Tuesday 31 March 2015

On not judging (Wednesday/Holy Week)

… Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, ‘Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?’. (Matt 26:25)
Matt 26:14-25 (Wednesday of Holy Week)

The theme of betrayal is taken up again this week. Yesterday we heard from the gospel of John. Today’s is Matthew’s turn. As in the other gospels, the story of betrayal is merged into the story of the ‘Last Supper’ – the new Passover with all the meaning and depth of connection to the history of the Jewish people that this entails. The dipping of the hands in the same dish signalled profound communion, trust and intimacy (refer to this excellent resource for scripture reading by a Carmelite congregation). Yet, Jesus did not expose Judas in front of the brethren but let him continue in the company. Not only that, but he continued to dine with the others who would flee or deny Jesus the same night.


The gospels are hard on Judas and rightly so. Yet, we may wonder if Judas had a ‘Plan B’ whereby the plan was to out Jesus on his Messianic mission and the people and the religious leaders would then see, once and for all, that he was the true Messiah expected by them all?  For sure, Judas was given to stealing and misappropriation of funds and he knew how to drive a hard bargain with the authorities. Perhaps he had pitched for 40 pieces of silver but was negotiated down to 30!  Could there be a link from this story to the injunction raised in Exodus (21:32) that the owner of a bull that gores a slave has to pay over 30 shekels of silver to the owner of the slave in ransom)? The price on Joseph who was sold into slavery in Egypt was 20 shekels (Gen 37:28.

Fast forward a few days and we learn that Judas took his own life. Guilt and shame had overtaken him. He realised – too late – that he had committed a terrible evil. Does this suggest that his motives in betraying Jesus were mixed and not entirely motivated by money?  Either way he made the final mistake of not trusting in God’s mercy even then.  There are no shrines or memories to Judas – obviously. However, we may wonder about the full circumstances in which he betrayed Jesus and what his outcome was in eternity. There is a tradition – not very theologically orthodox perhaps – that suggests that the Devil will be forgiven at the end of time such is the mystery of God’s boundless mercy. I will not speculate on this matter.

It would be ironic in the extreme if we find Judas awaiting us in heaven having repented at some point before it was too late?! We just don’t know for sure! Pleasant and unpleasant surprises may be in store for us on the other side of the great divide that separates our lives in this world from what is to come.

As some sources claim, there is no ‘Canon of the Damned’, there is only the ‘Canon of the Saints’. There is always hope and possibility as long as live and breathe.

In each of us there – but for the grace of God – goes another Judas.

Monday 30 March 2015

The Missing Link (Tuesday/Holy Week)

‘… As I have loved you. ’. (John 13:34)
John 13:21-38 (Tuesday of Holy Week)


For some reason best left to those who decide these matters, the Gospel of today, Tuesday in Holy Week, is edited to omit verses 34-35:

A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Perhaps, the editors decided that the storyline, since it is about betrayal, needed to be kept focussed while the above verses are covered last Sunday. Whatever the reason, I suggest that there is a good reason to retain this in a story of betrayal. Who has not known betrayal at some stage in their life. Whether it concerned an exclusion in the school yard or the telling of some confidence or the betrayal of a lifetime commitment or covenant. The fall-out can be devastating.  No wonder Jesus was ‘troubled in spirit’ (v. 21). That was putting it mildly.  It was not just the betrayal of Judas that so troubling. ‘Thus even my friend, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has turned against me’ as Psalm 40:10 puts it. The others would betray him as well (though out of fear than malice). And the crowds who, a few days ago, were proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, would be absent later in the week. It was a case of 1st century opinion polling when someone rose to fame and popularity only to drop to rock bottom as quickly as he rose.

When we are betrayed (or when we have betrayed others should it happen God forbid) we have the  ‘new commandment’ to fall back on. No matter how desperate, pointless, destructive a situation and relationship is we can always start to put love into practice now. When this is mutual it can transform the darkest situation. This is what ‘church’ is really about. It is about witnessing to the world and ourselves the power of sincere, mutual love that makes a powerful difference even in the midst of betrayal and destruction.  The commandment to love one another as Jesus loves us is new in that it builds on the commandment to love found in the Old Testament (e.g. in Leviticus 19:18: ‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.’) and goes beyond it by explicitly including all nations and peoples (a theme also found throughout the Old Testament but less emphasised).  And the quality and test of love is the capacity to lay down one’s life for those one loves (e.g. John 15:13 – ‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’)

The sad thing about Judas in this story is that he didn’t wait for the ‘new commandment’. He was gone to do his business. Sadder still is the fact that he could not forgive himself afterwards when it was all over.

In the way that Matthew recounts this episode he tells of Jesus’ conversation with the disciples and Judas in particular. However, that is all: Matthew (26:20-30) goes straight into the narrative of the breaking of bread (Eucharist to us) – something that is entirely lacking in the Gospel of John. However, the missing link in John (the ‘new commandment’) is worked out in the breaking of bread and the breaking of Jesus body later this week on Friday.  Being ready to die for others is the common thread even in the context of huge betrayal and trauma.  The ‘new commandment’ is given in John’s account but the tragedy is that Judas did not wait – he ran off to his betraying before Jesus got to the key point during that last supper. We might think that Judas was the only potential betrayer. But consider that Mark tells us each of the disciples asked Jesus:

‘Surely you don’t mean me?’ (Mark 14:19)

The reality is that most of them fell well short of what was the right thing to do that week. Peter was the prime example among those who stayed behind after Judas’ departure. Luke (22:20-23)goes so far as the mix in the prediction of betrayal almost in the same breath as when he told his disciples ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’ (v.20). Breaking bread, pouring out, loving unto death even when betrayed are all mixed together.

Later (before the gospels were committed to writing), Paul of Tarsus would trail a blaze of destruction and persecution into the heart of the new Jewish community who followed Jesus of Nazareth.  Did any of this prevent the disciples including Paul himself from fulfilling their call, ultimately, and paying the price?  The missing link was then and still is ‘love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.’

Extravagant love (Monday/Holy Week)

‘… And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume’. (John 12:3)

John 12:1-11 (Monday of Holy Week)


Jesus was eating in a safe house ('house' being, literally, the meaning of ‘Bethany’). At this point he was on the run as the Authorities were seeking him. A woman called Mary took a very large consignment of perfume to the value of 300 hundred denarii – apparently the equivalent of ‘a year’s wages’ (verse 5) one denarius being a day’s wage. Some versions say, simply, ‘very costly’ or ‘a pound of costly anointment’.  Now, a year’s wages might be around €30,000 or £25,000 a year in today's world. This, clearly, was top of the range perfume!

John never misses an opportunity to situate a story in the wider drama of Jesus’ impending death.  We are now in the final week of the liturgy of the Christian year moving towards the Passover of the Christ. Such a display of affection, trust and love was not accidental. We may assume that the lady in question had much to be thankful for. She had met goodness, truth and beauty in the person of Jesus. Why wouldn’t she ‘waste’ (to quote brother Judas) a huge and precious gift. Where did she it from? May be it was a gift to her? Or, maybe she traded in such goods? Or, maybe she ran down her savings to buy this? It was an exercise in generosity towards a person who would display the greatest generosity a few days later by the dying on the cross for Mary and Martha and Lazarus and Simon the leper and you and me and everyone else. Judas’ smoke screen about giving the money to the poor instead of wasting it as Mary had just done triggers a saying well known to Jews at that time (Deuteronomy 5:11):

There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be open-handed towards your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

Some readers have interpreted both Jesus’ response and the fuller quotation in Deuteronomy to claim that Christians must accept that poverty and severe economic inequality will always exist and that the role of good people is to lessen its effects a little through charitable donations from the surplus we have. This is not consistent with a reading that invites everyone – including Christians – to work for a different world where poverty and all the lack of dignity that goes with it are abolished and the values of the kingdom of God triumph.

Love acts more than speaks
Washing feet was a deeply symbolic (as in connecting and signalling) gesture – something to be repeated later in this week as Jesus gives his disciples (us) a lesson in discipleship.  In Mary’s case it was extravagant involving the mostly costly of perfumes and ointment and her very own hair (a touching and sensuous gesture befitting of John’s gospel). A 21st century reader might view this gesture as slightly risky and inappropriate. Matthew and Mark’s version of the story is that Mary poured the oil over Jesus’ head. Ointment bucket challenge!  Luke (7:36-50) spells it out in terms of Mary a ‘sinner’ and a well known one at that anoints Jesus with oil in front of everyone. And she was ‘weeping’. She goes one step than Mary in John’s gospel by not only using her hair to wipe the feet of Jesus but she kissed them as well.

Whatever the context and the meaning of gestures in another cultural milieu and time we can be sure that Mary was not ready to settle for half measures. Neither should we in our in particular situation, calling and duty. Mediocrity, timidity and fear of social sanction can impede modern-day Christian witness. But, everything in its rightful place and time!
(‘And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume’ (v. 3). This might hint at high church worship in the Johannine community?!)

And so

In the way that this story is told in the gospel of Matthew (26:6-13) Jesus confounds his listeners by saying that ‘she has done a beautiful thing to me’ (Matthew 26:10) and that ‘wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her’ (Matthew 26:13).  Today, each of us ought to live in such a way that some day – eventually – we will be a good memory for others who follow in our families and in our circles of friendships and acquaintances. Actions speak louder than world (the gospels do not indicate that Mary said anything).  Mary ‘did what she could’ (Mark 14:8). We should do what we can as long as there is light. And we should be generous and prompt about it. Leave the rest to God.

Thursday 26 March 2015

Ten days that shook the world

‘… Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’  (Mark 14:36)
Mark 14:1-15:47 (Year B: Lent 6/Palm Sunday)


A week of drama..
‘Ten days the shook the world’ is the title of a book written by John Reid and which subsequently  became a film about the days around what is described as the Russian Revolution (October 1917).  Some would refer to it more as a ‘putsch’ than a revolution. That event and its legacy is well known.  Another type of upheaval happened a long time before that in a remote corner of the Roman empire. The impact and legacy of that event is also well known.  Both events were disruptive of the existing order. In the case of what happened in 1st century Palestine and beyond turned the world upside down. It was not without its faults, splits, aberrations, betrayals and liberations. The defining feature of the Christian upheaval is that it went to the core of the human heart – as well as the social structures of society. Both are important in understanding the liberating power of the gospel.

A week of disruption..
Today’s gospel reading is a long one – as is customary on ‘Palm Sunday’.  With all due regard for the other gospels, the gospel of Mark, which we hear in this Year B, is concise and relatively short. At just under 2,500 words (in the English language at any rate) it might take someone 12 minutes to read chapters 14 and 15 straight through while it might take 17 minutes of reading out loud and listening on this special Sunday that marks the start of what Christians refer to as Holy Week. These two chapters of Mark cover the last days of Jesus before and during his crucifixion. Chapter 16 covers the resurrection and will conclude this short gospel.

Following the first 13 chapters of the gospel of Mark, which focussed on the ministry, teaching and actions of Jesus, we are now on a roller coaster in the immediate lead-up to the Passover of Christ’s death and rising. This is end-game time and we can read our own thoughts, life experiences and situations into the story. The agenda for this coming ‘week’ will be:

-                    Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem (‘Palm Sunday’ remembers)
-       The anointing of Jesus by Mary in Bethany
-       The betrayal of Jesus by Judas
-       The last supper and its preparation
-       The agonising in the garden
-       The arrest of Jesus
-       The questioning and torture of Jesus
-       The betrayal of Jesus by Peter
-       The crucifixion
-       The death of Jesus
-       The removal of Jesus’ body and placing in the tomb.

It is a busy week and a lot is going on. No wonder the readings are long and the services even longer!  But, it is an unfolding drama not to be missed. And even if we have heard it all a 100 times over many years we can listen and listen again and look and look again and find something new and challenging, something puzzling and revealing. We are reminded that our own lives are fragile and human beings are liable to failure and betrayal. We also hear about the iniquity of political and religious authorities trying to play god even when the Son of God – poor, broken, abandoned and to be glorified was in their midst. As the cliché goes – ‘you couldn’t make this up!’ Just prior to the opening of the story in Chapter 4, Jesus warns us to

Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.  (Mark 13:33)

Some people think of going on a time management course. However, the real challenge of modern-day living is attention management. We need to pay attention to what is going on inside us and around us. This is not easy. As the drama of Holy Week unfolds spreading over two modern weekends we can find quiet time to read these two chapters of the gospel of Mark without hindrance and without preconceived ideas and assumptions. This is a story about someone who committed his life to God and paid the price. The price of his soul is our freedom.  Judas was prepared to take 30 shekels of silver for only to find that he had lost the one opportunity of freedom that Jesus’ death and resurrection effected.

This was a profound revolution  - encompassing heart, mind and action as well as relationships among people. A revolution of the heart without a revolution in social structures turns into a false religion of the type condemned by Isaiah and Jeremiah.  A revolution of the social structures without a revolution of the heart turns into social barbarism as the history of the 20th century tragically taught us.  A better way is to ground a social transformation in a movement of the heart. For us Christians we find this change and possibility in the well springs of God’s grace working through the ordinary and the extraordinary things of life.

Jesus’ hour has come and, as one writer put it, he must face it in ‘utter loneliness’. No wonder Jesus sweated as he struggled and prayed in the garden of Gethsemane that night. He surely struggled with what had happened (betrayal) and, more to the point, what was to come a few hours later.  However, the crowning moment was his surrender to the Father’s will:

… Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’  (Mark 14:36)

And we are invited to drink from this same cup. Can we possibly avoid something of Jesus’ experience of betrayal, struggle and great difficulty?  There is only one ultimate answer in the face of whatever faces us – ‘…not what I will but what you will’.

As we look to the coming week let us remember that it starts in triumphant entry and culminates in resurrection. In between is much suffering. But Easter is a step on the journey. Fear lurks in the hearts of the disciples. Beyond it lies the coming of the Holy Spirit. Then, as we exodus from a dark place we cross a desert that may take many years. Our hope is that we will arrive – altogether in a promised land. It is the journey  that matters. Hope never fails.

Hope in him, hold firm and take heart. Hope in the Lord! (Psalm 26:14)

Thursday 19 March 2015

The ultimate freedom



‘… And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’. (John 12:32)
John 12:20-33 (Year B: Lent 5) 

Curiosity
Some people from another tribe and culture – the Greeks – were curious. They put a word in with Philip who – like Jesus, Andrew and Peter – were ‘Northerners’ from the territory of Galilee. Northerners were probably more exposed to Greek influence and places such as Bethsaida and Nazareth and their environs would have been a busy place – a kind of cross-roads with people and trade crossing from North to South and from East to West. The foreigners who didn’t quite belong to the Jewish culture or faith wanted to know more and to have some part in the festival of the Passover. Jesus did not prevent them. John uses the occasion to report yet another riddle – to live we must die; to flourish we must lose; to grow we must be cut down.  The ‘hour’ was approaching. Jesus would have preferred to escape this. But he knew he had to go through with it.  His dying and suffering would be the sign for all the people including those on the margins that life was open to all. For when he was lifted up from the earth he drew all – all – people to himself.  In other words, Jews, gentiles, people living then and people living ever since.

It is when Jesus was lifted up that many came to recognise him (like, for example, the Roman Centurion) – “So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.” (John 8:28). The other moment that Jesus was recognised in a special way was at the breaking of the bread with the disciples in Emmaus (Luke 24:31).  It was for this he had come and it was for this that he would die. As we say in the Holy Communion:

Father of all, we give you thanks and praise, that when we were still far off you met us in your Son and brought us home. Dying and living, he declared your love, gave us grace, and opened the gate of glory. 

It is the paradox and the riddle of life that for those who wish to live, to flourish and to give life it is necessary ‘to die’ by shedding what we cling to – including even things that are good and wholesome but which are shed for a greater good.  The 20th century martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, lived and died understood this when he spoke of death in his poem, ‘The Stages of Freedom’, in the following terms:

Come now, highest celebration on the way towards eternal freedom,
death, put down the heavy chains and walls
of our transient life and our deluded soul,
so that we may finally behold what we are not given the chance to see here.
Freedom, we sought you long in discipline, action and suffering.
Dying, we now recognise you in God's countenance.

The freedom gained in dying sets other free. The gospel speaks of ‘hating’ one’s life only in the sense of loving it less than the life that God gives.  In living that new life we are lifted up with Christ who is our light and our strength all the way. As the prayer in the Holy Communion goes on to say:

May we who share Christ's body live his risen life; we who drink his cup bring life to others; we whom the Spirit lights give light to the world. Keep us firm in the hope you have set before us, so we and all your children shall be free, and the whole earth live to praise your name; through Christ our Lord.

The fruit of Jesus’ abandonment and our abandonment too is renewed life in us and in others. The goal of Jesus’ life, ministry, suffering, death and resurrection was and is to set people free and to bring the scattered children of the One Father together into one family. Unity in diversity is the aim. 

Lifted up..
When Jesus was ‘lifted up’ or ‘exalted’ (hypsóōi ) as its says in the Greek version of this gospel, we might picture Jesus being lifted up on the cross with a small band of disciples, family and friends at the foot of the cross and a huge, limitless sea of bystanders standing in all corners of the world and in all future moments of history. The cross is visible from everywhere so to speak. This is a good and true image. However, it is also the case that Jesus, who now ‘sits at the right hand of God’ to quote the creed or as is written in Acts of the Apostles (2:33):

Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

The exaltation spoken of here is not just a one-moment-in-time exaltation as happened nearly 2,000 years ago. It is that. It is also a presence and a reality that is beyond time and space and is very close to our hearts if we listen and look.  Jesus’ exaltation is like a magnetic field drawing a countless number of people into communion with him and through him with the blessed trinity of God – a communion of three persons in one God. Put another way, the disparate children of God are drawn together by this same Jesus who shared our lives, our worries, our pains, our limitations and our hopes. The closer we get to this presence the closer we get to each other. John’s gospel is marked by the truth that God has taken flesh in becoming one of us and is now exalted, risen to a place where we have lasting access. It is not a physical place such as the holy of holies in the Jewish temple of Jesus’ time. it is the place you and I can go to at any time and in any place. It says free entry – all welcome. We find in psalm:

‘The Lord's is the earth and its fullness, the world and all its peoples. It is he who set it on the seas; on the waters he made it firm.’ (Psalm 23:1-2)

Sunday 15 March 2015

The state of this island: what would Patrick think?

‘…a man of Macedonia standing and begging him ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’’. (Acts 16:9)

Acts 16:6-10 (St Patrick 17 March)


Most nations and countries in the ‘Christian world’ have a patron saint. Sometimes, a commemoration of the saint takes place on a particular day. For complex reasons of history and tradition the name of Patrick has special resonance not only on the island of Ireland but across the world among the ‘Irish diaspora’. In latter times, the tradition has assumed strong ethnic, linguistic and even trading significance as persons of standing travel the world to (literally) ‘sell Ireland’. Images of green from Dublin to Sydney remind us that the Irish are everywhere. However, it would be easy to forget, in this clamour of celebration that the memory and the tradition is rooted not in a race memory so much as a memory of a foreigner (probably from the neighbouring island) who was captured by the pagan Irish raiders and held hostage for a long period on a wet, damp mountain in the north east of Ireland before his escape.  The story goes that Patrick – many years later after leaving Ireland –  had a dream in which an Irish man called on him to come back. In the ‘Confessions of St Patrick’ it is written:

A few years later I was again with my parents in Britain. They welcomed me as a son, and they pleaded with me that, after all the many tribulations I had undergone, I should never leave them again. It was while I was there that I saw, in a vision in the night, a man whose name was Victoricus coming as it were from Ireland with so many letters they could not be counted. He gave me one of these, and I read the beginning of the letter, the voice of the Irish people. While I was reading out the beginning of the letter, I thought I heard at that moment the voice of those who were beside the wood of Voclut, near the western sea. They called out as it were with one voice: “We beg you, holy boy, to come and walk again among us.” This touched my heart deeply, and I could not read any further; I woke up then. Thanks be to God, after many years the Lord granted them what they were calling for.

Or, in the Irish language, it reads as follows:

Agus arís i gcionn beagán blianta bhí mé sa mBreatain in éineacht le mo mhuintir. Do ghlacadar mar mhac mé agus d'impíodar orm go díograiseach gan imeacht uathu arís feasta tar éis a raibh de chruóga fulaingthe agam. Agus ansin chonaic mé i bhfís oíche fear agus é mar bheadh sé ag teacht ó Éirinn, arbh ainm dó Victoricus, agus litreacha gan choimse leis. Agus thug sé ceann acu dom agus léigh mé tosach na litre mar a raibh 'Glór na nÉireannach,' agus nuair a bhíos ag léamh tosach na litre b'fhacthas dom an nóiméad sin gur chuala mé a nglór, agus is le hais Coill Acla atá in aice na farraige thiar a bhíodar. Is mar seo a ghlaodar, mar bheadh d'aon ghuth : 'Iarraimid ort, a bhuachaill (naofa), teacht i leith agus bheith ag siúl athuair inár measc.'Agus tháinig an-bhriseadh croí orm agus níor fhéadas a thuilleadh a léamh agus ansin dhúisíos. Buíochas do Dhia gur thug an Tiarna dóibh i ndiaidh fad de bhlianta de réir a nglao.

Chuala mé a nglór – I heard their voice. Glór na nÉireannach – the voice of the Irish – calling. Just as Paul had a vision at night of a ‘man of Macedonia standing and begging him’ – Patrick heard the call of a people on the other side of a sea.

And the rest is history.

A Briton (probably) brought a ‘foreign’ religion (Christianity) to an island where the Romans (or latter day European invaders including Napoleon and Hitler) didn’t bother going. Strongbow did bother in 1167 but Mac Murchada did the inviting (and it is alleged an English Pope encouraged Strongbow).  The Romans referred to this island as Hibernia or ‘winter land’.  Some might say ‘eternal winter land’. Tales of St Patrick banishing the snakes are unnecessary. No decent snake would survive the wet, cool and windy climate.  All of this might explain why story-telling by the fire and the warmth of the Irish keeps communities together. Into this world Patrick with many other helpers stepped – not to displace the native culture but to plant seeds of a new faith and story of liberation. The Irish took it on board with great zeal and those features specific to celtic spirituality – personal austerity tempered by good humour, closeness to nature and living in harmony took root. Christianity in this island was always peripheral – enjoying an uneasy relationship with Rome and other centres.

But were the Irish that warm to Patrick and his friends? By all accounts Patrick had a rough time and met much opposition when his mission began around the year 432. It took centuries for the Christian faith to fully take root (some suggest it never did) and a few little ‘adaptations’ were made along the way to Christianise various pagan customs and rituals.

The irony is that Ireland which became a celebrated island of saints and scholars and a bastion of strict religious observance until very recent times owes its Christian origins to a man who was – well ‘British’ – and who brought about the importation of a ‘foreign religion’.
The reality, today, in Ireland as in every corner of the world is that tribal purity is an illusion. There is mixing and grafting. People are forever on the move bringing with them new ideas, customs, skills – and religion.  It is also true that movements of people were accompanied by much brutality, genocide and oppression (the history of the Jewish people starts with a tribe wandering in the desert and escaping slavery in Egypt).

It has been said that, in Ireland, we have had just enough religion to hate each other but not to love. There is some truth in this. Centuries of conflict mixed with tribal, political and other factors has marred the island. Some groupings tried to impose a particular form of Christianity, language and law on everyone – all backed by brutal violence. Others inflicted violence and force without any regard for those of a different persuasion or belonging which resulted from history. The conflict still plays out in places. Political bigotry meets religious bigotry and the political bigots are in a dialogue of the deaf with the religious bigots. Still, the vast majority of people living on this island are not bigots and want to live in peace and harmony.

At least two positive developments in recent times include: (i) the precarious truce in Northern Ireland (but the fractures are as deep as ever there) and (ii) the arrival of a new wave of immigrants to Ireland who bring fresh perspectives and challenges. Among the new arrivals are many devout Christians, devout Muslims and devout Atheists. We need to welcome and love everyone no matter what the cost to our comfort zones.  We may even be entertaining angels without realising it. That man in Paul’s dream could be our ticket to a renewed faith or – in the case of Patrick’s dream someone who desperately needs to hear again the good news – an dea-scéal.

A troubling development in recent years is the phenomenon of ‘direct provision’ used here. It involves confining refugees to a life of endless waiting, no right to work and living conditions that are an insult to human dignity. What a strange way to behave when a court in one part of the island ruled that a South Sudan refugee family, living in the North, should not be returned to the southern part of the island as the welfare of the children in the family concerned were at risk. What would Patrick make of this? There are many things that Irish people can be justly proud of. This is not one of them. And tribunals of inquiry and official apologies will follow in 30 years’ time if not sooner.  The irony is accentuated by the fact that, over the centuries, millions of Irish people had to emigrate for reasons of economic hardship to places and regions where they were not always welcomed (even today there is an unknown number of illegal Irish migrants living in the USA). The saying ‘And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.’ (Deuteronomy 10:19) has fallen on deaf ears.

Patrick belongs to everyone here and not just one tribe, faith or party.

May we be found worthy of Patrick’s dream and the dream of my ancestor who called on Patrick many centuries ago.


May you have a happy Saint Patrick’s day !

Thursday 12 March 2015

Dealing with the demons

‘… For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him’. (John 3:17)

John 3:14-21 (Year B: Lent 4)

A confession..
I have a confession to make.  Out of 66 Books (some say 70) in the library known as the Bible my favourite is the Gospel of John. Whatever about the precise historicity of some events and details recounted in this Gospel, we can spend a lifetime deepening our understanding and relationship to this gospel. Any questions about historicity need not be an obstacle to growing in faith when we read scripture on our knees but with our God-given critical minds.  In this Book I have three favourite sayings – all within the first 12 chapters of this particular gospel. They are, in sequence of references:

‘… For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him’. (John 3:17)

 ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ (John 8:31-32)

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ (John 12:32)

For me, these three sentences sum up the Bible – Old and New – and the Law, and the Prophets and the early Church’s mission and what we need to know and do today.

Being honest with ourselves..
The first of these three passages is well known and often cited. Spectators at sporting events may recall seeing a sign held up in the crowd ‘John 3:17’. There is something very reassuring, calming and energising about John 3:17. And it is to the point.  Deep within us there are worries – little and not so little. Am I on the right track? Is this right? How do I know? Where is God in this situation? What will others think? Am I sure? I am afraid of this or that in the future? Others don’t like or love me so much? Or, I am worried about so and so that he or she is not well or safe? The truth is that we don’t like condemnation (but sometimes we are easy about dishing out).  We crave for recognition, acceptance, popularity, friendship.  Did we ever doubt that Facebook meets multiple human needs and Google know this only too well?

Trusting..
John 3:17 speaks to people in all ages and cultures. The Good News (literally Gospel) is that someone has been sent to befriend us and to help us and to save us.  Trusting in this good news is the key. It may not be easy as many may feel left down and left out in their lives. But, there is no condemnation for those in Christ (Romans 8:1). May this be repeated again: ‘there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’. Jesus is the Healer who seeks us out here and now. And when he finds us and we open the door we are gently faced with reality – now, completely and holding nothing back. And the Truth will set us free (John 8.32). And what a freedom it is.

And being lifted up..
Jesus, in being lifted up on the cross (‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ (John 12:32)], lifts us up too. The word ‘exalted’ or hypsóō in Greek is used here and, also in Isaiah 52:13:

See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

Part of that healing is facing, naming and ‘shaming’ our own inner demons. Only we can do this – through Jesus who is the Healer (a rare one-in-a-million anam-chara or spiritual soul friend might also help). Those demons may reflect deep shortfalls, guilt, insecurities, hurts, resentments, past traumas – all buried deep in the psyche.  But, ‘those who hide in him shall not be condemned.’ As it says in Psalm 33:23*.

There are experiences and memories in our lives that echo hurts. Deep hurts linger.  These concern things others said or did that wounded us. Perhaps, we experienced bullying in some context – at work, in the family or in the community. Perhaps someone said things about us or to us that were untrue and very undermining.  Perhaps we acted likewise towards another?  It is not easy – but we must learn to let go of these things. They belong now to Christ and are covered by his Cross. Letting go means acknowledging these things – facing them, naming them, addressing them and then letting go of them. The cross stands between us and these things and we can leave our baggage there so that we are free to move on.

Going for joy and freedom...
The evangelist Luke locates a freedom story in terms of those who are lost, outside the tent so to speak and not well regarded by society. He reports Jesus as saying during the encounter with Zacchaeus:

‘For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’ (Luke 19:10)

As in John 3:17, we are told that God sent his only Son – before we knew or wanted or asked for it.  And He did this because he loves us as we are now and here not after some course of meritorious actions or assent to creedal matters. Actions and assent stem from a sense of profound freedom and freeing by a Gracious and outrageous God who turns normal rules of human justice upside down.
The liberation in store for us is spelt out further in the first letter of John as follows:

‘And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.’ (1 Jn 4:14)

Smiling at our demons and ignoring them..
John refers to the lifting up of a snake by Moses in the desert (Numbers 21:6-9). The idea behind inoculation for smallpox is to deliberately introduce material containing a small amount of smallpox to establish an immunity. The metaphor when applied to social psychology refers to the following

Expose someone to weakened counterarguments, triggering a process of counterarguing which eventually confers resistance to later, stronger persuasive messages.

In the film A Beautiful Mind, John Nash plays the role of a brilliant but mentally ill person. He manages to live and partially overcome the negative and paranoid thoughts by looking at them in the face and then gently moving on. While most of us, thankfully, will never know mental illness we can learn the art of masterly inactivity by leaving our worst fears, hurts and hang-ups to Christ at the foot of the cross.

We are all familiar with the sign that appears outside chemist shops the world over –l the bowl of hygieia. Hygieia was the Greek goddess of hygiene. The symbol includes a rod with a snake wrapped around it.  While the sign is rooted in Greek myth it is possible that there is some primeval origin to this symbol? St Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:12:

‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’

We are invited to face up to reality, now, completely – holding nothing back.  The whole truth and nothing but the truth.  ‘And the Truth will set you free …’. Not only are we not condemned but we are set free and lifted up. Could we ask for more?


* All citations from the Psalms are from the Grail and use the Vulgate numbering system (in this case Psalm 33 refers to Psalm 34 in the Hebrew text.

Thursday 5 March 2015

Temple tantrums

‘… for he knew what was in each person’  (John 2:25)
John 2:13-25 (Year B: Lent 3)


Fully human
To avoid any heresy in the matter we ought to constantly remind ourselves that Jesus was not only fully God but fully human as well. In case there might be any doubt about this we have the witness of all four gospels, including John (which might be viewed as a theologically ‘high’ gospel), that Jesus threw a tantrum. Not only did he make a ‘whip out of cords’ and physically drive out the money-changers and venders along with cattle and other animals, but he ‘ would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.’ (Mark 11:16). In other words, Jesus practiced obstruction on the grounds of a very sacred place in a very sacred city. This, surely, would be grounds for calling in the security staff and removing the person from the premises. A court fine would appear to be in order – if not worse. I don’t know about you but I would not fancy being around when all of this was happening. I would have taken for the hills around Jerusalem.

#Templeriot
As the story goes, there is no evidence that Jesus was, himself, actually removed from the Temple. It seems that the religious authorities were too afraid of the crowds. They were waiting for their opportunity and time. Neither is there any evidence that Jesus was supported by others acquiring a whip or helping to overturn tables and drive out cattle.  It was, by all appearances and accounts from the four gospels, a one-man temper tantrum. This was hardly a story of a pale, meek and mild Jesus dressed in blue silk and with the manners of a well turned out young man from some famous private school. It was raw emotion and ‘righteous anger’ spilling over in the midst of a very sacred place. Let’s say that Jesus created a big scene and this was going to be the talking point of people for a least a few hours. Had twitter been around in those days #Templeriot would have been trending in Jerusalem along with a huge number of likes for a video grab on facebook (apologies and congratulations to those not addicted to such matters!).

The red button
Somehow, someone or something had pressed Jesus’ ‘red button’. It happens to all of us at some stage. We are human. In some temperaments such outbursts are frequent and even calculated. In other cases they are extremely rare and almost unstoppable by the person doing the outburst once every 15 years. It can tell us something about the person and what they care about and why.  There is plenty of time for philosophers like Aristotle to contemplate how one might be ‘angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way’ He suggests ‘that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.

It would be misleading to imagine that Jesus was lashing out (literally in this case) at the Temple and its associates because he had no time for temple worship, ritual and sacrifice. In fact Jesus came from a very Jewish family and remained very Jewish in his practice to the day of his death.   Going up to the Temple was the done thing for Jews at this time. The evidence from the gospel of Luke would suggest that such a journey for Jesus and his family was a regular annual event. It was for purification. We should remember that Jesus was presented in the temple shortly after his birth in a purification rite involving the offering of two pigeons (Luke 2:22-24) – instead of lambs which would have been the normal offering. Jesus’ family was not able to afford a lamb (see Leviticus 12:8) which tells us something about God’s choices and values in relation to Jesus’ life, family and milieu.  As a young boy Jesus was found loitering with intent in the Temple courts asking and answering questions (‘…they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions’ Luke 2:46).  Was there another ‘scene’ in the Temple that day? We don’t know. Luke did not report this. What we are told is that in response to a scolding from Mary, Jesus replied:

Why were you searching for me?’ ... ‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’ (Luke 2:49-50)

Many years later he would be in his Father’s house – not asking questions and listening but engaged in a very robust protest to say the least.

Pilgrim journeys
Here was someone who had a mission but also knew how to interrogate that mission and grow and deepen in knowledge of tradition, the scriptures and reason. Jesus learned how to speak from his experience as a human being and integrate that with his learning over the years. The upshot of this was a rich tapestry of stories rooted in the land, in nature, in people, in first century politics and customs. After all Jesus was fully human….

A modern day (religious) equivalent might be a visit to a shrine such as Lourdes, a pilgrim’s walk such as the Camino or a mountain climb such as Croagh Patrick in Ireland. The annual Jewish Passover reminded God’s people of their deliverance. It was a time of remembering, purification and renewal and coincided with spring time in the Northern Hemisphere. Such a time or renewal and cleansing is necessary in every culture and time.
But, what made Jesus so angry? Could it be that he had it in for the traders and other hanger on personnel in the Temple? Or, was he raging against the religious authorities who stood to gain from this whole market in livestock? Recall that people could not bring their own livestock lest it be deemed impure – they had to buy the necessaries in the outer Temple courtyard which was the equivalent of a modern-day airport duty-free area which was beyond the main thoroughfare but not, obviously, in the holy of holies.  Jesus’ answer to those who stood in shock watching the unfolding event was:

Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market! (John 2:16)
The Gospel writer goes on to tell us that

His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ (verse 17)

The source of rage is the hijacking of religion for purposes that corrupt and destroy the very point of religion which was and is to liberate. Instead, a system of accounting, debits and credits was introduced to mediate the mercy and healing of God. At the same time, some people made a living out of this (possibly a handsome living where demand was brisk and supply was scarce). Markets have a way of corrupting human values especially when those who occupy positions of prior authority and domination use them to extract surplus value.  Mixing markets with the free grace of God’s love is a recipe for trouble.  A brisk market in relics and indulgences in the 16th century was a trigger point for what came to be known as the Reformation in Western European Christianity. A mean market Mind-Set did not vanish with the reforms ushered in both by the reformers and those reacting to them.  Notions of days bought out of purgatory were common place until relatively recent times. It was against this abuse of religion that reformers rebelled. They wanted to return to the notion of God’s love as a free gift and not something earned by particular deeds or, in this case, market sales and purchases.

Dealing with Mind-Sets
But a mixing of markets and religious grace is not the only form of corruption. A subjugation of religion to the affairs of state, ethnicity or social class has spelt disaster for the gospel as we see from the 1980’s film The Mission which tells the sorry tale of European and religious treatment of people in South America in the 18th century.  Likewise, those familiar with Irish history will see how a particular mixing of state and religion had a disastrous impact over the centuries (and, in the case of Ireland, this did not stop with the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1870 or the introduction of political independence in the south of Ireland in 1922 which was the prelude to a new theocracy that lasted many decades).

The problem that Jesus had to deal with in the Temple was not just what was taking in place at that time and in that place. It was the Mind-Set and values of those involved in this whole dastardly affair. Verse 25 (which is omitted from some Sunday readings on the 3rd Sunday of Lent) provides a crucial insight:

 ‘…for he knew what was in each person’  (John 2:25)

And so ….
Jesus knows what is in your heart, in my heart and in someone else’s heart. Sometimes, this is not always to our liking and we can dodge and ditch and twist and turn. But, life catches up and the truth comes out in the end.  In case we might be inclined to theorise or condemn persons and institutions at a remove by reason of time or space we should look inside our own lives, minds and hearts. Are there tables to be overturned and stuff to be driven out?  A whip of cords might be appropriate? No, rather, a gentle loving call to reform of life by reaching out to others in compassion. And the positive will drive out the negative. Institutions are rebuilt from the inside out and from the bottom up.
Given the importance of this event in challenging a particular religious Mind-Set the placing of the story, in John, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry rather than, as is the case in the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark and Luke) just at the very end before Jesus’s arrest and crucifixion, is significant. The Temple incident characterises Jesus’ public ministry as a journey away from a particular Mind-Set to a new way of worshiping in God and in spirit. Matthew, Mark and Luke end up in the same place but by a different sequence. In any case scripture scholars maintain that the Gospel of John was written after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem around 70 C.E.


If there was one thing that drove Jesus to anger on a scale recounted in this passage of John and the other gospels it was the corruption of religion by money, power and politics. Now, money, power and politics are a necessary part of human society but those who profess to follow Jesus must work these spheres in a way that challenges oppression and that sets people free from false religion. The job is not complete.