Growing up in faith

“…But they did not understand what he said to them” (Luke 2:50)

Luke 2:41-52 (Year C: The First Sunday of Christmas/The Holy Family, 30th December, 2018)

This is a story about a family, custom and tradition, festival and gathering. It is a story of a journey back home.  A child goes missing, Worried parents.  Do the cousins know where he is?  Worry... Hell for a time.  Found him. Amazement, relief and anger for a while.  This story has all the hallmarks of one told by Mary to Luke. “O I remember the time he was 12. It was unbelievably difficult for me and Joseph.  We were beside ourselves. All the extended family searched for three days in Jerusalem. There were 10,000s of pilgrims from different parts of the world there like us. Much of the time we could not understand passers-by and they could not understand us.  Some of them thought we were in the city to buy and sell our son!  When we did eventually find him there were words….  He was cheeky and said something about his ‘Father’. I didn’t understand then but I do now. I only wish Joseph were still alive today to understand what happened then. Neither of us could understand what was going on. He was so worried and it had an impact on him for the rest of his life.  But, we gradually began to understand more and more over many years that this child was very special not in a way that all children are special.  The temple officials, theologians and priests even suggested that our son might have a special calling in the Temple given his precociousness and wisdom. But, Jesus had different ideas.”

Dealing with incomprehension was Jesus’s lot in the Temple and it was Mary and Joseph’s lot with the neighbours and cousins ever since Mary was found to be pregnant while not yet with Joseph.

Images of the ‘holy family’ abounded and still abound in religious imagery, poetry and liturgy. Mary, a spotless mother with a Northern European look about her, Joseph carrying a staff or a flower everywhere he goes and Jesus a meek, mild and obedient child as it says in some Christmas hymn. In truth we know very little about Jesus and his family. What little we know is set in the context of Jesus’s ministry, mission and saving power. Family background together with the selection of events uniquely recounted in the first two chapters of Luke and in the first chapter of Matthew is hugely significant for what was to come afterwards and what was foretold according to later Christian faith and understanding of ancient Jewish history and prophecy. Everything fits, somehow, into a story that makes sense of the story of  wandering nomads in the desert escaping captivity and seeking out a promised land somewhere. Jesus, Mary and Joseph are in that story as they were on the move while seeking refuge in Africa.  How ironic – this Christmas time – that God did not prioritise Europe!. God placed his only son in the Middle East and then Africa among a pilgrim people and a family literally ‘on-the-run’.

We can only image what stresses, tensions and challenges such a way of life entailed for this holy family. It is not the plastic image we so often see and hear about. It is a very flesh and blood and very human family.  The latter-day emphasis on celibacy, other-worldliness and Euro-centric culture and power games may have robbed the story Luke is trying to tell of its vigour and surprise.  Luke was recounting (probably with the help of Mary) a real story about a real family in a real political mess that was and is the ‘Near East’ (note my language here reflects a Euro-centric world view).  Some twelve years later we revisit the family as it undergoes the trauma of losing Jesus for a few days only to find him ‘at his Father’s business’ as some English-language translations have it. Was trauma ever far from the lives of Mary and Joseph?  The little we know suggests that life was a roller coaster of trauma from a potential row over how Mary became pregnant in the first place to fleeing in terror from state terrorists in the ego of Herod Antipas all the way up to Jesus’s crucifixion and the growth of a subversive religious movement that would see Judaism split (but not by intention) and Rome compromised in the fullness of time.  And, at the age of 12, we have another trauma-story.

Some films like ‘Saving Private Ryan’ labour the point that ‘war is hell’.  The story behind Luke and the other gospels is quite different. Yes, war is hell and life can be ‘hell’ at times for some people but over and beyond this ‘hell’ there is a new life and new hope that is born in families and communities across the world.  Organisations like churches need to become more family-like at a local level to provide space for people to rediscover the good news about 21^st century whole-some families.

In addition to this coming Sunday’s Gospel reading which is common to most Christian churches, the other readings from scripture found in the ‘paired’ Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) of the Church of Ireland for this Sunday are: 1 Samuel 2:18-26  Psalm 148; and  Colossians 3:12-17.  .

In the liturgical cycle of the Roman Catholic Church, for this coming Sunday, the choice of Gospel and second reading is the same. The following alternative readings may be used: 1 Samuel 1:20-28 and Psalm 84(83).

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

In passage from the second chapter of Saint Luke’s gospel we fast forward some 12 years from nativity to Jesus as a child growing in ‘wisdom’ and ‘favour with God and men’ according to some translations.

v. 41-42:  A normal Jewish family

Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 

Rather like many Christian families across the world who make a pilgrimage or journey to weekly prayer, the family of Jesus followed the customs and traditions of the Jewish people living relatively near Jerusalem: they paid an annual pilgrimage visit there. The point to note is that they were no different to most or many Jewish families of the time. Jews in that part of the world were, typically, obliged to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem at least once a year for the Passover.  The Temple would continue to play a significant part in the very Jewish life of Jesus. It was here that he was circumcised and presented after his birth. It is here where he was found among the ‘teachers’ of the Law by Mary and Joseph. It was here that he sparked a riot many years later such was his indignation at the way that his Father’s house had been turned into a market place. The public Jesus would be in Jerusalem for significant festivals including the Passover as well as the Dedication of the Temple or ‘Tabernacles’ or ‘Booths’ (John 10:22 and John 7:14) or the Festival of Weeks which became the occasion of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

A related and important point is that they went to Jerusalem to pray, to meet up and to celebrate together.

There is a detail that might be missed for modern-day Christian readers of this passage. It concerns the traditional age at which a boy comes of age (13). At 12 years of age, Jesus was about to pass from childhood to adulthood. However, he was not yet ready for the ministry that was to come.The Bat Mitzvah was and is an important moment of transition for a boy in the Jewish community. It signals a point of arrival when the child takes a greater responsibility for his or her’s action and faith. Here, we may see a link to the Christian sacrament of confirmation which happens to be part of a rite of passage from childhood even if, sadly, it is often a ‘passing out’ parade for young teenagers who depart from ‘religious practice’ even when they had been partaking in such practice for a time.

v. 43-45:   The extended family

When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travellers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 

Some may doubt or even reject the historicity of this passage. Without clear evidence to the contrary I am inclined to the view that it was the clear memories of Mary as she recounted her story to Luke. 

In that place and at that time it was normal for a child of 12 years of age to be minded by the ‘whole’ extended family. Such was the trust and the normality of this that Mary and Joseph could leave Jerusalem without worrying and shouting out ‘Jesus hurry up we need to leave, where are you?’. The ‘relatives and friends’ of Jesus’s family were, likely, moving north together.  Quite likely, the much of the village of Nazareth had been together in Jerusalem and were now moving north. In all, the journey for Jesus’s family would have been around 150Km across rough terrain and roads. It might have taken a good few days to complete assuming that a reasonably direct route was taken. Perhaps, they were somewhere in the region of Shechem when they alarm was first raised: ‘Where is Jesus?!’. We may imagine the panic and tension of discovering that Jesus was missing. Was he abducted, alive, injured or just wandering off? What could have brought this about? Why would something like this be allowed to happen? Was there a mysterious link with those prophecies and events of 12 years previous? Mary’s heart was troubled to say the least. And Joseph must have been beside himself.

v. 46-50   Jesus found in the Temple

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.  When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, ‘Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.’  He said to them, ‘Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ But they did not understand what he said to them.  Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them.

The family drama ends in the Temple after ‘three days’ (and three nights).  Are there hints, here, of Jesus who would become the new Temple in his Risen Body on the third day? Just as the infancy narrative, in Luke, ends in the Temple, the Gospels would culminate in the Temple following the death of Jesus in Jerusalem (outside the Temple) and as he would gather together all believers and those waiting for belief.

The response of Jesus to his parents seems out of place with what was to follow: ‘he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them’.  It looks as if Jesus was finding his own identity and place as he continued to grow into adulthood. He was an ordinary person who was a member of what was, then, an ordinary first century Jewish family in Palestine. Yet, he was not ordinary: he had a Father who was and is above all and of whom Jesus is, uniquely, a Son.

Here, we hear of a young boy growing in knowledge and understanding questioning and drawing conclusions as he stays in conversation among the ‘teachers’ of the Law.  He needed to make this his own. And so it should be then as well as now. Everyone including those ‘coming of age’ need to own what it is that is proposed to them. Each generation must ‘re-receive’ the faith – remaining faithful to the core as Jesus was but digesting and applying it for one’s own.

In the drama of losing and finding Jesus again and in hearing his declaration that he must be about his Father’s business’ (or ‘in my Father’s house as many translations have it), we read that Mary and Joseph ‘did not understand what he said to them’. Like us, they had to grow in understanding and trust. All was not revealed in one go and Jesus was not always clear. We have to work things out.

The curious implication of the very next sentence, ‘Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them’ is that we learn that Jesus, the Son of God, would continue to be obedient to Joseph. Yet, this is the last Gospel reference to Joseph. Had he died by the time Jesus commenced his public ministry? It seems so.

v. 51    A mother’s heart

His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

This is one of those unique Lucan gems in which the heart of Mary is mentioned. The other places are a little earlier after the birth of Jesus in Luke 2:19 and in Luke 2:35.

v. 52    The divine-human paradox

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour.

What is puzzling and unfathomable to us is possible to God. A child grows into an adult and this child is God in the midst of us. God chooses to become a child for us. Let’s think about that. This growing in humanity is for us: to grow in loving, to grow in sensitivity, in understanding, tact, genuine charm and depth.

Reboot

‘…stand up and raise your heads.’ (Luke 21:28)

                                                   The fig tree is budding

Luke 21:25-36 (Year C: The First Sunday of Advent, 2^nd December, 2018)

None of us knows what lies ahead. But of three things we can be certain:

• Ageing
• Illness
• Death

The questions of when and how are beyond our knowing. The question of why must be approached through a humble mind and open heart. The question of what might lie beyond the horizons of this small world and life is for God alone to show us in his time and in his way.

During this Advent season the Church invites us to watch and pray. The lines of Luke read as follows:

Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap

This is hardly compatible with the ‘festive’ season of frenetic shopping, partying and Ho Ho!  But, the truth is that much of this Northern Hemisphere mid-winter Ho Ho is about sub-consciously putting away some of our all-year winter demons. What are they? They concern our worries – our very real worries about:

• Getting old (eventually)
• Facing ill-health of mind or body now or in the future
• Having lost or possibly losing income or employment in the future (it happens to people who retire for example)
• Relationships past or present where wounds may run deep
• Facing some external dangers to body, mind or person (not untypical for many millions of people across the globe).

And, the list is not exhaustive ....

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 verse 28 of Luke:

stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’

When faced with uncertainty and, perhaps, a load 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.

Staying calm meanings trusting that God has a plan for this world and our lives in it just as He did for the Prophet Jeremiah 6 centuries before the birth of Christ.

Remaining steadfast means living our lives to the full in the here and now that we may ‘increase and abound in love for one another’ (1 Thessalonians 3:12). 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.

As Chiara Lubich of the Focolare movement once said:

Precisely because we do not know the day nor the hour of His coming, we can concentrate more easily on living one day at a time, on the troubles of today, on what Providence offers to us now.  Some time ago I spontaneously uttered this prayer to God.  - Jesus, make me always speak as if it were the last word I say. Make me always act as if it were the last action I take. Make me always suffer as if it were the last suffering I had to offer you. Make me always pray as if it were the last opportunity I have here on earth to converse with you

580 words (above)

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

This is the first Sunday in the new liturgical or Church calendar year. On this blog page I follow the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) used in the Church of Ireland as well as in many other Christian churches. The cycle of readings may be found here.  Typically, the Gospel reading is the same, each Sunday, whether you are using the RCL or the cycle used in the Roman Catholic Church. The first and second reading (Old and New Testament, respectively) sometimes vary as does the appointed Psalm of the day. To complicate (or enrich?) matters, the Church of Ireland offers a cycle of reading according to ‘continuous’ or ‘paired’ cycle. I prefer to follow the latter, on this site, as it pairs thematically the first reading (from the Old Testament) and the Gospel. In addition, I follow the ‘principal service’ of the day rather than the ‘second service’ (the latter being typically used for an evening service).

This Sunday’s reading is from Luke 21:25-36.  Throughout this coming year (from December 2018 to 30^th November 2019), the Gospel reading is usually from the Gospel of Saint Luke. As many readers of this blog are from the Roman Catholic tradition, I signal any differences in readings that may occur between Cycles.  On this Sunday, the choice of other readings is not the same as between the RCL and that used in the Roman Catholic Church.  The RCL readings in addition to the Gospel are: Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalm 25(24):1-9; and 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13.  Directly parallel Gospel readings to this particular Gospel reading from Luke may be found in Matthew 24:43-44 and in Matthew 6:25-34.

In the liturgical cycle of the Roman Catholic Church, for this coming Sunday, the choice of readings is as follows: Jeremiah 33:14-16 and 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 plus two additional verses in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-2. The Gospel is from Luke 21:25-28,34-36.

12:25-28:  The coming of the Son of Man

‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’

There are strong echoes, here, of the prophecies of Isaiah (13:10), Joel (2:30-31), Daniel (12:1)and Ezechiel (32:7-8).  Could some of this be a warning about impending environmental disaster for humanity in the 21^st Century?!

The context in which Luke writes for his community in the 80’s is fraught. Disaster, war, insurrection, destruction and the gathering of an intense persecution of the disciples of Jesus is underway. It has salience then as it does now for us as a community and, also, as individuals faced with ageing, death and resurrection. In the here and now we must be of good courage and ‘stand up and raise’ our heads because our ‘redemption is drawing near’. This passage which follows a somewhat apocalyptic series of warnings and predictions leads us into the next and final phase of Jesus’s earthly ministry in the days or weeks before his passion. The early disciples wait and watch for ‘signs’ of God’s coming reign. It is a time of terror and it is a time of great hope and expectation. As often is the case in the drama of human and personal history: it is the worst of times and it is the best of times.

Our ‘redemption’ (apolytrōsis) is near at hand. This ‘redemption’ literally means a ‘buying back’ and is rooted in Old Testament ideas. It can also be found in many of the letters of St Paul. However, only in the gospels does the word appear here in Luke.

12:29-33    The Lesson of the Fig Tree

Then he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Luke inserts this parable to reinforce the narrative. Jesus points – as he typically does – to growth and ‘signs’ in nature about the listeners. The fig tree in Palestine is as dead a looking plant as you can get. Yet, it bursts into life in the spring. Very likely, the saying of Jesus coincides with spring time before the Passover.

The saying ‘my words will not pass away’ gives us comfort and reassurance today just as it did nearly 2,000 years ago. It says to us that Jesus is every bit as alive and relevant today as then and the final victory is God’s even if we might be tempted to think that nearly everything is lost in this corrupt society in which we live.

12:34-36          Exhortation to Watch

‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 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.’

Timely for this time of year, we are reminded to be Mind-full, Prayer-full and Ready.  Only trusting and praying can open us to a gift of serenity and calm in the face of whatever confronts us in life and in the world.

The Lord loves those who hate evil; he guards the lives of his faithful; he rescues them from And what can we do right now in this time of darkness as the fig trees are withered? We may take courage from the words of the Psalmist (97:10-12):

The Lord loves those who hate evil; he guards the lives of his faithful; he rescues them from the hand of the wicked. Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

And this too shall pass

“…Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down” (Mark 13:2))

Mark 13:1-8 (Year B: The 2nd Sunday before Advent or the 33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, 18^th November, 2018)

Many of us love our churches: I mean the buildings. They remind us of other times, perhaps, or of other people including those gone before us. I like to muse a while the odd occasion when I visit the church where my parents attended mass daily or weekly in the final quarter of their lives. I know many people, across all Christian traditions, who like a particular pew or seat in a regular place at a regular time with a regular service. Then, there is the beauty of the Cathedral or the hillside chapel with fond memories. These places (and times) can still the soul and provide just a little bit of space to be still and to know that we are loved. I call these secret places of the soul.

But, all of this will pass. We are strangers and pilgrims in a temporary abode waiting and working for a kingdom that cannot be seen but is more real and infinitely more powerful than the kingdoms of this world. Next Sunday we will celebrate the ‘Kingship of Christ’ and after that a new ‘church year’ begins on the first Sunday of Advent (yes, Christmas is coming!). Liturgically, we living in ‘end times’, so to speak, and those who live in the northern hemisphere look around and we observe decay in the gardens and woods around us. Winter is now truly arrived. And this too will pass.

The prophet, Daniel, in the first reading writes:

At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence.

This time of anguish referred to by Daniel mirrors what has happened or is about to happen when Mark wrote his gospel for the second generation of Christ-followers who faced a dark world ruled by evil spirits. Some readers old enough to remember will recall a special prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel which was incorporated immediately after the saying of the ‘Low Mass’ from 1886 to 1964 (in the latter year I made my first Holy Communion although I don’t think I was paying too much attention to liturgical details of the Usus Antiquior at the time!). Interestingly, this prayer has enjoyed a little revival only very recently when, one, Pope Francis (against whom no accusation of being a recalcitrant sponsor of a Tridentine revival can be levelled) urged Roman Catholics to pray this short prayer at this difficult, divisive and crisis-laid time.

All Christians may return to the sources of scripture including today’s readings from Daniel and Mark to deepen our sense of urgency in the struggle to witness to a communion of love. Rather than shunning the world and seeing everything and everyone as our enemy we should look up to God and outwards to a world in urgent need of healing. Then, we might be better placed to return inwards to those secret places in our soul where the Holy Spirit is gently at work whispering peace, healing and renewal in our tired spiritual bones. A simple prayer of trusting and loving is more powerful than a million tweets or thousand likes or a frenzy of off-line and on-line activity.

And these times of darkness, schism, repression, marginalisation and spiritual poverty will pass too so that “with the morn those angel faces smile, which I have loved long since, and lost awhile” (from ‘Lead Kindly Light’ by Blessed John H. Newman whose feast day is the 9^th October in the Roman Catholic Church and the 11^th August in the Church of England and don’t ask me why!).

Its winter but we are a people of hope because we may ‘hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful’ (Hebrews 10:23).  In these dark times for our country and our continent we may strive to be among those who ‘shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever’ (Daniel 12:3). What else can we do?

Word count (above) = 683

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In addition to this coming Sunday’s Gospel reading, which is common to most Christian churches, the other readings from scripture found in the ‘paired’ Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) of the Church of Ireland for this Sunday are: Daniel 12:1-3;  Psalm 16(15); and  Hebrews 10:11-25.  Directly parallel Gospel readings to this particular Gospel reading from Mark may be found in Matthew 24:1-8 and in Luke 21:5-11.

In the liturgical cycle of the Roman Catholic Church, for this coming Sunday, the choice of readings is the same as above except for the Gospel reading, which is taken from Mark 13:24-32 (The coming of the Son of Man and the Lesson of the Fig Tree. See previous blog “Not Knowing”).

Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse (Gospel of Mark 13:1-8)

Preliminaries

Mark is setting the scene for a difficult discourse imminent in Chapter 13. The chapter opens up with a question from the disciples. We are in the company of the disciples, here, and not ‘the crowds’.

1-2:  A question and an answer

As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!’  Then Jesus asked him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’

Today, we see that Jesus’ prediction came through about the mighty Temple only fully restored, ironically, by the Romans and then to be destroyed, again, by fire. Quite likely, the gospel of Mark that we have received was first written immediately before the destruction of the Temple in around 70 A.D.

3-4:  Still more questions

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, ‘Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?’ 

The closest of Jesus’ disciples want to know. When will this happen and how will we know when it is about to happen. They are less focussed on the here and now but on what will happen about which they know little or nothing.

5-8:  A time of great tribulation

Then Jesus began to say to them, ‘Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, “I am he!” and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

In times of darkness there is a temptation to lurch from one extreme to another as we grasp to what we think is certain and unmovable. God, alone, does not change. Everything else does.  We must be on guard for many will come with false promises and the seduction of certainty and promise only to mislead and disappoint. By their fruit you will know them.

Restoring dignity

“…she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:44)

Mark 12:38-44 (Year B: The Third Sunday before Advent or the 32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, 11^th November, 2018)

The insecurity of the rich

This story from the gospel of Mark contrasts two sets of persons – those who were poor and regarded as less worthy of social distinction and respect and those who were at the top of society by virtue of family, religion or wealth.  It is important to read this passage in its historical context. The poor were, frequently, blamed for their plight. Riches were seen in many quarters as a blessing and a reward from God.  The result was that those in positions of authority associated with religion or politics were accorded dignity and security. They were secure in their religious and secular knowledge as well as financial security. They could afford to be demonstrably ‘generous’ when it came to public manifestations of giving. They were also seen as persons of honour to be greeted in reverential terms wherever they went and given special places (‘the best seats’) at banquets, religious services and other occasions. As for the poor, they had the benevolence of the better off to rely on especially if they had little or no means of a livelihood such as might have been the case for the blind, the lame, the lepers, widows and orphans.

The ‘best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets’ (verse 39) would have been, according to scripture scholars, the bench in front of the ark containing the sacred volumes where those seated faced the congregation. How sweet!

The story today?

Does any of this sound remotely possible or familiar to a 21^st century community never mind a church community?  Have positions and practices of grandeur ever been created in the way business is done in universities, grammy awards, ordinations or State Banquets? Indeed, this Sunday marks the inauguration of a new President of Ireland. It also marks the centenary of the end of World War I.

We ought not to be too hard on others because one way or another we are party to a bit of show and pomp and that on the pretext that ‘it’s the done thing’ and ‘there is no harm in it’.  That may be so but when it comes to real poverty we need to watch our ways of behaving.

What has poverty to do with me or you, it may be asked? Isn’t poverty largely abolished in Western European societies? And isn’t much poverty caused by political corruption, environmental factors directly beyond our control and isn’t it the result of wars and famines that are man-made?

It is noteworthy how attitudes regarding poverty have come almost full circle in the last 100 years. 

There was a time – in the 19^th century – when famines, mass emigration and workhouses were a feature of many European countries including Ireland.  It was seen as somehow natural and tragic and the remedy was identified in terms of ‘charity’ or ‘correction’.  Advances in industry, medicine, education, democracy and the rise of various political movements changed all that (sometimes with the active support and engagement of Christians but very often not). In the process of change, the role of the State came to the fore to such an extent that the rich paid a very large proportion of their income by way of taxes to fund social programmes and payments. The calamity of the great depression in the 1930s reinforced the role of public authorities in providing a safety net for those who were out of work, sick, retired or unable to work for one reason or another. There was, also, the rise of the universal welfare state that provided public goods such as education up to and including higher level, national health and various other social supports. All of this began to change radically in the decades following the 1970s.

What has all of this to do with this Sunday’s gospel reading and why should Christians or other believers bother with the worlds of poverty, environmental change and political instability?  The answer is that God is alive today not only (or if only) in our churches and sanctuaries and choirs and on altars and in tabernacles but in the shanty towns of Sao Paolo, the open seas of the Mediterranean and the streets of Dublin where many people sleep rough this wintry November. The story of arrogance, presumption and public display on show in the Temple, as recounted by Mark in the first half of this Sunday’s gospel reading, is being retold, today, in many parts of the world.

While it is true that millions have been lifted out of poverty in absolute material terms compared to what prevailed in the 19^th century, it is clear that millions are still stuck in poverty particularly in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa.  The extent of inequality by, all statistical measures, has soared in countries such as the USA.  Europe may be following in that direction in the longer-term given recent trends since the 1980s. Poverty is associated with material deprivation and lack of access to fundamental goods and services compatible with human dignity and rights.  Two ‘I’s’ characterise real poverty: Indignity and insecurity

The irony of the scene described by Mark, here, is that those considered secure and with dignity were anything but. Their need to impress others and to command respect and deference showed how insecure they were in themselves. And there is no dignity in behaving this way in the sight of God and people. Here is the paradox: by elevating themselves they revealed their deep insecurities and inconsistencies. In a similar passage in Matthew 12:1-12 Jesus concludes that ‘All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.’ However, this week’s passage in Mark is not, primarily about poverty and riches but about how those who may be rich or poor or neither can be generous with their money, their time and their talents. Alongside this message, there is a coherent message that those who use power and wealth to exclude or put down others will answer for this. The conclusion that can be drawn is that generosity extends beyond offering a helping hand or some money from time to time to those in material need. Generosity invites us to consider what sort of society we are creating or helping to sustain. How is this reflected in the way we consume, invest, work, play, travel, vote?  - even pray for those for whom prayer is as precious as oxygen! 

The 'All'

“…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5))

Mark 12:28-34 (Year B: The Fourth Sunday before Advent or the 31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time, 4^th November, 2018)

In addition to this coming Sunday’s Gospel reading which is common to most Christian churches, the other readings from scripture found in the ‘paired’ Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) of the Church of Ireland for this Sunday are: Deuteronomy 6:1-9;  Psalm 119(118):1-8; and  Hebrews 9:11-14.  Directly parallel Gospel readings to this particular Gospel reading from Mark may be found in Matthew 22:34-46 and in Luke 10:25-28.

In the liturgical cycle of the Roman Catholic Church, for this coming Sunday, the choice of readings is the same as above except for the following: Psalm where 18(17) is used instead of 119 and the Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews is 7:23-28.

The next time you read the Bible cover to cover you might like to use a yellow marker and mark over the word ‘all’ (assuming you are reading the Bible in English). You will run out of yellow marker! You will be surprised at how often this word ‘All’ crops up from start to finish:

• In all wisdom
• With all your heart
• All the people of Israel
• That all may be one
• Christ in all
• Etc. etc.

John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist movement which sprung up from within Anglicanism, spoke of four important ‘Alls’:

1. All people need to be saved.

2. All people can be saved.

3. All people can know they are saved.

4. All people can be saved to the uttermost

When all is said and done, the ultimate goal of history, and of our own personal lives and of our communities is straightforward: it is simply that God may be all in all.

But how?

The response by Jesus to a question from a scribe (a type of 1^st century Jewish theologian whose role was to interpret and to teach) shows all that we need to know and do in order to be all (whole or holy):

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ (verse 29)

Oddly enough, we sometimes don’t stop and ponder what the meaning of the phrase ‘all your mind’ actually means. It doesn’t mean suspending our God-given human reason to question and deepen our understanding and commitment.  To ‘heart’, ‘soul’ and ‘mind’ could be added ‘body’.  (Mark and Luke refer, in addition, to ‘all your strength’).  In short, we are called to love with all our being – every bit of it.

But to love God – who is all – with all our being means something very concrete, here and now. It means the following:

Love your neighbour as yourself. (verse 31)

In other words, we can only know if our love for God is sincere and meaningful if it is expressed in love for this neighbour in this moment, in this place and in these circumstances. To love is to act based on a desire for what is truly good for our neighbour and for ourselves. We realise our own good through loving.  It could actually lead to such heroic deeds as giving up our seat on a bus to someone in particular need (provided that we, ourselves, are not pregnant or infirm!). Then it might involve staying faithful to a commitment or an appointment when this dearly costs.  It might even lead ultimately to the giving of our life;  not such a rare thing in some parts of the world for people of faith.

In responding to the questioner, Jesus brings together two foundational commandments from the Old Testament:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength’ (Deuteronomy 6:5)

‘…love your neighbour as yourself.’ (Leviticus 19:18)

The emphasis on loving the other to be found in the sacred scriptures was on ‘loving one’s own’ or more than that, loving the sojourner in our midest (e.g. in Exodus 23:9).  On occasions, one or other of the prophets gave clear indications that God’s saving power was for everyone in the world and not exclusively for his own chosen people. 

So, there is nothing new at one level – Jesus is merely quoting Jewish scripture.  At another level, something new is happening. He is bringing two commandments together and directly linking them by means of a ‘new commandment’ which combines both. In many other places Jesus goes beyond loving the stranger who stays with us but he reaches out to many who are outside our place and tribe such as happened when he met the Samaritan woman.  It is the hallmark of real Christianity which would follow much later as the Jesus movement within Judaism evolved into a gathering (ekklesia) of disciples a growing number of whom would be gentiles.

The symbol, power and truth of the Cross is at the centre of Christian loving as revealed in Jesus Christ.  The cross has two beams:

• a horizontal one that indicates love for one another (the two thieves on each side of Jesus, for example, as well as the onlooking crowd including immediate family).
• a vertical one that indicates God’s love for us and our love for God.

Now the vertical beam cannot stand without the horizontal one and the horizontal one cannot hold without the support of the vertical one. So it is with one and the same love that has been given to us. In offering himself (Hebrews 9:1—14), Jesus is taking the place of the High Priest in the Jewish cult. In his own blood he has shown us a way forward – a deliverance from the bondage of ‘dead works’ as the author of the letter to the Hebrews puts it.

God is loved in and through our neighbour. But, we love our neighbour for himself or herself and not as an instrument to satisfy our own spiritual needs or impulses. That is the way God wants it. After all God who is in all, loves all wants us to love all with our all.

And that’s not all:

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:40)

In one swoop Jesus reduces the 613 commandments of the ‘Old Law’ into two commandments not so much by abolishing them all or at once but in rooting then in the essential. His listeners were left speechless.

How we could simplify our lives and our laws and our canon laws and our rules of community if we took to hear the simple truth that underlying ‘all the law’ and the scriptures is the commandment to love God with our all and to do so sincerely by loving the person next to me now.

Very simple. Too simple in fact.

Love is the one thing you cannot overdo. If we risk everything for love we can liberate ourselves from false and dead religion and be conquered by that Love which has loved us from all eternity in the first place.

And that’s all for now!

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

A ‘scribe’ (it is a ‘pharisee’ in Matthew and a ‘lawyer’ in Luke) questions Jesus about The Law.  It is not, as it appears in Matthew and Luke, a hostile line of questioning. The scribe, like us, is struggling to work things out. He knows only too well the controversies of interpretation of the sacred writings in the Jewish world of his time. As Mark tells this story, it follows on from a controversy involving the ‘conservative’ priestly elite known as the Sadducees who had rejected any notion of an after-life or a resurrection (it could be claimed that they were closer to Richard Dawkins than the Pharisees!) and the Pharisees who believed in the resurrection as well as the ‘oral’ Torah (what went beyond the literal words of that part of scripture accepted by the Sadducees. Jesus sided more with the Pharisees.

A type of socratice dialogue opens up in the passage that follows the Sadducee-Pharisee controversy.  Jesus draws on a key passage from scripture – the basis of the daily Shema recited by devout Jews then as well as today (Deuteronomy 6:4-9):

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Jesus, however, goes further and draws on Leviticus 19:18:

you shall love your neighbour as yourself

And, here is the key point – he brought both together as distinct but mutually reinforcing and necessary sides of the same coin.  In one way, Jesus was not saying or doing anything new. It was all there in the sacred scriptures when God spoke to his chosen people. In another way it was all new because Jesus was restating an Old Commandment and making this very emphatically and very centrally the basis of all other commandments. It was a matter of radically simplified moral theology!  It might have seemed that these two commandments entailed loving God first and then our neighbour as an afterthought. Not so. It means loving God with all our being and loving our neighbour as ourselves at one and the same time.  Loving God comes first in terms of the order of commandments but loving our neighbour comes first in terms of action because it is in loving our neighbour that we know for sure that we are loving God. God is in our neighbour – poor, excluded, lonely, oppressed and hungry as well as in the next person beside you at this moment on a bus, at a counter, in a queue, online ….

10:28   A Question for Jesus

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ 

This scribe was looking to go deeper. He wanted to know how to get to heaven. But, Jesus will reveal to him in verse 34 that he was already very near the Kingdom of God.

10:29-30          The first and greatest commandment

Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” 

We may note the repetition of ‘all’. We may, also, note the entirety of being. Loving God is more than saying a prayer, giving intellectual assent or performing particular works.  All of that may be good and helpful: even essential for our journey. What is essential to our lives as followers of Jesus is love – love of God with every fibre of our being not because we chose to so much as we became aware in our lives of God’s love already present in our lives simply because God is Love and Love is.

10:31   The second and great commandment

The second is this, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’

From hundreds of rules and from thousands of norms that may go with ‘religious’ living there is one Rule that governs our actions and on which all other rules and norms may be based. We may tick all the boxes and put on an impressive liturgy, sermon or piece of theological discourse. But, if we are not living out of the love of God we are just noisy gongs and clanging cymbals (plates of metal used as a musical instrument) (1 Corinthians 13:1).

10:32-33          The scribe gets it

Then the scribe said to him, ‘You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that “he is one, and besides him there is no other”;  and “to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength”, and “to love one’s neighbour as oneself”,—this is much more important than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.’ 

The scribe calls it out just as Jesus says it but, more than that, he makes the message his own. We, too, must make the words of Jesus our own by internalising them, living them and applying them afresh day by day. The Scribe adds a significant detail: Love is more important than ritual sacrifices. Now, that was as radical departure. This may happen when we listen deeply with others in the living current of Christian tradition.

10:34               Here is the Kingdom of God very near

When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ After that no one dared to ask him any question.

Take courage - he is calling you

“…Take heart; get up, he is calling you” (Mark 10:49)

Mark 10:46-52 (Year B: The fifth Sunday before Advent or the 30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 28^th October, 2018)

In addition to this coming Sunday’s Gospel reading which is common to most Christian churches, the other readings from scripture found in the ‘paired’ Revised Common Lectionary of the Church of Ireland for this Sunday are: Jeremiah 31:7-9;  Psalm 126; and  Hebrews 7:23-28.  Directly parallel Gospel readings to this particular Gospel reading from Mark may be found in Matthew 20:29-34 and in Luke 18:35-43.

If this Sunday is celebrated as ‘Bible Sunday’, the Gospel of John 5:36-47 may be used. Alternatively, if the Feast of St Simon and St Jude is celebrated, the Gospel of Luke 6:12-16 may be used.

The current impasse

But where is Bartimaeus today? We may ask. 

Is there someone who is begging for help nearby?
Next to you on the train and looking vacant but in the depths of despair?
Someone in your own family circle who does not know how to articulate what is going on inside their head?
Someone who is a work colleague but hiding deep wounds?
Someone on Grafton Street, Dublin and sleeping rough waiting to be moved on at 5.30am when the shopping street needs to be ‘cleared’ of unpleasant sights, sounds and smells before people arrive for work, commerce or pleasure?
Someone fast asleep in a warm 24-hour internet café on Talbot Street, Dublin because that’s the only place in which to sleep and survive?
A family from the Irish Traveller community seeking emergency accommodation after a recent tragedy?
A young child grasping for life, warmth and nourishment as an adult carries her through muddy waters on an international frontier somewhere in October 2018?
Still younger children struggling to live?
Mothers facing life-changing and life-threatening situations and not receiving any support or practical help?

Many stories about the blind, the lame, the leper or other outcasts of ‘respectable ‘, ‘law-abiding’ and ‘religious’ society abound in the New Testament. At a distance of 2,000 years we can cast a comfort blanket around these stories. Or, we can fill out a direct debit to some excellent charity struggling with a tide of human suffering in various parts of the globe. Or, we can wake up to the call to act today, now in my immediate circles of influence and relationships.

Stories from the past..

Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to give sight to the blind; to heal, to set free and to proclaim good news (Luke 4:18-19).   Today, millions seek a ‘year of the Lord’s favour’ (Luke 4:19) and they don’t find it. The gospel writer, Mark, summarises the key points of Jesus’ ministry at the very beginning of his gospel and again in this short passage (10:46-52). It  concerns:

Faith
Repentance
Healing
Following
Mission (being sent)

It seems fitting that Mark should remind his audience, again, of the foundational pillars of the Gospel as we move from a period of ministry of healing and preaching to a new phase in the final story of what was about to happen in Jerusalem.

A blind man – Bartimaeus –  was sitting by the road waiting for help. He had not given up because, we are told, he cried out for help to Jesus. Was he abandoned by his family? Did he have any family? Where did he come from and was he blind from birth? The fact that he was given a name by Mark might suggest that he became a disciple known among the early followers of Jesus?

We don't know for sure but we can assume that according to the cultural and religious norms of that time conditions of sickness or disability were often associated with sin. In other words, it was believed, that people who found themselves in such situations were paying the price for their own sin or that of their parents or forebears. A religion of ordinances, fines, punishments and restitution was in full sway.

For Mark, the scene is set in Jericho as Jesus heads for Jerusalem for the end-game. A blind man is on the way. There is more than a hint of the story of the Good Samaritan about this passage.  Loving the actual real person next to us in the present moment of life can be so blindingly obvious that it is the very thing we miss as we are 'busy' with our many petty goals and deadlines.  The cries of Bartimaeus and his presence might be seen as inconvenient, embarrassing and impeding our progress. But, Jesus senses someone in despair whom he can help there and then.

Each one of us is called..

Bartimeus calls out in faith - 'Jesus, son of David have mercy on me'. This was a cry from the depths of his heart born of anguish, continuous affliction and, to cap it all, social stigma and the lowest of esteem. In this story, the call to Bartimaeus comes through intermediaries before Jesus directly addresses Bartimaeus. Today, God uses people to extend a call to yet other people. Are we mediators of God's call to others or are we more like obstacles by the way we live and think and speak?

On being healed, Bartimaeus begins to follow Jesus. And it reasonable to conclude that he was likely to have been among those sent by Jesus and that followed him 'on the road' to Jerusalem and beyond).

 

And so today..

On our journey through life we meet with people who are broken. Or, perhaps, we experience brokenness ourselves on the side of life's journey. The gospels assure us that, in his risen body, the Christ of God is never far from us. Indeed, through faith he lives in our hearts even when we seem to have no sense of faith or presence or reassurance of same.

And walking on the road with Jesus is the result of making our peace with the One who heals us where nobody else can.  There is a saying that 'seeing is believing'. However, in this passage of Mark we have a reversal of the normal sequence: 'believing is seeing' as Bartimaeus put his trust in God's power at work in Jesus whom he could not yet see.

A light is lit in our souls when we trust in this power. The real Bartimaeus is found when we go out from our own prisons and discover the freedom of the Gospel. As St Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:6:

For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

Jesus and his disciples, according to Mark, are on the their way to Jerusalem. They passed through Jericho on the way.  Jericho is about 30 Km from Jerusalem – a day’s journey by foot.  This episode involving a blind beggar appears almost like an appendix following an important phase in Jesus’ ministry and before Jesus’s triumphant entry to Jerusalem as Mark recounts it.

10:46:  The scene is set

They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.

We may note that the blind beggar has a name: Bartimaeus.  Of the three synoptic gospels, only Mark names him. Bartimaeus – the sone of Timaeus – had the honour of calling Jesus by his title ‘Son of David’.

This is the scene for what happened on the road from Jericho (or to Jericho if we go with the detail of Luke's gospel).  In proclaiming God’s Kingdom Jesus is fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah (31:8-9)

See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labour, together; a great company, they shall return here.  With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back.

10:47: The cry of one who is on the margins

When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 

Bartimaeus was the first, other than a demon, to acclaim Jesus as the One in the line of David.  He saw in Jesus the Messiah, the one promised. The loud acclaim ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ echoes the more modern prayer ‘Lord Jesus Christ Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner’.  A short and suitable prayer for us should we have the chance to recollect ourselves before we breathe our last in this life?

10:48: The reaction of others to this cry

Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!

Persistence in a simple, trusting and faith-filled prayer is evident here.

10:49-50: Jesus’ response

Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 

May we take heart when it is the Lord who call sus.  Bartimaeus neither delayed or hesitated. He ‘sprang up’ and threw off his cloak. Do we throw off our cloaks of doubt, self-pity attachments, religiosity and more besides to walk towards the living God? In Matthew 20:29-34, we read that Jesus was ‘moved with compassion’ and ‘touched’ the eyes of the blind men (there being two and not one blind man in the same story but told by Matthew).

10:51-52: A conversation and a call

Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

This parallels the conversation in Mark 10 involving James, John and Jesus. On this occasion, there is requests for seats of honour. A humiliated and marginalised blind man simply wanted to see. But, there was more to physical sight, here. Like us, he wanted to see real truth, real goodness and real beauty. Deep down, that is what all of wants but we sometimes do not know how or where to look for this vision. It is the simple faith or trust of the beggar that opens up a way for Jesus to heal this man. The healing runs so deep that this man simply followed Jesus. He became one of his disciples and we may be sure that he ended up in Jerusalem that day or later.

An interesting divergence in the same basic story is to be found in the account of Matthew (20:29-34) where it is said that two blind men were called and healed.  Matthew is concerned about the communal aspect of discipleship. Where 'two or three are gathered' there is the healing power of Jesus whether as when he walked on the waters or when he healed, here, on the road from Jericho or when on the cross surrounded by two accused thieves.

In the other New Testament Reading for this Sunday and from the Letter to the Hebrews (7:23-28), Jesus is presented as the perfect, unique and all-sufficient sacrifice that takes our sins away and sets us free. He is the answer to sin – our sin whether individual or whether embedded in the very structures of society. But, not only that, Jesus is the way to complete liberation and fullness of life.

'What is it that you want me to do for you?'

“…What is it you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:36)

Mark 10:35-45 (Year B: 21st Sunday after Trinity, 21st October, 2018)

(other Readings in paired Revised Common Lectionary for this Sunday: Isaiah 53:4-12;  Psalm 91:9-16; and  Hebrews 5:1-10)

As creatures of habit we may like the limelight – titles, positions, ranks and all that goes with authority. Not that we do not act most of the time with good motivation and with the intention of doing good and fulfilling our commitments whether in family, the workplace or the local community.  However, what goes with this by way of position in a hierarchy of position and authority is attractive – for some more than others.

This is not altogether a bad thing. After all, God knows how to write straight on crooked lines and even if what drives people forward is a mix of things, everything can be turned into good especially when there is – thanks to God’s grace – some faith, some hope and some love in what we do and how we do it.

The story of how James and John asked for special places in the kingdom reminds us how just human the first disciples were. Little has changed since those days. Yet, we should remember that of these two, James had his head cut off according to Acts 12:1-2 – a fate awaiting some Christians in the same region today. There is no evidence that John met a violent death but the other leading apostle, Peter, was by popular tradition believed to have been crucified.  And as for the Lord, his crucifixion is a key part of our understanding and faith within the story of God’s saving power. So, whatever about rank, position and title according to human arrangements, norms and traditions, the outcome for those who sense a call and are called to positions of particular service or ministries in the church involves some pain, difficulty and possibly even persecution.

As it was in the beginning, is now and will continue to be….

In Matthew’s account (20:20-28) of the same story there is a slightly ironic and humorous note in that the mother of James and John does the pleading.   No surprises there!  Just picture the ‘sons of thunder’, James and John, standing confidently beside their mother (quite possibly a mother and woman of thunder?!) as the pleading goes on. Was there a hint of arrogance in the following request (verse 35):

“Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” 

It should be remembered these were cousins of Jesus and, perhaps, there was a family dimension to this such as arises about seating at wedding banquets or children’s birthday parties today.  Jesus knows how to handle not only James and John but the other 10 disciples who, according to Mark 10:41, became highly indignant. Anyone familiar with human resource management and what are referred to as ‘industrial relations’ in the workplace will spot parallels here.  But, that is to be expected and in the culture of Jesus’ time we are reminded that it was normal practice among the ‘Gentiles’ for rulers to ‘lord it over’ their subjects.  Jesus wants us to know that this is not how it is meant to be among his followers.

But, there is another point that we must face: discipleship including leadership involves suffering – much suffering. Not without reason did the liturgists pair today’s Gospel reading with what we might term the Fourth Song of the Suffering Servant to be found in the 53^rd chapter of the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 53:9-12). I am particularly struck by that part of verse 12 that reads:

because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors

If only.

Returning to the sources of the gospel we are challenged and confronted by the harsh realities of discipleship. Choices are made, some things are left behind and other things are taken on and the road ahead is never certain or foreseeable. Rather, we proceed one mile or kilometre at a time watching for the next turn and hill.

All service and all positions of leadership – especially Christian inspired – can draw on the prayer of St Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556):

Teach me to give, and not to count the cost to fight, and not to heed the wounds,to toil, and not to seek for rest,to labour, and not to ask for any reward,save that of knowing that we do your will

Another Jesuit, Saint Oscar Romero, on the day before he was murdered while saying mass in El Salvador in 1980 addressed the ordinary soldiers of his country as follows:

Brothers, you are from the same people; you kill your fellow peasants…No soldier is obliged to obey an order that is contrary to the will of God…In the name of God, in the name of this suffering people, I ask you—I implore you—I command you in the name of God: stop the repression!”  

If only that courage and type of leadership was more widespread in today’s world!

The harsh truth is that in so many walks of life from the corporate world to the sporting world to the ecclesiastical worlds the three ‘P’s’ reign supreme over the three ‘S’s’. The three ‘P’s’ are, quite simply: Power, Position and Privilege. This explains a lot in what we see around us.  Only those who have discovered the secret of the three ‘S’s’ have found some peace and inner and outer harmony: Simplicity, Surrender and Service. 

And for each one of us living the life of a disciple in a 21^st century church, things ought to be no different.

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

This episode sits in the midst of a busy preaching and healing mystery. Already, Jesus has made it clear to this disciples that following him with all their hearts will make demands. His way is not an easy way. It would be wrong to give any other impression.

10:35-37          What do we seek?

‘James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’ And he said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ And they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’’

O for the naiveté of James and John! These ‘Sons of thunder’ (Boanerges in Mark 3:17) let themselves in for it! Jesus knew them through and through and ‘he knew their game’. Yet, he tested them; he almost teased them in the following terms: ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’. Today, Jesus looks straight at you and at me and asks ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’

10:38-40          ‘not mine to grant’

‘But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ They replied, ‘We are able.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.’

Were we to know, before we set out on a life journey of commitment be it professional, married, religious or otherwise, what would emerge would we still make the same declarations, choices and even binding vows?  I dare say that we might not even get out of bed in the morning if we knew what lay ahead! J Jesus declared that it was not his to grant what would befall his disciples. Only the Risen Christ acting with the Father will gather in those who have submitted to God’s will.  We need to work out our salvation in ‘fear and trembling’ (Phil 2:12). Sharing in the passion of Christ is the point and not places of honour.

10:41-45          An unholy fight breaks out among the apostles

‘When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, ‘You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.  For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’

Now that would never happen, today, among those in positions of leadership and ministry, would it!  Bishops and Patriarchs excommunicating each other; Cardinals undermining and censoring other cardinals and the Pope; one current or movement of discipleship declaring another as acting outside the Word of God and to be condemned; one half of a parish fighting with another half and so on and so on. Have we missed the plot? It is about service and surrender to the Will of God. Is anyone so sure of their interpretation of the Word and their living out of same that they can, with absolute certainty and authority, exclude another from the Table of the Lord or the Fellowship of the Disciples? Now, let’s be very clear, there are times, places and occasions when someone in authority needs to remove evil and the lack of such has been a source of great evil, trauma and loss of credibility in the modern world. But, that is another story.