What Should We Do?
Zephaniah 3:14-18
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:10-18
"Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. For the Lord will remove his hand of judgment and disperse the armies of your enemy. And the Lord himself, the King of Israel, will live among you! At last your troubles will be over—you need fear no more.
On that day the announcement to Jerusalem will be, “Cheer up, don’t be afraid. For the Lord your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will give you victory. He will rejoice over you with great gladness; he will love you and not accuse you.” Is that a joyous choir I hear? No, it is the Lord himself exulting over you in happy song.
I have gathered your wounded and taken away your reproach." (Zeph. 3:14-18, The Living Bible)
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Phil. 4:4, NIV)
The Third Sunday of Advent is Gaudate Sunday, mostly gathered around themes of rejoicing. On Gaudate Sunday, from the Latin "to rejoice," we light a pink candle -- following the purple candles of the first two Advent weeks -- as a pause from the intensity of Advent.
Thus, the Old Testament reading from Zephaniah and the New Testament Epistle from Philippians emphasize rejoicing.
But then, almost as if on cue, here comes John the Baptist with his fiery message of repentance and axes ready to chop down out-of-touch trees. John's sermon challenges our joy. Oh well . . . so much for the break from intensity!
John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
“What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
John answered, “Anyone who has two coats should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
“Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely — be content with your pay.” (Lk. 3:7-14)
John's basic message is repentance. We have made repentance into a scary word, thinking repent is something bad people must do. In reality, repentance refers to a moment-by-moment returning to the Source of our lives, coming back moment-by-moment to an awareness of God, taking on an increasingly expansive vision of God, self, others, and the world that is attuned with God's own vision. Repentance denotes both an interior shift in consciousness, as well as an exterior change in action. Lopsided repentance, in which we attend to one or the other, will not get us to transformation. We must continually return, giving attention to both the interior and the exterior.
The crowd asks a question. In the Gospels, "the crowd" most always represents the behavior or the questions that any person might ask. "The crowd" is the universal voice of Everyman and Everywoman.
"What shall we do, then?" they ask. Good question.
On one level, John responds, "Well, since you asked . . , do what you can. Do what is right. If you have two coats, give one to someone who don't have a coat. If you have extra food, give some to a person who's hungry. Don't cheat. Don't bully. Don't use your position to get ahead." To each group of inquires, John gives directed counsel on what to do. Most of it sounds simple and straightforward. Plain-talk. His answers are social in nature (share what you have, don't extort, don't bully, etc.), but he does not critique the unjust systems which have contributed to these societal ills. He gives advice on a personal, relational level.
At this level, it's almost as if John's advice is, "Give what you can. I'm not asking for a huge sacrifice, the old-fashioned give-till-it-hurts. Just do what you can, what is right and just. You don't have to give until you have nothing left for yourself. Just give out of your abundance. You have enough, someone else has not-enough. So share."
This first level may be sufficient for you today. If it suffices for you, then you can stop reading here.
But I think the passage offers us another level of spiritual insight and challenge which bites us just a bit more.
Spiritual teachers interested in life-change know that life always flows from the inside to the outside. Our doing always emerges from our being. So initially, spiritual teachers are not nearly as concerned with our actions as with our inner landscape . . . our attitudes, thoughts, motivations, patterns of perception and action. Most often, these teachers begin on the inside, attempting to shape us inwardly, knowing that inner change will bring about outer change.
Transformed people (on the inside) transform the world (on the outside).
However, there is another way to get at this, which seems to be the way John chooses. John begins on the outside, with action. He gives the crowd something to do that at the same time seems quite simple, yet nearly impossible. That is, he suggests some action that people will resist, then invites reflection on why they cannot accomplish the outer action. I know, it sounds convoluted. Let me demonstrate . . .
John said, "Anyone who has two coats should share with the one who has none."
I don't have two coats. I have many more than two coats. It should be simple enough for me to share with someone who has none. But then there are voices within me that come up with all kinds of objections, all sorts of rationalizations.
"I have a work coat and a dress coat. I CAN'T get rid of those. I have a jacket for mild, breezy weather and a coat that's a little heavier for temperatures just above freezing and another coat that's more of a parka for the cold-cold. I have another coat, but my mother gave it to me and it has sentimental value . . . and still another coat that doesn't fit me, but maybe it will one day. And if I do give one away, which do I give? Which should I keep? And to whom should I give it? How do I know they will take care of it?"
Do you see what I mean? John's instruction sounds easy. Maybe it should be easy. But it's not. Trying to take some action in the outer world begins to bring up things within me that are skewed, things that are off-center and out of balance. Any attempt to take a new course of action is foreign to me. I have behavior patterns already rutted into my thinking.
Go ahead and run through the entire list John mentions. Who among us does not make excuses, come up with justifications, find ourselves rationalizing? We have dozens of good reasons to explain why we cannot do what John asks of us.
John's words invite us to notice our hesitation . . . to pay attention to the inner resistance that keeps us from acting justly . . . to listen to the internal commentaries which roll around in our minds, almost beneath consciousness . . . to observe the road-blocks within us that keep us from doing our faith . . . to address the inner obstacles we stumble over.
Then, John believes, we will see change in both our inner landscape and in the way we live in the world. This is the repentance, the moral change, John preaches and advocates.
For Reflection:
For reflection today, I offer you this meditation by John Shea, which is based on our John the Baptist text. It is long, but well worth your attention.
The crowds asked him, “What should we do?”
Glad you asked.
Pick a value. It must be a transcendent value, one that is grounded in God. Not one of those contemporary whims that pass as values, like “keeping in touch.”
I mean a real value, like compassion or forgiveness or reconciliation or peace or justice. Something that has some bite in it and will be around long after you’re gone. Something moths and rust cannot consume and thieves cannot break in and steal. For example, let’s take compassion.
Now take ten minutes a day in the morning and meditate on it. Clear your mind of other thoughts and distractions. If they continue to intrude, just notice them and let them go. Return to compassion.
It is good to have a phrase to repeat silently and mindfully. Some Buddhists think equality is the path to compassion, and they suggest a phrase like, “Everyone wants to be happy and doesn’t want to suffer.” As you slowly and silently repeat this phrase that makes you equal with everyone else, pictures of people you know may enter your mind. Simply use their name in the next phrase, “Joan wants to be happy and doesn’t want to suffer . . . Frank wants to be happy and doesn’t want to suffer,” and every so often say, “I want to be happy and don’t want to suffer.” Now you are in the human mess with everyone else.
When you have done this for about ten minutes, get on with the day. Don’t evaluate how the meditation is going. Dismiss all questions like “Did I do it right? Why am I doing this? Did I waste my time?” Just continue to do it.
Also you should read some stuff on compassion. Meditation is not enough. Over the long haul it will heighten your awareness of opportunities for compassionate action. But, in itself, it won’t make you much smarter about compassion. You need to read and ponder, to reflect on what you are reading. . . .
Now for the really important part. At the end of the day, take some time to review the day in the light of your spiritually grounded value of compassion. No doubt you will notice some things that could have been done differently if you had remembered your value of compassion.
Well, get on the phone or email and redo that situation. Don’t let embarrassment stop you. Just do it. You may be awkward at first, but you’ll get used to it.
This is repenting. Repentance is not what bad people have to do. It is what people who live out of transcendent values find necessary. Most of us don’t get it right the first time. We only notice we could have done it differently “over the shoulder.” But when we see a more compassionate way, we have to act on it. This is how we get better. A little.
Getting better means seeing a compassionate way while a situation is actually unfolding. Most likely the first time this happens you will have to pause to figure out what is going on. In the pause a response will come to you. Yes, a response will come to you. It will not be a carefully worked out strategy with all the pluses and minuses lined up in columns for you to evaluate. You will suddenly see it. Like it was there all along but you didn’t notice it. When it comes to you like that, this is the Holy Spirit. Say, “Thank you.”
And act on what you see. The courage to act on what you see will also come from the Holy Spirit. Say, “Thank you.”
Although you have compassion in your heart and you saw what to do and you did it, it may not have worked out very well. That’s not the Holy Spirit. That’s you. Redo it. Redoing and pausing / pausing and redoing are partners. Where there is one, you’ll find the other.
After a while, you’ll think, “I’m getting pretty damn good at this. I am probably the most compassionate person in this whole organization (family, neighborhood, etc.).” That’s your ego wanting to separate you from other people in order to feel superior. Say, “No thank you.”
Instead, humbly recommit yourself to your spiritual practice on compassion, your spiritual reading on compassion, and your experiments in bring compassion into all you do. That’s fire, the steady burning that does not burn out. Of course, by now you know where this perseverance comes from, so say, “Thank you.”
One last thing. This process is never over. Repenting is forever. Get used to it.
[John Shea, The Relentless Widow (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2006), 12-14.]
Showing posts with label compassion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label compassion. Show all posts
Sunday, December 16, 2018
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Second Tuesday of Advent - December 11, 2018
What Do You Think?
Isaiah 40:1-11
Matthew 18:12-14
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young. (Isa. 40:11)
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish." (Matt 18:12-14)
Isaiah's promise of God's tender care for people finds fulfillment in Jesus' short teaching story of a shepherd who will not rest from laboring until all the sheep are cared for. Even when 99% of the sheep are safe and well-cared for, the shepherd still seeks the imperiled one.
Jesus begins the story, however, with a cryptic invitation: "What do you think?" He invites us into the story. He wants to know where we stand on these things. "What are your thoughts about this?"
I know some of my thoughts about the story. What about you?
**It's insane, leaving 99 sheep vulnerable in order to find just one.
**Better to sacrifice the one than to put the 99 at risk.
**It's not fiscally responsible. Financially you open yourself up to huge losses.
**This shepherd doesn't have much common sense.
Megan McKenna shares a reflection, written in 1997 by a friend, which illumines the Gospel story in a contemporary way. The United States is in a different place now than in 1997; nevertheless, the same arguments and ideas are still around.
In the ongoing debate about health care and health insurance in our country, one of the sticking points is what to do about those people who have no form of health insurance at all. Some argue that this situation is simply not acceptable. We need, they insist, a program that offers universal coverage, reaching even to the poorest of the poor. Another group argues strongly against this position, asserting that any attempt to provide insurance for everyone will end up bankrupting the system and ruining what we already have. Better to cover as many people as possible and sacrifice those few who slip through the cracks.
It is clear that those in the latter group would not hire the shepherd in today's Gospel as their risk management consultant. His search for the one sheep that has gone astray would be seen as an extravagant gesture, a completely unacceptable risk to the other ninety-nine sheep.
In an era that calculates how much it can afford to do for those at the bottom of the social ladder, the ethic of Jesus must seem extravagant almost to the point of absurdity. Yet it might be a worthwhile Advent exercise for those of us who claim to follow Jesus to picture ourselves explaining this position to him. What would we say? Would we not be forced to acknowledge that the phrase "We can't afford to do this" means that we cannot do it without threatening our own financial and social well-being?
One suspects that he who suffered and died so that all might be saved would not be particularly susceptible to arguments about risk management. Today's Gospel baldly asserts that it is no part of God's plan "that a single one of these little ones shall ever come to grief." The question that confronts us in the middle of this Advent season is this: "Where do we fit into that plan?"
(Megan McKenna, Advent, Christmas and Epiphany: Stories and Reflections on the Daily Readings, pp 58-59)
Jesus asks, "What are your thoughts about this? What do you think?"
For Reflection:
Take any contemporary social issue. Hold it up to this Gospel reading. Hold it up to the life and way of Jesus. Then hear Jesus ask you, "What do you think about this?"
Explain your position to him . . . why something should or should not be done. Are you open to altering your position in light of having to explain your stance to Jesus?
Possible issues for consideration might be:
Immigration
Gun control
Sexual harassment
Racial tensions
Fake news / "alterative facts"
Liberal elites / Basket of deplorables
Poverty
Terrorism
Hunger
Refugees
Salary inequality in the workplace
Isaiah 40:1-11
Matthew 18:12-14
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young. (Isa. 40:11)
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish." (Matt 18:12-14)
Isaiah's promise of God's tender care for people finds fulfillment in Jesus' short teaching story of a shepherd who will not rest from laboring until all the sheep are cared for. Even when 99% of the sheep are safe and well-cared for, the shepherd still seeks the imperiled one.
Jesus begins the story, however, with a cryptic invitation: "What do you think?" He invites us into the story. He wants to know where we stand on these things. "What are your thoughts about this?"
I know some of my thoughts about the story. What about you?
**It's insane, leaving 99 sheep vulnerable in order to find just one.
**Better to sacrifice the one than to put the 99 at risk.
**It's not fiscally responsible. Financially you open yourself up to huge losses.
**This shepherd doesn't have much common sense.
Megan McKenna shares a reflection, written in 1997 by a friend, which illumines the Gospel story in a contemporary way. The United States is in a different place now than in 1997; nevertheless, the same arguments and ideas are still around.
In the ongoing debate about health care and health insurance in our country, one of the sticking points is what to do about those people who have no form of health insurance at all. Some argue that this situation is simply not acceptable. We need, they insist, a program that offers universal coverage, reaching even to the poorest of the poor. Another group argues strongly against this position, asserting that any attempt to provide insurance for everyone will end up bankrupting the system and ruining what we already have. Better to cover as many people as possible and sacrifice those few who slip through the cracks.
It is clear that those in the latter group would not hire the shepherd in today's Gospel as their risk management consultant. His search for the one sheep that has gone astray would be seen as an extravagant gesture, a completely unacceptable risk to the other ninety-nine sheep.
In an era that calculates how much it can afford to do for those at the bottom of the social ladder, the ethic of Jesus must seem extravagant almost to the point of absurdity. Yet it might be a worthwhile Advent exercise for those of us who claim to follow Jesus to picture ourselves explaining this position to him. What would we say? Would we not be forced to acknowledge that the phrase "We can't afford to do this" means that we cannot do it without threatening our own financial and social well-being?
One suspects that he who suffered and died so that all might be saved would not be particularly susceptible to arguments about risk management. Today's Gospel baldly asserts that it is no part of God's plan "that a single one of these little ones shall ever come to grief." The question that confronts us in the middle of this Advent season is this: "Where do we fit into that plan?"
(Megan McKenna, Advent, Christmas and Epiphany: Stories and Reflections on the Daily Readings, pp 58-59)
Jesus asks, "What are your thoughts about this? What do you think?"
For Reflection:
Take any contemporary social issue. Hold it up to this Gospel reading. Hold it up to the life and way of Jesus. Then hear Jesus ask you, "What do you think about this?"
Explain your position to him . . . why something should or should not be done. Are you open to altering your position in light of having to explain your stance to Jesus?
Possible issues for consideration might be:
Immigration
Gun control
Sexual harassment
Racial tensions
Fake news / "alterative facts"
Liberal elites / Basket of deplorables
Poverty
Terrorism
Hunger
Refugees
Salary inequality in the workplace
Monday, December 10, 2018
Second Monday of Advent - December 10, 2018
Participating in Kindness and Compassion
Isaiah 35:1-10
Luke 5:17-26
Again today, a common theme bridges the Old Testament lesson to the Gospel.
Isaiah 35 anticipates a time when God will cause the dry land to be fruitful, when the feeble will be strong, when the blind will see, when the deaf will hear, and when streams will gush through the desert.
The Gospel reading in Luke 5 points us to a day when the prophecy is fulfilled. A paralyzed man is carried to Jesus by friends who creatively drop him on his mat into the presence of Jesus through a hole in the roof. The crowds were large and the four persons carrying the mat could not navigate the throngs; yet, they found a way to act with kindness and compassion on behalf of the lame man.
While the story moves on toward a larger point of contention -- the religious leaders who object to Jesus healing the man by means of forgiveness -- we dare not miss the obvious. Not only is the kingdom of God (life which is lived with God at the Center) present in Jesus, but there are also those who come alongside Jesus, necessary participants in the compassionate, kind, and healing work Jesus is about. Those who carry the man on the mat join in the saving work of Jesus, whether they know it or not.
The hope of Advent is not that Jesus will come in order to free us to sit and watch him set the world aright.
The hope of Advent is you and I actively participating in God's work in the world through common acts of mercy, compassion, kindness, and self-giving.
Not only is Jesus mystically present in the world. He is also present in the world through you and me. Together, we join him as a sign of the kingdom's presence.
For Reflection:
1. Spend time in the Gospel story, Luke 5:17-26, among the different characters. For example, meditate on the story as the person on the mat . . . then as the friends who carry the mat . . . then as the religious people who object to Jesus' healing and forgiving . . . even as Jesus. Be careful not to analyze the story, but rather allow yourself to feel and sense along with the different persons in the narrative.
2. Make a pledge to some small acts of mercy and kindness this Advent as a way of joining Jesus in the kingdom's coming.
Isaiah 35:1-10
Luke 5:17-26
Again today, a common theme bridges the Old Testament lesson to the Gospel.
Isaiah 35 anticipates a time when God will cause the dry land to be fruitful, when the feeble will be strong, when the blind will see, when the deaf will hear, and when streams will gush through the desert.
The Gospel reading in Luke 5 points us to a day when the prophecy is fulfilled. A paralyzed man is carried to Jesus by friends who creatively drop him on his mat into the presence of Jesus through a hole in the roof. The crowds were large and the four persons carrying the mat could not navigate the throngs; yet, they found a way to act with kindness and compassion on behalf of the lame man.
While the story moves on toward a larger point of contention -- the religious leaders who object to Jesus healing the man by means of forgiveness -- we dare not miss the obvious. Not only is the kingdom of God (life which is lived with God at the Center) present in Jesus, but there are also those who come alongside Jesus, necessary participants in the compassionate, kind, and healing work Jesus is about. Those who carry the man on the mat join in the saving work of Jesus, whether they know it or not.
The hope of Advent is not that Jesus will come in order to free us to sit and watch him set the world aright.
The hope of Advent is you and I actively participating in God's work in the world through common acts of mercy, compassion, kindness, and self-giving.
Not only is Jesus mystically present in the world. He is also present in the world through you and me. Together, we join him as a sign of the kingdom's presence.
For Reflection:
1. Spend time in the Gospel story, Luke 5:17-26, among the different characters. For example, meditate on the story as the person on the mat . . . then as the friends who carry the mat . . . then as the religious people who object to Jesus' healing and forgiving . . . even as Jesus. Be careful not to analyze the story, but rather allow yourself to feel and sense along with the different persons in the narrative.
2. Make a pledge to some small acts of mercy and kindness this Advent as a way of joining Jesus in the kingdom's coming.
Saturday, December 8, 2018
First Saturday of Advent - December 8, 2018
What You Have Received as a Gift, Give as a Gift
Isaiah 30:19-25
Matthew 9:35-10:8
In the Gospel reading from Matthew 9, Jesus teaches, preaches, and heals as he moves through towns and villages. He meets crowds everywhere he goes, and is moved with compassion as he observes that the people are "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."
Then, Jesus says that there is much need, much to harvest in the world, but that few are laboring for that harvest. Pray for workers who will serve the harvest of God's kingdom, he says to his followers.
For those of us who would read an Advent blog like this, I imagine that Black Friday and Cyber Monday signalled the need to decorate homes, make lists, plan menus, coordinate calendars, buy and wrap gifts, and confirm travel plans for the holidays. With so much on our plates, we may feel like those who are harassed and helpless, completely besieged by the demands of the season.
In truth, though, most of what feels burdensome to us during December is surface stuff . . . the lists and plans and anxieties that we take upon ourselves.
At the same time, there may be weightier concerns both within us and in those around us . . . grieving significant passings . . . loss of meaningful work . . . newly diagnosed health concerns . . . emotional struggles, including depression.
In the Gospel text, I imagine Jesus turning to those of us who are his followers and asking that we pray for someone -- or perhaps to be the ones -- who will go out to where people are truly harassed and helpless, where persons are lost and without a way, despondent and despairing, broken and exhausted, dazed and without a noticeable pathway home.
So what if, as Jesus suggests, we seek out those who are truly harassed and helpless this Advent? What do we have to offer?
In the last line of today's Gospel, Jesus says simply, "What you have received as a gift, give as a gift." (Matt. 10:8)
That is all.
FOR REFLECTION:
Spend time reflecting on Matthew 10:8.
"What you have received as a gift, give as a gift."
As you consider the line, go beyond analysis and what you think it means. Actually do some self-reflection. What have you received as a gift?
After considering what you have been given as gift, you will have some sense of what Jesus might be inviting you to give as gift.
Isaiah 30:19-25
Matthew 9:35-10:8
In the Gospel reading from Matthew 9, Jesus teaches, preaches, and heals as he moves through towns and villages. He meets crowds everywhere he goes, and is moved with compassion as he observes that the people are "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."
Then, Jesus says that there is much need, much to harvest in the world, but that few are laboring for that harvest. Pray for workers who will serve the harvest of God's kingdom, he says to his followers.
For those of us who would read an Advent blog like this, I imagine that Black Friday and Cyber Monday signalled the need to decorate homes, make lists, plan menus, coordinate calendars, buy and wrap gifts, and confirm travel plans for the holidays. With so much on our plates, we may feel like those who are harassed and helpless, completely besieged by the demands of the season.
In truth, though, most of what feels burdensome to us during December is surface stuff . . . the lists and plans and anxieties that we take upon ourselves.
At the same time, there may be weightier concerns both within us and in those around us . . . grieving significant passings . . . loss of meaningful work . . . newly diagnosed health concerns . . . emotional struggles, including depression.
In the Gospel text, I imagine Jesus turning to those of us who are his followers and asking that we pray for someone -- or perhaps to be the ones -- who will go out to where people are truly harassed and helpless, where persons are lost and without a way, despondent and despairing, broken and exhausted, dazed and without a noticeable pathway home.
So what if, as Jesus suggests, we seek out those who are truly harassed and helpless this Advent? What do we have to offer?
In the last line of today's Gospel, Jesus says simply, "What you have received as a gift, give as a gift." (Matt. 10:8)
That is all.
FOR REFLECTION:
Spend time reflecting on Matthew 10:8.
"What you have received as a gift, give as a gift."
As you consider the line, go beyond analysis and what you think it means. Actually do some self-reflection. What have you received as a gift?
After considering what you have been given as gift, you will have some sense of what Jesus might be inviting you to give as gift.
Friday, December 3, 2010
The First Saturday of Advent -- December 4, 2010
Matthew 9:35 - 10:8
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
My own understanding of God has evolved through the years. I think of God and describe the essence of God differently now than I did 20 years ago . . . or 5 years ago . . . or even 6 months ago. And I'm sure that a year or two from now, I'll have yet other images for who God is and how God is present in me, you and the world.
Right now, I'm taken by the image of God as endlessly Self-giving. That is, the chief characteristic of God is that God gives God's Self away. And God does so endlessly, without coming to a place of emptiness. God is not depleted in the spending. It is not as if God comes to the end of the reservoir and all that's left are dust and rocks. No . . . the more God gives away, the more God has to give. God is replenished in the giving.
The guiding image from the Gospels for this is the parable of the Sower, where God is imaged as walking through a field with a sack of seed, which generously and extravagantly God throws about the field, on the good soil and the bad, the rocky soil and the hardpan, into the weeds and among the grasses. God indiscriminately scatters the seed, not judging the soil on which it falls, only concerned that the seed be generously spent.
And what is the seed? What is it God gives away? When God gives God's Self, we experience God's giving in the world as mercy, compassion, healing, forgiveness, love and peace. Where we find the essence of these things authentically in the world, whatever their form, we can be assured that God has authored them.
So in the Gospel reading for today, when Jesus came upon people who were beat up by life, "harassed and helpless" -- or as one translation says, "lying prostrate from exhaustion" -- he spent compassion on them. "Compassion" is the summary word for the healing, cleansing, giving, straight-making, life-giving work that Jesus was doing among the people, as noted in these verses.
There is a bit of a catch in these verses, though, because Jesus doesn't do all the work. It's not about sitting in the cheap bleacher seats and applauding Jesus for his merciful interactions that bring healing and life to the harassed and helpless. Jesus sends his followers out to do the very things he has been doing, that is, to spend mercy and compassion in the world so that people will be healed.
Do you get the double cut here? On the one hand, the disciples become the seed that Jesus is scattering in the world. They embody the generosity of God, the Self-giving of God. Jesus is sending the disciples out -- not so much to have compassion as to be compassion -- into the world to embody his life and love. So from this Energy Center which is God, the disciples are propelled out into the world, carrying the very essence of Jesus within them.
And here's the second cut: What are they to do in the world? The very thing that Jesus has done . . . they are to scatter the same seeds of mercy, compassion and healing. They are to do what Jesus has been doing. They are the seeds . . . and then they scatter God-seeds of their own.
As God is generously Self-giving, so the followers of Jesus are to be generously self-giving. It is the way we become like God and experience union with God.
In the last verse Jesus puts the double-cut to his followers this way: "Freely you have received from God, now freely give away."
In other words, "You have received what God has sown in the world of God's Self. Now, give that away without fear that you'll be diminished. What you spend will be replenished. What you give away will never be depleted." This is the giving that will heal the world.
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
My own understanding of God has evolved through the years. I think of God and describe the essence of God differently now than I did 20 years ago . . . or 5 years ago . . . or even 6 months ago. And I'm sure that a year or two from now, I'll have yet other images for who God is and how God is present in me, you and the world.
Right now, I'm taken by the image of God as endlessly Self-giving. That is, the chief characteristic of God is that God gives God's Self away. And God does so endlessly, without coming to a place of emptiness. God is not depleted in the spending. It is not as if God comes to the end of the reservoir and all that's left are dust and rocks. No . . . the more God gives away, the more God has to give. God is replenished in the giving.
The guiding image from the Gospels for this is the parable of the Sower, where God is imaged as walking through a field with a sack of seed, which generously and extravagantly God throws about the field, on the good soil and the bad, the rocky soil and the hardpan, into the weeds and among the grasses. God indiscriminately scatters the seed, not judging the soil on which it falls, only concerned that the seed be generously spent.
And what is the seed? What is it God gives away? When God gives God's Self, we experience God's giving in the world as mercy, compassion, healing, forgiveness, love and peace. Where we find the essence of these things authentically in the world, whatever their form, we can be assured that God has authored them.
So in the Gospel reading for today, when Jesus came upon people who were beat up by life, "harassed and helpless" -- or as one translation says, "lying prostrate from exhaustion" -- he spent compassion on them. "Compassion" is the summary word for the healing, cleansing, giving, straight-making, life-giving work that Jesus was doing among the people, as noted in these verses.
There is a bit of a catch in these verses, though, because Jesus doesn't do all the work. It's not about sitting in the cheap bleacher seats and applauding Jesus for his merciful interactions that bring healing and life to the harassed and helpless. Jesus sends his followers out to do the very things he has been doing, that is, to spend mercy and compassion in the world so that people will be healed.
Do you get the double cut here? On the one hand, the disciples become the seed that Jesus is scattering in the world. They embody the generosity of God, the Self-giving of God. Jesus is sending the disciples out -- not so much to have compassion as to be compassion -- into the world to embody his life and love. So from this Energy Center which is God, the disciples are propelled out into the world, carrying the very essence of Jesus within them.
And here's the second cut: What are they to do in the world? The very thing that Jesus has done . . . they are to scatter the same seeds of mercy, compassion and healing. They are to do what Jesus has been doing. They are the seeds . . . and then they scatter God-seeds of their own.
As God is generously Self-giving, so the followers of Jesus are to be generously self-giving. It is the way we become like God and experience union with God.
In the last verse Jesus puts the double-cut to his followers this way: "Freely you have received from God, now freely give away."
In other words, "You have received what God has sown in the world of God's Self. Now, give that away without fear that you'll be diminished. What you spend will be replenished. What you give away will never be depleted." This is the giving that will heal the world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)