The Kingdom of God is like...

Proper12A, Sullivan Park Care Center, July 27, 2014 by Sr Annette Fricke, OP.

            The kingdom of God is like a child who becomes a drug addict.  The child imitates the behavior of her mother, a mother who is a role model and supplier of drugs.  The child has no known will as a child separate from her mother, because she has not lived outside the confines of her childhood.  She then adopts the lifestyle of her parents and not only abuses drugs, but abuses herself by her behavior.  She becomes depressed, begins cutting, binging and purging and simply not eating.  She brings into the circle many male friends.  The male friends are not so much an object of desire, but a way of coping with her parents’ physical and verbal abuse. She begins stealing and sneaking out at night.  Stealing becomes a way to obtain more drugs.  She knows nothing else because she imitates her parents to a ‘T’.

            The kingdom of God is like an atheist who clings so tenaciously to the idea that God does not exist that an entire defense of his behavior is built around this belief.  There is nothing else.  It’s just us.  We choose our own destiny.  People who believe in God are simply ignorant.  They haven’t figured it out yet.  Science has proven that there is nobody out there.  Space is just one dark void after another.  There are no rules to life, because we are our own masters.  It’s all up to us.  That stuff in the Bible is just fiction.  Jesus never existed.  Nobody ever found his bones.  There is no such thing as resurrection. That part is fiction, too.

            The kingdom of God is like a young, just graduated nursing assistant who is asked to take a blood pressure on a woman.  The woman has not had a stroke or a mastectomy.  She properly assesses the patient who has very thin arms, so uses a small blood pressure cuff.  She places the stethoscope in the correct position at the inside of the bend to the elbow; but she hears nothing.  She sees the needle bouncing all right, but no sound comes forth.  She proceeds to easily find the pulse in the wrist of the same arm, but still wonders why it is she can’t hear the blood pressure.  She tries the other arm with the same results.  She tries again and again, and then finally discovers a blood vessel in the right arm that surfaces near the skin a couple of inches below the bend in the elbow.  She becomes elated when she hears the blood pressure. She is no longer an embarrassment to the charge nurse or her co-workers.

            The kingdom of God is like an experienced nurses’ aide who was asked to get a blood pressure and pulse on a woman.  The woman tells the aide where to take the pulse.  The woman reasons with the aide that she is a nurse and knows her own body.  Against her own sensibilities yet figuring if there is anyone she can trust, it’s a nurse.  The aide puts her fingers where the nurse, who is also the patient, directs: halfway up the right arm where two blood vessels appear to intertwine.  She is surprised that she can get a pulse at that location.

            The kingdom of God is like an older woman who looks like a cleaning lady.  She is shabbily dressed and wears no make-up.  She gets up to sing and the immediate impression of the judges is that it is some sort of joke.  How could this woman possibly sing for an actual contest?  They do a quick interview as with every other candidate, still doubtful.  When she mentions that she wishes to sing like a well-known British recording artist, the panel snickers and look at each other.  They ask, “And what are you going to sing for us tonight?”  She replies that she will sing a piece from “Les Miserables.”  As her mouth opens and she sings her finest, the crowd and the judges are overwhelmingly amazed.  Their attitude is transformed from outright judgmental disrespect for her appearance to an enormous admiration for a woman who has a fabulous voice, far superior to their imagination.

            The kingdom of God is like a young male singer, who at the behest of his girlfriend, auditions because of his unique voice.  She has been urging him to do this for the last couple of years.  The moment has finally arrived when he comes out on stage to perform in front of a live audience and a panel of critics.  The preliminary introductions past and the audience is silent in anticipation.  He sings in falsetto, not sounding like a man singing falsetto, but like a female opera singer.  He is so convincingly singing like a woman that one of the judges sincerely asks him if he swallowed Jackie Evancho, a popular young girl who also has an older mature woman quality to her singing voice.

            You also may have your own parable of what the kingdom of God is like.  It could be almost anything in particular, yet descriptive of God’s kingdom.  It is like a drug addict, because the addict seeks to find what he or she values and follows what role model is laid before her.  It is like an atheist whose world is void of light, has no real sense of a basis for morality, yet seeking the truth and has an air of certainty that it is all up to us to make choices.  It is like a nursing assistant who is delegated the task of obtaining blood pressures and pulses that goes by the book, yet discovers that going by the book does not always give the answers.  It is like a singer who appears to be entirely different from what comes out of his or her mouth.

            The kingdom of God is like a treasure that someone dug up in someone else’s field, buried the treasure he found back into the field again, sold all he had, and then bought the entire field.  Why would he do that when the treasure was all that was essential?   What could this possible mean? Our clue is at the end of the gospel reading, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

            If we look more intently at the I Kings lesson about Solomon, we realize the value of wisdom that was present even way back in Old Testament times during the reign of King Solomon.  God blesses Solomon’s request, “Because you have asked this…for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word.  Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind…”  Could it be for Jesus’ day that the treasure chest and its contents is the wisdom of the Old Testament and the field that holds it and surrounds it is the New Testament?  Could it be for our own day that the treasure chest is the faith and traditions of Christianity handed down to us through generations and the field is the world in which we share the rich treasure of Jesus?

            All of the parables are told for a specific reason: they point us to God.  They do not tell us in an exact fashion---that will be revealed in time.  Our faith in Jesus is the most important treasure we have and we will discover that time and again every day in our faith journeys.  God has many surprises in store for us.

The Boy filed under 'Strange"

Father John Powell, a professor at Loyola University in
Chicago, writes about a student in his Theology of Faith class named Tommy:

Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my
university students file into the classroom for our first session in the
Theology of Faith. That was the day I first saw Tommy. He was combing his long
flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders. It was the first time I
had ever seen a boy with hair that long.

 I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I
know in my mind that it isn't what's on your head but what's in it that counts;
but on that day, I was unprepared and my emotions flipped. I immediately filed
Tommy under "S" for strange... Very strange.

 Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence"
in my Theology of Faith course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined
about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father/God. We lived with
each other in relative peace for one semester, although I admit he was for me at
times a serious pain in the back pew.

 When he came up at the end of the course to turn in
his final exam, he asked in a cynical tone, "Do you think I'll ever find God?"

 I decided instantly on a little shock therapy.
"No!" I said very emphatically.

 "Why not," he responded, "I thought that was the
product you were pushing."

 I let him get five steps from the classroom door
and then I called out, "Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find Him, but I am
absolutely certain that He will find you!"

 He shrugged a little and left my class and my life.

 I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he
had missed my clever line -- He will find you! At least I thought it was clever.

 Later I heard that Tommy had graduated, and I was
duly grateful. Then a sad report came. I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer.
Before I could search him out, he came to see me.

 When he walked into my office, his body was very
badly wasted and the long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy.
But his eyes were bright and his voice was firm, for the first time, I believe.

 "Tommy, I've thought about you so often; I hear you
are sick," I blurted out.

 "Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs.
It's a matter of weeks."

"Can you talk about it, Tom?" I asked.

 "Sure, what would you like to know?" he replied.

 "What's it like to be only twenty-four and dying?

 "Well, it could be worse." "Like what?"

 "Well, like being fifty and having no values or
ideals, like being fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making
money are the real biggies in life."

 I began to look through my mental file cabinet
under "S" where I had filed Tommy as strange. (It seems as though everybody I
try to reject by classification, God sends back into my life to educate me.)

 "But what I really came to see you about," Tom
said, "is something you said to me on the last day of class." (He remembered!)
He continued, "I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said,
'No!' which surprised me. Then you said, 'But He will find you.' I thought about
that a lot, even though my search for God was hardly intense at that time. (My
clever line. He thought about that a lot!) "But when the doctors removed a lump
from my groin and told me that it was malignant, that's when I got serious about locating God. And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really
began banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven. But God did not
come out. In fact, nothing happened.

 Did you ever try anything for a long time with
great effort and with no success?

 You get psychologically glutted, fed up with
trying. And then you quit."

 "Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a
few more futile appeals over that high brick wall to a God who may be or may not
be there, I just quit. I decided that I didn't really care about God, about an
afterlife, or anything like that. I decided to spend what time I had left doing
something more profitable. I thought about you and your class and I remembered
something else you had said: 'The essential sadness is to go through life
without loving.' But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave
this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved them."

 "So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad. He was
reading the newspaper when I approached him.

 "Dad."

 "Yes, what?" he asked without lowering the
newspaper.

 "Dad, I would like to talk with you."

 "Well, talk."

 "I mean. It's really important."

 The newspaper came down three slow inches. "What is
it?"

 "Dad, I love you, I just wanted you to know that."
Tom smiled at me and said it with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt a warm
and secret joy flowing inside of him. "The newspaper fluttered to the floor.
Then my father did two things I could never remember him ever doing before. He
cried and he hugged me. We talked all night, even though he had to go to work
the next morning. It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to
feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me."

 "It was easier with my mother and little brother.
They cried with me, too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice
things to each other. We shared the things we had been keeping secret for so
many years. I was only sorry about one thing --- that I had waited so long."

 "Here I was, just beginning to open up to all the
people I had actually been close to. Then, one day I turned around and God was
there. He didn't come to me when I pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an
animal trainer holding out a hoop, 'C'mon, jump through. C'mon, I'll give you
three days, three weeks.' Apparently God does things in His own way and at His
own hour. But the important thing is that He was there. He found me! You were
right. He found me even after I stopped looking for Him."

 "Tommy," I practically gasped, "I think you are
saying something very important and much more universal than you realize. To me,
at least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to make Him a
private possession, a problem solver, or an instant consolation in time of need,
but rather by opening to love. You know, the Apostle John said that. He said:
'God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living
in him.' "

 "Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had
you in class you were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up to me
now. Would you come into my present Theology of Faith course and tell them what
you have just told me? If I told them the same thing it wouldn't be half as
effective as if you were to tell it."

 "Oooh.. I was ready for you, but I don't know if
I'm ready for your class."

 "Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready,
give me a call."

 In a few days Tom called, said he was ready for the
class, that he wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date.
However, he never made it. He had another appointment, far more important than
the one with me and my class. Of course, his life was not really ended by his
death, only changed. He made the great step from faith into vision. He found a
life far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has
ever heard or the mind of man has ever imagined.

 Before he died, we talked one last time.

 "I'm not going to make it to your class," he said.

 "I know, Tom."

 "Will you tell them for me? Will you...tell the
whole world for me?"

 "I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll do my best."

 So, to all of you who have been kind enough to read
this simple story about God's love, thank you for listening. And to you, Tommy, somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven --- I told them, Tommy, as best I could.

 With thanks,

Rev. John Powell, Professor, Loyola University,
Chicago

Outright Refusal

Proper10A, Sullivan Park Care Center, July 13, 2014, by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

          There are certain scriptures that are not as easily decipherable as others due to the separation of time and culture.  The Parable of the Sower is one of them.  There were many farmers in Jesus’ day.  In our day, that occupation has changed dramatically, even from when I was a child to this day.  There are people I converse with who have no idea what I mean when I talk about bucking bales or planting potato cuttings from the back of a plow.  Now, the bales are much larger and heavier so that a machine is necessary to lift them from the fields and transport them to where they need to go.  Many people get caught up in the method of the sower scattering seed all over the place as a poor method of farming and forget that this is a parable and is not to be taken literally.  This parable is not about farming or sowing seed to produce an edible crop.  Jesus told this parable to communicate the difference between those who actually hear and heed the gospel as opposed to those who allow other people or things in their lives to draw them away from the gospel and its influence.  It has everything to do with receptive hearts and God who is the giver of the gift of receptive hearts.  Hearing and acting on the gospel calls on us to consider that what we have in mind may be entirely different from what God has in mind. It is as Frantz Fanon has written, “Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief.”[1]

            Another reason that I see expressed in my day-to-day work setting is simply, “I do not want to change.”  Nobody ever really says that, but that is the honest truth. Time and again I see the dietary staff or physical therapy staff comes up with a “solution” to perceived deficits only to be met with the resident response of outright refusal.  I also see the aides I work with express the same idea from a seemingly sympathetic understanding, “Why should the residents have to do anything?  Why can’t they do what they want to do?”  I see that sentiment in three different ways.  1) It is their home and they are paying to stay here. 2) That statement has nothing to do with the resident, but is a reflection of the staff member’s values. 3) The refusal has nothing to do with the treatment or lack of treatment, but is a reflection of lack of control over their lives or simply unresolved grief over the loss of a loved one. 

            It is my contention that it doesn’t matter about whether or not it goes against anyone’s core values.  A person cannot be forced to change.  God can love us with an enormous love that is overwhelming and over-flowing, but we cannot be forced to love in return. A person has to want to change before any change can occur. You cannot hit people over the head with the gospel and expect to get positive results.  Nobody wants to have anything beat into them. Receptivity is the key to allowing the seed of God’s word to grow in us. And no matter how we respond to God, God’s loving purpose in Jesus Christ is always for good.  Therefore, we should always seek God’s love to work in us.  For that to happen, we must become the good soil of allowing that to take place in our hearts and actions.

            There is good soil and there is not so good soil and those who are not so good soil have the potential to be good soil.  However, whether we are good or bad soil is not so much the point as God is the sower.  God sows anywhere and everywhere because God knows that we all have the potential to become good soil.  God sows everywhere because God’s love and grace is for everyone, even those whose hearts currently reject that love.

             What then, as God’s disciples are we to do?  Should we plant only in what we might know or guess to be good soil?  We know that the answer to that question is a “No” because we have read ahead.  Matthew, in the last chapter makes it very plain that we are to make disciples of all nations, not just those we think might be receptive to the word of God.  God will surprise us sometimes, because we are not always able to tell who might be good soil. I am reminded of words spoken by the Amish in the movie, “Witness” where the grandfather speaks to his grandson, “Can you see into the heart of a man?” In other words do we know the good people from the bad people?  It isn’t all that clear. We are not required to make that judgment. As Jesus’ disciples, we are not called to pick and choose to whom we bring the gospel and we are to teach all people to observe all that Jesus has commanded us. To those who are good soil, Jesus says, “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.  Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

            Read and re-read.  Listen and re-listen.  Immerse yourself in the word of God and believe with all your heart.  Challenge your core beliefs to find that which is essential.  Be open to what God has to say to you in this time and in this place because God is speaking to you even here, a place you may never feel you are at home.  But also hold firm and do not allow others to lead you astray.  Lead others also, to Jesus.

            God sent Jesus out into the world to spread the news of God’s love for all people, but people despised the word of love and chose to take their own paths of lies and deceit.  Some people developed hardened hearts that God’s word was unable to penetrate.  Not only did the seed stay on top of the ground, all the rain that brought nourishment ran off the smooth surface and into the ditch where some was carried off to another location.  Before the rain, some of the seed was engulfed by the powerful words and actions of bullies such as Napoleon or Hitler.  Other seed fell on rocky ground where it quickly sprouted, but without the proper balance of sun and nutrients and a lack of soil, it became weak and died. Still other seed began to grow in a place of many thorns.  The thorns made it difficult for God to nourish the plants.  The thorns produced more seeds than the plants so the thorns spread quickly and aggressively crowded out the plants. Finally, the seed fell into good soil where it flourished.  It was nourished by the word of God daily, was tended and cared for by the disciples, producing more disciples. But wait.  What happened to the seed that was carried off to another location?  God was there, too.  The seed was once again in search of a home in someone’s heart.  God is knocking at your heart’s door.  Will you let Jesus in or pretend you don’t hear him knocking?  Listen! Let anyone with ears listen.

---

[1] ― Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks

Yoke Yourself to Jesus

Proper9A/3Pentecost, Sullivan Park Care Center, July 6, 2014, by Sr. Annette Fricke, OP.

                Just a couple of days ago, as a nation we celebrated again our independence from the King of England.  Yesterday on PBS, I watched a representation of a debate that happened within the colony of Virginia.  And so the bantering continues to this day.  When and how do we defend ourselves?  How do we live independently with our own resources and not so dependent on other countries?  How do we keep intact a nation that is truly a melting pot from becoming divided to the point that it breaks out in another kind of civil unrest and possibly war?  The nation is still fighting over a variety of opinions as to what constitutes killing as an outright sin, versus a just war, killing human life as in where does life begin and what forms of birth control are acceptable morally?  Should companies who employ workers who do not share their religious beliefs have to follow their dictates?  Should an employee always follow conscience or the practice of the place where they find themselves?  Should we follow John the Baptist or Jesus or reject both out of hand?

            John the Baptist is representative of a lot of rules, primarily that one must live a simple life, wear simple clothing, fast and repent.  Most of us would reject a diet of locusts and honey.  Here is this quirky guy out in the middle of nowhere preaching loudly, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!”  Yet despite the rejection of many, he had many followers.  Jesus, on the other hand, seems to be doing just the opposite and says that the kingdom of God is here, in your midst, “Eat drink, and be merry!”  The church has been confused ever since.  The confession of sins is included in every service except that of Easter.  During the 50 days of the Easter celebration, there is no confession of sins!  So which is it?  Should we follow the strictness of John the Baptist or follow Jesus who eats and drinks?  I think one of the strong points of this text is that it doesn’t really matter which we do, because there will always be someone who thinks we are doing it wrong and feels the need to be critical of our words and our behavior.       

Two days ago, I learned that we are hiring another nursing assistant to work the day shift on our floor.  The conversation among the staff was concerning the fact that the person hired was a black female.  We mused about how many complaints we would hear among the residents due to the color of her skin.  We knew all too well the prejudicial views of some residents.  But yesterday was my experience of an opposite view.  I went specifically to visit someone who had been an active member of the cathedral in Fr. Hay’s stead.  She mentioned to me an aid she greatly enjoys who is from the Ukraine and speaks with a heavy accent.  I mentioned to her that she and I were still good friends.  Learning to love takes a special person.  It takes a person who is sure and positive about one’s own identity as a person, in this case, who knows her value in God’s sight.  Vera the aid also speaks about her faith to me.  They are both faith inspirations.  It’s never too late to change.  My brother-in-law shocked me when he told me a week ago on Sunday afternoon that it is better to respond to people with love. I was flabbergasted and speechless.  I never thought I’d see that day.  He actually admitted that he was wrong.

As the second lesson today points out, we continue to struggle with what we know to be the right thing to do and still do what we know is not right.  We are frequently in agony in this life because even when we do have a real sense of what it right, we chose to do what isn’t.  Paul truly understood the human condition.  As a pastor whose pulpit I once preached in used to say to me, “It don’t matter.”  Yes, he purposely used bad English.  Many of the things we stress over in life really don’t matter.  The more we object and want things a certain way, the more we suffer and cause our own grief.  Misery many times is a result of our own inability to let go of past arguments, disagreements, and grievances.  We can cling so tightly to what happened yesterday, last week, or even forty years ago that we forget that we are called to love just as God loves us.  Jesus tells us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.”  Rest is the answer to our troubles in this life.  The only law you are called to keep is the law of love. 

As Pope Leo I has written, “Let every Christian scrutinize himself, and search severely into his inmost heart: let him see that no discord cling there, no wrong desire be harbored.  Let the light of truth dispel the shades of deception; let the swellings of pride subside; let wrath yield to reason; let he darts of ill-treatment be shattered, and the chidings of the tongue be bridled; let thoughts of revenge fall through, and injuries be given over to oblivion. In fine, let “every plant which the heavenly Father hath not planted be removed by the roots.”  For then only are the seeds of virtue will nourished in us, when every foreign germ is uprooted from the field of wheat.”

Despite all struggle in our corporate and individual lives, Jesus offers us rest.  For all those who are burdened physically, burdened by trying to keep the law of love, those who are emotionally fatigued and discouraged, ready to give up and lose heart: take heart.  Take heart; because Jesus will give you rest.  In that rest, we are in a right relationship with God.  It is like the rest of God who created the world and on the seventh day rested.  We can look forward to that ultimate rest when all things and all people will be restored to God, the source of transformation, all comfort, and all peace.  It is God who will end all oppression and death, who will end all war and strife.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  Learning is much more than an intellectual assent to what Jesus is saying to us.  We are not merely pupils in a classroom, but apprentices.  We are Jesus’ disciples to learn how to be disciples from Jesus. We are not just to think about what Jesus says, but to also do what Jesus does.  We are not to just listen to Jesus’ words, but watch what Jesus does.  The yoke is not one that Jesus imposes but one he wears.  We are the yoke mate of Jesus, working beside him.  We must allow him to help us with our loads. Keeping the law of Jesus’ love is easier when we remember that Jesus is beside us, knows us inside and out.  Jesus will always be there helping us with our struggles.  We never walk alone.

Circle us, Lord. Keep darkness out, keep light within.  Keep fear without, keep peace within. Keep hatred out, keep love within. Amen.

To be With You Forever

6EasterA, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 25, 2014, by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

            Chapter 14 of the gospel of John is a long discourse that Jesus has with his disciples.  It actually takes place before Jesus goes to the cross although in the lectionary, it is appointed for the Sunday preceding the Ascension.  In ways that are similar to the resurrection, yet a bit different, the Ascension is a confirmation that Jesus is doing and will do that which he promised at every step in his ministry.  Above all else, this section of scripture is meant to be a comfort to his disciples, who by this time are in a state of panic, realizing that Jesus is telling them that he is going away.  Jesus says, “I am leaving, but I will also return.”  The language can be a bit confusing.  How is it that Jesus can leave and return?  Unlike the other gospels and Paul, the teaching here is a departure.  Do we need a dramatic second coming of Jesus that will set everything straight?  Or do we go along with John who essentially says that Jesus remains with us, is in us, and abides with us, even when we don’t sense his presence with us in any sort of way.  After all, few people among those who call themselves by the name ‘Christian’ actually have mystical, personal experiences of him.  I am not here to step on anyone’s personal beliefs about Jesus—you are free to believe what you want-- but merely to point out that there is no thief in the night or talk of Jesus coming a second time to reward the faithful and punish the unfaithful in John’s gospel.  John simply offers the picture of Jesus’ comforting presence that continues beyond the resurrection appearances.  There is also no ascension in John. 

On the other hand, the liturgical tradition that I grew up with and thought about many times was also going through the minds of the shapers of the liturgy.  The words I was raised on in my church still echo in my head, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.  Grant this, O Lord, unto us all.”  When you really think about these words, they are not comforting. They are exclusionary. As of 1978, those words were stricken and were deemed to be false and not true to the gospel.  It was and still is, for some people, a cataclysmic idea.  If you expressed this idea in my seminary class, you were at the least, looked upon with suspicion and you had better not express this idea openly.  John represents a Christian tradition that is not exclusive, but inclusive.  Jesus does not discriminate.  His life is one of treating all of society on an equal plane, discounting no one, not even a Samaritan woman or a Gentile. In spite of our temptation to make Christianity like a club in which some are in and some are out, it is not a club and the exclusionary rules of a club do not apply.

Because of our tendency to wander from the path, the question is posed to us every day: how do I follow Jesus?  How can I be the presence of Jesus, i.e., of God to others?  The answer to that question, we are told is this, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  God’s love is the source of life and as Jesus walked in love, so we are also expected to walk in love.  Jesus’ whole life is one of a demonstration of God’s love.  There is no more perfect example to lie before us than that of Jesus’ love for all people.  God’s love is personified in Jesus.  Jesus, despite betrayal, rejection and abandonment of even his closest friends, continues to love to the very end of his life in the flesh.  This chapter tells us that it extends also into eternity.  Nobody can quench the love of God in Jesus because Jesus is sending another advocate.  The phrase seems to imply that Jesus is an advocate as well as the Holy Spirit that Jesus promises to send.

The word in Greek that translates as ‘advocate’ here means one who is called to assist someone in need.  The sense is somewhat like that of a lawyer.  A lawyer is to stand by your side when you are on trial and is to be your aide.  In this setting, as well as that of other Christian and non-Christian uses of the time, it appears to be more of a general sense, one who appears in another’s behalf, a mediator, intercessor, or helper. It seems most appropriate that Jesus is the one who intercedes for us by way of context, but here, the ‘another advocate’ is identified as a separate entity. It appears, in fact that the Holy Spirit is the designated one who functions in this sense.  The Holy Spirit is the one who is the comforter and will abide with us when Jesus is no longer in sight. As to whether this is a first or second coming or just the interlude when Jesus goes to the cross is ambiguous and maybe even purposefully ambiguous.  The point is this: Jesus promises to never leave us, even though his presence with us in the flesh is long gone.

We are still here and are bidden by Jesus to continue his work on earth.  His presence is our comfort and our strength to do it.  He is in us just as he is in the Father.  His spirit resides in the Holy Spirit promised to all who believe in him.  As we wind our way through the gospel of John, we see the Jesus of hospitality at the wedding at Cana where water is changed to wine.  We see Jesus informing us that God loves the whole world when he spoke with Nicodemus.  John the Baptist says of him that Jesus gives the Spirit without measure.  Jesus tells the Samaritan woman details of her life, yet withholds judgment, telling her that he will give her living water.  Jesus heals a man unable to walk for 38 years.  Jesus feeds the hungry.  Jesus causes a man blind from birth to see. Jesus taught and Jesus preached.  In spite of Jesus’ constantly being challenged, ridiculed, and rejected by those he came to give both physical and spiritual life, he continued to the end to bear the burden of that rejection, to be chastised, and reviled in so many ways.  These are the sorts of things that Jesus expects of us if we indeed love him.  Doing, preaching and teaching these things and teaching others to do the same is keeping his commandments.  This is how Jesus lives and abides in us.  This is how we live a resurrected life.

The story is told about a judge who lived in a southern town, where prejudice pervaded every corner and crevice of the community.  He was approached by the pastor of his congregation to participate in the annual foot washing service on Maundy Thursday.  He was invited to wash the feet of his own former slave.  They both thought it best if it was not announced beforehand.  When the time came, he called her up.  In front of the whole gathered congregation of over 500 in attendance, she came forward and he tenderly and lovingly washed her feet.  No words were exchanged. He figured there would be some backlash and there was.  Daring to love others always carries with it that risk of becoming vulnerable before the opinions and actions of others.  Instead of the negativity of some, it inspired others to continue to work to break down the long standing prejudicial treatment of many. If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.  Amen.

Easter Re-run

This is a sermon I previously wrote and preached on Easter Wednesday.  I was sick with a sinus infection this week, thus the re-run.  Enjoy anyway.

Easter Sunday Text, Cycle A, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 18, 2014 by Sr. Annette Fricke, OP

            I have been keenly aware recently of the presence of my mother in my thoughts.  Her birthday was April 24, the Thursday following Easter, the same as it was in the year of her birth, 1924. The question that runs through my mind is one of vocation.  All of us are called to witness to the gospel, to live out that gospel of the resurrection in our lives.  That is what the pastor was getting at when he asked our family about her at her death and yet, we had little to offer.  Imagine this: her children who had been born, baptized, confirmed and communed in the church, in the shock of our grief, were unable to come up with only very little for an answer.  Maybe it was put in such a way that we did not understand what he was getting at or maybe we just hadn’t thought about it that much---perhaps we should have.  Perhaps we should have paid more attention. The moment of our mother’s death had come, and we had few answers.  Somewhere along the line, we lost sight of what the church was trying to teach us.  Was the failure our church or our own seeming inability to understand?  Even though he spoke to us in plain, simple English, we did not comprehend his meaning.  The question remains for all of us.  What is your vocation and how do you proclaim the gospel in that vocation?  Our vocation encompasses more than just the occupation that we are paid to do or volunteer to do as the case may be.

Throughout the Gospel of John, we see contrasts in what people say and do as being the difference between dark and light, night and day.  In this story, Mary of Magdalene runs to the tomb while it is still dark, while it is still difficult to see to make ones way.  She is looking for Jesus’ body because she believes that Jesus is probably dead in the tomb, just like any other man, despite what he said about coming back in three days.  She is clearly in deep grief.  She truly loved the Lord with all her heart. The other disciples come and see the burial wrappings, but then go home. We are not told what they thought or felt. But Mary stays back; weeping outside the tomb.  Two angels have asked her, “Why are you weeping?”  Then she is asked the same question by Jesus, “Why are you weeping?”  In this resurrection account, it is Mary who sees and has conversation with Jesus.  She is a true eye witness to Jesus’ resurrection.  If we take the interpretation that some have purported, John separates the believers from the non-believers.  In John, the people who sit in darkness are not believers.  We are told that “the other disciple” saw and believed, but Peter saw and went back home. Mary, in fact, has a special encounter with the risen Christ in the garden.  In her grief and probably still unbelief, she thinks maybe he is the gardener.  Even though her words betray her still inability to understand what has happened, she is still seeking understanding.  Faith is not static.  It is not a noun, but a verb which calls us to action and is ever evolving over time.  We also continue to grow and learn in our faith, even in the midst of sorrow.  As I saw it in my mother when I last saw her, I continue to believe that the death of many of her friends led her into grieving because of her loss of their active friendship.  I think the primary focus of this text is Mary and has little to do with the other disciples.  Mary is truly a model of discipleship.  She sees Jesus and she proclaims to the other disciples that she has seen the Lord.

Who is this Jesus?  Think about the setting in the garden and that Mary thought him to be the gardener. This passage is reminiscent of the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3, where God is in the garden.  This is one of those passages where Christians got the idea that Jesus is the second Adam.  The first Adam disobeyed God whereas Jesus was fully obedient, even to death on a cross.  Mary is confronted by Jesus in the garden, “Why are you weeping?” and “Who are you looking for?” 

            It is difficult to see things clearly when we are grieving or in pain.  Things are distorted.  Our world gets darkened and sometimes depressing.  We may have a feeling of being lost and alone.  We may feel that there is a cloud hanging over us that we are not able to dispel. It is difficult for us to see beyond our present moments, our thoughts and desires, our inmost wishes.  Our hearts and our lives are broken and we weep also,  just like Mary.  Just as my mother, we can become preoccupied with the loss of our friends.  The first thing many of us look for in the paper is the obituary column to see who died. We want to know who died and yet, it creates sadness when we find out. Some try to avoid that sadness by not reading the paper or not going to the memorial service.  People do the same with Jesus and do not attend the Good Friday service. Some want to skip straight to the resurrection and not think about death which awaits all of us. None of us are immune to death, not even Jesus.  Death is inevitable.

            Why are we weeping?  We weep because death comes to all of us.  It is a fact of living as a human on earth.  The trees we love die.  The dogs and cats we love die.  The people we love the most also die. Even though through the study of science, we may be able to extend the life span of some and eradicate certain illnesses, death remains.  In the movie, The Green Mile, the warden was blessed with the power of one of his prisoners who gave him an extended life.  He grew to be very old, but he was also keenly aware that death would also someday come to him.

            Note the details of the gospel of John.  Nowhere in the entire gospel does Jesus actually address anyone by his or her name.  He speaks almost equally to both men and women, but only at this moment of resurrection does he address anyone by name.  In no other place before, but here he does that when he says, “Mary!”  It is in the middle of our grieving that Jesus comes to us and calls us by our names.  Jesus is no longer with a crowd, but going to people individually and two walking alone, and to his eleven disciples.  Jesus is no longer the sought after, but goes seeking his disciples, those he loved here.  But that is not enough and that is not the end of the story.  Our grief and our sorrow over the losses in our lives are not the end, but a new beginning. We need to go beyond this story and see that he seeks us out as well because we now take on that role as his disciples. 

            Jesus’ seeking others to be his disciples is now our role.  Remember what he said to us in this gospel.  Feed my sheep.  Feed my lambs.  These words are not just for the inner circle of the faithful, but apply to every believer.  In Jesus, God has flung open the doors to the kingdom.  All are invited to the celebration of the one who rose to live forevermore and calls us too, to live in that resurrected life.  Can you hear him call you? He is calling your name now. Listen. You are a new person in Christ.  He calls you by name.  Those who have sat in darkness have seen a great light. Let that light shine; let everyone know that Jesus is alive.

Shepherd and Gate

4EasterA, Good Shepherd Sunday, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 11, 2014 by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

            Today is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, even though this image may have been lost over the years as our main way of living and working has gone from that of an agrarian society to that of lesser and lesser manufacturing to that of technological advances.  The gap has widened so much that the older generation often needs extensive instruction on how to make use of these high tech devices that children seem to pick up with ease. Many of the older generation have firsthand knowledge of sheep, but fewer of our children know anything about sheep or have actually seen sheep unless they have seen them at a local fair.  But seeing sheep at a fair or auction tells little about them and even less is known if they are simply seen at the grocery store.  I think I would be pretty accurate in saying that the age of someone has much to do with how understandable this gospel text is.  This gospel text is confusing, even if you do know about sheep.  I am hoping that this passage from Acts 20 might shed some light for us as to what John 10 might mean. 

Acts 20:28-29 uses some of the same language as our gospel text: “Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own son. I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them.”

Ever since the Christian movement began, even as Jesus went to the cross, there were the detractors, the deceivers, and the people outside Jesus’ followers as well as his own disciples who didn't like the direction Jesus was going.  Sometimes these misguided leaders take others with them.  We see this when there is the argument between the disciples as to who is the greatest among them.  We see it when a disciple of Jesus is asks, “Who can sit at your right and your left when you come into power?”  Who will become the first pope?  Is it Peter or Paul?  And later down the line it was questioned as to whether we need a pope at all.  Some in the churches have never let go of that need for power.  When I was working in mental health, I had a conversation with my cubicle mate about the fact that both of us had been in seminary and ended up working with the mentally ill.  He said to me that he never really wanted to be a priest.  I asked him why and he said it was because he thought that the hierarchy of the church was caught up in a need for power.  It left a bad taste in his mouth.  He found his answer to that by staying within the framework of helping people through counseling.  I see him as a great example of shepherding people by encouragement, direction, and nurturance.  He helps people through counseling to be their best selves.  He serves God in this way.  Another of my co-workers at the same agency was once a nun.  She decided later in life to become an advanced nurse practitioner.  Her role was to prescribe medications for those in counseling.  She once said that she thought people ought to be able to go through school without having to sit through all those lectures, just read the materials and come to your own conclusions.  She also was a strong advocate of over the counter medications, by-passing the prescription process.  Both of these people were just the opposite of power-seeking individuals. 

Be aware of the people around you.  What are their motives?  Don’t discount your own powers of coming to a conclusion on your own.  Ask others whom you trust about people you don’t know.  Are people guiding you to the truth or falsehood?  It’s not just being paranoid of others, it’s seeking to know the truth about others and where they might be trying to guide us.  For example, some of you may remember a few years ago when federal agents “joined” churches and Bible study groups who were supporting sanctuary for Central Americans. These people were not interested in learning about Jesus and becoming Christians.  Remember also a number of years ago, the “moonies” were going through towns soliciting funds. However, they never identified themselves as “moonies” or members of the Unification Church. They had a list of registered names such as the “Fellowship of the Holy Spirit.” They were not honest about who they were and what they were about. I have witnessed personally religious groups coming to my door to witness, but they never come right out and say what religious group they belong to at the beginning of the speech.  And they always assume that I do not believe in Jesus Christ, even if I tell them that I do.  But in this regard, I offer this.  In sorting out what it now past, even if in your mind, you did not like specific people coming to your door to convert you to their way of thinking, think of it this way: what if they gain your heart on another level.  What if, instead of arguing over what is true or not true about Jesus, you simply try to be a friend.  We don’t have to agree to anything that is contrary to our beliefs, but we can be friends.  There is only so much you can do with arguing and correcting, but speaking from the heart will have the most impact in any relationship.  All true conversion is a conversion of the heart.  More hearts are won through invitation than through argument.

Jesus is the gate for the sheep.  We are, each of us as believers in Jesus, the sheep.  We all are still learning to the very end of our lives how to follow Jesus.  Jesus knows each of us personally and calls each of us by name.  In the gospel text a couple of Sundays ago, Jesus meets Mary Magdalene in the garden and says to her, “Mary.”  Up to that point, she thought maybe he was the gardener.  He is the one who laid down his life for us in order that we too might live and all the other sheep of his flock.  Jesus calls each of us to enter by him, for he is the one who gives to us sustenance and nourishment.  It is he who will protect us from those who would lead us astray. He says to us, “Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.”  John is concerned about the integrity of the Christian community, that they remain faithful to Jesus’ words and teaching.  He knows that there will be others who will come along and try to destroy Christians and distort the word of God.  Do not believe them, but continue to believe the faith that has been handed to you throughout the generations alongside your own search for truth in the scriptures, your own Bible Studies among the faithful, your own seeking in prayer.  Don’t be led astray, but know that Jesus is always there for you and looking out for your best interests. 

Jesus models for us during his ministry here on earth how we also are to be both a gate and a shepherd.  In our reading from I Peter, we read, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his footsteps.”  We are not called to complain, but to remember that Christ, in his suffering suffers with us.  When we remember this, we are enabled to keep his charge: Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own son. 

The Day is Long

3EasterA, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 4, 2014 by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

            There is a common thread that runs throughout the gospel stories.  Crowds of people flock to hear Jesus throughout his entire ministry.  The gospel of Luke is no exception.  We are told as early as this gospel’s chapter 5 that the crowds were pressing in on Jesus so much that he got into a boat to speak to them.  People were hungry for his words, sometimes so hungry that they would not even think to bring food with them, but would listen intently to him for hours.

            As Jesus nears the cross, the crowds disappear and one by one, almost all of his followers leave his presence.  They leave because they still have the idea stuck in their heads that Jesus would be an earthly king to replace Caesar, to overturn Roman rule. The people are keenly aware of the bondage they feel, but the solution Jesus presents just doesn’t make any sense.  In fact, it is nonsense. Their sentiment is that, “Jesus led us down the road and now he is abandoning us.” And with the resurrection appearances, the trend continues.  It is no longer the crowds coming and seeking Jesus.  Not only do the crowds abandon him, but even those most loyal and close to him.  They still do not really comprehend what has happened. So Jesus goes about seeking his disciples.  He wants them to know that he is alive. He comes to them individually, by pairs, in small groups. 

This gospel text is one of those stories.  The day is long.  The resurrection appearances of Jesus are told in such a way that we are given the impression that it is one very long, stretched out day, like a day that lasts forever.  The Passover is over, and the Jewish observers of this most important feast on their religious calendar are returning to their private residences and lives.  The high, celebratory feast is over, but even more of a letdown is that Jesus guy, the one we thought to be the Messiah, who we thought would save Israel isn’t here.  He even talked about saving the whole world. It was a great feast and it was great to see all the relatives and catch up on what’s been going on in their lives, but now it’s time to get back to our ordinary, mundane lives. We know he told us several times that he would suffer and die and return, but it’s been three days and the women who went to the tomb told the apostles that he was raised, but where is the proof?  Where is Jesus? The disciples were shocked, sorrowing, profoundly discouraged and downright disappointed. In one word, they felt betrayed. The witness of the women was simply not enough.  You may or may not understand a lot about sports, but I think you can understand this.  One of the most important things to remember in a sport like football or baseball is to not drop the ball.  Why?  Because then it goes to the other team.  Possession is supremely important.  If you don’t believe me, watch at the emotional reaction from parents and fellow students when a player does this in an actual game, especially a final tournament match for first place.  The disciples dropped the ball.  The disciples’ whole identity was bound up with Jesus.  What are they to do if what he told them is not true?  What if Jesus did not rise from the grave?  What if what the women said really was an idle tale? Jesus turned their lives upside down into a whole new way of thinking, and believing in God.  If Jesus did not rise from the tomb, the disciples have a huge identity crisis.  I cannot speak for you, but I think most of us living in the post-resurrection era really don’t grasp the full impact of that first day of resurrection. And further, I don’t think we give enough credit to the gospel writers.  If there is any section of any gospel that includes the emotions of what happened, the resurrection appearances are them.  Luke says they were amazed.  Mark says that terror and amazement seized them and they were afraid. Matthew says that even the women left the tomb with fear. 

So here we are in the midst of our own ordinary lives.  We have our times of struggle, foibles, and misunderstandings.  We sometimes live as though Jesus is not risen, as though he is still dead in the tomb.  We react with anger or depression and sometimes really wishing things had been different.  A first cousin dies as a teen in a car crash.  An aunt gives birth to a baby that only lives a couple of days.  A mother has a couple of miscarriages.  A sister’s marriage ends in divorce.  A son or daughter does not come back from the war.  A spouse, son or daughter dies before you do.  A family is disappointed about the care received in a nursing facility or hospital.  The Malaysian plane that may never be found and all the lives lost in that crash. People in our own state die from a mud slide. People are fearful when they see in the news that scientists have predicted another eruption of Mt St Helens. The list goes on.  There are times when we also want to ask Jesus, “Why have you abandoned us?” “Why are you so far from helping us?” The people of today also ask the same questions as the disciples.  We also want to know, “Where is Jesus?”  Even those who profess belief in Jesus sometimes sense his absence more than his presence.

The story on the road to Emmaus is the story of our life’s journey as Christians.  It is a continual re-reading of the scriptures, participating in the sacrament of Jesus’ body and blood, both of which are a renewing of our faith by doing this.   Both of these things are tools by which Jesus is summoned to live with us and in us. Where is Jesus?  Jesus is in the scriptures and the sacraments.  Where does the gospel of John say the disciples actually recognized Jesus?  It is in the breaking of the bread, the sacrament of Holy Communion.  Verse 30 reads quite plainly, “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.”  Jesus wants us to have a continuing relationship with him, to continue to walk with him down our entire life’s journey.  Jesus invites himself into our lives in all our joys and all of our sorrows, especially when we are suffering through any life event that may be happening to us or others.  Jesus himself endured the ultimate suffering by dying on the cross.  His presence is always there, even though we don’t always recognize it.

Jesus explained to his disciples back then so many years ago and explains it again to us just who he is and what he came to do.  He explains the whole story of Moses and the prophets, what they said, and how Jesus is God’s answer who brings wholeness between God and all of creation.

We all come before God as broken people, but if left as just broken people, we will have no hope; just like the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  Our sorrows in life cause us to be blind to Jesus who is always before us, even in the fellowship as we gather together in worship. The day is long.  The resurrection appearances of Jesus are told in such a way that we are given the impression that it is one very long, stretched out day, like a day that lasts forever.  

In the Midst of Grief, Life!

Easter Sunday Text, Cycle A, St John the Evangelist Cathedral Chapel, April 23, 2014

            I have been keenly aware over the past week of the presence of my mother in my thoughts.  The question that runs through my mind is one of vocation.  All of us are called to witness to the gospel, to live out that gospel of the resurrection in our lives.  That is what the pastor was getting at when he asked our family at her death about her and yet, we had little to offer.  Imagine this, we, her children who had been born, baptized, confirmed and communed in the church, in the shock of our grief, were unable to come up with only very little for an answer.  Maybe it was put in such a way that we did not understand what he was getting at or maybe we just hadn’t thought about it that much---perhaps we should have.  Perhaps we should have paid more attention. The moment of our mother’s death had come, and we had no answers.  Somewhere along the line, we lost sight of what the church was trying to teach us.  Was the failure our church or our own seeming inability to understand?  Even though he spoke to us in plain, simple English, we did not comprehend his meaning.  The question remains for all of us.  What is your vocation and how do you proclaim the gospel in that vocation?  Our vocation encompasses more than just the occupation that we are paid to do or volunteer to do as the case may be.

Throughout the Gospel of John, we see contrasts in what people say and do as being the difference between dark and light, night and day.  In this story, Mary of Magdalene runs to the tomb while it is still dark, while it is still difficult to see to make ones way.  She is looking for Jesus’ body because she believes that Jesus is probably dead in the tomb, just like any other man, despite what he said about coming back in three days.  She is clearly in deep grief.  She truly loved the Lord with all her heart. The other disciples come and see the burial wrappings, but then go home. We are not told what they thought or felt. But Mary stays back; weeping outside the tomb.  Two angels have asked her, “Why are you weeping?”  Then she is asked the same question by Jesus, “Why are you weeping?”  In this resurrection account, it is Mary who sees and has conversation with Jesus.  She is a true eye witness to Jesus’ resurrection.  If we take the interpretation that some have purported, John separates the believers from the non-believers.  In John, the people who sit in darkness are not believers.  We are told that “the other disciple” saw and believed, but Peter saw and went back home. Mary, in fact, has a special encounter with the risen Christ in the garden.  In her grief and probably still unbelief, she thinks maybe he is the gardener.  Even though her words betray her still inability to understand what has happened, she is still seeking understanding.  Faith is not static.  It is not a noun, but a verb which calls us to action and is ever evolving over time.  We also continue to grow and learn in our faith, even in the midst of sorrow.  As I saw it in my mother, I continue to believe that the death of many of her friends led her into grieving because of her loss of their active friendship.  I think the primary focus of this text is Mary and has little to do with the other disciples.  Mary is truly a model of discipleship.  She sees Jesus and she proclaims to the other disciples that she has seen the Lord.

Who is this Jesus?  Think about the setting in the garden and that Mary thought him to be the gardener. This passage is reminiscent of the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3, where God is in the garden.  This is one of those passages where Christians got the idea that Jesus is the second Adam.  The first Adam disobeyed God whereas Jesus was fully obedient, even to death on a cross.  Mary is confronted by Jesus in the garden, “Why are you weeping?” and “Who are you looking for?” 

            It is difficult to see things clearly when we are grieving or in pain.  Things are distorted.  Our world gets darkened and sometimes depressing.  We may have a feeling of being lost and alone.  We may feel that there is a cloud hanging over us that we are not able to dispel. It is difficult for us to see beyond our present moments, our thoughts and desires, our inmost wishes.  Our hearts and our lives are broken and we weep just like Mary.  Just as my mother, we can become preoccupied with the loss of our friends.  The first thing many of us look for in the paper is the obituary column to see who died. We want to know who died and yet, it creates sadness when we find out. Some try to avoid that sadness by not reading the paper or not going to the memorial service.  People do the same with Jesus and do not attend the Good Friday service. Some want to skip to the resurrection and not think about death which awaits all of us. None of us are immune to death, not even Jesus.  Death is inevitable.

            Why are we weeping?  We weep because death comes to all of us.  It is a fact of living as a human on earth.  The trees we love die.  The dogs and cats we love die.  The people we love the most also die. Even though through the study of science, we may be able to extend the life span of some and eradicate certain illnesses, death remains.  In the movie, The Green Mile, the warden was blessed with the power of one of his prisoners who gave him an extended life.  He grew to be very old, but he was also keenly aware that death would also come to him.

            Note the details of the gospel of John.  Nowhere in the entire gospel does Jesus actually address anyone by his or her name.  He speaks almost equally to both men and women, but only at this moment of resurrection does he address anyone by name.  In no other place before, but here he does that when he says, “Mary!”  It is in the middle of our grieving that Jesus comes to us and calls us by our names.  Jesus is no longer with a crowd, but going to people individually and two walking alone, and to his eleven disciples.  Jesus is no longer the sought after, but goes seeking his disciples, those he loved here.  But that is not enough and that is not the end of the story.  Our grief and our sorrow over the losses in our lives are not the end, but a new beginning. We need to go beyond this story and see that he seeks us out as well because we now take on that role as his disciples. 

            Jesus seeking others to be his disciples is now our role.  Remember what he said to us in this gospel.  Feed my sheep.  Feed my lambs.  These words are not just for the faithful, but apply to everyone.  In Jesus, God has flung open the doors to the kingdom.  All are invited to the celebration of the one who rose to live forevermore and calls us, too to live in that resurrected life.  Can you hear him call you? He is calling your name now. Listen. You are a new person in Christ.  He calls you by name.  Those who have sat in darkness have seen a great light. Let that light shine; let everyone know that Jesus is alive.

Blinded by the Light

4LentA, Sullivan Park Care Center, March 30, 2014 by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

            William Temple writes, “The man born blind from birth is every man.  For it is a part of that sin of the world which the Lamb of God beareth away that by nature we are blind, until our eyes are opened by Christ the Light of the world.” Jesus is the light of the world and in him there is no darkness at all or as put in this story, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  This story is a story of contrasts: the bright light of Jesus and the darkness of blindness.  Jesus addresses both physical and spiritual blindness.  He also addresses the notion that sin is connected to physical defects.  Some of us have a tendency to feel abandoned by God when we are ill and we say to ourselves, “Why me? Why has this sickness come to me?  Why must I be the one to suffer?  What will become of me?”  That last question in particular is one asked by people who have been severely ill more than one time. The biggest worry for them is, “What if I die this time?” It is important to note that much of the discourse in the gospel text is when Jesus is not present.  Some say this story is a reflection of the early Christian community. Many people were believers in Jesus, but were hiding in fear of the Jewish community.  This account appears to be a story about the early community’s struggle to be a witness to the world around them.  At the same time, the stories of Jesus are continuing to circulate and become a source of comfort in the midst of suffering.

But bringing us further in time into the 21^st century, just what might this story mean to us? Words are used to describe what a person is thinking or doing.  Sometimes we say them to ourselves and sometimes we say them out loud.  We are taught from childhood what is proper in our language and behavior.  We hear people say things like, “That man is fat.”  “That woman is ugly.”  “That person is deaf.”  “That person is blind.”  We also hear meaningless descriptions like, “He has white hair and uses a walker or wheelchair.”  That is meaningless if you live in a skilled nursing or assisted living facility where that describes most men living there.  The problem with descriptions either used to your face or behind your back is that they can be interpreted negatively.  We are aware that in the time of Jesus, there were people who were physically impaired or less able that were not only social outcasts, but were also not allowed to worship in the temple.  Because of their so called deformities, according to the law of Judaism, they were truly seen as somehow less than other people.  If society deems certain groups of people as somehow not worth as much, those people and sometimes their families as well, also learn to feel lesser than others.  Some women feel insecure without a man.  It comes out in conversation when they project that value onto other women by trying to set them up with an eligible male relative or they constantly ask if you have a boyfriend.  They feel that is what makes them happy, so it should also make other women happy.  Other women will say things like, they have always been fat and people never knew when they were pregnant, because they were always fat.  They become preoccupied with being fat to the point that it becomes their whole identity and way of relating to the world.  They become preoccupied with being with a man that widowhood never quite feels right.  The same happens when a person who was fat becomes skinny. 

            That is one of the things this text tells us.  The man born blind, blind all his life has his whole identity, his whole sense of self tied up in what it means to be blind.  As a result, being a beggar is a way of life.  In my line of work, as a nurses’ aide, I don’t like to tell people that I was once a mental health counselor for this very reason.  People know what psychiatrists, psychologists, and counselors do.  It’s something deeper than being the one who sees only your outside body, cleans you from top to bottom, and watches out for your hydration and nutrition.  But if you treat someone as a person, as Jesus did the blind man, they can respond; and that is deeper than accepting the status quo. You are not your diagnoses. That is deeper than an aide who is paid only to do the physical work of an aide. The occupational hazard of being an aide is that people want to know who you are. Residents do not accept a mere robot to care for them even if that is all they are paid to do.  However, I have been counseled by my supervisor to not share personal things, because of the reason that is in this text; it causes arguments and controversy.  Relationships are messy no matter how one goes about it.

            The picture of God we have here in Jesus is that God knows who you are, accepts who you are, and expects you to be the best human you can be. On the surface, we may only see that the man born blind is simply asserting his belief in Jesus’ healing.  He asserts emphatically, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

            To demonstrate how profound a change it is to go from not seeing to seeing, I offer a true story about a woman who was deaf from birth.  The woman’s name is Joanne.  She is 40 years old and she is from the United Kingdom.  She was born with Usher’s Syndrome, a genetic mutation inherited from her parents. She never heard anything until she had an operation that gave her cochlear implants.  A week after her surgery, she had the implants turned on. Joanne, in a video shot of her sat across from a hospital employee who cautioned that her new sense of hearing might be overwhelming at first. As the worker begins to recite the days of the week, Joanne is moved to tears. Even though after the surgery she was still blind, she reacted further with verbal outbursts of joy when she continued to hear with her own ears another woman’s voice.  After that, she listened to John Lennon, a famous Beatle, singing a popular song.

            Our gospel text is a conversion story to be sure.  It is important to observe that as the blind man who now sees, continues to tell others about once being blind and now seeing.  Notice that each time the man talks about his healing experience and encounter with Jesus, his faith in Jesus grows.  As we draw near to the cross, our stories from the gospel of John get longer and more involved.  We come face-to-face with the arguments for and against Jesus.  Some support Jesus and others mock him.  The healing is there for all to see, it seems beyond denial.  There is a stark contrast between Jesus as the light of the world and the blindness of the Pharisees, those who dare to ask Jesus, “Surely we are not blind, are we?”

            In spite of opposition or the blatant indifference of neighbors, members of the Jewish faith, parents, and the Pharisees, the man is persistent in telling the story about how a man named Jesus brought him his eyesight.  He takes no heed when the emotions of all involved are stirred.  He is vocal about what he sees and hears about Jesus’ action on his behalf.  Jesus intervenes at the end and elicits a simple statement of faith from the man, another who has no name, like the Samaritan woman at the well.

            By nature, we are all blind.  The blind man had never seen just as Joanne had never heard.  To become a Christian is not to recover what was lost, but to receive that which was never possessed, namely, the grace of God. Jesus, Son of God, have mercy. Amen.