Who Is The Disrupter Here? Epiphany 4B

 Who Is The Disrupter Here?

Capernaum by the Sea was a fishing village in 1^st Century Israel. Of interest are the ruins of two ancient synagogues: one very small, barely able to hold a minyan – 10 adults needed to worship; one larger, but still not all that big, perhaps able to accommodate 50-100 or so adults. 

One thing we learn from this episode in Mark 1: 21-28 is that Jesus and his new companions, Simon, Andrew, James and John, regularly attended synagogue on the Sabbath. That is, Jesus is very much a traditional Jewish young man who is fluent in teaching and following Torah in his life. Indeed, when he enters, he joins with at least ten people already there in discussing the Torah portion to be read that Shabbat. People are immediately astonished at the authority with which he knows Torah – another sign that Jesus was an observant Jew. People say he seems to know Torah even better than the Scribes – the scholars of interpreting the texts. 

Just prior to this story, Mark Jesus proclaims that a new reign of God is at hand, has come near, and to repent and accept this Good News. Suddenly, there is a commotion. A man with an unclean spirit cries out to Jesus, “What is all this to you and to me, Jesus of Nazareth? You came to destroy us! I know you. I know who you are: the Holy One of God!” Jesus scolds him and tells him to be quiet and “come out of him.” Making a lot of noise and commotion, the unclean spirit departs. Can we imagine what the rest of the assembly in the synagogue are to make of this disruption of their weekly teaching and worship? If people were astonished before, now they are truly astounded! “What is this?” they say. “A new teaching! With authority! Even to the unclean spirits he gives orders and they obey.” And suddenly, Bang! His fame began to spread throughout the region surrounding Galilee. 

This story is often interpreted as not only a rebuke of the unclean spirit, but a rebuke of the Scribes and Jews in general. And of course, nothing could be further from the truth. And yet, there are dimensions of the story that are, well, odd. 

For instance, the word translated as “Nazareth” is netzer – which can refer to Jesus’s geographical home village. But more often it means “root,” or “shoot,” as in Isaiah 11: 1-2: “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.  The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.  Jesse of course was the father of David, the shepherd king. Calling Jesus Netzer would astonish everyone as it seems to announce Jesus as a new David! [i]Just as our first lesson in Deuteronomy infers that Jesus is the new prophet like Moses! [ii] Yowser! Could this kid from the region of Galilee, considered a land of country bumpkins by the authorities in Jerusalem way down south, be all of this rolled into one? 

And what about this unclean spirit? This means the man in the synagogue is unclean for ritual purposes in the Temple not necessarily ill, mentally or physically. Nearly everyone is unclean most of the time, and would have to observe cleansing rituals, not unlike John’s baptism, to be made ready to enter the Temple. Unclean spirits, however, were believed to lead people astray to magic, war, conflict and bloodshed. That is, this man is not a sinner, nor does he have Covid or the Flu, but is in danger of being led down a path contrary to Torah which urges love of God and love of neighbor. Strangely, people tried to perform exorcisms or magic to drive out such unclean spirits and demons. But not Jesus. Jesus needs only his Word to command the departure. This signals that his Word is similar to the very Word of God who at creation speaks a command, “Light!” And there is light. This is Truly a sign that God is with this Jesus Netzer from Nazareth, west of Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. Can we begin to see just how Mark, in a few short sentences, connects Jesus to the history and traditions of Israel? And as a “new authority” on Torah. This does seem to foreshadow a collision course with the religious and political authorities in Jerusalem as the story unfolds. 

But that’s not all. Do we notice how odd it is that this unclean spirit is the only one present that day in Capernaum who knows Jesus is “the Holy One of God”? Jesus knows. Jesus found out at his baptism by John, in which the words, presumed to be the Word of God, proclaimed, “You are my Beloved Son; I am well pleased with you.” Only Jesus and Mark’s audience know this. And yet, the unclean spirit knows this too. This is true of other unclean spirits in Mark as well. Do we notice how odd it is that unclean spirits agree with God about who Jesus is? [iii] 

But that is still not all. Southwest of Capernaum, along the shoreline of the Sea, near the city of Tiberius there are some hot springs. Hot springs believed to have healing properties. One can see the springs from Capernaum. We know that people from all over the ancient world, not just Israel, but gentiles and Jews alike would come and pay money to take advantage of these healing springs. Presumably, these springs could also make one ritually clean to head down to Jerusalem and make sacrifices in the Temple. While at the springs, no doubt people would find lodging in Tiberius, and restaurants, and no doubt entertainment venues as well. That is, the local economy was fueled by the alleged healing and cleansing properties of these hot springs. 

Along comes a young man, who needs but speak the Word, and voila, free healthcare for all – especially for most of the people of the land who did not have the means to take advantage of the natural resource of these hot springs. It surely could not have gone unnoticed by many that whatever and whoever this Jesus character is, he is potentially bad news for the local economy should he continue this behavior of his. It is not surprising this news would travel quickly, as the story in Mark takes Jesus to Jerusalem where the religious and civil authorities would also be concerned. 

Mark, in just a few sentences, signals that Jesus’s mission on behalf of God’s kingdom is to have deep social, religious and economic consequences. Who is the greater disrupter here in Capernaum? The man with the unclean spirit? Or, Jesus the Netzer, the shoot from the stump of Jesse, the new David and the new Moses all rolled into one? 

This story, then, hinges not on the dismissal of the unclean spirit, but oddly, the spirit’s question to Jesus: What is all this to you and to me? Inviting us to ask, “What is all this to Jesus and to us?” In every time and place, the Church has had to answer this question. Sometimes the Church has responded in faithfully following Jesus with people like Paul, Dorothy Day and Martin King leading the way. And in other times, the Church has acted tragically. We need only think of times like the crusades, the Inquisition, and the Church’s promulgation and support of anti-Semitism. It seems that this text means to ask us as community of Christ: How are we meant to read the signs of our time, and respond faithfully in following Jesus? 

Born in Spain, Teresa of Avila (1515–1582) entered a Carmelite convent when she was eighteen, and later earned a reputation as a mystic, reformer, and writer who experienced divine visions. Here is her answer to the question from the unclean spirit: 

Christ Has No Body 

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours, 

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

Compassion on this world, 

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, 

Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. 

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,

Yours are the eyes, you are his body. 

Christ has no body now but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

compassion on this world. 

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Amen.

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[i] Swanson, Richard W., Provoking the Gospel of Mark (Pilgrim Press, Cleveland: 2005) p.95

[ii] Deuteronomy 18:15-20

[iii] Ibid Swanson p.98

Voyage To The Bunny Planet Epiphany 3B

Come To The Bunny Planet       Epiphany 3B

We have before us four texts that one way or another seek to address what ought to be the primary focus of any and all faith communities: What ought we be doing in the present time? And, being from the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, more specifically: What does God call us to be and to do? How might we respond to God’s call? 

In the first instance, we have Jonah.[i] For reasons not explained, Jonah has been chosen by the Hebrew God to take a message to a mighty gentile city, Ninevah. God is angry with their wickedness. Jonah knows this is not good news and takes off in the opposite direction to get away from God and the mission. I get it. And I suppose all of us at one time or another have tried to ignore what the Lord God of Israel tells us to do. We are meant to identify with Jonah, who learns, thanks to landing in the belly of a very large fish, there is no escaping what the Lord calls us to do. Like Jonah, I tried myself to head off in several different directions. Alas, here I am.  

Jonah is not told what to say, so he improvises, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”  Astonishingly, the Ninevites repent of their evil ways. They fast and cover themselves with sackcloth and ashes. Even the king! That is, they take God more seriously than Jonah does. The lesson here: act more like the evil, gentile Ninevites than Jonah! But that’s not all! God is so moved by the Ninevites that God repents from overthrowing the city. Because, as Jonah later notes, our God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounds in steadfast love and compassion, and relents from punishment. 

Paul, as the first ever recorded church consultant, has been petitioned by some folks in Corinth on just what they ought to and ought not to be doing as a community of Christ. We are given only a few verses which in our world nearly 2,000 years later seems like somewhat bizarre advice: The appointed time is short. If you are married, don’t act like it, and if you’re not, don’t bother to get married; if you are mourning, don’t mourn; if you’re rejoicing, don’t rejoice; quit buying more and more stuff; forget about what’s going on in the world. The key to his advice, however, is that things are about to change. “The present form of the world is passing away.” Oh, that that would be true and come sooner than later! And yet, history tells us that this is true, just not on our preferred timetable. What Paul is really saying, had we more of the letter, is that we must focus on what God in Christ calls us to do, not what we think we want or need to do. [ii] 

His insistence that buying more and more stuff may be good for the economy, but distracts us from being the community of God’s love and compassion that God in Christ call us to be. Besides, we begin to lose our very identity as Christ’s own forever when we begin to believe that all this stuff, the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, the investments we make, somehow become who we are. We identify with and accumulate so much stuff that many, if not most of us, have to rent the aptly named Self-Storage lockers to store all of our excess Self! 

Then along comes Jesus. After accepting the baptism of John, and skipping over his time in the wilderness, Jesus emerges proclaiming John’s message of repentance, but with a significant addition: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the good news.” Like Paul, Jesus proclaims that the present form of the world is passing away, and the way God creates the world to work will soon come to pass. Next, he calls a bunch of fishermen to follow him. And surprisingly, they drop their nets, leave their work behind, leave their families behind, and given no idea whatsoever lies ahead, they follow him. So unlike Jonah! One of them is actually named Simon the son of Jonah! Personally, I think that’s meant to make us laugh – a family of fishermen whose father is named after the guy who became fish-food! [iii] 

Like Jonah, like Andrew, Simon, John and James, no one is asked for a resume, given a test, or in anyway examined to see if they are qualified to do God’s work. Because everyone is. And some go another way. And some of us follow. It’s said that Jesus finds ways to qualify us. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know that God’s kingdom is near. We see signs every day. It is at hand. I think when our youngest daughter, Cerny, was born, someone dropped off a book by Rosemary Wells, author of such other children’s classics such as Max’s First Word and Max’s Disappearing Bag. The book is called First Tomato, the first of a series called Voyage to the Bunny Planet, and goes like this: 

Claire ate only three spoons of cornflakes for breakfast (the rest she spilled on the floor). On the way to school her shoes filled up with snow. By eleven in the morning, math had been going on for two hours. Lunch was Claire’s least favorite – baloney sandwiches. At playtime Claire was the only girl not able to do a cartwheel. Once again, the bus was late. Claire needs a visit to the Bunny Planet. 

Far beyond the moon and stars, twenty light-years south of Mars, spins the gentle Bunny Planet, and the Bunny Queen is Janet! Janet says to Claire, “Come in. Here’s the day that should have been.” I hear my mother calling when the summer wind blows. “Go out to the garden in your old, old clothes. Pick me some runner beans and sugar snap peas. Find a ripe tomato and bring it to me, please.” A ruby red tomato is hanging on the vine. If my mother didn’t want it, the tomato would be mine. It smells of rain and steamy earth and hot June sun. In the whole tomato garden, it's the only ripe one. I close my eyes and breathe in its fat red smell. I wish that I could eat it now and never, never tell. But I save it for my mother without another look. I wash the beans and shell the peas and watch my mother cook. 

I hear my mother calling when the summer winds blow. “I’ve made you First Tomato Soup because I love you so.” Claire’s big warm school bus comes at last. Out her window Claire sees the Bunny Planet near the evening star in the snowy sky. “It was there all along, says Claire. 

The kingdom of God is at hand. You can reach out and touch it. Take one step forward with Christ and you are in it! It’s been here all along, like the Bunny Planet. Like Claire we think we want the First Tomato. But God our Mother knows just what we need: God’s Love and Compassion. First Tomato Soup. God’s kingdom is all about what we need, not what we want. 

The story Mark is telling says that Jesus calls us with no qualification but that we follow him. He is calling us right now to take one step at a time forward with him. He has prepared a meal for us. He sets it before us every week so we will remember him. And remember to follow him. He wants to share the Love and Compassion of God his Father with all who listen and respond to the Good News. It is a chance to heal those who are broken, and to heal a broken world. With the Psalmist we pray, “Be silent, my soul, for God; for my hope is from him” [iv] Can we hear him? Do we follow? Dare we take one step into God’s kingdom, leaving the rest behind? 

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[i] Jonah 3:1-5, 10

[ii] 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

[iii] Mark 1:14-20

[iv] Psalm 62:6-14 

Gustav Holst, composer of the music for the hymn “In the bleak midwinter…” and The Planets, once said, “Music, being identical with heaven, isn't a thing of momentary thrills, or even hourly ones. It's a condition of eternity.”

 

Shine With God's Glory Epiphany 2B

 Shine With God’s Glory

It is said, “Watch out what you pray for! You just might get it!” 

This Second Sunday in Epiphany we pray, “Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth.” Bishop Carrie has been urging those of us in the Diocese of Maryland to focus on practicing Love in community – within the Church community and within the community in which we live. That is, Christianity which is focused on following Christ is not a personal self-improvement program. We pray that we, as “God’s people,” may “shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory. 

At Christ’s birth the angels sing, “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, Peace, Shalom, among those whom he favors!” [i]  Earlier in the first chapter of John we read, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” [ii] And now we pray, as a community of Christ, of those he favors, to shine with this same glory. In Christian worship we sing, “Glory to God in the highest…”; “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.” 

Begging the question: What is this glory we sing about? Just what is this glory with which we pray to shine? Frederick Buechner suggests that “Glory is to God what style is to an artist.” [iii] One can recognize a painting by Picasso, a sonnet by William Shakespeare, or a symphony by Gustav Mahler. In the Hebrew scriptures the word is kabod, which represents the aura, the very essence, of God’s splendor, power and absolute sovereignty. [iv]And it is this aura of splendor, power and sovereignty which both Luke and John assert is experienced and able to be seen in the presence of Christ. Those shepherds and magi who visited him at his birth sensed it and experienced it. Christ reflects the Light and Love of God his Father. Light – the very first thing God speaks into being “In the beginning!” 

This glory, or aura of God’s essence, is described throughout both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures as Love of all creation and all creatures; as light that shines in and through all darkness; justice for all peoples; and “peace,” which in biblical terms is shalom. God’s shalom encompasses much more than an absence of war or conflict. Again, Buechner says it “means fullness, means having everything you need to be wholly and happily yourself.” [v] Shalom might be said to be the sum total of justice and peace, or justice for all that leads to ultimate peace among all peoples. And one might add, peace for creation itself. 

Not only do we sing of Christ as the Prince of Peace, he says to us and to his disciples in John’s gospel, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”[vi] He gives us his shalom for us to give and share with others – all others. 

It has been suggested by some of my colleagues that before any meeting of the church, whether vestry, committee, or all-parish meetings, there is a question that needs to be answered first: Does the business of this meeting have anything at all to do with establishing the kingdom of God in our midst? Will we be talking about how we can bring Christ’s peace, Christ’s shalom, to others? To the world? And if the answer is “No,” then there is no reason to meet. In the context of our prayer today, we might ask, “Does what everything we say and do help us to shine with Christ’s glory? We read in the story of the young man Samuel that one night he begins to shine with God’s glory and becomes a prophet. [vii] In our reading from John we see how Nathanael is transformed from sceptic to one shining with God’s glory and becomes a disciple. [viii] And Paul’s pastoral concern for Christians in Corinth who frequent the prostitutes in the temples of pagan gods threatens the glory and life of the entire Corinthian church. [ix] For Christ’s glory which we pray to radiate is the glory of God his Father, and our Father; his God and our God. This glory is the very essence of what it means to be a Christian. 

The question then is:  just how do we begin to sense this glory and embody this glory we pray for? By letting ourselves be “illumined by…Word and Sacraments.” And there is no better place to start than with Psalm 139. While in seminary studying with The Reverend James Forbes, he shared with us something he learned when he was in seminary. A preacher in the seminary chapel one day recommended reading Psalm 139 once a day for thirty days. He said it would be life changing. Transformative. Illuminating! One reason Psalm 139 is so powerful is that nearly every verse has one of the following words: I, me, my. We seek to be illuminated so we might be those people who radiate Christ’s glory. To get a start on this together as a community of God’s love in Christ, let’s turn to page 794 in the Book of Common Prayer and read Psalm 139 together, followed by a period of silence, with eyes closed if you are comfortable with that. In the silence we will let these ancient words settle down within us and begin to spark and illuminate God’s glory right here in our midst. 

Psalm 139 

(Silence) 

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that as your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, we may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory. We trust that you as Father, Son and Holy Spirit will walk with us and fill us with your light these next thirty days that we may radiate your glory in all we say and all we do.  Amen.

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[i] Luke 2:14

[ii] John 1:14

[iii] Buechner, Frederick, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC (Harper & Row, New York: 1973) p.30

[iv] Brueggemann, Walter, Reverberations of Faith (Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville: 2002) p.87-89

[v] Ibid, p.69

[vi] John 14:27

[vii] I Samuel 3: 1-20

[viii] John 1: 43-51

[ix] 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Lost In Translation: The Baptism of Christ 2023

 Lost In Translation

Professor Theodore “Ted” Mauch taught New Testament at Trinity College when I was there. It was his practice to begin the semester with a study of the prophet Isaiah. Many of us didn’t immediately understand. We now understand that the gospels are largely written symbolically, not literally, and Dr. Mauch was helping us to see the bigger picture. 

For instance, as Jesus comes up out of the water he sees “the heavens torn apart.”  Isaiah, writing to a community in captivity in Babylon, writes imploring the Lord God to “Look down from heaven and see…our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary. We have long been like those whom you do not rule, like those not called by your name. O that you would tear open the heavens and come down…to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!” [Isaiah 63:15 – 64:2] 

Jesus and those listening to Mark for the first time would recognize: we’ve been here before; we are in captivity as of old, here at home among Romans who do not know you; the Temple, God’s sanctuary, lies in ruins; we are calling out to God to save us again, like God sent Cyrus-Messiah long ago; open the heavens and come down that your name may be known! 

Mark tells us Jesus then sees “the Spirit descending like a dove on him.” The word translated “Spirit” can, and does, also mean, breath or wind – which recalls the opening cadences of Genesis 1:1-2, “When God began to create the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind, [the breath of God], swept over the face of the waters.” 

And in Genesis 2:7, “…then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Might Mark be telling us that once again, the God of everything that is, seen and unseen, has heard the people’s cry, has opened the heavens and breathes new life into the world. New life, new hope. And a new name! 

For Jesus then hears a voice. The Voice. And like Jacob before him, Jesus is given a new name: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Whatever Jesus had been doing before this moment receiving the baptism of John, he now has a new name: Son of God. God’s Beloved. This phrase is a mashup of Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah (here he is again) 42:1, where the prophet urges the people in captivity to imagine God sending God’s own son, God’s own beloved, to be with us in our suffering, and to lead us to eternal life with God and one another. And eternal life with God starts now! 

Can we imagine Jesus catching his breath as all this unfolds? Catching the animating breath God blows upon him like the wind over the face of creation? Can we imagine what that moment felt like to the young man who had come all the way from his home in Nazareth of Galilee to join all the people of Jerusalem and the Judean countryside in this ritual bathing of renewal – renewal of  a right relationship with God and one another. A ritual reminder of not only who we are, but whose we are. Jesus, standing in the water is a living reminder of God’s fulfilled promises in the past, present and future. He stands at that moment as an icon of God’s love for all persons, and all of creation – everything seen and unseen. And as science tells us, most of creation so far remains unseen. 

John, we are told, was inviting one and all to “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Like those in Babylon, like Isaiah, the people in Jerusalem and all of Judea who found themselves under the brutal occupation of Rome, assume they had done things wrong in the sight of the Lord to have landed in the current predicament. And the primary instrument of communication with their God – the Jerusalem Temple – once again was in ruins. They rush to repent their sins hoping to urge God once again, as in Egypt, as in Babylon, to hear their cry, tear open the heavens and come down. And now, standing in their midst, and always in our midst, is the one come down to gather us in right relationship once again with God and with one another. 

On this Feast of our Lord’s Baptism, we will renew our Baptismal Vows and Covenant. We do well to remember a few things. Although baptism is often thought of as a beginning point in our Journey with God and one another, faith really begins before we are even born. The community of Christ stands ready to welcome us, and it is God who chooses to incorporate us into the Body of Christ. As our Book of Common Prayer says, baptism is “full initiation into Christ’s Body, the Church.” I believe this gets routinely forgotten as we scurry about thinking that we are simply friends of Christ. We stand, as Jesus stood in the River Jordan, as representatives on Christ’s behalf to the world – the whole world. Ambassadors of Christ, as St. Paul once wrote. Would that the whole church might ponder just what this means. It has little to do with whether we get the liturgy just right, or that there be no errors in the bulletin, or doing things as they have always been done, or even balancing budgets. 

As important as some or all of that may be, it is to remember that we promise, with God’s help, that everything we say and do will proclaim the Good News of God in Christ. That we will be those people who seek and serve Christ in all persons - not some people, not most people, but all people. And that we are those people who will strive for justice and peace for all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being. That is, we are to be Icons of Christ as Christ is the Icon of God made flesh who dwells among us. 

In our baptism, a ritual cross is traced on our foreheads marking us as Christ’s own forever – forever being a very long time. I was reminded by a little girl named Eleanor many years ago, that we ought to live in such a way that people can see the cross on our foreheads. That each one of us, like Jesus standing in the River Jordan, is God’s Beloved. And that God is well pleased with us. Which means, being well pleased with our very selves. We are to love God as God loves us, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It’s a tall order. But the whole world is waiting for us to tear open the heavens and breathe a Spirit of Justice and Peace among all peoples. 

When we see ourselves incorporated into the entire sweep of salvation history, going back to the very beginning of creation itself, we do well to stand and look up into the heavens, feel the wind of God’s breath filling us with God’s love so that we might be bearers of God’s love to one another, and to all the Lord sends our way. May God the Father, his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, breathe blessings us this day, and make us as a community of God’s Beloved a blessing to others all the days of our lives. Amen.