Basking in sunshine

‘… it is good for us to be here’  (Mark 9:5)

Mark 9:2-10 (Year B: Lent 2)

                                          pic: The Franciscan Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor

The transfiguration is a story of how Jesus, accompanied by three of his disciples, were ‘transfigured’ on the top of a mountain. It was very definitely a ‘high’ moment. There, on the mountain top, the disciples along with Jesus were lifted up in light and covered in a divine presence of the Cloud.  Yet, the story continues with a descent into warning, fear and an expectation of something very ominous.  The  Cross is getting near. Fear is not absent from the story. Why, according to some liturgical cycles, is this passage used in Lent even towards the beginning of the Lenten journey some 11 days into the 46 day period that Lent constitutes (from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday)? 

Jesus ascended the mountain ‘six days’ after the proclamation of the Messiah in Caesarea Philippi (Mark 8:27). This echoes the six days found in Exodus 24:15-16 when:

For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud.

The presence of God and the transformation over Moses to be found in Exodus 33:7-23 has a strong resemblance with the Transfiguration (or metamorphosis in Greek). Further on, in Exodus 34:30, we are told that Moses’ face shone in the presence of God.

The episode of the Transfiguration comes in the middle of an intense period of healing, preaching and contestation. Jesus had warned his disciples, six days before the Transfiguration, that ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’ The stakes were high and expectations were bounding forward. The disciples needed a reality check. But, they also needed an uplift during a period of intense stress and uncertainty. They did not know what was next. They had a sense that all was not well and that they were in great danger.

There on the top of the mountain they came face to face (in so far as anyone can in this world) with the Almighty. It was moment of great fear and great wonder and joy – all in one. Note that Jesus chose not to go to the top of the mountain on his own. He brought others with him. Each person, on this mountain, experienced something wonderful and extraordinary. Yet, it was not an experience of single individuals on their own. It was a shared experience. The high was experienced with Jesus in the midst of the chosen disciples. More than that the story tells us that Elijah and Moses were in their midst. That was an impressive company of persons. Their topic of conversation (according to Luke 9:30) was about his departure (exodos in the Greek).

Although the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) tell us that the disciple John was present at the transfiguration there is no direct and explicit reference to this event in the Gospel associated with John. However, it could be said with accuracy that the entire Gospel of John is a meditation on the inner meaning of the Transfiguration.  And the essence of this event is captured in John 1:14:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The huge significance of Moses and Elijah would not be missed on the Jewish listeners to the evangelist’s story. Moses was the dispenser of the law and leader of God’s people. Through his hands came the ten commandments, the Law and the promises. Elijah was the great prophet who foretold God’s salvation. Yet, in their midst stood another Prophet in whom God was well pleased and ready to acknowledge as his only Son. After this ‘when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.’ (v. 36).  And this is the point. The stage has been vacated, so to speak, by Moses and Elijah while Jesus is the messiah, prophet and leader now. His time has come and so has ours. Elijah had come already (Mark 9:13) according to Jesus (in the person of John the Baptist).

So, Jesus was and is different.

And this was one of those moments like the baptism in the Jordan and later on the cross when Jesus’ sonship is proclaimed to those ready to listen. Listening is what we are invited to do in the story of the transfiguration. The one consistent message from the Father to us is ‘Listen to him’. Listen to him in ourselves, in others and in the events and environment of our lives. The famous German philosopher, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) once wrote:

Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and the more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.

We must listen to the voice of reason and of emotion within us as to discern that ‘moral law’ deep within. As the prophet Jeremiah wrote:

I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts (Jer 31:33)

It is good for us to be here on this mountain. But we cannot stay there for too long. We must make the descent back and face what we had to face before we started the climb. However, our hearts have been refreshed and, perhaps, some baggage was lost or thrown off on the way (in environmentally friendly disposal bins on the mountain!

We need The Vision Thing on our journey.

Isaiah (12:2)wrote:

‘Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defence; he has become my salvation’

There is something greater than any one of us in our midst.  This is the flame, the cloud, the bright light that takes us forward and shows us true freedom and joy.

We have 10,000 reasons to be thankful and cheerful no matter what is going in our lives and those around us. Every now and again there is a moment that breaks out – not too often perhaps – when we can say ‘I have met the Lord in the midst of the assembly and I was glad. It is good to be here. It is good to be alive’.  Then, the lyrics and music of Matt Redman’s “10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)”. might fit the occasion:

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

With Jesus, Peter, James and John we can sing out from within current situation. In this moment of transfiguration we can declare in all honesty what Habakkuk wrote (3:19)

The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.

The psalmist declares (17:34):

My feet you make swift as the deer's; you have made me stand firm on the heights.

A popular ‘twitterer’ – @frpaddybyrne had the following to say, recently:

 ‘Just spent time visiting a terminally ill lady. “Life’s too short…. Don’t waste time’ (21 Feb 2015)

Indeed life is short and the time remaining to us reduces every day we wake up. Let’s not waste our time but, rather, seek the company of fellow pilgrims on this Lenten Journey to freedom.

9 seconds and 12 words

‘… The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news’  (Mark 1:15)

Mark 1:9-15 (Year B: Lent 1)

The Chief economist at the Bank of England has commented that

The rising incidence of attention deficit disorders, and the rising prominence of Twitter, may be further evidence of shortening attention spans…. Fast thought could make for slow growth.

Twitter – in case we didn’t know involves online messages of no more than 140 characters (about 25 words on average per tweet).  It is estimated that media ‘soundbites’ are now down to 9 seconds in the USA. This implies approximately 12 words in which politicians, advertisers, homelists, parents, teenagers, etc convey their ‘message’. Hardly an academic thesis bite discourse. Still, if for example you find yourself on a bus, in a taxi or in a lift (elevator) somewhere and have 9X10=90 seconds to convey your ‘message’ to someone who seems interested and inquisitive you might want to check out the first chapter of the gospel of Mark.

So, what 12 words could be used? Here they are: ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news’.

Here are the 12 words:

The Kingdom of God

The phrase ‘kingdom of God’ had deep resonance in Jesus’ milieu. It may be a little lost on the world today, unfamiliar or unfriendly to human notions, metaphors and institutions of royalty. But, the idea of the Kingdom still has currency and relevance if we understand it as a spiritual reign or ruling over minds and hearts freely accepting of this. It signifies a reign of personal and social freedom and justice. The two go hand in hand. It implies that those who are poor, oppressed, excluded are brought into the centre of our communities and listened to and empowered. There, peace and love are established where, before, suspicion, resentment and factionalism prevailed.

For Faith works, People matter and God reigns.

And the kingdom belongs to those who received it with childlike simplicity, trust and openness (Luke 18:17). It is a common practice to associate the term and the idea of the kingdom of heaven with the world that it is to come, or, simply that which is after death. But, it is clear from most usages of the term in the Gospels that the kingdom is also in the here and now in our midst – very near and about to break into our little world.

The late theologian, William Placher, put it this way in relation to Mark 1:14-15: “What Jesus is beginning is the transformation of this world. That is why those in charge of this world as it was ended up killing him.” (Placher, 2010:35): Mark Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible.

A particular emphasis to be found in the Gospel of John is rebirth from above and from within as the way to ‘seeing’ and ‘entering’ the Kingdom of God (e.g. John 3:3, 5). This suggests that entry to that state is not just something far off or in the future or even just ‘near’ but within those who welcome the Holy Spirit and experience a rebirth based on trust and love. The writer of Luke’s Gospel speaks of the Kingdom of God as something among us as well as within (Luke 17:20-21)

Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, “Here it is,” or “There it is,” because the kingdom of God is in your midst.

Some versions translate ‘in your midst’ as ‘within you’ (e.g. the King James Version):

Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

In the life of the Christian community there are times when Jesus’ followers over-identified or reduced the Kingdom of God to the ‘Church’ (and that very often in strictly party denominational sense). Others over-identified or reduced the Kingdom of God to some interior, subjective state of feeling or reasoning. The truth is that both perspectives are valid and needed!

Is near

It may be a question of time or place. In truth we can say that our lives are short and the day we anticipate is nearer now than was the case yesterday.

Repent

To repent is to turn away from something. It means turning away from all that is harmful, poisoned, destructive within us and around us. This is difficult because we seek refuge, sometimes, in falsehoods, riches and comfort – the comfort of our systems of thinking and association that surrounds us all the time. We are invited to return or turn back to the basics of

• -       Doing what is right
• -       Believing in what is true
• -       And avoiding what is evil for ourselves and others.

It is as simple as that!

And Believe the good news

The good news is what we wait for every day and it seems to elude us. Luke spells it out (4:18-19):

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

The good news is one of liberation for those who are outside the centres of religious, political and social domination.

But it is not for us to communicate the good news if we have not received and digested it, first. We must be open to receiving the good news.  This news concerns the worth that is placed on us and others by a God who loves us beyond human imagining.  

In the ‘Synoptic Gospels’ (those of Matthew, Mark and Luke) there is a three-part movement towards the beginning of the good news story as follows: testing and trials in the desert followed by the first very public announcement of the good news and then the calling of the first disciples. Jesus retreated to a barren place where he prayed, fasted and was tested. Hence, the link from this episode to the Gospel of the first Sunday of Lent.  When Jesus stands firm in his mission and commitment he proclaims his agenda. It is to bring good news of freedom and liberation from oppression. It means healing and new life for those ready to receive it. On the basis of this proclamation others are drawn to his company and so develops the first band of friends or ‘disciples’. Jesus had honed his purpose, his commitment and his mission in the barren and testing place of the desert.

Our role is not to go about confronting people with the language and a system of ideas that means nothing to them. Rather, we are invited to gently lead others to where they are ready and willing to go in their own time at their own pace. Ultimately, we are called not to announce the word so much as to live it and thereby draw others into the family of trust, belonging and purpose which is the community founded on the example, teaching, death and resurrection of the Jesus who continues to live in our midst.

This lent let’s take that prayer, Our Father, seriously and practically meaning what we say and putting it into practice day by day. And ‘Your Kingdom Come’ will be reality more and more as we walk towards Easter. And we will be amazed to find that it is indeed true that ‘For the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory are yours’. Put another way it means:

• -       Power is everywhere
• -       Change if possible
• -       Hope is vital

That makes exactly 9 words and might suffice at a bus queue, on a taxi or in a lift! (Note that this blog contains 1,337 words and 7,383 characters and at a reading speed of 207 words per minute takes 6 minutes and 30 seconds to read!)

On a journey towards freedom

'Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? The man with clean hands and pure heart, who desires not worthless things,' (Psalm 24:2-3)

' "What can bring us happiness?" many say. Lift up the light of your face on us, O Lord. You have put into my heart a greater joy than they have from abundance of corn and new wine.' (Psalm 4:7-8)

During this lent may we

Wait
Listen
Look

If we are willing

‘… If you are willing, you can make me clean.’  (Mark 1:40)

Mark 1:40-45 (Year B: Lent -1)

I am willing was the curt answer from Jesus to this statement by the man with leprosy who ‘came to him and begged him on his knees’ (v. 40). Some versions report that Jesus was ‘moved with pity’ (v. 40) while other translations state that ‘Jesus was indignant’. I prefer ‘moved with pity’. Perhaps the leper, in breaking social norms, approached someone who was clean. Was Jesus taken by complete surprise and reacted angrily in the first instance? Or, perhaps, his ‘anger’ was more to do with fear. 

Who would touch a leper? Would you or I touch someone with Ebola?

Whatever was felt by him, Jesus was moved to act and to respond to what was a bold request and, surely, a risky one for Jesus who risked deadly infection as well as social disapproval for associating with someone who was ritually impure.

Begging has mixed connotations and not something used, generally, in regards to prayer. But we can be sure that God speaking through David will not leave us down - ‘I am here and I call, you will hear me, O God. Turn your ear to me; hear my words.’ (Psalm 16:6).

In today’s ‘advanced economies’ leprosy has been abolished.  A few centuries ago leper hospitals and colonies were common.  Here, in Dublin, Townsend Street is translated as ‘Sráid na Lobhar’ where, it is believed a place for lepers (lobhair) used to be.  Note that when the new arrivals took over they just named it ‘Town’s End’. That sounds better. Further east the natives were removed to, literally, ‘Irishtown’ beside An Rinn – land’s end.  All societies, tribes and in-groups know how to include and to exclude.

One of the tragic aspects of leprosy in those far off times must have been the sense of loneliness, isolation and social exclusion. When this was reinforced by false religious notions that, in some way, the condition was due to the sinfulness of the victims (either directly or indirectly) the sense of brutality is heightened. In our modern, sophisticated and supposedly enlightened world is ‘social leprosy’ a thing of the past?  Change the medical details and the face of the sufferers and we might find disturbing cases of 21^st century social leprosy (including modern-day traditional leprosy in many parts of the world). Persons by reason of their ethnic status, colour, religion, sexual orientation, marital or relationship status or political persuasion are placed in situations of exclusion, disrespect, mistrust and oppression. If we think that this is something of an exaggeration in our little slice of the world try considering some of the following:

• If a family from ‘that group’ moved in next door how would your enlightened socio-liberal principles stand up?
• Have you ever been at a wedding in a church where the happily married couple and their families of mixed Christian backgrounds as well as friends are not, all, allowed to share at the one Table of the Chief Host at the banquet? (and here one is referring to the 21^st century and not the 16^th century where, instead, the guests might have killed each other before arriving at the ceremony).
• Is someone’s sexual orientation or relationship status something to be best ‘not told and not asked’ about? Conveniently swept under the carpet when, in fact, everyone knows but can’t talk about it or deal with the issue honestly?

And the list could go on.

Healing for others may not just be an exercise in compassion where illness of one sort or another is concerned. It might also involve healing for the healer (us) because we treat others – health and wholesome people – as if it were they who need healing and not us. Roles can be reversed and healing happens in us as we learn to let go of our own prejudices, wounds and fears.

What this passage from the Gospel of St Mark shows is that Jesus’s approach and values were utterly ‘sacramental’ to use a theologically loaded term. One way of understanding sacramentalism is that it concerns outward visible signs of inward spiritual grace. Touching and being touched in ways that are entirely appropriate and healing is a type of sacramental action. In the established sacraments of Western catholic Christianity touching can happen at Baptism, the Eucharist, Reconciliation (Penance), Ordination, Anointing, Marriage and Confirmation. It’s all take for granted. But, ‘sacramentalism’ does not stop there. Ministries of healing have developed in the Christian community and many have been touched deeply in their souls. Outward signs are important. But, the inner healing is something powerful, real and lasting. Many miracles are still happening today but they are not readily visible. One of the greatest miracles is the grace people with incurable diseases to accept their situation and grow in love and trust. This does not necessarily lessen the suffering or grief in which they find themselves. But, they find a deeper level of meaning, purpose and peace that is lacking where trust has been abandoned. In Isaiah 57:19 we are promised deep healing.

If a leper in 1^st century Palestine could not be touched by another person (other than another leper) – especially when most needed such as in the moments someone is slipping away from this life (as anyone will know who has journeyed with some to the ‘farewell point’) – then we have many types of social leprosy in modern-day Western economically ‘advanced’ societies. We just change the language and the detail and turn it into clinical and linguistically sanitised terminology.

Much of what we strive for is the result of forces and desires deep within us. We may not even be aware of these forces and may ascribe our actions to motivations and influences outside our control. However, if we are more honest with ourselves we must acknowledge that our own will power is an important factor. It is always conditioned by circumstances but it is never eclipsed. If we are willing we can rise to extraordinary heights. ‘where there is a will there is a way’ as the saying goes. Was Jesus moved with astonishment, emotion and pity as a result of the desperate, humbling and faith-full pleas of the leper? It is plausible to think that Jesus was cornered and his compassion triggered his response. Let’s say that it was not on the agenda for that day. Someone crossed his path who was an outcast, a sinner in regards to the thought systems of the time and someone who was dangerously ill.

In responding to this situation Jesus ‘reached out his hand and touched the man’. In doing so he declare ‘I am willing’.  God in Jesus is willing to reach out to us and to touch us in the very depths of our despair, our worries and our fragility. In healing the leper Jesus does not omit to instruct the healed one to present himself to the priests in accordance with the Torah – the religious law (as laid out, for example, in the Book of Leviticus (3:1-2)).

And Jesus ‘went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news’. But there was a price: ‘As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places.’  In short, he was never far from the excluded and the outcasts. Maybe he even hung out with them in different places and times? For us mortals, extending the hand of healing to others could trigger our own inner healing.

Are there among us, today, those with an inner wound of some sort? Society treats various forms of mental illness as a form of stigma, for example. This isolates those who are affected and builds walls of separation and shame. If we are willing we can become channels of healing for others. But those who experience healing in this way, in their turn, become sources of healing in us.  ‘ Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.’ (v. 45)

It never stops and it shouldn’t.

Habits of the heart

‘… Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.’(Mark 1:35)

Mark 1:29-39 (Year B: Lent -2)

Jesus was busy. Very busy. Chapter 1 of Mark is action packed with the following:

The baptism and testing of Jesus;

• The beginning of Jesus’ ministry through a proclamation of the good news;
• Calling of the first disciples;
• Expulsion of evil spirits;
• Healing of many; and
• Praying in solitary places.

Praying in solitary places is not just for monks, spiritual nerds and other people with time on their hands. Praying in solitary places is for everyone including people who say they are atheists and agnostics. There is a hole in every person’s heart to be filled with awe, wonder, conversation, asking, thanking and even cursing at times (the psalms can come in handy for this purpose!). The point is that everyone needs space and time to simply ‘be’. The story goes that the Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, said ‘I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours of my day in prayer.’  In recent times, Dag Hammarskjöld a former Secretary General of the United Nations said that, because of his busy schedule, he got up an hour early to pray. When he was ‘extra busy’ he got up two hours early for the same purpose.

Spending two to three hours in prayer is not an option, I suspect, for most ordinary people like you and me. However, quiet times and spaces are a must.  A story is told that many decades ago a novice in a certain religious congregation who had not yet learned the art of ‘seeking forgiveness more than permission’ asked a sister who looked after novices if it was OK to smoke while praying. After a firm ‘NO’ she paused for a moment and asked ‘But, would it be OK to pray while smoking?’  High five!

The point of prayer is a ‘lifting up’ (some of us will remember our old ‘Green Catechism’) and opening out while going in….going into a secret place in the depths of our hearts that goes beyond space, time and consciousness.

Seriously.

And simply. 

Manuals, textbooks and various types of ‘guides’ tend to overcomplicate what is an all together natural and wholesome thing for humans to do. We, the busy ones, are merely joining the rest of creation by resting in the anguish and glory of ‘Being’.

Pick your times and your place or places.

It might be on the top of the first bus into town for work (the driver can always wake you if you fall asleep before reaching the terminus!). It might be a little corner of your bedroom where you place a picture of a loved one, a bible, an icon or some other ‘reminder’.  It might be a place of fondness on a mountain or by the sea. And, crucially, it could be a place in the middle of a busy congregation gathered together to pray and break bread.  Just as the novice, in the story above, ‘prayed while smoking’ Christians delight to ‘pray while eating and drinking’ at the Eucharist. But, after some time in prayer the reality is that ‘Everyone is looking for you!’ (Mark 1:36)

The morning is a precious time of the day. As it says in the Psalm (5:4):

‘In the morning you hear me; in the morning I offer you my prayer, watching and waiting.’

Watching and waiting early, very early in the morning. A tonic for a weary, thankful and hopeful soul as a fresh day begins. It is written in Isaiah (30:15):

‘..in quietness and trust is your strength..’ (‘A new spring in your step’)

Or in the first book of Kings (19:12):

‘And after the fire came a gentle whisper’

That still small voice that whispers gently to us in the quiet of the house or streets as the sun is rising.

And, as a brother at the community of Taizé has put it:

‘So many Christians find in prayer the courage to take on responsibilities. Rooting themselves in the very wellsprings of Christ, they run the risks of faith.’

By going to the wellsprings deep within us (we are baptised, actually or by entrusting) we find the courage and the faith to risk everything while remaining rooted in the here and now and all that we are called upon to do this day. And just as the morning is the key to the day, the evening is the lock for the night.

Together let us praise the Lord for ourselves and others.

A wounding blessing

‘A sword will pierce your own soul?’ (Luke 2:35)

From Luke 2:22-40 (Presentation of Jesus)

Simeon blessed the child Jesus and his mother Mary. But it was, so to speak, a mixed blessing. In fact it was also a wounding (the French word is blessure).  He foretold a deep wounding and by foretelling it Mary knew that blessings of a wounding sort were in store for her.

Sometimes people can says things to us that are deeply wounding. Or, we sometimes can do the same to others.  What is so wounding is the ‘thoughts revealed’ as Simeon says in the same breath. We speak from what is within the heart and, unfortunately, what is there is not always to our own good or those who hear us. But, sometimes what has a wounding effect is, ultimately, for the good of the other or ourselves.

The ultimate wounding for Mary occurred in the desolation of calvary.  We are all destined at some stage to face deeply wounding moments in our life’s journey.  With great blessings and giftedness comes much responsibility and not infrequently great suffering, misunderstanding - even persecution.

Mary’s discipleship began at the annunciation, was confirmed at the presentation and reached its low point on calvary and a high point 2 days later.  Nobody ever claimed that Christian discipleship is a picnic. It’s a journey with sudden and sharp twists and turns interspersed with long periods of even ground.  Simeon knew this only too well.