Readings
for Lent 4B:
2 Chronicles 36:14-23; Psalm 122; Ephesians 2:4-10; John 6:4-15
March 26, 2006
The Rev. Mary B. Blessing
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
How many of you saw that ill-fated TV show, “Book of Daniel”?-- the one that got cancelled after only 3 shows? It was a drama described as “Heaven Can Wait” meets “Desperate Housewives”. It was about an Episcopal Priest and his dysfunctional family. Remember the Jesus on that show? Whenever the priest was alone--riding in the car, sitting on a park bench, or in his study —Jesus came along side him. Jesus, with long hair, a beard, white flowing robes and sandals. The priest would be troubled over extreme family problems like his teenage daughter being arrested for selling marijuana, or his wife addicted to martini’s, his gay son struggling to come out—and just as the priest would start popping painkillers, this Jesus would show up, and with a gentle tone in his voice simply say “Are you sure you need another one?” This mamby-pamby, milk-toast Jesus, a sort of “best friend savior therapist” is a popular image of our Lord! This is not at all the image I have of the Jesus who fed thousands of people on a few loaves and fishes; who cured blind men, and turned water into wine. this is not at all a Jesus that entered the Jerusalem Temple outraged at the exploitation of the poor. This is not at all a Jesus that would cause crowds to want to “take him by force” to make him “King”!
What have we done with Jesus? Who is Jesus, and what is he doing in the 21st Century? Why have we domesticated Jesus, turning him into nothing more than the status of a loyal pet--comforting us when we’re lonely, listening to our whining just so we can get whatever bugs us off our chest. Why have we turned Jesus into the therapist who is paid to listen, but doesn’t have the courage tell us hard truths that motivate us to really transform our lives?
I won’t deny that Jesus certainly can be a comforting friend, but Jesus is much MORE THAN AN IMAGINARY FRIEND TALKING TO OUR ALTER EGO. As we learned earlier in the Gospel of John, Jesus is the One who risked all to live completely and fully as God’s presence of GRACE AND TRUTH, (Jn. 1:17) so that WE would be filled with that same GRACE AND TRUTH--that our lives may be transformed into the fullness of God’s creation. Jesus lived in the fullness of GRACE AND TRUTH so we might have the courage to stand up for justice and bring truth to our world.
Jesus lived in a time of extreme political oppression and economic injustice. Jesus insisted on justice in the face of an imperial power that tried to mute him. He challenged the economic injustice of a dominating Roman Empire and hierarchical Jewish Temple. He saw imperialists causing people to suffer from hunger, and so Jesus fed them. By a generous act of GRACE AND TRUTH, Jesus did what the people needed. Jesus did NOT want to be rewarded by being crowned King. What he wanted was for the people to receive this same inner power to stand up against the domination system. What he wanted was for them to live as he lived, in GRACE AND TRUTH in the face of human self-aggrandizement and greed.
Jesus used language like “kingdom of God” to describe the life-altering experience he offered.. He did NOT want to be King; not in the way they envisioned the power of a King. Not as a “head of state” with power over armies and granaries. Not as a judge who decides who is in and who is out. Not as a ruler who chooses who will eat and who will starve. No, Jesus wanted people to “enter the Kingdom of God”—which for him was not another place, but another way of being. A state of being in which one experiences the sacred-- that place where life is grounded in truth and justice for all.
Recently I’ve been exploring the Mystical Jesus with our Weds. Noon group. We’ve been listening to lectures on Mysticism, Empowerment and Resistance from Marcus Borg, Sr. Joan Chittester and John Dominic Crossan. This Mystical Jesus is the pre-Easter Jesus who stood firmly in the line of prophets of the mystical tradition of the Hebrew people. This Jesus lived a life fully engaged in “the Kingdom of God”—grounded in sacred experiences, knowing God as close as one’s heartbeat. “Knowing God” fully and completely, without doubt, without the need “to believe”, because this Jesus “lived and moved and had his being” in God. This Jesus didn’t just KNOW GOD, this Jesus empowered others to know and experience God. What has happened to this Jesus? Where is he in the 21st C?
Talking about the “mystical life” in the Silicon Valley is quite a challenge. Engineers, physicists, and scientists in general, want hard data, tangible evidence, a product that explains things, in order to understand the reality around them. I invite you to get to know Jesus in a different way. Consider the possibility that the very place where you will find your deepest relationship with Jesus is that place where you already “experientially know God” within your being. I recommend you access this kind of experiential knowing by reading the New Testament witness of Jesus’ life, examine what is reported, then prayerfully open your heart to seek his presence. Then wait. Listen. Wait some more.
I believe if you study Jesus’ life you will discover within you the ability to meet this person who called humanity into a life of GRACE AND TRUTH, a life that offers forgiveness even as it stands up for righteousness and justice for all. A life that empowers us to be all that God wants us to be. Once in a while we see the transformation of the life of someone who has fully embraced this mystical Jesus, as they themselves have encountered Jesus. Some are heroes, like Mother Teresa, dedicating a long life to care for the poor; some are martyrs. Marcus Borg’s talk on mysticism reminded me of one who especially moved my heart when I was quite young, a spiritual “giant” who truly lived in the way of GRACE AND TRUTH. One whose transformed life changed the 20th C. I was just a baby when Martin Luther King, Jr., became a new pastor and a young father in Montgomery, Alabama. Almost immediately his life was threatened as he stood with GRACE AND TRUTH in the face of injustice. King supported Rosa Parks and the bus boycott that resulted when she refused to give up her seat for a white man. The boycott had been going on about a month when things began to heat up. Awakened with a phone call at home in the middle of the night, King heard a frightening voice: “Nigger, we are tired of you and your mess now, and if you aren’t out of town in 3 days we are going to blow your brains out and blow up your house.” King was frightened and worried not only for himself, but for the safety of his wife and newborn daughter. Thinking of the risk his choices put them in, he struggled in the night, and began to PRAY: Lord, I’m down here trying to do what’s right; I think I’m right, I think the cause we represent is right…but Lord, I must confess I am weak now. I’m faltering. I’m losing my courage. I can’t let the people see me like this. If they see I am weak and losing my courage, they will begin to get weak…” And then Martin Luther King had what we call a mystical experience—“It seemed at that moment I could hear an inner voice saying to me ‘Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness, stand up for justice, stand up for truth, and lo I will be with you, even until the end of the world.’ I heard the voice of Jesus saying still to fight on and he promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone, no never alone, not alone he promised, never to leave me, he promised never to leave me alone.”*
Martin Luther King, Jr. encountered a Jesus who filled him with spiritual strength and courage. Courage to do the right thing, even in the face of threats to his life. A Jesus who was present to him throughout the difficult work of raising the consciousness of a world filled with prejudice, and to do it as a peace-maker, speaking on behalf of truth, not as an imperialist forcing one’s will upon others. This Jesus gave Martin Luther King power to do the right thing. This Jesus did not say it would be easy, but he promised to never leave him alone.
As we proceed along our way in the 21st C., who will be the next mystical prophet who will access the power of Jesus’ life and lead us in ways of GRACE AND TRUTH? The 21st C. began with relative peace, and is now a war-torn world, suffering from anxiety and fear. Do we have the courage to get down on our knees and admit our fear to Jesus, to invite Jesus to come into our hearts and fill us with courage, to give us spiritual strength to stand up for justice, to push against the forces of oppressive imperial power? Can we open our hearts to the true power that Jesus offers us to live a life filled with GRACE AND TRUTH, knowing that he has promised to never leave us alone, never alone?
AMEN
*As reported by Marcus Borg in Mysticism, Empowerment and Resistance, The Center for Spiritual Development Summer Seminar, June 2005.
| Updated 3/26/06 |
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