Before we follow: October 27, 2024

 Year B, Pentecost 23                       Mark 10:46-52                                                                                                     The Gospel readings from Mark over the last few weeks have not been easy.  The disciples have made some serious missteps.  They have misunderstood Jesus, argued with Jesus, bickered amongst themselves about who is the greatest, and requested special seats of honor. I have struggled with these readings not because I am horrified by the disciples’ words or actions, but because I can identify with the disciples in so many of their words and actions. I know their fear and anxiety because I often feel that fear and anxiety. 

            Today’s reading is a welcome reprieve from the readings of the last month---finally, a simple miracle story.  I mean, who doesn’t love a good miracle story? Often commentators talk about Bartimaeus as an example of what discipleship should look like. They contrast him to the story we heard earlier in chapter 10.  That story was about a rich man who had come to Jesus and asked him what he must do to receive eternal life.  Jesus reminded him of the commandments and the man confirmed he had followed them all. Then Jesus told him he needed to sell all he had and give his money to the poor—then he could follow him.  The man went away grieving because he had so many possessions. We don’t know what happened to the man, but it would appear that he did not become a disciple of Jesus. 

            Bartimaeus provides a perfect foil for the story of the rich man. What we know of Bartimaeus is this: he was a blind beggar. That’s all we know.  If he was begging on the streets, we can assume he had few resources.  It would also seem that he had few friends supporting him.  When he initially called out to Jesus from the crowd, he was sternly ordered to be quiet.  There are other stories in the gospels where friends or family advocated for someone needing Jesus’ help.  This is not one of those stories. Since he didn’t have anyone advocating for him, he had to advocate for himself.  He had to be as persistent and bold as possible. Despite being ordered to be quiet, he continued to call out to Jesus.  Jesus always appreciated persistence and asked him to come forward. 

The gospel author wrote, “So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.”  He threw off his cloak.  Given that he was a blind man begging on the streets, it’s very likely that his cloak was his most important possession.  He didn’t have three other cloaks hanging in a closet somewhere. To throw that cloak off was in incredible display of faith. He either knew that Jesus would give him his sight, or he believed that someone would help him find that cloak again.  That means to get this cloak back, he required a miracle or the kindness of the strangers who were trying to silence him. He gave up his most important possession for the opportunity to be in the presence of Jesus and the chance that he might see.

            He had most likely heard about Jesus. He had probably heard that he was a miracle worker---perhaps even more than a miracle worker. But given the fact that he was blind, he was totally going off what other people had told him. What he had was faith. In chapter 11 of Hebrews, we are told that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” He had more than faith, he had desperate faith.  Often times desperation makes us do idiotic things.  But sometimes, faith with a little desperation can enable us to believe and reach in ways that comfortably content people cannot possibly imagine. 

Bartimaeus took a risk in giving up his most valuable possession and in the end gained his sight.  And here is a crazy thing, he didn’t call out and say, “Jesus, help me.” or “Jesus, heal me.” He said, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” He understood something that the rich  man didn’t understand, that before we can be saved, before we can reach eternal life, we must first ask for mercy, from the one person, the God who can grant it. Mercy.

            Now you might think, well it was probably easier for him to give up a cloak than the rich guy to give up everything….which was probably the point of Jesus saying, how hard it was for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of heaven. The more you have, the harder it is to let go.  Anybody who has downsized a house gets that. I have experienced the reverse recently. Since we are living in the rectory of my husband’s church and the rector who originally lived there had six children, we live in a much larger house than I am accustomed to. Every time I walk in, I think, “we need more furniture.”  We don’t need more furniture, but all those empty rooms seem to be mocking me.  So for the first time in my life, I understand that need to acquire more things to fill empty space.

            Now it’s highly unlikely that any of us are going to sell everything we have.  But there are disciplines we can add to our life that enables us to prioritize what we do with our stuff. The first time I pledged to a church was when I was 22 attending a Catholic Church. I gave $10 a week and I was proud of that.  I felt very adult in making that pledge. Then I decided to start investing because a friend was working at an investment firm and he went through my budget with me. He asked me how much I spent on certain things---what I gave to charity and the very next question was how much I spent on entertainment.  I had to admit that I spent more on entertainment then I did on charity.  I was embarrassed, but not enough to change my spending. 

It was really not until after I was ordained that I made giving a priority…where I budgeted the essentials like housing & food and then the very next thing was what I gave to charity. It took me about 10 years, but eventually I got to 10%.  There have been a few years since then when I could not make 10%, sometimes not anywhere close to that. But I have realized that the more resources I have, the more effort I have to put in to giving more of myself.  It requires more intentionality in my life.  That is one of the reasons why the act of creating a pledge and writing it down has always been meaningful to me.

            After Bartimaeus sprang up and threw off his cloak, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”  Bartimaeus answered, “My teacher, let me see again.”  I think it’s important that we consider this question that Jesus asked of Bartimaeus, which is the same question he asked his disciples earlier in the Gospel.  What do we want Jesus to do for us?  But since it’s our Ingathering and we are talking about stewardship, it might also be a good time to wonder, what does Jesus want of us? Once Bartimaeus was given his sight, he immediately followed Jesus.  We often focus on how we can follow Jesus, but what Bartimaeus shows us is that there is a step that comes before the following part.  Before we can follow Jesus, we have to be willing to let go of something.  He threw off his cloak so he could run to Jesus.  What might be holding us back…both as individuals and as a church? What do we need to release or give away so that we can rise up and follow?

Keep Trying: Oct. 20, 2024

 Year B, Pentecost 22                          October 20, 2024                                                                                                  I have a confession.  I am slightly obsessed with a reality show called Love is Blind. The premise is that single people go into this experiment where they date people without seeing them. They only see the person after they have fallen in love and gotten engaged---all in a few short weeks.  After that they have one month to plan their wedding and figure out if love is really blind.  It’s fascinating.  Anyhow, I am on the 7^th season and finally a couple had a conversation about whether they wanted their wedding ceremony to be religious. Both individuals in the couple had been raised in religious households.  One said that she wanted it to be spiritual, but she had to be front and center, not God.  The other person said that he was still Christian, but didn’t feel the need to actually practice Christianity.  He figured if he went to heaven, God wouldn’t judge him for that-- God would not judge him for having questions.  I have preached plenty of times about why its ok to have questions and doubt, but I struggle when people seem to just give up and stop trying to look for the answers.

Since the beginning of our faith, there have been questions and confusion. One of the debates of the early church was how to describe Jesus.  He was born as an infant, like all children are born, except he was born to a virgin, which made his birth unique. He declared himself to be God, but he was also human.  He got hungry and thirsty.  When it was hot, he sweat. If he was cut, he bled.  The early Christians really struggled with how he could be both human and God. 

In the Greek culture, gods sometimes came in human form. They were called demigods.  They were part god and part human.  Some people assumed it was the same with Jesus—he was part god and part human. Maybe he just went through the motions of being a human but didn’t really suffer as a human. In the end, the church leadership described him as fully divine and fully human.  That meant that he suffered in the ways humans do, but didn’t sin as humans do. 

Unfortunately this was all determined and described after Jesus lived, died and was resurrected.  While the disciples had a close relationship with Jesus, they didn’t fully comprehend who he was.  It was hard for them to see Jesus as a God who would have to suffer. The Gospel of Mark in particular shows the confusion of the disciples unabashedly.  Between chapters 8 and 10 there are three passion predictions.  A passion prediction is when Jesus describes that he must suffer, die and then be raised again. 

The first time he told the disciples about his death, Peter pulled him aside and told him he must be wrong, there had to be another way.  Jesus then used the infamous line, “Get behind me Satan.” The 2^nd time Jesus described his death and resurrection, the disciples started arguing about who was the greatest disciple. This time Jesus didn’t respond sharply, he simply said, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’   Our reading for today comes after another passion prediction.  This time, he is a little more specific: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.”

How did they respond to this 3^rd passion prediction? James and John asked for preferential treatment. They wanted him to promise them that they would have places of honor in his glory.  At this point, you might think Jesus would be getting just a little annoyed.  He has explained this three times.  He has to suffer and die---then rise again.  He never said anything about glory.  But instead of reprimanding them like he did Peter, he simply told them that they didn’t know what they were asking.  So he asked them, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”  Jesus was speaking metaphorically.  The cup represented life and experience.  The baptism wasn’t baptism in the way we do baptism, the Greek word literally meant to be submerged.  So Jesus was asking, “Do you really want to experience what I have to experience and suffer in that way that I will have to suffer?”

Here is the shocking thing: they said they do.  You see, at that point in the conversation, I would have been slowly backing away hoping that we could forget this whole conversation ever happened.  Many assume that they simply didn’t understand what he meant and they were still just wanting to share in the glory.  He didn’t really have to suffer. Or if did…it was going to be really quick.  Surely James and John had no idea what they were signing up for and were just acting like entitled brats.  And who knows…who knows what the truth is, but I have a theory.

The disciples were not looking good at this point.  First Peter had argued with him and tried to tell them there was an easier way---acting like he knew better than Jesus.  Then they argued about who was the best disciple. Now they wanted the spots of honor.  None of this makes them look good.  But here is the thing…they were not giving up on Jesus. Despite Jesus’ predictions of suffering and death, despite Jesus’ lack of popularity with the religious leaders of the time, despite the fact that none of this journey had been easy at this point—they had all left their families and homes to follow this man who kept talking about suffering and death.  Despite all of that, they were still with him. 

Many had witnessed Jesus’ miracles and compassion. Many had heard him teach.  Many had come to follow him.  But most had left when things got too challenging.  These disciples who were confused and tended to blunder their way through all kinds of things, were still committed to being with Jesus.  Yeah, they wanted positions of power and honor, but they were committed.  And I think that is why Jesus didn’t get that upset with them.  He didn’t promise them positions of honor, but he also didn’t castigate them for their foolishness.  Jesus saw their ambition and instead of shaming them for it, he offered redirection and redemption.  He could see that they were trying, they were making an effort and that means something. 

I think that the challenge the church is now facing (and has been facing for many years) is not misplaced ambition, but complacency.   Our God is a God of love and forgiveness.  And maybe that guy on my favorite show is right. Maybe he will get to those pearly gates and God will say, “Don’t worry about it.  I don’t care that you ignored me the majority of your life, it’s all good.”  I really don’t pretend to know how we will be judged.  But I do believe this, God cares about our effort. God wants to know us and God want us to know him.  And we can’t know God if we stop trying.  God will forgive our misdirection and our mistakes as long as we seek God’s forgiveness and keep trying to know God.  

James, that confused disciple who was desperate for honor was beheaded because of his belief in Jesus Christ. He was one of the first martyrs of the Christian faith.  John lived a long life, but also suffered for the sake of the Gospel.  They never gave up on Jesus.  They followed him to the end.  We all have to decide what path we will take. Will we give up or will we keep trying to follow Jesus, no matter where it leads.  I make mistakes all the time. I watch reality TV when I should be reading the Bible.  I get distracted by silly things and spend way too much time worrying about what will upset people.  But I always return to the words of Jesus and I know that in the end, his life, death and resurrection will save me.  I won’t give up no matter how much I mess this up and I hope you won’t either.

Divorce and Healing: October 6 2024

     Mark 10:2-16                                                  October 6, 2024

 

                In the other churches where I served, we always had the animal blessing as part of our Sunday morning service that was closest to St Francis day.   On that day, we used different readings than those that were assigned, which means I have never had to preach these texts that come up every three years.  This week, I spent a fair amount of time thinking about how I could avoid this Gospel reading, but I realized that when we have texts like this read aloud, it’s best to preach on them.  I imagine that when some of you heard these words about marriage and divorce, your heart sank a little. Perhaps you thought, you know I have been through enough, do I really need to hear this kind of judgment on Sunday morning?  So I want to start by telling you that this sermon is not going to be explicitly about divorce or why divorce is bad.  The goal is that those who have already suffered through the heartbreak of divorce will find healing rather than judgment.

                Last week I talked about the fact that Jesus was always looking out for the least of these. He was passionate about protecting those who were vulnerable and unfairly treated. The reading we heard today was likely the same day that he warned people against hurting the little ones, the least of these.  For all we know, he’s still holding that child in his arms who he held as an example of the little ones.  My guess is that he wanted to continue talking about caring for the least of these, not the legal loopholes available to men who wanted to divorce. 

                The pharisees wanted to test Jesus. Given that the laws around divorce were a controversial topic and that King Herod had divorced his wife so he could marry another, they figured that they might be able to trick Jesus into saying something that would get him into trouble.  At the time, there were two interpretations of Deuteronomy 24, which says that a man could divorce his wife if he found something objectionable about her.  One of the interpretations allowed a man to divorce his wife for any reason…including bad cooking.  The other interpretation was that the man could only divorce his wife in cases of adultery.  Surely Jesus had an opinion on this important matter of legal loopholes available to men who wanted to divorce their wives. 

                Jesus refused to debate legalities.  He didn’t even want to debate divorce.  Instead he shifted the conversation from divorce to one about the importance of marriage.   Many of the pharisees got twisted up in legalese.  They wanted to know what they could get away with, rather than talk about the intent of marriage.  Jesus brought them away from the law to the intent of the creator—that people would create lifelong unions.  He ends by saying, “Therefore what God has joined together, let one separate.”  We actually quote that in our wedding ceremony and it is my favorite thing to say. 

The Greek text says “no man” rather than “no one.”  I am inclined to think that this is one of those examples where Jesus really means men…because he was talking to men who made the rules about what men could do to get divorced.  At the time, men made the rules and in many places they still do.  There was only one case where a woman could request a divorce and even then, she would still suffer the consequences of the divorce. 

Remember who Jesus was talking about before the pharisees interrupted him, how we care for the vulnerable and the marginalized…the least of these.  Last week I talked about the fact that children had no rights at the time. Women also had few rights and were vulnerable. In most cases, women’s economic stability was dependent on a male relative.  If her husband divorced her, she had few options.  If she was lucky, she would have a male relative who could take care of her.  If she was very lucky and young enough to bare children, she might be able to find another husband. If she did not have those safety nets, she would be impoverished and forced to beg on the streets or prostitute herself. In Jesus discouraging divorce, he was once again protecting the most vulnerable. 

What does that mean for us today?  Divorce is rarely equitable, but it’s more equitable than it was in Jesus’ time.  Would Jesus be as vehemently against divorce now as he was then? I really don’t know.  I suspect if it came up now, he would once again return to the purpose of marriage.  No one goes into a marriage wanting it to end in divorce.  People enter marriages for the purposes of commitment.  And we should honor that commitment as best we can. But we have all seen marriages that needed to end and we have seen beautiful examples of remarriage.  If Jesus was alive today, I don’t think Jesus would be prohibiting people from getting married again.  If you read the text closely, he’s acknowledging that people will get divorced and remarried, but he’s also acknowledging that divorce hurts people.  And just because people are legally divorced, doesn’t mean the marriage never happened.  Jesus is acknowledging that there is brokenness…but there is also healing.

In the Gospel of John, there is a wonderful story of Jesus meeting a woman who had 5 husbands. The text doesn’t say why she had been married that many times, but it seems unlikely (or very unlucky) that 5 husbands died.  What is more likely is that she was divorced that many times because she was infertile.  It was a common reason that men divorced their wives. Jesus sat with this woman who had probably been ostracized and talked to her.  He never condemned her.  He never judged her. He had one of the longest conversations between him and another person in all of scripture.  She then went and told the whole town about him.  She became an evangelist.  Jesus saw past what had stigmatized her and treated her the way he treated his disciples, maybe even better.  That is an example of how Jesus treated people who divorce and remarry.

It is no random thing that right after the pharisees forced Jesus to address divorce he decided to bless the children.  It says that he laid his hands on them.  When Jesus lays his hands on people, that usually means that he is healing them.  Given the way children were often treated at that time, there is no doubt that they needed healing.  We all do.  I think the reason that the Gospel writer put this story of Jesus blessing the children right after Jesus’ words about divorce was to show the reader what really matters.

Jesus came and lived among us for many reasons.  The stories I find most powerful are stories where he sits and listens, when he heals people, not necessarily the external things, but those parts of us that are broken because of whatever has happened in the past or is happening now.  So whether you are existing in a challenging marriage (because let’s admit, all marriages have their challenges), or recovering from a broken one, or soaking in gratitude for your second or third marriage, know that Jesus came not to judge, but to bring love and wholeness to this broken world.   

The little ones: Sept 28, 2024

 Year B, Pentecost 19                                                 Mark 9:38-50                                                                             

                There is nothing like a recommendation to cut a limb off to really start your morning right.   ^‘”If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off…if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off… if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell…”  I think most of us can accept that Jesus doesn’t actually want us to remove limbs and other parts of our bodies.  Speaking hyperbolically was a common form of rhetoric at the time and still is in many ways. However, that doesn’t mean we ignore what Jesus said or dismiss it. Jesus was trying to shock people. He thought this was important enough that he need to scare people into listening.

            Right before he recommended removing limbs, he said, “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.”  Millstones are big.  At the time, they would have weighed over 3,000 pounds.   This is another example of hyperbole because there is no way someone could put that around their neck and then somehow be thrown into the sea.  But you get the picture. Jesus was saying that it would be better to die than put a stumbling block in front of one of these little ones.              

            Who are the little ones that Jesus is talking about? It’s a good time to consider the context. Right before our text for today, Jesus caught the disciples arguing about who was greatest.  He had just told them he was going to suffer and die. Instead of asking him questions to gain understanding, they simply distracted themselves by arguing about who was better.  Jesus responded by saying, “Whoever wants to be first of all must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a child in his arms and said, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me…” 

            How did the disciples respond…they once again got competitive because someone else was casting out demons in Jesus’ name and this person wasn’t one of the chosen 12.  They wanted Jesus to reprimand that person who was doing good in his name.  Of course Jesus refused and tried to bring them back to what was literally sitting in front of them---a child.  Remember, that was what Jesus was talking about before they changed the subject.  He brought them back from competition, toward a vulnerable child. When he said little ones, he might have been talking about children, or people who might be new to the faith, or people who were vulnerable in some way.  Jesus was always trying to protect and care for the ones who were often ignored.

It might seem odd to us now that Jesus would be especially concerned about children. Everyone loves seeing cute children, especially if they are well behaved and quiet.  The way we treat children in our culture or social circles today is not how all people perceive or treat children.  We are accustomed to seeing our children doted on and loved.  We expect them to have family looking after them.  We are fortunate if that is what we are accustomed to witnessing, but it is certainly not the norm.  It is really only in modern history that children had rights, let alone the exalted place they currently hold in our culture. 

            In the time that Jesus was living in, children were the least of these.  They had no rights.  The mortality rate was high and people could not assume their child would live to be an adult.  Women had lots of children to ensure that at least some would live to carry on the family name and tradition.  Today, if there was a food scarcity, the children would be fed first. In Jesus’, they would have been fed last, if fed at all.  Not only were they not highly regarded, they were a nuisance.  They had to be taken care and could not contribute much to the family.  Therefore when Jesus told his disciples, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me…” ---That would have been shocking.  It was not sweet and sentimental.  It was shocking because Jesus was saying that welcoming this child was the same as welcoming him. 

            Notice that Jesus warns them about putting a stumbling block in front of the little ones who believe in him. From this description, we can see he’s focusing on believers, Christians. He is talking to the disciples who will be the ones teaching and leading these new believers when he is gone. This doesn’t mean that Jesus never talked about the importance of caring for all people---he did.  But right here, in this conversation with his disciples, he’s focusing on those who believe in him.

            Who are the little ones today? Obviously, actual children would still be included as “little ones.”  They have more rights than they once had, but are still incredibly vulnerable.  We have seen that in these horrific school shootings. But what about people who are simply new to the faith…or people who have left the faith because they have been deeply wounded by the misuse of Christianity? We need look no further than our LGBTQ+ community to see people who have been incredibly wounded by Christians—especially Christians in leadership. 

Now, you might say, well that’s not us.  That’s those other Christians. Sometimes, but the Episcopal Church has not always been as welcoming as we are now and there are still many Episcopal Churches where the LGBTQ+ community is not welcome.  We have also wounded the African American community with our complicity in slavery and then segregation and frankly, too many things to name.   These “little ones” are everywhere and they still need support rather than stumbling blocks.      

            While this language that Jesus uses is violent and unsettling, it shows us how much Jesus cared about the “little ones” then and now.  He wanted his disciples, the leaders of his future church to look out for those who needed protecting.  And we have failed Jesus again and again in protecting these little ones.  I could give you more examples, but you get the idea. 

            I am not saying that I love this language that Jesus uses, but it does show us how fervently he cared for God’s children—the vulnerable, the oppressed, those on the margins who have been kept out intentionally or by our inattention.  It’s a privilege to serve a God who cares for the least of these, who makes them a priority over and over again.  Jesus was warning against putting up stumbling  blocks, but I think we can do more than  just not trip people.  We can be companions for these little ones.  We can’t just say “all are welcome.”  That is not enough. Instead, we need to find concrete ways to welcome those who Jesus would consider the “little ones.”  Because in welcoming them, we are welcoming Jesus.