and forgiven.
To love your enemies, to turn the other cheek, (walk the extra mile, Matthew), to lend and give to everyone in need, are not laws. They are not something we take in a literal sense. But we cannot escape the fact that they are daring, radical, and demanding and we have to embrace them. Abusive spouses, child molesters, drunk drivers, drug dealers, terrorists, and murders are not to be pampered, and must be dealt with in appropriate ways in a civilized society, and also in what is a fallen society. The people of Jesus time must have been as astonished and taken back by these radical teachings as we are today. They were obviously food for thought, reflection, and challenge in a fallen world and in a culture bent on greed, success at all costs, viciousness, revenge, and hatred. They still are a challenge to the world today.
Right now, many millions of people in this land are very taken with the popular TV show, “Survivor.” It’s a kind of game show promising one million dollars to the one person who survives by successfully voting everyone else out of his or her life. What’s being conveyed here? What’s about this phenomenon has captured the American imagination that is so wonderful about this program? It stands in complete opposition to the ways and teachings of Jesus Christ. Destroy the competition, and serve your own ends at all costs. The media of our culture along with many many advertisers promotes its continuation and a vicarious participation of a nation longing to hail the winner.
Consider the situation in the Middle East where there is a constant terrorist acts. This society is one in which the honor of the country (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) is based on revenge and retaliation. Every violent act is met by another violent act in return. How can peace come without an end to the violence? To change the situation, someone has to begin to love his enemy, and take the risks of dying to self and changing what is honorable.
On the American scene we have a number of issues to deal with. Do we really need as a supposedly peace loving nation to continue building missile defense systems at the cost of billions of tax dollars when our schools and educational system is in shambles? There are enormous humanitarian needs around the world that need attention, love, care, mercy, concern. What really makes a nation great? It’s military power or its generosity toward human need and suffering. We must always live with the tensions of our need for defense and our need to be the agents of genuine peaceful change and sensitivity to world need. The gospel, we claim to embrace, is clear. It is only when we die to ourselves that we truly live.
How can a nation that claims to be peace loving, civilized nation, and opposed to violence continue to perpetuate the death penalty? It is seen as a punishment that deters violent crime. I wonder when that start working. Can we use extreme punishments of death to convey a new way of life that is intended to hold up the values of renewal and hope, and conveys a nation that is ‘under God?’
There have been some great men of courage in our time, who even gave their lives. We’ve seen through the work of such truly great men as Ghandi of India, as Martin Luther King here in the States, and Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa change the politics and racism of their respective countries. Human hearts were also greatly changed through their non-violent activities. People did die in all of their movements, but with the result that so many more people lived more full and complete lives as equal dignified human beings.
We live as Christians with the tensions of a world culture and the ways we have learned with the dramatic and radical imposition of the Gospel to be a people of genuine love, who give, care, and sacrifice, who will die to the world that we may more fully and truly live. The Gospel does not call us to be wimps, or to be fools. It does dare to challenge our falleness, and to be constant in our yearning to learn to love appropriately and be the people who serve a loving God.
SEASON: Epiphany 7
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: February 18,2001
TEXT: Luke 6:27-38 – But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
ISSUE: This passage is a daring call to love of enemies, and a call to courageous stand for non-violence and human dignity. It is another radical reversal teaching. The passage is often seen a passive philosophy, and as wimpish. Preacher and interpreters of the passage may be inclined to soft-pedal the passage into doing the best you can in the face of Jesus’ non-aggressive teaching. People will say that you can’t do this in the world we live in today, but without radical change, the violence, vengeance, and aggressive handling of personal and world problems persist. The passage calls for the disciples to be children of the Most High, Sons and Daughters of God, and to find ways out of vicious cycles.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The scripture readings from the Hebrew Scripture this morning, and the Christian Scripture from Luke are two very powerful and beautiful readings. It is interesting how the two build on one another. The Joseph Story is one of great forgiveness on the part of Joseph toward his brothers. Joseph had been sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. In the course of considerable good fortune and his ability to interpret dreams of the Pharaoh, Joseph had become the Prime Minister of Egypt. During the time of great famine, his brothers, unaware of Joseph’s good fortune, come to Egypt seeking food. Joseph eventually reveals his identity to his brothers who fear him, because of his power over them, and his right to take revenge, are startled and relieved by Joseph’s forgiveness. Out of that forgiveness, his family and the Hebrew Nation find food and consolation in Egypt. In a world of eye for an eye, and tooth for tooth, of taking revenge, it is a beautiful story of forgiveness and renewal, at least within family.
In the reading from Luke’s gospel, Jesus expands the whole concept of forgiveness from within family into a love and forgiveness in a much broader sense. Love your enemies. Give to everyone who begs from you. Love sinners. Become the children of the Most High, or sons and daughters of God. The concept here is broadening, but also quite radical in terms of the way in which it reverses the common way of thinking. It is radical and carries a punch with it.
The teaching of Jesus was, indeed, radical for its time. In Jesus’ culture a person’s honor was of great importance. If someone offended you or injured you, you were shamed. It was expected that you would redeem your honor and status by taking revenge, or avenging the dishonor to you. Yet, Jesus is teaching a new kind of honor, the new and divine honor of being a strong person, resisting the way of the world to become a forgiving person.
The concept of forgiveness is heightened even more when Jesus dares to say, if someone strikes you on the cheek, in response, dare to turn the other cheek as well. There is an interesting background to this matter of turning the other cheek. A master would slap a slave with the back of his hand with the knuckles. You slapped a person of equal rank with the palm of your hand. Notice the imagery here. If an oppressor, enemy, slaps you with the back of his hand, then turn the other cheek, which forces him to slap you with the palm of his hand. You therefore declare your courageous stand as an equal, and as a person of courageous non-violence. Such action is creating a new honor, a new way of being that begins to break, crack open, the old cycle of revenge and gives birth to a new form of honor. You dare to state your equality as a child of God in an oppressive world. There is nothing wimpish about that courageous stance. Remember the stance of Jesus on the cross, and the centurion who says, “Truly, this man is a Son of God. It is the silent non-whimpering, non-complaining, non-resistant Christ who is deemed with the greatest honor of being a Son of the Most High.
The teaching continues with the statement that, if a man takes away you coat give him your shirt as well. Understand what this meant in Jesus’ time. Most people only had one coat. Most had only one shirt. If someone took your coat, and you gave them your shirt as well, you had nothing left. You stood stark naked! You were humiliated and experienced a near ultimate shame. You were dishonored. A significant part of the great shame of Jesus on the cross was his being stripped naked.
Now says Jesus, give to everyone who begs from you. There were many beggars in Jesus time, and if anyone takes away your goods, never ask for them back. This statement is a prescription for ultimate poverty and starvation. Isn’t it? In this time, a man was expected to respond to the generosity of family and friends by returning favors. If you loaned money, an honorable person was supposed to pay it back. If someone invited you to dinner, you were expected to invite him back for dinner. It was an honorable system of balanced reciprocity. The only time you did not expect a return was when you extended hospitality to a traveling stranger. Thus, Jesus is saying treat everyone as strangers, giving complete and full hospitality to all, and never expect or demand anything in return. It is easy to love your own, and people who are like you. Even sinners do that! What’s new or different in that? “I tell you to Love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing in return.” You are to be sons and daughters of God, of the Most High, un-condemned and forgiven. This was and still is radical teaching.
Again notice the images: A beaten, naked, starving emaciated figure stands before the world. Sounds an awful lot like Jesus on the cross doesn’t it? A beaten, naked, starving emaciated figure before the world of violence, greed, and brutality. And, unless we die to the ways of this world there will not be a change, a resurrection, and a new hope. To die to this way of life is to begin the journey into the Kingdom of God where people are equal, free, loved, and forgiven.
To love your enemies, to turn the other cheek, (walk the extra mile, Matthew), to lend and give to everyone in need, are not laws. They are not something we take in a literal sense. But we cannot escape the fact that they are daring, radical, and demanding and we have to embrace them. Abusive spouses, child molesters, drunk drivers, drug dealers, terrorists, and murders are not to be pampered, and must be dealt with in appropriate ways in a civilized society, and also in what is a fallen society. The people of Jesus time must have been as astonished and taken back by these radical teachings as we are today. They were obviously food for thought, reflection, and challenge in a fallen world and in a culture bent on greed, success at all costs, viciousness, revenge, and hatred. They still are a challenge to the world today.
Right now, many millions of people in this land are very taken with the popular TV show, “Survivor.” It’s a kind of game show promising one million dollars to the one person who survives by successfully voting everyone else out of his or her life. What’s being conveyed here? What’s about this phenomenon has captured the American imagination that is so wonderful about this program? It stands in complete opposition to the ways and teachings of Jesus Christ. Destroy the competition, and serve your own ends at all costs. The media of our culture along with many many advertisers promotes its continuation and a vicarious participation of a nation longing to hail the winner.
Consider the situation in the Middle East where there is a constant terrorist acts. This society is one in which the honor of the country (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) is based on revenge and retaliation. Every violent act is met by another violent act in return. How can peace come without an end to the violence? To change the situation, someone has to begin to love his enemy, and take the risks of dying to self and changing what is honorable.
On the American scene we have a number of issues to deal with. Do we really need as a supposedly peace loving nation to continue building missile defense systems at the cost of billions of tax dollars when our schools and educational system is in shambles? There are enormous humanitarian needs around the world that need attention, love, care, mercy, concern. What really makes a nation great? It’s military power or its generosity toward human need and suffering. We must always live with the tensions of our need for defense and our need to be the agents of genuine peaceful change and sensitivity to world need. The gospel, we claim to embrace, is clear. It is only when we die to ourselves that we truly live.
How can a nation that claims to be peace loving, civilized nation, and opposed to violence continue to perpetuate the death penalty? It is seen as a punishment that deters violent crime. I wonder when that start working. Can we use extreme punishments of death to convey a new way of life that is intended to hold up the values of renewal and hope, and conveys a nation that is ‘under God?’
There have been some great men of courage in our time, who even gave their lives. We’ve seen through the work of such truly great men as Ghandi of India, as Martin Luther King here in the States, and Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa change the politics and racism of their respective countries. Human hearts were also greatly changed through their non-violent activities. People did die in all of their movements, but with the result that so many more people lived more full and complete lives as equal dignified human beings.
We live as Christians with the tensions of a world culture and the ways we have learned with the dramatic and radical imposition of the Gospel to be a people of genuine love, who give, care, and sacrifice, who will die to the world that we may more fully and truly live. The Gospel does not call us to be wimps, or to be fools. It does dare to challenge our falleness, and to be constant in our yearning to learn to love appropriately and be the people who serve a loving God.
Sunday, February 4, 2001
Epiphany 5
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Epiphany 5
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: February 4, 2001
TEXT: Luke 5:1-11 - The Calling of the Disciples
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
ISSUE: - Luke’s story of Jesus calling his disciples and giving them the mission of fishing for people is a powerful statement of the church’s call to be a mission for the world. Repeatedly in scripture very simple astonished people are called to serve God’s purpose. There is the promise that the Spirit will be with them. They need to respond in trust. In our world today, the call by virtue of our baptism to confess the faith of Christ crucified, to proclaim his resurrection, and to share in his eternal priesthood stands firm.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Here’s another one of those rather astonishing stories in the Christian Scriptures. Jesus is at the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowds pressing in on him as he teaches. He then takes to speaking from the bow of one of the relatively large fishing boats, using it as a pulpit. Jesus asks the weary fishermen who have been working all night without a catch of fish to push out into deep water and let down the nets. They do so at Jesus’ command and miraculously there is an enormous catch of fish, so large that the boat is about to sink. They have to call James and John to assist. Peter is in awe of Jesus, declaring himself a ‘sinful man.’ But Jesus reassures Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” The disciples immediately leave everything and follow Jesus as his disciples. Leaving everything, of course, meant leaving family, friends, all of your net working support. It appears as a startling astonishing quick decision on the part of the Simon and Andrew, James and John. Jesus is perceived as one who can give these men something much more than their present existence provides.
In the story, in terms of the culture, Jesus is the Patron of the disciples, who are his dependent clients. In this period people who had some surplus of goods were patrons, who by their graciousness provided favors to less fortunate people. We talked last week about St. Cecilia as Patron Saint of Musicians, who is in the stained glass at the back of the church. Musicians would pray to St. Cecilia for favors that only she in her saintliness could provide. The reformed church questioned such practices in the later history of the church, but still today there are folk who swear by St. Anthony, who helps them find lost objects. St. Christopher assists travelers, as St. Nicholas was patron saint of children. Jesus is patron of the disciples who graciously provides them with the great catch of fish. Clients of patrons would in turn stay close to their patrons, and speak well of them, and return honor to them. In still another sense Jesus is the broker who brings people and introduces them to God, who is the greatest Patron of all. But the point at issue is the fact that people were dependent for many of their needs. The disciples seem to be recognizing their essential dependence upon Jesus Christ.
In still another sense, Jesus calls his disciples from very simple ranks, not unlike how God in the Hebrew Scriptures called prophets and leaders. Moses, for instance, had become a shepherd and reportedly had a speech impediment, which he tried to use as an excuse for not going to Egypt to set God’s people free. Remember in last weeks Hebrew Lesson about the call of Jeremiah, Jeremiah resists the call by saying, but “I am only a boy.” God was not impressed by Jeremiah’s excuse anymore than he was by Moses’. In the Hebrew reading today from Judges, Gideon complains that he is too weak and has no military skills for leading his people against the Midianites. “My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” But the Lord replies, “I will be with you.” Jesus, who himself is a carpenter, selects fishermen and tax collectors to be his own. They respond seemingly with great trust and with hope.
Another aspect of this story is Jesus encouraging the disciples to go fishing. They resist, at least Peter does: ‘We’ve been fishing all night and caught nothing,’ but then he gives in to the request. They go out on the lake where the water is deepest to let down the nets. Some Biblical scholars see this action a baptismal in nature. The disciples go to the depths, let down the nets in the water, and catch the fish. There is that sense of their being immersed and then their lives are transformed into becoming new persons, with new persons, and new direction. Now they become fishers of men. It is a higher calling to which they respond with urgency, immediacy, with faithful participation.
Still another aspect of the story is seen as Eucharistic. In a sense it is another feeding story. Remember the Feeding of the 5,000. Two small fish and five barley loaves feed a multitude. It is spiritual abundant nourishment that comes to a large of crowd of people. Here again you have a story of a great harvest of fish. The disciples with Jesus bring to the people on the shore an abundance of food, a fulfillment, a nourishment, a spiritual feeding potential that is only available through Jesus Christ. Without Christ in the boat, in the darkness, the disciples caught nothing. In the light of the new day, accompanied by Jesus, there is new hope and fulfillment.
There are a number of Parables of Jesus’ that are about the Harvest of God. The Parable of the Sower tells of the farmer scattering seed. Some falls on poor soil, the path, in the thicket of thorns, yet there will be some that falls on good ground, and it will bear fruit and bring forth a bountiful harvest, you can be sure. The Parable of the Mustard Seed tells of a tiny seed, and yet it becomes bountiful and many birds nest in it. The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares tells of field ruined by the weeds, but nevertheless there will be a bountiful harvest at the end. You think there is no hope, Jesus is saying to his disciples, but immerse yourselves into me, and into this work, and there will be a harvest of fish you will not be able to drag to shore alone.
Notice too that in this story, the disciples are called upon to be active in the ministry with Jesus. I will make you fishers of men. They are not mere spectators, but are actively involved and baptized and nourished by Jesus and enter into ministry and the mission of Jesus. For many years, the church and its people lost sight of their calling as fellows with Jesus and his ministry. In the Christendom model of the church, an hierarchical structure prevailed. Leaders of the church were seen as “princes of the church.’ Bishops, priest, and deacons became paid employees of the church, and were often seen as the professional ministers of the church. Large numbers of people were baptized, and the local communities thought of mission as something beyond their boundaries. Mission became something that happened somewhere far away. Even in local churches, ministers were hired by church boards to preach good sermons, visit the sick of the parish, and the shut-ins, to lead the youth, and have competent business skills, a be ever present at all church activities. Members of the congregation were reduced to a minimal ministry of cutting the grass and providing occasional fundraisers to keep the church going. And of course many lay people saw themselves as untrained for ministry.
Be aware of the sharp contrast to what Jesus called his own disciples to do. He called them to an active and hard working ministry; Jesus was well aware that fishermen were hard workers. They participated in healing the sick, casting out demons, proclaiming the good news. Setting the captives free, and proclaiming the forgiveness of the year of the Lord God. They went with him and participated in a ministry to many poor and hurting people. With him they proclaimed the love of God and the justice of God, and invited them to participate in the Kingdom, or realm, of God. He called them to be laborers to bring in the harvest: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. God your way: behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” (Luke 10:2-3)
In our baptismal service today, we stress significantly that we are the people and the disciples of Jesus Christ. A person who is baptized is immersed in the water (at least symbolically) and is fed the spiritual nourishment of the Eucharist. They are invited by us all with Christ to be laborers in the harvest: We receive you into the household of God. Confess the faith of Christ crucified, and share with us in his royal priesthood.
We no longer live in Christendom. The mission of the church is no longer just somewhere else in far away lands, or out West. There are needs around the world, of course. But in our own communities we live in a very pluralistic society, which for me means varieties of philosophic thinking and a variety of cultures unlike our own. We live in a community where there are many people who know nothing of Jesus Christ, nothing of forgiveness, nothing of turning the other cheek or walking the extra mile. There are those for whom God and Jesus Christ is little more than curse words. Concepts of fairness, justice, honesty and not cheating are often lacking. There is a permeating spiritual depravity caused by the world’s rank materialism, and self-centeredness. There is a permeating violence in our society that seems almost to come natural for many people. We see this not only on TV, in news reports from far away places, and in the movies, but in our schools, in homes where physical, mental, and sexual abuse sometimes abounds. There is in our society as people live longer and often lose friends and acquaintances, there is probably a great deal of loneliness. Also in a world where we throw away a lot of things, there is the need for sensitivity to the fact that older people become disenfranchised and forgotten. Many children today come home to empty homes, there’s an element of loneliness in that respect as well.
The days of Christendom and its model of spectator Christians is really over. The mission today is around us. Each of us as individuals may need to be more prayerful in asking God, and as a congregation as well, to help us find our mission, and our way of being laborers in the harvest of humanity. God help us to bring the Spirit of Jesus Christ to the secular world, to the hurting and lonely. Lord, help us to be responsive to the bountiful and abundant catch of grace you have given to us.
HYMN 541
Come labor on. Who dares stand idle on the harvest plain, while all around us waves the golden grain? And to each servant does the Master say, “Go work today.”
SEASON: Epiphany 5
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: February 4, 2001
TEXT: Luke 5:1-11 - The Calling of the Disciples
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
ISSUE: - Luke’s story of Jesus calling his disciples and giving them the mission of fishing for people is a powerful statement of the church’s call to be a mission for the world. Repeatedly in scripture very simple astonished people are called to serve God’s purpose. There is the promise that the Spirit will be with them. They need to respond in trust. In our world today, the call by virtue of our baptism to confess the faith of Christ crucified, to proclaim his resurrection, and to share in his eternal priesthood stands firm.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Here’s another one of those rather astonishing stories in the Christian Scriptures. Jesus is at the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowds pressing in on him as he teaches. He then takes to speaking from the bow of one of the relatively large fishing boats, using it as a pulpit. Jesus asks the weary fishermen who have been working all night without a catch of fish to push out into deep water and let down the nets. They do so at Jesus’ command and miraculously there is an enormous catch of fish, so large that the boat is about to sink. They have to call James and John to assist. Peter is in awe of Jesus, declaring himself a ‘sinful man.’ But Jesus reassures Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” The disciples immediately leave everything and follow Jesus as his disciples. Leaving everything, of course, meant leaving family, friends, all of your net working support. It appears as a startling astonishing quick decision on the part of the Simon and Andrew, James and John. Jesus is perceived as one who can give these men something much more than their present existence provides.
In the story, in terms of the culture, Jesus is the Patron of the disciples, who are his dependent clients. In this period people who had some surplus of goods were patrons, who by their graciousness provided favors to less fortunate people. We talked last week about St. Cecilia as Patron Saint of Musicians, who is in the stained glass at the back of the church. Musicians would pray to St. Cecilia for favors that only she in her saintliness could provide. The reformed church questioned such practices in the later history of the church, but still today there are folk who swear by St. Anthony, who helps them find lost objects. St. Christopher assists travelers, as St. Nicholas was patron saint of children. Jesus is patron of the disciples who graciously provides them with the great catch of fish. Clients of patrons would in turn stay close to their patrons, and speak well of them, and return honor to them. In still another sense Jesus is the broker who brings people and introduces them to God, who is the greatest Patron of all. But the point at issue is the fact that people were dependent for many of their needs. The disciples seem to be recognizing their essential dependence upon Jesus Christ.
In still another sense, Jesus calls his disciples from very simple ranks, not unlike how God in the Hebrew Scriptures called prophets and leaders. Moses, for instance, had become a shepherd and reportedly had a speech impediment, which he tried to use as an excuse for not going to Egypt to set God’s people free. Remember in last weeks Hebrew Lesson about the call of Jeremiah, Jeremiah resists the call by saying, but “I am only a boy.” God was not impressed by Jeremiah’s excuse anymore than he was by Moses’. In the Hebrew reading today from Judges, Gideon complains that he is too weak and has no military skills for leading his people against the Midianites. “My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” But the Lord replies, “I will be with you.” Jesus, who himself is a carpenter, selects fishermen and tax collectors to be his own. They respond seemingly with great trust and with hope.
Another aspect of this story is Jesus encouraging the disciples to go fishing. They resist, at least Peter does: ‘We’ve been fishing all night and caught nothing,’ but then he gives in to the request. They go out on the lake where the water is deepest to let down the nets. Some Biblical scholars see this action a baptismal in nature. The disciples go to the depths, let down the nets in the water, and catch the fish. There is that sense of their being immersed and then their lives are transformed into becoming new persons, with new persons, and new direction. Now they become fishers of men. It is a higher calling to which they respond with urgency, immediacy, with faithful participation.
Still another aspect of the story is seen as Eucharistic. In a sense it is another feeding story. Remember the Feeding of the 5,000. Two small fish and five barley loaves feed a multitude. It is spiritual abundant nourishment that comes to a large of crowd of people. Here again you have a story of a great harvest of fish. The disciples with Jesus bring to the people on the shore an abundance of food, a fulfillment, a nourishment, a spiritual feeding potential that is only available through Jesus Christ. Without Christ in the boat, in the darkness, the disciples caught nothing. In the light of the new day, accompanied by Jesus, there is new hope and fulfillment.
There are a number of Parables of Jesus’ that are about the Harvest of God. The Parable of the Sower tells of the farmer scattering seed. Some falls on poor soil, the path, in the thicket of thorns, yet there will be some that falls on good ground, and it will bear fruit and bring forth a bountiful harvest, you can be sure. The Parable of the Mustard Seed tells of a tiny seed, and yet it becomes bountiful and many birds nest in it. The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares tells of field ruined by the weeds, but nevertheless there will be a bountiful harvest at the end. You think there is no hope, Jesus is saying to his disciples, but immerse yourselves into me, and into this work, and there will be a harvest of fish you will not be able to drag to shore alone.
Notice too that in this story, the disciples are called upon to be active in the ministry with Jesus. I will make you fishers of men. They are not mere spectators, but are actively involved and baptized and nourished by Jesus and enter into ministry and the mission of Jesus. For many years, the church and its people lost sight of their calling as fellows with Jesus and his ministry. In the Christendom model of the church, an hierarchical structure prevailed. Leaders of the church were seen as “princes of the church.’ Bishops, priest, and deacons became paid employees of the church, and were often seen as the professional ministers of the church. Large numbers of people were baptized, and the local communities thought of mission as something beyond their boundaries. Mission became something that happened somewhere far away. Even in local churches, ministers were hired by church boards to preach good sermons, visit the sick of the parish, and the shut-ins, to lead the youth, and have competent business skills, a be ever present at all church activities. Members of the congregation were reduced to a minimal ministry of cutting the grass and providing occasional fundraisers to keep the church going. And of course many lay people saw themselves as untrained for ministry.
Be aware of the sharp contrast to what Jesus called his own disciples to do. He called them to an active and hard working ministry; Jesus was well aware that fishermen were hard workers. They participated in healing the sick, casting out demons, proclaiming the good news. Setting the captives free, and proclaiming the forgiveness of the year of the Lord God. They went with him and participated in a ministry to many poor and hurting people. With him they proclaimed the love of God and the justice of God, and invited them to participate in the Kingdom, or realm, of God. He called them to be laborers to bring in the harvest: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. God your way: behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” (Luke 10:2-3)
In our baptismal service today, we stress significantly that we are the people and the disciples of Jesus Christ. A person who is baptized is immersed in the water (at least symbolically) and is fed the spiritual nourishment of the Eucharist. They are invited by us all with Christ to be laborers in the harvest: We receive you into the household of God. Confess the faith of Christ crucified, and share with us in his royal priesthood.
We no longer live in Christendom. The mission of the church is no longer just somewhere else in far away lands, or out West. There are needs around the world, of course. But in our own communities we live in a very pluralistic society, which for me means varieties of philosophic thinking and a variety of cultures unlike our own. We live in a community where there are many people who know nothing of Jesus Christ, nothing of forgiveness, nothing of turning the other cheek or walking the extra mile. There are those for whom God and Jesus Christ is little more than curse words. Concepts of fairness, justice, honesty and not cheating are often lacking. There is a permeating spiritual depravity caused by the world’s rank materialism, and self-centeredness. There is a permeating violence in our society that seems almost to come natural for many people. We see this not only on TV, in news reports from far away places, and in the movies, but in our schools, in homes where physical, mental, and sexual abuse sometimes abounds. There is in our society as people live longer and often lose friends and acquaintances, there is probably a great deal of loneliness. Also in a world where we throw away a lot of things, there is the need for sensitivity to the fact that older people become disenfranchised and forgotten. Many children today come home to empty homes, there’s an element of loneliness in that respect as well.
The days of Christendom and its model of spectator Christians is really over. The mission today is around us. Each of us as individuals may need to be more prayerful in asking God, and as a congregation as well, to help us find our mission, and our way of being laborers in the harvest of humanity. God help us to bring the Spirit of Jesus Christ to the secular world, to the hurting and lonely. Lord, help us to be responsive to the bountiful and abundant catch of grace you have given to us.
HYMN 541
Come labor on. Who dares stand idle on the harvest plain, while all around us waves the golden grain? And to each servant does the Master say, “Go work today.”
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