Homily 6 Easter

6^th Sunday of Easter

(readings Acts 10:44-48; 1^st John 5:1-6; John 16:9-17)

The first verse of the letter from John literally says: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been begotten of God, and everyone who loves the Begetter loves the Begotten.  All of us are ‘begotten’ of God through our faith. The close bonds of the faith community are family ties. Jesus, summarizing the Torah, said loving people is connected with loving of God. This is fundamental to being church! Jesus is the First Born Son. Our relationship with God--the Father--is, therefore, our relationship to God His Son--Jesus.

Last week we heard two of our graduating seniors preach on the Vine and the Branches. This week, we continue with that same chapter (16) of John and the importance of bearing fruit.

The vine is a grapevine. It is also a Biblical metaphor for Israel [see Psalm 80:8 God took the vine out of Egypt and planted it in the land. Hosea 10, Isaiah 5, Jeremiah 2, and Ezekiel 15 also refer to Israel as the vine.]

God planted the vine to bear fruit. That vine “failed” in its task. Jesus has come to remedy the situation. He is the vine. He is the Messiah King who stands in the place of Israel. Paul says that in Christ we are grafted into Israel, we share in the identity of the people of God, the children of God… Our membership is a corporate reality: we do it together. Hence, as I John says, “we love God and obey His commands.” Love and obedience do not gain redemption, they do not earn salvation. Love and obedience is the response to salvation. It is how those redeemed for God in Christ live the new life of grace. Love and obedience can free us from the limitations we suffer in a fallen and broken world. No longer reliant on ourselves, we are led by His Holy Spirit---a Spirit of Truth and a Spirit of Love.

Abiding in Jesus is a living connection. It is ecclesial (or Churchy) to its core. While ‘individual’ faith is possible in isolation (although even faith has a church connection) love is not. One cannot love others in isolation. Real love requires other people; flesh and blood interaction. Love is, after all, not a warm affection for imaginary friends. It is rather, the difficult business of seeking the best for those who may not be always agreeable. Love feels wonderful, but it also hurts. Love is more than a feeling, it is a cruciform commitment. True love requires that we lay down our life for our beloved---each and every day.

This is why love is central to Jesus’ farewell address to His followers. He knows that love and obedience (keep my commandments) are central. And pay attention, He doesn’t say love and obey; He says, “as I have loved, as I have obeyed….”  Jesus the Role Model defines love and obedience.

What is the result of this love and obedience? Joy. Jesus wants us to know complete Joy. Often times, obedience is described in joyless terms. We get the impression that God wants us to never have fun.

Remember, the branch is dependent. It has no power to live on its own. When we buy grapes we refrigerate them, there is a limited shelf life. There will be no new grapes. A branch produces grapes by being connected to the vine. Jesus is the vine, the church is the branches. The church is the body of Christ because of the vine and branches. A branch is an extension of the vine--so we extend Christ to the world. In us and through us Jesus saves. That is the source of true Joy. Jesus speaks of joy and suddenly sacrificial love, a love which dies for the beloved. That is the mystery of joy. How can He be happy to die? How? Because it is obedient to the mission from His Father. For Jesus, dying is more joyful than living because dying accomplished His Father desire. Dying to open the Kingdom to His beloved followers was a joy. The cost was not as great as the benefit.

WE are Jesus’ friends, His partners in the apostolic ministry of salvation. The fruit for which God planted Israel, is now the same fruit which we, the Gentile Israel in Christ, must seek to produce. Branches do not have to work to produce fruit; they work to stay connected. Our work is to hold on to Jesus, to abide in Him as He abides in us--in prayer, in Scripture study, in generosity with time, talent and treasure, in living lives which are worthy of the gift we have received.

Jesus’ message to them at the last supper is intended for us as well.

We, too are commanded to love one another.

We too are commanded to bear fruit and glorify the Father.

We too have the option of abiding in Jesus, in love, like a branch of the vine.

We are doing it now and we can continue to do it, better and better.

And it will be a joy.

Genesis: New Beginning

During my hiatus I will be working on Genesis. It is my plan to post the materials here which will be used in Sunday School starting next Advent. This will no longer be a blog operating as it had at its inception.

For example, it is common to speak of "The" creation account, buy Genesis has two (possibly three if you include Noah). There are other places in the Jewish Bible that allude to creation and in the New Testament there are some Christian reinterpretations (centered on Jesus).

I want to see Genesis in light of the rest of the Jewish Bible, some other writings from the Ancient Near East (with which the Jews were in dialogue), the New Testament, and the reflections of Jewish and Christian scholars. The sabbatical period will be a time to write and edit the materials as a "book".

In addition class notes from my Thursday class, probably Exodus, will also be appearing. 

The comment section will be for questions and helpful feedback.

The End

Thank you for your readership.
I have decided to suspend this blog for the foreseeable future. I think my time needs to be spent in other areas of my work.

I am honored that you spent time here. I hope to have provided some value in your journey of faith. God bless you.
Fr. Jeff

Jesus said...

John 15:12-27
Jesus said, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."
"Christian Love" is based on "Jewish Love." When Jesus gives the love commandment (in the Synoptics) it is a summary of the Torah. Love is the heart and core of Torah: Love God and love your neighbor. Christians are not any better at the loving than the Jews were, and probably no worse.  What is a difference maker is the model of love. The ruler with which we measure love is Jesus. Too often we try to determine for ourselves what love is (being independent) and we forget "as I have loved you" is the model and the mode of loving. The authentic Christian is about love and that is not true of all religions; and no other religion measures love by Jesus...

Jesus said,"You are My friends if you do what I command you." Lots of "dead and come back" people claim that the judgment they experienced centered on the question, "did you love?" [While I believe something real happened to those NDE people, it does not trump revelation in my mind.] I find this consistent with Jesus' command. Faith, love and obedience are intimately tied together. Being Jesus' friend is an active choice (friendship is that way, isn't it?). Grace is in the offer of friendship, obedience is in the response to grace...

Jesus said, "You did not chose Me, I chose you..." I heard a round table on a Christian radio station where the ministers celebrated the fact that God chooses some of us. We minister to all, one said, because we do not know which ones are chosen. Perhaps that is the point of Jesus saying it to His apostles. Perhaps, but I think not. He says they are chosen to go and bear fruit. I think the fruit bearing is the point. God chooses, Jesus chooses. We respond. But the choice is for a purpose: salvation. We forget that His heart is on all of His creation (recall His argument with Jonah). The love of God is not partial, reserved for a handful. The love of Jesus is not about 'my' salvation (me me me me) it is about 'our' mission to the world. Everything we have is for others. That is God's nature.

Jesus said, "if the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you...the world hates you...If they persecuted Me they will persecute you." I imagine the early church's marketing department was not pleased with this kind of talk. There are lots of billboards and commercials for churches in Memphis. I have heard lots of reasons to join. Usually a diverse (age, race, sex) group of attractive people are accompanied by some slogan about belonging and acceptance. Not untrue and certainly appropriate. However, we tend not to say, "Come with us and be hated."

And who hates Jesus? It turns out, lots of people. It amazes me. I understand anger at the church (I feel it too). I understand disdain for clergy (I don't like myself sometime!). I understand the list of faults in the church (though I think it can get silly, too). I do not get the Jesus hating though. Well actually I do:

Jesus said, "He who hates Me, hates My Father also." Jesus offends the "do it myself" attitude of the human race (and the progressive tolerance movement). Like the ancient Romans, the current social leaders advocate acceptance of everyone's beliefs--as long as they do not impinge on the shared faith. And what is the shared faith? It is secular and civil religion. It is United Nations Millenial goals or save the planet or pro-freedom to abort. It is not submissive to God but compliant with the societal value system. This means: No Jesus. No one way. No I and the Father are one. No if you hate me then you hate God.

Jesus speaks a word which reminds us that if we are His and if we are faithful there will be rejection. The goal is not rejection (being a jerk can also cause people to hate you), but rejection is a fruit of the goal. The goal is to be Jesus' own, to live as His.

I believe the Jesus haters are growing in power. I believe their hate is getting stronger. I believe we need to focus on Jesus. It is going to be harder and harder to love in the days ahead, to love others in response to their hatred.  

Tennessee's Official Book

Yesterday was a most peculiar day for me. I had been invited to Nashville in order to speak to a sub-committee of the state senate. A senator had proposed making the Holy Bible the official book of the state. I was asked by another senator to explain why it was not a good idea.

I teach many Bible studies: two on Wednesday, one Thursday and another at Sunday School. During Lent I add one on Friday. I am a very Bible focused person. I believe God reveals Himself in Scripture. I believe the Bible is sacred and central to Christian faith.  It seemed odd that I was recommending that they not bring this up for a vote.

Having been on the 'losing end' of many conflicts in my denomination (where my traditional faith is viewed negatively) it is easy to get competitive.[Truth is always a victim of that competition, winning can crush out Love and compassion.] The day I learned of the proposed resolution I had literally just spent fifteen minutes reading scathing attacks on the Christian faith at the New York Times website (someone had asked me to read an article related to my sermon). I was dismayed by the hostility of the posts, and it felt good to think that in Tennessee the Bible is still the Book. It felt real good...

Understand, I would be glad if everyone, and I mean everyone, acknowledged Jesus as Lord, read the Bible and lived in faithful love. So what better way than to have our senators declare the Bible is the official book of Tennessee?

Well, my initial enthusiasm waned as I thought through the ramifications. It may be another volley in the culture wars, but I grow weary of division for the sake of  'one-up-mans-ship'. I am afraid some group will rise up to sue the state, or demand some atheist work be included, etc. etc. I wonder why are we discussing this at such a  late date? If the state founders had declared the Bible was the state book I would think that would have been more appropriate. Thirdly, it feels like a crossing of the church-state divide. We are not a Christian nation, even if our nation is heavily Christian. Many of the Founders were Deists, a particular form of belief which denies core Christian doctrine. The goal was to create a nation where free exercise of religion would take place. I have no doubt the primary religion was Christian, but there was not to be a state sponsored church.  This leads to a connected concern I have; which Bible is the Holy Bible? I am Catholic, my Bible includes books which Protestants do not count. Jews do not have the same canon. Nor do the Eastern Orthodox. Other middle Eastern Christians have ancient canons which include or exclude other books. The state of Tennessee should not be determining the canon of Scripture (to their credit the proposal was vague enough to avoid that).

Perhaps the bigger concern is the civil religion issue. Sometimes Christians are willing to negotiate Truth to get the 'feeling' of official approval of their beliefs. We want prayer in school, but public state prayer is "generic prayer to a generic god" (even if we know Who we are praying to) which really ends up denying the faith we uphold. The Christian prays as a Christian or it is not prayer at all. We should pray as Christians in Jesus name. However, in our non-theocratic society we should also respect the conscience of Jews, Muslims, Hindus and other faiths. Majorities should be concerned not to tread on others. My fear is that to pass the constitutional muster, the Bible will be reduced, officially, to a history book. It is the Law of Unintended Consequences writ large. We deny it as Revelation of God and lower its status to an important literary work so as to get the state to say publicly it is a great book. Mind you, it is both. I agree that no other book has been more influential in the formation of our nation and the molding of its thought and people. Just wonder what political purpose this serves and what is the benefit--and cost.

There were four of us who spoke, but the committee passed it 7-0 with 2 abstaining. I told them I knew it was a difficult position. My guess is they come from a different Christian perspective from me. In the end I do not know if they want the Bible to be the state book or if they did not want to look like they were voting against the Bible. I do know there were lots of Bible loving Christians there who were very happy. I saw them hugging. I cannot fault them, after all, part of me agrees with them. I 'want' the Bible to be the official book. It is just that what I want is not necessarily fair or just or right. 

I also want to remind them that today's solution becomes tomorrow's problem (unintended consequences). Our victory today can become the basis of our defeat tomorrow. In a world where satanism and paganism grows and grows, I wonder what legislation will appear in the future. If today we can make the Bible the official book, what will they be able to do in future votes? We have much experience over the years watching the majority party have its way with the Minority (as it swings back and forth from one to the other). It is human (fallen) nature to desire to win and to punish those who oppose us. I get that, I experience it myself. I prefer to live in a place where I am free to believe, make decisions based on that faith, and publicly declare that the Bible is The Word of God, that it contains Divine Revelation. I much prefer that to a public acknowledgment that it is a history book and very influential in shaping our nation. 

Of course, it is also true that I would not have even known it was gong on if someone hadn't asked me to address the issue.... Sometimes it is hard to know what to focus on.  
  

Risen

Today in Chicago, the St. Louis Cardinals will play the Cubs in the first game of the season. There is only one game scheduled, but that game means that the 2015 MLB season has begun.The thing is, tomorrow no other teams will have played a game--but the season is still begun. If the rain delays other teams for  a week, the season is still started.

Today we celebrate Easter. The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of The Truly New "Season": the Kingdom of God. The rest of us will be raised some day, but for now Jesus is unique.

The resurrection of Jesus baffles the mind. We do not know much about His body, but we know it is a body resembling the body He had prior to death. He looks the same, even if He is very different. The Gospel stories also remind us that the same women who watched Jesus die and stood weeping at His tomb returned that Sunday morning after the Sabbath rest. It is they, the eye witnesses of that crucifixion,who  become the eye witnesses of the resurrected Lord.

Let us be clear, the reasons for believing Jesus was dead were rock solid. He had been beaten mercilessly and His body was ravaged. Nailed to the cross, His broken body gave out within hours. There is reason to believe He died of a heart attack, this is consistent with the spear wound which poured water and wine. Professional soldiers were satisfied that He was a corpse. His momma was there, she was satisfied He had died. The disciples were so sure He was dead that that hid away, cowering behind a closed door. They were bereft of any hope. There was no reason to think that Jesus would rise from the dead. Such things do not happen.

Ironically, the Gospel story of the women does not even enter into Paul's list of witnesses. This is consistent with the legal status of women at the time. No one in the ancient world would make up a story about something as unimaginable as Jesus resurrection and claim women were the first ones to see Him. If you were going to lie about it you would choose a reliable witness: a man. The only reason for saying it was women to whom Jesus first appeared is the fact that it was women.

In Corinthians, Paul provides the only non-Gospel account of the resurrection appearances of Jesus. Note that it is men whom he mentions by name. How wonderful it would be if each of those events were recounted for us, including first person reactions to the events. Sadly, we only know that there were many, including one to five hundred at the same time. 

Perhaps the best summary of Easter is the one found in Luke's Book of Acts 1:3--- After His suffering, Jesus presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs. My assumption is that those men and women, especially the ones who saw Him die with their own eyes, would have had a very high standard for determining what was convincing proof. They are no different than you or I. They know that dead people stay dead.

So what does this resurrection mean for us? It means that God has vindicated Jesus as Messiah. It means that the first game of the Kingdom has taken place. It means that we can be very sure that God has kept His promised to save the world and gather into His Kingdom those who love Him.

It means, for each of us personally, that we must choose to embrace Jesus as our Messiah King and the life He offers. He has shown He is alive, only a fool would choose death in the face of that wonderful Good News!  

Tonight the players will show up for the game, they will not go off and toss balls against a wall by themselves. Sadly, the church will not have the same enthusiasm and commitment to the Team Jesus. If we immerse ourselves in the Gospel Resurrection message, all our worries and fears will have a new frame of reference. God is faithful. Death is conquered, Jesus is risen.

Alleluia
 

Read It

Preaching Easter is both a thrill and a challenge. It is, after all, the central proclamation of Christians, the thing that sets Jesus aside as unique (to the eye). The resurrection remains the Big Event with which even peripheral Christians are familiar.

That said, preaching on the readings can be little more than recounting the words and applying them to our lives. In order to enter the reality, one must do a work of reading. Reading and thinking. Reading and thinking some more. Reading and noticing what is being said. Reading John (which we will today) and reading Mark (which we did last night) and pondering the differences and the similarities.

Too often we skim. We do not take time to consider what it all means. What it means for the World, what it means for us. If this is true (I think it is) it will dramatically impact what we think and how we act. Or it should impact us. But for that to happen, we must read. And read again. And think and ponder.

I will share my reflections on Easter later today.