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Love your enemies?

February 22, 2025

Epiphany 7 -2025

Luke 6:27-38

Marian Free

In the name of God who overlooks our shortcomings, and who does not exact retribution. Amen. 

On Valentine’s Day I watched the Italian movie “Burning hearts” though a more literal translation would be “Eating the heart.”   It was a very violent movie which, for some reason my Italian teacher thought suited a supposedly romantic day.  Based on actual events, the movie relates the story of rivalry between three clans in the region of Puglia.  The film begins with the gruesome slaughter of four members of the Malatesta. family. The youngest son Michele, who has escaped death because he has been in the pen with the goats, makes it his mission to avenge the lives of his parents and siblings.  As soon as he is old enough, he kills five men of the Camporeale clan. 

After this, some sort of peace deal is worked out between the two families. Instead of meeting violence with violence, recompense was to be discussed and accepted in exchange for the offense. A tenuous peace seems to have ensued – that is until the son of the Malatesta family, Andrea falls in love with the Marilena, the wife of the Camporeale boss (who is on the run). The two throw caution to the wind and, ignoring all pleas to end their relationships, run away together.. 

A third clan – the Montanari – try to make a deal between the Malatesta and Camporeale – 150 cattle for the death of Michele Malatesta.  However, the deal is not kept and. Michele, Andrea’s father is killed – presumably by the Camporeale.

Andrea returns for his father’s funeral – with Marilena who is pregnant with his child. Marilena is tolerated by the Malatesta family because the child is of their blood. Michele’s widow, Andrea’s mother, is determined that her eldest son and Michele’s heir should avenge her husband’s death.  At first reluctant, Andrea gets a taste for revenge and begins to eliminate all the male members of the Camporeale family. As a consequence of the violence his brother is lured into a trap (set for him) and killed.

At the end of the movie, Marilena manages to escape, and Andrea realises that it was the Montanari, not the Camporeale who murdered his father. His murderous violence was misdirected and now the Montanari – having deceived him into destroying their rivals – can assume dominance in the area. 

This movie clearly illustrates that violence doesn’t end violence. Hatred does not end hatred.  It is only by meeting violence with peace and hatred with love that the cycle is broken.  

We only have to look at the current situation in the Middle East to understand that retribution and revenge are not the answer to harm done. As long as both sides – the Israelis and the Palestinians – continue to demand recompense for the violence committed against them, more lives will be lost, and more children (on both sides) will grow up with hatred in their hearts. The only way to break this cycle is for one side or the other to desire peace more than “justice”, to desire living in harmony rather than living in conflict.

That is not to say that perpetrators of violence should not be held accountable for their actions, or. that there should not be consequences for horrific acts against another – whether on the domestic, local, or international front. Anti-social behaviour needs to be named and called out – love that ignores wrong-doing is not love but some form of indulgence. Love that doesn’t address the underlying behaviour may encourage, not stop it. Peace that insists that one side capitulate everything, is not a peace that will last. Peace that disempowers one side will only lead to resentment.

When in today’s gospel, Jesus insists that his followers “love their enemies” he is speaking a hard truth that few have been able to live out, because few can recognise the power and the strength behind his words. Jesus himself lived into this teaching – not by being weak and spineless, but by refusing give to others the power to determine his response to their behaviour. His apparent submission to the leaders of the Jews, to Pilate, to the cross was in fact an act of resistance. In allowing his “enemies” to hand him over, to condemn him to death and to crucify him, Jesus stripped them of their power – their power to intimidate him, their power to make him capitulate, their power to bend his will to theirs. Jesus claims power over his life by refusing to give that power to others. He will not allow himself to be dominated by the fears and anxieties of his enemies. 

This does not mean that Jesus takes abuse lying down.  Over and again he confronts the leaders of the Jews. He names the ways in which they abuse their power, take advantage of others and twist the law to their advantage. 

True love is not sentimental and weak. True love sees the person behind the behaviour and wants the best for that person – even if sometimes that person must be disciplined for what they have done. True love does not love for what one can get in return – a feeling of self-satisfaction, or of worthiness. True love is freely given from a place of well-being not of need. True love does not judge or condemn because true love recognises and accepts the motivation behind a behaviour (and forgives the perpetrator, while not overlooking the misdemeanour).

Jesus’ teaching today is difficult and demanding. For many of us it is counter-intuitive – we want to love, but we want people to pay for what they have done. Love that is undeserved, seems to many of us to be unconceivable – but surely that is the exactly the love that Jesus offers us. After all, what could the best among us have done to “earn” Jesus’ death on the cross?   

Love that is given freely and without judgement comes back to bless us in more ways and in greater abundance than we could ever conceive: “A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”  

Yes, it is a difficult teaching but. the rewards for us – and more importantly for. the world – are more than worth the effort of trying to apply it.

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Blessed are. .

February 17, 2025

Epiphany 6 – 2025

Luke 6:17-26

Marian Free

In the name of God who promises joy to the grieving, hope to the despairing and life to the dying. Amen.

The last thing we need when we are feeling low or when everything seems to be going against us is glib, pious words. When you are grieving: “He/she is in a better place.” (What was wrong with where they were?) “God wanted another angel.” (Couldn’t God get another angel without taking my child.)  “She died doing what she loved.”  “There’s another star in heaven.” “It’s all part of God’s plan.” Or when you’ve lost your home to flood or fire: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” “Every cloud has a silver lining.”

Such trite, albeit well- meaning comments only exacerbate a person’s pain and leave them feeling unsupported and misunderstood. What many people want when they are overwhelmed with grief or struggling with their life circumstances is for someone to sit with them through the pain, to acknowledge that life can be unfair, and that tragedy is random and usually undeserved.

All of which makes me wonder about the blessings pronounced by Jesus in this morning’s gospel. Are they just superficial platitudes to help his followers (mostly the poor), to more fully embrace their situation? Is Jesus just patting the poor and hungry on the shoulder and saying that it is OK to be poor and hungry because they are blessed?  Is he encouraging the sorrowful to swallow their grief and move on? Surely not.

Those of us who have lived through straightened times know that there is nothing blessed about being poor.  It is hard to find a blessing in worrying about how to feed your children or in sending them off to school without the proper uniform or books. There is nothing blessed about relying on charity to pay your bills or worrying about where to live or knowing that you will never get ahead – that life will be one long struggle. Likewise, it is difficult to find a positive side to hunger or sorrow and, unless one has a martyr complex, it is hard to imagine that it is blessed to be hated, excluded reviled and defamed. “Rejoice and jump for joy!” who would have the energy to dance and if you did. wouldn’t such a reaction only inflame the negativity already directed at you?

Perhaps for the poor, the hungry and the grieving, there is more comfort to be found in the “woes” – that is if one takes comfort in the suffering or punishment of others, or if one delights in other people being “brought down to size.”

We are most familiar with the Beatitudes as they occur in Matthew 5.  Matthew has eight blessings compared to Luke’s four and Matthew has spiritualised Jesus’ words thus removing them from the realm of everyday experience, and in some way diminishing the pain of real poverty, sorrow and hunger and the accountability of the rich, the fed and the grieving. 

It is of course impossible at this distance to determine Jesus’ actual words, but Luke’s record is consistent with Luke’s agenda, in particular his attitude to the the rich and the comfortable and his emphasis on God’s preference for the poor, the marginalised and the excluded[1]. 

Luke’s version of the beatitudes is firmly grounded in earthly reality. His beatitudes could be said to be a timely message for our times. Times in which the gap between rich and poor is increasing and in which the rich use their wealth to influence the decisions of our policymakers and the reporting by our media. Times in which wealthier nations continue with life as usual while poorer nations are paying the price of a changing climate with famines, natural disasters and rising sea levels. Those for whom this present life offers little will find comfort in Jesus’ words that they will be blessed – not now, but when the kingdom comes. Those who are comfortable in this life, and more especially those whose comfort, security and wealth are a consequence of exploitation, self-centredness and an insatiable need for more would do well to heed Jesus’ warning that there will be consequences for their actions.

It is easy to believe that we, Jesus’ disciples are off the hook. After all I don’t imagine that there are any among us who could count ourselves among the very rich and that none of us has tried to enrich themselves at the expense of others. I imagine that we all try to be generous in our support of organisations that feed, clothe and house the poor. All of us will have had reason to grieve and many of us will have tried to make a stand for what is right (though probably not to the extent of being excluded defamed or reviled).  

We cannot dismiss the fact that the woes might be addressed to us. After all, we. who are. comfortable are in some way complicit in the current state of the world. Whether it is our need for security, comfort and safety that has caused to put ourselves first (without realizing how that impacts on others).  At the same time, many of our choices directly contribute to inequities in our own nation and in nations beyond our borders. (Do we know who makes our clothes, how our coffee is sourced, whether our suppliers are adequately compensated for the time, cost and effort it costs to. put food on our. supermarket shelves?)

In pronouncing the blessings and woes Jesus is inverting the usual norms of our society. Worse, he is upending the social structure. Blessing the marginalised and overlooked and, condemning those who create and sustain inequities between people, who preside over unjust structures who enrich themselves at the expense of others and who turn a blind eye to the suffering that is everywhere.

Blessed  are those who see the world as it is and who try to address the inequities such that all are blessed.

[1] All of which is particularly interesting if, as we think, the person to whom he is writing is a person of means.

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Is Jesus simply being provocative – sermon in Nazareth

February 4, 2025

Epiphany 4 – 2025

Luke 4:22-30

Marian Free

In the name of God who challenges and disquiets us. Amen.

I often listen to the radio when I am driving. This means that there are many times when I join or leave a programme in the middle. As a result I can struggle to follow the discussion or to know what is going on. Thankfully programmes are now available as podcasts and if I am really interested  can listen to the part that I have missed and fill in the details that were puzzling me.

 Knowing the complete story prevents us from drawing the wrong conclusions or from making assumptions that are not warranted. If we know the story in its entirety we have a clearer idea of the context and therefore a better idea of what is going on. When we hear only the beginning, middle or end, or when an account is divided in to two as today’s gospel has been by our lectionary writers, the situation can easily be misrepresented.

 A usual interpretation of this morning’s vignette is that the Nazarenes were distressed by Jesus’ claim that the words of the prophet Isaiah, the words that he had just read, applied to him. We are led to believe that Jesus’ fellow citizens were offended by his assertion that in his person, he was the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecy. It is assumed that it was Jesus challenge to their scepticism, and his failure to perform miracles for them that inspired their anger and led them to want to push him over the cliff.

 A careful reading of the story in its entirety, suggests that this is not an accurate representation of what is happening in this scene. The people are far from angry when Jesus finishes speaking. “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.”

 All spoke well and were amazed. There is no suggestion here that the people were offended by or antagonistic towards Jesus or by his claim to be the one promised by Isaiah. Nor is there any hint that they are inclined to disregard Jesus’ claim simply because he is the son of Joseph.

 No. It is Jesus’ further statement that enrages them. It is Jesus’ implication that they do not have confidence in him that draws their ire.

 Of course, we only have the story in summary and it doesn’t provide any nuances in the comments of the crowd that might have caused offence to Jesus, but it does seem that Jesus is being deliberately provocative when he says: “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.” As the crowd remains silent, it seems that Jesus is imagining hostility when he states that a prophet is without honour in his own town. It is Jesus who is being sensitive here, not the crowd.

 What are we to make of this? Is Jesus behaving like a petulant spoilt child? Had he expect his family and friends to be even more effusive in their praise? Is he looking for an excuse not to perform miracles or is he seeking to provoke the people so that he can gain sympathy from others when the story is retold? Or, as I think is more likely, does this account serve Luke’s purpose of making it clear to his patron and to his readers that the Gentiles not only have a place in this new expression of faith, but that their place in this faith is in some way a consequence of Jesus’ having been rejected by his own people?

 According to Luke, Jesus continues his attack by reminding his listeners of two Old Testament stories in which Gentiles benefited from the healing powers of the prophets and that therefore he, Jesus, was justified in taking his message and his ministry to those who were not members of the Jewish faith.  Certainly this is consistent with Luke’s agenda that the faith proclaimed by Jesus is universal in its reach, not limited by the faith from which it emerged.

 Of course, we will never know either what was really behind the events recounted in the gospel, or the exact intention of the author. What is clear is that it is always important to read the gospels in their context, and to come to the text afresh every time we read it, because, as the hymn claims: “God has yet more things to break forth from his word.” Certainty and the clinging on to what we think to be true, blind us to what the text is saying and prevent the Holy Spirit from speaking to us anew.

 May we retain an openness to our scriptures, develop a sense of expectation and a willingness to allow the Holy Spirit to show us something we had not seen before.

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To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God – Jesus’ sermon in Nazareth

January 26, 2025

Epiphany 3 – 2025

Luke 4:14-21

Marian Free

In the name of God who. preferences the poor, the oppressed and the marginalised. Amen.

Many of you will have seen the controversy surrounding the sermon preached by the Bishop of Washington State, Mariann Budde at the National Prayer Service for the Inauguration of President Trump. Certainly, my social media feed has been filled with comments all week.

What stirred people to applaud or to condemn the Bishop was the way in which towards the end of her sermon Budde directly addressed the President and asked (very gently) that he show mercy towards those who would be negatively impacted by the executive orders that the President had signed on his first day in office – those whose sense of security was already tenuous and who now had no way of knowing what the future might hold. Bishop Budde has been urged to apologise to the President and has been bombarded by negative comments and even death threats – many from Christians. 

This morning’s gospel is a reminder that Budde was simply speaking from Jesus’ own playbook – which, as it turns out, is (and always was) God’s playbook. When Jesus announces his ministry, when he claims the authority of the Spirit, and when he spells out the reason God sent him, Jesus is simply repeating what was written in the law from the beginning and what the prophets had been exhorting ever since.

In this morning’s episode from Luke’s gospel Jesus begins (one could say inaugurates) his ministry by attending the synagogue in Nazareth – something that he was accustomed to do. It was presumably his turn to read from the scriptures because he stood, and the scroll of Isaiah was brought to him. Jesus unrolled the scroll and read: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

                                    because he has anointed me

                                                      to bring good news to the poor.

                  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

                                    and recovery of sight to the blind,

                                                      to let the oppressed go free, 

                  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

Good news to the poor, release to the captives, freedom for the oppressed sounds very much like mercy to me.  

Jesus has not just stumbled across the passage from Isaiah but has chosen these verses carefully. (It seems that God’s purpose was already clear to him.) The verses in question are not sequential. Jesus reads a couple of verses from chapter 61 (1-2) and adds to them a verse from chapter 58 (6) which allows him to add the line “let the oppressed go free”[1]. Jesus probably did not need to read the text exactly not only because that was not necessarily expected, but because those who listened would have known already what it was that God demanded of them. They would have known too that Is 58 continues: Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” 

In choosing these verses Jesus was repeating what had been central to the Jewish faith from ages immemorial – that God desires a society which honours the dignity, the freedom and the right to food and shelter of every person, a society which puts the care of those who are beleaguered, excluded or misunderstood at its very core. These values there in Leviticus, which insists that debts be forgiven in the Jubilee year, that those enslaved by debt be freed and those who had lost their land (and heritage) due to debt have it restored. Leviticus spells out how to care for the poor – by not harvesting to the edge of the field so that the poor might have something to glean and how to welcome and care for the stranger and sojourner in the land. These instructions are repeated over and over in the Old Testament – care for the widow, the orphan and the stranger in the land. Micah tells the people: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?[2]”

What is good in the law’s eyes, what is good in God’s eyes is not simply the not doing wrong (lying, murdering, committing adultery). What is good, is caring for the vulnerable, the dispossessed, the outsiders.  God’s plea for justice, compassion and equity echoes through the scriptures and Jesus is saying no new thing when he claims that this is God’s primary concern and the reason that he, Jesus, is filled with the Spirit and the centre of his ministry. Jesus’ fulfilment of the OT prophecies is not simply that he is the anointed one sent by God, but that he has come to restore Israel to its proper relationship with God, to bring the nation to its senses that it might remember the commandments of God and live justly and love mercy and to walk humbly with their God. 

The society that God wants God’s people to build is one that is welcoming and inclusive, one that recognises that being blessed entails being a blessing to others, that having more than enough is too much when others do not have enough and not wronging or oppressing the alien in the land, for our forebears were aliens in the land of Egypt. It is a society that understands that putting the well-being of others first is the best and only way to ensure our own well-being.  Placing mercy at the heart of all that we do will go a long way to creating the community God intended us to be.

[1] “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favour, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn” (Is 61:1-2).  “

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? (Is 58:6).

[2] The consequences of oppressing the poor, of taking advantage of those who are worse off, or of acting unjustly are also spelled out in the prophets. (For example Micah)

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Dismissive teenager – Jesus in the Temple

December 28, 2024

Christmas 1 – 2024

Luke 2: 41-52

Marian Free

in the name of God who cannot be contained in mere words, simple stories or inaccurate histories. Amen.

In the Christmas carol, Once in Royal David’s City we sing the words; “for that child so dear and gentle.” In the Book of Hebrews we read: “For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.(7:6)” and “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb 4:15).

Song and scripture lead us to conclude that the child Jesus was always obedient to his parents, never said a cross word, was kind to his siblings, his friends and neighbours, always cheerful and so on. This is well and good, but we actually know little to nothing of Jesus’ childhood except that it seems to have been spent in Galilee (possibly in Nazareth) and that he had brothers and sisters. There is also a reference to hisi father being a craftsperson of some sort, traditionally a carpenter.

The only biblical record that we have of Jesus before he began his public ministry is this one recorded only by Luke (and the much later in Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus). 

Other accounts of Jesus’ childhood do exist in the Apocrypha. These are by and large legendary, fantastical, even disturbing. They recount that miracles occur in relation to the infant Jesus and that the child Jesus performs miracles. For example, you may have heard the legend of the spider who spun a web at the entrance of the cave in which Mary and Joseph were hiding from the soldiers, but perhaps you have not heard the truly apocryphal story from The History of Joseph the Carpenter. Joseph and Mary have taken refuge in the home of a brigand. There, Jesus is bathed, and his bath water miraculously bubbles up into a foam. The brigand’s wife has the foresight to keep the foam which she then uses to heal the sick and the dying. As a result, the brigand’s family become very rich. 

It is in The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, that we discover what are purported to be details of the life of Jesus as a child, but the picture it presents is one that I think most of us would reject out of hand[1]. The child Jesus is recorded not only as one who heals and raises from the dead, but also as one who strikes down (dead) those who disagree with or provoke him.  He is rude and disrespectful not only to his parents but also to his teacher. On one occasion, as Jesus was going through the village, a child ran and dashed against his shoulder.  This provoked Jesus who “said unto him: Thou shalt not finish thy course. (VI.1) And immediately the child fell down and died. Those who lived in his neighbourhood lived in fear (not reverence) of this young Jesus. “No one dared provoke him lest he should curse him and should be maimed.” (VII.I)

My point is, that after Jesus’ birth, the gospels are silent regarding Jesus’ early life, his adolescence and his 20’s. The only recorded story is that which we have read today – an account of a precocious adolescent who causes his parents great anxiety by failing to join the party who are returning home to Galilee after the Passover festival in Jerusalem. At twelve Jesus would have many of the responsibilities of an adult.  He would not have been expected to be with his parents for the duration of the visit, but he would have been expected to be with his fellow travellers when they began the journey back to Galilee.

Mary and Joseph simply expect him to be with the party, so it takes three days before they notice that he is not with them. We can imagine what was going through their heads – had he stumbled along the way or been attacked by robbers? was he lying injured somewhere along the route? if he was still in Jerusalem, what had detained him, with whom was he staying? No doubt they envisaged worse case scenarios. He had been hurt, he was dead, he had been kidnapped. 

(Meda Stamper points out that the word translated ‘anxiously’ is not the verb normally used for worry (Luke 12:22–31; 10:41). It is perhaps more akin to the soul-piercing sword of 2:35 “to cause pain”. It appears elsewhere in the New Testament only two other times. In Luke 16:24–25, it refers to the rich man’s agony in the flames of Hades. In Acts 20:38, it refers to Paul’s grief-stricken friends when he says they will never see him again. When Mary rebukes Jesus for having left his parents, she is referring to their agony at the prospect of losing their child.)[2]

Mary and Joseph return to Jerusalem and, after some searching, find Jesus in the Temple. Jesus is quite cavalier, he dismisses their (sword piercing) anxiety out of hand. As a typical teenager, he implies that his parents were foolish for worrying, foolish for not guessing what he was up to and where he was. (It is only afterthis even that Luke tells us that Jesus was obedient to them – suggesting that he thinks that Jesus is out of order here.)

There is so little information about Jesus’ early life or his life in general. It is tempting to fill in the gaps, (as has occurred in the Apocrypha), to make assumptions about the sort of person Jesus was, the sort of child he might have been. This may settle our curiosity, but instead of increasing our knowledge it simply creates misinformation and leads us to create the sort of Jesus we would like to imagine – a perfect, compliant baby, a perfect, compliant child, a perfect, compliant adolescent.  But if Jesus was fully human, we have to allow that he tested the boundaries when he was two years old, that he was rebellious as a teenager and that he chose his own path as a young man.[3]

We have to take care that we don’t mythologise Jesus (make him perfect, less than human), that we don’t read into the story things that simply are not there, and that we don’t create a story out of nothing.  Sometimes we have to be content with not knowing all the details. often times we have to concede that. we will never know all there is to know and at all times we have to remember that there is always far more than that which God has already revealed to us. 

[1] It is very short, you can read it here: http://www.gnosis.org/library/inftoma.htm

[2] Meda Stamper https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/first-sunday-of-christmas-3/commentary-on-luke-241-52-6

[3] After all, contrary to societal expectation he appears not to have married.

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Elizabeth welcomes Mary

December 21, 2024

Advent 4 – 2024

Luke 1:39-35

Marian Free

In the name of God who alone can see into our hearts and who alone can judge between good and evil, right and wrong. Amen.

Many years ago, at church, I met a woman who worked as a prostitute. I’ll call her Jan. She was a remarkable person. After a powerful religious experience, she gave up drugs, alcohol and smoking! When Billy Graham came to Australia for what was to be his last visit, Jan attended a rally and was one of those who responded to the altar call. The team who were on hand to counsel and pray with those who had committed their lives to God recommended that she become a member of her nearest church. This happened to be the church where I was serving my curacy. As was the custom, the counsellor ran me to alert me to look out for Jan saying only that Jan had been at the rally and that she had made a confession of faith. 

There was no hint of judgement. No mention was made of her profession. This was something Jan shared over a meal after one of the services. She also felt safe enough to. tell the Parish Priest. You see, even though Jan had given up smoking, drinking and drugs, she was not in a position to stop working. Jan owed her drug dealers $5000 and no other way to repay them and, surprisingly, they were prepared to wait.

One day Jan rang me in tears. She was absolutely distraught. Her Christian psychologist had accused her of not being a true believer. Despite being a psychologist, he appears to have been a black and white thinker. In his mind, if Jan had truly given her life to Christ she would have given up prostitution. (He didn’t offer any advice with regard to the debt, nor did he offer to pay it for her.) Jan was made to feel worthless, worse, that she had been rejected by God.

Jan was a person of integrity. While she continued working, she refused to be baptised. (In her own mind prostitution and faith didn’t belong together.) That afternoon, it took me the best part of an hour to reassure Jan and to convince her that God knew her heart and that her faith was sincere[1].

I remember being astounded that the supporters of Billy Graham (usually from a more conservative tradition) accepted Jan just as she was and saw her as a child of God. They made no demands and withheld judgement. I was absolutely aghast that an educated, psychologist, a member of the ‘caring’ profession thought that it was in Jan’s best interest that he insinuate that she was not worthy of God’s love as long as she continued working. In so doing, this psychologist utterly undermined Jan’s confidence that she was a child of God, utterly beloved and accepted and instead left her completely bereft, uncertain of her place in the kingdom.

How different the encounter between Elizabeth and her young cousin! Mary unmarried and pregnant, a source of shame not only for Mary but for her whole family turns up unexpectedly. Elizabeth, caught up in her own untimely God-given pregnancy would have been justified in sending Mary away, or at the very least have greeted Mary with questions, cynicism and judgement. After all, if Elizabeth welcomes Mary into her home, Elizabeth is, by implication, indicating her support of Mary’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Instead, led by the Spirit, Elizabeth is able to see God at work in Mary’s pregnancy and to rejoice that Mary’s role was to be more significant than her own. 

We take it for granted that Elizabeth should respond to Mary in this way because that is how Luke choses to tell the story. We forget that Mary has turned up unannounced, has made a difficult journey (on her own which in itself is shocking) over a considerable distance and that Elizabeth greets her before Mary has a chance to explain herself. It would not have been at all surprising had Elizabeth thought that Mary was trying to escape her situation and her shame, hoping that her cousin would provide refuge and allow her to hide away from the prying judgement eyes of her neighbours, but Elizabeth’s openness and receptivity to the presence of God allow her to see a different story.

We live in a world that is increasing quick to judge. We are drowning in social media that provides a platform for those who want to promote their own hardline views and those who find s a sense of self-worth in condemning others. 

The encounter between Elizabeth is a reminder of how important it is that we withhold our judgement of another unless and until we are sure that we know all the circumstances behind their behaviour, more important still is to err on the side of caution unless and until we are absolutely confident that we know the mind of God. To do less might be to reject and condemn something that is the work of God or to rebuff and judge harshly someone in whom God’s will is being enacted.  

Like so many biblical accounts, the lesson to take from the meeting between two cousins is not just the miracle of recognition, but the miracle of receptivity to the work of God – in the world and in each one of us.  When we are truly open to the presence of God in ourselves and in others and when we allow our judgement to be guided by the Holy Spirit, we are better able to see all people as children of God, to love and accept them as God does, and even to recognise that God just might be teaching us something through their presence in our lives. 

[1] A year or two later Jan rang to tell me that she had given up the work and was going to be baptised.

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The meaning of repentance (John the Baptist 2)

December 15, 2024

Advent 3 – 2024

Luke 3:7-18 (thoughts)

Marian Free

In the name of God who sees into our very hearts. Amen

In Advent we read the story of John in two parts- last week, John’s baptism of repentance (and his role as the voice crying in the wilderness) and this week, the response of the crowds and John’s advice. Luke’s account gives us more detail than the other gospels and (as is typical of the author of Luke) is more inclusive. Among the crowds who come out to seek baptism are the reviled – the tax collectors and soldiers, persons associated with the Roman occupation, corruption, and extortion – those whom we might expect to be judged as unsuitable for the kingdom (guilty of the unforgivable).

Interestingly, John doesn’t exactly welcome the crowds – the exact opposite in fact. Listening to him speak to the crowds, you would think that he had no interest at all in ‘preparing the way’. When he addresses the people, John’s language is accusatory, direct. There is no subtlety or middle ground for John, the wild man of the desert.

Despite his preaching a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, he does not appear to appreciate the response he has received. He is in no mood to offer baptism to just anyone. He questions the sincerity of those who have come out to find him, he doesn’t seem to accept that they have responded to his message, have acknowledged their failings and are ready to repent. He wonders if they are simply self serving, if it is self interest, not genuine repentance that draws them into the desert. John calls them a brood of vipers, asks who warned them to flee from the wrath to come, and insists that their repentance be demonstrated through their actions so that it is evident that they are not simply intent on saving their skins, but really have determined to turn their lives around.

John goes even further. He challenges any idea his listeners might have that their Jewishness might help to save them – “even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees” to thin out those that don’t bear fruit. He warns that: “God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones”. (What matters – as Paul will later make clear – is not a person’s heritage (Jew or Gentile) but their relationship with God.)

Clearly he has put the wind up his audience. It seems that his attack on them has had an effect. Their easy confidence has been shattered. They are all concerned that they understand what John means by repentance, what it means to bear good fruit. The crowds, the tax-collectors, and the soldiers are all anxious to do the right thing. Each in turn ask what it is they must do, in other words what would true repentance look like for them. In each instance John’s advice is practical and doable. He doesn’t suggest that they reach for the impossible or demand that they do something that will lead to their lives being impoverished. What is more, John’s responses are tailor made for his questioners. While there is an underlying theme – that they show by their actions their concern for others, things that will not only show that they are sincere, but which will bring them peace of mind, the actions demanded of each group are particular to their situation.

In response to the question of the crowds: “What shall we do?” John encourages generosity. Those with more than enough should share with those who do not. In response to the tax-collectors’ question: “What shall we do?” John tells them to only collect what they are required to collect (not to enrich themselves at the expense of others). In response to the question of the soldiers: “What shall we do?” John advises that they should be content with what they earn and not extort money by threats or false accusations. In effect, John is saying to them all: “be satisfied with what you have, do not strive to have more than you need, and above all do not try to enrich yourselves at the expense of others.”

You will no doubt have noticed that Luke’ focus is on wealth. Repentance is repentance for having (or wanting to have) more than enough.

“What should we do?”

This Advent as we prepare our hearts for the coming of God among us (as he did and as he will) let us strive to live lives that are authentic, generous and just, let us endeavour not to hold on to our possessions but to be generous towards those who have less and, recognising God’s abundant generosity towards us, let us be content, indeed more than content with what we have.

 

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Preparing the way

December 7, 2024

Advent 2 – 2024

Luke 3:1-6

Marian Free

In the name of God who constantly surprises and whose presence and purpose catch us off guard. Amen.

 

It is said that Albrecht Durer’s sculpture of his brother’s praying hands was a tribute to the sacrifices that Enders, also an aspiring artist, made on behalf of Albrecht. The family who were goldsmiths did not have enough money for both brothers to become artists, so Endres remained at home while Albrecht went to Art School. The story goes that when Albrecht returned and saw the gnarled hands of his brother, he asked him to pose as if in prayer. The result was a carving that has been much copied in 3D and as a drawing/painting.

There are many stories of people who foster the talent of another – sometimes at the cost of their own work. It is possible that Australian author Charmaine Cliff may have been a more prolific author had she not married George Johnston and supported his writing career sometimes at the expense of her own. Parents often put the needs of their children before their own ambitions. In bygone eras women were expected to prioritize their spouses’ career no matter how talented, educated or intelligent they were. Others, recognizing their husband’s gifts sometimes took a step back and of course, there have always been men who encouraged and supported women whose contribution to knowledge, medicine, art they saw as more important than their own careers.

Sometimes such sacrifices build resentments and disappointment but often they are derived from a genuine belief in the other’s giftedness and a real desire to see them succeed and to contribute to their craft, the advancement of knowledge and so on.

An alternative – chosen by most couples in todays world – is that both members of a partnership make compromises so that each may flourish, even if it means that, at least for a time, neither flies as high as they might.

John the Baptist is something of an anachronism. He appears, seemingly out of nowhere, an obscure ‘prophet’ living in the wilderness – possibly known only to a few. Only Luke provides any backstory – his miraculous conception and his naming – but even then we know nothing of his childhood or early adulthood. What we are told is that the word of God came to him in the wilderness and propelled him to travel throughtout Judea proclaiming a baptism of repentance.

It is not even clear that he proclaimed the coming of Christ – only that he announced the coming of God’s wrath.

Just as there was no adequate Old Testament image for Jesus the Christ, so there was no exact model for John the forerunner. The gospel writers, knowing that John emerged from the wilderness, used the only OT text that seemed to fit – a voice in the wilderness. Isaiah’s voice proclaimed disruption and chaos. John, however, preached repentance for forgiveness. He didn’t preach the coming of Jesus, but the coming of God’s wrath. As there was no image that was an easy fit for John, the evangelists seem to have found a text that referred to a voice in the wilderness – even if that voice declared God’s violent, disruptive, world-shaking coming into the world to set things right, rather than the quiet coming of a gentle, forgiving, inclusive, peasant from Galilee.

John had a number of roles in the gospels, none of which are presaged in the Old Testament. He prepared the hearts of the people so that they would acknowledge and repent their failure to live in relationship with God. John was used a a scene setter. He prepared the stage for Jesus, making it clear to the readers of the gospels that Jesus didn’t emerge in a vacuum. God had sent someone before him, preparing the way, turning hearts of God (and maybe making them aware of their shortcomings). John’s role was to make it clear that Jesus was not unexpected. He was announced (at least at his baptism) and that therefore the people had no excuse for not recognising him.

A third role fulfilled by John was that of putting his own interests last, allowing Jesus to flourish, enabling Jesus to fulfill his destiny. John appears to have been secure in his own role. Despite having developed a substantial following of his own, he was not seduced by the headiness of success into forming his own movement or into going into competition with Jesus. He knew himself to be the forerunner- not the Christ. His task as he saw it was to ensure that the hearts of the people were turned to God, open to God’s presence in the world, to build within them a sense of hopeful expectation and to enable them to recognise the Christ even though the Christ would look and act like one of them. He would point away from himself in the direction of Jesus no matter the cost to himself.

Advent and Christmas are overlaid with so much tradition and myth that sometimes we miss what the scriptures are really saying. Sometimes we create a story around John that is not necessary justified by the text.

This Advent, may we see beyond the myth of the wild man in the desert, to the humble, self-effacing prophet who knew his role and who was content to live out his role, without striving to be anything more. May we learn from John the importance of knowing ourselves and may we try to be true to ourselves – not competing with or trying to emulate others.

 

 

 

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Your redemption is drawing near.

December 4, 2024

Advent 1 –  2024 (belated thoughts)

Luke 21:25-38

Marian Free

In the name of God, whose presence, sometimes barely perceptible, is always here if we open our eyes to see. Amen.

I am the daughter of a biologist and while I didn’t always appreciate it, I was taught to pay attention to the natural world – droplets on the female gingko (waiting to be pollinated), the tiny buds of green presaging the onset of spring after a long winter, the bird’s nest almost hidden from view – the wonders of nature that are often passed unnoticed. I am the daughter too of a mother who would take us walking after rain so that we could see how the river had grown, and the hyacinth filled its lower reaches. In my adult life I have been so grateful to have a sense of hopeful expectation whenever I am in the natural world or even my own garden, to have a sense of wonder at the power and changeability of the world around me.

Be alert at all times – or you will not notice the signs of life and growth that signal new beginnings.

Today gospel urges us to pay attention, to take notice of what is happening around us, to note the smallest detail and to grasp the broader picture. It comes at the end of long chapter on the tragedies and traumas that were being experienced and witnessed by those to whom Jesus was speaking and by for whom the gospel was written. In the time of Jesus people of Israel had been under the domination of Rome or other nations for centuries (with only a short break), the Temple was considered to be corrupt, and its priests were Roman appointments and the people were burdened with taxes and had had their lands confiscated. Luke is writing at a time when the Jewish revolt had been brutally and completely crushed, the Temple (that splendid symbol of God’s presence) and even Jerusalem had been razed to the ground and the link between early beliefs and their Jewish roots had been irrevocably broken.

In the 60s earthquakes had destroyed many of the cities in the eastern Mediterranean. Many will have lost homes, income and family members. To some it must have seemed that there was no hope for the future, much that they had assumed would last forever had been destroyed.

Be on your guard, these things must take place.

It would be easy to fall into despair given the current state of the world, to feel that God has abandoned the world to its own devices, to wonder if God is going to let the world run headlong into destruction

We are living in times of great uncertainty. The reality of human nature – the greed, selfishness and desire for power that feeds conflict and civil unrest, the unpredictability of the planet which has been worsened by our own actions and the frailty of the human body are the constant background of our lives.

“Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away.” 

Today’s gospel reading can be read as a warning to be constantly on our good behaviour, anxiously awaiting the coming of a fierce tyrannical judge, or it can be seen or, as I choose to read, it it is a message of hope, a call to steadfastness in the midst of and despite the chaos and to see the signs of God’s presence in the small things.

Jesus seems to be reminding us that faith is not about the big dramatic interventions of God in the world, nor is faith dependent on miraculous events, faith is not a panacea against all the ills in the world. Faith is not a shallow, superficial fix-it or nor is it a way of warding off trouble. Faith is a stable centre in the midst of instability, a still small voice in the centre of the storm, a firm a bed-rock in shaky ground.

The kingdom is near – notice the signs (however small). Be on your guard – don’t be so distracted by what’s going on around you that you take your eyes off God (and what God’s doing). Be alert – because God’s presence is all around you – in the budding fig, the smile of a child, the small acts of kindness, the generosity of a stranger. The world might fall apart around you but your redemption has been won/is drawing near. If everything seems to fall away remember that the words of Jesus will never fall away.

So, no matter how bad things seem to be, hold fast to faith, ground yourself in the love of God, notice God’s presence everywhere.

This Advent, in a world which is increasingly volatile and unpredictable, don’t let yourself be overwhelmed by fear and anxiety- see the fig tree, know that your redemption is near, know that my Jesus’ words are the ground on which we stand.

 

 

 

 

 

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Christ is alive (today!)

April 13, 2024

Easter 3 – 2024

Luke 24:36b-48

Marian Free

In the name of God who meets us on the road and inflames our hearts with the Holy Spirit. Amen.

There have been a number of attempts to tell the gospel story through drama, film or musical. I think of Godspel, Jesus Christ Superstar, Jesus of Montreal, and The Passion of the Christ to name a few. Each has contributed to making the story relevant for a new generation.  Where they fall down, I believe, is in their attempt to portray the resurrection. Jesus of Montreal, which tells the story of a modern-day Passion play. When the lead player (Jesus) is killed in an accident, his organs are donated and we are to understand that he lives on in those whose lives he saved. Mel Gibson concludes the Passion of the Christ with the depiction of a ghost-like figure rising from the ledge and leaving the tomb.

One reason that the resurrection is so hard to depict is that there were no eye-witnesses to the actual event. Jesus was dead and then he was not. There was no one to tell us how the crucified and very dead Jesus, was re-enlivened three days later.  Mark, Luke and John tell us that when the women arrive to anoint Jesus the tomb is already open and Jesus gone. Matthew tells us that the women witness the rolling away of the stone, and that angels tell them that Jesus is not there. Accounts of the risen Jesus are few and those that we have are vague and contradictory. Paul tells us simply that Jesus appeared to the twelve and then to 500. Mark tells us that angels told the women that Jesus had been raised, but that the women were too frightened and amazed to tell anyone. In Matthew the disciples see the risen Jesus in Galilee where he commissions them for ministry before ascending into heaven. Only Luke and John report more detailed encounters with the risen Jesus. 

Last week we read of Jesus’ appearance in a locked room and of a second appearance a week later for the sake of Thomas. Today we read Luke’s version of what is presumably the same event.  There are a number of similarities which lead to this conclusion. In both accounts Jesus appears at a place where the disciples are gathered, and in both Jesus shows them his scars to convince them that it is really him. Both authors seem to at pains to emphasise Jesus’ bodily presence despite his ghostly. He might be able to appear and disappear at will, but his scars can be touched, and he is able to eat the fish that is provided. 

I suspect that the reason why there are so few accounts of the risen Christ is that 

the first disciples struggled to put into words an experience that was totally without precedence. It is clear that the disciples were convinced that Jesus was alive, but while Jesus was the same, he was also very different from the earthly Jesus. His body bore the scars of crucifixion, but the risen Christ could apparently appear and disappear at will. The first disciples, and therefore the Evangelists had to find a way to share with others something that was incomprehensible, but  which they knew to be true.  This situation was undoubtedly made more complicated by the fact that Jesus didn’t hang around. The first disciples want to share with others their conviction that Jesus had risen from the dead, that he was alive and present with them, but Jesus – still alive – had ascended into heaven. How much easier it would have been if the risen Jesus had continued his work of teaching and healing! How much easier would it have been if people other than the disciples had seen him! How much easier would it have been if they could point to Jesus working in their midst! The disciples are trying to share with the world that Jesus is alive when there is no living, breathing Jesus to show them.

Perhaps the disciples began by sharing their experiences with others who had known and followed Jesus: “he appeared to us even though the doors were locked”, “he was walking beside us on the road”, “he showed us his scars”, “he broke bread”, “he ate some fish” in our presence.  That there are so few stories may reflect the fact that the conviction that Jesus was alive was so powerful that others couldn’t help but believe that it was true. Even those who didn’t see the risen Jesus, experienced his risen presence in a such a way that they couldn’t keep the experience to themselves. Jesus was just there among them, nothing more needed to be said. Even though Jesus had ascended into heaven sufficient people were convinced that in some inexplicable way that the risen Christ was still present with them, that others began to know and experience Jesus’ risen presence.

This, I contend, is why we continue to believe in the resurrection. We do not need to rely on historical records, or firsthand accounts because despite the paucity of hard evidence and the contradictory accounts of the witnesses, all these centuries later we know Jesus to be alive and present with us. We may not always be able to put the experience into words, but we know the living Christ who offers words of consolation, who walks beside us on the road and who enters into the locked rooms of our hearts when we are feeling lost and alone. We know the living Christ who energises and inspires us and whose presence gives us the courage to do things that we might have thought impossible. And because we know the wonder of the living Christ, we cannot keep it to ourselves, but need to share our knowledge with anyone who will listen.

We know the risen Christ, not because we have been told that he rose from the dead, but because we know him here in our common worship, we know him here in the those who share our belief and we know him here in our hearts and in our lives.

Christ is not alive because the Bible says he is. Christ is not alive because some people saw him before he ascended into heaven. Christ is alive because he lives in us.

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