Following Jesus' call

‘… My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.… (John 10:27)

John 10:22-30 (Year C: Easter+4)

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Today’s sheep seek new pastures

What is John trying to tell us in today’s Gospel passage?  He is suggesting that the question of discipleship is – in the first place – about relationship.  There is no point in talking about a ‘call’ or a path of service in the Christian community without relationship. Relationship defines us as who we are in relation to others and in relation to our God. The image used by John is one of sheep following a Shepherd because they belong to Him and they are known by Him and they know Him.   Language about sheep may be off-putting to our 21^st century, urban and individualist mindsets especially as people quite rightly associate ‘groupthink’ with images of ‘sheepthink’.  In former times and not so long ago people in advanced economies were born into a particular social class, tribal identity or religious denomination.  One was raised, schooled, socialised, matched and despatched according to pre-determined scripts.  The odd person who broke these conventions and crossed boundaries was very often shunned, condemned or excluded as much by silence as by any explicit show of contempt.

We need to humbly access the scriptures but as thinking and struggling 21^st century beings recognising the pervasive influence, even today, of social, tribal and religious culture. The essence of being a disciple and a follower of Jesus, today, is in being part of a movement of the Holy spirit that works with people and transform people. This means accepting where people are at while showing a way forward.

Four verbs spring up in the one verse 27 of the 10^th chapter of John (at least in the English-language version of the Bible I am using):

-          To belong

-          To hear

-          To know

-          To follow

To belong

We read that those who hear the voice of the Shepherd already ‘belong’ to him.  For a change John is being very concise in his reporting of what Jesus said to the ‘Jews’ by way of response to their questioning. At the risk of labouring a point, to belong to Jesus as his ‘sheep’ is not to be confused with belonging to a particular tribal, ethnic, social or cultic group. Neither is the question of belonging a matter of some divine lottery where God, arbitrarily, elects from all eternity some to be his sheep while others not belonging are predestined to go to hell.  Such distorted and reactive theology does not help and does not sit with that other saying attributed to Jesus in John 3:17:

Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

To hear

But, the idea of following and being called together is key to understanding a call in the Gospel of John. While each one must listen and be still and wait, the question of calling is essentially a communal one and no better place to start from than the Gospel of John full as it is with ideas of communion, reciprocity, faith understood as relationship and life understood as togetherness in the very life of a God who is community in three persons. 

In times past the fourth Sunday of Easter, which is still referred to as ‘Vocations Sunday’, coincided with the last school of term when Leaving Certificate/A Levels or Intermediate Certificate/O Levels or the rest were preparing for what lay ahead. ‘Vocations Directors’ were extra busy.  In an average Irish boys’ secondary school it would have been unusual if at least a few in the class were not seriously thinking about ‘a vocation to the church’. Of course, in the years following Vatican Council II in the Roman Catholic church teachers, priests and others were anxious to emphasise that ‘vocation’ is for everyone in the royal priesthood of Jesus and that everyone was called to holiness of living – a point long emphasised in the churches of the reformation.

In these mature times a young woman or man of 18 years would be sent away for help if they dared seek entry to a seminary, monastery or convent as the case may be.  For sure there has been a huge crisis here in the Western world with parishes amalgamating, religious houses closing, churches being turned into grotesque pubs and houses of training and formation been sold off to hotels or other institutions.  Yet, there is a flourishing of many different forms of ministry ‘at the edges’ and among people who traditionally were excluded either by reason of custom or some convoluted and questionable theological system of ideas. We see, today, large numbers of lay women, for example, following courses in theology and/or pastoral care for priest-less parishes. We see people in their fifties and even older turning up to vocation workshops and other events to explore a possible calling.

This is the context for Vocation Sunday 17^th April. The Church of England recently posted the following on its website here:

The young are called; the elderly are called. There is no retirement from the Christian pilgrimage. …...Women are called and men are called…..God 'has no favourites' ….We are all called no matter what our occupations may be.  There is no special status in the Kingdom for those in 'top jobs' or 'important responsibilities'

On this side of the Irish Sea there are encouraging signs of life in at least one diocese of the Church of Ireland where scores of lay people of all ages and conditions of life are preparing to become ‘evangelists’. Apparently, a sustained and intense period of prayer over many months and years has yielded fruit. One should never despair.

To know

But how does anyone ‘know’ their calling?  We are where we are by reason of God’s plan. Even if we think we have messed up and are in the wrong place or situation we must recognise (‘know’ or ‘relate to’) the mysterious hand of God who writes straight on our crooked lines.  To know our calling means allowing the flow of life in our given situation to lead us.  The first step in ‘knowing’ is honestly accepting our ‘not knowing’. Full immersion in the sacrament of the present moment with all its unknowing is the gateway to knowledge of grace. We are never alone. Others arrive at the right time and in the right way to nudge us and confirm our inklings.  Others might also be sent to try us by putting obstacles in our way and opposing the very idea of a particular path.

To follow

The hardest bit is saying ‘yes’ (with an honest and open heart). The not so hard bit is following. However, at a certain point of following fresh trials arrive in the form of significant doubts and obstacles including our own brokenness.  ‘It was all an illusion’ a voice whispers to us various plausible objections and reasons to go no further.  In the end, if the Shepherd calls you He calls you and nobody including yourself can stop you. And he calls you not because you are intelligent, holy or meritorious but because He has placed particular gifts in you for sharing with others.

To hear, know and follow God’s call in the depth of your heart is freedom, joy and life. It is marked in the beginning at baptism and never leaves us until our last breath.

Cast your nets

 ‘…Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some… (John 21:5)

John 21:1-19 (Year C: Easter +3)

                                          Pacman

No picnic

Chapter 21 of the gospel of John is like an addendum – an important one at that.  Unique to the fourth gospel we encounter the Risen Christ on the lakeshore. Yet, it bears an extraordinary resemblance to the pre-resurrection story of the miraculous catch of fish found in Luke 5:1-10.  Back in Luke 5 we hear of the first call of disciples in the context of fishing where they had worked all night and had caught nothing.  Then in another pre-resurrection story found in Matthew 14:22-23 we read of Peter walking on the water while there was a storm on the lake.  In each story, Peter plays a vital role based on God’s initiative and the this disciple’s response in faith/trust. To some extent every Christian disciple can see a Peter character in themselves.

There is a tender, compassionate and tragic conversation between Jesus and Peter in which three professions of loyalty and love seal Peter’s fate and matches his betrayal three times earlier when the cock crowed on the morning of Good Friday.    The passage ends with a very telling and simple point – ‘Follow me’ (v. 19).

Even if the addition of John 21 was a measured attempt to reinstate Peter after his disgraceful betrayal on Good Friday the closing chapter of John offers a daunting challenge to anyone who might follow the example of Peter.  Essentially, the resurrection story is that all will end well in the all-ness of time but for the foreseeable future following Jesus is no picnic especially if someone has a role of leading entrusted to them.

The sea of Tiberias

John is given to numbers – seven disciples by the Lake that day,100 metres from the shore, 153 fish, three affirmations as well as times and seasons – night, daybreak, as well as food sharing – a breakfast of bread and fish.  The resurrection stories we hear in the four gospels have a common thread – human endeavour, pain and struggle are followed by a surprise visit, an experience of peace and joy, and then a sign and a commissioning. John, in the very final chapter of the fourth gospel, tells of the disciples fishing on the ‘Sea of Tiberias’ or the Sea of Galilee which is approximately two thirds of the size of Lough Neagh in Ireland. This area plays an important role in the life and ministry of Jesus. This is where the first disciples were called and where many of Jesus’ early miracles were performed.  It is also where many of the early followers of Jesus made their living.   Water is never far from these stories whether at the baptism of Jesus or the calming of the storm on the sea or in this post-resurrection scene. 

Taking time out back on home ground

The disciples were struggling. They were shell-shocked after the terrible events leading up to Jesus’ execution.  They were still coming to terms with the experience of meeting the Risen Jesus. But, they also needed to eat! And, Peter needed to get out there and get on with their work. There was no point in remaining holed up in some cave or room back in Jersalem which, by now, would have been a dangerous place for followers of rabbi Jesus.  The fishermen that Jesus called were back on home ground away from the trauma of Jerusalem and yet, in a strange way, back to where it all started one day when they were fishing. What human feelings of loss, nostalgia and thankfulness must have been their’s as they were constantly reminded of those early days in that very place full of memories and signs and extraordinary happenings and inner joy they had never known before.

Discouragement on the journey

Back to now. They fished all night and caught nothing. Sounds familiar? (see Luke 5:1-11).  We, too, can labour all day and all night and see little return or impact from what we do.  Those charged with leadership and particular service in the Christian community may experience long periods of feeling useless, ineffective or, worse still, weighed down by guilt leading to despair. Why is there no yield? Why will nobody listen? Is it my fault? Is ‘their’ fault? Why do we seem, in places, to be dying as a community clinging to structures and customs like ship-wrecked persons clinging to flotsam as the boat slips down?

When all seems lost, dark, pointless and arid we are challenged to put our trust in the unseen Lord, the ever present Friend and the silent Guest who watches us – as it were – from the shore.  But, they did not recognise this Friend at first. They needed to go to spiritual specsavers!  Alas, the Spiritual Specsaver was there in front of them and as soon as he was recognised Peter characteristically dived into the water.  Far be it from anyone to presume on a ‘miraculous catch’ here and now or any other time.  But, if we hold on in faith and hope to our call as we understand and follow it and as others have affirmed it then we can be confident that God will direct us in some good way. As someone tweeted the other day within the constraint of 140 characters:

Don’t give up on the things that God has placed in your heart; keep pushing and praying He will direct you

Someone stands near us

‘Just after daybreak’ (v. 4) when the Sun had come up in the East the Son of true Light who is risen stood on the shore. And he stands on our shore.

What awaited the disciples when they came ashore was a hearty breakfast of bread and fish. Bread is at the centre of Jesus’ teaching and ministry and in the sacramental life we touch and see water, bread, wine and oil and much more besides. There is no limit to the creativeness of God revealed in Jesus. And we may note that the fish cooked that morning was supplied, at least in part, by the disciples earlier when they cast their nets.  We bring our gifts to the table because our ‘gifts’ have been ‘gifted’ by others or Another.

There is something hugely significant in the final words addressed to Peter (v. 18):

But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.

And John adds the observation that Jesus (v. 19):

.. said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.

Here, there is a clear prophecy of what lies before Peter in terms of martyrdom and suffering.  But, we can also apply this in a somewhat modern setting characterised by much longer life expectancy because the reality of growing old and been led somewhere in the care of others is the experience of not a few as families deal with dementia and other gradually incapacitating conditions.  While we do not know what lies ahead for each of one us we can be confident of God’s presence and love for each one of us no matter what happens. He is there, always, for us just as he stood on the shore watching and inviting and hosting and re-affirming and sending us out.

Thinking and Believing Today

 ‘…Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe … (John 20:29)

John 20:19-31 (Year C: Easter +2)

(Sometimes this is called ‘Low Sunday’ after the ‘High’ of last Easter Sunday. In some traditions this Sunday is referred to as ‘Mercy Sunday’ marking a special celebration of Jesus’ mercy.)

‘Thinking’ and ‘believing’ go together. However, since the age of enlightenment people have pushed the boundaries of thinking and human reason to a point where, in the fullness of time, and here in Europe belief in a supernatural being has been relegated to the domain of private opinion and choice.  This is a pity because ‘reason’ and ‘faith’ can and do complement each other. As pointed out last Sunday the act of, and will to, believe that Jesus rose from the dead and is now alive among us and within the hearts and minds of each one is central to Christian belief and practice. Without this cornerstone our faith would be in vain and we, of all people, would be most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:19).

The evangelist, John, is about to finish his book with a bang. In the space of one half of the second last chapter (or was it the last until chapter 21 was added?) we hear about the resurrection, the primary role of women in witnessing and telling of the resurrection, the struggles of doubting Thomas, the call to mercy and a ministry of forgiveness, the sending out on mission, the few words spoken by Jesus in the period after his resurrection and, finally, the statement of purpose in this gospel of John:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

‘that through believing’ we might have life in the name of Jesus. That’s it. Grace, Response through faith and eternal life in the time to come as well as here and now. Very simple! But, does any of this make sense in a 21^st century world someone asks? 

Making sense of if today

We need to enter into a respectful and learning attitude towards the world that has, in many ways, moved beyond the core beliefs and practices of orthodox Christianity (taking the word orthodox in its widest application to all Christians who profess Jesus as both Saviour and as God).  We are, after all, asked to love God with all our faculties including our minds (Luke 10:27):

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.

With all our mind and not just part of it …. Tragically, some Christian folk distrust the mind as something separate and subordinate along with that other untrustworthy thing called the body. Yet, all of these faculties, which form part of the whole are to be cherished and used lovingly to bring glory to God and freedom to humanity. Instead we fall into the trap of incomplete human development. A form of this is a type of belief and practice that is born out of fear and ignorance. When confronted with a world of ideas, relationships and evidence we may retreat into the ‘certainties of our age’. Now the certainties of our age can take many forms. I will refer to only three of them that seem particularly relevant to this Sunday’s reading:

• Scientific reductionism
• Biblical literalism
• Absolute and unqualified ecclesial infallibility across the board.

Ecclesial infallibilism

Let’s get the third one of the way first.  Finding solace and refuge in religion many a ‘convert’ elevates ‘mother church’ or some leader in same to a pedestal and status that is not consistent with faith as living, growing and personal relationship.  Put another way, ‘the church teaches’ or ‘the pope says’ are convenient ways of avoiding painful, sometimes bitter but always fruitful struggles on the part of thoughtful and grounded disciples. The hard work of thinking through, reviewing, changing, adapting but above all listening to others and to one’s heart and mind does not come easy for some of us.

Biblical literalism serves a very similar role to that of ecclesial infallibilism – it elevates some version or other of sacred scripture to a position of exact, legal and rational interpretation that admits of no living tradition, experience and depth. Everything is set in stone (sometimes literally) so that each one must follow a blueprint and believe in the exact same formulations. Now, unity of doctrine and practice on the ‘essentials’ is a good and necessary thing any time in the history of church. However, we need to go back to the sources with informed minds and open hearts. Even ‘the devil can cite scripture’ as William Shakespeare has it in The Merchant of Venice.  The sad reality today whether in Lahore, London or Limerick is that this insight of Shakespeare is very true. Of course, any serious scholar will quickly spot that the biblical literalists are selective in which passages or extracts they cite to advance their particular theological project or schema.

And, then, there are the scientific reductionists. These come in different forms and guises from the half-informed scientist or would-be-scientist as well as the people who live and move in a very incomplete world lacking in trust and imagination.  In many ways classical scientific reductionism is dead and along with it 20^th century ‘scientific socialism’ (the very term insults both socialism and science).  Thanks to science we are, perhaps, more aware than was the case in previous generations that our knowledge is limited and that there is much that we do not know or cannot know.

One characteristic binds together the ecclesial infallibilists, the biblical literalists and the scientific reductionists together is fear and deep insecurity masquerading as certainty. They know they are right (and by inference others are wrong) because they have it on high authority from a book, a pronouncement or a some scientific tract – so they claim. However, the pretenders to certainty remain locked behind closed doors as the 10 disciples were (where was Thomas?) because they had not still met the Risen one and had not yet fully received his Holy Spirit for the mission at hand.

A 21^st century Thomas

In a way Thomas – who was chided for lack of faith – was a very pre-modern character for us today.  He didn’t take the word of his ecclesial comrades because he wanted to ‘see the evidence’ for himself. Neither was he prepared to entrust himself to some biblical certainty in the prophets.  Ultimately, it was for Thomas a personal encounter with the living Christ – but crucially in the company, life and mutual love of others –  that made all the difference. And though we may not be able to see or touch or reason in the way our ancestors in faith did we are no less vulnerable to the challenge of faith in a world crying out for the risen life of Jesus.  Grounded in the here and anchored to the present moment we, too, can taste this risen life to such an extent that we cry out ‘My Lord and my God’. There we will find that peace (v. 19), that joy (v. 20) and that freedom (v. 23) that stands out in this story of the resurrection.

Looking for signs of life

 ‘…Why do you look for the living among the dead?… (Luke 24:5)

Luke 24:1-12 (Year C: Easter Sunday)

(In some places the Gospel of Easter Sunday is from John 20:1-18 instead of Luke 24:1-12 which I am using here. Often Luke 24:1-12 is used for the Vigil Eucharist of Easter.  There are differences of detail and emphasis suggesting that Luke and John drew from a third source).

‘And then Peter ‘went home, amazed at what had happened’ (v. 12).  Some Bible translations emphasise a slightly different aspect in this same story:

wondering in himself at that which was come to pass. (King James Version)

Whether amazed or wondering or both Peter was not the only one and today many among us wonder about what really did happen that first Easter Sunday morning. What exactly happened and how it happened was not recorded on a video camera.  However, there is another question about what happened next for the coming 2,000 years.  We should not neglect the latter question by an over preoccupation and intellectual curiosity about he first question. It is enough to believe that Jesus rose from the dead and that this has huge consequences for the way we live our lives today.  Resurrection Sunday – another name for every Sunday and not just Easter Sunday once a year – is about something much deeper than recalling an event 2,000 years ago or fulfilling a duty or a custom to attend Church at least at Easter and Christmas if not in between. 

Human yearnings

The fact is that everyone of us yearns to be risen

• risen from ourselves and the ways of thinking that stand in the way of true human freedom;
• risen from fear of getting old, being sick at some point and facing the inevitable sooner or later; and
• risen from that which holds us back and cuts us off from others (sin by another name).

Whatever way we theorise it there is an essential core to every human being that yearns for freedom, health and flourishing. For us Christians resurrection is our truth and one that we propose to everyone Christian or not.  And, yes, a resurrection 2,000 years ago is a relevant and non-negotiable part of our shared faith no matter how we chose to express it in terms of theology and philosophy. Let’s put it this way: if someone could prove that, beyond all reasonable scientific doubt, the Jesus we know died and his bones have been found in such and such a place then our faith is in vain. As we read in Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 15:13-19):

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Our faith is not in vain

Put another way, we can say that resurrection is no mere fable story or moral metaphor or some esoteric rising of the Christ in our consciousness. Sorry, but Christianity is far too materialist and practical to be reduced to that sort notion. Christ is truly risen! And the proof it is in the way you and I live today and every day from now on.

The tomb was not empty by chance when the women went there. A stone had been removed from the entrance. They had taken the first step in trust not fearing any danger from those guarding the tomb or those who might have been waiting to ambush the disciples of one they had executed. But, before they reached the tomb that stone had been rolled away. These disciples were searching in the wrong place for the wrong thing. Sometimes we search for risen life in mediocre places when the risen life is like a treasure buried deep within us where the kingdom of God is to be found. We set off on pilgrimages to foreign places when we might have built a shrine in the secret places of our heart. We seek satisfaction in status, possession and power over others when, in truth, joy is waiting to catch us by surprise right where we are as we are.  ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead?’ we might ask.  The Living One is here.

Writing a number of years ago, Brother Roger of Taizé, said:

A luminous Gospel insight has come to light after gathering dust for a long time: “The Risen Christ is united to every human being without exception, even if they are not aware of it.”

For people held in captivity and who have been suddenly released, freedom can be a daunting prospect. Adaptation takes time. Reconditioning may be necessary. This may be captured in a few lines of a poem by Gerald McFlynn.

On the morning of the third day I went to the tomb and rolled back the stone. Out came the poor and destitute, the prisoners, Travellers..the old and forgotten… blinking in the sunlight all ready for a new birth.

The late Brother Roger of Taizé composed the following prayer based on a deep lived theology of resurrection:

O Christ, you are united to every human being without exception, even if they are unaware of it. Still more, risen from the dead, you come to heal the secret wound of the soul. And for each person, the gates of a heartfelt compassion are opened.

The fifteenth station

 ‘…As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus’… (Luke 23:26)

Luke 22:14-23:56 (Year C: Palm Sunday – Lent 6)

Where are we at?

Lent has flown. So, how has it been?  In lent as in life we experience our own fragility. We also experience the graciousness of God often delivered through others in the many ‘small things’ – the spontaneous expressions of care, appreciation and support.  And then we encounter moments when sheer decency and humanity in another – possibly a stranger – catches us by complete surprise.

This Palm Sunday we enter into a very special week. For many it is the wind-down for a long public holiday with the prospect of the ‘clocks going forward’ in this part of the world and the long summer evenings to look forward in the not too distant future. What does Holy Week mean to us? 

The life of the Risen Christ is everywhere

A long reading – a very long reading – this Sunday prepares us for what is about to happen in the liturgy in the coming days. Liturgy is more than just a dramatization or symbolic re-enactment of a past event. It is a playing out of something real, tangible and life-changing here and now.  Images of feet being washed, the Sacrament shared, the empty sanctuary, the procession to the cross, the long vigil, the paschal candle and the singing of the Exultet reminds us year after year that our Lenten journey is a very visible sign of our own personal journeys.  There is suffering, passion and resurrection in our own personal lives. We know nothing of the anguish and pain of the person next to us whether in a line to reverence the cross or in a queue waiting for a bus that has been delayed. The ordinary and the supernatural are wrapped up together. The life of the risen Christ is everywhere in the depths of acute pain and worry.

Theologians may debate the question of God’s suffering. They are referred to this Sunday’s reading! Although nobody has a neat answer to the question of suffering we know that God turned suffering and death into victory not by glorifying suffering as some distortions of spirituality might infer but by drawing life and hope from where evil reigned.  God does not inflict suffering on anyone. Bad choices have consequences. And, ‘nature has it this way’ which entails suffering.  We can chose how to see suffering and how to possibly overcome it too with God’s help. But, we must walk the way with Jesus and this takes much courage.

Doing the stations

A popular tradition in many places during Lent, and not least on Good Friday, is the devotion of the Via Crucis (the Way of the Cross in latin) or ‘Stations of the Cross’. Tracing its roots in various stories and traditions including a few that are not strictly biblical, the ‘Stations’ provide a walking prayer exercise down and up the aisle or outdoors.  To those familiar with the practice now or in the past it entailed seven stations down the northern side starting with the trial and condemnation of Jesus by Pontius Pilate and a further seven stations up the southern side to stop at the laying of Jesus’ body in the tomb.  The resurrection doesn’t get a mention (that is until the Via Lucis, or the Way of Light, was inaugurated as a devotional). We arrive at the Via Lucis of our own lives through many a Via Crucis. The darkest hour is just before the dawn as the saying goes.  Before the fifteenth station is the fourteenth where we bury our old self in Christ. Author Bronnie Ware, in her remarkable book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying put it this way:

…it was the end of my life, as I knew it at least. But, I didn’t have to die physically. Only that old part of myself died, spiritually. Those old ideas of myself could not survive the bright light of my own love. The new life that had been quietly manifesting for years was finally able to be born. (p. 237)

We need a balanced spirituality that recognises the reality of life and death and new life.  We are not caught in some never-ending cycle of life such as in reincarnation beliefs. Neither are we condemned to a lonely, pointless and ultimately despairing sojourn that ends with death. Our calling and belonging is to a social body (that is, together) that moves onwards and upwards through many valleys, twists, reversals and falls though our destination is marked clearly if we allow ourselves to be taken there. On the way we meet fellow pilgrims some of whom may be overwhelmed by various things including their past, their weakness, their illness.  Like Simon of Cyrene we can help them to carry their cross (and not just our own). Carrying another’s cross? Surely, we have enough on our plate to carry our own!  The truth is that when we carry another’s cross we carry our own and love returns to us in a mysterious way that may not be evident until years after. So, the message of Holy Week and every week of the year is take up our own cross and someone else’s too by bearing with one another in patience and love: the fruits of suffering in patient love is resurrection and this resurrection will liberate us as much from false religion as it does from the idols of our age.   Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote on the 16^th July 1944 from his prison in Tegal near Berlin:

This is the decisive difference between Christianity and all religions.  Man's religiosity makes him look in his distress to the power of God in the world; he uses God as a Deus ex machina.  The Bible, however, directs him to the powerlessness and suffering of God; only a suffering God can help.  To this extent we may say that the process we have described by which the world came of age was an abandonment of a false conception of God, and a clearing of the decks for the God of the Bible, who conquers power and space in the world by his weakness.  This must be the starting point for our ‘worldly’ interpretation.

"Stations on the Road to Freedom" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

from Tegel prison..

Discipline
If you set out to seek freedom, then learn above all things
to govern your soul and your senses, for fear that your passions
and longing may lead you away from the path you should follow.
Chaste be your mind and your body, and both in subjection,
obediently steadfastly seeking the aim set before them;
only through discipline may a man learn to be free.

Action
Daring to do what is right, not what fancy may tell you,
valiantly grasping occasions, not cravenly doubting--
freedom comes only through deeds, not through thoughts taking wing.
Faint not nor fear, but go out to the storm and the action,
trusting in God whose commandment you faithfully follow;
freedom, exultant, will welcome your spirit with joy.

Suffering
A change has come indeed. Your hands, so strong and active,
are bound; in helplessness now you see your action
is ended; you sigh in relief, your cause committing
to stronger hands; so now you may rest contented.
Only for one blissful moment could you draw near to touch freedom;
then, that it might be perfected in glory, you gave it to God.

Death
Come now, thou greatest of feasts on the journey to freedom eternal;
death, cast aside all the burdensome chains, and demolish
the walls of our temporal body, the walls of our souls that are blinded,
so that at last we may see that which here remains hidden.
Freedom, how long we have sought thee in discipline, action, and suffering;
dying, we now may behold thee revealed in the Lord.”

Love sets you free

 ‘…Has no one condemned you?...’ (John 8:10)

John 8:1-11 (Year C: Passion Sunday – Lent 5)

A choice of readings

Almost as significant an issue as universal agreement, West and East, on the date of Easter (and an issue that divided the early Irish Church from Rome) would be universal agreement on the choice of Gospel reading for this 5^th Sunday of Lent in ‘Year C’ (when the Gospel of Luke provides most of the Sunday readings in the third of a three-year cycle of readings). Alas, I am going with the choice of reading from the Roman Catholic cycle which differs, on this Sunday from other cycles including the widely used ‘Revised Common Lectionary’ cycle. For some very strange reason John 8:1-11 (the story of the woman caught in adultery) does not feature in the Revised Common Lectionary cycle of Sunday readings. Might this omission be in any way connected to the omission of this passage from some of the ancient versions of the gospel of John especially among Christians in the East?  Some scholars have speculated that John 8:1-11 was a late insertion and was influenced by a terse two lines to be found in the Gospel of Luke (21:37-38).  Whatever the case may be, this passage from John is a good complement to the story of the Prodigal Son which was the basis for last week’s reflection (Without Shame).  Last week concerned a story about a father and two sons one of whom went well astray. This week’s story is about a woman who also went astray. The context and social circumstances could not be more different but one theme remains: God’s mercy rules.  As Luke and John have it, Jesus was at the moment of teaching in the surroundings of the Temple in Jerusalem – not to supplant the ‘Old Law’ as to radically re-situate it in the Law of Mercy which trumps all Laws and laws.

(For those on the RCL cycle a reflection on the alternative reading for this Sunday in John 12:1-8 may be found under a Blog from last year: “Extravagant Love”.   As it happens, both stories concern a woman of doubtful repute and the behaviour of Jesus towards such women in contrast to that of ‘respectable’ and ‘upright’ men of religious standing in the community. Take your pick of readings this Sunday!)

That which incites religious 'passion'

The story of Jesus and ‘the scribes and the Pharisees’ (Luke 8:1-11) tells us a lot about who Jesus was for John and his community towards the end of the first century.  Now, there is nothing to excite men, and religiously minded men in particular, than sex! (of those afflictions in the world such as climate change, poverty, war and oppression none creates more disunity, conflict and passion in some religious circles than the detailed functioning of sex).  John 8:1-11 presents a woman who ‘was caught in the very act of committing adultery’. But, Jesus was not falling for a trap deliberately set for him by malevolent agitators.  The LAW in this situation, according to its controllers, was death by stoning (see, for example, Deuteronomy 22:21-24). Such punishment is meted out to women today in some parts of the world including countries whose regimes are supported by the Western powers. Other sexual transgressions – in the view of the punishers – give rise to the same punishment. Although there are ten commandments some seem to be specially deserving of an angry punishment especially when it concerns women – so the twisted view of God that can pervade some religious mind-sets then and now.

Care is needed in quoting scripture

It would be possible to select out particular passages in the Old Testament to try to justify someone being put to death.  Knowing this to be the case should caution us against the use of these same or similar verses to justify particular theological views in today’s world. How can the biblical literalists quote one verse from one book of the Old Testament to suit their case and ignore another verse from the very same source.  All of scripture is sacred and divinely inspired. But, it is written by humans in a given culture at a given time for given purposes and needs to be ‘translated’ carefully in today’s world without losing the essential point that we (and not just I) believe God is communicating through these wonderful books, poems, letters and stories.  It would be tragic if this reading from Passion Sunday were to ever provide fuel for an ungodly passion to punish others for transgressions that we ourselves might have undertaken or other transgressions by us against others to which we are blind.

In presenting the woman caught in adultery the ‘scribes and Pharisees’ had two purposes in mind:

• To continue humiliating a woman caught in sin; and
• To catch out (and presumably humiliate) Jesus as either a breaker of the law or a stoner of women.

Dealing with the critics

In one word this was about humiliation. ‘And making her stand before all of them’ (v.3) the woman was put on trial. At the same time, Jesus was also on trial facing the same religious accusers and manipulators of truth.  Jesus took charge of the situation by doing and saying nothing for a while and refusing to be boxed in or manipulated by the agenda of his questioners. But, the questioners were not going to be deterred by Jesus’ behaviour. ‘They kept on questioning him..’ (v. 7). Then Jesus turns the tables so to speak (and recall that according to John this episode was happening in the Temple precincts).  He invites the first one without sin to cast the first stone. And then we he bent his head down and started writing with his finger on the sandy surface (one wonders what he was writing).  Now, here is what happens – the accusers melted away one by one ‘beginning with the elders’. To be fair to the accusers and the elders they had some vestiges of self-respect and conscience and walked away rather than initiate the stoning. Mind you they did not apologise. Neither did they hang around to look Jesus and the woman in the face.  In one fell swoop Jesus has silenced and scattered the accusers of this woman while, at the same time, setting that woman free to be who she really was and could be. Who was this woman and what became of her subsequently we do not know. Perhaps she became a key disciple – even a martyr – and her role was written out of history (and that would not be the first time such a thing has happened).  Or, maybe she just went back to a very ordinary life in which she found the true love that she was looking for because she had been completely missing the target.

There is an important line to this story which has also been omitted in some ancient scriptural texts and it is this: ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again’ (v. 11).  Put simply it means that there is no condemnation in Christ but he is with us and before us and behind us to enable us to walk in a new way in a new life. Not sinning any more is the challenge if we put it in a negative way. Practicing compassion, forgiveness from the heart and generosity where we find ourselves is the best antidote to those sins that drag us down or hold us back, viz, those things we do and say and that we know we should not do or say and those things we ought to do and say and that we know we do not.  In a letter to fellow Chistians in Philippi Paul wrote:

 ^…forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

 ‘Where are they?’ asks Jesus (v.10). Indeed. Where are those who accused this woman and also Jesus? Where are those who might judge us and you and me for this and for that?  Who are they to judge? Who am I to judge others or even myself? (1 Corinthians 4:3) for there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1).  It is essential that we leave both judgment with Christ. It stops there. 

It’s as simple as that

And where were all those friends and neighbours and family? The woman was said to be alone with Jesus.  In all likelihood friends, family and neighbours were too scared, anyway, to come near her. Or, perhaps, they had already written her off and excluded her as a bad person.  The point is that she is now left ‘alone’ with Jesus. This is all that matters right now. At any moment we may find ourselves alone with Jesus who looks steadily at us today as he did 2,000 years ago with the woman of this story and he says “You are good. You are forgiven. You are not condemned. The past is gone. Look to the future with confidence and with a firm resolve to live a good life”. It’s as simple as that.

Without shame

 ‘…and they began to celebrate ...’ (Luke 13:24)

Luke 15:11-32 (Year C: Lent 4)

It's party time! This used to be called Laetare Sunday because of the Introduction Laetare Jerusalem (Rejoice O Jerusalem), taken from Isaiah 66:10, used as the introit or introduction in the liturgy for the fourth Sunday of Lent. The Latin word for joy is Laetitia. 

For other reasons, the Sunday is associated with ‘Mothering Sunday’ and has given rise, in case people didn’t know, to ‘Mother’s Day’ one of these dates in the calendar beloved of retail, florist, restaurant and hospitality businesses across the English-speaking world in particular. According to a Wikipedia entry, ‘Mother Sunday’ was, traditionally, ‘a day when children, mainly daughters, who had gone to work as domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother and family’.  How charming!

This year, the year of Luke, the fourth Sunday of Lent gospel reading is about the ‘prodigal son’ (no not the son who forgot it was Mother’s day and has been forgiven but the wayward in the parable or story found in the gospel of Luke). Tradition has allowed – in the past before the words equality and inclusion were heard of – for priests to wear pink vestments rather than the traditional Lenten purple in honour of Laetare Sunday (we all need relief during Lent!). The other dispensation is granted to Irish Christians to go green and break their rigorous fast on 17^th March in honour of that British saint Patrick. Sales of alcohol peak around this time (although there has been no noticeable fall in sales since the start of Lent as the Irish economy continued to recover in early 2016).

Now, Mothering Sunday, St Patrick’s day, Laetare Sunday and the commercial ‘Mother’s Day’ are four entirely separate matters or are they?

A story of forgiveness

So much has entered into the English language and other languages via the Bible and its many images, stories and turns of phrase.  The story of the prodigal son is just one example.  We are familiar with the image of the wayward son who acts irresponsibly and goes off to sow his wild oats only to return later in penury and misery to be met by a loving and compassionate father.  The jealousy of a brother and the reaction of their father adds spice to the story.  The parables of mercy found in the fifteenth chapter of Luke is preceded by the discourse on the demands of total discipleship in Luke 14 and is followed by some very challenging parables about riches in Luke 16. We should be aware that a parable of mercy is not a soft or easy option sandwiched in between hard discipleship and renunciation of attachment to material wealth. Rather, mercy explains everything we need to know about our God and it explains everything we need to know about how to live out our discipleship in this world as we know it. The fruits of this is joy and joy without shame.

The scene for this parable is set by the opening verses of Luke 15:1-2

Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’

How ironic that Luke should have chosen this opening challenge as the context, first, for the parable of the lost coin (Luke 15:3-7), then the lost sheep (Luke 15:8-10) and finally the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) when many of the followers of Jesus over the coming centuries would spend much time leaving lost coins lost, not bothering with the one lost sheep and setting barriers and exclusion orders for those who seek a return to fellowship at the Lord’s table. Of course, it may be pointed out that various anathemas and exclusion orders are present elsewhere in the New Testament including some references in the gospels. However, the overwhelming thrust of what Jesus said and did and what we know about sayings and actions attributed to Jesus is that he didn’t play it all by the Rules of religion or custom. Rather, he exposed the shallowness, selectivity and duplicity of those managing these Rules when the overriding Rule of Life was and is chesed – a loving kindness that is faithful and moved and movable.  We are not dealing, here, with some micro-manager God who is eagerly waiting to punish and control us. Neither are we dealing here with some ‘God of the ancient Greek Philosophers, that God who had no truck with the world, its people or its existence’, but remained ‘the unmoved mover of all things’ as Irish poet John Deane put it in his recent autobiography (Give Dust a Tongue: A faith and poetry memoir).

On the contrary, we are dealing with a living God who is all powerfully vulnerable to human suffering and delights in what has been created by love, in love, for love. The common thread running through each of the three parables in Luke 15 is that joy is the fruit of repentance and being found again. However, there is, potentially at least, a snag with the Prodigal son story.   plausible reaction on the part of those listening to the story of the Prodigal Son for the first time might raise the following three questions:

Questions:

• Wasn’t the father being unfair to the well-behaved and consistently loyal son?
• Didn’t the father have a responsibility to reprimand the wayward son because bad behaviour should not be rewarded and a lesson needed to be taught even if he forgave all and the wayward son repented of all? What sort of message was the father sending out to other sons and fathers in the locality?
•   Did the prodigal son remain virtuous or fall by the wayside again? It is known to have happened that persons fall more than once in the course of a lifetime. The parable stops at this point.

Good questions to which answers are not readily available!  Let’s listen carefully, again, to this all too familiar and all too human story. The story begins like this:

‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” So he divided his property between them.  A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.’ (v. 11-13)

did the prodigal son pull a fast one?
How would any parent feel about a child doing a ‘runner’ with their precious savings?  We can assume that the Father was at least surprised, annoyed, resentful when this happened. But he ought to have known before hand given his youngest son’s character. While you can’t predict someone’s actual behaviour in advance you can guess a range of possible scenarios.  We are talking here of an ordinary human being in a story about human beings which sets the scene for a story about a heavenly father.  Note the absence of women in this story from start to finish (except by reference to women of ill-repute when the prodigal son was abroad). This is a classical scene from a patriarchal society where women do not feature when it comes to money, power and division of assets. 

When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. (v. 14-16)

The younger son fell on hard times. It happens. We all make mistakes. If we have not made mistakes when we were younger how would we learn? But, hold on wait for what is coming next….

But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!  I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’”  So he set off and went to his father. (v.17-20a)

The traditional reading of the Prodigal Son is based on the idea that the prodigal son realised his mistakes, repented and returned to the Father.  But, there is another way of reading this story even if it is much less the assumed one – the son was cunning and clever enough to realise that when the money runs out the money runs out and the options are dire.  This son knew that his father was a bit of a push-over?  Did he gamble on pulling a fast one and putting on a repentance and self-humiliation scene? What was there to lose by giving it a try?  There are enough hints in the story to not exclude this possibility.  But, either way, the son returned and he was met by a compassionate father who took the initiative to meet him more than half ways. Read on…

But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.  Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate. (v.20b-24)

Well that was some scene in front of everyone!.  Just imagine this disgraceful and disgraced son who turns up out of the blue and publicly abases himself in remorse.  The neighbours, cousins, friends and local persons of note must have been dumbfounded. ‘Well, who would have thought?’. Perhaps we could imagine some wondering if this was just a show (it is a parable after all). The father is, indeed, a soft-hearted old man. He saw his son far off and ‘was filled with compassion’.  He must have been thinking of him night and day and wondering was his son alive, well and in one piece. A first century parable didn’t allow for skype, email, mobile phones and facebook messenger. But, here in this moment of strong emotion and bonding the father immediately accepts his son without question, without interrogation, without conditions, without reserve, without hesitation. This was man-to-man stuff and Father-to-son work. The father ‘put his arms around him and kissed him’ not afraid to show his emotions. To Northern Europeans this seems sloppily southern European or eastern European!  Except on the sports field, showing emotions like that especially among men and among male family members is difficult for some of us in colder climates! But, back to the story…

‘Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.  He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on.  He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.”  Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.  But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” (v.25-30)

Oh Oh. Enter the other son.  Many a family feud has started over questions of honour, pride, inheritance and favours. The eldest son was furious: why should he who had been the loyal, respectable and obedient son be treated the same as or even not as well as the younger irresponsible brother? It was a fair question but one that missed the point of the story – the one who was lost and found deserves a double celebration. This can be a hard one to swallow especially if there is a hint of manipulation on the part of the prodigal son who weighed up his options and decided that offering himself as a hired servant was a least worst option.  We may note that the elder son refers to his younger brother not as a brother but ‘this son of yours’ (v.30).  How often do we use language to put a distance between ourselves and particular others especially when relationships are frayed or sundered?

But, in responding to the very understandable anger and astonishment of the older son we are confronted with a very different and disruptive logic. The logic and metrics of God-love are very different to ours. Notions of merit, proportional reward and punishment for past wrong doing (even when someone has repented) are very different in the kingdom of God. This is why the kingdom of God is an alien and distant place for many in society and even, sometimes, in our very own churches.

Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”’

A father's love

The Father’s response is firm but gentle and affirming to the second son. There is a place for everyone at God’s table including those who believe themselves to have been faithful all their lives. But, there is a special place for those who feel awkward, excluded, judged and unsure. This is not about ‘opening the floodgate’ to everyone and anything. It is about the practice of a compassionate reaching out to those who come to us in search of meaning, understanding, acceptance, inclusion and encouragement in their journey. Are we up to this challenge? If we are honest with ourselves we will admit that we are the prodigal daughters and sons who need acceptance, understanding and encouragement. We receive these gifts when we are ready to given them to other prodigals. There is no shame in forgiving or in being forgiven. Rather, shame is a sign of hurt that is not healed.  We need to practice mercy as much as receive it. Indeed, it is party time.  Laetare Sunday can be every Sunday – a time of mercy, visitation, renewal.