Choosing the good

“…and he was with the wild beasts” (Mark 1:13)

Mark 1:12-15 (Year B: First Sunday of Lent, 18 February 2018)

Trials can bring out the best and the worst in people.  Alone with the ‘wild beasts’ in a lonely desert place, Jesus the child of the earth or the Son of Man was confronted with the rawness of nature. But, he was confronted, as a full human being with the realities of hunger, thirst, danger and temptation.  He went into a place that we, all of us, will have to face sooner or later as our bodies wear out and our time beckons. Some are fortunate to avoid much sickness and material poverty in the course of a long life. Others are less fortunate.

Lent gives us a time and an opportunity to reflect on and re-focus our lives.  Focus comes with difficulty for us as we juggle many things and surround ourselves with lots and lots of things.  Staying still and focussed even with the ‘wild beasts’ of negative people, situations and inner feelings is an art. Great peace and great inner empowering is the fruit of a masterly stillness. God keeps those in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him (Isaiah 26:3). But, what if we have received troubling news or what if we are surrounded by much evil?

In our times, there is much that is very wrong and even evil – even in our supposedly enlightened and inclusive democracies.  People are subjected to huge pressures – financial, emotional and spiritual.  Major choices face people as we debate matters of life and death. Complex moral dilemmas confront us on all sides. Nothing is every simple or straightforward. And yet, the call to turn back to God is ever simple, ever fresh and ever life-giving.

How does Mark 1:12-15 speak to us on this first Sunday of Lent 2018?

The Kingdom of God…

The phrase ‘kingdom of God’ had deep resonance in Jesus’ milieu. It may be a little lost on the world today, unfamiliar or unfriendly to human notions, metaphors and institutions of royalty. But, the idea of the Kingdom still has currency and relevance if we understand it as a spiritual reign or ruling over minds and hearts freely accepting of this. It signifies a reign of personal and social freedom and justice. The two go hand in hand. It implies that those who are poor, oppressed, excluded are brought into the centre of our communities and listened to and empowered. There, peace and love are established where, before, suspicion, resentment and factionalism prevailed.

And the kingdom belongs to those who received it with childlike simplicity, trust and openness (Luke 18:17). It is a common practice to associate the term and the idea of the kingdom of heaven with the world that it is to come, or, simply that which is after death. But, it is clear from most usages of the term in the Gospels that the kingdom is also in the here and now in our midst – very near and about to break into our little world.

In the life of the Christian community there are times when Jesus’ followers over-identified or reduced the Kingdom of God to the ‘Church’ (and that very often in strictly party denominational sense). Others over-identified or reduced the Kingdom of God to some interior, subjective state of feeling or reasoning. The truth is that both perspectives are valid and needed!

It is near to us ….

It may be a question of time or place. In truth, we can say that our lives are short and the day we anticipate is nearer now than was the case yesterday.

Repent…

Lent is very much about repentance.  To repent is to turn away from something. It means turning away from all that is harmful, poisoned, destructive within us and around us. This is difficult because we seek refuge, sometimes, in falsehoods, riches and comfort – the comfort of our systems of thinking and association that surrounds us all the time. We are invited to return or turn back to the basics of

• Doing what is right 
• Believing in what is true 
• And avoiding what is evil for ourselves and others.

Our role is not to go about confronting people with the language and a system of ideas that means nothing to them. Rather, we are invited to gently lead others to where they are ready and willing to go in their own time at their own pace. Ultimately, we are called not to announce the word so much as to live it and thereby draw others into the family of trust, belonging and purpose which is the community founded on the example, teaching, death and resurrection of the Jesus who continues to live in our midst.

And so….

This lent let’s take that prayer, Our Father, seriously and practically meaning what we say and putting it into practice day by day. And ‘Your Kingdom Come’ will be a reality more and more as we walk towards Easter. And we will be amazed to find that it is indeed true that ‘For the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory are yours’. Put another way it means:

• Power is everywhere
• Change if possible
• Hope is vital

May Lent 2018 be a special time for each of us as we move from winter to spring and as we prepare, hopefully, for other winters and springs on this earthly journey. For the kingdom of God has come nearer to us this year. We must make haste, focus on the Gospel, change what needs changing in our lives now and trust and believe in the good news that Jesus announced 2,000 years ago and still announces to each of us and all of us together today.

If we are willing

“…If you choose, you can make me clean” (Mark 1:40)

Mark 1:40-45 (Year B: Sunday before Lent, 11th February 2018)

[In some traditions and places the chosen Gospel reading for this Sunday may be from Mark 9:2-9 – the Gospel account of the Transfiguration. For a blog on Mark 9:9-29 see Basking in Sunshine  - 1 March 2015]

‘I do choose’ was the curt answer from Jesus to an earnest request by someone with leprosy who ‘came to him and begged him on his knees’ (v. 40). Some versions report that Jesus was ‘moved with pity’ (v. 41) while other translations state that ‘Jesus was indignant’. I prefer ‘moved with pity’. Perhaps the leper, in breaking social norms, approached someone who was clean. Was Jesus taken by complete surprise and reacted angrily in the first instance? Or, perhaps, his ‘anger’ was more to do with fear? Who would touch a leper? Would you or I touch someone with a highly contagious disease?

Whatever was felt by him, Jesus was moved to act and to respond to what was a bold request and, surely, a risky one for Jesus who risked deadly infection as well as social disapproval for associating with someone who was ritually impure.

In today’s ‘advanced economies’ leprosy has been abolished.  However, a few centuries ago leper hospitals and colonies were common.  Here, in Dublin, Townsend Street just south of the River Liffey is translated from the original of ‘Sráid na Lobhar’ where, there was a hospice for lepers (lobhair).  Note that when the new arrivals took over from the 12^th century onwards they just named the place ‘Town’s End’. That sounds better, you see. Further to the east of Sráid na Lobhar were the natives pushed, literally, to ‘Irishtown’, or Baile Gaelach, beside An Rinn – land’s end in around the year 1454 in line with the Statutes of Kilkenny.  Rather like the inmates of a West Bank Palestinian camp, the Gaeil had freedom to trade by day in medieval Dublin and to get back to Baile Gaelach at night passing by the Leper hospice just south of modern-day TCD and then down by ‘Misery Hill’ (just beside the headquarters of Facebook in Ireland today!) where lepers, who did not have the medieval equivalent of private health insurance and could not afford the hospice closer to Dublin, hung out (there being a medieval pecking order of social and physical leprosy at the time). Only some things have changed since those days.

(According to one source, the name Misery Hill ‘derives its name from an age when the corpses of those executed at Gallows Hill near Upper Baggot Street were carted here and strung up to rot as a warning to other would-be troublemakers’).

All societies, tribes and in-groups know how to include and to exclude.

One of the tragic aspects of leprosy in those far off times must have been the sense of loneliness, isolation and social exclusion. When this was reinforced by false religious notions that, in some way, the condition was due to the sinfulness of the victims (either directly or indirectly) the sense of brutality is heightened. In our modern, sophisticated and supposedly enlightened world is ‘social leprosy’ a thing of the past?  Change the medical details and the face of the sufferers and we might find disturbing cases of 21^st century social leprosy (including modern-day traditional leprosy in many parts of the world). Persons by reason of their ethnic status, colour, religion, sexual orientation, marital or relationship status or political persuasion are placed in situations of exclusion, disrespect, mistrust and oppression. If we think that this is something of an exaggeration in our little slice of the world try considering some of the following:

If a family from ‘that group’ moved in next door how would our enlightened socio-liberal principles stand up?

Have we ever been at a wedding in a church where the happily married couple and their families of mixed Christian backgrounds as well as friends are not, all, allowed to share at the one Table of the Chief Host at the banquet? (and here one is referring to the 21^st century and not the 16^th century where, instead, the guests might have killed each other before arriving at the ceremony).

Is someone’s sexual orientation or relationship status something to be best ‘not told and not asked’ about? Conveniently swept under the carpet when, in fact, everyone knows but can’t talk about it or deal with the issue honestly?

And the list could go on.

Healing for others may not just be an exercise in compassion where illness of one sort or another is concerned. It might also involve healing for the healer (us) because we treat others – healthy and wholesome people – as if it were they who need healing and not us. Roles can be reversed and healing happens in us as we learn to let go of our own prejudices, wounds and fears.

What this passage from the Gospel of St Mark shows is that Jesus’s approach and values were utterly ‘sacramental’ to use a theologically loaded term. One way of understanding sacramentalism is that it concerns outward visible signs of inward spiritual grace. Touching and being touched in ways that are entirely appropriate and healing is a type of sacramental action. In the established sacraments of Western catholic Christianity touching can happen at Baptism, the Eucharist, Reconciliation (Penance), Ordination, Anointing, Marriage and Confirmation. It’s all taken for granted. But, ‘sacramentalism’ does not stop there. Ministries of healing have developed in the Christian community and many have been touched deeply in their souls. Outward signs are important. But, the inner healing is something powerful, real and lasting. Many miracles are still happening today but they are not readily visible. One of the greatest miracles is the grace people may receive along with incurable diseases to accept their situation and grow in love and trust. This does not necessarily lessen the suffering or grief in which they find themselves. But, they find a deeper level of meaning, purpose and peace that is lacking where trust has been abandoned.

If a leper in 1^st century Palestine could not be touched by another person (other than another leper) – especially when most needed such as in the moments someone is slipping away from this life (as anyone will know who has journeyed with some to the ‘farewell point’) – then we have many types of social leprosy in modern-day Western economically ‘advanced’ societies. We just change the language and the detail and turn it into clinical and linguistically sanitised terminology.

Much of what we strive for is the result of forces and desires deep within us. We may not even be aware of some of these forces and may ascribe our actions to motivations and influences outside our control. However, if we are more honest with ourselves we must acknowledge that our own will power is an important factor. It is always conditioned by circumstances but it is never eclipsed. If we are willing, we can rise to extraordinary heights. ‘Where there is a will there is a way’ as the saying goes. Was Jesus moved with astonishment, emotion and pity as a result of the desperate, humbling and faith-full pleas of the leper? It is plausible to think that Jesus was cornered and his compassion triggered as a result?. Let’s say that it was not on the agenda for that day. Someone crossed his path who was an outcast, ‘a sinner’ in regards to the thought systems of the time and someone who was dangerously ill.

In responding to this situation Jesus ‘reached out his hand and touched the man’. In doing so he declare ‘I am willing’.  God in Jesus is willing to reach out to us and to touch us in the very depths of our despair, our worries and our fragility. In healing the leper Jesus does not omit to instruct the healed one to present himself to the priests in accordance with the Torah – the religious law (as laid out, for example, in the Book of Leviticus (3:1-2)).

And the healed one ‘went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news’. But there was a price: ‘As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places.’  In short, he was never far from the excluded and the outcasts. Maybe he even hung out with them in different places and times? For us mortals, extending the hand of healing to others could trigger our own inner healing.

Are there among us, today, those with an inner wound of some sort? Society treats various forms of mental illness as a form of stigma, for example. This isolates those who are affected and builds walls of separation and shame. If we are willing we can become channels of healing for others. But those who experience healing in this way, in their turn, become sources of healing in us.‘ Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.’ (v. 45)

It never stops and it shouldn’t.

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

Here is a leper outside the Mosaic Law. Jesus does not overturn that Law but shows the Power and Love of God.  The results are striking. The unclean has been made clean and the prescribed response before the Priests is carried out (refer to Leviticus 14:1-32)

1:40: Pleading

A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ 

Begging has mixed connotations and not something used, generally, in regards to prayer. But we can be sure that God speaking through David will not leave us down - ‘I am here and I call, you will hear me, O God. Turn your ear to me; hear my words.’ (Psalm 16:6). We may note that again and again across the Gospel stories it is an attitude of humble trusting that characterises those healed by Jesus. From the healing of the leper to the words of forgiveness on the cross addressed to the ‘good thief’ God is open to those who seek with a humble and trusting heart.

1:41-42: Welcoming and healing

Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’  Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 

Jesus listened. Jesus saw. Jesus was ‘moved with pity’. We can learn from this. However, some translations translate as Jesus was indignant or angry. We should not miss the critical point, here, that Jesus physically touched the leper. By doing so, Jesus made himself ritually impure in the sight of the Law. Hence, there is a subtle point: Jesus did not come to disregard the Law but to complete it by showing its true and overarching purpose – namely the loving kindness or hessed of God. In this sense, Jesus the Son of God was above the Mosaic Law. The world would never be the same again.

1:43-44: Sending forth 

After sternly warning him he sent him away at once,  saying to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’ 

Religious rituals and protocols had to be followed. The evangelists are careful to situate the story of Jesus in the concrete religious mores of his time.

1:45: The healed one can’t stay quiet

But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

There are times when we just cannot stay quiet! We need to tell someone what God has done in our soul. And the healing may be physical and psychological. Why not?

Cultivating habits of the heart early

“…Very early the next morning, Jesus got up and went to a place where he could be alone and pray” (Mark 1:35)

Mark 1:29-39 (Year B: Second Sunday before Lent: 4^th February 2018)

A day in the life of Jesus. He is up and out before sunrise – praying. The previous night he was engaged in healing after sunset in the house of Peter’s mother-in-law and before that he was at the Synagogue on the Sabbath with his small band of new followers.  Today, he is heading towards other places in Galilee. Always on the move, living from the centre of his being and in relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit, Jesus moves among the people preaching, healing and setting people free.

Praying in solitary places was Jesus’ way of refuelling and recharging.

Praying in solitary places is not just for monks, spiritual nerds and other people with time on their hands. Praying in solitary places is for everyone including, I believe, people who say they are atheists and agnostics. There is a hole in every person’s heart to be filled with awe, wonder, conversation, asking, thanking and even cursing at times (the psalms can come in handy for this purpose!). The point is that everyone needs space and time to simply ‘be’. The story goes that the Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, said ‘I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours of my day in prayer.’  In recent times, Dag Hammarskjöld, a former Secretary General of the United Nations said that, because of his busy schedule, he got up an hour early to pray. When he was ‘extra busy’ he got up two hours early for the same purpose.

Spending two to three hours in prayer is not an option, I suspect, for most ordinary people like you and me. However, quiet times and spaces are a must.  A story is told that many decades ago a novice in a certain religious congregation who had not yet learned the art of ‘seeking forgiveness more than permission’ asked a brother who looked after novices if it was OK to smoke while praying. After a firm ‘NO’ he paused for a moment and asked ‘But, would it be OK to pray while smoking?’  High five!

The point of prayer is a ‘lifting up’ (some of us will remember our old ‘Green Catechism’) and opening out while going in….going into a secret place in the depths of our hearts that goes beyond space, time and consciousness.

Seriously.

And simply. 

Manuals, textbooks and various types of ‘guides’ tend to overcomplicate what is an altogether natural and wholesome thing for humans to do. We, the busy ones, are merely joining the rest of creation by resting in the anguish and glory of ‘Being’.

Pick your times and your place or places.

It might be on the top of the first bus into town for work (the driver can always wake you if you fall asleep before reaching the terminus!). It might be a little corner of your bedroom where you place a picture of a loved one, a bible, an icon or some other ‘reminder’.  It might be a place of fondness on a mountain or by the sea. And, crucially, it could be a place in the middle of a busy congregation gathered together to pray and break bread.  Just as the novice, in the story above, ‘prayed while smoking’ Christians delight to ‘pray while eating and drinking’ at the Eucharist. But, after some time in prayer the reality is that ‘Everyone is looking for you!’ (Mark 1:36).

The morning is a precious time of the day. As it says in the Psalm (5:4):

‘In the morning you hear me; in the morning I offer you my prayer, watching and waiting.’

Watching and waiting early, very early in the morning. A tonic for a weary, thankful and hopeful soul as a fresh day begins. As it is written in Isaiah (30:15):

‘..in quietness and trust is your strength..’ (‘A new spring in your step’)

Or in the first book of Kings (19:12):

‘And after the fire came a gentle whisper’

That still small voice that whispers gently to us in the quiet of the house or streets as the sun is rising.

A brother at the community of Taizé has put it:

‘So many Christians find in prayer the courage to take on responsibilities. Rooting themselves in the very wellsprings of Christ, they run the risks of faith.’

By going to the wellsprings deep within us (we are baptised, actually or by entrusting) we find the courage and the faith to risk everything while remaining rooted in the here and now and all that we are called upon to do this day. And just as the morning is the key to the day, the evening is the lock for the night.

Together let us praise the Lord for ourselves and others.

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

Nearing the end of the first chapter and having called his first companions, we see Jesus move into full healing and mission mode.

29-31   Jesus cures Peter’s mother-in-law

As soon as Jesus left the meeting place with James and John, they went home with Simon and Andrew. When they got there, Jesus was told that Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with fever. Jesus went to her. He took hold of her hand and helped her up. The fever left her, and she served them a meal.

Early Christians saw in the lifting up of Simon’s mother-in-law a sign of the resurrection to come.  Jesus has declared that sickness, death and evil do not have the last word then or now.  The mother-in-law was quick on her feet to serve Jesus a meal.  It looks as if Simon-Peter’s friend Jesus was in very good standing that day with Peter’s mother! So also, we may presume was the wife of Peter who mostly likely was present at this healing (see 1 Corinthians 9:5).

32-34   Jesus heals many sick persons 

That evening after sunset, all who were sick or had demons in them were brought to Jesus. In fact, the whole town gathered around the door of the house. Jesus healed all kinds of terrible diseases and forced out a lot of demons. But the demons knew who he was, and he did not let them speak.

The Sabbath is over with sunset. Hence, healing is permitted according to the strictures of the Law.  Evil knows the Name of Love but Love is not overpowered by evil.

35         Jesus goes to pray in a solitary place,

Very early the next morning, Jesus got up and went to a place where he could be alone and pray. 

Timely and consistent prayer was a cornerstone in the life of ministry of Jesus.

36-37   In search of Jesus

Simon and the others started looking for him. And when they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you!”

38-39   Time to move on: Jesus sets the disciples’ sights on wider horizons

Jesus replied, “We must go to the nearby towns, so that I can tell the good news to those people. This is why I have come.” Then Jesus went to Jewish meeting places everywhere in Galilee, where he preached and forced out demons.

Now is the time

“…And immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Mark 1:18)

Mark 1:14-20 (Year B: 3^rd Sunday after the Epiphany, 21^st January 2018)

Throughout the Gospel of St Mark there is an immediacy and urgency about the message of Jesus. The time is said to have come. It is time to repent and believe now and to follow the Saviour.  When called, the disciples leave what they are doing and who they are with immediately. ‘Without delay’, Jesus calls them and they respond without delay.

In life, our natural tendency is to wait and see, to evaluate and consider, to consult and reflect and to postpone a decision until later. Sometimes this is good to do; others time not: we need to know the difference.  When God calls we are bid to follow with clarity and courage leaving behind doubts and obstacles. We must trust that God will show us the way and enable us to follow there.

The secret in following is in the now. Answering a lifetime’s call is made in a series of steps beginning with a simple step now. Giving a full yes here and now is the only reality we can embrace. The past is a given and the future has not yet arrived. We can only live in the here and now. Nothing else is real as far as action and will are concerned.

The Gospel of Mark, which we read over most Sundays for the remainder of this year, is a very concise account of the life of Jesus Christ. The first chapter reads, in many respects, as a type of ‘executive summary’ of this entire Gospel and all four canonical Gospels. This week’s passage from the first chapter of the gospel of St Mark may be summarised in five key points:

To repent of our sins (v 15).
To believe in Jesus (v 15).
To be healed by Jesus (v 34).
To follow Jesus (v 17).
To be sent by Jesus (v 17).

As in other callings, we have here a call addressed both to individuals and to groups or pairs of individuals. We never walk alone – at least not entirely.

We would do well to take Mark in hand today and let the words and their meaning sink in. As with the rest of the gospels, the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark is worth reading slowly and prayerfully. It holds the key to the entire Good News story about Jesus. When a sentence or a phrase strikes we can just stop there and linger awhile in silence and quiet. A quiet spot and a regular time of day, if at all possible, is a great idea for this type of exercise. It takes practice and discipline. It bears fruit. In that way, we can ‘prepare a way’ in the desert of our lives. And we will be overtaken by surprise – surprise that God loves us more than we ever imagined possible.

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

14:  It all starts in Galilee

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God

The ministry and first calling of the disciples originated in an obscure corner of an obscure country in the Roman Empire.  It did not start on the floor the Temple or the Holiest of Holies in Jerusalem. Neither did it start in Rome – the centre of political power at the time. It didn’t start in some pre-existing religious community such as the Essenes in Qumran.  It didn’t start in the halls of some institution of human learning and skill. And it didn’t start in the continent of Europe as we know it today.

15:       The waiting is over

and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;[c] repent, and believe in the good news.’

The time of waiting (‘kairos’) is over. This is the acceptable and necessary time to turn (‘repent’) and to experience the good news of God’s saving work. To repent is not to sink further into guilt, shame and retribution. Rather, to repent is to be set free not because we deserve it but because God loves us unconditionally and waits for our free response in love. This is what repentance is about.

16-17:  A new way of life for those called to be ‘fishers’

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ 

From the natural occupation of fishing on a large lake (The Sea of Galilee which is probably about twice the size of Dublin Bay) Jesus sees that these fishermen will have a purpose and a trade of a different kind. The analogy of fishing for people will not be lost on Peter and Andrew. I wonder what their families thought when the brothers went off to follow Jesus? Peter was, after all, married and the evidence from 1 Corinthians 9:5 (and see, also, Mark 1:29-31) is that his wife was alive and not dead at the time of his calling and subsequent ministry. We may note that, at this point, the emphasis in Mark is on the preaching of the Word of God. Miracles accompanying this preaching would follow very soon. In the Acts of the Apostles, we see Peter along with the other apostles or disciples preaching, healing, calling and sowing the seeds of a new reality and kingdom. It all began on the shores of a lake in a far off place. Peter and Andrew must have had little idea where this would all lead when this amazing Rabbi/Teacher said to them abruptly one day: ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people’ (v. 17).

18:  Answering the call without delay

 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 

There is no evidence that they hesitated. They ‘immediately left their nets and followed him’ (v. 18).

19-20:  Immediacy

As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat  with the hired men, and followed him.

And again, the disciples called did not delay but dropped their nets and left their families and fellow-workers behind.  The sons of Zebedee would have inherited a family fishing business for mention was made of ‘hired men’.  The sons did not leave their father without help in those who were hired and stayed behind.

What do we really want in life?

“…What are you looking for” (John 1:38)

John 1:35-51

Year B: 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, 14th January 2018

When did you last read an obituary (or hear a funeral eulogy) that went something like this:

‘He was a much revered person who worked all the hours God gave to become the head in this industry and organisation. He put in long hours, cut deals, fought off competitors and saved the organisation on more than one critical moment. He received numerous honorary doctorates and one real one while he wrote six books, 30 journal articles and served on many commission and boards. He had many friends and contacts but none terribly close. He did make time for family life and local rotary club activities.  He will be missed but life goes on and things change. It was sad to see his health deteriorate in his final years.  He did recognise the few who visited him in the very final months at St Fachtna’ Nursing Home.  His farewell was an occasion of some sadness.’

Not often, I suggest. Not at all in fact!

Write your own obituary or, better still, live in such a way that others will write an obituary that you can be justly proud of because you were a caring, loving, truthful and fair person in whatever role or responsibility was entrusted to you.

Every so often we need to stop for a few minutes, or hours or even days and ask the hard question that Jesus asked the two disciples: ‘what do I want?’ What do I seek?  Above and beyond the daily toils and struggles what is my purpose and aim in life? Truly?

Sometimes there are no immediate or clear answers. It may involve some trial and error. ‘Come and see’ was Jesus’ reply when asked ‘where are you staying?’

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

The choice of passage is all encompassing: it combines John 1:35-41 with John 1:42-51 as, respectively, these correspond to the typical choice of Gospel reading on this Sunday in the Roman Catholic and most of the Reformed Churches.  Perhaps, by accident, the former emphasises Peter and his brother Andrew while the latter emphasises Philip and Nathaniel.

35-36:  John bears witness

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ 

On ‘the next day’ (the third day), John bears witness in front of two of his own disciples. John’s Gospel attaches great importance to time, night, day and numbers hiding key parallels and deeper significance beneath the stories and words.

This is where Galilee and Judea meet up: the disciples of Jesus, according to John the evangelist, were disciples of John the Baptist. Where ‘two or three’ were gathered there was the Messiah in their midst. This prefigures what is to come after the resurrection of Jesus.

I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. (Isaiah 65:1)

37-39:  Time to come and see

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.

It was late in the day and as often happens in the Gospel of John, light and darkness, day and night play out in a deep exchange of meanings.

The two disciples who followed Jesus belonged, initially, to John’s people (was Jesus also associated with them?). John lets go of his own disciples. These disciples were prompted by John and they set off on a new and unexpected course.

(We should always remain open to the inspirations and promptings of the Holy Spirit especially when they come through someone wise and someone we can trust).

‘What are you looking for?’ is the same question posed by St Benedict to those would follow in the monastic way of life. What do you seek? Do you really seek God?

Andrew and another disciple sought the Saviour. Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist and there is a possibility that, his brother, was at least connected to the Johannine dessert movement.  Note that, according to this passage, Jesus does not say to them, at this stage, ‘Come and follow me’ but, rather, ‘Come and see’. Jesus respects the freedom and responsibility of the disciples who will be called. In reality, this day is the decisive day for Andrew and the other disciple.  By following Jesus to where he stayed they were being led to a new reality. This was more than an individual call. The two disciples sought and followed Jesus together and not each of them alone. Might it be possible that the other disciple who is unnamed by John the evangelist was John the evangelist himself? Or, might it have been – perish the thought – a woman who could not be named but had been a follower of John the Baptist ! 

There is a strong echo of John 20:15-16 here. At the resurrection (the ‘third day’), Jesus is sought by Mary who does not recognise him at first. When she does acknowledge him she addresses him as ‘Rabbi’ just as Andrew and Peter do.

Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew,‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher).

This coming to Jesus to see is a very striking way of telling us that the first disciples had a personal encounter with Jesus. Following Jesus was, in the first place, a personal encounter and experience and not a detached intellectual discourse followed by assent. They simply saw where Jesus lived and how he lived and related to them and others.

‘Staying’ and ‘remaining’ with Jesus that evening chime with our lives as disciples. We stay and remain in the blessed Trinity. As it says in the Prayer of Humble Access:

‘….and that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us’

40-42   Seeking, finding and responding

One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).

Andrew could not contain himself. He had to go and tell his brother Peter and invite him to join up. He declared to his brother ‘We have found the Messiah’. John the evangelist is drawing important theological conclusions, here, and is careful to explain the meaning of terminology such as Rabbi, Messiah and Cephas to a non-Hebrew audience. Jesus ‘looked at’ Peter. Using the underlying Greek word, emblépō, it would be accurate to understand this ‘looked at’ as the equivalent of looking in a concentrated and sustained way.

The call to discipleship is pressing, urgent and appealing. In fact, irresistible. Our first and natural instinct is to share it with others and, perhaps, they too will follow.

There is a touch of irony here. The one to be called ‘rock’ was not quite rock-like when confronted with an opportunity for martyrdom on the night of Jesus’ betrayal.  Not even Peter could resist his human nature and betray his Lord at a crucial moment. Did this stop him from going on to witness to Jesus and, ultimately, be led to death for his sake? No.

Jesus would say to Peter much later in the Gospel of John:

Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. 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.’  (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ (John 21:18-19)

Following Jesus is the road to freedom. But the paradox is that it leads to constraint too. This is especially so in those called to lead as Peter was. Grace is never lacking.

43-46   Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael  

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’

A third person from the ‘city’ of Bethsaida is called and this time it is Philip. (It may be that all three came from Capernaum which is 10 Km down the road from Bethsaida by Lake Galilee.  By now, the village must been buzzing! However, Nathanael (probably the same person as Bartholomew Matthew 10:3) was added to the small band. A distance of over 50 Km separated Bethsaida from Jesus’ home town of Nazareth.  Jesus was in search of followers and, perhaps, he already knew Philip or knew of him.  His invitation was simply ‘follow me’.  There are scarcely any occasions where the invitation to ‘follow’ is used in the New Testament except on the lips of Jesus. It reminds us as 21^st century disciples that we are invited to follow Jesus and Jesus alone. However, we do not follow him on our own. We travel together with others. This is, also, a key point of this passage of scripture. Nathanael is, initially, sceptical when Philip tells him of the Messiah he has found.  The invitation is extended by Philip to ‘come and see’.

47-48   what you see is what you get

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’

Were it only possible to say about every politician, church leader, minister, doctor, lawyer, plumber, car mechanic, economist, employer and trade union official: ‘Here is someone in whom there is no deceit – what you see is what you get’!

49-51   The dream of Jacob come true

Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’

Nathanael’s declaration of faith is more gradual in the synoptic gospels. John compresses a lot to bring theological matters to the fore. There is no mistaking it – Jesus is the Son of God and the King of Israel and it takes an Israelite without deceit to declare it.

Speaking of ascending and descending is very much rooted in scripture.  There are plenty of stories about people ascending up to heaven (e.g. Jacob’s dream of angels ascending and descending in Genesis 28:12, Jesus’ conversation with Nathanael in John 1:51, Elijah being taken up in a ‘whirlwind’ to heaven in 2 Kings 2:11).  In many different cultures of the ancient world people had a three-tier idea of the universe: the heavens up there, hell down there (a hot place!) and the earth right here where we stand. Over time, other categories were stitched on such as limbo and purgatory to meet various theological conundrums (necessity being the mother of invention!).

Surprised by joy

“…for your prayer has been heard” (Luke 1:13)

Luke 1:1-20 (Year B: Christmas Day 25th December 2017)

Surprised by joy: this is a saying that aptly fits the experience of millions of children this morning. I have clear memories of that both when I was a child and when my own children were of a certain age. A messy, cold living room at 4a.m. in the morning with wrapping, batteries and instruction sheets scattered in all directions even if Santa hadn’t consumed that glass of milk or taken away this carrot for Rudolf.

Surprised by Joy is also the title of a book written by Ulster Irishman, Clive Lewis Staples. He may have taken the expression from a poem by William Wordsworth when the poet forgot about the death of his daughter for a moment:

Surprised by joy — impatient as the Wind
I turned to share the transport — Oh! with whom
But Thee, deep buried in the silent tomb,
That spot which no vicissitude can find?
Love, faithful love, recalled thee to my mind —
But how could I forget thee? Through what power,
Even for the least division of an hour,
Have I been so beguiled as to be blind
To my most grievous loss? — That thought's return
Was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore,
Save one, one only, when I stood forlorn,
Knowing my heart's best treasure was no more;
That neither present time, nor years unborn
Could to my sight that heavenly face restore.

Ultimately, as we look back on life so far we can say ‘one for sorrow; two for joy’. It is up to us to figure out and reframe our experiences according to this ratio. That one would have let oneself be happier is one of the five top regrets of the dying.   The message of Christmas is that tragedy does not define us. Rather, the news is good. This is a different kind of news to the kind enunciated by the Roman Emperor: it is real good news to the poorest and the least privileged of people – shepherds living a precarious life and earning a precarious living.  It is also good news for those temporarily imprisoned by loss, isolation or loneliness.  A saviour has come into our broken and sick world and we do not surrender to despair. Hope is alive and we will be surprised not just by any old sort of joy but ‘a great joy’. Not just charan (joy in ancient Greek) but mega joy – Megalēn joy.

We know neither the day nor the hour

“…Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matt 25:13)

Matthew 25:1-13 (Year A: Third Sunday before Advent 12^th November 2017)

Life, itself, is not complicated. We complicate it for ourselves and others. 

In the Buddhist religion, which has much overlap with the Christian religion, one is encouraged by two words: mindfulness and practice.  These lie at the core of Jewish-Christian-Islamic life: mindfulness of the great love of God who is ever present and, at the same time, the practice of justice/love/mercy. The two go hand in hand. The genuine quality of our mindfulness is tested by our practice. Our praxis is grounded in mindfulness. Being ready and prepared is about living out of the centre of our lives:

Grounded in the present moment in the here,
Relaxed in this moment,
Attentive to the Other,
Centered in our own bodies and minds, and
Energised by the current of love that flows through from the ground on which we stand

In one word:   GRACE!

Living gracefully takes habit and practice.  It is never, ever too late to begin all over again here, now, in this moment and in this place. To live well means to live each day and each hour as if could be our last. Someday this will actually turn out to be the case.

One night I stood beside my mother when she was dying and prayed for her and for me as follows: ‘Pray for us now and at the hour of our death’. She was too ill to say those words but she had said them many, many times in the course of her long lifetime. I sensed that her hour had come so those words had special meaning.

The secret to a long and good life and a happy one, too, is to be always ready by being grounded in the here and now enjoying and living fully the present moment of life while being fully attentive to the presence, needs and communication of whoever is next to us.

Perhaps it was my mother who was praying for me that night just as much as I was praying for her.

Two things are required of us: (1) mindfulness of all what is within and around us and (2) compassion.  We cannot exercise the gospel value of compassion without being prayerfully mindful of the other and ourselves. To be prayerfully mindful is to use our God-given abilities to see, hear and sense what is within us and around us. Prayer and times of prayer are not self-contained and separate human activities. Rather, they are a natural part of life’s rhythm just as natural as breathing in and breathing out.

Standing in the way of mindfulness and compassion are those things that derail and distract us from our intention to live life to the full.  One of the great distractors is that screen – big or large – ever beckoning, ever calling and ever demanding. While it can serve many useful purposes including informing, entertaining as well as connecting us with others, it can also disconnect us from reality – that is, from ourselves, others and ultimately from God because God is all in all and, as such, is pure, innocent love.

The ten bridesmaids (or virgins according to some translations) were a mixed bunch. Some were the foreseeing type with everything organised, packed and insured. (You know the type). Others were disorganised, careless and presumptive (‘sure that will never happen’). The point of the story for us, now, is not that one type of character is necessarily always better than another. Those who fuss a lot may be impossible to deal with. In any case, those given to fussing a lot can miss the really important things. The point of the story is that, in life, we have only one chance: one chance, that is, to be happy, to live well and to live properly. We might go astray once or many times but we can come back to the core position and value. However, we only have one chance in this very short and precarious life of ours.  The person standing next to you in the morning train may not be alive tomorrow. Or, it may be your turn however, unlikely or distant an event that may seem right now.  Think back 20 years in your life (if you are, say, 25 years of age or older). Now think forward a possible future 20 years. Be sure that the next potential 20 years will ‘go quicker’ than the last 20. Extend the exercise to 30, 40 years depending on your age.

When our hour comes will we be found ready with lamps lit and baggage disposed of?

Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Barnes’ notes on the Bible

‘Marriage "ceremonies" in the East were conducted with great pomp and solemnity. The ceremony of marriage was performed commonly in the open air, on the banks of a stream. Both the bridegroom and bride were attended by friends. They were escorted in a palanquin [a large box carried on two horizontal poles to carry one passenger] carried by four or more persons. After the ceremony of marriage succeeded a feast of seven days if the bride was a virgin, or three days if she was a widow. This feast was celebrated in her father's house. At the end of that time the bridegroom conducted the bride with great pomp and splendour to his own home.’

v. 1-4  Being prepared.  Bringing enough oil and expecting the unexpected.

‘A lamp and oil with it, is faith working by love’ (John Wesley on Matthew 25:3)

We do not know what lies ahead today, tomorrow …. Next year.  What if today was our last day on earth? 

I might travel to the other side of the country by night. Will the petrol stations on the service stops be open on the motorway?

I need to allow myself more than enough time to get there.  You know ‘stuff happens’ like accidents, road closures..

V. 5-6 The delay of the bridegroom and his sudden arrival in the night 

Are we ready for that unexpected hour? The author of Hebrews (10:36-37) writes:

 For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet ‘in a very little while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay.

Will the Lord say to us:

This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:20)

V. 7-9 The wise and the foolish contrasted

Cf Luke 12:35: ‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit’. At all times, but especially in the evening of life, we ought to examine our lives and be prepared for the next phase. Our life’s faith, hope and love will confront us unexpectedly at an hour and a day we were not reckoning on. Then, it may be very late. Even then we must not despair but say in earnest as the good thief did:

‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ (Luke 23:42)

V. 10-12 The outcomes

 ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven’ (Matthew 7:21)

V. 13  So what

 Not knowing when or how must, surely, bid us to be patient and to be very ready for that day.

 “The very Creator of the angels himself is waiting for you (…). The Father is waiting and longing for you” (Serm. Christmas Eve 2:7).