Lent II, Year C 2019

St. Thomas the Apostle, Nassau Bay
Old Testament: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Gospel: Luke 13:31-35
March 17, 2019

Jesus identifies as a prophet, one who in Biblical tradition was called by God to speak truth to power, to put forth God’s word “all the way to the top” so to speak.  Jerusalem was the location of the Temple, it was the seat of religious authority for the Jews.  For a Jew, it was all the way to the top.  As Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry, at the end he is compelled to journey toward Jerusalem to speak truth to power.  

In today’s Gospel reading, we get some foreshadowing of the fate that awaits Jesus in the ancient Judean capital.  But before that, we see the difficulty he faced just on the journey to get there.  Some Pharisees came to Jesus in the guise of being helpful….but we know their real motivation is to keep Jesus out of Jerusalem if possible.  I would not put it past Caiaphas to have sent these folks to scare Jesus into changing his mind, to stray from his course, and hopefully, to go into hiding.  “Jesus, you are vulnerable here….save yourself by staying small and keeping a low profile.”  The religious leadership in Jerusalem had enough headaches just running interference between the “run-of-the-mill” zealots and the Romans.  The last thing they wanted was to deal with this popular teacher whom many thought to be God’s long-awaited chosen leader.   Recent history had already shown the Romans would not hesitate to unleash violent force to put down a riot or anything that smelled of insurrection.  Go and tell Jesus that Herod is in town and wants to kill him….perhaps that will be enough to keep Jesus away at least until after the Passover Festival.

We hear this reading on the 2nd Sunday in Lent well on the way in our Liturgical journey through the season.  The Gospel reading may point us to ask in what way are we being compelled, driven by the Spirit to speak the truth where it may not be welcome, where it might be misunderstood and turned against us, where it will not be appreciated.  What barriers may stand in the way of our saying the right thing, what scripts do we play in our minds to discourage us from speaking the truth where it is so desperately needed.

The world is once again reeling from the news of a mass killing of civilians. Forty-nine people were killed in shootings at two mosques in central Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday.  The terrorist attack appeared to have been carried out by a 28 year-old man hellbent on furthering a white supremacist ideology.  
It is hard to fathom how a person could be so evil as to plan the mass murder of other human beings.  I used to think that the underlying motive for terrorism like this must be hate.  We sometimes hear the term “hate” crimes to describe attacks at places of worship, for example.  Hurtful words and Internet memes as well are often called forms of “hate” speech.  But here’s the deal.  I don’t think the term “hate” is the most accurate term for this .  Instead, I think the word “contempt” is probably closer to the truth.  

My work as an educator would from time to time involve educational counseling with students who were being disciplined for bullying behavior.  Bullying involves repeated acts of meanness by someone often with the support of bystanders.   One thing I learned in this work is that students who persist in bullying are not angry at their victims...instead, they view their victims as somehow undeserving of an equal place in the community.  The victims were beneath them in status.  Sometimes a student who bullied another tried to blame the problem on the victim.  “He annoys me constantly,” or “She’s always in my way.”  (Sometimes parents were part of the problem and supported the excuses.)  But this kind of anger was a facade; the real issue was a distorted version of reality in which the victim is viewed as a legitimate target for scorn. 

Contempt is nothing new in human history.  Jesus was surely well aware of the contempt he would face in Jerusalem, both from the religious elite and from the Roman authorities...he was under no allusions that these forces would have any respect for his teachings or even for his life.

What is new and unique in human history is what God has done in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  In life, Jesus taught with parables….stories and images that had staying power and caused us to think.  In the Gospel reading, Jesus uses such an image.  He compares God to a hen with a brood of chicks.  What does God want?  God wants to gather the chicks under wing to protect them, if only they are willing.  In the parabolic image, the way God has of being God is to gather, to assemble people together, to bring people into a family.  But only if they are willing.  Adoption into the family of God is an invitation to accept God’s nurture and favor.  

In his death, Jesus laid down his life to pay the price for our ignorance, for our lack of trust.  He paid the price for the way we betray God, one another, and even for the way we betray ourselves by giving-in to our basest instincts.  Jesus showed us that God’s desire is to gather people together under wing...people from every nation and tradition, a new family whose exact makeup is a mystery known only to God.

In his Resurrection, Jesus gives us hope.  Human life is grounded in hope, is it not?  Life is easier to live when we hope for good things in the future.  At different times in our lives, we hope for success, we hope for happiness and peace, and we extend that hope to those we love and even to strangers.  In the face of tragedy, we mourn but keep our hope for a world that is better, a world with solutions to disease, poverty, and hunger.  A world without violence fueled by contempt.  Hope sustains our lives in the worst of times because with it we can hold in our imagination the possibility of change for the better.  Those who face a grave challenge in life know that hope is required….it’s not optional like something you can take or leave.

In our reading from Genesis, we learn that Abram is tempted by despair.  God had promised that he would be the founder of a great people who would become a blessing to all nations.  And as it has turned out, Abram is getting along in years and has no children of his own.  It seems as though what he had signed-on for was not happening.  Into the midst of this low-point, God re-affirms the promise first by showing Abram the night sky and comparing the stars to how numerous his family will eventually be.  Then, in the next story God gives Abram a dream in which a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch pass between cut pieces of animals….this unusual dream portrayed a kind of ancient contract ceremony.  So, this was also a reaffirmation of God’s promise with a kind-of signed contract, as it were.

We learn from this story that Abram is inspired by these mysterious visions and dreams.  He could have ignored them or attributed them to something he ate...but instead, his faith in God’s promise was rekindled.  What God gave him was hope that his life was on course; hope that his calling was true; hope that his life was connected to something larger than himself...hope that life has meaning and purpose.

The first time I rode the subway in New York, I was rather cautious.  All of my life I had heard negative things about the subway there.  As the time came for me to board, I was imagining pickpockets, thieves, and half-crazed addicts just looking to do harm.  I found a seat and clutched my computer case for dear life and looked downward to avoid any eye contact.  All I wanted was to make it alive to my conference destination about 6 or 7 stops to the North.  At the very next stop, I noticed a boy of about 10 years of age, enter the subway car by himself.  He looked to be on his way to school with his books and homework. This all looked to be the regular routine for him as he exited on one of the stops before mine. This unaccompanied minor was a sign for me.  He instantly put my fears to rest.  He put a light on my own dysfunctional thinking about New York.  I laughed inside with a bit of embarrassment at how a grown man could be afraid of something that was just everyday routine to a child.  I was a bit more relaxed for the remainder of the ride and reminded that signs of hope can be seen even where we least expect them.

Now, many years later, the biggest sign of hope for me has to be my new grandson, Jonah.  I think his great grandfather, Craig Morgan, said it best when holding Jonah for the first time he proclaimed,” When you look at this baby, you know there is a God who loves us.”  

The scriptures are full of signs meant to give us hope: the stars of the sky, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, a hen gathering her brood under wing.  Perhaps, today’s lessons invite us to reclaim the place of hope in our lives.  This is especially challenging when we see how human beings can hold each other in contempt and how this leads to violence.  As people of the cross, we have a vision of a better world...a world made different by the transformative power of God’s love.  We hope that the Kingdom of God, established in power and beginning when Jesus came among us, will one day be known in all its fullness.  One day all the earth will see Jesus and say, “Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.”  Until that day, we live in the between time, a time when we need hope to see God’s love at work changing the world.  May hope allow us to live our lives with meaning and purpose.  In hope may we love our neighbors as ourselves, may we see all people as God’s creatures, worthy of love and connection, all invited to gather under God’s wing for protection.  May hope allow us to speak truth to power, to call bullying when we see it, to recognize contempt, and do our best to stand apart from it with acts of kindness for its victims.  All God’s children have a place in the choir. May hope allow us in some small way this week to make our world a little safer for all God’s children.  AMEN.

   

School Chapel 8 January 2019

Stained-Glass from Trinity
Episcopal Church, Galveston

January 8, 2019
Tuesday Chapel, Trinity Episcopal School, Galveston
Luke 2:41-52

I’m grateful to head of school Mark Ravelli for inviting me to give the homily at school Chapel on this day. The reading from Luke’s Gospel, one of my favorites, is depicted in the stained-glass of this church building. (It’s the 3rd window from the back on the South side….visual learners should definitely check it out.) If you look in the very back of the scene, you can see Jesus’ parents coming into the Temple where Jesus is shown conversing with the teachers….the parents do not look pleased. As I put my head around this scene, in my imagination, I create some of the back story. One possibility is that Jesus became separated from his parents in the crowd and mix of people at this huge festival of Passover….only his parents did not realize it before they left on the caravan journey back to their hometown, Nazareth. If so, Jesus did the right thing to seek out the authorities in the temple, the teachers...then he got into discussions with these teachers and showed them that he had a real knack for the stories of the Bible and how to mine them for meaning and application to life. The teachers were amazed at how a boy of 12 years could ask such good questions and speak so lucidly about their traditions. Perhaps, Jesus too experienced a passion for this work and found himself in the “zone,” so to speak... that place where one loses track of time because of being so "in" to what one is doing. If he didn’t know already, he discovered at the Temple that he had a gift for discussing and teaching about God.

So here are three things I want to point out about today’s reading.

1st, I am reminded that young people should be prepared regarding what to do if they ever get lost from their family or group when in a crowd. I remember when my oldest child, James, got separated from his friend’s family at the Tennessee State Fair. He stayed calm enough to seek out “the helpers.” He looked for uniformed people and eventually presented himself to Fair personnel at a ticket counter. Don’t just cry out to any stranger but seek out the people who are designated helpers...that’s what I think Jesus did by finding the teachers in “his Father’s house.”

2nd, I am reminded that some stories in the Gospels point out Jesus’ divine nature while others point out his humanity. For me, today’s story definitely points toward his humanity. This story is the only one we have from when Jesus was a boy….a time when he was discovering his gifts and talents while also needing the love, protection, and guidance of his parents. Theologians note that Jesus was fully God and fully human being...the fully human being part means that Jesus was vulnerable, and he could be hurt just like anyone. Jesus’ parents were upset with him...they were worried imagining all the terrible things that could have befallen a 12-year-old by himself in “the big city.” Jesus thought that Mary and Joseph should have known to look in the Temple but he knew from the scriptures that he should be obedient to his parents and listen to them. He returned home with them, and Mary added this to the list of things that she pondered in her heart.

3rd, and finally, I am reminded that, as a boy, Jesus became really good at reading and discussing the stories of the Bible. That is part of his human nature too. Childhood is for all of us a time to discover that there are some things we enjoy more than others. Sometimes, students at a young age will be fortunate enough to discover an activity that fascinates them...some area in which they feel energy to work hard by their own choice...some area in which they become expert enough to compare with much older students and even adults. These are things we are passionate about...in my own life since the time I was in high school I have been passionate about church, teaching, and photography….now that I’m retired I still enjoy dabbling in these three. I trust that all of you will one day find work to do….but please know it is a real blessing to work in an area that is also a passion.

I was inspired in the most recent edition of Coast Magazine to see one of the students I remember from Trinity in a feature describing her passion for Irish dance. She became fascinated by this activity while on a family vacation to Ireland….she works hard at it and is able in competition to exceed the performance of students already well into high school. And, she is just 10 years old! Finding a passion at such a young age is a blessing...but it doesn’t always happen that early. Some of you will be more like me and what you are passionate about may not come into focus until high school or later. Just know this...every person has gifts, so be on the lookout! Be open to different activities, ask adults in your families what they are passionate about and how they learned about those things. Be ready to be fascinated in the days and years to come. AMEN.

Proper 29, Year B 2018

Grace Episcopal Church, Galveston
Gospel: John 18:33-37
25 November 2018

Every now and then, we catch glimpses of the good that God intends for our world, even in the midst of calamity. For example, I’ve noticed some stories of heroic acts of kindness embedded in news of the tragic fires in California. In northern California, what is known as the Camp Fire began in the early hours of November 8 and ripped through Butte County eventually leaving 83 people dead and 13,000 families without homes. In one story related to this fire, 33-year-old James Betts recalled his rescue thanks to the actions of a good samaritan. While Betts was desperately trying to escape the flames with 7 others on foot, a man in a pickup truck pulled up suddenly and shouted at them to climb into the truck bed. All made it to safety thanks to the kindness of a stranger who stopped to help...a person whose name they may never know. In the Kingdom of God, there is no east and west, no rich and poor, no this kind of people and that kind, and no one is left behind…. We are all one family. Sometimes, it takes a crisis to help us revert to what matters most. For a moment we see clearly that we are all related as children of God.

The late Fred Rogers, whose children’s television series, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, modeled kindness for a generation of children, described how his own mother would respond when she was troubled by scary news. “Look for the helpers,” she would say. When we are frightened by events we too can find some hope in the work of the first responders, in the compassion of strangers, and in the way the worst can sometimes bring out the best in people.

Folks who have been able to escape the devastating fire in Northern California are now facing the reality of a new normal. The initial needs for rescue and immediate safety have given way to the need for shelter and relief over the coming months and still later will give way to the need for rebuilding and recovery. Whether a hurricane, a flood, an earthquake, or a fire, communities face a similar set of stages following disaster. This time, we are looking at the devastation from a distance….but we know that our own community has been in the difficult aftermath of calamity. We look at what is going on in California….but looking at something is not the same as seeing. Seeing involves not only the eyes but also the mind and the heart. Seeing involves understanding and feeling the significance of what we’re looking at. Seeing brings up questions. How are we connected to others who suffer? Do we relate to them from our own experiences? Seeing brings up feelings like empathy, compassion, and a desire to help. Seeing might lead us to the Internet to find out more from sources like the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California, the Episcopal Relief and Development US Disaster Fund and the American Red Cross, among others

Today is the final Sunday of the liturgical year. It is the last Sunday after Pentecost and the day, also known as the Feast of Christ the King, when our focus is Jesus as God’s chosen leader. But just what kind of leader is Jesus and what are we to make of his kingdom? In reading from the Gospel according to John, Pilate was trying to assess just how much of a threat Jesus was to the tinderbox that was Jerusalem. Pontius Pilate was the Roman Prefect in Judea; he had final authority in his jurisdiction on matters legal, financial, and military and typically did his work from the city of Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast. But in today’s reading we see that Pilate is in Jerusalem. Pilate was in town with his soldiers because this was the festival of Passover. He was there not to worship but, rather, to see to the interests of Rome. He knew there would be a greater than usual concentration of religious zealots in town...people who longed for the days before the Roman occupation and who were looking for a messiah to lead a revolt. Tensions were high, and the last thing Pilate wanted was some Jewish nut-job fanning the flames of discontent.

To keep the peace as well as the steady stream of taxes extracted for Rome, Pilate would not hesitate to shut down any sign of sedition. He had the authority to remove the high priest, Caiaphas, and to end the Passover festival by force if necessary. He could be brutally efficient. If he needed more soldiers he could get them from their garrison in Syria. If it was going to take a bloodbath to extinguish the beginnings of an insurrection then so be it.

Now, Pilate typically did not want to get involved in Jewish religious affairs, but Caiaphas had sent Jesus to Pilate with words that surely got his attention. Caiaphas sent word that Jesus had claimed to be a king, the King of the Jews!

“Are you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked. But, Jesus did not directly answer the question. Yet, even at his trial before Pilate, Jesus is a teacher. He takes the opportunity to describe his kingdom as being “not from this world.” As evidence, he points out that his followers did not resist his being taken prisoner. He was describing his kingdom...sooo then he must be claiming to be a king, right? “So you are a king? Pilate asks. Once again, Jesus does not answer the question directly but he uses the opportunity to teach. You are using this term “king” to describe me...but this is why I was sent into the world. The world understands a king in a political way, but if you are going to use it for me, this is what it means… It is for this that I was born, to reveal what is ultimately true. In Jesus God has pitched a tent among us in a way that joins heaven to earth and earth to heaven. Theologically, making God known to human beings is what the 2nd Person of the Trinity does. Whenever human beings come to know God...whether in a beautiful sunset, the vast expanse of interstellar space, a burning bush, the words of a prophet, or in the actions of a nameless good samaritan saving a group from fast approaching flames….whenever any person experiences being in the presence of God, being grasped by the Holy, being saved by the Divine, we say that the 2nd Person of the Trinity is at work. Christians believe that the most perfect revelation of God to humanity was in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. God may be revealed in other ways...but never before or after so completely in Jesus! This is what it means for a Christian to acknowledge Jesus as Christ the King.

So there we are. We end the Church year with the acclamation that Jesus is our King. We do not mean by the term “king” someone who vies for power to rule one political unit among others. By King, we mean the One to whom we owe everything that is meaningful in life...our creation, our preservation, and all the blessings of this life. And, above all, the One to whom we are forever indebted for the immeasurable love by which we have been saved from the power of sin and death. AMEN.

Proper 25, Year B 2018

Trinity Episcopal Church, Galveston
Gospel: Mark 10:46-52
28 October 2018

 In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus shows God’s compassion with an act of healing. Jesus’ responds to a blind person begging from the side of the road, and this is contrasted with the hardness of heart demonstrated by many of the followers accompanying him.

This story is just “dust and ashes” unless we use it as a mirror to see ourselves. In some ways, I see myself in the crowd wanting to bypass the beggar. I’ve been in too many situations where I’ve looked the other way, walked to the other side of the street, or otherwise chosen to keep my distance when a stranger is asking for help on the street. Typically, I am suspicious; I find it difficult to trust folks soliciting at the street corners or in the parking lot at the grocery. On the other hand, there have been times in life when I related more to Bartimaeus. I remember feeling desperate after Hurricane Ike when payroll was coming due for the teachers and staff before we had re-established any kind of office at our devastated campus. The Diocese of Texas in Houston had a lot to deal with in those days, and they also found temporary office space for an anxiety-ridden head of school from Galveston. As it turned out, the Diocese agreed to front money and process the printed checks for the September payroll. Those checks going out when they did were an early sign of hope that Trinity Episcopal School had support and was going to come back!

Jesus did not meet every blind person in Palestine; that was not his agenda. Jesus' agenda on the way to the Cross was to teach those who followed him that God’s Kingdom begins in mercy. God’s compassion is real, Jesus made it known in word and deed... and ultimately, on the Cross.

There are only two basic choices in life, two ways of seeing the world, two paradigms….and these are love and fear. When we choose fear, the focus is on scarcity. When fear is in play, we are rendered blind to the abundance with which we have been blessed, and we worry about not having enough time, running out of resources, or coming up short of what we will need for self and family. When we choose love, the focus is on joy. The blessings we have received come readily to mind, and we want to pay them forward. Giving of self is a spiritual practice; it helps us connect to something greater than self. In our appointed Collect today, we pray for an increase in charity. Even though our acts of compassion, how we give of ourselves to others, may often be incomplete, distorted, misinformed, even self-serving to some extent, there is always grace in trying to follow God’s example in Jesus.

If you have watched any news lately, you have heard of the migrant caravan on route from Central America. The people are real and number in the thousands. Unicef says there are 2,300 children in this caravan. Does this modern day Exodus seem like an invasion? Do you feel that these folks are coming to take our jobs, to strain our social services, to change our way of life? Are they pawns of a political movement, on the right or on the left? The more interviews I hear, the more these people are given human faces, the greater my awareness is that they are not left or right, they just want to survive.

People in this caravan decided to leave their homeland, figuring that the danger of leaving and making the journey (even with no assurance at the end) was outstripped by the danger at home of facing gang death threats and no help from a corrupt government…. and the continuing threat of being unable to feed their families. I found it helpful to read some of the interviews of people in the migrant caravan, to see things from their perspective...to put human faces on them. These are folks who are desperate...that means, if you tell them not to come, they are still coming.

Bartimaeus believed that Jesus was God’s chosen leader and trusted that Jesus would show compassion for him. Bartimaeus cried out the words, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” At some point in the past he had lost his eyesight, but in his spirit he could still see. He trusted that Jesus was the one sent by God to save the lost. For people who are desperate, faith is not a luxury to take or leave. For people like Bartimaeus, life had to be lived one day at a time. His very existence was dependent on the gifts of others...faith was required just to make it from one day to the next.

Perhaps, Bartimaeus knew enough from the scriptures to know that the promised Son of David would be a servant of all. Jeremiah’s vision of a restored Israel included the blind and the lame, as we heard in our Old Testament reading today….Perhaps, Mark’s Bartimaeus knew this passage. Many in the crowd berated him, telling him sternly to keep his mouth shut... But he was desperate, and he believed that Jesus would show compassion to him. So, this beggar cried out even more loudly. When someone is desperate, they don’t have a choice….no matter what others say or what kind of abuse they shell out….they will keep on.

Jesus had left Jericho, and the next stop was Jerusalem...the “train had left the station,” so to speak….but, Jesus stood still when he heard a cry for mercy. The crowd did not know this, but Jesus’ work in Jerusalem, his death on the Cross, would show God’s unqualified mercy for all humanity.

Now here is an even more remarkable thing in the story. The beggar cries out, Jesus hears him and stops, and then…. he directs the crowd to call the man. Jesus asks the very people who had been hushing Bartimaeus to now deliver good news and to bring him before Jesus. Notice, he does not wait for the perfect, blameless people to assist. Jesus needs the ones who are with him to be his hands and feet. Jesus needs us to be his hands and feet in our own time and in our own community. He is not waiting for the perfect, blameless people because, truth be told, those people do not exist. Folks, it’s just us.

The story of Bartimaeus serves as a warning that fear can lead good people to show contempt. Fear tells us that the stranger is the enemy; that the needy will overwhelm us with their needs; that time cannot be spared to depart from the agenda we already have going. The story is a reminder that Jesus calls us to choose love over fear, to show compassion, and to respond as best we can to those, who in their desperation, cry out for mercy. We are followers of Jesus; we are not perfect, we struggle with hardness of heart, but we are loved, we are blessed with abundance….and we are called to be Jesus’ hands and feet in the world today.  AMEN.

Proper 22, Year B 2018

Trinity Episcopal, Church Galveston
Gospel: Mark 10:2-16
7 October 2018

Early in my career as a priest I learned that seminary does not train young men and women to be pastors. I graduated from Virginia Seminary in 1987, a twenty-something, having learned Bible, Theology, Greek, and lots of other “book” learning. But I didn’t learn how to integrate that learning into the work of caring for souls until I had real responsibilities for pastoral care in my work as a curate and chaplain. Seminary helps with the Master’s Degree, but it takes a parish, school or other real-life ministry to make a pastor.

I have a poignant memory of this “on-the-job” pastoral education from my first assignment as chaplain at Christ Episcopal School in Covington, Louisiana. At one point, it was brought to my attention that one of our 2nd Graders, an only child, let’s call him Sam, had some bad news in his family. I was advised that Sam’s parents had just announced their separation and intention to divorce. My immediate naive assumption was how this boy must be devastated. At that age, surely his entire world must be his parents….and now, like a rug, that world was being pulled out from under him. I filtered my imagination through my own idealism about marriage. The words of Jesus, came to mind, “What God has joined together, let no one separate.” Marriage was an institution ordained by God, and its failure must always represent a complete, unmitigated disaster, especially to a child. And this poor 2nd Grader must be hurting and needing to talk to someone.

Here’s where Sam became my teacher. I arranged a time at school to conference with him. “You must be very sad that your parents are no longer together,” I said with concern. And, then, this kid (in tears but with a wisdom beyond his years) responded that his parents, no longer being in the same house now, this situation living with one parent at a time from now on, meant that he would no longer have to hide under his bed at night! The new situation was not devastating. What Sam was experiencing now was relief and the hope that his own home would not be day-after-day of “Defcon 5” emotional intensity. What I learned from Sam was that life is more complex than any one set of fixed ideals. What I learned is that compassion has to rise above adherence to ideals. What I learned is that sometimes the perspective of a child helps reveal the truth.

Our Gospel reading for today has two parts. In the first, Jesus is being tested by the Pharisees. John the Baptist had been beheaded, indirectly at least, because of the stance he took regarding Herod’s marriage to Herodias, who was divorced from Herod’s own brother. This subject was highly volatile to say the least; perhaps, Jesus’ comments on marriage also would incur the wrath of Herodias, and that would be the end of him . The second part of our reading from Mark gave me a sense of déjà vu. The last time I was up here preaching, Mark’s Gospel portrayed Jesus teaching his disciples using a child as an example. Today, the example has been underscored by its repetition. The most critical concepts in any curriculum are repeated. (If you hear teachers speaking about this repetition in “eduspeak,” they will say that the concept is “spiraled.”) So, this point that Jesus is making with the example of children must be critically important to the Christian life.

Jesus does not often become “indignant,” but when he does we should pay attention. He became angry when Jesus’ disciples discouraged people from bringing children to him. Apparently, Jesus felt strongly about welcoming children, being affectionate with them, and blessing them. In today’s reading, Jesus makes clear that only those who receive the kingdom of God like a child, will be able to enter it.

This second story provides Jesus’ counterpoint to the rules-based religion of the Pharisees. For the Pharisees, being right with God meant adhering closely to God’s laws. Their encounters with Jesus were typically asking him about rules (or criticizing him and/or his disciples for breaking them). For Jesus, being right with God was not about following rules. Yes, Moses allowed a man to go through a legal proceeding to divorce his wife. But, Jesus is very clear that observing this rule does not make it all OK. Generalizing from this, the overall point is that even following all of the rules would never make us right with God.

Rules are necessary to protect us from one another, but they do not solve the underlying problem of human selfishness. In modifying our behavior in order to avoid consequences (or, better, out of respect for the rules), we help our community to be more just and enjoyable for all, but God is after something more profound than civil society as good and necessary as that is.

Remember last week’s Gospel? It’s hard to tell the inflection of Jesus’ speech from the text, but consistent with the Gospel, I imagine Jesus said something like...well, if the foot is the problem, go ahead and cut it off, better for you to enter heaven lame than to go to hell with both feet. Well, if it’s the eye that is the problem, by all means pluck it out. I bet Jesus knew his words would get our attention and make us think. But, here’s the deal: the problem is not the feet...the problem is not the eyes, the hands, or any other body part for that matter. The problem is the heart, the seat of human desire. And, there is, in fact, no surgery that makes us right with God. So if it’s not rules, and it’s not surgery, what is it, then, that can make us right with God.

This is so important that Jesus repeats the point; He again welcomes children into the lesson….in fact, to become the lesson. Children are dependent; they cannot fix their life situation but must place their trust in those who love them. I will never forget the hope Sam displayed to me those many years ago when he learned that his parents would live apart. He loved them both but knew that things would work out better being with one of them at a time. This kid was resilient, ready to forgive, flexible, and hopeful. He knew the old way was not working and was ready to embrace a different way. Jesus is saying to us, be like a child in your faith. We cannot fix our own fallen nature or that of anyone else for that matter. Sometimes, we experience our world deeply divided and pulling apart around us, and we wish we could find a metaphorical way to hide under the bed. Jesus calls his children to place their trust in God’s love… and, in turn, to forgive others, and to be resilient, flexible, and hopeful in God’s transformation. We are Jesus’ children, and we are called to embrace a different way...the way of love.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, let us respond in life like children who are deeply loved, not for how we measure up to the rules, but simply because God has made us. And, may we ever remember.... the perspective of a child can help us cut through the distortions to see the simple redemptive, trans-formative truth of Love. AMEN.