Mindful and ready

“…Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour” (Matthew 24:44)

Year A: The First Sunday of Advent, 1^st December, 2019.

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AN OVERVIEW OF THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS

COI & RC

Isaiah 2:1-5

Psalm 122

Romans 13:11-14

Matthew 24:36-44

A Gospel parallel reading to Matthew may be found in Mark 13:32-37 and in  Luke 17:26-37.

This Sunday marks the beginning of new ‘Church year’. The first Sunday of Advent triggers a new cycle of Sunday Gospel Readings and since this ‘year’ of 2019/20 is Year A we are back to the gospel of Matthew.

The first Sunday of Advent is centered on the second coming of Christ. The second Sunday recalls the preaching of John the Baptist who prepared the way for our Saviour. The third Sunday (or Gaudete Sunday signalling joy) continues the theme of preparation while the fourth and final Sunday of Advent is about the events leading up to the birth of Jesus.

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SERMON NOTES (585 words)

“…it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep” declares Paul in his letter to the Christians in Rome (Romans 13:11).  “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” cries out the prophet Isaiah some eight centuries earlier (2:5).

We are in the darkest time of the year here in the Northern Hemisphere.  Soon, the days will become a little longer and little green shoots will appear everywhere. 

A light has shone on our world over 2,000 years ago and that light continues to shine today in the lives of many witnesses to God’s love. As we prepare for our unique festival of Christmas in which we celebrate the true light of the world we are invited by the Church to wait in joyful prayer and repentance of heart. Advent means coming; however, it signals the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh, the coming of God in our lives and hearts and an expectation of the second coming of Christ in glory at the end of time.  Jesus Christ is here already but, at the same time, is yet to come.

Many of us look forward to a secular break at Christmas time when we take time off from work, catch up and meet up and, perhaps, indulge the senses a little.  Spiritually, the notion of a time of special preparation including prayerfulness, self-denial, repentance and exercise of compassion are not exactly to the fore in the TV adverts, toy shows, glitzy lighting and bulk shopping.  But, there is an opportunity for us to stop and notice life.

Perhaps we need to take extra ‘time out’ this season and relish a simpler fare of life?  The poem ‘Advent’, by Patrick Kavanagh is worth reading again:

We have tested and tasted too much, lover –  Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder. But here in the Advent-darkened room Where the dry black bread and the sugarless tea Of penance will charm back the luxury Of a child’s soul, we’ll return to Doom The knowledge we stole but could not use

Might we stop and notice:

our breathing.

our bodies.

our thinking.

our feelings.

nature all around us.

the person next to me in this moment of time.

something afar or not seen but in the mind’s eye and heart’s ear.

The question of ‘are we ready?’ is central to this passage in the Gospel of Matthew just as it is in the Gospels of Luke who seems to be following the same source used by Matthew. 

We find distraction in sundry indulgences from substance attachment to constant affirmation seeking on social media to projects that demand our all and we wonder why we are still missing something. But, in the midst of all this clamour and un-ease (or should we say dis-ease) we are reminded of what Jesus said according to Luke 21:28:

When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

When faced with uncertainty and, perhaps, a lot of concerns and worries we do well to:

Stay calmly grounded in the here and now

Remain steadfast in love because this is the only thing that matters

Keep moving forward towards some goal or destination no matter how dim it seems.

The best way to prepare for death is to live life to the full now and to live it well so that we leave a good memory and example and find our well-being in this thought.

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A PRAYERFUL WALK THROUGH MATTHEW 24:36-44

The end-event in the life and ministry of Jesus is very much at hand in the carefully ordered and scripted Gospel of Matthew. A great trial awaits – the final one in the life of Jesus and He will be revealed as the Messiah – the one who was to come – to the Jewish people who had a special place in the audience of Matthew.

We are mindful of a first-century dispute and anxiety among the members of the early Jesus movement as a beleaguered community seeks to read the signs of the times in the face of persecution.  Dramatic events such as the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the Second Coming were anticipated at any time.  There was a widespread anticipation that these events could be experienced by some in this present generation. At a distance of 2,000 years, we may spiritualise the raw experience and reported sayings of Jesus. However, these teachings and stories carry salience for us today as our world faces catastrophic change and destruction arising from changes in our environment.

v.36   Not even the Son knows

 ‘But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father’.

This can make for uncomfortable reading and some translations omit the latter clause. Clearly, there is much in the relationship of Father and Son that we do not know about. There is no editor’s note, here, about ‘in my experience’ or ‘in my human nature’. It stands as it stands. As often arises in the reading of the scriptures we must place this saying alongside others including ‘The Father and I are one’ (John 10:30). Scripture must be read with a wide eye and a deep heart.

v.37-39   As in Noah’s time

For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.

There is a lesson for us today. In the day to day business of living a storm s brewing. It is called climate change leading to sudden and continuous calamities – environmental, political and humanitarian. We may ignore, deny or refuse to act but those days of reckoning are upon us. Truly, we are living in biblical times.

v.40-41   The meaning of the comparison explained.

Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 

William Loader makes a pertinent comment about this whole passage:

The watching is a dramatic way of speaking about God-connectedness. It is not very edifying if it is reduced to an exhortation not to misbehave in case you get 'caught with your pants down', as they say, when Jesus comes. It is about developing an awareness of what the God of the future is saying and doing in the present, to take a God perspective on the issues of the day and the future and to let that happen at all levels of our reality, from our personal lives to our international community, including our co-reality in creation. It is a stance nourished by the eucharistic vision of hope. It is taking the eucharistic table into the community, into the present, and letting it watch us and keep us awake to what is happening. [commentary on the lectionary by William Loader available here].

V42-44   Stay alert!

 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.   But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.  Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

We do not when or how God will meet us in our journey beyond this life. We must live as people of peace, of hope and of readiness. Much of what concerns is very relative and even very small.

To live is to change

“…And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully” (Luke 19:6)

Luke 19:1-10  (Year C: The Fourth Sunday before Advent, 3^rd November, 2019)

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AN OVERVIEW OF THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS

COI	RC (31st Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Isaiah 1:10-18	Wisdom 11:22-12:2
Psalm 32:1-8	Psalm 145
2 Thessalonians 1:1-12	2 Thessaslonians 1:11-2:2
Luke 19:1-10	Luke 19:1-10

There are no parallel readings to Luke 19:1-10 in the other two synoptic gospels.

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SERMON NOTES (697 words)

These words – “to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often”* were composed by a certain Englishman, John Henry Newman (1801-1890), an Anglican at heart, who found his ecclesial home on the far side of the river Tiber in Rome and now Saint John Henry Newman to a billion or so Christians. He had more than a passing association with Ireland in the sowing of seeds for University College Dublin. 

The implications of changing often and changing for the better – please note – is that to others one may seem contrarian, unstable and incoherent. One might also undergo the gauntlet of losing a few friends and family members along the way. Hint - many a ‘convert’ from one branch to another of the Christian family knows a thing or two about these matters. However, ruthless honesty and a thirst for the ‘good life’ drives us on. That ‘good life’ is not the search for, or finding of, some perfect church or denomination; there is no such thing. Rather it is the good life hidden in Christ and the search for it is a challenge to the prevailing ideologies and fashions of our time.

What is the point of recalling or celebrating this Victorian Englishman whose intellectual rigour and moral consistency puzzles and attracts Anglicans and Roman Catholics alike? I suggest that the answer lies in the Gospel reading we have just heard. 

There was a man, Zacchaeus, who sought truth, beauty and love and found it in the person of Jesus. He had to seek it out from a height on a sycamore tree given his short stature. However, Zacchaeus had to go further by inviting Jesus into his home and completely letting go of his social and financial securities. The story seems to be telling us that Zacchaeus sought out, found and committed his life to Jesus. However, reading and hearing the text at a deeper level opens up to us a different and much deeper truth. Zacchaeus was searching for something long before he set eyes on Jesus. God in Jesus saw Zacchaeus long before Zacchaeus saw Jesus. God sowed in the heart of Zacchaeus a longing and a curiosity for something more than the accumulation of wealth and worldly status. It reminds us of what Jesus said, in answer to the question of Nathanael, ‘How do you know me?’ (John 1:48):

 “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

Climbing that tree took courage. Behold the spectacle of a great and despised public sinner perched on a common tree seeking to catch the eye of a great prophet and healer. We might conjecture that Zacchaeus struggled with himself over a period of time before he summoned the courage to go out and climb the sycamore tree. There was much at stake for him since he was, after all, the chief tax collector. He surely would lose not only wealth but a whole network of friends and possibly family too. 

It often happens that after a long period of struggle comes a time of sudden decision. This happened in a moment when Jesus’ eyes met Zacchaeus’ eyes. What was the immediate fruit of this very decisive step on the part of Zacchaeus? It was the gift of joy and peace. This is the sign that we are on the right path when we decide for Christ in our lives.

Luke tells us that Zacchaeus ‘hurried down and was happy to welcome him’ (v.6 in the NRSVA version).  I prefer the King James version on this one:

And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.

When was the last time one of us received someone – anyone – with the fullness of joy?! Blessings on the one who receives with joy because true and godly joy will convert the world, melt hearts and pave the way for the coming of God’s kingdom in our time and in this place.

Our journey involves a trust because no more than Newman or Zacchaeus we do not see what lies ahead.

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still

Will lead me on,O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till

The night is gone;And with the morn those angel faces smile

Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

(from ‘Lead Kindly Light’ by St JH Newman)

* On the development of ideas (JH Newman)

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A PRAYERFUL WALK THROUGH LUKE 19:1-10

Chapter 19 opens with a story about a rich publican. It builds on the parables and stories of previous chapters in Luke. Already, Jesus had passed by a blind man on his way to Jericho. He too was healed. Characteristically, it expresses the joy and freedom of conversion. Jesus came with a radical message that associated him with outcasts, the poor, the despised and sinners. 

v.1-2   Zacchaeus – who was he

He entered Jericho and was passing through it.  A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. 

Rich, powerful and despised, Zacchaeus was the sort that attracted the hatred and resentment of many. He lived off others by extortion and pressure. Jericho was a place renowned for the Balsam trade in the 1^st century. It is likely that Zacchaeus was benefiting from a particularly lucrative trade in extracting taxes from a hard-pressed local population.

v.3   He sought Jesus but was not able to see him at first

He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 

Zacchaeus was vertically challenged. However, he was keen to see Jesus. He had heard much about him. He was probably drawn to his teaching and influence. Jesus had enkindled something in the soul of Zacchaeus.

v.4   He places himself in the way

So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 

It was enough that Zacchaeus placed himself in a way that Jesus would see him.

The tree referred to here was possibly not quite a fig tree but a sycamore tree except not like the European one with which we so familiar. Rev Patrick Comerford points out that the tree referred to this Gospel passages is the ‘sycamine tree, which has the shape and leaves of a mulberry tree but with fruit that tastes like the fig’ (CME blog Limerick and Killaloe).

v.5-6   Jesus invites himself in

When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’  So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 

Jesus calls him by name. He knew what was in the heart and mind of Zacchaeus that day. Jesus also presents himself at our door (Revelation 3:20). Are we ready to hear and to open?

v.7   The judgment of the crowd

All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’ 

Tax collectors were seen as dishonest and extortionate go-between people who did the dirty work of the Roman authorities and, at the same time, made lots of money out of their occupation by cheating and driving a large margin between income received and money paid into central coffers. Again and again throughout the gospels, Jesus is taken to task for eating and drinking with the ‘wrong sort of people’.

v.8   The moment of surrender

Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ 

In typical Lucan fashion, the story of conversion is about the kingdom of God breaking out with freedom for the poor.  Zacchaeus was serious and showed it by divesting himself of much of his considerable wealth. Note, however, that Zacchaeus goes much further than what was prescribed in the Law in the cases of non-violent crime (see, for example, Numbers 5:5-7). He undertakes to pay back four times the amount defrauded which would have been the worst penalty (Exodus 22:1).

v.9-10   All are in need of salvation

Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’

Jesus came to seek and save all – not just the poor. Even the rich can be set free. In this case, the rich can be set free from attachment to riches. This particular son of Abraham was set free. Today all are invited in. Note that salvation had not only come to the individual, Zacchaeus; it came to his entire household. Salvation is both individual and corporate. Luke presents Jesus as the Pastor who will seek out, heal and restore those who are lost (see also Ezechiel 34:16).