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?

Third Sunday After Pentecost. Yr B. - Br. Simeon

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Homily preached by Br. Simeon EFO at Springwood on Sunday 14^th June 2015: 

 

Third Sunday After Pentecost. Yr B.

“What the kingdom of God is like”

Gospel:  Mark 4:26-34

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

In preparing this sermon, a question formed in my mind which was;What can mustard seeds teach us about the kingdom of God?

The tiny mustard seed literally grew to be a tree which attracted numerous birds because they loved the little black mustard seed it produced. God's kingdom works in a similar fashion. It starts from the smallest beginnings in the hearts of men and women who are receptive to God's word. And it works unseen and causes a transformation from within. Just as a seed has no power to change itself until it is planted in the ground, so we cannot change our lives to be like God until God gives us the power of his Holy Spirit.

The Lord of the Universe is ever ready to transform us by the power of his Spirit.  The kingdom of God produces a transformation in those who receive the new life which Jesus Christ offers. When we yield to the Lord Jesus and allow his word to take root in us, our lives are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Paul the Apostle says, "we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us" (2 Corinthians 4:7).

Peter Chrysologous (400-450 AD), an early church father, explained how the “tree of the cross" spreads its branches throughout the world and grew into a worldwide community of faith offering its fruit to the whole world:

It is up to us to sow this mustard seed in our minds and let it grow within us into a great tree of understanding reaching up to heaven and elevating all our faculties; then it will spread out branches of knowledge, the pungent savour of its fruit will make our mouths burn, its fiery kernel will kindle a blaze within us inflaming our hearts, and the taste of it will dispel our unenlightened repugnance.

Yes, it is true: a mustard seed is indeed an image of the kingdom of God. Christ is the kingdom of heaven. Sown like a mustard seed in the garden of the virgin’s womb, he grew up into the tree of the cross whose branches stretch across the world.

Crushed in the mortar of the passion, its fruit has produced seasoning enough for the flavouring and preservation of every living creature with which it comes in contact.

As long as a mustard seed remains intact, its properties lie dormant; but when it is crushed they are exceedingly evident. So it was with Christ; he chose to have his body crushed, because he would not have his power concealed….

Christ became all things in order to restore all of us in himself. The man Christ received the mustard seed which represents the kingdom of God; as man he received it, though as God he had always possessed it. He sowed it in his garden that is in his bride, the Church. The Church is a garden extending over the whole world, tilled by the plough of the gospel, fenced in by stakes of doctrine and discipline, cleared of every harmful weed by the labour of the apostles, fragrant and lovely with perennial flowers: virgins’ lilies and martyrs’ roses set amid the pleasant verdure of all who bear witness to Christ and the tender plants of all who have faith in him.

Such then is the mustard seed which Christ sowed in his garden. When he promised a kingdom to the patriarchs, the seed took root in them; with the prophets it sprang up; with the apostles it grew tall; in the Church it became a great tree putting forth innumerable branches laden with gifts.

And now we too must take the wings of the psalmist’s dove, gleaming gold in the rays of divine sunlight, and fly to rest for ever among those sturdy, fruitful branches. No snares are set to trap you there; fly off, then, with confidence and dwell securely in its shelter.

In ending this sermon, I found myself once again with a question that grew in my mind, which I now leave with you to ponder....

Do you allow the seed of God's word to take deep root in your life and transform you into a fruit-bearing disciple of Jesus Christ?

Amen.

Easter 6B: Not A Suggestion but A Loving Command.

“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

Not A Suggestion but A Loving Command.

We are getting close to the end of the Easter season. Soon we will celebrate the disciples receiving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and their being sent out to preach what they experienced and learned from the Risen Lord. If they were asked to sum up what their experience with Jesus was, what would they say? I am sure they would respond by saying: 'in the end, HIS LOVE triumphed'. Sin and death and brutal powers did their best to Jesus, but his love both human and divine was the winner. That realization would enable the disciples to say that even though death and sin seem to have the last word in our world, but because of Jesus' victory, love will triumph. It feels at times that good and evil are battling it out. How can the forces of love win out over so many destructive brutal displays of sin in the world? Still, God's love for us, shown in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, has won the victory over sin and death.

In the gospel reading of John (15:9-17) we find a summary of what has been given to us as disciples of Christ. It also holds a promise we can trust while we wait love's final victory. The love Jesus had for those he calls "friends," moved him to lay "down his life" for us. He remind us that; "You did not choose me, no, I chose you." He freely "chose" us, and gave us concrete signs of his love. That love has the power to transform our lives and then, through us, the life of the world. Robin Maas in her book Crucified Love, offers a wonderful insight: “Few, if any of us, will be called to martyrdom; but all of us are called to a series of little deaths in the form of invitations to restrain or deny self….The sending of God by God was the sending of Love – a crucified Love willing to lay down its life for friends and enemies alike. Your mission and mine – which we can only perform insofar as we are in communion with God and with one another – is to submit, out of love for one another, to countless, daily ‘little deaths’ until we have yielded every least and last remnant of self to the purpose of Christ.” (pages 98, 121)

Jesus is saying, 'I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another' (15:17). The Beatles sing the song, "All You Need Is Love" and many who hear it will hear different messages. It is true that all we need is love - but who's love? and what love? When we get past all the sentimental feeling and greeting card sweetness we have the teaching of Jesus. All you need is love is true - his type of love. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (15:12) As I have loved you??? No one has greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (15:13). Oh! Yes!!! That type of love. John reminds us that the kind of love Christians are called to embody takes a particular, cruciform shape. We hear this truth in Jesus' words, "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love."(15:9) The experience of Christ's love for us makes it possible for us to love others, even our enemies. The phrase "... as I have loved you ..." refers not only to his gentle generous giving but also to his willingness to bravely lay down his life by suffering for others. The first letter from John (4:7-10), our second reading, announces a similar truth. "Let us love one another, since love comes from God." We can love one another because God's love is at work in us transforming our lives, and moving us from being self-centred to being other-centred.

From the moment we are created, God constantly offers himself to be with us. In the mythological accounts of the Book of Genesis God dwells with humans in the garden of Paradise, wanting to be close. But they/we try to hide from God, not responding when God calls. It is only when Jesus came that we realised that it was not God who forbade our access to the tree of life, but our own stubbornness and disobedience. It was necessary for us that Jesus the Word of God should start anew a conversation with us, to breach the distance, to restore God’s presence to us. The desire of God to share divine life and love with us is expressed by Christ who says: ‘I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you’. In Christ, God gives us a sign of true love and friendship. There is no end to this great love even if we are faithless, ‘He remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself.’(2 Tim 2:13) Doesn't friendship require giving not just receiving? Yes, it does require mutuality and sharing, so God gives us the Holy Spirit; the Gift from above of love's power, so we can return love for love. And we are made heirs of the Kingdom by being made one with Christ, who emptied himself to become one of us, to become our equal - to be our friend. Now he prays that our joy may be full; that is, as love-driven-disciples we may achieve loves fulfilment of the vision of God, by DOING day-by-day through our 'little deaths' loves work of selfless service. (See: Matthew 25)

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany - The Transfiguration - Br Andrew

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Homily preached by Br. Andrew at Maroubra on Sunday 15^th February 2015:

The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany - the Transfiguration

Readings:

2 Kings 2:1-12; Psalms 50:1-6; 2 Corinthians 4:3-12; Mark 9:2-9


Today, is the last Sunday after the Epiphany, and as the last Sunday before the beginning of Lent is also the Sunday of the Transfiguration of the Lord. 

The word Transfigure is derived from Latin “transfigurare” or “across figure” and this word came into the English via the Old French between 1100 and 1250. Its common meaning is ‘to transform into something more beautiful or elevated.’ To change the form of something or someone into something more beautiful or elevated

Spiritually speaking, when we find ourselves on this mountain top each year with Peter, James, John, Moses, Elijah and Jesus it is not only outward experiences that concern us, because, you see for those of us who walk in the footsteps of Christ we are ever learning new things of  him.

This is His final Epiphany experience, or rather ours before He begins the Journey to Death and Resurrection in Jerusalem. Epiphanies are Manifestations, revelations of certain information to certain individuals.

THE primary or official EPIPHANY, occurred when Jesus was made manifest, revealed to the Nations in the three Magi, who came to worship him, as King of the Jews witnessed by his parents.
The second time was at his baptism in the Jordan when God made it known in person that Jesus was his own beloved son. Andrew and John were present at that time.
Here we are once more atop what must have been Mount Hermes, (we can talk about this on Thursday), with Peter and James and of course John who was present at Jesus baptism.

It says “And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one* on earth could bleach them” (Mark 9:2b, 3) I guess the easiest way Peter could describe the event to Mark must have been that Jesus’ clothes became so white that he had never seen the like before because we don’t have any description of Jesus here just his unearthly laundromat.

Retrospectively, in Peter’s realization that he was in the presence of the True and living God he later refrains from giving the description to Mark or any of us for that matter because he saw the face of God and lived – just a thought?

We notice that as soon as Christ is transfigured that Elijah with Moses can be seen speaking with Jesus, were they there all along and did the Transfigurement then allow the disciples to see and to hear them? What might we SEE if we were to place ourselves in this diorama with the group and encounter the living God in Jesus; would we be open to learning or would we like Peter want to pitch tents, because it would be too much for us, I guess it had better be too much for us else what are we doing here?


Elijah represents the epitome of Prophet hood and was to return before the Messiah arrived, we know that one with a spirit like his walked and talked in John the Baptist and was executed and now Elijah appears with Jesus before Jesus, in his turn is about to make the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world, past present and to come.

Our reading from the second book of the Kings is about the Ascension of Elijah who was taken to heaven in a whirlwind by God. The reading takes us through what was the last walk in his life and also through the brief and final stages of the apprenticeship of the prophet Elisha.

“2. Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal”( 2Kings 2:1) And they walk from Gilgal to bethel and from Bethel to Jericho and from Jericho to the Jordan, each time Elijah telling Elisha to remain behind and each time Elisha saying “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you”  Notice the Company of Prophets telling Elisha that today the Lord will take your master  away from you and he tells them to be quiet because he knows.

Unlike Peter, Elisha is absolutely aware of what is going on and ready to take up the challenge to walk with his master to his master’s death.

Moses – the representative of the Torah the living Law, also died in special circumstances somewhere nearby the place where Elijah crossed over the Jordan on dry ground. He was led up to the top of mount Nebo from where he surveyed the Promised Land, he was never to enter because of his disobedience. It is questioned that depending upon which mountain was the mount of Transfiguration and from which part of the mountain range Moses viewed the Promised Land that he may have been able to have seen the mount of Transfiguration… What we do have here are some interesting ponders – that Moses who sinned and did not cross over the Jordan died on Mount Nebo and was hidden by God in a valley somewhere.
That Elijah crossed over the Jordan by striking the water with his furled cloak and crossed over on dry land before Ascending into heaven in a whirlwind. AND effectively speaking the Jordan was where Jesus’ earthly Ministry began.

That these three in manners of speaking have all met before in sin and in death and now the Law and the prophets have come to bear witness with the Apostles in the sound of the voice of God, a theophany, “This is my Son, the Beloved;* listen to him!’”(Mark9:7b)
 Using a cloud to protect the Apostles from the terrible presence of God assists the disappearance of Moses and Elijah. Arriving in dazzling light and departing in cloud.
If we have managed to place ourselves alongside the party in this diorama have we listened?
Will we now listen to Jesus?

Just a little about Paul because it really needs much more time, perhaps Thursday. We really do need to listen with dictionaries and thesauruses in hand when we read Paul. 

Briefly what he says is that the Ministry of the New Covenant, more glorious than that of Moses is like the very first creation of God, Light and yet it has been entrusted to frail human beings who were fashioned from clay. Paul himself alludes to the struggles he has had and to his feelings of inadequacy, we know the struggles of Peter just from our Gospel readings yet God has entrusted us to take the light of the Gospel to the world.

This light is so bright and regenerative that it can withstand all our weaknesses even after all the evil that has been done in its name it is still the reflection of God’s divine glory and has the capacity to transfigure the soul.

If ever we become inflated with our own solo capacity to preach the word we need to climb our own private Nebo’s and recall our weakness and sin and Christ’s ultimate act of self-sacrifice that had enabled us to follow Elijah over the Jordan – dry shod.

And take up our frail urns which only the Spirit of God can strengthen and let the Gospel light shine.