Luke 17:5-10

How is it that ‘faith’ has come to mean believing something unwarranted, as though faith is intellectual acceptance of a proposition with no proof? This kind of view tends toward seeing faith as irrational. But faith is not groundless. Faith might look at the world differently than those without faith, but that doesn’t make faith groundless. I find Christian faith more rational than atheism. Not only does faith allow me to put reality together differently, it also allows me to have a greater, broader, and deeper view of reality. Faith, in the best sense of the word, is entirely rational. In my opinion, those who think otherwise have shortened their reality.

The other strange thing that has happened to faith is its reduction down to intellectual assent. Human intellect is a beautiful thing, and faith includes intellectual assent, but faith is more than intellectual assent. Take today’s reading about faith (the size of a mustard seed). The disciples aren’t asking for an increase in assent of intellectual propositions. Faith includes the mind, but also the heart; and it includes hope, and love, gracefulness, joy, peace, self-restraint, and duty. I think of faith as more like a way of being human: seeking to become the image of Jesus.

 

Immediately preceding Luke 17:5-10 (verses 1-4) Jesus tells the disciples that there will be interpersonal trouble in their community, so beware.  (vv. 1-3) And, if in this trouble amongst us, another disciple offends us, we can rebuke that person. And if that person repents, we must forgive. Even seven times daily, we must forgive. (vv. 3-4). And it is then, after this teaching from Jesus, that the apostles ask Jesus to increase their faith. Is this a response to the command to forgive rather than an unrelated saying of Jesus on a new topic of teaching? My reaction to the teaching of Jesus about forgiveness is to feel inadequate to the task. So, it is not that far a stretch to think that the disciples are asking for an increase in faith so as to be able to forgive their brothers and sisters in Christ. Faith is more than intellectual assent. It also about having the strength, humility, and grace to forgive consistently.

 

And what are we to make of Jesus’ response to the request of an increase in faith? “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed …”  Is his response to be read as affirming that, although the disciples’ faith is minute, it is ample to obey his command to forgive? Probably. Or is Jesus agreeing that the disciples don’t have the faith to forgive others as he commands? (They don’t even have faith the size of a mustard seed!) That is, they do indeed need an increase of faith. Possibly. If we read Jesus’ answer this way, it points beyond the disciples’ current lack of faith to a time when they and their faith will transform them and the world around. And that transformation will come via the cross and resurrection of Jesus. 

 

Either way, the narrative continues in our reading to the teaching about slaves and their master. What should we make of this? It is almost like Jesus is telling his disciples not to be puffed up with pride when their faith is able to do great things. “If you do end up doing extraordinary things through your faith, don’t expect a reward. You are doing what is expected of you.” In other words, faith is not our doing, something we can take credit for and should be rewarded for by God. Faith, even the size of a mustard seed, is a gift, and as a gift we use it as our master directs.

 

And finally, the narrative continues on with the story of Jesus healing ten lepers. Of the ten, only one returns to give thanks, and he was a Samaritan. There is, perhaps, a thread of meaning appearing in these consecutive chunks in the story of Jesus. It could go something like this:

 

Luke 17:1-3

Beware of trouble in the community of faith.

 

Luke 17:3-4

And remember, forgiveness, even excessive forgiveness is the way of discipleship.

 

Luke 17:5-6

The disciples: “We need more faith to do that Jesus!”

 

Luke 17:7-10

And when our faith does transform and change the world, don’t expect a greater reward as though God owes you something. Faith is a gift, not a possession.

 

Luke 17: 11-19

A better response when we find ourselves with faith, or are the recipients of the transformation of faith, be thankful.

More Than a Prophet (Mustard Seeds 9)

Ann Nadge, a poet I know, has distilled some of the posts from this blog into poetry. She has used my words verbatim, captured the essence of the post, and moulded it into a poet's vision. 

This poem consists of verbatim fragments from an original post on 5 December, 2020.

  

More than a Prophet

Prophets: those they come to save

are on the other side of the dividing line,

those who are condemned

have to make it

to the prophet’s side of the river.

A nice, easy division between

those in, those out, the good and the bad,

the blessed and the damned.

 

More than a prophet, Jesus stands apart-

His willingness to identify

with those he came to save;

Jesus’ death on the cross

to the point of godforsakenness;

His good news of the kingdom

more than dividing sheep and goats

was full of grace and truth.

 

We all have a bit of black and white

condemnation in us.

God is with us in our human failure,

not as a prophet, more than a prophet.

We are not those who have fallen

into despair or cynicism,

we live by hope

because it is God’s kingdom.

 

Grace is alive and well in the world.

Jesus is risen.

Luke 16:14-31 The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

 It is important to notice that in this passage Jesus is no longer talking to his disciples. The previous parable of the Unjust Manager (Lk 16:1-13) was directed to his disciples. In that parable he says to his disciples that we should use mammon shrewdly to gain entry to the eternal homes. And Jesus finishes that sequence with the warning that we cannot serve two masters. (Lk 16:13) Let’s make God the unifying heart of our lives! That Jesus teaches his disciples this means that he knows his disciples don’t have unified hearts. Our hearts are divided and distracted by many things. And the antidote to this idolatry is to follow Jesus. We don’t follow Jesus because God’s love lives in us without competitors; we are disciples so that through following Jesus our hearts will come to love God alone, and all else through and because of this love.

And then, immediately after that parable and its teaching, from 16:14 onward, we are told that the Pharisees – “who were lovers of money” - ridiculed Jesus. But Jesus sees their hypocrisy. Their hearts do not match their outward piety, and they justify themselves in the sight of others. But God does not love outward show, but it is the heart, and the true heart, that God desires in us. Jesus tells them that the law is to be fulfilled, and not ignored or only acknowledged by outward behaviour. (16:16-18)

Then – and Jesus is still addressing the Pharisees not his disciples – he tells this parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. It means something that the text deliberately has Jesus tell this parable to those who are lovers of money and will kill him, and not directly to his disciples.

But what does it mean? Sometimes, it is easier to say what a passage doesn’t mean before we turn to what it means. This is one of those passages. Here are some thoughts on what this passage does not mean.

• It does not follow from this parable that wealth is evil. It is not wealth that is the problem. On the contrary, wealth is a blessing from God. The problem is that we make wealth into mammon.
   
• It does not follow from this parable that we should feel guilty about wealth. The presence of poverty does not mean that wealth is morally wrong.
  
  
• And it does not follow from this parable that the presence of poverty means that the disciples of Jesus must universally be without wealth.

It does follow from this parable that the Pharisees, as opponents of Jesus, and who were lovers of money and hypocrites, rejected the law and the prophets and neglected their duty to the poor. So, just as in the parable, the rich man’s rejection of his duties to the poor and his rejection of the law and the prophets resulted in his rejection in the post-mortem reversal, so too the Pharisees are rejected. So, the parable is a parable of condemnation and rejection of the rich man and therefore (because the parable is directed to them) of the Pharisees. But the parable also points to the larger story of the gospel. The Pharisees reject Jesus in his ministry, preferring their vanity and love of money, and refuse to hear the call of God. And this rejection of Jesus will result in his crucifixion, and when he returns from the dead they will still reject him and his message! (Lk 16:31)

But is that all we are to make of this parable? No. Like any other parable of condemnation there is a message for everyone, whether disciple or not. In the previous parable of the Unjust Manager, the disciples were told to use their wealth to be welcomed into the eternal homes. (Lk 16:9) It is the divided human heart, the heart that prefers competitors to God, that is to be combatted by a generosity of giving and living. And Jesus then tells us that we cannot serve two masters. We are to serve God alone. (See also Lk 4:8 for an account of Jesus rejecting this temptation.) That Jesus teaches the danger of a divided heart to his disciples means that he knows his disciples have divided hearts. (Otherwise, why bother telling us this?) It is in the following of Jesus that our hearts will be purified. If our hearts become more and more divided, and gradually turn more and more to God’s competitors like mammon, then we will lose our discipleship. We will end up loving a competitor to God, not God. And that is the warning for all disciples in this parable and teaching (Lk 16:14-31), even though it is directed at the opponents of Jesus. The end point of the unhealed human heart is rejection of Jesus, and our rejection according to the parable.

(And remember, the full sweep of the good news of Jesus is for all people, even those who have rejected Jesus.)

Luke 16:1-13

This might be the most difficult parable of Jesus to interpret. It is just not that clear what we should make of it. 

• Most people object to the dishonesty of the manager. And yet he is praised by his Lord! 

• And is God a character in the parable? Most probably see the rich man as God, so is Jesus the (dishonest) manager? 

• Or perhaps we should go with the interpretation in 16:8-9 and see ourselves as the manager. “I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” This does at first glance solve some of the problems. Except the parable encourages to use other people’s mammon! What about our own mammon of unrighteousness? If that were the point – to use our own mammon of unrighteousness – the parable doesn’t say it. We have to make (a not unreasonable) jump. The point is that perhaps the parable was originally about something else than our use of mammon. 

• And the first moral drawn by Jesus from the parable (16:8b) isn’t the moral drawn in 16:9. It is almost like the parable had a life before 16:9 was added. 

• And what is being praised by the master? The manager’s shrewdness, and specifically his shrewdness in using what belongs to the Lord (that is, the debts owed). Might the parable originally have been about forgiveness? We could say that Jesus is praising the way people use mammon for their own benefit. Disciples should do likewise, but the benefit is to enter the kingdom. This teaching to use wealth to secure an eternal home is similar to the teaching of Jesus at Lk 12:33-34. He says we should make purses for ourselves in heaven by giving alms. 

• The manager responds to the crisis with ingenuity in the hope that he will be remembered favourably by those he is helping. And surprisingly, he is praised by his Lord, even though he continued to misuse his Lord’s wealth! (Most listeners when Jesus first spoke this parable wouldn’t have seen that coming.) So, what conclusion might we draw? 

First, Luke has this parable and its interpretation in 16:9 continue his teaching on the danger of a divided heart. Recognising the tendency of the human heart to make wealth into mammon, Jesus teaches us to use our wealth in such a way that we do not divide our hearts and wealth cannot become mammon and an impediment in our love of God. 

Another, second, conclusion might also be possible. If the parable did circulate not as a parable about mammon and its use, what might it have been about originally? Acting shrewdly with our own generation? (Lk 16:8b) But we don’t get anything more to add to this. Perhaps the parable might have been about forgiveness. (The parable immediately before is the Prodigal Son). The surprising element of the parable is that the Lord praises the ingenuity of the manager in forgiving debts when propriety dictates opprobrium. That sounds like Jesus and the Law: according to his opponents Jesus misused God’s Law. He forgave what only God could forgive, and perhaps he did so too easily. 

The parables of Jesus can be a little too commonplace for those who have digested them over time. His parables still remain a challenge, even if some of  the shock has been lost. But not with this parable of the Unjust Manager. We are still a little shocked - perhaps shown in our confusion - that the Master praises dishonesty, even if the guy is shrewd. All the parables can still be like this for us. We just need to hear them afresh, occasionally. And let the shock jolt us into a new perspective. Even if only a bit. 

The Found Parables – Sheep and Coins (Luke 15:1-10)

God desires all people to be saved. (1Timothy 2:4; 2Peter 3:9) No favourites. But how does that work with Israel as the Chosen People? Whatever it might mean, it doesn’t mean that Israel is chosen to the exclusion of everyone else. It might mean that all those who are saved will be included into Israel, but that is a different thing to saying that that the Chosen People are a small elite of the saved. The purpose of God choosing the people of Israel was not to specify a small band of people for salvation to the exclusion of all the other nations of the earth. The Chosen People were chosen to bring a blessing to all the families of the world (Genesis 12:1-3) And this universal love culminates in Jesus. Jesus is not a change in course; he is the completion of that original choosing narrated in Genesis 12. And in his life, death and resurrection he becomes the invitation to all people.

The invitation that delivered went out to all those who had ears to listen. Many rejected the call, and often these people were those who thought they were already included in the Chosen People. (Think of the opposition to Jesus displayed by the Pharisees and others in the Gospels.) But many did not reject Jesus. And, often, these were those least expected to be invited or accept the invitation. (The poor, the lame, the blind, see Luke 7:22; 14:21) And still there was room in the banquet! (To steal from a parable from Jesus about this very point. See Luke 14:15-24) So, those who, the Chosen People agreed, could never be invited, gained a guernsey to the banquet. (To borrow from Australian slang.)

This universalism continued in the church. Baptism was offered to all people, not an elite. There were no preferred candidates: all were sought out, to the very ends of the earth. (See especially Matthew 28:19; Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11) But there were other religious views that infected the church and attempted to subvert the universal call to salvation. Their agenda was elitist, and restricted the fullness of God’s love to a select few. Here is the parable of the Lost Sheep from the Gospel of Thomas. (A second century Gnostic Gospel.)

Gospel of Thomas, Saying 107. 

 Jesus said: The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep; one of them, the biggest, went astray; he left (the) ninety-nine (and) sought after the one until he found it. After he had laboured, he said to the sheep: I love you more than the ninety-nine.

That’s not the good news of Jesus. The religious impulse behind this distortion was successfully opposed in the second century A.D. But it is a useful contrast between an elitism that distorts the gospel and the universal call to salvation that is embedded in the whole Jesus event.

And just to show how far that distortion is from the good news, the trajectory of scripture and the tradition that follows it is to say that we are all lost! Not just the preferred sheep, but all of us. And all of us are being searched out by Jesus. (There aren’t any 99 righteous left behind!) But even then, the Gospel is sure that God doesn’t love the lost more than any who might still consider themselves in no need of repentance).

At the end of each of the parables in Luke 15:1-10, it is repeated that there is more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance. (Luke 15:7, 10) That doesn’t mean God loves the repentant sinner more. The repentant sinner might love God more than the unrepentant righteous person, but that is a different matter. (See Luke 7:47-48)

There are no favourites. God wants all to be saved. But equally, there are none who are beyond salvation. God’s desire is not easily thwarted. That’s why we have Jesus, crucified and risen.

Faith is a Gift

Faith is a subtle human phenomenon. Sometimes I call it a practice to break the usual reflex to reduce faith down to the intellectual assent to certain propositions. Faith is a way of approaching life, a way of thinking, a way of acting, feeling, and a way of being. It does have intellectual content but is more than any of what I have just mentioned. And I call it a practice to make it more difficult to take possession of faith, as though it can be one more commodity to own.

Faith is not a possession because, for instance, before it is mine, faith is the faith of the church. (The whole body of Christ, living and departed.) Whatever content ‘faith’ contains, without people teaching it to us, modelling it for us, and showing us how to live ‘the faith’, we would not have a faith to talk about. We might still read the Bible, but without teaching from those who also have learned the faith from someone else, we would not end up with Christian faith. before our faith is our faith, it was someone else's faith before us! So it isn't really mine in the usual sense. And without the Holy Spirit active within us, giving us the capacity to have a faith, the spiritual energy to grasp and learn the faith, and the perseverance to keep hold of faith, we would have no faith, or if we did it would soon expire. It is no exaggeration to say that before the faith is within our grasp, it is the church’s faith, and without the Holy Spirit there is no faith at all, including the faith of the church.

But we can and do talk of ‘my faith’. But it is more like a gift that I am holding rather than a possession. If I were trying to find an analogy it might be something akin to life itself. My life is my life and your life is your life not mine, but my life is never really mine in the sense we use of a possession. I might enjoy life and live it, but I had no say in ‘purchasing’ it and it will be taken from me at some point whether I like it or not. Faith is a bit like that. A generous gift, to be held gently, nurtured, lived, shared, hung onto at times, and celebrated at other times.

Why is this important?

First, it encourages humility as people of faith. In humble gratitude we nurture the gift within us.

Second, because faith in Jesus is a gift from God, faith is the means for us to grow into who we are meant to be by focusing our attention on God. My faith is not about me. It is about God. And in that focus outward to God I will become truly myself.

Third, it gives us a clue of what to do if our faith is weakening. Focus on God. Trust the promises of God. We do that and our faith will rebuild.

Fourth, when we feel things are going badly in our life faith will help us through those difficult times. The gift of faith in Christ grows us in maturity as human beings (it doesn’t shield us from life) to better cope with difficulties, tragedy, and loss and faith will be instrumental in our renewal.

This is part of the message of the Book of Hebrews. The faith of the readers was wavering. So, the writer gives encouragement to them by listing the great figures of faith who have gone before them, and most especially, Jesus, who endured the shame of the cross because of the joy set before him. He trusted in God. We can too. God is reliable, from age to age. And Jesus is too. What we see in Jesus on the cross is not an arbitrary mood change on the part of God. Jesus is God. God is Christlike and there is no unChristlikeness in Jesus. The love of the cross is not changeable. (Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.) The love of Jesus and the Father defeats even death itself. Believe it.

Luke 14:25-35

 

The saying of Jesus to hate is harsh. But in the time of Jesus it didn’t carry the meaning we attach to it. It is more about attitude and action than emotion. It’s akin to choosing one over the other. But it is more than this, for the hyperbole points to the way in which the good in our lives so easily usurps the place of God in our hearts. (See Luke 16:13) Noting that ‘hate’ in this passage doesn’t mean exactly what we mean by it does reduce the shock somewhat. But there is still no escaping Jesus’ radical call to discipleship. His call remains urgent and uncompromising. And that’s classic Jesus. 

Situating this passage in the broader context of Luke 14 (and beyond) will help us understand it a little better. In Luke 9:51 Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem. He has predicted his death in Jerusalem, and he will do so again along the way. He will enter Jerusalem in Luke 19, and on this journey to his death and resurrection, Jesus will teach about discipleship, call people to follow him as disciples, and have this call rejected. This is important. The radical call matches his own self-sacrifice on the approaching cross. This call is so important that it even takes precedence over the (potentially) best parts of our lives. And subordinates to it even those duties that are rightly required of us. (See Lk 9:57-62.) 

So that is point one today: The urgent and resolute call to discipleship matches Jesus’ own determined movement to Jerusalem. He is not asking us to do what he has not himself done. He is the pioneer and perfector of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2) Most of Luke 14 occurs at a dinner party held by a leader of the Pharisees. (14:1) And Jesus teaches those present about the kingdom, humility, disgrace, and cost of discipleship and the cost of rejecting his call to discipleship. One of the parables he tells, and it occurs immediately before our current passage, is the parable of the invitation to a great dinner, and all the invitees decline. They decline because of important things like family and possessions. So, the slave is sent to gather in the poor, crippled, the blind, and lame. But there is still room! So anyone and everyone is then brought into the banquet. And those who rejected the invitation, we are told, will not taste the dinner. (Lk 14:16-24) 

(And as an aside, this three-fold structure of invitee – those who reject the invite, the poor etc, and anyone passing by – matches the flow of the gospel’s movement in Luke/Acts. The invitation that is Jesus is given to some who reject it, then it goes out to the poor, lame, etc, and finally (in Acts) whoever is passing by, including the Gentiles.) 

And now notice what Jesus says in today’s passage we must renounce if we wish to be his disciples. Family and possessions (Lk 14:26, 33), exactly what prevents the original invitees of the parable from accepting the invitation to the banquet. (Lk 14:18-20) So, today’s passage doesn’t come out of the blue. It follows directly the parable before it. This is part of the explanation of why the language in today’s reading appears so harsh. The other part of the reason why Jesus is so harsh today is because he knows the propensity of the human heart to let that which is good in our lives usurp the place of God. This is point two today: If we find Jesus’ resolute, radical call to discipleship and the accompanying admonition to ‘hate’ disturbing or offensive we are living in a bubble. The human heart is made for God but the universal tendency is for us to fill our hearts with that which cannot satisfy us. And we do this at the expense of God and our own good. 

People often say to me that they haven’t fallen into this trap. But if Jesus had made the characters in the parable of the invitees who decline the invitation speak, they would say the same thing! And sometimes people say to me it is a matter of balance. I like that, the problem is that I can’t find in scripture where Jesus says it. And – you’ve heard me say this before – the path for most people is not to give up everything to the point of destitution. 

For most people it is a matter of living in a world of responsibilities that include the use of wealth and family, both of which in scripture are blessings from God. And yet, all is to brought under the rule of the crucified-risen Christ in the lives of people like me whose heart is too easily swayed. Where to from here? (And what I am about to say applies to any of the hard sayings of Jesus and just as equally to any sin that weighs us down.) 

Point three today: let us follow Jesus. Let us learn to love him. Let us learn through Jesus to love God and each other, and our neighbours as ourselves. At this point you and I can be terrible disciples. Nevertheless, accept the call afresh and regularly. In prayer, in repentance, in life choices, through renewal that is often accompanied with a sense of failure. Notice that Jesus, when he calls disciples, never tries to discover if the new disciple is worthy. It is Jesus who makes us worthy while pilgrimaging with him on the way of the cross to the heavenly Jerusalem. We aren't worthy to be disciples because we are already perfect. We are made perfect through following Jesus.

Hebrews 11:29-12:4

The Book of Hebrews was written for a community of faith that was clinging to faith in Jesus, but only just. They were being persecuted by the world around them. That is always hard, but there is also always the discipline of being a Christian. Following the humble road of Jesus, and giving up life options because it is contrary to Jesus are part of the cross we carry like Jesus to share in his resurrection. Not to mention the hard work of forgiving those we don’t really want to forgive. Loving our enemies, maintaining the bonds of mutual affection with those who think in polar opposite ways to us. And this community was losing its faith. The joy set before them was waning.

 

An alternative was to look to angels for transcendent help. (See Hebrews 1 which is all about the superiority of Jesus over angels.) They could see Jesus. He was like them. And he endured the cross, as were they. But their faith that he would lead them to heaven was waning. (Looking for transcendence is not unusual; think of the popularity of western intellectual buddhism or the irrationality of crystals.)

 

The author reminds them that in Jesus they have the promise of God’s rest. God has declared this, they have ‘heard it’, and this voice should lift their eyes in faith to heaven. They aren’t being asked to ignore their suffering, but to look to Jesus who suffered the agony and shame of the cross, and he gives us a better hope than anything else people are tempted to follow or believe in. (Jesus is a better hope, provides a better covenant, is better than angels, provides a better sacrifice, and in him we can hope for a better resurrection, because he is the better high priest, the Son made perfect forever.)

 

In Hebrews 11 we are told of the great figures of faith of the past like Abel, Noah, Abraham and Sarah. They endured. They won the race. We could switch metaphors and think of them as a great rope of faith. All these figures are holding the rope, and Christ – the pioneer and perfector of our faith - has anchored this rope in God’s final rest, the heavenly Jerusalem. We don’t need to get out the proverbial machete and cut our way through the wilderness to the promised land. Jesus, the pioneer, has done that for us. We follow him.

 

So, let’s stay connected to the rope for the sake of the joy set before us. Despite all that has happened, and all that will happen, nurture the hope that is to come.  Christ is a greater hope than anything we can hope for in this life that is bound to this life only. 

 

But then comes the really audacious part. All these great figures of faith who have gone before us, who won the race, for our sake have not received what was promised. Their perfection awaits our arrival, so that we will all be made perfect together in Christ. The whole Body (of Christ), together. That’s audacious. We all understand that we might need the witnesses who have gone before us to encourage us in our faith. And we all need Jesus. But they need us to receive their final reward? What, generation after generation, waiting … for us? Yes, for all the people of God.

 

Salvation isn’t only about us, those we know or know of, those we love, or those we remember. Salvation is for all the people of God, and our perfection is found in Christ as one, his Body, together. This is why Jesus, the true Son, was sent: to bring home the full number of the children of God. So, keep hold of the rope. Help others whose faith is wavering. When your faith wavers, there is no shame in this. Everyone grasping the rope of faith has moments. But when our faith wavers, let’s seek out help so we can help each other nurture faith wherever it is that we gather together. And let’s gather in those called to join us in grasping the rope of faith.

 

Mary and Martha

 In this story of Jesus with Mary and Martha, what is it that distracts Martha? And from what is she distracted? A common answer is that Martha is distracted by her serving, and that her service distracts her from sitting at the feet of Jesus (like Mary).

At first glance it might look like that. And in the time of Jesus the usual place place for women was not at the feet of the teacher. It is significant that, whatever might be going on for Martha, Jesus affirms the place of Mary at his feet learning as a disciple. And this cannot be taken away from her. In the discipleship of Jesus women and men together are called to serve as Jesus served and to learn at the feet of Jesus.

But a closer look at the story reveals something else as well is going on for Martha other than being distracted by her act of serving Mary and Jesus. She appears resentful of Mary leaving her to do all the work. Maybe it is this resentment that is distracting her from her service as an act of hospitality and discipleship.  Her heart is split by her resentment and her work is losing its character as service.

 

Look at it this way: if Martha was not resentful, but was freely and happily offering her service to Jesus (and her annoying sister), would there be any need for Jesus to say what he said? Would Jesus have called her over to say she should follow Mary’s lead and sit at his feet at that moment? I doubt it. Jesus doesn’t split discipleship and service. And so much discipleship is carried out in the context of hospitality, the kind of hospitality that Martha is displaying. (Luke 10:5-9 comes to mind.)

 

During bible study on Friday, Jesus’ empathy for Martha in her distractedness was noted. Jesus does not scold Martha; he gently says her name, and in this gentleness corrects her. It is a subtle feature of the text, but beautiful nonetheless.

 

It should also be noted that this story follows immediately on from the Parable of the Good Samaritan. That parable is all about loving service. Jesus is in no way suggesting that the Good Samaritan is being distracted! But just in case the reader misses the point, acts of loving service and learning from Jesus go together. Disciples are Good Samaritans and Marys sitting at the feet of Jesus.

For a previous post on this story of Martha and Mary, see here. 

Luke 8:26-39 The Gerasene Demoniac

 This is a strange story to modern ears. Although, there are universal insights within the passage that transcend time.

Three parts of the narrative worth noting.

 

1. The name of the demon is ‘Legion’. Luke tells us that the man is possessed by many demons. But ‘Legion’ also referred to a unit of soldiers in the Roman army, the army that occupied the country. It is difficult not to see a connection. The social situation of the man – under Roman occupation – lives in him.

 

2. The story is a reverse scapegoating story. In a paradigmatic scapegoating story, the crowd throw the (alleged) demon-possessed person over the cliff to exorcise the evil from their midst. (It never works.) In such a case, imagine the crowd looking over the cliff at the dead body of the dead scapegoat far below. But in this story the order is reversed. The formerly-possessed man, now in his right mind, looks on as the demons (in the unclean pigs) rush to their deaths. Those who formerly lived in him have been ejected, and he is free.

 

3. The people of the town beg Jesus to leave them. Strange that they don’t ask Jesus to stay and heal others. It is as though Jesus has disrupted their lives by setting free this man.

 

So, what has been disrupted? Perhaps it is the distorted social relationships that live in the man. We are told in the narrative of the attempts by the people of the town to help the possessed man. At first glance we think it is too bad the man couldn’t be helped. He escapes their attempts to bind him. But what if he is escaping those whose distorted social relationships live in him? The people need someone to ‘help’, but not for his benefit, but for their own benefit. He breaks their bonds and escapes, but only temporarily; it is Jesus who will truly heal the man.

And notice also that the Jesus does not give the man permission to leave the place where he was (formerly) bound. Instead, Jesus sends him back into the jigsaw of social distortion as a missionary of the peace and freedom that Jesus can give. He is a living missionary of the good news. As a disciple of Jesus the formerly possessed man will now be the one who disrupts the social relations of the town. This is integral to being a disciple. To be a living presence of the peace and healing of Christ in a world in need of that peace and healing. The greater the healing, the greater the freedom of Christ, the less we will fit the jigsaw. That is, won’t fit the jigsaw (of distortion) anymore, at least as we might have formerly. But that is why our discipleship as missionaries of this peace can be so powerful, and in ways not easily seen at times.

We live in an age of blaming others. When we neglect our inner healing and look only to heal other people or societal structures, we are on the path to scapegoating.  The surest way to prevent scapegoating is to remember Jesus (who died a scapegoat) and take into the world his healing that lives in us.

Notes on the Readings for Pentecost Year C

 A. The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11)

1. Gen 1-12 include universal stories: we read them and see something of ourselves and the universal human predicament in these stories  (For example: Creation and Fall through resentment leading to  human violence and arrogance, revenge and murder.)

 

2. Notice that, despite the best efforts of humankind to “make a name for ourselves,” God still has to “come down” to see the great tower built into the heavens. The arrogance of humankind is on display, shown in a competition with God.

 

3. God confuses and scatters humankind to break up our attempt to be great and all-powerful. The greatness humankind aspires to without due reference to God leads to a uniformity we can recognise in the great mass movements of the twentieth century. In confusing our language (different languages) we are scattered to await the true unity that God will build within us. That is, in confusing and scattering us, God is saving us from ourselves.

 

B. The Holy Spirit Descends (Acts 2)

1. Jews from all over the region (speaking different languages) have come to Jerusalem to celebrate the great Festival of Pentecost. They are a microcosm of the great variety of humankind. Even their unity as the Chosen People/the People of God must wait for its final form in the preaching of the good news by the disciples of Jesus.

 

2. Notice that it is not the listeners who are enabled by the Spirit to understand the dialect of the disciples. The Spirit enables the disciples to speak the good news of what God has done in Christ into the variety of peoples and languages of the world, and in this variety bring a new, unforeseen unity. The unity is not to be found in a uniformity, but in the new humanity won for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

 

C. Love and Unity of the Father and Son in Us (John 14)

1. We have heard how the universal disunity of humankind (symbolically displayed in our differing languages) is brought into a surprising unity through the folly of the cross and resurrection of Jesus and the giving of the Spirit.

 

2. It is worth comparing the apparent foolishness of God’s wisdom displayed in the cross of Jesus with the ‘wisdom’ and arrogance of human attempts to bring unity.

 

3. Jesus and the Father are one.  The unity we enjoy and must nurture comes to us through union with Jesus, and through him, union with the Father. That is, he and his Father make their home in us. This is the “much fruit” that comes from the seed that falls to the earth and dies. We are one because of Christ’s death.

 

4. Therefore, we must always remember that our unity is not made by our own effort, but is a gift of God, won for us at great cost. However, the unity we enjoy can be easily undermined by our own effort.

 

5. The Advocate/Spirit abides in us and teaches us from within. And what are we taught? The Advocate/Spirit will teach us how to love Jesus by obeying his great commandment: to love one another as he has loved us.

The Day of Resurrection (Mustard Seeds 8)

 Ann Nadge, a poet I know, has distilled some of the posts from this blog into poetry. She has used my words verbatim, captured the essence of the post, and moulded it into a poet's vision. 

This poem consists of verbatim fragments from an original post on 19 April, 2025.

 

The Day of Resurrection

The death and resurrection

of Jesus together changed everything.

Jesus died an outcast,

rejected by all, judged a sinner

and worthy of execution.

Without the resurrection,

lost to history - just one more failure,

one more criminal, one more statistic,

lost amongst the dead of history.

 

The resurrection changed this -

If the 'Jesus thing' is only

about the resurrection,

why does the risen Jesus have nail holes?

The cross and its meaning cannot

be divorced from the resurrection -

God's "Yes!“ against human sin,

the nail holes in the body of Jesus,

part of the Christian revolution,

forgiveness through repentance.

 

Jesus died out of love for us,

death initiated, ended in love.

Human failure is judged -

It is love that judges, love that saves us.

The constancy of love demands

nothing more, or less than love,

disciples of that constancy.

Reflection on Forgiveness (Mustard Seeds 7)

Ann Nadge, a poet I know, has distilled some of the posts from this blog into poetry. She has used my words verbatim, captured the essence of the post, and moulded it into a poet's vision. 

This poem consists of verbatim fragments from an original post on 13 February, 2021.

Reflection on Forgiveness.

 

As we head to forgiveness

and grow into the full stature of Christ….

Where am I in all of this?

Am I ready to 'die' to whatever

has brought me to be so offended?

Not a call to attack oneself, rather,

an invitation to self-understanding.

 

Sometimes there is a remainder -

no simple forgetting, no easy

moving on as though it 'doesn't matter'.

When understanding, empathy,

do not cover the sin, we have

entered the realm of forgiveness,

its asymmetry, not deserved,

not earned, not a reciprocal

coming down off our high horses

and meeting somewhere in the middle.

It is full of grace. 

 

Forgiveness costs us-

reconciliation where there is

human alienation, is neither easy nor cheap.

Grace is always costly. We should not

separate the two, cross and resurrection.

The forgiving victim of sin

offers forgiveness and sends disciples

to proclaim repentance, forgiveness of sins.

This is God and God's way:

complete embrace of what is not divine,

bringing reconciliation.

On God’s Love, Spiritual Discipline and the Freedom of Patience (Mustard Seeds 6)

Ann Nadge, a poet I know, has distilled some of the posts from this blog into poetry. She has used my words verbatim, captured the essence of the post, and moulded it into a poet's vision. 

This poem consists of verbatim fragments from an original post on 2 September, 2021.

On God’s Love, Spiritual Discipline  and the Freedom of Patience

There is nothing God is withholding,

waiting for us to earn.

Everything is given – what more

can there be than the love that is God?

What God has done in Jesus

and given in the Spirit

is working its way through our lives

and the whole of creation. 

 

To live into what has been bestowed

requires new habits of thought and feeling,

practising the spiritual disciplines, the sense

of the presence of God to blossom -

new habits of awareness and gratitude,

not always intense discipline,

but a freedom and patience

that waits for God in our lives,

the presence of God unveiled

now and in our past. After all,

joy can’t be manufactured

it is a gift.

Comments on the Readings for Easter 4C

 Acts 9:36-43 

Earlier in Acts, Peter had great success in turning the hearts of his Jewish listeners to Jesus through his first speech. (Acts 2:37-42) then Peter visits the coastal plain and heals a man named Aeneas and, through this healing, converts a whole area, “who turn to the Lord.” (Acts 9:32-35) So, through word and action, the Christian mission is expanding among the Jews of Jerusalem and the surrounding region. Our reading follows this story of the healing of Aeneas, with Peter responding to a cry for help. In our story today we gain a glimpse of the humanity of those involved in the story. Often, as in the case of the healing of Aeneas, the narration of the miracle is terse and to the point. And because of this, we often miss that a healing or other miracle like this comes after a tragedy that deeply affected those around. (Not only the one healed.) And because the story is usually told so matter-of-factly, we miss the human element. But in this story, we are provided a window into the grief of ordinary people. We are told of Tabitha’s good works, and those who grieve show Peter the evidence of this. They loved this woman. After she dies, they lay her in an upstairs room. (As was the custom.) We glimpse a real life here. And through Peter, Jesus gives her life. (It is important to note that Peter does not have life in himself – the power is that of Jesus.) 

Rev 7:9-17 

Immediately prior to the section that we are reading, the tribulations of history are in full swing. (Rev 7:1-8) But there is a short respite before the tribulations continue, to allow time for the servants of God to be marked and sealed on their foreheads. And the number who were sealed were 144,000, with 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, including, significantly, the ‘lost tribes’ of Israel. (See Jeremiah 31:8) This number, constituted by multiples of the symbolic number twelve, represents the fullness of the reconstituted and renewed people of God. “Israel” is first used in Revelation here at verse 4; the chosen ones are gathered and sealed with the blood of the Lamb. Another, and final, Exodus is underway in the vision. And then we arrive at our reading today. John sees a vast multitude, too great to count, from every nation and language. (Interacting with Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-11) While it might seem confusing that there are two accounts of the redeemed, they play into each other. The vocation of Israel (see Genesis 12:1-3) is fulfilled in the renewed twelve tribes of Israel, called from every nation and language. (And we are reminded of Jesus calling twelve Apostles to symbolise the renewed twelve tribes of Israel, and through these apostles, the renewed people of God would include Jews and Gentiles.) We are still witnessing the liturgy of heaven. The people of God are worshipping at the throne, with robes and palms reminiscent of worship in the (recently destroyed) Temple in Jerusalem. We are told that the worshippers have come through the great ordeal, purified by the blood of the Lamb. John is giving his listener/reader (including us) a vision of ourselves with God and the Lamb in the kingdom (to come, yet also strangely here). In this Kingdom there will be no more tears, and the Lamb will guide us to “springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” This is the message: Rejoice and have confidence that God is working on our behalf for the fulfillment of the Kingdom. 

 

John 10 :22-30 

What do you use to identify who and what God is? One ancient way is by the things that God does. If the one you are identifying as God carries out these functions, then that one is God. In John’s Gospel, the author demonstrates that Jesus is God because he carries out these functions. There are a number of functions that only God can execute. For example, life-giver, creator, and judge. Filling out life-giver a bit, we might say that God is source of all life. Not like a prophet who raises the dead in the name of God, but someone who has life in himself, the sheer livingness of God as their own possession. This is Jesus. A classic passage where Jesus identifies himself as possessing life in himself is John 5:25-26. (See also John 10:17-18; 11:25-26.) And this also touches on God as creator, the one who gives life to everything that lives. (See John 1:1-4) And another function of God is protection, because God is greater than all else. These two, life and eternal protection, are the central point in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus says that he, the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, will give his sheep eternal life. And, just as no one will snatch his sheep out of his hand (not like the hireling of John 10:1-10), no one can snatch the sheep out of his Father’s hand because the Father is greater than all, even death and sin. Therefore – and this is the climax - Jesus and the Father are one. (John 10:30) We can trust Jesus, for he is the very Word of God made flesh. (See John 1:1-5, 10-18.) All that Jesus is he has received from the Father through self-giving love: God’s sheer livingness, judgement, life and protection to share with creation. And Jesus the Son loves the Father, and in that love gives his life in obedience to the Father’s desire for our good, our life, our eternal life. (John 3:16)