Your choice. God's invitation.

      In this past week I have written about listening and introspection as a means to avoid death. That is, an attitude perhaps but more like a malignancy of the mind that is exhibited in self righteous arrogance, lack of thought and being closed to the movement of the Spirit. You may not not physically die until you are 99 but for years before you will have lived a dangerous sad life of death. This is the grouchy old man, the old codger or the reminiscing grump who always has someone to blame for it not being 'the way it used to be'.

         Today's Scripture passage speaks of this and bolsters it by quoting the prophet Isaiah. God does know her people. There are certain things that do not change. If there were stiff necked people in the time of Isaiah why would it change now? I have called it a malignancy of the mind but it is all about people who do not want to listen to God. People who hear but don't listen and people who see but seem to be blind.  

        If the readings then today speak of anything it is of God's abundant love and the constant invitation to embrace the gifts of self as well as all of creation. The loving Creator/parent inviting us always to see, hear and love. It always comes down to the invitation and our free will. If you choose not to accept the challenge of love, the invitation of God's inheritance, then then invitation is open the someone else as well. 

        Your choice.  God's invitation.

Acts 28:23-31

 After they had fixed a day to meet him, they came to him at his lodgings in great numbers. From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and from the prophets. Some were convinced by what he had said, while others refused to believe. So they disagreed with each other; and as they were leaving, Paul made one further statement: ‘The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah, 
“Go to this people and say,
You will indeed listen, but never understand,
   and you will indeed look, but never perceive. 
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
   and their ears are hard of hearing,
     and they have shut their eyes;
     so that they might not look with their eyes,
   and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn—
   and I would heal them.” 
Let it be known to you then that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.’

Racist paradigm

      I was recently speaking with someone about the play Hamilton. It was an extraordinary play and and I am still enjoying the music on CD in my car. The play was far better than I had realized and I am actually thinking of seeing it again. The reaction of the person I was talking with was quite obvious. An immediate cold front, if not  a glacial attitude swept across her face as if to say she would never see this 'Black' play. She hated rap and wasn't fond of black people either.  I would have been only slightly surprised if the "N" word was uttered.  How incredibly sad racism is. How ingrained it seems to be, how mindless and un-Christian it is. Willful ignorance. This person with whom I was having a pleasant conversation up until that point simply shut down.

         That situation makes me weep and I am sure God is shaking her head in horror herself. I realize this is an extreme example but how often do we do this ourselves? Oh, maybe not over big things but over so much of the things of life.  Without minimizing the horror and revulsion of bigotry I think we need to realize that it is not a solitary isolated example of how we respond to situations.

        When I speak and recommend wholeheartedly the idea of the Examen and self introspection, I am utterly serious. It is not a new age, sissy kind of thing for holy rollers trying to make the world a soft place. Self reflection and personal growth is the stuff of growth and even survival.  When we respond in rote unthinking ways we actually begin to die. Death of the mind can occur long before our bodies succumb to any other disease or age. 

       When this passage relates that Pilate was fully aware of why the Scribes, Chief Priests and Elders turned Jesus over ( Jealousy ) it is a telling sign of a malignancy of the mind we are all prone to in lesser and greater degrees. I often find my own knee jerk reactions are ones not backed up by thought, love or the light of reason.  It is only in reflecting on our own daily life that we have a chance to fully see what our actions and opinions are based on.  Do our actions meet squarely with our professed beliefs?  Are we as open and loving as we want to be and are called to be?

       We are called to be as loving and as radical as Jesus is. We are called to challenge even our own assumed correctness with love, wisdom and the light of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 27:11-23

 Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus said, ‘You say so.’ But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. Then Pilate said to him, ‘Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?’ But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

 Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Jesus Barabbas. So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?’ For he realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over. While he was sitting on the judgement seat, his wife sent word to him, ‘Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.’ Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. The governor again said to them, ‘Which of the two do you want me to release for you?’ And they said, ‘Barabbas.’ Pilate said to them, ‘Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?’ All of them said, ‘Let him be crucified!’Then he asked, ‘Why, what evil has he done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Let him be crucified!’

A line too far

     In today's passage from Matthew the Chief Priests, Elders and Scribes were willing to pay 30 pieces of silver, which was a formidable sum, to have Judas betray our Savior. You know, the Son of God, the itinerant Jewish preacher who had week after week, spoken and taught in the temple. And yet, when Judas has remorse these same leaders will not accept the money back when Judas almost literally throws the silver back at them. It seems to me that it is a line the leaders will not cross. We'll send a man to his death but blood money? We'll have no part of it. Honor among thieves perhaps?  A line even these fowl leaders will not even cross?

      Since inauguration day and before, the President of the United States has been fowling the air with lies and his very life, an amoral, lying POS. ( too strong ? ). Last week Mr. Trump  crossed a line that dare not be crossed.  While virtually no one in the Republican party has taken this vacuous ass to task, the events in Helsinki had both Democrats and Republicans calling him a traitor and rightfully so. Another line crossed by Mr. Trump and this one a step too far. Honour among thieves? Too far for even Republicans?

        As this is not really a political blog and hopefully is geared to our actions, our faith and our love, how does this all fit in? The goal of this blog and our life is to call us to greater thought, introspection and then hopefully, prayerfully, on to ever increasingly faithful and decent, loving lives.  It is a journey forward, not we pray, a journey backwards. Our lives should not be regressive prayers and actions but progressive, with wisdom and increasing awareness of God in our lives.

       What I pray I don't become is a mindless religious zealot devoid of Scriptural understanding and love. I don' want to be that person that works towards a fake religious life filled with actions that promote my own man made agenda while proclaiming all the while tht I am a Christian of the highest order. That kind of life is one where you are so deluded  that you wind up justifying all kinds of abominations and then one singular evil act that you arbitrarily decide is a line too far. In short, a regressive, puny, dwindling faith that implodes on it's very self.

        Let us all look at the trajectory of our lives and faith. Are we moving forward in love , understanding and compassion?   Do we cross one line after another in our efforts to sustain a life that is focused solely on ourselves and our own agenda?  

Matthew 27:1-10

When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death. They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

 When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. He said, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ But they said, ‘What is that to us? See to it yourself.’ Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money.’ After conferring together, they used them to buy the potter’s field as a place to bury foreigners. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, ‘And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.’

Never, ever

     I have noticed over the years that whenever I say something akin to "no way" or "never", I wind up doing exactly what I protested about.  It is more than simply not imagining the future to be far different than I could have ever expected. On the simplest of levels I am talking about telling my Mom I will never eat onions! and now savoring them. ( preferably caramelized and smothering a burger with some Gruyere and rosemary aioli ).  I think when we say we "would never" , we very often find at some point that not only we will, we wind up saying "I did". It may be a peculiarity of life. 

      I really feel for Peter who says he would never deny Christ and winds up doing it thrice. This is no simple matter, certainly not akin to eating onions.  I find we are capable of incredibly dangerous and misguided things in life in spite of our best intentions. ( The spirit is willing, the body is weak ).  Where does that leave us all. What of Peter. He actually went on to be the number one disciple whom Jesus entrusted everything to. What does this tell us. The two facets of this passage that speak to me ( aside from what I am capable of ) is Peter weeping and the fact that Jesus did in fact entrust the Church to him.  These two facets speak of repentence or self reflection on the part of Peter and secondly, the amazing forgiveness of Jesus, often beyond our human worldly comprehension. Jesus does forgive us. Jesus knows what we are capable of.  

      I am not so arrogant as to think that this forgiveness is universal or comes as a guarantee that we can impose upon at will. We can't go out with the intent to kill and say 'but it's ok because God willl forgive me'. That is presumptous, arrogant and plain wrong. What is part of the equation is self reflection, remorse and the decision to move forward a changed or enlightened person. 

      What I need to realize is as much as God is willing to forgive me, God is also willing and ready to forgive everyone else as well.  Remember though that only God can see the conversion of heart and the repentance, none of us can.

Matthew 26:69-75

 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant-girl came to him and said, ‘You also were with Jesus the Galilean.’ But he denied it before all of them, saying, ‘I do not know what you are talking about.’When he went out to the porch, another servant-girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, ‘This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ Again he denied it with an oath, ‘I do not know the man.’ After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, ‘Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.’ Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath, ‘I do not know the man!’ At that moment the cock crowed. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: ‘Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly.

Hearing fake news

     There was some research done not too long ago into how people listen.  There is a part of our brain that will apparently interpret data based on what we already believe or perceive. This is especially important now with the opposing political chasm that seems to exist. News is not news but "fake news". The same information that each of us hears and even see, is interpreted in wholly different ways. We each view the information as supporting our own positions. It is a fascinating and sad dynamic.

     If it makes you feel any better that this type of self fulfilling news is not new at all, we can then take small solace in what the scribes and elders were doing to Jesus in today's Scripture passage.  Jesus could have said "boo" and that would have been viewed as clear evidence of His possession by evil spirits. The fix was in then and in so many ways I think the fix may be in now. How do we move forward in love from our own pre-conceived notions and beliefs?

      When I was taking a series of classes called the Pastoral Formation Institute, one section was based on how we listen. So often we ask questions we really do not what an answer to. At other times we ask questions and have already developed the answers we want to hear in our heads. Someone might ask "how are you today?" and the answer you give might be "pretty bad, my mom died yesterday". The person who is not really listening might respond, "that's nice". Yikes!  Sometimes when I ask "how are you" the rote response that comes back is "fine".  So I ask a second question to throw them off a bit and bring them into the present moment with "are you sure?". That's a small technique of my own. It does not begin to scratch the surface of all the ways we can but fail to listen well.

      When we are more interesting in moving forward with our day and more interesting in keeping the status quo as we see it or want it, we have a grand propensity to listen in a very half hearted way. I don't think that is very conducive to love and concern for our brothers and sisters.  Real listening requires some time, requires we are truly present in the moment and perhaps most importantly, we are open to an answer that might not be what we were expecting or even wanted to hear.  To people who want boring, straight and narrow, uneventful lives, such listening might make each day like a new ride on a roller coaster. How exciting!  Being truly present in the moment makes you alive and allows us to hear new things all the time. It allows us to really listen and hear what is going on in life and in peoples lives.  Seems like a novel approach these days. 

        In today's passage we give witness to the evil of not listening and putting forth an unerring agenda like the scribes and elders did.  Of course they said 'what more proof do we need', the judgment had already been in their heads and they had in fact never, ever really listened to any of the words of Jesus. 

They heard words but never listened.  How about us?

Matthew 26:57-68

Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, in whose house the scribes and the elders had gathered. But Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest; and going inside, he sat with the guards in order to see how this would end.Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, ‘This fellow said, “I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.” ’ The high priest stood up and said, ‘Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?’ But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest said to him, ‘I put you under oath before the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have said so. But I tell you,
From now on you will see the Son of Man
   seated at the right hand of Power
   and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ 
Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?’ They answered, ‘He deserves death.’ Then they spat in his face and struck him; and some slapped him, saying, ‘Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who is it that struck you?’

Plans of men

     Ah, the plans of mankind. In today's passage Jesus is betrayed by Judas. It's been all arranged. The plan has been set, the money paid and the betrayal all arranged ahead of time, ironically with a kiss and the kind words "Greetings Rabbi!" Then comes the other kind of human plan, reactionary, vindictive, compulsive, perhaps a 'manly' solution, drawing a sword and cutting off a poor chaps ear.

      My sainted mother-in-law had a habit of saying "men plan, God laughs". It really is quite true. We try to plan everything with great detail as if we are really in charge of something. We try to plan our kids lives as if we own them instead of the fact that they are merely entrusted to our care for safe keeping and nurturing. We try to plan life as if we are guaranteed something when we are in fact guaranteed nothing.  It culd all be over in the blink of an eye.

        I am not one to say that you should live life willy nilly with no concern for the future. I would say we should live for today and keep God's will in the equation.  If God can plan a universe, I think she can make things work out for each of us. What we may need to do is not be so reactionary and perhaps less controlling. Maybe we could step out of the way and let God be the way. Just a thought. 

Matthew 26:47-56

 While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.’ At once he came up to Jesus and said, ‘Greetings, Rabbi!’ and kissed him. Jesus said to him, ‘Friend, do what you are here to do.’ Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear.Then Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?’ At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.’ Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

In the blink of an eye

      A common lament of parents is how fast the kids grow up. My own 'baby' is now 36 with two children of her own. Where did the time go? The same could be said for the job I retired from. I worked at the same facility for 37 years, man did that zoom by, seemingly in the blink of an eye.

      One might be tempted to note from today's passage, and rightfully so, the prayers of Jesus asking ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want'  and the implications that has in our own lives. But as usual, there are more messages in Scripture than meets the eye. What of the disciples that can't seem to stay awake?  When last they are awoken by our Lord, Jesus notes that 'the hour is at hand' when he will be betrayed, suffer, die and rise. I can see them rubbing their eyes and saying "say what?"

         If we are not terribly attentive to what is going on, we run the risk of non-participation, not being involved with life as it unfolds around us, we might miss some rather important stuff.  Someone once noted that no one ever said on their death bed, "I wish I had worked more" ( and thereby spent less time with their family ).  Time seems to fly even when you try to be attentive. Imagine what we miss?  There are roses to smell, new mown hay and a world of sunsets, sunrises and smiles to be observed and inspired by.  If we are 'sleeping' we will miss more than we know.

         I can only imagine the guilt and feelings of stupidity of those that 'slept' through the last presidential election and finding out now what that failure to participate has wrought.  Sometimes you miss a second or two and nothing happens, sometimes you blink and you go right off a cliff.

        The lesson I choose to think more about is the keeping my eyes wide open and trying to be more attentive to what is going on. Now it involves watching my grandchildren grow and inspiring them to be the best that they can be.  I do not ever want to be an absentee parent or an absentee citizen or worst, an absentee believer.

Matthew 26:36-46

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’  He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.’ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.’ Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Again he went away for the second time and prayed, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.’Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.’