Time for Ireland to examine its conscience

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

 

1 Samuel 3: 1-10, (11-20)

Psalm 139: 1-5, 12-18

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

John 1:35-51

Year B: 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, 17th January 2021

The past few days have brought home, yet again, the trauma faced by thousands of women and children in various institutions in Ireland over many decades.  In some respects the ‘County Home’ continued the harsh traditions of the 19^th century workhouse. The ‘Mother and Baby’ homes were grim places where punishment, stigma and control were the order of the day. Too often the mother was literally left holding the baby as the father was nowhere to be seen and then the baby was literally taken from the mother. Church and State were complicit in the arrangement and a culture of clericalism along with norms of deference, fear and shame sealed the fate of thousands of women and their children.  Yet, none of this could have happened were it not for the silence, complicity and inaction of large section of civil society. This is not to shift blame or lessen the culpability of the institutions and persons working there. However, many families but especially the fathers ‘looked the other way’ and did not stand by their own. Neither did those in authority follow up on complaints or act on the patently disturbing numbers dying in excess of what was the normal rate of infant mortality.

Ireland was by no means unique but it stood out to the extent that the collusion of state, church and a conservative civil society ensured a level of control and in some cases gross cruelty far from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As we engage in a national conversation of anger and mourning we might pause to consider two questions:

1. How significant was the contribution of other loving borthers, nuns and lay persons who continued to provide selfless care for children whatever the circumstances of their families? Let us not forget the good done by many and lives given in devoted service for the genuine good of others.
2. Might there be realities in contemporary Irish society that future generations will condemn and be ashamed of?  Are we ‘looking the other way’ when children suffer neglect or are denied their rights? Might we be afraid as many were in the past to speak out and act for social justice in today’s Ireland?

It is easier to condemn the actions of previous generations but much harder to face the bitter truths of Ireland today.

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Notes on the Gospel reading for this Sunday

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 signalling 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 ought to chime with our lives as disciples. We may stay and remain in the blessed Trinity. 

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 21st 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 that 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!).

Starting out all over again

“…You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11)

Genesis 1:1-5

Psalm 29

Acts 19:1-7

Mark 1:4-11

 (Year B: The First Sunday after the Epiphany, 10^rd January 2021, Baptism of the Lord)

How are our new year resolutions going?  This is a time of transition from one calendar year to a new calendar year; from Christmas time to a new lockdown; from depths of winter to the tiny signs of life all round; from what was to what is emerging.  In some Christian traditions, the first Sunday of the calendar year is marked as ‘Covenant Sunday’. It is a time to renew our commitment to Christ and to the service of the community. We would do well to make such a renewal at least once a year if not every day of our lives. Our lives need to be a constant daily ‘starting again’.  God does not keep scores.

Baptism in the life of Christians

It is natural for us to want to improve our lives in some respects and to become more the person we could be. God wants us to be happy. He wants us to flourish as unique persons made in his image and likeness. 

As Christians, we find a clear mandate to live as disciples of Jesus Christ by virtue of that great sacrament of baptism. When baptism is celebrated in a community it can be a time of great joy as a new member (usually, but not necessarily, an infant) is welcomed.  It may also be a time for renewal of baptismal vows on the part of the congregation witnessing and supporting the enrolment of a new disciple in a lifelong course of learning and growing in the love of God. We witness a community and a family gathered around the newly baptised infant. 

We could and should give more prominence to the role of baptism for all members of the church – new and otherwise. Though it is a one-off event in a person’s life it is a vital point of reference. We have been claimed for Christ and our souls have been marked in a special and beautiful way by the Holy Spirit and by the sign of water.

If baptism marks a new life and a renewal for those of us supporting new arrivals why was it that our Lord underwent baptism at the hands of his cousin, John? Wasn’t He after all the sinless Son of God who had no need of cleansing or forgiveness? What point was he trying to make in doing this?

To approach this question, we need, first, to put the baptism of Jesus as told in Mark in context. In all of the four canonical gospels, the baptism of Jesus by John marks the end of the private life of Jesus and the beginning of his public ministry just as John begins to give way to his cousin.  Mark’s rendition of the Baptism of Jesus is concise and to the point. There is no contestation or delay over should this be done and why it is that the Lord is to be baptised as is the case in Matthew 3:14. It is a matter of straight down, under the water and out and then into the desert to face trial and temptation! Mark is action-filled, brisk and to the point.

A baptism by John was a sign of something greater to come. It held the meaning of repentance, cleansing and renewal. However, the baptism brought by Jesus will see a transformation in the Holy Spirit that will have a lasting effect on individuals and communities. It will build on John’s baptism and the prophecies of old but usher in a new life and reality for those who will taste the Holy Spirit. This is exactly the point made by Paul when questioned about the difference between baptism in the Holy Spirit and baptism by John the Baptist which points towards a baptism to come (the second reading for this Sunday - Acts 9:1-7)

Just imagine for a few moments…

Passing through the river Jordan in that locality has deep significance which would have not been lost on a Jewish audience (see Joshua 3). This was a new exodus of God’s people and the river Jordan sets the scene just as it did for Joshua

Picture John clad in rough attire standing at the meandering river of the Jordan surrounded by pious and sometimes troubled pilgrims searching for healing, for forgiveness, for renewal. We are there too in the midst of the crowd wanting to press forward but hesitating. A lot is at stake. Then, there is a commotion. That cousin of John appears from nowhere along with a small band of companions including – according to some reports – his mothers and close family. There is a conversation between John and Jesus. There was something of a lively conversation between the two of them that might have suggested someone was going to walk away.  Rumours are spreading through the crowd about what was heard. There is confusion. Then silence. Peering from a height many can plainly see Jesus going down into the waters followed by John. What happened next might be disputed. Many eyewitnesses came forward to say that they saw something extraordinary happen involving a very bright light. Among these many claimed a vision of something resembling a dove though others not present said that it was merely reported that Jesus saw a dove by witnesses who heard and saw nothing.  Some even said that they heard, themselves, a voice or voices calling out the name of Jesus. Others heard and saw nothing while others hesitated.

What is certain is that something stirred that day in the hearts and minds of those present and among the crowd where witnesses who would tell and retell this story for many decades before the episode was written down and preserved by small bands of followers of the Christ scattered around the eastern Mediterranean sea. Many remember it as the beginning of the Jesus movement proper. From now on Jesus would travel about in the territory of Galilee and beyond preaching, healing and proclaiming about a new kingdom that was already here and, at the same time, had not fully arrived. Many were confused by it all but all agreed, including those hostile to Jesus, that he spoke with extraordinary wisdom, insight and authority. His words matched his life and his life matched his word. This was no fly-by prophet or political conspirator to rid Israel of the Roman occupiers.

So, what’s the story here?

Jesus goes down, immerses and passes through the waters of our human tribulation and our fleshly reality. Our God has become one of us and is in a river with others up to their necks in water. He didn’t need to do this. He didn’t even need to become one of us. And he didn’t need to create human beings. That’s how this God of ours works. Messy, in your face and utterly compassionate. The closing line of this week’s passage is ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ (v. 11).  The Father looks intently at each one of us in our current predicament and circumstances of life. The Father’s gaze is on each of us this day including that which his Son has planted in us at our Christian baptism.

We can start out again on the path this time in our lives no matter who we are or what has happened to us in the last year or many years. God the Father looks at us today and says ‘I love you’, ‘I call you’ ‘I give you my Holy Spirit that you might walk anew’.

Truly, it is a wonderful world and we are all the more wonderful for being part of it.

 (words above = 1,272)

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Further notes on this Gospel passage

4-5:  Here comes John the Baptiser

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

6-8:  And here is what he taught

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

The first mention of baptism in this Gospel is to baptism in the Holy Spirit. Baptism and the Holy Spirit are central to Christian discipleship. Mark is being very clear, lest there be any lingering doubts, with the community for which he wrote around the decade of the 70s following the death and resurrection of Jesus: John the Baptist was a prophet and a mighty one at that but he was not the Messiah. Rather, he pointed to the Messiah who was already here in our midst.

9-11  The Baptism of Jesus

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

This is a defining moment. Note that, in Mark, it is not made explicit that anyone other than Jesus heard the voice from heaven. The reader of Mark is left in no doubt, however, that this is a defining moment when Jesus’s mission is laid bare and heaven bears testimony.

A star goes before us

 “…When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.” (Matt 2:10)

 

Isaiah 60:1-6

Psalm 72:1-15

Ephesians 3:1-12

Matthew 2:1-12

 

(Year B: Epiphany, 6^rd January 2021)

.. There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

(from The Journey of the Magi by T.S. Eliot)

‘Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you’. (Isaiah 60:1).  ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it’. (John 1:5)

These two verses seem very appropriate for all of us at the start of 2021 even if it might seem that our world is sunk in darkness and this darkness has conquered the light for a time in the middle of our Northern winter. 

The 6^th of January marks the feast of the ‘epiphany’ – at least in some churches. The word epiphany comes from the Greek word, theophaneia, meaning the appearance of God to human beings. 

The story of the first ‘epiphany’ is rich in symbolism and we need to hear and read it in this light without trying to fill in all the gaps. Let’s go with the flow and the larger story which the author of the gospel of Matthew is trying to convey. This requires some imagination on our part.

The journey of the wise ones (the magi as they are called) was not without danger and toil. To make a journey in such circumstances took incredible stamina, hope and trust that something was worth travelling for to meet, see and behold.  As in today’s world, there is much danger and threat from power brokers who play with people’s lives and practice deceit and oppression. The pilgrims from the east had to use discretion, courage and perseverance to circumvent Herodian scheming.

Astrology was a popular pastime in ancient times (and is still today among the gullible) and provides a focus for people in search of meaning, assurance and progress through life’s ways. The star that guided, pulled and filled the wise pilgrims was of another kind. It was like an inner star or magnetic force that led strangers over 100s of kilometres of barren desert to a humble place where they found something that exceeded their expectations. They were not just surprised by joy but they were ‘overwhelmed’ with joy, according to Matthew (verse 10). We may note that they travelled not alone but together. On coming to a place of rest where the star shone they joined Joseph, Mary and Jesus.  Where two or three are gathered there was the messiah of Israel among them. 

Three ‘stars’, not one, guided them….

1   The star within of love seeking love
2. The star over and beyond their immediate situation and place
3. The star at the end of their journey in Bethlehem.

It was when these three ‘stars’ aligned that the pilgrims were ‘overwhelmed with joy’ (verse 10).

The alignment of stars took, in all likelihood, years, trial, error, re-trial and more years.  But, they got there and it didn’t finish there.  Their discovery took them back to where they came to continue their quest. How many stories were told and lives touched by the witness of their journey when they got back home? The magi could make of their own the words of David in  Psalm 63:1-4:

O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

Or, they might have anticipated the declaration of Saint Augustine of Hippo centuries after the manifestation of God:

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. Saint Augustine Confessions, 10.27

The story of the epiphany is a story of hope. Let this new calendar year be one of hope and a new beginning for each one of us. Even if we might feel that we are ‘with an alien people clutching their gods’ as T.S. Eliot wrote, we can take courage from the following truth that is as true today as 2,000 years ago and will still be true in years to come when 2021 will be a distant memory:

‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it’. (John 1:5)

Ever thankful as we press forward

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

 

pic: P. Rushe

Sirach 24:1-12

Psalm 147:12-20

Ephesians 1:3-14

John 1:1-18

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you.

And once again

Thank you.

Words: 811

Writing stories with our lives

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

 

Isaiah 63:7-9

Psalm 148

Hebrews 2:10-18

Luke 2:15-21

 

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

TV soaps and story-telling

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

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

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

Who was caught up in the birth of Jesus

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

In the first place, his parents Mary and Joseph;

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

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

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

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

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

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

A woman’s heart

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

Four questions arise, here:

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

What do we treasure and why?

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

What implications does the phrase have for me now?

That which Mary pondered

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So what?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Are we for real?

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

A meaningful Christmas

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

 

(Readings for midnight Mass of Christmas)

Isaiah 9:1-7

Psalm 95 (96)

Titus 2:11-14

Luke 2:1-20

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

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

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

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

It's surreal.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

&&&

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

Great expectations

“…Let it be” (Luke 1:38)

“…Let it be” (Luke 1:38)

 

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

2 Samuel 7:1-11,16

Luke 1:46-55 (Magnificat)

Romans 16:25-27

Luke 1:26-38

 

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

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

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

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

26-27:  An angel arrives

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

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

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

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

28-29:  A greeting and an anxious response

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

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

30:  Do not be afraid!

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

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

31:  Jesus

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

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

32-33:  This is no ordinary saviour or leader

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

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

34-35:  How can this be?

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

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

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

36-37:  All things are possible

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

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

38:  Fiat

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

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

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