The Daily Office: John 8:21-32

John 8:21-32

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)

"If ye abide in the word which is mine, ye are truly my disciples, and ye will recognize the truth. This perception or knowledge of the truth is more than intellectual or scientific knowledge, for which there is another word; it is the knowledge of acquaintance. Loyal adherence to what they believe will convert that belief to trust; they will advance, so to speak, from being orthodox to being real Christians. And in that trust they will find freedom."*

*From Readings in St. John's Gospel, by Archbishop William Temple

The Daily Office: John 7:14-24

John 7:14-24

Jesus said, "Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own." (John 7:17)

"If any man wills – purposeth – to do His will, he shall know concerning the teaching whether it is of God. It is not necessary for this that a man should have reached the point of perfect obedience; but it is necessary that he should intend perfect obedience"*

My comment: There's that word again: perfect. But as was said yesterday, perfection is a process. All Jesus asks is that we try. If we try to follow Jesus's teaching, then we will be guided in the right direction, step by step. One step: that's all Jesus asks of us today, and every day.

Jesus also said, "Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly." (John 7:24)

"They would search the scriptures and then try to apply texts to life in meticulous detail. The result was bound to be superficial. Do not judge by looks. Go to the heart of the matter; that is to say, God's purpose expressed in the law and the relation of any action (act and motive together) to that purpose."*

My comment: The Bible is not a set of detailed directions downloaded from Mapquest or Google. It is not a How-To book. It is a story of how God relates to human beings where they are. Of course, we know how the story ends, which should help us understand the theme of the story: God's transforming love in the teaching, death, and rising of Jesus Christ. Always let that be the purpose by which you judge yourself, and others.

*From Readings in St. John's Gospel, by Archbishop William Temple

The Daily Office: John 7:1-13

John 7:1-13

Jesus' brothers said to him, "Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." For even his own brothers did not believe in him. Therefore Jesus told them, "My time is not yet here." (John 7:3-6a)

"This is not an infrequent exercise in the life of discipleship. We want him to accompany us (so to speak) on some enterprise, and to vindicate what is said on His behalf by us or by others through some success that He enables us to win. But we are left to toil on with no glad sense of His presence as our companion; and at the end we find Him awaiting us with the Prophet's rebuke for our defect of wisdom or of loyalty…Yet that judgement too is mercy; for the goal of the 'call upwards of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14) is not our service of Him, with which He can easily dispense, but that we should, like Him, 'be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect' (St. Matthew: 5:48)."*

My comment: Understand that to be made "perfect" really means to be made "complete." To be completed is a process. It doesn't happen in the blink of an eye or the snap of a finger. We are all in the process of being competed as disciples of Christ. We who follow Christ, however imperfectly, will be completed. We will become perfect, in our loving Father's good time.

*From Readings in St. John's Gospel, by Archbishop William Temple

Saint of the Week: Bartholomew (or Nathanael)

John 1:43-51

The name "Bartholomew" appears in the New Testament only on lists of the names of the twelve apostles. This list normally is given as six pairs, and the third pair in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke is "Philip and Bartholomew"

John gives no list of the Twelve, but refers to more of them individually than the other three. He does not name Bartholomew, but early in his account (John 1:43-50) he tells of the call to discipleship of a Nathaniel who is often supposed to be the same person. The reasoning is as follows: (1) John's Nathanael is introduced as one of the earliest followers of Jesus, and in terms which suggest that he became one of the Twelve. (2) "Bar-tholomew" is a patronymic, meaning "son of Tolmai (or Talmai)." It is therefore likely that he had another name. (3) Nathanael is introduced in John's narrative as a friend of Philip. Since Bartholomew is paired with Philip on three of our four lists of Apostles, it seems likely that they were associated.

Assuming that is the case, then the call of Nathanael described in today's reading from John is also the call of "Bar-tholomew." This son of Israel cared deeply for the future of his people, and refused to give up on God's promises of a Messiah, an "Anointed One" who would bring God's power into this world. Nathanael did not let his skepticism over things coming from Nazareth stop him in his quest. 'Come and see," his friend Philip suggested, and Nathanael did, moving toward the unknown and unfamiliar, trusting that there and only there would he find God.

And when he arrived, he discovered the One who was more than a powerful. He discovered that the "Anointed One" knew Nathanael better than he knew himself. But of course! God made us. As the years go by, we try on various roles that the world assigns us: athlete, businessman, politician, plumber, carpenter, etc. But God knows who we are, to the depths of our hearts. Let us be willing to strip away the roles that have been assigned to us. Then we shall know ourselves as God knows us and loves us.

Pray for us, St. Nathanael, Son of Tolmai, that we may not fear to "come and see" the unknown.

The Daily Office: John 6:52-59

John 6:52-59

After a week of vacationing with my family, I'm back to resume our meditations on John's Gospel, via William Temple. Today's thoughts by Temple are at the heart of why I bid the congregation to stand after receiving communion.

"Then Jesus said unto them 'Amen, Amen, I say to you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves.'" (John 6:53)

"The phrase would have been quite as startling, even horrifying, to the Jews as well as to ourselves. The blood of animals might not be received as food: 'Be sure thou shalt not eat the blood; for the blood is the life; and thou shalt nor eat the life with the flesh' (Deuteronomy 12,23; cf. Leviticus 17,14-15 and many similar passages)…

"It is clear that the 'Flesh' and the 'Blood' are thought of as separated and separately received. But flesh from which the blood is separated is dead. We receive the Broken Body; we make our own the 'dying of Jesus' (II Corinthians 4,10). Blood, on the other hand, when poured out, is the life released by death and given to God…

"To 'eat the flesh' and to 'drink the blood' of the Son of Man are not the same. The former is to receive the power of self-giving and self-sacrifice to the uttermost. The latter is to receive…the life that is triumphant over death and united to God."*

My comment: We are never more fully alive than just after we have received the Body and Blood and Jesus Christ, through bread and wine. It is a life we are called to take out into the world, marching out of church united in the mission of reconciling all people to God and each other.

*From Readings in St. John's Gospel, by Archbishop William Temple

To Always Be Known: Sermon, 16th Week of Ordinary Time

"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and chose you…to uproot and to pull down…to build and to plant." (Jeremiah 1:5,10)

Not to be too melodramatic about it, but when I was five days old, I almost died. It seems that I was born with too much fluid in my lungs. I had nearly suffocated in the hospital. But my parents took me home after 3 days on the doctor's belief that I had gotten it out of my system. But on my fifth day of life, I began to choke again, and my parents rushed me to the emergency room. By the time I arrived, according to my mother, my face looked like one big bruise. I pulled through, and to my mother, who had miscarried two years earlier, I was her "miracle child."

Of course, is that we are all miracle children. Before God formed us in the womb, he already knew who we were. I'm sure that each and every one of us has a story, a memory, from which we know that God, and only God, has protected us, comforted us, encouraged us, and/or guided us. Before our parents had even conceived of us, God knew who we were. We may not have had any physical body yet, but we existed in the mind and heart of God. And God was already looking forward to seeing us grow in faith and love. Parents of grown children have experienced what the parents of younger children can only look ahead to. We have temporary custody of them. We can guide them for, maybe, 17 or 18 years. And then they will begin to discern their own way. But they will not be alone, for the God who conceived of them before we did will always be with them.

Of course, for some of us, our relationship with our parents is more difficult. Some of us were not given a foundation of love and protection from which we could venture out in confident expectation. For those grown children who suffered abuse at the hands of their fathers, the very term, "Father" can become a barrier between themselves and God. But what God tells Jeremiah, and us, is that God was our loving parent before he gave us to our earthly parents. And we should not confuse our earthly parents with our heavenly parent. Through prayer, study, and a community of people brought together in God's name, we can unlearn the dysfunctional rules of relationships we picked up from our earthly parents, and learn something of what it means to be loved, forever and ever, by the Father of us all.

Before we were formed in the womb, God chose us. He consecrated us and made us holy, meaning he set us apart, but for what? We are special, but what is it that makes us special? Well, what did God originally choose Jeremiah for? It was, after all, to this particular man that the word of the LORD came. For what purpose did God set apart Jeremiah? "I give you authority over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to demolish." No wonder Jeremiah protested that he was too young, that his speaking skills weren't up to snuff. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet. But the message that Jeremiah delivered from God to his fellow Jews was not a positive one. The kingdom of Judah was besieged by more powerful empires bearing down on this tiny kingdom. The people of Judah feared the same genocidal destruction that had fallen on the Northern kingdom of Israel some years earlier.

And what message did God call Jeremiah to deliver. Indeed, their precious Jerusalem and temple were going to be destroyed. And they all deserved the disaster that is coming; for their abandonment of the God who brought them out of bondage in Egypt; for their worship of idols; for their injustice toward each other, and their oppression of the poor. They might as well have surrendered to the Babylonians and hoped for the best. There's no power of positive thinking in Jeremiah's prophecy.

But if we are to claim the promise of God to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and chose you," then we must accept that with that promise comes a call, to action. If God has consecrated us and made us holy, then we must accept that he has set us apart. If God has always known us, then we too are prophets with a task, "to uproot and pull down, to destroy and demolish." We are to look clearly at what is wrong in the world, and point it out, regardless of whom we irritate. As I quoted at the beginning of this sermon, we are also called "to build and to plant." In Jeremiah's case, there was no time for building and planting. He died early in that 70-year period of Jewish history known as the Babylonian Exile. He held out hope that the Jewish people would be replanted in their own land. But he himself died in Egypt.

But at least at the beginning of Jeremiah's prophecy is God's promise to all people. There shall be uprooting, but there shall also be replanting, in God's good time. We are called by God to ask some hard questions, about our community, our nation, our world, and our church. But we need not fear those questions, and the answers we come up with. We need not protest that we are inadequate to the task before us. For God our Father, who has always known us, will always remember us.

Overcoming the Division in our Hearts: Proper 15

Can we just go back to last week's Gospel, please? "Have no fear, little flock, for your Father has already chosen to give you the kingdom." That Jesus is reassuring, calming, comforting. What happened to him? Who is this guy shouting, "I have come to set fire to the earth…Do you suppose that I have establish peace on the earth on the earth? No indeed, I have come to bring division." Didn't the angels announce his birth with the promise of "on earth peace to all in whom he delights"? Yes they did, and yes, Jesus offers the world the peace of God beyond all understanding. But those who share in His peace must also be buried with him in the "baptism," which is his death. And "division" is part of that death in which we are buried with Christ. What Jesus gives us is his peace, which is much more than the absence of conflict. What Jesus will give us is conflict turned into harmony, and a calmness with which we can walk through our divisions in trust.

"I have come to set fire to the earth," Jesus says, "and how I wish it were already kindled!" This actually sounds worse than it really is. Luke is foreshadowing what happens at the beginning of his sequal, Acts of the Apostles, when tongues of fire lit upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost. On that day Jesus's followers became his partners in spreading the "Good News;" or in Greek, euangelion, the root of evangelism. That's all that evangelism is -- spreading Good News.

And yet, and yet, that Good News faces opposition. It has enemies. And those enemies are far too close to home: father against son, mother against daughter. "Do you suppose I came to establish peace on the earth," Jesus asks? "No indeed, I have come to bring division." And where does that division lead? "I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is accomplished!" To kneel in the Jordan river as John the Baptizer pours water over you is to be immersed. It is to be drowned. It is to die to an old life of guilt and fear. For us, there is no escaping that guilt and fear by our own power. Those emotions cling to our hearts and do not let go, and for us there is no peace apart from Jesus Christ. The Good News is that all our fear and shame was projected onto Jesus, and he took it into his heart and carried it to the Cross, and in that Baptism, buried it forever.

So, when Jesus says today that he did not come to establish peace, we need to remember that in this same Gospel, the angels announcing his birth also announced "peace to all in whom God delights." To the woman who anointed his feet with her tears, Jesus said, "Go in peace." To the woman who touched his cloak and was healed of her hemorrhaging, Jesus said, "Go in peace." So, when Jesus says today that he did not come to establish peace, we need to remember that Jesus knew what a hyperbole was. The word hyperbole actually comes from the Greek word for exaggeration. So Jesus knows how to exaggerate in order to make a point. Jesus offers us peace. But he also knows that this peace faces opposition. Fear and Anxiety are not gone. They still seek to drown the human heart.

And what would Fear and Anxiety have us do? They would have us retreat into ourselves: silently nurse our pain and feel justified in our silent and unspoken hurts. Or they would have us lash out in the heat of our anger at the most convinient target regardless of its relation to our pain. Either way, their goal of keeping us isolated in our hurt and without peace would be "accomplished." But the peace that Jesus Christ brings to our hearts and our relationships is not that peace which is merely the papering over of conflict. What Jesus offers is a peace in which we can trust that opposition and conflict are merely stages of a process, a journey. Along that journey, all we who have been baptized are indeed, "buried with Christ in his death, and by it we share in his Resurrection." That is what we pray over the water every time we baptize someone anew, and renew our own baptism.

Each step that we take along the baptismal journey soothes our fearful, anxious hearts. Each step that we take to be reconciled with each other raises us just a few more feet above the living death of fear and isolation. This doesn't mean that all disagreements will be ended. But the peace that comes with sharing Jesus's Baptism allows us to take those disagreements in stride, secure in the knowledge that through our struggle and confusion, God's purposes will be accomplished. Jesus Christ does indeed come to establish peace on the earth. It starts in each of our hearts, and the warmth of that fire will warm and enlighten corners of our world that we cannot yet imagine. O Jesus, set our hearts on fire!