Mystery - Miracles or Magic!

“Moses said to YHWH, “But, never in my life have I been a man of eloquence,

either before or since you have spoken to your servant.” Ex 4:10

Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year B: 

Mystery - Miracles or Magic! 

This week, we leave the Year B Gospel of Mark and read chapter 6 from the Gospel of John for the next five Sundays. Reading this passage all on its own (John 6:1-15), we could miss the major themes in the Gospel of John, and we might wonder why John places this story, which is told in all four Gospels, where it is. In this account there is compassion and communion, but there is so much more. While Jesus' heart is touched by the hunger of the "large crowd", John is teaching us about the power of God in Jesus, about who Jesus is. We learn about who Jesus is by what he does - as actions speak louder than words. The words Jesus said, connect to the actions Jesus did. We have the down-to-earth disciples, overwhelmed by the "large crowd", trying to work out the cost of feeding so many people. "It's Impossible!" they say, but all things are possible with God. This story is about the power of God in Jesus, and about Jesus' compassion for the large hungry crowd. God's power is "far more than all we can ask for or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20b). If the disciples had remembered the story of how the prophet Elisha (found in 2 Kings 4:42-46

- the first lectionary reading) fed a 100 people from "twenty barley loaves" then they might have had greater trust in Jesus - who is the very presence of God. If we can receive this faith story - Jesus' fourth 'sign' - with the eyes of faith, then we can grow in our ability to trust God in mist of the most seemingly difficult situations of life. 

The people who are with Jesus are a people longing and hungry for freedom from the Roman empire that oppresses them. This need leads them to project on to Jesus an easy short-sighted answer to their need. It's certainly understandable, and only human, that they would see Jesus as a miracle-worker and potential king. Even the desire for a king (never God's desire), however, is too small a dream and falls far short of God's dream for the people. Jesus wants to give us what we don't even realise we need; he knows what we need, deep down in our innermost, authentic human selves. Why do we ask for too little, when God can and would give us so much more? Can we see beyond our immediate wants and expectations? How else will we begin to see where God is leading us? 

How do you explain a miracle? The feeding of the five thousand recounts a great wonder that Jesus worked. Many have tried to explain this miracle in rational terms. The most common "rational" explanation of the feeding of the five thousand is that it was an act of generosity. They say the charismatic Jesus inspired many in the large crowd to share them with others there provisions. I strongly object to such a modern reading that misses the point that John is making about God at work in our midst, God's power to completely transform human expectations. However I believe, we're focusing on the wrong thing when we concentrate on explaining the miracle of multiplying the barley loaves and fish, when the more remarkable miracle is the hope that Jesus inspired in the masses who followed him. Jesus' powerful presence and deep compassion for their suffering and need might explain the ability of ordinary, insecure and fearful people to follow him to a deserted place. The scientific arrogant scepticism of our time seeks to provide rational explanations for everything and loses the capacity to wonder at the extraordinary within the ordinary of our everyday lives.

The definition of miracles that we are using here is not just the literal miracle of whether or not the person with a disease is healed. Rather it is about the more ordinary moments, when the power of God’s love and grace overwhelms our sensibilities. It is about see our faith communities becoming immersed in God’s healing love and goodness. A miracle may simply be that people believe that God’s grace has been unleashed. When we do something ordinary, God takes that ordinary act - like offering 5 barley loves and 2 dried fish - and creates something incredible. It seems that we limit the concept of miracle only to physical healing and discount the moral miracles of unity. We still have to be honest about the despair, brokenness and decline that is happening in our church situations but we can’t allow ourselves to believe the statistics that bring despair have the last word. We are called to be a people of hope, who declare by word and example that God is still about God transforming lives. This story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 and our stories of change and transformation as individuals and communities have amazing miracle power if they are told and heard and believed. Our stories have to touch the heartstrings in order to inspire change. The God who spoke to Moses and the prophets - still speaks, the God who protected his people and fought their battles - is still at work, the God who feeds the poor who are hungry and thirsty - is still doing so. This is the reality in which we scripture-formed believers 'live and move and have our being'. Each time we do what we thought we could not do, each time a faith-community lives in loving faith unity despite differences, God has been at work. When we recognise God's presence - this is a miracle. Our gift of faith takes us beyond appearances.


What are our expectations for our own church community? What hope do we have in spite of perceived falling attendance? Do we worry about whether we are being true to the gospel, speaking courageously, and acting boldly on behalf of all those who suffer, or are we worried about whether our church will be able to pay its bills? This is a pressing question and we can be tempted to concentrate on survival and maintenance which can distract us from our true mission. We want our church to survive so that it can preach the gospel, minister to the suffering and speak a prophetic word in a world that has little compassion and caught up in self interest. As gospel inspired people, we are challenged to focus not just on the "reasonable," not just on "basic needs," but on "multiplying resources," so that we might experience "a revelation of amazing grace." The words grace, and amazing, belong in any discussion of miracles and wonders. Have you ever witnessed such sharing, such wonders, such grace? Generosity itself is a miracle to me, and it expresses a God given power to completely transform lives. And I don't mean the lives of those who receive as much as the lives of those who give.


 Speaking of those who give: the disciples of Jesus were overwhelmed by the need before them. They did not it seems feel a responsibility to meet the large crowds need, so Jesus raises their awareness. They try to assess the situation, measure their resources, and figure out a solution, but they are powerless in the face of so many hungry people. John draws a contrast between the power of God that was about to burst forth and the power that we think we have today: the power of knowledge. John observes that "knowledge as power," is the opposite to "love's knowledge" which can take what appears to be little and indeed multiply it. It is "loves knowledge" that enables an individual and a community to recognise the power and presence of God in a given situation. God responding to our prayers for the world's needs with the question, "What do you have?" Think of the abundance many of us enjoy, even in the midst of economically challenging times. I often feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of problems and the needs of the world. And yet, what would happen if we trusted in the power of God to multiply in amazing ways the resources we have, and what would happen if we saw this as a communal question? Perhaps our sense of community has been lost in an over-emphasis on the individual. This miracle shows us that there is always enough for all, with plenty left over, "twelve baskets." 

John's Gospel is the one that does not have an account of the Eucharistic meal in the upper room, so this story is John's equivalent of 'the last supper.'" What follows the sharing of loaves is important, because John, unlike the other Gospel writers, draws political meaning when the people start talking about Jesus as their new king. Jesus first performs a "sign," and then will discusses it with those who witness it and then uses it as a teaching moment with his followers as he interprets its meaning. That is John's approach to teaching us about the power of God, and about who this Jesus really is - not a magician but a visible expression of the living God - the same yesterday, today and forever. This story connects us with the celebration of the Eucharist. It reminds me that Jesus does not command his disciples to exclude the divorced and remarried, the pickpockets, the spies from the Temple, the merely curious, or the hangers-on, or those who don't know their catechism, or even those who are unsure about their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Jesus simply responds to human need, as he so often does, above all other considerations. How well does this mirror our celebration of Eucharist sacrament today? It seems that the church wants to protect Jesus-Eucharist from the defiled (sinners) and only let those who are worthy to be fed. The crowds came out from their homes, their towns, seeking something from Jesus. What are we as part of the "large crowd" seeking for today? C.S. Lewis, the 20th century English theologian reflects; "Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see." As we come with our hunger and thirst for love to the Eucharistic table, will we sense a miracle? Will we with faith based on "love knowledge" be able to see the "sign" Jesus works?

9th Sunday after Pentecost Y.B-Br. Andrew

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Homily preached by Br. Andrew e.f.o. at Springwood on Sunday 26th July 2015

9th Sunday after Pentecost Year.B


Gospel John 6: 1-21

John 6:14 "After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world."

Elisha, his name means "God is Salvation" son of Shaphat, was a prophet from Abel Meholah in Gilead. He lived in the northern Kingdom of Israel during the reigns of Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz and Jehoash. During his prophetic lifetime he performed many miracles that rivaled Christ himself; on this occasion Elisha fed 100 people with 20 loaves of barley and some ears of grain and with some to spare. In contrast we have the miracle of the feeding of the 5000.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread was the first appointment in the year designated by God for the Jews to meet with Him in a holy convocation, it occurred the week prior to Passover.
John has chosen to place his account of the feeding of the 5000 during this combination of Holy days. (John 6:4 “Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.")
Jesus makes what Matthew Henry calls a Coasting voyage to Bethsaida (Luke 9:10) where despite his weariness he continues to heal and to preach to the people until evening.
It is important, to note that this is the only miracle reported by all four gospel writers, though John is the only one to mention the more intimate facts which bring this event alive to us -such as the matter that the 5 barley loaves and 2 fish were brought to Andrew by a little lad or  paidarion—, probably one that used to follow the crowd, as settlers do the camps, with their eatables to sell, and the disciples had bought what he had for themselves, coarse barley bread and fish rather than the finest wheat.

Whereas the other Gospels record the disciples suggesting to Jesus that he send the crowd away to buy food and find lodging. Here in John’s account Jesus asks Philip, by name, WHERE they are to buy enough food to feed everyone, yet Philip’s response refers not to the where but to the COST of it as though the group purse could not meet the task, yet we already suppose the provisions to be theirs. Jesus already knows what he will do.

And so what I suspect is the largest picnic ever attended get underway.

The grass is plentiful there and sits at the base of the hillside upon which Jesus was overseeing the proceedings, the disciples are instructed to have the men recline in groups of 50, and we are told that 5,000 of them are seated in this way – only Matthew’s Gospel draws our attention to the presence of women and children (Matthew14:21), making the number many more thousands than the five mentioned.
Although the group is huge, it represents a family gathered for a meal, a family communioning together. Jesus took the loaves and blessed them and gave them to the disciples to distribute and likewise the fish until all were served and when everyone had eaten enough the scraps were gathered up to fill 12 baskets..

John introduces this miraculous meal to us as the first Holy Communion, or in rephrasing that, in the interval between the miracle and this gospel, about 90 years of Christian living had transpired to bring John to deliberately place his account of it during the 3rd Passover of Jesus' ministry for the wealth of symbolism recognizable to both Jewish and Gentile Christians.

The Barley was the first of the cereal grains to ripen and at the Harvest Festival, before Passover was offered in the Temple as first fruits.  Jesus had just offered the first fruits to his Father and given them to the crowd that all might eat and be filled.  Since the disciples had acted in loci Eucharistic Ministers we might suppose that each collected a basket of the left over bread and fish – somehow symbolic of the 12 tribes, abundance for Israel?

 In his time with us Jesus ministered to the marginalized and how many of them must have been here in this crowd? The smaller groups gave many the opportunity to rub shoulders with different sorts of people and may have reminded later Christians of the Home churches which sprung up quite soon after the Resurrection. Even of Pentecost, the birth of the Church which would occur about 57 days later.
To sustain so many of those on the margins of society a prelude to another Passover when Jesus would offer himself as First Fruits.

The Fish has been suggested as the representation of the Church, being the secret sign by which early Christians found each other so that in feeding the multitude with bread and fish Jesus was both giving Himself and the Church to them in a Holy Communion. Holy Communion is a conversation, a Communication between God and the Church or God and the Body of Christ which this event certainly was.

Alternately taking the anagram ichthys:- (ΙΧΘΥΣ), the Greek word for fish and we have - Jesus Christ, God's son and our Saviour, such that at that first Holy Communion Jesus gave himself to the 5000 as Son of God and their Saviour who is the Bread of Life.
The readings for the next two weeks follow this one giving us the controversial groundwork for the development of the Latin and Greek understandings of the nature of the blessing Jesus gives to the bread and the wine.
Some of those present at that time understood that a man like Jesus just might be a suitable military Messiah. They sought to make him King but he slipped through the crowd and went into the hills to pray.
Soon we shall partake of the Holy Communion, as we do so let us make it a prayerful conversation, a Communication between ourselves who are the Body of Christ and the Lord who gives us His mysterious Food for our Spiritual nourishment.

Amen

The Lord's My Shepherd!

“Moses said to YHWH, “But, never in my life have I been a man of eloquence,

either before or since you have spoken to your servant.” Ex 4:10

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B:

The Lord's My Shepherd!

Mark's Gospel this weekend (6:30-34) describes the return of the disciples from their first mission and inauguration into apostleship. They are exhilarated and exhausted, and have stories to tell Jesus of healings, exorcisms, and the effectiveness of their preaching the good news. Perhaps there were darker stories of their failure and rejection that they need to process privately with Jesus their master and teacher. Whatever the need, Jesus senses that his disciples need a break. They are tired, overstimulated, underfed, and in need of some prayerful healing solitude.

Jesus, himself, is not in top form. He has just lost John the Baptist, his beloved cousin and prophet, the one who had baptised him and had spent a lifetime in the wilderness preparing his way. Worse, Jesus has lost him to murder by Herod, a terrifying reminder that God's beloved are not immune to senseless, violent deaths. Maybe for Jesus his own end, feels closer. It is possible, he is grieved and heartbroken. He says to his disciples as the crowds throng around them at the edge of the Sea of Galilee "You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest a while." In the words "Come away" I hear both tenderness and longing. Yes, Jesus wants to provide a time of rest and recuperation for his friends. But he is weary, himself; the need that he articulates here is also his own.

In this event, I get a chance to glimpse the human life of Jesus, a life I can relate to easily. His need to withdraw, his desire for solitary prayer, his physical hunger, his sleepiness, his inclination to hide. These glimpses take nothing away from Jesus' divinity; they enhance it, making it richer and all the more mysterious. They remind me that the doctrine of the Incarnation truly is Christianity's best gift to the world. The God 'through whom all things were made' as the creed professes: hungers, sleeps, eats, rests, withdraws, and grieves. In all of these ordinary but necessary ways, our God is like us. He's also like us in that sometimes, his best-laid plans go astray. The needy crowd anticipate his plan, and follow on foot. By the time he and his disciples reach their longed-for destination, the crowds are waiting, and the quiet sanctuary Jesus seeks for himself and his disciples is nowhere to be found. Does Jesus run? Does he turn the boat around and sail away? No. As Mark puts it, "Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things."

The shepherd is a recurring image in both Testaments. In the Old Testament, the shepherd and the king are associated or joined together. Israel longed constantly for another shepherd king like David, but were often disappointed. Jeremiah (23:1-6) criticized King Zedekiah and others like him. “Doom (woe) to the shepherds….” They were supposed to gather and lead God’s people, instead their neglect scattered the flock. The consequences of such poor and corrupt leadership were dire: Jerusalem was destroyed and the people were taken into exile. Jeremiah makes a dark promise. God will take back the flock and shepherd them. God will rescue them by sending a righteous leader who has the heart and mind of God. God fulfills the promise made to the people. Jesus is the promised shepherd who will gather and feed God’s weary flock.

Jeremiah promised a shepherd king like David "who will reign and who will be wise” who will "who will practice honesty and integrity in the land.” By our baptism each of us is called to continue the mission of shepherding like Jesus and it can be very tiring! We do that in daily, unofficial ways by how we teach and set good example for others, especially the young. Did you notice what Jesus, the shepherd, did immediately when they disembarked and saw the needy crowd? He taught them. We don’t want our young to have a false notion of God, or a diminished notion of their worth before God. So we teach. But we also need some reflective time ourselves to dwell on God’s Word, lest our teaching be more about idols we fashion from our own thoughts, than about our shepherd Jesus.

Some of us are engaged in full or part-time ministry within our church community. What Jesus said to his disciples is true for us as well. We need to figure out how to “come away .. all by ourselves” for short and occasionally longer periods, to hear the Word of God for ourselves, and those we are called to shepherd through our teaching. The bottom line: all of us are sent to share our knowledge of Jesus, a knowledge that 's not primarily found in books or doctrine, but as a result of our personal encounter with Christ.

I write this reflection, as a comfortable middle-class Australian, and it is too easy a temptation for me to pass on compassion's responsibility to someone else. Whether I'm looking at the needs in my own circle of influence, my seemingly self-sufficient neighbours, or the wider community, it is tempting to tell myself that nothing urgent is at stake. Everything can wait, because I'm not the only person on the planet or in the church. Not much really depends on me. Or does it? However, this week's Gospel reading is about the ongoing and necessary tension between compassion and self-care. The gospel reveals to me that Jesus also lived with this tension. Still, the point is valid, we all need to figure out how to get to our own “deserted places.” That might be a few minutes in the car before we go to work; a pause in the yard after we put out the garbage at night; a walk in the park; turning off the television, the phone and just sitting; listening to any music that helps us go inward for a brief period. Not all attempts by Jesus to withdraw to a quiet place were frustrated.

On the one hand, Jesus was unapologetic about his need for rest and solitude. He saw no shame in retreating when he and his disciples needed a break. On the other hand, he never allowed his weariness to overwhelm his compassion. He realised in this situation, that he was the last stop for the aching, desperate crowd "who were like sheep without a shepherd." Unlike me, his personal boundaries were finally less important to him than his desire to love others. Is there a lesson here for us? Is it strive for balance? Recognise weariness when you feel it? Don't apologise for being human? Take breaks? Yes. All of these are essential things. But maybe also and most importantly this: We live in a world of dire and constant need. Sheep can die without their shepherds. There are high stakes, and sometimes, what God demands of our hearts is costly. While balance remains the ideal, it will not always be available in the short-term. Sometimes, we will sometimes have to bend out of balance. If that happens, what should we do? In what direction should we bend? If this week's Gospel story is our example, then the answer is clear. We need to decide for authentic compassion. Jesus did. The gospel is not encouraging us to be work-a-holics, but shepherds.

At our Eucharistic celebrations we are often like the scattered sheep. Jesus, our shepherd, gathers us from the many places where we live, work and spend our days. What we have in common and what draws us to this special pasture, is the faith that, with our shepherd we are well cared for, nourished by the Word of God and the living Body and Blood of Christ. The shepherd does again what he has done before: he sends us out well fed to return to the places where each of us is called from to be shepherds. We do not go out on our own, but are strengthened by the Holy Spirit, that was Christ's source of strength in his humanity as he set out to shepherd God’s needy people. So we pray; "Jesus you are my shepherd, I have everything I need."

Using the Ordinary for The Extraordinary.

“Moses said to YHWH, “But, never in my life have I been a man of eloquence,

either before or since you have spoken to your servant.” Ex 4:10

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B:

 Using the Ordinary for The Extraordinary.

Our reading from Amos (7:12-15) seems to say that God isn't too fussy about who is called to be a prophet? God goes looking in some rather ordinary places to find “suitable” candidate for the all-important role of speaking for God to an often-resistant audience. The prophets themselves admit to being pretty ordinary until God called them. The prophet Amos preached in the northern kingdom at the King’s own temple at Bethel. The northern kingdom was enjoying prosperous times, so why did God need to choose and send a messenger to them? Because, while some had a lot, the needy were being neglected and religious practices had been reduced to empty ritual - which is people worshiping the ritual rather than worshiping through the ritual. Amos spoke against the excesses of society and the emptiness of its religious practices. The high priest at Bethel was Amaziah, who had prestige and religious authority on his side tells to Amos, “Off with you, visionary and flee to the land of Judah!” But good old Amos admits, “I was no prophet … I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.” Let's face it, God chose a farmhand to go to a prominent religious centre to preach a message of reform to its people, prominent religious leaders and the king. So it's the old story of pride meets humility. The constant theme of scripture is 'God resists the proud but exalts the humble of heart.'


If God chooses the most unlikely to accomplish divine purposes and to speak God’s word then, God has to back up the chosen one. God must have been at work, not any mere human instrument on his or her own can fulfill such a calling. There have been some powerful prophets in our time from ordinary backgrounds, but obviously chosen by God to accomplish God’s intentions: Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, Archbishop Oscar Romero, artists and political voices, parents, grandparents, relatives, friends, teachers and even our critics, who address a word to us at a crucial moment and changed our present and future path. These were probably people without much formal faith education, perhaps even a young person. But they opened our eyes to the superficial character of our ways, or our social indifference to the needs of others. Amos describes of himself, “The Lord took me… and said to me, ‘Go to prophesy to my people….’” God chooses "ordinary people" like us to fulfill special tasks. Each of us, through our baptism, have been called to be a prophetic person because we share the life of Jesus. Last week Mark' gospel focused on Jesus’ rejection in his own hometown community. In response to their hostile reaction Jesus said, “A prophet is not without honour except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” This week Jesus sends the Twelve out to perform prophetic deeds and speak prophetic words. Mark (6:7-13) makes the point that just as Jesus was rejected, so too, those sent in his name should expect the same treatment. When rejected and Jesus seems to expect they will be, they are to “… leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” We should not be surprised when our words or deeds in Jesus’ name are rejected and ridiculed. The sending of apostles did not end when Jesus sent out the Twelve. We too have been called as "ordinary people" to advance the reign of God, to act and speak in the spirit of Jesus. Jesus’ recommendations to his disciples about taking nothing “but a walking stick, no food, no sack, no money in their belts,” certainly cuts me out of the picture as I never pack light.


Why is Jesus asking so much of his disciples? It was the Jewish custom that as a person entered the temple courts, they would have to stop first, remove their staff, shoes and money belt and, only then, enter. They were entering a sacred presence and everyday things had to be put aside. His message and the healings it would bring, were to be the first concern for his disciples; everything else being secondary. A disciple, on the way to preach would be in the presence of the Holy One, even while on the road. The houses they entered and the families who received them, would be like the Temple where God dwelt. Jesus reminds his disciples that when things got difficult they should rely on God and not what they brought along?

Jesus sends us to be prophets, to call the world to repentance; that is the immediate world we occupy, as well as the larger worlds we are part of. He wants us to change our behaviour and so as to drive out the demons that would destroy and lessen us as a loving people filled with the Holy Spirit. So we gather for worship to become a holy people, living temples, nourished by the Word and Sacrament so we can go forth strengthened to be prophets - truth speakers - to the world Jesus has entrusted to us for healing. Yes, now it is 'OUR TURN' to go out.

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost.Yr B.-Br. Simeon

Homily preached by Br. Simeon e.f.o. at Springwood on Sunday 12^th July 2015

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost Yr. 

Gospel:  Mark 6: 14-29

The death of John the Baptiser:

"Herod had sent men who arrested John, bound him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.”

A man named Jack was walking along a steep cliff one day, when he accidentally got too close to the edge and fell. On the way down he grabbed a branch, which temporarily stopped his fall. He looked down and to his horror saw that the canyon fell straight down for more than a thousand feet.

He couldn't hang onto the branch forever, and there was no way for him to climb up the steep wall of the cliff. So Jack began yelling for help, hoping that someone passing by would hear him and lower a rope or something.

HELP! HELP! Is anyone up there? "HELP!"

He yelled for a long time, but no one heard him. He was about to give up when he heard a voice. Jack, Jack. Can you hear me?"   "Yes, yes! I can hear you. I'm down here!"

"I can see you, Jack. Are you all right?"  "Yes, but who are you, and where are you?

"I am the Lord, Jack. I'm everywhere."   "The Lord? You mean, GOD?"

"That's Me."
"God, please help me! I promise if, you'll get me down from here, I'll stop sinning. I'll be a really good person. I'll serve You for the rest of my life."

"Easy on the promises, Jack. Let's get you off from there; then we can talk."
 "Now, here's what I want you to do. Listen carefully."  "I'll do anything, Lord. Just tell me what to do."

"Okay. Let go of the branch.""What?" "I said, let go of the branch. Just trust Me. Let go."  There was a long silence.

Finally Jack yelled, "HELP! HELP! IS ANYONE ELSE UP THERE?"

In the Name of God, +Father, +Son and +Holy Spirit. Amen.

This  story of today's Gospel reading, is outside the account of Jesus’ own death, the most horrific stories in the Gospels.

Between Jesus’ sending off the Twelve on their first missionary journey and their return, Mark inserts the story of John the Baptiser’s death. At first, this narrative seems out of place – but the account of John’s death serves as an important benchmark for understanding the meaning of discipleship and the resurrection.

The works that Jesus and the Twelve are performing have reached the ears of King Herod himself.  Rumours have been circulating that the Baptiser has been raised from the dead.   Mark recounts the details of John’s martyrdom and burial which make clear that a new chapter of human history begins in Jesus, that God has set in motion a re-creation of humanity in his Son, that the long-awaited but little understood reign of God has begun.  John is the precursor of the Christ event, not the event himself.

In Mark’s Gospel, John’s death foreshadows the death of Jesus (just as John’s appearance at the beginning of the Gospel sets the stage for Jesus’ coming on the scene).  As John pays the ultimate price for “speaking truth to power,” Jesus will give his life for the Gospel he has preached.  A similar convergence of fear, cowardice, hatred and manipulation that leads to John's beheading will end in Jesus’ crucifixion.

Not lost in Mark’s narrative is the reality that discipleship/prophecy exacts a heavy price.  But God promises that he will raise up the life of his martyred prophet/disciple in the fullness of his reign.

Ridicule, isolation, rejection, even death, can be required of every one – even us – for taking seriously God's call to be his prophets and the work of discipleship.

We often react to the Baptisers in our midst as Herod does: We know in our deepest being that they speak wisdom and justice and we desperately want to embrace it in our lives — but when their words become too demanding and too challenging, when they require of us a conversion that is well beyond our comfort zone, when their call

subjects us to ridicule or isolation, then we find some way to justify doing away with them. Authentic faith, belief that means anything, requires the would-be disciple of Jesus to live the Word we have heard and seen, regardless of the cost.

Like Herodias, we hold grudges; we keep score; we remember who slights us and we wait for the right moment to get back at them.  The grudges we keep seldom have the tragic consequences of Herodias, who manipulates her own daughter’s charms and

her husband’s arrogant behaviour to destroy John the Baptist — but we’ve let our anger divide our families, we’ve refused to surrender our need for vengeance for the  

sake of reconciliation, we’ve held on to our resentments until we got our satisfaction.

But God’s grace enables us to put aside our disappointments and let go of our anger (however justified) in order to make reconciliation possible, to speak God’s Word of justice, to be the means of peace in our homes and communities.

God’s reign continues to be established in our own Jerusalem’s and Nazareth’s because of the prophetic proclamation of the Baptisers and Apostles and all who have taken on, with integrity and conviction, the role of prophet of the God of life and love in our own time and place.

Amen.

Finding Pains Purpose

Moses said to YHWH, “But, never in my life have I been a man of eloquence,

either before or since you have spoken to your servant.” Ex 4:10

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B:

 Finding Pains Purpose

The lectionary readings for this Sunday are rich in meaning for us. The young Ezekiel (2:2-5) is empowered by the Spirit to "stand up" before God and to listen. It can take great courage to listen deeply to what God wants of us and to follow God's mission for us in life. God assured the young Ezekiel that the unfaithful Israelite community "shall know that there is a prophet in their midst." A prophet is 'a truth speaker' with deep insight. I believe all of us can be an Ezekiel wherever we stand in life. The Spirit will give us the needed courage. In Mark's gospel (6:1-6), Jesus experiences rejection in his own "home town" because as he said "a prophet is only despised in his/her own country." The people who he grew up with thought they knew him and could not let him be for them who he was. They saw him as someone 'ordinary' and were "astonished" by his wisdom and power as a miracle worker. They could NOT BELIEVE and ACCEPT him as he revealed who he was to them. Rejection can be painful and I am sure Jesus felt their response to him deeply. "He was amazed at their lack of faith." What lenses of perception limit us?


In the reading from 2 Corinthians (12:7-10), Saint Paul learns through prayer that God's power is made perfect in his weakness: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. (9-10) Paul who had been given so many special graces now has to endure what he describes as a "thorn in the flesh" the scripture scholars do not know exactly what the thorn was, although many have tried to have an educated guess. He realised that the 'thorn's purpose was to keep him humble and relying on God. It seems to be so easy for us who are striving to be spiritual to become 'ego inflated' and start thinking that we can somehow achieve spiritual holiness all by our own efforts. Helen Keller who was born deaf and blind said: "I thank God for my handicaps, for through them, I have found myself, my work and my God." It is all to easy to try and become something that we are not. All of us disciples of Christ have to come to terms with the fact that true spiritual growth comes from coming to terms with the pain of life's limitations. We have to be willing to move beyond what keeps us comfortable.


Our spiritual lives, begin in weakness and ignorance; we never suspect that anguish, a sense of loss, profound changes of heart and mind, dark nights of soul and spirit, the confusions of power and powerlessness of the soul’s unfolding journey. Like so many of life’s endeavours, if we knew what we were in for, we would probably never have begun. When pain comes into our lives it seems so easy for us to cry out to God for healing. I know a man who was a most energetic and gifted helper of others. When he had a stroke and became disabled, his self-image of being an able helper was shattered. But all through his rehabilitation he learnt the difference between healing and curing, self-will and God's will. He eventually came to learn despite his tears and tantrums, that healing does not mean going back to the way things were, but allowing 'WHAT IS' NOW to move one closer to God. Like St Paul and many others before him, he found the blessings that can only be found in the pain and limitation. "God does not see as humans see."


So to be like Ezekiel or Paul we need to the Holy Spirit for the strength for daring to find courage to set forth on the unknown path of faith. Somewhere along the way we will awaken to the immensity of our endeavour. Finally, we must summon a deep grace-inspired courage to continue and by God's grace to unexpectedly find ourselves with a deep acceptance of what is. The French poet Guillaume Apollinaire writes; "Come to the edge, he said. Come to the edge, he said. We are afraid, they said. Come to the edge, he said. They came to the edge, He pushed them and they flew. Come to the edge, Life said. They said: We are afraid. Come to the edge, Life said. They came. It pushed them... And they flew.” The power of God's grace is given for us to help others, not ourselves, a power that does not force or coerce others to do our will. Like Saint Paul we learn to place our fate in God's hands accepting our weaknesses and limitations, and like Ezekiel to accept God's Spirit and the word God speaks that empowers us to "stand up" for truth.