Gilding the Lily

REFLECTION, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY – PALM SUNDAY, YEAR B

MARCH 28, 2021

 

TEXT:                        MARK 14:1 – 15:47

 

 

            It is always a struggle to preach on Palm Sunday.  What more can you say that this gospel passage has not already said.

 

            I will refuse the example of a colleague in Mississippi who followed this gospel passage with a three-word sermon: It’s all true.

 

            But what more can be said?

 

            The God of all creation, who deigned to enter into the vulnerable form of a human being, willingly gave himself up to show the depth of love for all people.

 

            Think back on the last few months. This past Thursday, we commemorated the Annunciation – the announcement by the angel Gabriel, to a young woman in the remote village of Nazareth, the miracle of the Incarnation. We celebrated Christmas – the birth of the Christ child. Then we recall his baptism and his immediate sojourn in the wilderness. Now, we hear of his betrayal, his trial, his crucifixion, his death and entombment. Our year will continue with other stories of his ministry.

 

            All this… ALL THIS… all we will hear the remainder of the year, is to show us the depth of God’s love.

 

            But his death is not the end of the story.  It is not the concluding chapter of the testament of God’s love.

  

Seeing Jesus

HOMILY, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY – FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR B

MARCH 21, 2021

 

TEXTS:                      JOHN 12:20-33

 

 

            I wonder how many of us have identified with the Greeks who approached Philip in the days leading up to the Passover in Jerusalem: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

 

            We may be much like those Greeks.  Like them, we have heard the stories.  We know of how his followers and his numinous continuing presence have bent the course of history.  The Greeks had heard of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem in the previous days.  They knew the acclaim he was receiving.  Our feelings may not be exactly the same – but the essence is precisely what the Greeks felt:  Mysterium tremendum et fascinans – the mystery which frightens and fascinates.

 

            I remember one time in particular.  I was visiting St. Joseph’s Church in Nazareth.  In the undercroft of that holy site, a quiet chamber is built just beneath the nave where services are held.  In that lower chamber, metal grates provide a lighted view to caves well below the undercroft.  It is believed that the cave was the site of Joseph’s wood shop – and the place where Jesus played as a child and labored as an adult. In that era and area, people were cave dwellers.

 

            The hair stood up on the back of my neck.  I realized how close I was. I wanted to encounter Jesus.

 

            Likewise, I can look back and see moments in which I yearned to see Jesus – thirsting like I did for cool spring water on a hot summer hike at Boy Scout camp. Perhaps you have known that yearning, too.

 

            I think all of us come here on Sundays expecting to encounter something special – maybe the mysterium tremendum et fascinans. I hope that this liturgy, this sacrament of Holy Eucharist, provides that sense of real presence that we Episcopalians say is part of this service.  I hope that something touches you in a way that allows you to leave this service a little different from the way you arrived.

 

            But we should remember we are to find the Risen Lord – the Jesus we seek – like the Greeks did: in the business of daily life, in our encounters with others, in the words that we hear and speak in our conversations.  

 

            Yes, we yearn to see Jesus. But we are called to be people of discernment – to see beyond the obvious, the apparent, the plain, that which is on the surface. To see Jesus, we are to look for and to discern the holy, the sacred, the mysterious, the redemptive power of Jesus in daily life.

 

            The Greeks who sought to see Jesus did not know there was anything special in the moment.  It would become obvious years later. That was when it was recorded. Perhaps we will be like that – we will see Jesus in looking back on life.   

Gazing on Deliverance

 HOMILY, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY – FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR B

MARCH 14, 2021

 

TEXTS:                      NUMBERS 21:4-9; JOHN 3:14-21

 

 

            The two lessons today are wonderfully symbiotic. The span nearly 1,300 years of faith history and bridge two great events of deliverance.

 

            The first lesson, from the fourth book of the Torah known as Numbers, has the Hebrew people in the midst of their great deliverance known as the Exodus – from slavery in Egypt to life in the land of milk and honey.  Mark that as roughly 1,250 years before Jesus.

 

            To give you a sense of perspective, 1,200 years before this moment, indigenous tribes and buffalo freely roamed this continent.  To further make the point, Christopher Columbus would not set out his journey for 500 years.

 

            The Hebrew people, weary from wandering aimlessly in the parched, barren wilderness, were afflicted. They were stricken with fiery serpents which tortured them with untold misery. They begged Moses for relief.

 

            We don’t know precisely what took place to alleviate their suffering – at least clinically. But we do know, based on the passage from Numbers, that Moses had a bronze image of the fiery serpent put on a pole, and anyone who gazed on it in faith was healed.

 

            We now believe those fiery serpents were Guinea worms – a parasite that once afflicted millions through contaminated water in Asia and Africa.  Thanks to the work of the Carter Center, Guinea worms are now found only in sub-Saharan Africa and may soon be the second disease eliminated from the face of the globe. Smallpox was the first.

 

            But the issue which Jesus comes to address does not respond as easily to medicinal therapeutics. The human condition, which afflicts all people, is stubborn and has its roots not in the wilderness but is deeply entwined in the roots of our essential humanity.

 

            Jesus is early in his ministry when he tells us that he must be lifted up – like the serpent on the pole – for the gift of eternal life to be unlocked.  He is, of course, referring to being lifted up on the cross.  And our response of faith in God’s offering of the Divine self in sacrifice seals the gift of fullness of life.

 

            The theology of this gracious gifts is expressed in this gospel passage – but it is still a divine mystery.  But the circle of healing is complete.        

The Purpose and Essence

 HOMILY, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY – THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR B

MARCH 7, 2021

 

TEXT:                        EXODUS 20:1-17; JOHN 2:13-22

 

 

            Today, at the mid-point of Lent, we are blessed to have two key passages of scripture as our lessons:  The Ten Commandments and the cleansing of the Temple.

 

            We should remember that Lent is a journey, and the lessons for this season are focused on the climax of Good Friday and Easter Day.  That is our focus – but we are not there yet.

 

            There is a lot of focus on the literal importance of the Ten Commandments.  We are frequently reminded that they are not the Ten Suggestions.  But that point raises a larger question: What was the essence of the Ten Commandments and the legal codes which follow it in the subsequent books of the Torah?

 

            That was the question which animated Jesus’ actions from the second chapter of John’s gospel today. Jesus was beginning to emphasize the purpose and essence of the Law that had been handed down to Moses and the Hebrew people in the Wilderness. He was not being subtle in his response.

 

            It seems to have rankled Jesus that everything that was transpiring in the Temple was legal – the money changing, the sale of animals for sacrifice, and who knows what else. To Jesus, it seems there was significant affront to naked commerce on the same grounds as the Holy of Holies. And, yet, well-intentioned people were being told their actions were not in accordance with the Law.

 

            The Law, it seems, had moved from its intention to a rather crass means of emphasizing its minor points. Much was lost in the process. The Law’s intent of focusing on our essential relationship to God and one another had been lost in the superficiality of the Law’s interpretation. To paraphrase Jesus from another passage, “The Law was made for man, not man for the Law.”

 

            It is a message that Jesus seeks to convey throughout his ministry. The faith of the Samaritan. Healing on the Sabbath. Concern for the less fortunate.  True riches. Where we place our trust. The power of forgiveness.  The manifest nature of God’s grace.

 

            What is the essence of the Law? Jesus was asked that question. His response: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang al the Law and the prophets.”

 

            God’s intent for us? Live according to that standard.  Let it guide your heart, your mind, your soul, your actions.