Ever thankful as we press forward

 “…The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:5)

 

pic: P. Rushe

Sirach 24:1-12

Psalm 147:12-20

Ephesians 1:3-14

John 1:1-18

 

(Year B: Second Sunday of Christmas, 3^rd January 2021)

It was a long year, 2020. It was an even longer winter here in the Northern hemisphere of our common home. And it is far from over.   In many ways it is the darkest of times. In other ways, it is a time of wonderful possibility and hope. It is up to us what to make of this time. We can curse the darkness and the restrictions on our liberties as well as the uncertainty that prowls in the darkness. Or, we can accept that this is life at least for now and the immediate time ahead and start lighting little candles of kindness in the spaces where we find ourselves. In accepting this situation we are not succumbing to the darkness of this world. By darkness, I mean those forces that seek division, dominance and, ultimately, death.  The metaphor of darkness at this time of year is particularly strong because a combination of factors keeps us indoors and somewhat apart from others or, perhaps, somewhat on top of others and they on us!

Two thousand years ago a light shone in the darkness of this world with its pagan sacrifices, cruelty and superstitions. That light became a guiding force for many down the centuries and up to this time.  The light is the Son of God born among us and living among us if we reach out and let him shine in our own darkness. May we never forget that we have been called out of darkness into God’s own marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9). What a wonderful privilege.

No matter how far we have travelled or progressed or regressed or have got side-tracked – we can ‘start again’ to live life in a new way. The startling, exhilarating and shocking aspect of living as human beings is that we have the intelligence, will and understanding to ‘start again’ where we are, how we are and as what we are.  But, we cannot earn our way to heaven or achieve salvation by sheer effort. We must be open in faith and love to the call of grace. In a spiritual sense we, too, can be born again (John 1:13) whether at the age of 18 or 70. It is never too late or too early.

Perhaps it might be an exercise to write on one side of a sheet of paper our worst fears, disappointments and regrets. Put them into a tin box (or perhaps just throw them into the fire) and revisit them on 31^st December 2021.  Perhaps, then, the sky will not have fallen in after all and the very things we most feared didn’t happen but the things we never really thought of (good or bad) happen. Life is like that (just imagine the list from December 2019!).

What can make the difference to our lives in 2021? John 1 gives us a clue. The Light has come into the world. We are not that light. We merely reflect that light. However, we can share in that Life that became flesh as we are and shared our toils, pains and hopes.  With the coming of spring (in the northern hemisphere) and the prospect of less restrictions in a few months time (we hope!) we will need to get out and about more and see the world full of grace, full of potential and full of the glory of God hidden behind human suffering and environmental chaos.  And when we return in the evening or when we rise early in the morning the Word will be there to greet us and reassure us that we were never alone – neither in the ‘market place’ or in our own abodes as we wait out this current time of darkness.  The point is that we have already received from the fullness of God-who-is-love. 

There is a saying that nature abhors a vacuum. But, there is no vacuum in our hearts if we dig deep enough. The Risen Christ already lives there.  ‘Grace upon grace’ awaits us. God desires to fill our hearts and our minds – if we let him. The opening of John hits a high theological note. Jesus was not just an extraordinary human being; he was the Logos or the Word which was with God and was God. This reading of the Good News is grounded in the flesh and blood Jesus we recognise in the nativity story but is also leading us to a faith in a God who has become flesh and blood and overturns our world and lives.

If there is one resolution we might consider in this coming year can I suggest thankfulness:

We have been blessed with so much whether it is health or friendship or peace. Above all, as Paul writes, we have been blessed ‘in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’ (Ephesians 1:3).

Thank you.

And once again

Thank you.

Words: 811

Writing stories with our lives

“…Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)

 

Isaiah 63:7-9

Psalm 148

Hebrews 2:10-18

Luke 2:15-21

 

(Year B: First Sunday of Christmas 27^th December 2020)

TV soaps and story-telling

I have sometimes wondered why the ‘TV soaps’ attract such a large and dedicated audience. It seems to me that the attraction is related to people’s own lives, hopes, worries and dreams. True, the ‘soaps’ tend to dramatise and exaggerate everyday real-life sagas.  Even still, we are fascinated about other people’s stories.  It would be much easier to explain points of theological doctrine (or theories of political economy) if we were to use examples, stories and what the Bible calls ‘parables’. This is why reading novels or fictional TV dramas can be a form of truth-discovery. They embody important truths and insights that are particular and, at the same time, universal in application. Whether it is Fair City, the Riordans in a former age or Coronation Street, we see a little bit of our story in there and more besides.

In the story of the birth of Jesus and the events following this we see something very personal, very human and very this-worldy. A baby is born in difficult circumstances, mysterious events and words are pondered by a mother and a baby is named ‘The-One-Who-Saves’ or Jeshua according to the Jewish ritual of circumcision for new-born boys.

Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus and the events surrounding it are unique to this Gospel. This is not to suggest that the story is fiction. This detail and that detail may been added or nuanced in the course of 40 years of story-telling and eventual write-up following the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in what became the Gospel of Luke.

Who was caught up in the birth of Jesus

What is clear is that many were involved and touched by the birth of Jesus.  These were:

In the first place, his parents Mary and Joseph;

In the second place, a group of ordinary 1^st century peasants minding their sheep on the hills;

In the third place, a collection of foreigners searching for goodness, beauty and truth; and

In the fourth place others we do not know about from the stories told by Luke and by Matthew.

Stories began to circulate. There was a group of shepherds tending to their sheep on the hills somewhere in an obscure corner of Palestine. They experienced something amazing and powerful just like a group of Irish peasants saw and witnessed something extraordinary in an obscure place in the West of Ireland in 1879. However the happenings in Knock village, County Mayo may be interpreted, we must acknowledge that God is revealed in completely unexpected ways to completely unexpected people in unexpected places even if, as 21^st century rational Christians heavily influenced by Enlightenment thinking as well as TV soaps we take some of the detail with a pinch of salt.

How did these stories and, in particular, the story of the shepherds recounted in Luke 2:8-14 come about?  In verse Luke 2:19, we read that ‘Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart’. 

Did Mary, herself, recount this to Luke? I would not be surprised if she did. There is a feminine touch to Luke’s gospel. Going a further speculative step, is there a possibility that Mary helped Luke to write some of the Gospel?  We will never know in this life. It is clear that Mary, the mother of Jesus the Son of God, had a story to tell and one that transformed her life in the depths of her heart.

A woman’s heart

 ‘A woman’s heart is a deep ocean of secrets’ as Old Rose said in the film ‘Titanic’. And we can assume that Mary, the mother of Jesus, continued to treasure and ponder all these words in her heart for many years after she, along with Joseph, was visited by the shepherds.

Four questions arise, here:

What was it, exactly, that Mary treasured and why?

What do we treasure and why?

What does ‘pondering’ mean in the context of this story?

What implications does the phrase have for me now?

That which Mary pondered

Turning to the first question – Mary treasured the words conveyed by the Shepherd. They told her seven things and these where that:

1.      An angel of the Lord had stood before them (just as Gabriel had with Mary some nine months previously).

2.      Something extraordinary, beautiful and terrifying happened to them  - there was no doubt but the glory of the Lord had shone around them that night just as it did for Mary months previously. (The Gloria is derived, in part, from the lines of scripture found in Luke 1:14). 

3.      The angel of the Lord had urged them to not be afraid (just as Gabriel had said to Mary).

4.      ‘Good news of great joy for all the people’ is announced.

5.      A baby would be born for the world in the ‘city of David’ or Bethlehem (meaning, literally, the House of Bread) and this baby would be a Saviour, a Messiah and Lord. 

6.      And in case there was any doubt the baby, according to the angel, would be wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger in the House of Bread.

7.      And that is not all but the Angels gave them a powerful rendering of ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours’ as if they were listening to a chorus from Handel’s Messiah in Dublin in 1742 !

And probably more besides than is recorded in the Gospel of Luke…..

So what?

But, what does any of this mean for us today? What do we keep and treasure in our hearts and ponder day by day from waking to rising to retiring and resting? What tunes, so to speak, form the background to our daily rhythms?  Do we seek refuge in times and places of quiet to ponder and savour the written and spoken Word of God mediated to us through  scripture? Can we take our cue from Mary who is open to great mysteries and – for now – unanswered questions?

And to ponder – what does that mean? To ponder is not quite the same as analysing or in breaking something down into a logical set of things and putting them back together again as you would in a legal text or a mathematical equation. Rather, pondering is about resting on something with the gentleness of a leaf or feather brushing against the surface. It is about letting the words stay in our hearts – the very inner part of our being – and to let ourselves be animated by them. The closest example is in listening to music.

In listening to music, we do not have to do anything. Music lights up (or does not as the case may be) some part of our brain or our spirit.  If we dance to music it is because something in us as been sparked enabling us to join in our give expression to an inner feeling. Pondering, meditating and contemplating are closely related and these happen as much in the ‘heart’ as in the ‘mind’ though the distinction is not to be taken too strictly.

Curiously, there is more than one mention of Mary’s heart or inner most being in the gospels and they all occur in Luke:

Luke 2:35 when Simeon tells Mary that a sword will pierce her heart as it would on Calvary.

Luke 2:51 when Mary ‘treasured all these things in her heart’ after the losing and finding of Jesus in the temple when he was twelve years of age.

Are we for real?

What implications does the phrase ‘pondering in her heart’ have for you and me now? I suggest it means a careful, daily, disciplined attention to the Word of God early and late. It means linking the Word to the everyday hum of our ordinary lives. It means living out of the Word in our attitudes, words and actions. Let others assess if we are for real disciples of Jesus living out of the Word sown in our hearts. If we are, we can write a new story by the way we live and in that way we can touch the lives of others around us and those not yet born.

A meaningful Christmas

 ‘let the land and all it bears rejoice, all the trees of the wood shout for joy’ (Psalm 95:12)

 

(Readings for midnight Mass of Christmas)

Isaiah 9:1-7

Psalm 95 (96)

Titus 2:11-14

Luke 2:1-20

 (Year B: Christmas Day 25^th December 2020)

‘A meaningful Christmas’ is one of those enigmatic phrases that has arrived in common parlance in recent times. We had a lockdown in November (or was it October ? – I can’t remember or distinguish months anymore) so that we could have a ‘meaningful Christmas’.  The phrase begs the question – what is a meaningful Christmas for you, for me, for anyone? Clearly, ‘Christmas’ had become a major mid-winter, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, festival of colour, lights, glitz, santa, presents, retail, meals out, meals in together, visiting, days off work if we are among the fortunate and so on and on.

A poignant memory of Christmas Day for me is helping to feed my mother in a nursing home many years ago when she was alive (something that would be unthinkable for a relative in such a place nowadays).  There was a time when she fed me on my first Christmas Day in 1956 (in hospital as it turns out as I was delicate enough when I was born a week before Christmas).  I have many pleasant memories of Christmas day with my own Mam and Dad and then with others along the way including my own family and children. Last year was special as I hung in the balance between life and death in A&E due to septic shock secondary to an infection. That was Christmas Day/night as a team of people worked hard to save my life.  I can remember the festive imitation antlers on the head of the doctor as she put in an IV line. There are things you notice when lying flat.

This year everything is upside down. We literally don’t know whether we are coming or going.  And, as for the Great Sacrament which is, surely, the point of a fully Christian celebration of Christmas I am afraid it is something much less than we might have hoped for. Everyone (or almost everyone) is doing their best to stay positive and stay safe even if nerves are fraying and tempers flaring in a household near you.  It could be worse – one could be stuck in a truck on the M20 outside Dover or working a 12 hour shift in ICU here in Dublin where there is a steady flow of very, very sick people arriving day by day. Some people are sick with worry about having no livelihood on the 1^st January. Others will be thankful to be alive and not on a ventilator on 1^st January.

It's surreal.

Yes, our faith is put to the test. Where O God are You? Eli, Eli, Lema Lema sabachthani? (Matthew 27:46).

Perhaps, this is not the time or year to say ‘have a merry Christmas’.  We need to rethink where we are and what we have got. What we have is a slice of life in time and a breath to take us through the next few moments. That’s it.  We did not chose these circumstances. We have to accept that this is where we are and that if there is a God in heaven (I believe that there is) that God is not a God of punishment or revenge but a God of infinite loving kindness who has counted our breaths and knows every tissue of our being and cares for us moment by moment.

The truth is that Christmas 2020 can be special in so many ways if we want it to be. Here is are some examples:

Calling that person you have not talked with in years because of some hurt.

Texting someone you know that is living on their own on Christmas Day.

Taking a little time out to pray the act of spiritual communion with another person or on your own.  An open bible on the opening chapters of Saint Luke, a lit candle and an un-consecrated morsel of bread and a thimble of wine could symbolise our longing and desire for communion at this moment of our life’s journey. This is the Bethel or house of bread (Bethlehem) where we are nourished in spirit just as we were on our first Christmas on earth.

We could close with today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah so, so relevant to us now (Isaiah 9:1-7):

But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. (v. 2)
You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder.
For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
For a child has been born for us, a son given to us (v.6)
authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness from this time onwards and for evermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

&&&

Have a meaningful Christmas wherever you are. See you in the new Jerusalem soon. Shalom

Great expectations

“…Let it be” (Luke 1:38)

“…Let it be” (Luke 1:38)

 

READINGS (COI & paired as between the Gospel and the Old Testament readings)

2 Samuel 7:1-11,16

Luke 1:46-55 (Magnificat)

Romans 16:25-27

Luke 1:26-38

 

(Year B: Fourth Sunday of Advent 20^th December 2020)

‘Is he still coming?’ the child asks in the TV Christmas advert for a supermarket. The awaited person is grandad (playing on the expectation that the audience thinks it is santa at first).  Is there a possibility that we, as adults, could rekindle something of that childlike (not childish) hope and excitement at the coming of our baby saviour on Christmas Day?  We are so close to that Day. We are in the company of Mary and Jesus and Joseph. However, for now, Mary is to the fore. Her ‘yes’ is our ‘yes’ and her questioning is our questioning.

We can be sure of one thing: God. Everything else is tentative.

Let’s walk through the story especially from Mary’s perspective as she recounted it to others (including, possibly, Luke?).

26-27:  An angel arrives

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 

The opening lines of this passage conveys a lot of information. Mary and Joseph are named including Gabriel (literally meaning ‘God is my strength). Joseph is not some bystander of little consequence. The lineage (important to Jewish readers) is that of the house of David.  The timing and location are precise – ‘the sixth month’ and a little town called Nazareth in the hill country of Galilee in the far north of Palestine south of Lebanon and Syria.

Where did the incarnation event happen? It happened in an insignificant town that anybody of significance knew nothing about and was never mentioned in the Old Testament or by the historian Josephus.  The place may have been despised by Palestinians and, based on the account in Luke 4:23-30, was inhabited by not a few jealous and vicious-minded persons.

The sending of the angel Gabriel is at a definite moment in time and place to a special woman. The great event of the in-carnation is set in-time and in-space.

28-29:  A greeting and an anxious response

And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

 Even Mary who trusted God in all things was perplexed. She lived in trust and care for others including her cousin Elizabeth.

30:  Do not be afraid!

The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. 

Mary was perplexed at this unexpected and very unusual development. What could it mean? The angel Gabriel urges her to not be afraid. For Mary has found favour with God who is with her. Fear can paralyse our thinking and behaviour. We can discover new life when we let go of fear and embrace uncertainty in the trust that we have found favour with God because we His children.

31:  Jesus

And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 

The name of Jesus reveals the essential. The one who is conceived and is to come is the one who saves.  Jeshua (he-who-saves), Jesus, is coming to save, to redeem, to restore, to unite and to reconcile

32-33:  This is no ordinary saviour or leader

‘He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.  He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ 

Expressed in terms and concepts that had a special resonance for a Jewish people, Mary is left in no doubt that the one who is conceived within her is destined to accomplish great things that will impact on everyone born and yet to be born. Do we know what possibilities are contained in the smallest of ‘yeses’ and the smallest and most humble of beginnings? In becoming flesh, God became not just an adult human being but an unborn child and a foetus.  This hard to imagine or get our heads around but the message of Jesus Christ is always radical, new and surprising.

34-35:  How can this be?

Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 

There is much in our faith and discipleship that is difficult to understand and even, sometimes, accept.  We might call out ‘how can this be?’.  Mary was not afraid to question and to wonder and to struggle.  In his response, the angel assures her of the overwhelming power and possibilities in God ‘the Most High’. We may not understand how or when or why but we can rest our weary heads and hearts in that space afforded by a quiet trusting and assurance of things unseen and yet hoped for.

The specific role of the Holy Spirit (the Holy Breath or Ruach in Hebrew) is central to the Annunciation in Luke. The Holy Ruach was hovering over the waters at the dawn of creation (Genesis 1:2) just as She (the word is feminine in the Hebrew) covered Mary at the moment of In-Carnation – the becoming flesh of God.  We may note that God became flesh not at the birth of Jesus which we celebrate this Christmas but at the moment of conception of Jesus.  Hence, the liturgical calendar marks the incarnation on the 25^th March.

36-37:  All things are possible

And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ 

With echoes of Jeremiah 32:27 (‘See, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me?‘), the Angel reassures Mary. What we imagine to be impossible or inconsistent is possible in the greater plan of God. The Holy Spirit is key to that trusting which opens gates, melts stubborn hearts and sets the world on fire.

38:  Fiat

 Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.

Mary let the holy spirit do her work in the depths of her heart. Her yes, her ‘fiat’ opened the gates of heaven that God could become one of us and we could become fully alive in God. Note that Luke does not tell us that Mary went away to consider the matter or that she consulted the village wise-men or kindred. It is not clear what advice might have ensued!  ‘Take your time’, ‘Are you sure it was an angel?’, ‘How do you know that it might have been an angel of darkness disguised in light?’, ‘What will Joseph, the neighbours and cousins think?’ or ‘This could land you in big trouble for the rest of your life’.

Its all very well for us to sit back and say ‘Mary had no option’ or, perhaps, ‘Mary found it easy to say yes because she was not weak and fragile like one of us’. The reality is that she could have said ‘no’ and in saying ‘yes’ it cost her and Joseph and the wider family.

The missing piece

“…that all might believe through him” (John 1:7)

READINGS (COI & paired as between the Gospel and the Old Testament readings)

Isaiah 61:1-11

Psalm 126

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

John 1:6-8, 19-28

 (Year B: Third Sunday of Advent 13^th December 2020)

This Sunday is ‘Gaudete Sunday’. The term comes from the opening sentence (or ‘introit’) in the Eucharist as it has been celebrated over many centuries in the Western Church in Latin. It reads:

Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete.

This means

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice

and is taken from

Philippians 4:4

This advice is taken up once again by St Paul in his letter to the Christians at Thessalonika an extract of which is read today. He writes:

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Joy is a difficult thing to define or measure. It is felt more than seen. It is seen more than heard. It is heard more than measured. No market value can be put on joy. Neither can it be equated to satisfaction. It is not quite the same thing as happiness. Joy is joy. And it emerges in the simplest ways at often unexpected moments alone or with another or others.  If there is a way of telling what God is like and how God is present, then joy is the way though we need to be wise and restrained in rushing to conclusions on the basis of human intuition or feeling, alone.

If you pass by some older churches on the outside at night you may notice that they are sometimes lit up from inside. The light shines out through stain glassed windows. However, it is hard to tell from the outside what these figures in the windows mean.  Houses and buildings lit up in this way at night time have an attraction.

We are more inclined than not to pass by the places that are in darkness. Nobody is in. Light signals warmth, life, company and protection. There is a chance that someone might stop and might even visit the church.  On the other hand, darkness is isolating and possibly even threatening. So it is with people.

In this passage, John tells the listeners that the Baptist was not the light but rather a witness to the light. We are invited to share in that light and reflect it onto a world overshadowed by darkness. Sometimes those around us have no other light to walk by. It may even come to pass that our gentle presence and concern at a vital moment can – literally – save a life that others may believe through us.

Darkness can be overwhelming. News of conflict, disaster, the fall-out from Brexit, threats in the world around us and the ongoing scourge of covid can add to our inner unease to create a sense of gloom. We are called to be witnesses to the light: to joy and not sadness. We must wear our faith in our attitude, faces and acts of compassion and care.

It is said, and I think it to be true, that 80% of communication is facial, 17% tone of voice and 3% words.  By our attitude and genuine – really genuine – concern for others we help others to recognise in us the truth and the light and the life and the joy that Jesus has sown within us. If we think that we lack these – wait for it, pray for it, be open to it and carry on believing and acting anyway as if these goods were within us already in abundance.

In His peace we have resolve and clarity to go forward.

At this time of year, some are given to citing a famous but little known poem, God Knows, which was used by the King of England (George VI) during his Christmas Message of 1939 at a defining moment in world history. It has particular poignancy, perhaps, for all of the United Kingdom at this time.  The poem was composed by Minnie Louise Haskins (1876 – 1957) and contains the following:

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

Gaudete!

Let us rejoice in the Lord!  Without this joy we are missing the most important piece of Christmas even in the midst of darkness and suffering.

Let us be a cause of joy for others!

(words above = 762)

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Short Gospel commentary

Preliminaries

The text found in those opening verses of John’s Gospel concerning John the Baptist and his teaching and witness is paralleled in the three ‘synoptic’ Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.  Each evangelist felt compelled to set the record straight concerning the role of John the Baptist and his relationship to his cousin Jesus towards the beginning of their rendering of the Good News.

6-8:  John was given his role in the plan of salvation

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

Jesus is the true Light of the world. If John the Baptist was not the light but a witness to it then so are we – witnesses to light or the means of reflecting the light. Do we let the Light of Christ shine out through us?  If there is no light in the church building then those passing outside will see nothing when it is dark. Likewise, if there is no light lit in our souls how can others see any spark of light through us?

Are we credible witnesses, like John, to the light so that ‘all might believe’?  Is our love and our joy contagious and effective in helping others to realise that God’s love is well and truly alive here and now?

19-21:  John is not the one

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ 

All four Gospels are clear about the self-identification of John the Baptist. ‘I am not’ is how Jesus puts it in the Gospel of John. And this is as much for the edification of the community or communities for which the Gospel of John was written as it was for the priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem.

22-24:  John prepares the way for another

Then they said to him, ‘Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
“Make straight the way of the Lord”’, as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 

At the heart of scripture is a call and an invitation to walk with God. In the first place, this call which is taken up by John the Baptist and then in the ministry of Jesus is not primarily a call to sign up to some set of statements or actions. It is, rather, a call to prepare a way for the coming of God’s kingdom in our mixed up worlds.

25-28:  The meaning of John’s witness and baptism

They asked him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’  John answered them, ‘I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.’  This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

John baptised with water; Jesus baptises with the Holy Spirit.

Fiive marks of discipleship

“…The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1)

Mark 1:1-8 (Year B: Second Sunday of Advent  6th December 2020)

The Gospel of Mark, which we read over most Sundays from now until Christmas of 2021 is a very concise account of the life of Jesus Christ. The first chapter reads, in many respects, as a type of ‘executive summary’ of this entire Gospel and all four canonical Gospels. The opening 8 verses of Mark 1, which provide the reading for this Sunday, are a prelude for what is to follow.  What it is to follow may be summarised in five key points as follows:

To repent of our sins (v 15)

To believe in Jesus (v 15)

To be healed by Jesus (v 34)

To follow Jesus (v 17)

To be sent by Jesus (v 17)

We would do well to take Mark in hand this Advent/Christmas and let the words and their meaning sink in. We ought to take some time out to go with the Five Marks of discipleship presented to us by Mark in the opening chapter of his Gospel and of which today’s reading is an introduction.

The first chapter of the Gospel of Mark is worth reading slowly and prayerfully. It holds the key to the entire Good News story about Jesus. When a sentence or a phrase strikes we can just stop there and linger awhile in silence and quiet. A quiet spot and a regular time of day is an idea for this type of exercise. It takes practice and discipline. It bears fruit. In that way we can ‘prepare a way’ in the desert of our lives. And we will be overtaken by surprise – surprise that God loves us more than we ever imagined possible.

We go from a raised awareness of our need for repentance (a turning towards others and God) to a continuing healing to an active decision to follow the One who has prompted us. In following the One, we help prepare a way for others, too.

We may note that our Messiah didn’t just pop up in Palestine 2,000 years ago. The way was prepared over a long, long time by people including prophets, kings, servants and, more recently, by John the Baptist. Others had sown the seeds over generations. Mary had to say her yes.  Joseph has to say his yes to what was unfolding.  John (the Baptist) assembled some disciples, first. At the end of his life – a mere three years before his death – Jesus steps out and begins to proclaim a kingdom of values that would shake and reshape the world forever.

John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus, points to a new way of life and a new order of things which is already breaking into our world. He was no ordinary person. Clothed in ‘camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist’ and with ‘locusts and wild honey’ as his food we are picturing, here, not some finely clothed priest in the Temple or some man about society and the synagogue.  Here was someone who is message and its impact. However, the cousin of Jesus plays something of a very backseat role in the was a reproach to the social norms of the time. Yet, people came to him. There was something about hgospel. Just as Jesus emerges on the scene, the Baptist fades away. Yet, his role and ministry is hugely important – like of that of Mary the mother of Jesus.  John the Baptist helped make the gospel welcome where he was and where he was sent.  We, too, have a call to do so.

This advent is a time to be refreshed and to experience, again, the fruits of our own baptism. The year 2020 has been an extraordinarily difficult year for nearly everyone.  We have been forced to slow down and make hard choices.  A chink of light is visible now but relief is some way off.  Advent, this year, will be different.  However, we can make it a reality for ourselves and others by taking the gospel to heart in our daily lives. We need to be  open to change. Change is possible no matter who we are and where we are at or which pandemic strikes next as it will in this new world of nature imbalance and hyper globalism.

 

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A short commentary

Preliminaries

The Gospel of Mark is thought to have been written before the other three Gospels that we recognise and have received. In common with the other three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Luke and John), Mark gives some prominence to the role and person of John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus.  It is also striking that the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3 is explicitly mentioned in each Gospel.

A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

It is as if each of the four evangelists wants to emphasise that Jesus is fulfilling what the prophet Isaiah foretold and what the Jewish people longed for and expected for over many generations. Now, the Lord has arrived. However, the way was prepared by John the Baptist who preached repentance and forgiveness of sins and gathered a community of disciples around him. John gives way to Jesus. His mission was to be a sign and a witness pointing the way to Jesus who was to come. Mark jumps straight to the Baptism and mission of Jesus in the opening of the Gospel of Mark (1:9-11). Mark gives John his due acknowledgement as a key figure in preparing the way for Jesus. However, from now on, the disciples of John must look to Jesus even if questions lingered for some years after the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

1:  In the beginning

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

That is a very concise beginning to a very concise Gospel and a very concise opening chapter. What this Gospel is about is quite simply the Good News of Jesus Christ the Son of God.  Mark could not be more concise!  With Mark there is no extended hymn and reflection on the Logos who became flesh and lived among us as in the Gospel of John.  Neither is there an extended genealogy for the edification of Jewish ears as in Matthew.  And, there are no extended narratives on how Jesus was conceived and born as in Matthew and in Luke.  Mark jumps straight into the opening ministry of Jesus.  Matthew, Luke and John have important points of emphasis to bring and which are missing in Mark.

2-3:  Drawing on the prophecies of Malachi and Isaiah

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight”’

Malachi 3:1 –  See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. 

The entire chapter 40 of Isaiah is worth reading again.

4-5:  Here comes John the Baptiser

‘John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.’

6-8:  And here is what he taught

‘Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

The first mention of baptism in this Gospel is to baptism in the Holy Spirit. Baptism and the Holy Spirit are central to Christian discipleship. Mark is being very clear, lest there be any lingering doubts, with the community for which he wrote around the decade of the 70s following the death and resurrection of Jesus: John the Baptist was a prophet and a mighty one at that but he was not the messiah. Rather, he pointed to the Messiah who was already here in our midst.  Today, that same Messiah is in our midst no less than 2,000 years ago. We must open our eyes and hearts.

Not knowing

“…for you do not know when the time will come” (Mark 13:33)

READINGS (COI & paired as between the Gospel and the Old Testament readings)

Isaiah 64:1-9

Psalm 80:1-20

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Mark 13:24-37

 (Year B: Advent 29^th November 2020)

This past year has been marked by two things: waiting and not knowing. Waiting for the virus to break. Waiting for the virus to subside. Waiting for good news of a vaccine. Waiting to go back to work or regain lost hours due to business closure. Waiting to meet up with loved ones, family, friends and others. Waiting to meet again with other Christians to give thanks and break the Word and the Bread of Life.  Not knowing when or who or how. Only knowing the now and here. Trust – that is all we can do. Trust and pray. Pray and love moment by moment.

Someone – almost with tongue on cheek – suggested recently that Christmas be postponed until late January.  ‘Christmas’ as we know it in the world of retail, gatherings and celebrations is an important economic, social and personal event in the calendar. Yet, the very root meaning of Christmas is Christ Mass. How ironic that this year for the first time most Christians may very well be unable to participate fully in the celebration of the Christ Mass on the 25^th December. We do not know what exactly will be possible on Christmas day and in the days leading up to it and immediately afterwards. I suspect that local adaptations will apply and attendance may be staggered over the surrounding week (giving a whole new practical significance to the notion of an Octave or, indeed, Christmastide). However, January looms, the virus is still lurking in homes and on the streets and the promised land of vaccines is far off yet and looking a little blurred but promising. That’s all.

In our little Western and Northern bubble, we should remind ourselves that there are millions of Christians who go to the Christ Mass on the 25^th December at their peril in parts of the world where to profess Christian faith is a dangerous and courageous thing to do.

In all of this uncertainty and challenge, the significance of Advent comes into sharper focus. We can still light candles at home or in public churches when they are open for private prayer. We can still tune in via zoom or youtube to any service or liturgy you like – high, low, Eastern, Latin, informal or Cathedral setting worship. The choice is yours. Yes, this is a bit like reaching out to your family members in Australia. Lovely to talk, listen and see someone on a two-dimensional screen but not even 10% of real corporeal presence which, as humans, we crave and need.  So, how do we navigate Advent this year?  What is the significance of Advent – the anticipation of coming or waiting that leads up to the special day marking the birth of Jesus? Advent is like a short Lent: it is designed to prepare us through prayer and self-denial and the practice of love to create a welcoming place in the crib of our own souls for the Christ child.  There is plenty to pray about this year and there is much by way of privation because of the trauma that many continue to experience as a result of the pandemic.

The theme running through the appointed readings from the Revised Common Lectionary is one of great change and great expectancy. Far from inviting us to go around with long faces and a gloomy religiosity, we are invited to ‘read the signs of the times’ about us. We are invited to look beyond the chaos, the fear and the uncertainty to what is positive, wholesome, beautiful, empowering and life-giving. We are invited to welcome the Kingdom that has already come and has not come yet.  As the people of God, we are bid to be a people of hope in a world that is often lost and confused.  We do not know what lies ahead but we know and trust that God is in charge somehow of the destiny of this universe and that he is deeply concerned about our lives because he loves us as we are and as we could be and as we are becoming.

In this way, we can afford to take risks and to do so in the knowledge that we do not know what lies ahead and how things will turn out.  We don’t know what the future holds, when we will die, who will be with us and how.  We must live fully in the only reality that we know – the now and the here.

This we can do while keeping our sights on the goal of our lives. We must be, at all times, ready, alert and active because we do not know the day nor the hour.

Vigilance, care, foresight stand to us on the journey of life.  When faced with difficulties or trials of one sort or another we can hold fast to God in silence and stillness while being fully alert and mindful of what is happening around us and within us. Attentiveness to the person next to us in the present moment of life is liberating.

Perhaps it will be a ‘meaningful Christmas’ for us after all this year but not in the casual way that this terms has been used in recent times.

 

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

Saint Augustine once wrote:

‘The time present of things past is memory; the time present of things present is direct experience; the time present of things future is expectation.’ Confessions, Book 11, Chapter 20.

24-27:  We will see the Son of Man coming in great glory and power

‘But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.  Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven’.

These are the end times and the community gathered around Mark and other evangelists sense that God will act and will act soon. This sets the scene for what is to follow by way of an overwhelming need to watch and to be ready. But, are we ready for what is next? A reading of this passage in Hiroshima in 1945 or at the height of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 might trigger a sense of foreboding and even dreadful reality matching some of the cosmic descriptions in this passage. But, this is less an occasion for gloom and foreboding as a call to each of us to be ready, to be hopeful and to on guard.

The emphasis in the gospel of Mark is not on catastrophe so much as on a glorious coming and reuniting of those open to the message of the Gospel. They will be gathered from the four winds or the four corners of the earth, from times past to the present and what lies ahead.

See Daniel 7:13-14:

‘As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him.
To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.’

See, also Act 7:56:

 ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’

And Acts 14:14:

Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand! zch

28-31:  A lesson from the fig tree

‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.  So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.  Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.'

In nature we see the signs of a mysterious power and love. If we are attentive we see signs of a new world breaking out, constantly, from the old. God is near us; very near. The Kingdom is already here and is emerging around us. Though we do not know when or how we know that it will happen in God’s own time and way. In that we trust. We are, truly, part of ‘this generation’ because every generation is called to wait and to hope and God comes to each of us in a special way when we pass from this life to the next.

32-33:  Watch and pray

‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 

Luke 21:36: ‘Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’

The reference to the Son not knowing the ‘day or hour’ may present a theological difficulty for some. However, being fully human and fully divine does not preclude the Son who is addressing his disciples before his death and resurrection not knowing everything. After all, Jesus ‘increased in wisdom and in years’ (Luke 2:52).

34-37:  Keep awake

It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.

To be awake is to be aware of life within us and around us. To be awake and ready is to be entirely centred on God’s will for us in the here and now. that is the only certainty.