Put on the Love Goggles

The Holy Gospel According to St. John, the  13th Chapter

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and

tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.” After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Tonight is Maundy Thursday.  The word “Maundy” comes from the same root word as the word “mandate” and a mandate is, of course, something we are told to do.  Many people think that the mandate Jesus gave on Maundy Thursday was to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, but that’s not it.  Jesus gave the disciples that mandate AT the Last Supper all those years ago but what Jesus commanded his disciples to do, both then and now, is to love one another.  

That Last Supper and this mandate came at the end of a very strange and amazing journey.  The disciples had seen miracles, healings and demons cast out.  They had even seen the dead raised.  They had heard teachings in the synagogues and preaching in the countryside.  They had seen tears shed, voices raised and Pharisees and scribes taught lesson after lesson.  They’d even seen Moses and Elijah on a mountaintop! 

But through that whole strange and different journey, one thing stayed the same.  Jesus always saw all the situations and all the people he encountered in a very special and unique way.  It was as if he had a special set of glasses through which he saw the world.  No matter where they went, he saw things and people differently than anyone else.  But now, as Jesus faced the end of his time on earth, he wanted to pass on to the disciples his special set of glasses... He wanted them to take on his unique and holy way of looking at the world.  

His unique vision... the special way he saw the world was to see the world through the lens of love.  “Just as I have loved you”, he said, “you also should love one another.”  Love was the special set of lenses through which Jesus saw everyone and all of God’s creation.  Now, on Maundy Thursday he gave the mandate that when his disciples look out at the world around us, we too are to see the world through the lenses of that new commandment of self-giving love.  

In essence, this was Jesus’ last will and testament.  It was the way he wanted the disciples to both remember what he did AND was also his vision for how he wanted them to live into the future.  This message... this mandate to live lives of self-giving love was so important that Jesus didn’t just TELL them that night... he also SHOWED them.   

Silently, Jesus took off his outer robe filled a basin with water, tied a towel around his waist and knelt at the feet of the disciples.  Jesus was acting out this life of self-giving love... the servant life he wants us all to live.  He physically DID what was in his neighbor’s best interest, no matter what society would say about it.  The senior was serving the junior.  The teacher was serving the student.  The Lord was serving the commoner.  This was Jesus’ acted-out last will and testament:  The disciples lives... our lives were to be lived out and understood from this servant perspective... On our knees, staring at the dusty feet of those around us, serving and loving in everything we say and do.  This is what Jesus wanted his disciples to know before he walked the path to his death.  This is what Jesus wanted his disciples to see before he was nailed to the cross.  This is how Jesus wanted his disciples to live, from that time forever more.  The thing about this mandate... about Jesus’ call to selfless love, is that it’s timeless.  

Love works no matter what else changes in the world.  As technology and society and culture changes and we look around and see things those first disciples could never have imagined... one thing doesn’t change....  the power of generous, self giving, servant love is the same love that always has and always will lead Jesus’ disciples in the right direction.  Of course Jesus’ disciples back then didn’t remember that when Jesus was taken away and crucified, but as Jesus’ disciples here in this place, we’ve got one up on those disciples from back then... we know that Easter is coming!

Easter is coming and no matter how things might change in our personal lives or in the life of our church that fact... that Easter is coming... can give us the courage to hold tight to Jesus’ mandate of selfless love in even the hardest and darkest times.  It is easy when things get hard to forget about love.  It is easy in those Good Friday times to forget the mandate and Jesus‘ call to see everything and everyone though that unique lens of selfless love he passed on to us disciples on that first Maundy Thursday... but Easter is coming!  So remember... Jesus, with his last will and testament, has given us the power both to see and transform the world into the Kingdom of God.  He has given us the gift of his vision... the gift of his lenses that allow us to see the world with love... even as everything else around you changes and shakes and even fades to darkness... remember... you have been given the greatest power in all of creation... the power of selfless love.  So as Jesus first loved you also should love one another.  Amen. 

Yeah, But

The Holy Gospel According to St. John, the 11^th Chapter

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” 

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you

laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” 

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 

During the last few weeks we’ve had a series of Gospel stories from John.  It started with the story about Nicodemus and Jesus telling him and all of us that the way we get faith, is a lot like the way we are born.  If you think about a baby being born, that baby isn’t in control of when they are born and in a similar way we aren’t in control of when we believe either.  Our life in this world and our life in faith are both simply and only gifts from God. 

That seemed like a pretty clear message to me, but maybe it really wasn’t all that clear to everyone.  It’s almost like Jesus told the Nicodemus story and then someone listening in said, “Yeah, but.”  “Yeah, faith is a gift, BUT Nicodemus was a righteous, good, Jewish man, so could THAT be what he did to deserve God’s gift of faith?”  Aren't there some qualifications to deserve God’s gifts of love and grace and faith?  Do you maybe have to be righteous, seek Jesus out like Nicodemus did, be Jewish or maybe even be a man to qualify for God’s gifts?  

To answer those questions that aren’t in the scripture stories but certainly have been asked through the ages, Jesus tells the story of the Samaritan woman at the well.  She was not not righteous, she was not seeking Jesus out, she wasn’t Jewish and she wasn’t a man.  In fact she was actually the opposite of all of those things and STILL was a person who received all of God’s love and grace and faith purely and simply as a gift.  

“YEAH, she did receive God’s gifts of love and grace and faith, BUT, she talked with Jesus for a long time.  Could it be that you need to build a relationship with Jesus first and be converted in order to deserve the gifts of God’s love and grace and faith?

And so there's another question that isn’t asked out loud in the scriptures but certainly has been asked over and over again throughout the ages.  To answer this next “Yeah, but” question Jesus tells the story of the Man Born Blind.  The Man Born Blind literally did not see Jesus coming!  He didn’t ask Jesus to heal him and Jesus didn’t ask him if he wanted to be healed either!  Jesus just walked up to him, made some spit/mud and wiped it in his eyes and told him to go wash!  God’s love, God’s grace, God’s gift of faith really is a complete and total no-strings-attached gift!  

“YEAH, he did receive his sight, BUT, the man did do SOMETHING, he followed Jesus’ instructions and went and washed in the pool of Siloam.  Could it be that we too need to do SOMETHING to receive God’s infinite love and grace and faith.”

And so we have another question that isn’t printed out in black and white in the text but certainly has been asked and debated over the years.  So, to answer this latest “Yeah, but” question Jesus tells the story we read today... the story of Lazarus.    

In each of those other stories Jesus tried to make it clear that God’s love, grace and our ability to believe is simply and only a gift from God.  But in each of those stories just the interaction of Jesus with the people seemed to make the “Yeah, but” folks believe that maybe they had a part to play in deserving or qualifying for God’s gift.  So in a last ditch effort to help the “Yeah, but” folks really see that God’s love, grace and faith really and truly are a complete and no-strings-attached gift from God, Jesus tells a story that stars a dead man... and actually Lazarus is even worse off than that!  The common wisdom of the day back then was that the soul hung around a body for three days, but by day four, the soul was for sure gone and there was absolutely, positively NO HOPE!  Then, as we hear in the King James version of this story it’s even worse than that, because “He Stinketh.”

By telling the story of Lazarus, Jesus answered the “Yeah, but” folks questions once and for all by showing them that all that is required of us, is EXACTLY the same thing a lifeless, soulless corpse which stinketh can give... which is absolutely, positively NOTHING!  Lazarus wasn’t a righteous Jewish man who sought Jesus out... he was a corpse.  Lazarus didn’t have a conversation or develop a saving relationship with Jesus... he was a corpse and Lazarus wasn’t going to go wash anywhere or do anything else because, you guessed it... he was a corpse!

Lazarus came out of that tomb, not because he lived a certain way, not because he was born into a certain family or tribe, not because he was convinced in conversation by Jesus and not because he did anything, believed anything or figured out anything.  He came out of that tomb and lived again simply and only because Jesus said so!  He didn’t have a choice.  He didn’t even have a chance to say yes or no!  His new life came to him simply and only as a gift and the same is true for you and for me.  

The “Yeah, but” folks continue to try and look for what they need to do to deserve or qualify for God’s love and grace.  They continue to wonder how they need to act, what they need to do, how they need to live in order to get God to give them the gift of God’s love, grace and faith.

YEAH, I understand folks still have trouble with the idea of the completely free, no-strings-attached, grace filled abundant love of God... BUT that’s just not the right question!  We shouldn’t be asking what we need to do to GET God’s love... because we’ve already got it!  The real question we need to be asking is, now that we have been overwhelmed with the abundance of God’s love, what should we do with all of it?  

You are about to enter a new day as a congregation.  Your new pastor is on her way.  You have a new relationship with the church in Norway.  The stone has been rolled away and you are coming out into the light!  Take a deep breath of the fresh, new air.  Help one another unwrap whatever might be left that could be binding you up and may you all together begin to live again in the abundance that is God’s love and life.  Amen.      

Jesus, Did You Just Rub Spit and Dirt on Me?

The Holy Gospel According to St. John, the 9^th Chapter

As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on

the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” 

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.” The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out. 

Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 

Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

I grew up in Florida on the Gulf.  Kelly grew up in the middle of Alabama and our kids grew up in New Mexico and Colorado... all wonderful places but not exactly ocean front.  So, when Kelly became a flight attendant we were able to visit the ocean and I thought I’d introduce them to the thing I loved most about the beach... snorkeling.  I thought if I could give them a mask and snorkel they would see in a whole new way. 

In a way, that’s what Jesus did in today’s lesson.  He gave the man born blind what he needed to see in a whole new way.  Now, in the Bible, blindness is almost always about more than just physical blindness... it’s almost always about faith and believing too, and this is one of those stories.

  

Jesus tells the disciples that the man’s blindness (both his eye ball blindness and his faith blindness) isn’t anyone’s fault.  It’s just that the man didn’t have what he needed to see.  Just like without a mask you can’t see clearly in the ocean, this man just didn’t have what he needed to see... either physically... or in faith. 

Jesus gave him what he needed.  Jesus picked up some dirt, spit in it, made mud and smeared it in the man’s face and then told him to go and wash.  Imagine being that man.  You are blind and a stranger comes up to you without any warning, makes some spit-mud and wipes it on your eyes and tells you to go wash.  Would you think it would cure your blindness?  Would you go wash because he told you to or would you go wash because some stranger just snuck up on you and put spit-mud in your face!  I don’t know what he thought, but he went and washed and he could see!

Now notice... the man didn’t ask to be healed and Jesus didn’t ask him if he wanted to be healed.  Jesus just did it!  Now remember, this isn’t just a story about a man whose eye balls didn’t work, this is also a story about faith.  So what we learn from this lesson is that we too are given sight... given the ability to believe... given the ability to follow Jesus... ONLY as a gift from God.  We don’t ask for it, we aren’t asked if we want it, we don’t say or do anything.  On our own, we can’t see... on our own we simply don’t have the equipment to follow Jesus... on our own we just can’t believe.

  

As a good Lutheran, this is where I’m obligated to put in a quick plug for Luther’s explanation of the third article of the Creed.  So check it out, but to be honest, I want you to think more about WHY God wants you to have this gift of faith than worry about HOW the Holy Spirit delivers the gift.  God wants to give us this gift of faith because seeing is simply better than being blind!  Following Christ leads to a better, deeper more abundant life than not following and God wants what is best for us and for all of creation!  

So in some way we will never fully get our minds around, we are washed in the Baptismal Font, just like the Man Born Blind and like him we are given the gift of seeing in a whole new way!  Well the Baptismal Font is ALMOST the same as the Man Born Blind.  The Church, in one of it’s wiser historical moves has eliminated the spit and dirt part!  BUT, the washing is still the same and most importantly the gift of faith... the gift of sight is the same too.  

The first time I got to take my family snorkeling was in the Bahamas.  The waves were a bit large and Kelly’s snorkel filled up with water.  The fish were a bit too creepy for Hanna and things didn’t go well for Maggie either and soon all three of them were back in the boat and I was all by myself snorkeling over a reef in the Bahamas.  Their experience seeing the world in a whole new way didn’t go as smoothly as I wanted.  And to be honest, faith can be that way too.  Some preachers might tell you that with faith, your life is magically full of glitter and unicorns, but in my experience faith is a lot messier than that.  Faith... seeing clearly... can be filled with some real struggles along the way.

Now, some faith struggles can be self inflicted.  Those self inflicted struggles come from insisting that we have to do something to deserve being able to see.  “It can’t really be a free gift... that’s just too good to be true!” they will say and so, in spite of being given the gift of sight... the gift of faith... they choose to keep their eyes tightly shut.   It’s like being given a vacation but refusing to take it; like having the money to fix the leaking roof but saving it instead for a rainy day!  

Other faith struggles though, happen as we honestly try to live into our new gift of sight.  As the Man Born Blind tried to live into his new gift, the people around him were threatened by the idea that God was working in a way they had never experienced before.  His new sight challenged people’s understanding of God and people don’t like their version of God being challenged!  In the end, living into his new gift of sight got him friends that didn’t trust him, parents that didn’t stand up for him, and a community that kicked him out forever.  

A couple of years after we went snorkeling in the Bahamas we tried it again in Mexico in a protected little cove.  This time the waves were almost nonexistent and the ocean stayed out of Kelly’s lungs.  She saw the reef, the fish and even a sea turtle... she loved it!  For Hanna, well, the fish still creeped her out and Maggie still wasn’t a fan and you know what?  That’s all right.  For Kelly it was the right place and time and for the girls it just wasn’t yet. 

And that’s just how it works with living into our faith too.  We’ve all been given the gift of sight... the gift of faith.  When and how we live into that gift is different for each of us, but as we do, we will begin to see the world through God’s eyes.  We’ll see more clearly the hurts and the pains of the people around us but we’ll also more clearly see God active and alive in the world calling us to work with God to transform the world into the place God intends it to be.  

In the Font we are washed and we are transformed from blindness to sight... from dark to light... from disbelief to faith... from deaf to hearing and from lame to walking.  Our sight, our faith, our ability to walk and hear and follow are only and always a gift from God.  How we choose to live into those gifts of faith... that is called discipleship.  Faith is God’s doing... God’s no-strings-attached gift to us.  Discipleship is what it’s called when we decide to respond to that gift, not in fear that it will be taken away, but because we have been overwhelmed by God’s love for us.  It’s a big difference.  Do you see?  Amen.

It's a LIE!

The Holy Gospel According to St. John, the 4^th Chapter

So Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,

but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” 

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.” 

When I was a kid in elementary school, the boys would take their leftover food at lunch and attempt to create a mixture so vile that even WE would find it disgusting.  It was a challenge!  Today’s Gospel story, is the story of a woman who assumed that in Jesus’s eyes, she would look like a vile, disgusting mix; worse than any leftover cafeteria food mixture created by any 4th grade boy.  The sad part is that she had pretty good reason to assume that would be Jesus’s reaction.  There were a bunch of things about her that any faithful Jewish man SHOULD have found more repulsive than my fourth grade cafeteria tray.  

First, she was a woman.  Women had no legal status.  Second, she was a Samaritan.  Back when the Babylonians took the people of Israel into exile they didn’t take everybody.  The leaders, intellectuals and the wealthy were taken away but many of the regular folks were left.  They ended up marrying non-Jewish people and having kids.  BUT, when the exiles returned, those who had intermarried were considered unclean and they were kicked out of the Jewish community.  Those who got kicked out became the Samaritans.  Third, since she wasn’t Jewish, her water jug was ritually unclean and finally, there was the issue with the men in her life. 

The tradition, of course, is that she was a woman of questionable moral character, but the text doesn’t really say that.  It’s more likely that her earlier husbands had either died or even more likely, abandoned her when they discovered she couldn’t have children, which would have been the “right” thing for the men to do in that culture and would also explain why she was out in public during the “men’s time” to be out in public, because the women would not want her around and possibly “catch” whatever she had that made her not be able to have kids.  

So, she’s a woman.  She’s a woman who’s a Samaritan.  She’s a woman, a Samaritan and unclean.  She’s a woman, a Samaritan, unclean and broken.  She’s a physically broken, unclean, unwanted, Samaritan woman who is doing whatever she can just to get by.  None of that was her fault.  It just was.  But regardless of who’s “fault” it was or wasn’t, she had been carefully taught over the years to expect that ANY person would have found ANY one of those things about her reason to throw her aside... All those things taken together SHOULD HAVE BEEN as disgusting to Jesus as the most toxic cafeteria mix an elementary school boy could ever imagine! ...  But it wasn’t.  

It wasn’t!  Should have been... five or six times over it should have been... but it wasn’t!   Now, she didn’t understand what Jesus was saying at first and really, who could blame her!  She had inherited a story, told over and over and over for generations before her and she had years and years of personal experience of people telling her directly this one particular story; that because of who she was, where she had been born and who her parents had been, that all the life she should ever expect was a leaky, heavy to haul, bucket of stagnant water kind of life.  But Jesus sat there at the well and insisted there was a different story for her life and he stuck with her until she finally heard it, didn’t he?  Back and forth and back and forth they went with Jesus always insisting she hear this new story.  

That new story Jesus insisted she hear, was that her life was worthy of abundance... of living water... of God’s overflowing artesian well of love for her.  Not “someday” when she changed or got converted or started living right, but RIGHT NOW, JUST AS SHE WAS right there at the well... a broken, wounded and abandoned Samaritan woman.  THAT woman was worthy of a life overflowing with the abundance of God’s love for her.  THAT was the new story Jesus had for her and the story he insisted replace that terrible and untrue story she had inherited and that she had been told all her life... it took a while, but when she finally got it, she REALLY got it!  So much so that she went and told the told the world!  

What terrible and untrue story have you inherited?  What awful, false and crippling story have you heard so many times that you fear deep down might just be true?  What story do you struggle to keep shoved back in the back of the closet?  What story do we push down deep into the dark places of ourselves, terrified that it might get out and someone else might see?  

You know the story I’m talking about.  I have a story like that… my story says I'm a bad provider for my family… I don't know what your story says but we all have one.  That heavy lifting, leaky bucket of stagnant water story?  That toxic mix worse than any cafeteria mess story?  You know that story?  THAT... STORY... IS... A... LIE.  Just like that woman at the well, YOUR life and my life is worthy of ABUNDANCE... of living water... of God’s overflowing artesian well of love!  AND just like that woman at the well, our CONGREGATION is worthy of a life of abundance... of living water... of God’s overflowing artesian well of love too!  Not just in the past and not just someday in the future when we do this or get that right, but JUST AS WE ARE right HERE, right NOW gathered together around THIS well of living water!  (the Baptismal font)

The new story Jesus has for us is that we are worthy of not just a stagnant water kind of life, but an abundant life... a life overflowing, gushing, showering us with God’s love, and that we are worthy of it simply and only because God in Christ says we are!   May you and I come every week to THIS WELL and not just listen to this new story but really HEAR this new story.  May you and I remind one another all through the week that THIS is our true story and may you and I tell each other this true story over and over and over and over again until that old, stagnant lie of a story is dead and buried in a tomb and the only story we can remember is the story of our Baptisms, the story of this well, the story of living water, the story of abundant life, the story of resurrection and God’s infinite, unconditional love for us and for all of creation through Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

Fork in the Road? Take it!

The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, the 4^th Chapter

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.

The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

A very smart teacher once told me that when you read about what Jesus did in the Bible you should remember that “The Body of Christ” is called to do the same thing in the world today.  The Church, of course, is the Body of Christ…so you and I and all Christians everywhere... we are the Body of Christ.  That means that together we are called to do the things that Jesus did... feed the hungry, heal people, include the outcast and turn the world up side down.  OK so far, but that’s not the whole story is it?  If the Body of Christ is going to do everything Jesus did, that means we should also expect ridicule, hatred, pain and even death.  Those things don’t sound quite as good and then to top that off, based on today's lesson, it also looks like we should probably expect to be tested.  But what is the test?  It might not be the test you expect it to be! 

When Jesus was tested, the devil had no doubt that Jesus was God’s son.  In fact, when you look at all the times Jesus ran into demons of one kind or another, they all knew exactly who Jesus was.  The real test was not whether or not Jesus was the Messiah.  He was!  Even the demons knew that.  The test... the REAL test was what KIND of Messiah was Jesus going to be.  Would he be the kind of Messiah that fixed the whole world with tricks and slight of hand?  Would he be the kind of Messiah that grabs headlines and fame to get his message out?  Would he be the kind of Messiah that brought in God’s Kingdom by any means neccasary?  

That was the real test.  What KIND of Messiah would he be?  Now, you would think with the devil there, pitchfork in hand, it shouldn’t really be a hard test.  You just don’t do what the red guy with horns says to do.  Right?  But you and I know that when we face these kinds of life tests in our lives there is never a literal pitch fork carrying, horned, red guy with a goatee standing there.  It’s always more subtle than that and I suspect it was more subtle for Jesus as well.

Jesus’s first test was to feed the hungry…feeding the hungry doesn’t sound like a bad thing, and it’s not.  The test was if he was going to just do it, or was he going to do it God’s way by transforming the hearts and minds of the world, so all of creation made sure no one was ever hungry?  His second test was to draw attention to himself so the message of the Kingdom of God would get out better.  You have to admit there is nothing like a huge stunt in the middle of the capital city to draw people’s attention and Jesus’s message isn’t at all a bad message.  But the real test was if he would soak up the spotlight himself OR would he turn the spotlight to God so the world sees the true source of light and life?  Then came the test to rule the world.  Jesus ruling the world.  God’s Son ruling the world.  That can’t be bad, can it?  All the war, suffering, pain and injustice wiped away forever under Jesus’ rule.  Not bad, Right?  But the real test was HOW Jesus would bring God’s Kingdom to the world.  Would he choose might-makes-right or would he bring in the Kingdom of God through love, compassion and completely giving of himself?

That is what makes these tests so hard.  Jesus isn’t asked to do evil things.  Instead, Jesus is asked to do wonderful things, BUT in the world’s way... NOT in God’s way.  For God, the means to the end DO matter and God means to have his Son and the Body of Christ (that means you and me together) work not in the ways of the world but in God’s very different ways of unlimited love, radical inclusion, compassion, honesty, openness, generosity and grace.  

As the Body of Christ we too are constantly tempted to lean on the methods and instincts we’ve learned in the world.  If it’s for the best, the world says to just force it through no matter what it takes.  It’s easier to get forgiveness than permission and it’s better to be effective than to be loved.  As the Body of Christ we are constantly tested to do what we do as the Church, not with God’s methods, but in the way we have gotten used to things working in our every day lives.  God’s ways of being open and honest and vulnerable with one another is scary, because we’ve all learned out there in the world that those qualities are seen and often exploited as weakness, so we’re tempted every day to choose to do it the world’s way instead of God's way.  

Our experience in the world has shown us that living by love, vulnerability and trust can lead to pain.  It’s no wonder that we often seek to avoid those struggles, conflicts or pain and instead just do things in those seemingly safer, more familiar, worldly ways.  It’s no wonder that the Body of Christ often decides to just be careful, go along to get along, to not say anything that might rub someone the wrong way, not make waves and hope and pray that things will just be “OK” in the end.  That's why the world's way is so very tempting!  

The trouble with that is the Body of Christ… the Church... has not been called to live just an “OK” life.  God didn’t create us for just an “OK” kind of life!  God doesn’t think “OK” is good enough for us!  God thinks you deserve better than just OK... God wants all of Creation to live not just an OK life but an ABUNDANT life!  So the real test... the real temptation is not to do something awful, but to simply decide out of fear to live a life less than the one God created us to live.  Knowing that SHOULD make the choice easy, right?  But it doesn't.  It’s not easy because it means walking a path like Jesus did and we know the path he walked did not lead him into a comfortable, untroubled or conflict free life.  The path he chose was not easy... it was faithful... but not easy. 

We are the Body of Christ; we are the Church.  We have been led into the wilderness not to try to get us to fail, but to give us the chance to choose the Abundant life God created us to live!  God wants us to succeed!  We are led by the Holy Spirit, we have each other and the promise of angels to care for us when we are exhausted.  We are the Body of Christ... the Church...  no one doubts that... not even the demons.  The test for us for is what kind of Church will we choose to be?  Amen.

Suffering Is Nice… I Suppose, But...

The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, the 6^th Chapter

"Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

"So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

  "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

  "And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

  "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Today is the start of the season of Lent and if you take the word of many people on the street, Lent is all about suffering.  If you start a conversation with someone about Lent, you will inevitably end up discussing what you are both giving up.  Chocolate, meat, coffee and even beer are popular consumables to give up.  Facebook and swearing are popular non-food items to give up.  But, is giving something up to create self-inflicted suffering really the reason for the season?  Suffering is nice… I suppose… if you’re into that sort of thing, but suffering is not really what God is looking for in the season of Lent or in any other season for that matter.  The idea that the same God that literally loved us into being wants us to spend the next six weeks suffering is just sort of twisted to me.   

Finding ever more creative ways to make yourself suffer seems to be what people often do for Lent.  But in today’s gospel, Jesus gives only the briefest nod to the “what” people are doing:  Fasting, prayer and giving money to the poor.  Instead, Jesus focuses on making sure whatever we’re doing, we’re doing it for the correct reason “WHY.”  Prayer, fasting and giving money to the poor were all things that Jesus thought were fine things to do in his time and in fact, they still can be really great things to do even in our time.  BUT, the “why” matters!  If you are doing them to suffer for suffering’s sake... frankly, that’s a terrible reason!  

In this lesson, Jesus is challenging us to live beyond the “what” and instead live out of the “why.”  So, why do you give money to the poor?  Jesus said that if you give money to the poor to look good to others, then you’ve missed the point.  But, if you give money as a way to help yourself refocus on people other than yourself and so justice can be done in the world, then THAT’S a good reason “why”.  If you give money so that those who live without, may simply live, that’s a good reason why too and you’ve found yourself a good Lenten discipline.      

How about prayer?  Prayer is not supposed to be a chore, a duty or a punishment.  It also isn’t a magic spell meant to manipulate God.  Prayer is a means to bind us together for mutual support and to build a deeper relationship with God.  It’s a way to tune into one another’s needs and be reminded again that we aren’t alone... our community is with us and God is with us.  Prayer reminds us that we are loved and the universe is larger than just the space between our ears.  If you pray to refocus... to orient yourself to God’s love and pass on that love to the people around you... if you pray so that you can better love your neighbor and be quiet and listen for God, then prayer can be an excellent Lenten discipline.   

What about fasting?  Well, are you doing it to suffer for all the awful things you or the human race has done over the years?  If you want to do that you better plan on never eating again because, let’s be honest, the human race has done some REALLY HORRIBLE things over the years!  However, if fasting will remind you that the food you are missing is not something to take for granted, but something that comes as a gift from God.  That’s not a bad reason.  If it will remind you that the unpleasant hungry feeling you have when you fast is something that nearly 1 in 4 kids in Maine experience every day or that there are 200,000 people in Maine that have that feeling not just for the 40 days in Lent but for 365 days each year... then that’s an even better reason.  Then, if fasting refocuses you so you not only think about those people but ALSO go out and do something to fill the hungry with good things in our community, then that’s the best reason yet and fasting might be a Lenten discipline for you to adopt.    

Can you see what Jesus is doing here?  Jesus is doing what God has done throughout scripture.  Jesus is trying to get us to stop us obsessing about that person in our mirror and focus instead on our relationships with God and one another.  That is what Lent is meant to do.  God tells us we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and minds and souls and our neighbors as ourselves.  The prophet Micah summarizes all the prophets by reminding us again that God requires nothing of us except to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God and Jesus takes that same theme and reminds us again, here in the Sermon on the Mount, that we are called to be merciful, pure in heart and peacemakers.  You see, suffering isn’t the goal of Lent!  The REAL goal of Lent is to give us time to pause in our hectic lives, reorient ourselves to better receive God’s love and change our focus from ourselves and our wants, to the people who live all around us and their needs.  Giving alms, prayer and fasting are just three of the most ancient ways to do that.

Maybe suffering is what will do that for you.  I don’t personally get that, but there are lots of things in this world I don’t get.  For me, something like buying soap for St. Mark’s pantry as I shop for groceries for myself works better.  For me, tipping my server at a restaurant way over the normal 20% reminds me that while I’m enjoying this special treat of eating out, the person serving me, and the one doing my dishes in the back are working very hard and are not quite making it from paycheck to paycheck.  For me, packing food boxes, paying the bill for the car behind me at the drive thru, reading to a kid at a school or posting three things I am thankful for on Facebook for 40 straight days works better for me than any kind of self imposed suffering.  Maybe that’s just me, but if you can think of something you think might work better for you than the traditional suffering, then there is still time to change your plans for Lent.

May your Lenten disciplines and journey not bring you meaningless suffering, but may you do the things that will bring your closer to your neighbors and to our loving and compassionate God.  May the things you do refocus you on the “other” and in that refocusing, move you closer to the abundant, meaning filled life God created you to live.  Amen. 

40 Days of Self Loathing! Or How About…Not.

The Rio Grande Gorge outside of Taos, New Mexico is a 1200 foot wide 600 foot deep gorge.  This gigantic gorge is cut into a very flat part of New Mexico by the Rio Grande river and if you found yourself on one side wanting to get to the other side, you would be looking at quite a thing to try to get across.  (if you weren't by the bridge of course)

If Saint Paul had seen this gorge he might have found it a good illustration of how far he felt from being the person God was calling him to be.  He said we always seem to do the things we know that we shouldn't do and don't ever seem to be able to do the things we should.  St. Paul not only knew that about humans but admitted to that human weakness himself.  Martin Luther was always a good one too for pointing out how far he felt from the place he understood God wanted him to be.  He referred to himself as a "bag of maggots" once since he felt that horribly rotten about himself when he looked at where he was and where he thought God wanted him to be.  

It seems like Lent has become a time set aside every year to spend forty days looking into the gorge between where we are and where God wants us to be and then feeling horrible about it.  Forty days of self loathing!  Yeah!  To help with that self abuse, you might want to fast because someone that far from God doesn’t really deserve good food, do they?  You might want to suffer through extra worship services to have an extra opportunity to be reminded that you are not just a bag of maggots, but a huge, squirming bag of maggots.  You may want to read the long genealogies in the Bible in an effort to take on some holy, Biblical kind of mind-numbing hurt.  You could do all of that during the season of Lent…  it is sort of tradition after all (although not that old of a tradition really)… but does any of that help you to narrow the gap between the place you are now and the place God is calling you to be?  Do you believe that spending the next six weeks of Lent staring into the canyon that separates you from God will do anything to get you closer to God, or are you just abusing yourself for forty days because it will just feel so dang good to stop on Easter Sunday? 

I'm not sure how we got to this place where Lent is a time of suffering because it really doesn't make any sense.  If you think you are going to suffer for the sins of the world, you have a LOT more suffering to do than anything you can fit into the next forty days.  The same is true if you think you are going to suffer like Jesus did on the cross.  No amount of missed beer, candy or Facebook is going to equal crucifixion.  In the early Church, Lent wasn't a time of suffering but a time to prepare candidates for Baptism.  The disciplines of Lent were meant to intentionally grow faith, to bring you closer to others and to God, not to tear apart your humanity.  

So, instead of being a season to stare with teary, sorrowful eyes into the gorge between how our lives are now and the abundant, meaning filled lives God wants for us, how about if we take the next forty days to work on constructing a bridge and get a little closer to God, our neighbors and that abundant life!  Building a bridge is really what the disciplines of Lent should be about.  I will be the first to admit that building up is harder than tearing down and beating yourself up for six weeks.  It will be harder to work actively on connecting more deeply with God and with your neighbors than it would be to spend the next six weeks looking in the mirror and doing daily, mental, self-mutilations.  However, I think it's past time for us all to give it a try.

There have been a number of Lenten Discipline Lists going around the internet this year.  Some are good and some are terrible.  In the end, whatever you decide to do, ask yourself that particular discipline will move you closer to God, your neighbors and the meaning filled life God created you to live.  If you think it might, then do that.  By the way, the traditional things like fasting, prayer, giving to the poor and extra worship are not bad ideas, as long as the "why" you are doing them is to bridge the gap and build relationships and not stare with self-loathing in the hole.  Here's a couple other ideas…

• Post three things you are thankful for each day on Facebook.
• Every time you turn on your car pray for a new person (a list on the visor helps in the early morning hours!)  
• Tip 50%… at least! every time you eat out in Lent.  
• Pay the bill for the car two behind yours in the drive through.  
• Buy one item (tuna and peanut butter are good choices) for the food bank EVERY time you go into the grocery store during Lent, even if it's just for milk.
• Add one minute of silence to your day each day during Lent.  (Yup, that means 40 minutes at the end)  
• Bring cookies to the neighbors you have never met before.  
• Babysit your friend's kids for free so they can have a night out.
• Make homeless gift bags with travel toothpaste, tooth brush, clean socks, comb, soap, candy miniatures and a note that says, "I care" then keep them in your car and give them out throughout Lent.  
• Send a hand written card to someone each day in Lent.
• Eat a bowl of ice cream each evening in the quiet and remember the sweetness of the friendship of one specific person with each spoonful.  Taste the ice cream, picture their face, thank God for them being in your life.  (This is my favorite one!)