Longing for you

‘… Whoever comes to me will never be hungry’. (John 6:35)

John 6:24-35 (Year B: Trinity+9)

                                              pic: Slieve Donard looking east 30/7/15

What drives human behaviour is complex..

Desire, hunger and hope drive human activity and behaviour. From the most basic needs of bodily sustenance up to the highest (or down to the lowest) of human motivations we are driven to go forward, to seek out, to protect, to aim high (or low) and to join with others in a shared effort.  The curious aspect of desire and motivation is that we may be only half aware of what it is that drives us forward (or backward). In fact, some of the time we may be skilled in not facing up to or acknowledging those drivers. It is never so straightforward that we can divide up ‘good’ motives and ‘less-than-good’ motives. Life is not that simple and people are surely not that simple. An intense and consuming desire to achieve may reflect needs stemming from much earlier in our lives and our relationships to others – not least our parents or parent.

We may be motivated by the highest of motives to do good and to serve a good purpose and cause and, yet, if we are honest with ourselves and others it not that cut and dry. The personal ego is an important driver. In some cultures the notion that someone is ‘full of themselves’ or that they are characterised as an ‘egotist’ is a mark of strong criticism and put down. However, a sense of self and self-achievement may be a positive source of energy and creativity.  Egotism may be understood as a sense of self at the expense of others and based on a false or exaggerated understanding of one’s abilities. Care is needed in assessing what motivates others let alone oneself.

And what drove the crowds to seek out Jesus....

When Jesus and his disciples saw the crowds looking for them on the other side of sea in the area of Capernaum they knew that the miraculous and the extraordinary had drawn them.  The people were seeking the miracle more than the sign that the evangelist John wishes to highlight. The crowd was hardly to blame.  Announce a weekly liturgy in a church near to you and you might be fortunate to draw a crowd of a few dozen or more. Announce miracles and healing backed by evidence of such phenomena and you will draw thousands if not tens of thousands to such an extent that traffic chaos, media sensation and ecclesiastical investigation will follow!  People are only human! After all, the sensational, the scandalous and the seductive make newspaper headlines and sell papers; not the everyday, ordinary, virtuous and deeply significant things that make up the lives of individuals and communities.  We don’t read a headline along the lines “It is widely reported this morning that over six billion million persons went about their lives yesterday in various parts of the world doing their daily tasks, caring for others and, for the most part or some of the time, showing kindness and concern for others”. That’s not news; that’s just a sign of human life.  But, this is where the life of God is revealed and where the Sign of God’s loving presence is made evident if we just stop and look and look again. In the midst of pots and pans, books and tools, toys and gadgets the Glory of God is revealed in people fully alive – no matter how they think about it or how to rationalise or explain it by reference to some a-theological mental framework.

Nobody who seeks Jesus will be turned away....

Like the people who followed Jesus to the other side of the lake we can miss the Signs of God in our chaotic, broken but beautiful and mystery-laden world. We seek the wrong type of bread in the wrong sorts of places when the real bread of God’s word and loving presence is freely on offer. This is the true bread ‘come down from heaven’ and it is also freely available to those who seek and come to be nourished in the Sacrament. And, ultimately, nobody can take this gift from us.

A key saying of Jesus is found in verse 37:

‘He who comes to me I will not cast out’ (verse 37)

It seems a pity that this Sunday’s passage cuts short just at verse 35 and will not reappear in the following continuous reading from chapter 6 of John. A key message and lesson in reading the entire chapter 6 of St John is that Jesus assures us that he will not turn anyone away. Rather, he asks that we trust or believe in him (verse 29) and be open to the gift of love. Nobody gets turned away even if their motivations are mixed.

There is a strong echo of Isaiah 55:1-3 where the prophet  Isaiah speaks of a people who need to come to the source of lasting nourishment and in so doing to hear again the message of ‘my steadfast sure love for David’. Food, Word, Love and Life eternal – this is what is on offer if we just trust and come to the Lord in expectation and desire.

Right now each of us can say to God-who-is-love that ‘I am:

Waiting for you

Hoping for you

Longing for you’

And these words might be possible to say in the minutes and hours as death approaches if time and circumstances permit. Some may be called, in a special way, to be the channel through which another meets god-who-is-love. That is a special and life-giving and life-lasting gift that purifies motives and lifts us up to a new plane of living. We can be bread for each other.

Abundance and welcome

‘… he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him’. (John 6:5)

John 6:1-15 (Year B: Trinity+8)

Just imagine being at a concert where you are among thousands seated to hear a band or a speaker.  Free food is being handed out. No questions. No front rows and back rows. No vouchers and no limits. No distinction of race, social class or ethnic belonging. And no ‘religion’ as we normally understand and apply the term. Just ‘imagine’ as the title and saying goes in that famous song by pop star John Lennon.  In short, we might imagine a world free of fighting, rivalry and distrust where there is an abundance of what is essential.

And this is the Kingdom of God on earth and beyond our earthly imaginings.

We are so accustomed to an idea of reality based on scarcity of means, infinity of objectives and hard choices to meet at least some of these objectives. The paradox of modern living is that as some of us acquire more and more by way of material goods, conveniences and options for communication and travel the more we fret and worry over the distribution of spoils.  The mentality of scarcity, non-affordability and general angst over the future takes over. 

The kingdom of heaven turns this mentality on its head by declaring that there is an abundance if we are prepared to take baby steps in trust.

The story moves along from searching for Jesus to sitting down together to eating together to being taught.

Eating together has a profound significance that is often missed in 21st century Western cultures. In many places and times, the act of sharing a meal has more than functional relevance. It is a time of renewal, friendship and conversation.  In some mysterious way it is a rite of passage as we move from day to the next and from one phase of life to another. The ‘last supper’ taken on the eve of Jesus’ execution was the first of many suppers in which he would continue to share his bread with his friends. Again and again meals are a sign of something living and continuous in the life of Jesus and his disciples. The various miracle meal stories to be found in all four Gospels including chapter 6 of St John tell of a time of renewal, friendship, teaching and joy. In some sense the reality of sharing a meal hints at sacrifice past or in the future.

We celebrate together what has been and what is to come. (Not only is a funeral the central social ritual in Irish culture but the meal that follows – even if it is only soup and sandwiches – is  part of the ritual).

John more than hints at a link to the early Eucharist when he writes, in verse 4, that the Passover was near.

Is this passage about the Eucharist as we have received it in Christian tradition?

It is.

Clearly, it echoes something from the witness of Jesus and the understanding of the early Christian community in which John was written. But the Eucharist as we have received it is, at the same time, about what we hear and see in John 6. There a bigger picture, here, than the particular tradition in which we have received the sign of bread and fish multiplied.  It is the reality of an outrageously over-generous and inclusive God who feeds everyone who comes to be fed and restored. The dispensers of this food are the keepers and messengers but they do not own the message and the bread and do not control, ultimately, who gets to eat and stay. In modern day terms, such a festival of sharing in the divine banquet might leave us shocked and perplexed at who turns up to be fed as well as who doesn’t turn up because they find the whole business unsavoury and scandalous.

Sensitivity to the rich Hebrew and ancient scriptural traditions of Jesus’ time is useful as a way of understanding what was going on here. In 2 Kings 4:42-44, the prophet Elisha is involved in another miracle of loaves.  Again, we see a stretching of faith and possibilities when we allow our meagre resources to be used by God in ways that surpass our wildest expectations and dreams.  The ‘little lad’ who had the five humble barley loaves and 2 fish (in other words the common diet of common people in Jesus’ time) played a key role in making it possible for a doubting band of apostles to distribute God’s bounty.  Entrusting our cause even to those of limited means and standing in the community could open doors and possibilities for God’s miraculous everyday work.

There are strong hints of a great new prophet – like Moses - sitting down on raised ground to teach God’s people.

The bread that comes down from heaven is no mere ordinary bread. Something transforming is happening in this story and it is beautifully summarised in the very ancient writing of the 2nd century Didaché (9):

Just as the broken bread was scattered here and there over the hills and when gathered became one, so now, may your Church be gathered in your Kingdom from the ends of the earth.

And so, at this feast, there is a distribution of the goods without limit to everyone who is in need and as much or as little as they need. Nothing is left to waste as the fragments are gathered up (note that they tidied up after themselves at the picnic!). There is no evidence of preferential treatment or front row pews for some with an offer of extras for these. It is a radical egalitarian meal of equals characterised by God’s fathomless generosity.  In a way the story is a model of how we should live out the Eucharist in today’s world. It is far from the fractious abuse of the Eucharist described briefly by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:17-22. But, alas, in the 21^st century the Eucharist is still a battleground among those who seek to control access and exclude dissenters and those who do not conform to a particular theology or set of preferences. We would do well to pause and ask ourselves who is the chief Host at this feast (pun intended!) and who is any one of us to decide that we are more worthy or deserving or needy than any one else?

The heavenly banquet has already begun and the lame, the wounded, the sinful, the unsure, the tormented, the hurt, the broken, the needy are all invited. Go out and let this be known. To conclude let us consider the uncensored words of John Lennon who sought for something beyond this world and is now somewhere in another world:

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Taking time out for compassion

‘… Come away to a deserted place’. (Mark 6:31)

Mark 6:30-34 (Year B: Trinity+7)

This passage comes at a busy and even traumatic time in the ministry of Jesus. Just before the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and after the execution of Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, and following the missionary apprenticeship of the apostles (Mark 6:7-13) we read that Jesus proposes to his friends the following: ‘come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’  There are strong indications, in this passage, of Jesus the loving shepherd sustaining and teaching his closest friends but also ever available to the wider community of people following or seeking his kingdom of love.

In some workplaces (a minority) every now and again the employees are brought away for ‘an away day’ or ‘retreat’ where gurus on management enunciates wisdom and where participants sometimes engage in ‘games’ to build teams.  In some school and other group settings a ‘retreat’ is a time when people are invited to take time out, listen, reflect and may be share something of their journey with others. Where such ‘retreats’ are mandatory they can constitute a personal trial and penance. Where they are voluntary and chosen they can provide an oasis of renewal, joy and healing. The choice is ours. Such ‘retreats’ may or may not be ‘religious’ (or even explicitly ‘spiritual’ for that matter). While a stag or a hen party is doubtfully a ‘retreat’ they could signal a time of bonding, friendship, celebration and in some sense a ‘renewal’ (the example will not be dwelt on further!).

Compassion and rest

Compassion incited Jesus to show practical concern for his friends by proposing a time of rest and withdrawal together as a group. Yet, the crowds demanded further healing and instruction and Jesus continued to show the same compassion by changing his plans and attending to the needs of a people who were ‘like sheep without a shepherd’ (verse 34). This change of plan tells us that (a) rest is essential and to be embraced as a sacred human obligation for ourselves and others, and (b) a ministry and service governed by compassion means that he timing and extent of such rest should be flexible. ‘Out of hours’ not available doesn’t work when someone is seriously sick, troubled or in danger.  When in doubt ‘err on the side of compassion’ as one writer put it.

And so it that time of year, again, when some lucky people in the Northern hemisphere of the globe can afford a break from the everyday routine and bind to ‘take some air’ and enjoy the fruits of the earth.  In our daily and pressurised lives we need to seek places and times of quiet where we can simply be.  Whether this be accompanied by walking, exercising, reading, listening, looking or simply enjoying the company of loved ones there must be time and space for rest.  After all, on the seventh day God rested from all his work (Genesis 2:2). The writers of Genesis wished to press home the good example the creator of the universe showed us his creatures! We owe our seven day week to these ancient scribes among others. And to press home the point further there is the biblical injunction of a seventh year of rest when the fields are not to be sown or vines pruned (Leviticus 25:4). All of this made good ecological sense and if those fortunate enough to afford ‘holidays in the sun’ (surely not in this part of Europe!) we might consider a walking or biking holiday in the misty, cool dew of some Irish mountain range.

And in Deuteronomy 15:1 we read about a remission of debt every seven years.

Rest is essential for service

The idea of rest is essential to human flourishing. Over time, ‘rest’ has become increasingly commodified, specialised and hived off from the rest of what we do.  Bearing in mind that we send up to one third of our lives in bed (so that someone at the age of 60 has spent a total of 20 years in bed so far which is not an insignificant life achievement) and that most of our waking time is spent ‘working’ or studying or caring or tending to the essentials of personal maintenance and sustenance a dedicated time of special ‘rest’ is not inappropriate. Strangely, the advent and growth of new technologies and conveniences, while they have reduced average paid working time over the last century, have not opened up huge horizons of ‘free time’ for dedicated rest and re-creation (the hyphen is not a typo!).

St Augustine of Hippo got it right when he said ‘God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.’ [Confessions, Book 1, chapter 1(2)]. We seek rest in the wrong places and in the wrong ways only to find our hearts still more restless. All ‘things’ can be arranged to serve good ends if we know how but when we make an end of these ‘things’ we end up in a loop of frustrating anxiety.

As it says in the concluding prayer for Wednesday night office:

……grant us the rest we need that we may be ever more willing to serve you….

Not looking back

‘… shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’. (Mark 6:11)

Mark 6:7-13 (Year B: Trinity+6)

                                            pic: Jennifer Kostick

This passage from the Gospel of Mark is a turning point. From now on the disciples are directly involved in, and made responsible for, spreading the good news of God’s kingdom. Their apprenticeship is about to begin. Much awaits them as it awaits us on our journeys. At this point in the journey as recounted by Mark, sights are set southwards towards Jerusalem.  Four key points or lessons for discipleship and service emerge from this passage:

1. In our discipleship we are not meant to travel alone
2. We are counselled to ‘travel light’.
3. We are advised to not jump from one ‘house’ to another but to give time and space to others and ourselves.
4.  We are advised to ‘shake off the dust’ under our feet or lodged in our mind, or, to put it another way don’t waste time or get stuck in a situation where we need to move on.

Travelling ‘two by two’ is a very natural thing to do in any walk of life. We think of loving couples, police officers, street evangelists, election canvassers, news casters, etc.

Travelling light..

Secondly, travelling light makes good sense, literally, in these cost-conscious times. Witness the desperate efforts during long summer holiday airport queues as people switch belongings from one bag to another to meet the 15 KG limit as the case may be! However, taking the advice more generally we need to become more aware of the baggage we carry in our own heads and hearts – deeply rooted hurts, imaginings or preoccupations. Not for nothing is one meditation approaches sold under the heading of ‘Headspace’. We need to create space in our heads to simply be, to breathe, to enjoy, to hear, to see, to receive. We can go around half connected to people around us and half detached with our heads full of all sorts of issues concerning tomorrow, yesterday, this worry or that desire.  Discipleship means that we are placed here with a purpose – to live the good life and to be channels of that life for others. This calls for discipline and exercise where we submit to the better plans of God in our lives.

Third, we need to stick at the job on hand and the commitment we have made. It is all too easy in this fast-moving, social media driven world to be half here and half there and constantly flitting from one thing to another.  Concentration, presence, thoroughness and then completion is the art of the craft worker who is rooted in the present moment of excellence and attention to the now.

Finally, by shaking off the dust we do not allow our own doubts and those demeaning thoughts cultivated by others to impede our thinking and action.  ‘Shaking off the dust’ was, apparently, a culturally appropriate norm and action in 1^st century Palestine (refer to Acts 13:51).

But what is others will not listen to our story? What if our very own identity and journey is a sign of repudiation in the sight of others? A writer on the Carmelite Lectio Divina website here puts it rather well, I think, when commenting on this passage of Mark:

Yet now he imposes on his disciples the direction not to waste time on those who will not receive them. Probably, in this recommendation there is also an adaptation to the situation of the community: they must not regret the break with the Israelite community. There had been a closed attitude and a ferocious and aggressive refusal: well, Jesus had foreseen this too. There was no need to grieve. They must go to other people and they must not waste time trying to win back that which could not be won back.

There is no pleasing everyone..

In short, there is no pleasing everyone all the time. Discipleship comes with choices, self-denial and courage to be different and to follow a new pathway – always grounded on love for those near and far including those to whom we are bound by reason of family, marriage and other bonds. We should not waste precious time and precious energy on arguments or disputes over secondary matters. What counts is compassion, truthfulness and associated action in the here and now.  Tomorrow is another land. Yesterday is gone forever: it is memory we offer to grace and mercy. In the associated story as recounted by Matthew (10:13) Jesus counsels his disciples to let their own peace return to them if the house’s response is not worthy. We need to be at peace with our decisions and actions after a time of discernment, prayer and resolution.  No matter what opposition or misunderstanding arise we need to live at peace with God and ourselves. On this basis we face, literally, any situation.

Let us walk in the light of the present moment practicing compassion and courageously embracing God’s evident will in the grittiness of daily living. We will be guided as true disciples and who knows others may join us too.

Beware of one of our own

‘… Prophets are not without honour, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house’  (Mark 6:4)

Mark 6:1-6 (Year B: Trinity+5)

                                      The brow of the hill in Nazareth where Jesus was taken..

Expect rejection then..

There was something different in the way Jesus worked. If only he adapted to the ways of those in authority and if only he worked in a pragmatic way avoiding saying or doing things that, inevitably, would infuriate and antagonise the religious authorities of his day. If only he avoided controversy and saying things that upset or embarrassed ‘his own’, and if only he settled down into a quiet life in Nazareth practicing his trade or occupation and using some spare time to impart words of wisdom in the synagogue.  If only. He could have had an impact way beyond his local community in a way that avoided the terrible outcome of Calvary.  In Luke’s account we are told that Jesus was run out of Nazareth after he taught in Nazareth Luke 4:28-30). He could have been murdered, prematurely, having been led to the brow of the hill overlooking Nazareth where he was to be thrown. Whatever the precise detail, we know that Jesus was not welcome in his home town or village and this lack of welcome may have involved his closest relatives and neighbours. Could we imagine the ‘headlines’ in the Galilee Times: local Nazareth man seriously hurt after incident in Synagogue.

The Gospels, in their account of what Jesus said about the religious authorities, reflect in part the atmosphere of extreme hostility between the newly emerging Jesus movement within and beyond Judaism in the 70s A.D.. Still, they reflect a person who spoke, lived and died in a way that broke with convention and was vehemently opposed by ‘respectable’ persons in authority. Jesus settled not for quiet and for pragmatic adaptation with a view to incremental change. He lived for a disruption in the way people lived. The Kingdom of God’s reign was among us and we did not recognise it in front of our very own eyes. He was telling of, and living from, a vision and reality that challenged some of the very central tenets of doctrine and interpretation.

In the clash between Jesus and the authorities of his day we might easily miss or gloss over at least one crucial detail captured in this story of Jesus’ return to his very own ‘hometown’, Nazareth. Not only did the neighbours in this hometown take ‘offence’ (some translations use the term ‘stumbled’) but his very own ‘family’. Yes, his only family. We are left guessing what exactly this means. There is more than a hint, here, that Jesus’ own family were not happy with his behaviour. After all, earlier in this Gospel we are told that his own family regarded Jesus as ‘mad’ (without putting too fine a point in it).  See Mark 3:21. This ‘family’ could include his mother, his father Joseph if he were still alive (but there is no mention of him during the ‘ministry years’) and his ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ who are among those named here. Are these brother and sisters blood brothers and sisters as we know the term these days or do they refer to a looser relationship based on a wider kinship? Let’s leave that question to the scripture scholars and theologians!

The Gospel of Mark reports the prophetic sentence of Jesus (verse 4)

Prophets are not without honour, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house

The New International Version (UK) version of the Bible puts Jesus’ saying in even more stark contemporary language:

A prophet is not without honour except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.

Expect rejection now...

It is likely that the experience of rejection and exclusion even up to permanent expulsion was the lived experience of many followers of Jesus when the Gospels were transferred from oral tradition to written records. Many disciples, both then and now, will experience the tension and conflict between inhospitable communities or relationships from which they have emerged and the duties of care and covenantal obligation.  There are no blueprints for handling this other than lots of trust and lots of prayer and perseverance and support in the family of Christian believers.

To put it another way: witnesses who challenge the status quo may gain acceptance abroad but not on the home ground. This is an observable trait not only in ancient societies such as those described in the Bible but in our own modern world. Over the ages and in today’s world, how many individuals and groups have been marginalised, hounded, excluded and expelled because they are viewed as a reproach to the ‘way we do things around here’?  The point is more subtly confirmed from my experience and observations on this island of the North Atlantic. If you want to make a point, prove a thesis, proclaim a new insight – go and fetch an outsider be it a famous writer, a famous politician or a famous thinker and get them to give a speech here on this island.  Ironically, what they might say is often no different, essentially, to what is already thought, written and said by others who have grown up and lived here. Yet, having an outsider say it makes all the difference. Everyone or most people applaud. Have ‘one of our own’ say it and there are objections: ‘This voice lacks credibility’, ‘he is only saying that because of political or other ambition’, ‘was not she the person who was fined for speeding last year?’ You get the picture! And Mark captures the point well in this saying of Jesus for which there is no direct Old Testament precedent (even though the saying has an Old Testament ring to it). All four ‘canonical’ gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – report the phrase used in Mark 6:4.

What is it about local communities and societies that welcome, sometimes, the outsider ‘prophet’ but not ‘one of their own’? It is a good question.  Perhaps, in receiving the outsider we do not need to take responsibility when she or he has moved on. The insider is too much a sign of contradiction and reproach. At the same time, we may know the insider much better than others do and, as often happens, ‘familiarity breeds contempt’: we know the negative traits and past histories of the insider and we dwell on these more than the positive. In the non-canonical gospel of St Thomas the equivalent phrase to that in Mark 6:4 used is:

‘No prophet is accepted in his own village’

Sources of offence...

But, what was it that caused people to take offence in Jesus’ teaching? The evangelist Luke in his account of this episode (where he welds together into one a number of stories about Jesus returning to Nazareth) gives a clue. When Jesus stands up in the synagogue and reads from the prophet Isaiah (Luke 4:16-30) and applies this teaching to himself by declaring ‘today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’ everyone was pleased with what he said. However, what infuriated the synagogue participants that day is when Jesus questioned their sincerity in really believing the words of Isaiah. A trigger switch was pressed and favourable acclaim turned to extreme hatred and precipitated an effort to kill or seriously injure Jesus. The saying ‘no prophet is accepted’ seems to be the trigger according to Luke’s version of the story. How quickly astonishment and delight turn to hatred and opposition especially when what we say and do appear as a reproach to the way others live and see the world.

Letting loose..

Chapter 6 of Mark’s Gospel represents a new turning point. Having failed in Galilee, Jesus would now head south and take on the territories surrounding Jerusalem and, ultimately, Jerusalem itself. The 12 apostles would begin to play a more significant role from now on as their training intensifies. The key points of the Gospel story as a whole are present in this short passage of Mark (and were outlined in more detail in the first chapter): faith, repentance, healing, following and being sent.

There is a further twist to this episode in the life of Jesus and it is the relationship between trust (faith) and miracles. Some situations seem so intractable and so much beyond hope that the very effort to retrieve the situation seems pointless. But, miracles and do happen (think of the miraculous recovery of European solidarity in the years following the terrible period of 1939-1945). But a miracle in personal relationships, personal health or communal goals is only possible when trust, grounded on practical experience and knowledge, is let loose as to be boundless.