Today’s Gospel sets the stage for the forthcoming drama of Holy Week. Jesus is speaking to his disciples both that his ministry of preaching is over and also that a final cosmic battle with Satan is about to begin. This battle will result in his death, but that death will be unimaginably beneficial in defeating evil and granting his followers access to eternal life.

What is the reason behind this dramatic declaration is something quite ordinary, the significance of which only Jesus comprehends. Some Greeks arrive and desire to see Jesus. He appears to not be interested in them. These are not Greek-speaking Jews but gentile Greeks.  A meeting with them would certainly be an opportunity for Jesus to expand his ministry. But he does not have any interest in talking to them. Philip and Andrew must have been bewildered by His response.

The arrival of these Greeks is the sign that Jesus has been waiting for – His message is beginning to spread to gentile territories. This means that His earthly ministry must now cease – just as it is beginning to show promising signs of growth. Nevertheless, there are potential converts – so why does Jesus neglect them?

It is difficult for us today to comprehend that Jesus’ immediate ministry was primarily directed to his own people, the Jews. There is a very good reason for this.  They are His people and God’s chosen people.  It is from them that He has been born and this is part of a divine plan which has been unfolding over the centuries, a plan in which the descendants of Israel are called to a two-fold witness – to witness in their faith to the one true God and in their manner of living, to be examples of fidelity to God’s commandments.  Like all human beings, the chosen people did not always maintain their faith in being a holy people. However, their failures were only meant to highlight God’s love for them and His infinite mercy. The prophet Jeremiah reminds us of this mercy, and he foretells a new era when God will recreate His chosen people by planting His law in their hearts.

Jesus is in this new era. He is a son of David and the Son of God. In Him, a human will has fully embraced God’s law that it is a perfect expression of the Father’s own will. His first priority, then, is to create his own people by living among them and acting as a source of the Father’s love for them. He will sacrifice all to show them how to respond to the God who is our Father. If Jesus recognizes the privileged place of his own people in the divine plan, he also recognizes that there is a place in that divine plan for the rest of humanity. As He tells us in this Gospel passage, by being ‘lifted up from the earth’, in other words by dying on the cross, he will draw everyone, Jew and gentile, to himself.  After his resurrection, He will send his disciples to accomplish the second stage of His mission, which will be to the whole of the gentile nation.

There is a difficult pill to swallow in this Gospel because being drawn to Christ will require ‘hating our life in this world’. To serve Jesus means to follow Him; and to follow Him means to follow Him to the cross, because that is where He is now headed. The letter to the Hebrews provides us with a further perspective on the human condition: that we all learn to obey God through suffering. Jesus’ passion and death demonstrates the need for’ suffering as a way to obedience’.

Most of us are cautious to avoid anything that might involve difficulty or suffering. We are tempted to surround ourselves with comforts, says Blessed John Henry Newman, but these comforts detract from our hearts and deprive us of God. It’s just part of wanting to have things our own way and to be the center of the world.

Yet, when we think about it, suffering is an ever present and important part of growing as a human being.  The transformation from a child to a mature adult is not easy. So, it should not surprise us that suffering, and sacrifice are also the way to grow in holiness.  The main objective is not to fear sacrifice and to be willing to begin here and now to embrace the will of God in every moment of our lives.

You may say, ‘Easier said than done’ and you would be right. However, it is not all about us. It is the grace of Christ’s work within us that will refashion our will and transform our rebellious human spirit into loving and regular obedience. We only have to ask for that grace.

Within each of us, there is a longing that draws us beyond ourselves. We reach out to something that is calling us. There is a sense of belonging to something that is greater, something or someone that gives us a sense of meaning.

In our desperate attempts to identify what it is we desire to belong to, we call it God, Jehovah, Allah, Yahweh. We believe that this Divine being created us for a purpose, and we are a reflection or image of the Divine. This God is our Lord, and we are His people. We believe that this One God, the Creator of all that is good.

We are fortunate that we possess sacred writings, Scriptures, which unfold for us some of the mysteries of this God of ours. They tell us something about the relationship between our God and his people. The Scriptures are an essential part of our understanding of God. These holy books are not straightforward histories that can be read and understood as we would read the Fall and Rise of the Roman Empire. It is not something that can be made simple; it is not something that can be comprehended. This is where our search for the unknowable God, which we believe in, becomes difficult.

There is a danger in reading Scripture in a literalistic manner that was never intended. The fact that these holy books were written at a certain point in time places them within a different period of thought than our own. The most effective approach to reading Scripture is the fundamentalist approach. I believe this approach is easy because it is the unthinking approach to Scripture. It is also the safe way to read Scripture because we do not restrict the mystery of God to something we can comprehend. We confine the infiniteness within the limits of the books we hold as holy. But the God we discover is a God created in our image, not the God who is, was and will be.

In today’s passage from the Gospel of John, we discover a fascinating encounter between two teachers; or at least we discover the end of that encounter. In the preceding verses, we encounter a private conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus. Nicodemus strives to understand what is behind the miracles that Jesus has performed. The darkness hides their conversation from those who would not understand. As a leading Pharisee, it would be foolish for him to be seen with Jesus, but as a searcher for the truth, he takes this opportunity.

Jesus tries to explain to him the mystery as one teacher to another, but Nicodemus cannot comprehend the secrets that have been revealed only to him who has descended from above. How can he possibly comprehend that which is not of this world unless he believes in the testimony of the One who has knowledge? Jesus contrasts life and light with darkness and evil. It is in the darkness that two men encounter, yet it is in the search for enlightenment that Nicodemus has come. It is by being enlightened by God that we are transformed beyond the confines of our mortal state. It is only then that we can emerge from the darkness of ignorance and the hidden repercussions of our lives where evil is present.

The path we take leads us from darkness to light, from evil and death to life. It leads us to a knowledge of the God who created us and transforms us from this life to the endless life. However, with this growing knowledge of God, there is a growing sense of self-awareness. This is the cause of rebirth, as we allow ourselves to be transformed by God. This is the difficult journey we are on, the road of uncertainty in the present. This is the struggle between understanding the God in whose image we are created rather than confining God to the image we desire to possess. It is the difference between the God of the fundamentalist reduced to pages of a Sacred text and the God who raises us beyond what our eyes can perceive, and our ears can hear.

As we read through the passage from 2 Chronicles, many images may emerge from our minds in these days. However, beware of taking the easy path. For God to be our God, we must first let God be our God. Only then can we dare summon his name and open ourselves up to his merciful judgement.

Super heroes are a thing. When we were (much) younger, my brother was into body building and his end all be all was The Hulk. In case you don’t know who The Hulk is, well, he’s green, he’s way feet tall, and he’s bulging with pounds and pounds of muscle. He’s the Incredible Hulk, hands down one of the coolest comic book heroes ever created. You don’t want to make him mad, because as he often warns, “The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets!” His anger and strength have entered the common lexicon of today in the phrase “Hulk out.” According to The Urban Dictionary, to “hulk out” means “To become enraged; to lose one’s temper, clothing and power of coherent speech before embarking on a spree of violence and wanton destruction.

In today’s Gospel, we read of a time when Jesus sort of kinda hulked out: Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. (John 2:13-17)

Well now. This little bit of Scripture is problematic for a lot of folks because we have been taught that Jesus was this meek and mild-mannered little guy who preached love and patience and turning the other cheek and instructs us to be slow to anger. I can assure you that Jesus did, in fact, teach us those things, but I can also assure you that Jesus was far, FAR from being “this meek mild mannered little guy,” and we should not confuse “meek” with “weak.”

We are inundated from all sides by ads and commercials urging us to get more physically fit, to build muscle on top of muscle, to be perfect specimens of humanity. I figure that Jesus pretty much fit that physical description. Jesus as a “hunk.?” you ask? Well… yeah. Think about it for a minute. Here was a man of great stamina who walked everywhere between the villages of the Holy Land in his ministry of salvation, and there is no record in the New Testament that he ever rode a horse, a camel, or a carriage, (though he did once enter Jerusalem on a donkey, but that’s a sermon for another time.) He regularly traveled over hills and climbed mountains. Every day was leg day! We know that Jesus was either a carpenter or a stone mason, and there were, at that time, no power tools, so He was surely lean and muscular. We have further evidence of Jesus’s physical fitness from reading of His passion. The torture that he underwent killed many men.

Another reason that this particular bit of Scripture is problematic is that we imagine Jesus to be angry, and remember He was all about the “preaching love and patience and turning the other cheek and instructing us to be slow to anger.” An angry Jesus??? Isn’t anger a sin??? People look at this episode and say, “Shame, shame. Jesus ignored His own teachings by getting angry and not forgiving those moneychangers. He really lost his cool, didn’t He?”

At the same time other people view this episode as proof that it’s okay for us to get angry, and even take violent action if necessary, in doing God’s will.

So, who is right? And the answer to that stunning question is, NEITHER.

Anger is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, and St. Paul clearly teaches in his letter to the Galatians that “outbursts of fury” are the result of our sinful nature. So what’s the deal here? Did Jesus give in to the sinful nature when He got angry in the Temple, or what?

First, we have to understand that Jesus did not have a sinful nature. There have only been three sinless people in history: Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and my mother. (OK, OK, my momma wasn’t perfect. Give a guy a break, tho.)

There is a very fine line between “righteous anger” and “self-righteous anger.” Jesus’ anger was completely righteous. Those merchants were making a mockery of God’s holy temple. They were taking advantage of the average person’s sincere faith. Motivated by greed, they forced the believers to pay obscene sums in order to have their worship rituals labeled as “proper.”

You wonder what Jesus’ reaction might be if He appeared today and observed the behavior of Wall Street bankers and Washington politicians. Just sayin’.

Jesus is the only person in history completely controlled by the Spirit. He never gave in to the sinful human nature. The rest of us should avoid anger because we don’t have our sinful human nature under control like Jesus did.

The Gospel reading of Jesus clearing the Temple really should have a disclaimer. In big bold letters the Bible should say: “Jesus is a professional. Do not try this at home.” When people cite this episode as justification for getting angry, often they truly have a righteous goal in mind. But it doesn’t take long for that righteousness to slide into self-righteousness. The next thing you know, some looney toon is bursting into an abortion clinic with a rifle, sincerely convinced that God wants him to kill people to prevent people from being killed, or participating in insurrection at the nation’s capitol to impede the government, or blowing up gay bars, all in Jesus’s name.

And all the while Satan is howling with glee. He just loves to see us get so worked up over a righteous cause that we become consumed with self-righteous anger. As C.S. Lewis wrote: “The devil would be quite content to see your chilblains cured if he was allowed, in return, to give you cancer.” In a way, anger, especially self-righteous anger is cancer. It’s spiritual cancer. For those of us who have not yet reached Jesus’s level of spirituality (which means ALL of us), we are susceptible to this disease. Only Jesus can handle anger without contracting the spiritual cancer of self-righteousness.

We mere mortals do not yet share in Jesus’ spiritual perfection. As such, we are not capable of handling anger properly. Good intentions quickly become evil. When our anger is out of control we can say and do things that hurt others. Anger in the hands of we sinful people, to paraphrase P.J. O’Rourke, is like whiskey and car keys in the hands of teenage boys. It’s just too dangerous.

So what then, do we do when we are angry? In our daily lives, for most of us those times where anger would be justified are likely pretty rare. As with all things, follow the Spirit. Paul, in Galatians 5:20-21, instructed “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” In 1 Corinthians 13, we are directed that love is patient and kind and does not dishonor others and is not easily angered. It can be reasoned that anger is contrary to charity, if it is spontaneously meant to dishonor our neighbor. Proverbs 15:18 tells us a “hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.”

The Bible seems to place anger as the last response to the circumstances of life. We as Christians are to be peacemakers and find a solution before allowing an incident or conflict to escalate. Breathe. Pray. Act in love. And remember, we are, none of us, The Hulk. Amen.

The biggest most of y’all have seen our “holiday trees.”  Same little tree that goes from holiday to holiday standing proud in a corner of our living room.  We decided to skip St. Patrick’s Day this year and have gone straight into Easter.  Then that same little tree will be transformed into Spring…into Summer….into Independence Day……then transformed into Fall…..Then transformed into…..Halloween….then transformed into…..  Are you getting the idea that this little message has something to do with Transformation?  Yer so smart!    

Transformation.  We are in the second week of the Lenten season.  For many folks, the weeks leading up to Easter are all about penance and “giving up something for Lent” and eating fish on Fridays.  For others of us, these weeks are about working on making new and better habits, adding additional studies of the scriptures, and trying to be more and more like Jesus.  At any rate and in any case, we focus on “changing”  or “transforming” ourselves during Lent to make us better people, better followers of Jesus, and better “spreaders of His love.” 

In other words, we work to transfigure ourselves.  The dictionary tells us that the word “transfigure” means to transform into something more beautiful or elevated.  Kinda like butterflies do;  you know, yucky wormlike caterpillar to beautiful butterfly?   (Butterflies go on the Spring/Summer tree, by the way.)

In the Gospel reading appointed for today, we read in Matthew of “The Transfiguration of the Lord”:   Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him.  Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here.  If you wish, I will make three tents here,
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them,
then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;  listen to him.”
When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid.  But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.”  And when the disciples raised their eyes,
they saw no one else but Jesus alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Whoa.  Can you even imagine seeing something like that?  Of course, instead of constructing tents like Peter wanted to, we would quickly be updating our status on Facebook, or posting like a gazillion pics on Instagram. Or just as likely, our fingers would quickly be flying across our keyboards and phones, sending out Tweets about what an awesome time we had hanging out with Jesus.

When we talk about THE Transfiguration, we usually focus on Jesus and how he was “changed” for a bit into something more “dazzling and heaven-like.”  Peter, John, and James witnessed a rare sight, the Transfiguration or change, of Jesus. Just as we strive to experience change during these days of Lent, so did Jesus on top of the mountain. But what I find interesting is that these men still recognized Jesus as, well, Jesus. Though He was clothed in “dazzling white,” He was the same teacher, and friend, that these gentlemen had always known. They recognized Him still, and were humbled by the change that manifested in Him at the time. 

But how much more so were the disciples who were with Jesus changed?  They witnessed Jesus’ Transfiguration, as well as a booming voice in the cloud declaring exactly who Jesus is, and are instructed to listen to Him.  Whoa again.  Can you imagine?  No?  Me either.  Often times when the going gets rough and I’m  walking on wobbly stones in my faith, I often ask God, “Give me a big ol’ sign, show me you are You.” Well, as you can imagine, that doesn’t happen. And honestly, if it would, I wouldn’t be so sure that I could even believe my own eyes.

Yet, don’t we all strive to witness the true face of God, to see with our own eyes that He really is just who He says He is, and can do what He unequivocally declares to be done? As we read in the Bible, true visitations by our heavenly Father are rare. But He is still just as real to us today as He was so long ago on top of that mountain.

As we use this time to manifest changes in ourselves, as we strive to develop a deeper relationship with our blessed Father, let us never forget that He is right here with us. He is sitting at the kitchen table as you sip that first cup of coffee. He is standing in the checkout line at the store. He is in the car on our daily commute home in the evening. And, He is there when we finally decide to put our daily cares to rest, and before we close our eyes at night, whispering “Thank you God for another day.” 

And, more importantly, He is expecting us to prove that He is with us to the folks with whom we come into contact every minute of every day of our lives.  Remember, there is not one person on this planet who God does not love.  Who Jesus didn’t die for.  Yes, even that…….….fill in your own blank.  Democrat?  Yep.  Republican.  Yep.  Trans person, gay person, bigot, other-race person, criminal, gossip, and irritating next door neighbor? Yep.  Yes.  Affirmative. Positively.  Absolutely.  Yep, and yes again.  We who claim to love the Lord, must show that love.  I’ll say it again, you are the only Jesus some folks will ever see, the only Bible some folks will ever read.   We must show that we have, indeed, been transfigured.

Let us pray:

 Lord,

You met with Moses on the top of a mountain, and when he descended his face was shining.  In your power he brought your laws to a needy people.  You met with Christ on top of a mountain,  and he was transformed with brightness and descended with renewed strength.  Lord, we want to meet with you and be transformed by you, and to bring your transformation to the world around us.  Help us to bring your presence to the lives of those burdened with sickness or pain,

and those weighed down with confusion or grief.  Bring your healing touch to those lives today, nd let us support those we know who are in need with a constant friendship.  Help us to bring your change to a troubled society, where people are unsure of so much and where change comes so fast.  Give us the grace to understand people’s problems and anxieties and the strength to tackle difficult issues head on.  Help us to work together to transform a needy world, whether through giving or educating or leading by example.  Give us the wisdom to see through big and complex issues and the love that will keep us going when problems are overwhelming.  Help us to always be a beacon for you, Individually and together.  We don’t stand on any lofty mountain but we have a God who is changing us every day and through whom we can reach out to change a broken world.  Be with us today Lord and help us take whatever step is next for us.  We ask this through the power of your love.

Amen

Where do we anticipate the Spirit to lead us and what do we expect in this life by following Christ?

After Jesus is baptized by John, the Spirit descends on him and then The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan. John is arrested and will soon be dead. Assuming the public ministry of the Christ we believe to follow.

Jesus is driven out into the wilderness. There is almost a violent situation to this, as if Jesus has no knowledge of the matter — he is forced out. If we look further in this chapter of Mark, we see the same words used again, but this time it is Jesus driving out demons in the same way.

And he cured many who were sick with diseases of one kind or another; he also drove out many devils (Mark 1:34)

And he went all through Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out devils (Mark 1:3)

It is curious at times how we use language. We may be referring to someone who is driven by his emotions or his ambition; we may even be referring to someone acting as if possessed. Some of the time this will be expressed in a negative manner and sometimes in a positive manner. We see in the Gospel a man possessed not by a demon, not by something that impedes his freewill but by the Spirit of God, a liberating driving force.

At the risk of muddling metaphors, we could say that although Jesus is driven out into the wilderness it is Jesus who is in the driving seat. The will of the Spirit and the will of Jesus are identical.

Jesus who is driven by the Spirit enters the wilderness, the place of demons and wild beasts, but when Jesus emerges from the other side, it is he who drives the demons out. He who frees those who are bound to slavery by being possessed. This spiritual warfare reflects the public ministry of Jesus as he dies the death of the spotless lamb to reclaim the bondage of all sin and death once for all.

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit (1 Pet 3:18)

Perhaps the most frightening yet liberating aspect of this is our being brought to God.

We pray as Jesus taught us our Father who is in Heaven? Thy will be done. Are we really ready for God’s will to be done? Are we ready and willing to be guided by the Spirit of God, regardless of where that may take us?

In the same prayer we pray lead us not into temptation. To follow Christ is to be guided by his Spirit, to be guided by his spirit to be possessed by his Spirit.

In today’s world, we are often forced to focus on the conflicts between peoples and nations, yet the source of all conflict, that conflict taking place in our own life, is all too readily ignored or interpreted. In Lent we put ourselves to the test, we put ourselves in temptations way. We take a deep look at how we live, we seek out those things that have taken possession of our lives and then we take them out. We purge ourselves of those things that interfere with our freedom in pursuing Christ in order to be possessed by him.

I must be clear here, I am not saying that we lose our free will by being possessed by the Spirit but as in the case of two lovers we share the same bond one to the other; a bond that does not restrict but expands our life. The infinite all-powerful Creator reunited with his creation in a bond of enduring love. There is always the danger, of course, that we turn our own distorted will into God’s so for forty days each year we enter into our wilderness, our Lent, to do battle with our own demons only then can we begin to see if we are more like the ministering angels than like the beasts.

When it comes to clichés, perhaps one of the most archetypal of all is the cliché ‘life is just one damned thing after another.’ A cliché of course is a common expression that has lost all its freshness and meaning through overuse, and this is certainly true of the ‘one damned thing’ saying. Through frequent repetition over the past hundred years, this phrase has become very dull, but what is more, repetition and dullness seem to be the subject of this cliché. The ‘damned things’ that keep happening in life are just the kind of things that atheists will point to in claiming that life is devoid of meaning, that there is no God: life is just one damned thing after another.

Yet the evil and suffering that can so easily diminish our faith in God’s presence in our lives is a subject that the Bible takes seriously. In the first reading, we hear Job complaining about the drudgery of life, of the months of emptiness, and of the days that come to their end without hope. And Job has good reason for feeling this way. At the beginning of the Book of Job, we’re told how Job loses virtually everything he has. First the Sabeans take his oxen and donkeys and kill the servants minding them; then fire falls from heaven killing all his flocks of sheep; then the Chaldeans carry off his camels and kill even more servants; and then all his children are killed by a hurricane. But if that is not enough, he then succumbs to a terrible skin disease. All that Job has left is an unsympathetic wife who tells him to ‘curse God and die,’ and three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.

At first Job’s friends are totally lost for words, but after seven days, Job finally breaks the awkward silence as says he will never see good again. At the same time, each of Job’s friends offered a speech in a attempt to help Job understand his terrible misfortune.  Today’s first reading is taken from shortly after the speech of Eliphaz in which Job is told among other things “How happy is the one whom God reproves; therefore, do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.” Understandably, Job is not impressed. If we learn anything from Job’s friends, we learn what not to say to someone who is suffering.

However, there may be a lot of evil and suffering in the world, we should never give into the temptation to say life is just one damn thing after another. It is not true, and of the things we must help us to understand this, most of all, we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In St Mark’s Gospel, it appears that St Mark is referring to a series of events in Jesus’ life, one that occurred after another. A total of twenty-five times, St Mark uses the expression ‘kai euthus’ which means ‘and immediately,’ ‘as soon as’ or ‘at once.’ In today’s Gospel we have two such occurrences of this expression: as soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, … and at once they told Jesus about Simon’s mother-in-law. St Mark’s repeated use of the phrase ‘kai euthus’ does not make the Gospel in any way dull; rather, it enhances the sense of urgency. There is a dynamism and direction to St Mark’s Gospel. Jesus is going somewhere, and the place where He’s going is Jerusalem where He will be crucified. The last time St Mark uses the phrase ‘kai euthus’ is when Jesus is handed over to Pilate. Thus, the immediacy in Jesus’ life reaches its climax in His Passion, the sacrifice we commemorate in the Eucharist.

It is through the Church’s repeated celebration of the Eucharist, week in, week out, day in, day out, that shows us that life isn’t just a collection of random events, for every human experience has its ultimate meaning in Jesus Christ. Somehow, through the celebration of the Eucharist, all the hopes and sorrows of humanity are bound up with Our Lord’s death on the cross and his glorious resurrection. If a cliché is a common expression that has lost all its freshness and meaning through constant repetition, it must mean the Eucharist is the opposite of a cliché, for no matter how many times we celebrate the Eucharist, it never loses it freshness, it is always full of meaning, it is always new. Clichés may dull one’s life, but there are no clichés in Christ.

As a child, I discovered something of the qualities of love from a variety of sources. Among these were the stories that were told to us as children, stories that conveyed truths more profound than we could have articulated at such a tender age. Among the stories I recall most vividly was Oscar Wilde’s, ‘The Happy Prince’.

It states that ‘The Happy Prince,’ lived a life sheltered from human suffering. He died in the past, and his nobles constructed a statue of him on a tall column overlooking the city. He was gilded all over; for his eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby on the edge of his sword was gilded.

From such a high point, the Happy Prince observed for the first time life as it truly is. Seeing people in distress, he asked his friend, a swallow, to bring the wealth that adorned his statue to those who needed help. To a tailor, thin and overworked, and whose child lay sick in the next room, the swallow took the ruby that adorned the hilt of his sword to the sick child. To a malnourished writer in his loft, the swallow took a sapphire. To a match-girl, who had let her matches fall in the gutter, distressed that her father would soon beat her, the swallow brought the other sapphire.

The sapphires that were given away, the Happy Prince could not see any more. So, the little swallow becomes the eyes of the Happy Prince, telling the prince what he saw. Asked by the Happy Prince, the swallow took the leaves of gold from the statue leaf by leaf to the poor of the city, and we are informed that the children’s faces grew rosier, and they now laugh and play games.

Despite our knowledge of children, such tales provided us with concepts we would only begin to understand as adults. At that age, we understood love in a way that children understand love. But we were given what was needed to help us start on our voyage through life, where experience and maturity would hopefully bring us to a deeper understanding of what love really is.

And this understanding is relevant to how we read the Gospels. Insights gained from childhood can play a part in how we understand the life and ministry of Jesus, alerting us to what we can easily miss. This is the case even if a tale such as ‘The Happy Prince’ might appear to have almost nothing in common with a gospel passage like the one we have this Sunday.

Here Jesus encounters a man possessed by an evil spirit, and in his combat with the evil spirit, Jesus silences it, stopping it from revealing more about who Jesus is. Here we see something in common between the Gospel and the tale. The Happy Prince seeks only to alleviate the sufferings of others, not seeking acclaim or asking anything in return. Likewise, Jesus also seeks only to alleviate the sufferings of an unfortunate man, not looking for anything in return or for acclaim, indeed silencing the evil spirit who might have led to praise and acclamation.

If the purest and deepest love is love that seeks no acclaim or anything in return, then such love is shown here by Jesus. What is revealing about ourselves and how we understand love is that we can see without difficulty the depth and purity of the love shown by the Happy Prince, but fail to recognize the presence of a love that is of the utmost depth and purity in the conflict of Jesus with the evil spirit, liberating a person in distress.

We can sometimes fail to recognize love because is all too easy to limit our understanding of love to what is comforting, mild, gentle and warm. But this is a narrow understanding of love, an understanding of love that has not grown into adulthood.

Faced with the man possessed by an evil spirit, Jesus did what he had to do. Unfortunately, perhaps, that involved entering into conflict. Similarly, if we look at the lives of some of the saints known for their works of charity, we see that they were often people prepared to enter into the fray in defense of the poor and suffering. In this too there was no seeking after acclaim or asking for anything in return.

When we have a narrow understanding of love, we can fall into the trap of thinking of Jesus as loving on some occasions, but tough and forceful, and hence less than truly loving, on other occasions. In the same way, we can overlook the presence of the most profound love in people who do not pander to sentiment, but who care only about what is good and true.

Like all realities of great depth, love is multi-faceted, rich and complex. Like all realities of great depth, coming to understand love requires time and patience. More correctly, coming to understand love is a journey that continues throughout our lives. So let us remember that love of the greatest depth and purity, love that does not seek acclaim or ask anything in return, is a love we may fail to recognize. Indeed, it may be these very qualities that hide it from our sight; but it is such qualities as these that make it really present.

After Daddy’s mesothelioma diagnosis was deemed critically terminal, one of his great comforts was chewing gum.  He went through at least a pack a day.  I’ll never forget this conversation between he and Momma when Daddy was in the hospital:

Daddy:  Did I ask you to bring me some gum?

Momma:  Yes, Honey.

Daddy:  Did you bring me some gum?

Momma:  Yes, Honey.

Daddy:  Then why ain’t I achewin’ it?

And we all laughed, Momma gave Daddy his gum, he began “achewin’ it” and all was as right as it could be under the circumstances.

The Responsorial Psalm appointed for today comes from Psalm 25. Here it is:

R.  Teach me your ways, O Lord.

Your ways, O LORD, make known to me; teach me your paths, Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior.

R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.

Remember that your compassion, O LORD, and your love are from of old.  In your kindness remember me, because of your goodness, O LORD.

R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.

Good and upright is the LORD; thus he shows sinners the way.  He guides the  humble to justice  and teaches the humble his way.

R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.

And the Gospel for today comes from Mark 1:   As he (Jesus) passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen.  Jesus said to them,  “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”   Then they abandoned their nets and followed him.  He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.  They too were in a boat mending their nets.  Then he called them.  So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.

Now, you ask me, what in the world does Daddy’s gum have to do with those scriptures?  I’m gonna tell ya.  Momma was prepared.  She had done Daddy’s bidding, but just hadn’t quite followed through with it yet.  How many of us are like that when it comes to doing our Lord’s bidding?  Like the Psalmist, we have all of us asked “Teach me your ways, O Lord.”  But have we followed through?

In the Gospel reading for today, we read of Jesus calling Simon, Andrew, James and John to follow him.  And they did.  We have many of us been called to follow Christ.  And we do.  Mostly???  Sort of???  Kind of???  In a round about way???

In the past few weeks, how many of us have said/posted/read/agreed with things that would most definitely not be considered Christ-like?   How many of us have let our personal political beliefs get in the way of acting like the “little Christ” we are called to be?  Sure we can disagree, often vehemently, but under no circumstances can we allow ourselves to allow those differences of opinions to get in the way of our witness for our Lord.  (You gotta remember that even Peter and Paul argued, but they didn’t let that stand in the way of building Christ’s Kingdom.)

Let us not forget that in many cases, we are the only Bibles that many folks will ever read, and we are the only Jesus that some folks will ever see.  It is up to us to see the Jesus in everyone, regardless of political belief, race, creed, color, sexual orientation, whether we cheer for Duke or for Clemson, or anything thing else that can be used to divide us.  We are all of us HIS people, the sheep of HIS pasture, and we have far more in common than we do the things that divide us, if we truly identify as HIS.

As Christians, have we lost our focus of what is truly important?  Regardless of politics, of whether we are ‘blue’ or ‘red’ or ‘rainbow,’ we are to remain focused on the one thing that really matters in this world and the next:  Spreading and sharing the love of and for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  No matter who sits in the Oval Office, our job, our mission, our focus, has not changed and will not change:  We are called to love and to serve the Lord with gladness and singleness of heart.  We are called to care of each other, regardless of our politics.  We are commanded to ‘bless those who persecute us’ and we are called to ‘pray for our enemies.’  We are called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless. (Matthew 25:31-46). 

I think we all of us are familiar with the song, “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”  And what is the next line?  Yep.  “And let it begin with me.”  Isn’t it time we lived up to that?   What are we doing to bring about change?  To bring about equality?  To bring about that healing this country so desperately needs? 

It is up to each of us to conduct ourselves in a manner fitting our faith.   Look at what you say.  Look at what you post.  If you were accused of being a Christian, would your timeline bear witness to the fact?

In the movie “Sister Act” the nuns sing another song that we’re all familiar with.  “I Will Follow Him.” 

 I must follow him, ever since he touched my hand I knew that near him I always must be And nothing can keep him from me He is my destiny. (Songwriters: Arthur Altman / Franck Pourcel / Jacques Plante / Norman Gimbel / Paul Mauriat)

So, having said all of the above, shouldn’t we, like the nuns, like Peter and James and John and Andrew and Paul actually do what we are called to do?

Follow Him.  In every word that we speak.  Follow Him.  In every post that we make.  Follow Him.  In every action we take.  Follow Him.  Amen.

Today we mark the end of the Christmas season – the Day of Epiphany.  We celebrate this day to reflect on the visit of the Magi – the wise men – to Jesus and the giving of their gifts. We reflect on the meaning of this visit of those wise ones to see Jesus.

Epiphany is about Jesus and his message being available and relevant to people of every age and race. Jesus isn’t just a Jewish prophet with an exciting message, but God made present amongst us and available to all of us to worship and follow. God’s love reaches beyond the everyday barriers of race and class; something the Magi didn’t quite get at first.

So Who Were the Magi?

We don’t know much about the Magi from Scripture. All Saint Matthew tells us is that they were “Magi from the East”. Some translations have “Wise men from the East”. The word in Greek refers to priests of the Zoroastrian religion. They came from Persia, the countries now known as Iran and Iraq, and they saw meaning in the movement of the stars. Their visit fits an Eastern pattern of great births being accompanied by momentous events in the sky. Certainly we know of a comet in 11BCE in Gemini with its head towards Leo, seen by many as a symbol of Judah.  We also know of planetary conjunctions in both 7BCE and 6 BCE which would have added to a sense that momentous happenings were on the way. The Magi would have noticed these things and taken them seriously. But who were they?

One commentator, Brian Stoffregen puts it like this;

“Originally in Persia, Magi were dream- interpreters. By Jesus’ time, the term referred to astronomers, fortune-tellers, or star-gazers.   They were horoscope fanatics – a practice condemned by Jewish standards. We might compare them to people in fortune – telling booths, or people on the “psychic hotline” or other “occupations” that foretell the future by stars, tea leaves, Tarot cards etc. They were magicians, astronomers, star-gazers, pseudo-scientists, fortune tellers..”

Another writer, Nathan Nettleton, puts it like this;

“They were the speakers of the sacred words at the pagan sacrifices. At worst, the term referred to a magician or sorcerer, or even a deceiver. Magi were people whose activities were repeatedly condemned and prohibited throughout the scriptures and were completely anathema to the people of Israel.”

Whilst in English we get the words “magic” and “magician” from Magi, the Zoroastrian religion forbade sorcery. They clearly were looking for a new king and had found meaning in the movement of the planets and stars which led them to come to Israel to greet the new-born king. They journeyed from their homes in Persia to Bethlehem in search of this baby. Instead of angels and visions, we have the image of the Magi following a sign in the skies – in nature – and for a long period of time. The magi see the intentions of God in the skies. This is not new: Psalm 19 tells us that the heavens themselves declare who God is, and that his handiwork is seen in created nature.  “We observed his star at its rising”. The magi know that there is something significant happening.

When did they come?

The Gospel of Saint Luke doesn’t mention the Magi and holds that the Holy Family returned to Nazareth after the presentation of Jesus at the Temple where he was circumcised. It’s probable that Saint Luke didn’t know of this episode in Jesus’ early life. Saint Matthew seems to place the visit of the Magi some time after Jesus’ birth. The Holy Family are in a “house” not in the
stable of the inn.  Herod kills all the newborn boys under the age of two years. So it’s likely that the Holy Family had stayed for some time in Bethlehem and the Magi came some time after Jesus’ birth, perhaps as long as two years after.

WHY did they come?

Clearly, the Magi were searching.  The Magi recognized much of the truth of Jesus, who he was and what he would become.  The magi had a general idea of this God and this King of the Jews, but they didn’t really know who or what they were looking for.  Bono and U2 were criticized some years ago by some supposedly orthodox Christians when they produced a song entitled, “I still haven’t found what I am looking for.”  I can’t see the problem with that especially given the spiritual depths in many of their songs. You see, the example of the Magi was that they were searchers, not really knowing what or who they were looking for.  They didn’t claim to have it all but they saw their lives as a journey of discovery. And in that they are an example to us. We don’t know it all. But if we like them are prepared to be diligent seekers, then like them we may be graced by God’s light, by our Epiphany.  When the wise men finally found Jesus, we are told that their first response was joy – “they were overwhelmed with joy”. That is what happens when we find Jesus. This is what awaits us at the end of the journey. Next, they paid him homage – they worshiped him and acknowledged Him as King. After the joy comes the worship. That means acknowledging Jesus as King. Jesus as the center. Jesus as Lord. And then, after joy and after worship, comes offering of their gifts. In response to who Jesus is and the joy He gives, we offer ourselves and our gifts to Him.

So my message for today is to dare, like them, to take the risk of seeking, and God may well bless us with our own Epiphanies which transform us as doubtless the Magi were transformed by what must have been a surprising experience for them as they knelt before the infant Jesus.

So how do you find Jesus? Maybe you can start out like the Magi – with a general idea of God, and a general idea that He is guiding you. Like the Magi, we need to turn to the scriptures. If you don’t read them, you will never really get the specific directions that God is trying to give you. Approach them with the right spirit, the right purpose. Ask for help along the way – the church, God’s people, are meant to help you along that way. The wise men knew when they needed to ask someone else for help. And pray. Ask God. When you find Jesus, rejoice. After all, He is God. Put Him in the center of your life. Ask yourself whether what you are doing honors him a King. Offer to him what you have, who you are.

Where can this Jesus be found?  He is with you now.  Won’t you seek Him?  Won’t you recognize Him?  Won’t you let Him fill YOUR life with joy?  Amen.