Pro-active Reconciliation

 It’s obvious – the Gospel for today is always the same 

         but it is so rich a story that we can always hear with new ears.

So I would like to savor this story with you.

 

A key theme in this reading is summed up in the collect.

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery 

established the new covenant of reconciliation…

 

Disciples (except Thomas) get to see the Resurrection Jesus,

         who says to them,

                  “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

                  “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into them, and what follows is

         the institution of the covenantal ministry of reconciliation

                  "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; 

                  if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 

We may want to back away from this statement, sounds to much like:

         "I forgive you, but I don't forgive you."

So it is actually rather important 

                  that we exam that one word translated as “retain.”

 

The Greek for "retain" means hold, it implies hold back,         

                                                      that is to bind, to restrain.

What is being restrained? 

         “If you restrain the sins of any, they are restrained.”

not the person restrained, but the sin.

         We can have a restraining effect on sin.

 

There is a two-fold aspect to the covenant 

                                                               and ministry of reconciliation. Forgive – responding to the occasion of sin, reactive reconciliation.  

Retain - proactive reconciliation.

 

The Ministry of Reconciliation-

                                    think about implications for us in daily life

         What we say, 

what we do, 

the attitudes we have, 

the opinions we express, 

how we live out relationships 

– all can be proactive reconciliation.

We who are called by his Name,

         have been sent, and 

         have been given an awesome power/

                                       a force in the world for good,

 

We are called to the ministry of reconciliation through our baptisms;

         BCP, pg. 855, section in the Catechism, Outline of the Faith:

 

    Q. What is the ministry of the laity?

    A. The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his

       Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be

       and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on

       Christ's work of reconciliation in the world; and to take

       their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.

 

There much more to say about the ministry of reconciliation

         but first we need to look at Thomas.

 

Someone forgot to tell Thomas about the meeting.

 

Thomas - despite all the other disciples corroborating their story

                  of seeing the Risen Christ,

         he says he must not only see, but also touch.

 

He would not trust just his eyes.

         Maybe all the others were deceived by their eyes.

 

He wants to see the wounds, that which killed Jesus.

Maybe he wants to make sure

         that it is absolutely apparent that Jesus is risen from the dead,

                  not just a survivor of the ordeal of crucifixion.

So Jesus shows up, 

and apparently unseen 

the Risen Lord had overheard Thomas’ conversation.

 

Jesus shows great compassion

         special invitation to Thomas to touch him, touch the wounds.

 

Notice: the text does not say if Thomas then did touch.         

But the statement he then says is very significant:

         "My Lord and my God!"

 

He is not just looking at Jesus as his rabbi, or teacher, or master,

         or even as Lord,

         but as GOD.

This is bold declaration of faith.         

Thomas goes from doubt to calling Jesus God.

         That went beyond what the others told Thomas.

Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? 

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." 

 

         Then there is a nice segue into a special note for all those 

         who will come later relying on faith without seeing…

 

 

"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, 

         which are not written in this book. 

But these are written so that you may come to believe 

         that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, 

and that through believing/

                 through having faith you may have life in his name."

 

This is encouragement for us to trust through hearing

         so that we too can say of Jesus, "My Lord and my God!" 

 

Thomas' declaration, "My Lord and my God!"  

is both a creed 

and an act of devotion/worship/response to the Holy.

 

Therefore "My Lord and my God!" is used as a private prayer 

                           at words of invitation in Eucharist

In the Episcopal Church we have an Altar call – every Sunday

         in the words of invitation, “The Gifts of God for the People of God.”

Come to the altar, come forward to see and touch and taste

         that our faith, our trusting may be nurtured

         and our spirits and whole being nourished

         and strengthened for the ministry of reconciliation.

 

This Gospel lesson tells us 

- not just the disciples there with Jesus at that time

         but for all who believe

that the same power of the Holy Spirit 

is there for reconciliation in the world;

         a tremendous power it is to forgive, 

                  to bring the healing of reconciliation.

 

Vs. 29

Blessed are those who have not seen, 

and yet believe/have faith/trust.

 

Faith is being willing to trust what is not in my control.

         Trusting what I cannot prove, 

                           what I cannot dictate as verifiable,

                  only what has been revealed to me,

what I have experienced so subjectively. 

 

Faith, in this sense then, is a participation in relationship 

with the God of the resurrected Lord in us.

Jesus doesn’t leave anything as important as salvation, 

                                                                             as reconciliation, 

to us and our response alone.

Therefore faith is a gift, as well as a fruit, of the Spirit.

 

Vs 31

"…and that through having faith/trusting you may have life in his name."

 

The Life we have access to is the Risen Christ.

We can reflect in our own lives the Risen Christ, 

and participate in "…the new covenant of reconciliation…" 

as the Collect for today speaks of.

 

Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit into his disciples

         and giving them the power to forgive

                  and the power to bind up and restrain sin.

 

Others will not come to believe in Christ 

         because of seeing him for themselves 

                           like Thomas and the other disciples.

They will have to come to faith and trust just as we have,

         through their experience of those called by his Name – you – 

                                    their experience of you

         and how that fosters their own openness to the Risen Christ.

 

Can others see Christ in your life?

         Can they see more than just a good person, a nice person?

Do they encounter love in you? 

         an example of radical trust from you?

Do they encounter forgiveness, grace and reconciliation in you?

 

So look at the way you go about your daily life

         and see if you are living it in such a way

                  that you are bringing reconciliation 

                  into relationships and situations around you.

 

What we say, 

what we do, 

the attitudes we have, 

the opinions we express, 

how we live out relationships 

all are the ways of proactive reconciliation.

Each person’s contribution furthers the covenant of reconciliation.

 

Be the Risen Christ.

so that others also may recognize Jesus

         and likewise come to Thomas' acclamation,

                  "My Lord and my God."

Maundy Thursday

 The liturgies of Holy Week have been provided for us 

from the most ancient of times in the worship of the Church.

They give us a means of expressing devotion to our Lord

            and for nurturing our awakening

                        to the profound realization of our salvation.

That’s why we’re doing all this – for the profound realization of our salvation.

 

We participate in this Maundy Thursday liturgy as a devotional act,

            although our participation is not particularly comfortable,

 

It is not like coming to see or participating in the Christmas pageant,

                        which is so heart-warming and joyful.

But our participation here leads us to spiritual depths 

that cannot be underestimated or dismissed casually from our attention.

 

And so right now, let us enter with the open hearts of devotion

            into this commemoration of the Lord’s Supper,

                        his last supper,

            in which he would change forever 

how we are to regard table fellowship with one another.

 

We know that through sheer familiarity with the Sacrament of Holy Communion

we lose the impact of the radical action 

that Jesus did in the midst of the meal.

He took the familiar bread and wine, part of most all their meals, 

bread and wine, which symbolized hospitality, nourishment, 

bread to strengthen the body

and wine to gladden the heart.

 

He gave them the bread, and then when they had eaten it, he said, 

“This is my body.”

Whoops…                        Did we hear that right?            “This is my body?”

 

And then he gave them the cup, and when they had each drunk from it, 

he said, “This is my blood.”

“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

 

This would have been utterly mind-blowing 

for the disciples there with Jesus.

Jesus was presenting himself as the sacrifice,

            the lamb, whose life was taken, 

whose life blood was poured out in sacrifice.

 

The life of the animal being sacrificed and eaten was in the blood,

life sacred and precious, represented in the blood,

and therefore is reserved for God alone.

And so before the slaughtered animal could be prepared and eaten 

            the blood had to be thoroughly drained from it.

 

Therefore how shocking to their sensibilities this must have been,

so that they could profoundly realize 

that they were taking within themselves the very life of Jesus.

 

This is no mere remembering about Jesus 

                 whenever you come together around the table.

This is about taking Jesus very literally, both physically and spiritually, 

taking Jesus literally into ourselves.

 

And we become what we eat.

            By the eating, 

                        his flesh and blood merge with ours and we with his

            as a very concrete and physical and literal demonstration of saving grace, 

                                                the power to transform us, 

            transformed into the form of our humanity

that has been utterly taken up into the heart of divinity.

 

The communion we share is communion with God, 

and is union with God in Christ.

 

Then the practical application of this communion is expressed

            in the portion of the Gospel that was just read.

Jesus demonstrates the ramifications of this organic union

                        by washing the feet of those with him.

 

And so we also, in obedience to our Lord, wash each other’s feet.

 

Now I would like you to notice

that not only does it take humility to bow down before another

                        and wash the feet, the lowest part of the body,
            the part closest to the grime and grit and contamination of the world;

it also takes humility to expose this part of ourselves – our feet – to one another.

 

We may be embarrassed by how our feet have aged,

            how our feet reveal the wear and tear of life on our bodies:

                        the corns and bunions, the twists in the toes,

                        the thickening of nails, 

                        the lingering odor of shoes made old by work and wear,

            no longer babies’ feet that once were kissed and played with – 

                        “This little piggy went to market,

                        and this little piggy stayed home…”

 

Now the feet describe metaphorically the wear and tear of life in general,

            how in need we are, again, of that loving touch in our lives

                        where there is the most grit and grime,

                        the most contamination of the world,

                        what - after our initial washing in baptism – 

                                    what we habitually pick up again

                                                            that needs Another to help us wash off.

 

One could say that letting your feet be washed by another 

            is sort of like going to confession.

 

And the one who kneels at the feet of his friends,

                                                            silently washing their feet,

            takes on the role of Jesus.

We serve one another as Christ’s Presence.

 

This foot washing is a symbolic and sacramental action

                        in a very personal and intimate way

            where we are Christ for one another.

 

And this is what the world so very much needs:

            to bow down before each other and wash each other’s feet – 

                        Israeli and Palestinian

                        Muslim and Jew and Christian

                        rich and poor

                        black and white

                        those laid off from their jobs and asylum seekers

                        liberals and conservatives

                        fundamentalists and secular humanists

                        those with the political, economic and military power

                                    and those who are disenfranchised and marginalized

                        the victimized and the perpetrators

            all sorts and conditions of humanity

            bowing before each other in the humble, loving, caring act

                                                                        of washing feet.

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, Jesus said.

 

And then let us come to the table prepared for us,

            this banquet of simple bread and wine,

                        which is none other than that which, 

                                                            if we were to consider what we are doing, 

            would shock the sensibilities – 

                                    the very body and blood of the One we worship.

 

And then in quiet reverence

                        to remove all the symbols and signs of our worship

            until nothing is left but a stark emptiness of holy space

                                                where we may kneel in silence,

            remembering how in the garden 

            at that moment of betrayal by a kiss

                                                all forsook him and fled.

 

We remove each holy item from the sanctuary with penitent and grieving hearts

                        and in profound silence.

 

Strange things we do here in this liturgy,

            actions that link us physically, 

                        as well as emotionally, intellectually and spiritually,

            actions that link us to the Mystery of this whole week, the Holy Week.

 

You don’t have to understand it.

You don’t even have to like it,

            simply accept the invitation and participate,

and enter the gracious holiness of these actions,

 

and see what happens to you.

Delusional Hope

 This Palm Sunday is the beginning of the week in which 

            we once again live out the core story of our faith

                        in all its drama and depth.

This is the central week of the whole church year, our highest holy days,

 

For me this year, having just stood in the exact same places 

that Jesus and his disciples have stood,

            the story is alive again with a freshness and immediacy 

                        that 2000 years have not diminished.

 

One of the observations I made again on this trip to the Middle East

            was how very political religion is.

I think our forebears in this country tried their hardest

            to separate politics and religion.

But the reality is that religion is very political,

            and Jerusalem is where that can be seen in spades.

 

And what Jesus did on his donkey ride into Jerusalem 

            was very political and provocative.

People had real hope in Jesus 

            that he would be the Messiah 

                        that would set them free politically from the Romans.

But this represented a delusional hope.

            Palm Sunday is a story of delusional hope.

 

There were all sorts of assumptions about what this parade

would accomplish:  hopes for the future, yet delusional hopes. 

 

Some had the hope that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah 

            the one who would free them from foreign oppression.

 

Some hoped that the Romans would see Jesus as a revolutionary

            and would arrest him and get him out of the picture

so that they could return to a safer way of coping with and living with 

the enemy in their midst,

so that they could manage to carry on with the upcoming Passover festival 

albeit under the oppressive shadow of the occupying military forces.

The irony – Passover, a celebration of the oppressors’ defeat by the Hand of God

            and the liberation of the Israelites from slavery.

 

And the Romans, they hoped to keep spontaneous demonstrations and riots 

            from erupting in the city square, and to hold onto control.

 

Recent events in Israel would indicate that 

            the ancient hope of political power and control will only last so long.

Whether for an oppressive dictatorship or for a popular uprising,

            the outcome rarely turns out to be what was hoped for.

 

Palm Sunday represents delusional hope.

 

We may look at today’s Palm Sunday procession

            as a way to give honor to Jesus as Son of David, Messiah, king, Son of God,

                                    the focus of our faith.

And we may want to ignore the details of the Gospel story and its outcome.

 

This event left the whole city in a turmoil.

The parade ends in the temple courtyard

            and next Jesus clears out all those 

                        engaged in the commercial part of the temple activities – 

            the money changers who made sure that no Roman coins 

                        with Caesar’s image on them would profane the temple

            and those selling the sacrificial animals.

Jesus then with incredible chutzpah carries out his usual ministry 

            of healing and teaching right there 

            in the geographic, liturgical and theological center of their faith.

He places himself between the people 

            and the temple sacrifices they came to offer, 

between the people 

            and their old way of worshiping God 

                        and assuring their right standing with God.

We are beginning a week of liturgical events 

            that if we were to pay attention to them

            they could take us out of the confinement of our current understanding,

                        our current religious confinement,

and would open our awareness to vastness of life

                        and all of its liberation, empowerment, joy, and love

                                    which is our inheritance in Jesus.

 

I urge you to attend the liturgies of this week,

                        Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, 

and you could also attend the Easter Vigil at the Cathedral or ...

 

This is the central week of the whole church year, our highest holy days.

What we do this week in liturgical form

                         is to place ourselves into the story,

 

As you take part in this holy week’s events, drop religion.

Drop the compartmentalizing of seeing this only as a liturgical observance,

            a narrow slice out of our whole life experience.

Instead what assumptions and hopes do you have in your life that get battered?

How are they shown up as empty and disillusioning?

 

NOW            whereas Palm Sunday represents delusional hope,

Good Friday is then the collapse of all our delusional hope,

            crushed and nailed to the Cross.

That is where we ended up with our reading of the Passion Account 

            from the Gospel according to St. Matthew ,

 

Brothers and sisters, this story of Jesus’ death is not a tragic account 

of suffering beyond all measure.

Jesus knew what he was doing; 

            this was the outcome he anticipated for the parade.

And he knew that what he was doing was essential,

                        all in service for you, for me, for every living being.

Good Friday is the necessary and beneficial collapse of all our delusional hope.

 

And then the Resurrection is the transcendence of this collapsed, delusional hope.

            Easter is a revelation which could not be anticipated.

But we can’t get to Easter, to resurrection, by any other way 

            than through the collapse of delusional hope and the Cross of Good Friday.

From delusional hope to transcending that hope with what cannot be anticipated

            that is what’s up for us these next few days.

 

If you come and take part in these liturgies of Holy Week, 

            with a willingness and trust to bring all your own 

                hopes and sorrows, shame and pride, suffering  and inner questioning                                                  

                                                                     with you,

that Love of God, Love which is God, will be at work in you,

            transforming wounds, bringing healing, and revealing to you great truth.