Swallowsrest

Pentecost 18

Luke 16:1- 9, 19-31

The rogue manager and the rich man and Lazarus (notes)

Marian Free

These two parables, though separated by some other teaching of Jesus, need to be read in tandem. Both are disturbing, the first because in it, Jesus appears to applaud dishonesty and the second because it implies that anyone with wealth will burn in hell. Both are a means to shock us into paying attention and both deal with preparation for eternal life.

In the first story a manager is dismissed for dishonesty. His response is to approach all his master’s creditors and reduce the size of their debts ensuring their obligation to him. This behaviour may not be as reprehensible as we might think. A manager was responsible for his master’s accounts and as such he set the interest rates charged. He was within his rights to charge an amount that included payment to himself. In reducing the debt, he may not have been cheating the master, but reducing or cancelling the amount owed to himself. Whatever the situation, his actions have ensured the goodwill of those who debts have been reduced. When he is old and in reduced circumstances, he will be assured that he can count on these people for support. He has gone without income in the present of ensure security in the future.

Jesus’ point here is that world wealth does not provide earthly security – that believers should be prepared to support those in need so that the poor (who, in Luke’s gospel have priority in the kingdom) will welcome us into the heavenly kingdom.

This parable of the rogue manager is followed by a second parable which adds further weight to Luke’s emphasis on there coming reversal of all things – particularly the reversal between the rich and the poor. (Remember Mary’s song: “You have filled the hungry with good things and the rich you have sent empty away.” and his uncompromising Beatitude “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”)

In the second parable – that about the rich man and Lazarus – the reversal between rich and poor becomes complete as is seen by the structure of the narrative.

The story begins and ends with a fixed, unchangeable position, between the beginning and the end however, the position of the main characters is completely reversed as the diagramme shows.

The poor man outside                           The rich man inside

unfulfilled longing (hunger)

torment (sores, licked by dogs)

Lazarus dies and is carried by the angels to Abraham. The rich man dies and is buried.

And there is a reversal of their positions.

The rich man outside                             Lazarus inside

unfulfilled longing(thirst)

torment (flames)

The chasm that once separated the rich man and Lazarus on earth (their wealth or lack of it) is replicated by the chasm between heaven and hell. In life and in death the men are separated by a boundary that cannot be crossed. (It is important to note that the stories are not about the moral life of the two men. neither the rich man nor the poor man are described as either virtuous or wicked. What distinguishes them is their wealth.

As I said, both parables are about preparation for eternity. In the first, the manager (though not a “moral” man by our standards),  but his actions illustrate the importance of understanding the gospel, of knowing that there is a need to prepare for eternity and of ensuring that the poor (who have priority will welcome them into their heavenly home). The rich man understands too late. That the stories are about conversion (understanding the message of the gospel) is demonstrated by the rich man’s plea that a messenger be sent to his brothers. (However, the writer of Luke’s gospel knows that there are those whose hearts are hardened and who will not believe even if someone returns from the dead. He is directing his comment to those who have not believed in Jesus despite the resurrection.)

It is important to understand that there is a future and that we all need to be prepared. In this sense, the parable of the manager and of the rich man explain each other. The manager sees the impending crisis and plans accordingly. The rich man remains blind and is caught unawares.

All year we have seen that Luke’s Jesus is aware of the urgency of the time and of the great reversal that will take place when the first will be last and the last will be first, when the poor will be lifted and the rich sent empty away. Luke’s Jesus urges listens to make a decision, a decision for Jesus, for faith which will turn their values upside down.

Through this gospel, we are called to re-examine our values, to make sure that our hearts are in the right place that we have our priorities right, that we know what is really important and that we share in God’s concern for the poor, the vulnerable and the down-trodden and in so doing, prepare ourselves for an eternity in which our earthly values, status and wealth will count for nothing.

Luke’s Jesus is saying: “Do not wait until it is too late, the time is now, it is always now.”

For this interpretation I am dependent on Brendan Bryne’s “The Hospitality of God: A Reading of Luke’s Gospel. Collegeville, Minnesotta:The Liturgical Press, 2000, 133-137.

Pentecost 15

Luke 14:25-35

Marian Free

In the name of Christ, in whose service our lives are re-thought and re-evaluated and our priorities re-assessed. Amen.

“Whoever does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” “None of you can be my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” By these criteria, I am certainly not a disciple of Jesus. I don’t hate my family and it is obvious that I have not given up all my possession. If these are the criteria by which Christians are measured, I suspect few of us would measure up. The standards are so daunting, that it is a wonder that more of us don’t simply give it all away. Then again, if we did that, we would find ourselves in the category of those who begin but do not finish. It seems as though we cannot win. We cannot reach the high standards that Jesus demands, but if we stop trying we expose ourselves as those who are unable to see the task through to the end.

Jesus’ language is uncompromising and his demands seem impossible to fulfil, but these sayings on the cost of discipleship while serious, must be seen in their wider context – something that we lose when we only have a portion of the gospel each week. With these saying we are coming to the end of a section in which Jesus has been challenging the social and cultural conventions of those around him and trying to expose the narrowness of the values of the world compared with the values of the kingdom.

In the context of a meal hosted by a Pharisee, Jesus challenged the accepted notions of honour and prestige and implied that the social convention of reciprocity did not belong in the world view that he was proclaiming. He continues with a parable about a banquet given by a wealthy landowner in which the domestic affairs of the invited guests make them oblivious to the honour of the invitation and their attachment to their worldly relationships and possessions, cause them to dishonour their obligation to attend the banquet – they needed to see a newly purchased block of land, they had just got married, they had bought oxen which they wanted to try out.

Jesus moves from this observation about the way in which attachment to the world, leads to disdain towards God, to general statements about attachment and discipleship. Discipleship, Jesus contends sees the world from the perspective of a relationship with God and not vice versa. Worldly possessions and relationships are all re-evaluated in the light of the invitation which God offers.

This does not necessarily mean that we all have to give up absolutely everything. It does mean that we have to re-evaluate our attitudes to our possessions and our relationships. In these uncompromising statements Jesus forces us to ask ourselves where our true priorities lie, what is really important to us, what do we really need, are we really committed to following Jesus, or are our lives determined by the values, relationships and material goods of this world? Do our possessions determine us or do we determine their place in our lives?

Jesus challenges to consider these questions by putting before us a number of demands. First he suggests that discipleship involves a re-ordering of relationships “Loving and hating” are strong terms in our cultural setting, but in Jesus’ context they are an expression for preference. If a person preferred one thing over another they were said to love one and hate the other. Disciples are not called to “hate” their family. However, in a culture in which ancestry and social status were of primary importance, Jesus is challenging the disciples to understand that such concerns are a form of self-absorption which detracts from a relationship with God and with others.

Disciples must also consider their attitude to themselves and to the value they place on their lives. A disciple may or may not have to carry a cross in the same way that Jesus did, but discipleship means having a certain detachment to the world, a willingness not to cling to life but to give one’s future into the hands of God.

Because discipleship means a re-evaluation of one’s attitude to the world, to one’s possessions and relationships, a decision to follow Jesus should not be taken lightly. Beginning without being prepared to finish, not only indicates a failure to do the groundwork, but exposes one (and one’s faith) to ridicule and defeat. In summary, a follower of Jesus must be prepared to see the world in a new way, willing to re-evaluate relationships and priorities, to say “farewell” to all that they have and to begin life afresh guided and directed by the values and priorities taught and lived by Jesus. The only way to achieve what Jesus promises is to begin the journey determined to finish it. Discipleship is a lasting commitment, not a fleeting passion which passes when the next enthusiasm comes into sight.

This leads Jesus to his last comment (for now) on discipleship. “Disciples” who by their lives and behaviour do not stand out from the world around them, have as little value and make as little impact as salt that has lost its flavour.

According to Jesus, being a disciple is transformative; it leads to a re-evaluation of what is important and what is not. It leads, not only to a change in one’s behaviour, but to a change in one’s relationship to the world, to a change in one’s relationship with one’s community and a change in one’s attitude to one’s life.

Jesus’ language is quite uncompromising. Discipleship is not something that can be half-hearted. One is either a follower of Jesus or one is not. One is either prepared to see the journey through to the end or one is not. One is either prepared to be transformed by the presence of God or one is not. Discipleship demands an attitude change. It demands that we see all our relationships, our possessions, our achievements in the light of our relationship with God. When we place God and our relationship with God first, everything else falls into place and we discover that we have lost nothing and gained everything.

Pentecost 14

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Marian Free

In the name of God, who turns everything upside down and invites us to see the world in the ways and with new eyes and to live accordingly. Amen.

“Praise the God who changes places.”   The words of the hymn might be simplistic, but behind them likes a profound truth – that Jesus is the image of the upside down God. From beginning to end, Jesus challenges and subverts the accepted wisdom, social conventions and religious traditions of his time. As the upside down God, he enters the world, not as the child of someone rich and powerful, but of someone obscure and unimportant and he leaves his earthly life not in a blaze of glory, but hanging on a cross. He refuses to give his disciples positions of privilege, and rather than exercise authority over them he “stoops to wash their feet”!

Luke understands the nature of this upside down God. From the beginning of the gospel where Mary declares: “he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly”, through Jesus’ declaration that he has come to preach good news to the poor, to Jesus’ choice of the most unlikely disciples, his preaching: “blessed are the poor” and “love your enemies”, and his acceptance of the despised and the outcast, Luke paints a picture of a Jesus who shows no regard for the social conventions of his time, and who in fact does everything possible to shatter and destroy them. Throughout Luke’s gospel, Jesus challenges and disturbs. He confronts the way things are and demonstrates how they could be.

Living in a different time, we don’t always see how confronting Jesus’ teaching and actions were to the people of his age. It has lost much of its sting. Our world view is quite different from that of first century Palestine and, after 2,000 years of repetition, Jesus’ teaching is so familiar to us that it often fails to make its mark.

Today’s gospel is a case in point. To us, it makes perfect sense that a person would wait to be seated rather than making an assumption about their degree of importance. The second lesson has lost its power to shock. Todays Christians might not go out of their way to invite the poor and the lame into their homes, but we understand that we should not exclude those who are different from ourselves and I imagine that most of us would be happy to entertain those from whom we expected nothing in return.

Luke tells us that Jesus is at a dinner party. The host is a leader of the Pharisees and the guests are Pharisees and lawyers – their social status is that of equals. Jesus does two things. He makes an observation about the behaviour of the guests and then he directs his attention to his host and to those invited. That the two stories belong together is demonstrated by the structure and common language which they share.

In the Mediterranean world of the first century, society was clearly stratified. From the lowest slave to Caesar himself, every person had a place in the world and knew how to behave appropriately within that place. Within that context shared meals played an important role both in revealing and determining a person’s social status. An invitation received and where one sat in relation to the host were a public acknowledgement of one’s position in society. In such a situation it was not out of the question that some guests would try to preempt the seating arrangement – choosing a good seat in the hope that they would receive the honour that went with it. The guest list would include only those who would enhance the host’s status. Those who were guests would in turn receive the honour of being associated with the host.

This notion of reciprocity went further than the mutual honour it bestowed. A code of reciprocity served to ensure the stability of the whole Empire. Gift and obligation tied every person in the Empire into an intricate web of social relations. With few exceptions everything given or received implied an obligation on one side or another. Nothing was free. This was equally true of an invitation to a meal. Acceptance of an invitation implied a willingness to reciprocate. For this reason, invitations would not be given to the poor – not only would it reflect badly on one’s own status, there would be little hope of a return invitation and the invitee would be embarrassed by being forced to decline the invitation because of the impossibility of returning the favour.

In today’s gospel, Jesus begins by observing the guests choose their seats, in particular the way in which they choose positions of honour. At first he appears to simply be giving sound advice within the context of the social mores of the time – avoid embarrassment and shame by waiting to be seated instead of presuming to know one’s place. Verse 11 however, makes it clear that rather than supporting the social conventions, Jesus is turning them upside down – “all who exalt themselves will be humbled, those who humble themselves will be exalted.” The values Jesus preaches and lives are the exact reverse of the values of the Roman world. Seeking honour and prestige do not belong in the world that Jesus is revealing.

Having inverted the accepted behaviour of guests at a meal, Jesus’ attention then turns to his host who, in accordance with the societal values of his time, has invited only those guests who can reciprocate the invitation and those who by their own status, will reinforce his social prestige. Again Jesus undermines the status quo and makes a suggestion which, if observed, would destroy the finely tuned social fabric not only of Judaism, but of the Empire as a whole – invite the poor, the lame, the crippled and the blind. The inclusion of these outsiders would break down the carefully constructed social stratification, destroy the conventions of reciprocity and unravel the intricate ties which held together in an orderly fashion the social relationships of the Empire. The reward for such behaviour is not even immediate or visible, but an unseen, indeterminate blessedness.

In seven short verses, Jesus makes it clear that the new order which he preaches requires nothing less than a complete rearrangement of the way in which the world is structured.  The reward for such radically different behaviour lies not in earthly power, prestige or recognition, but in the blessedness which only God can bestow and which transcends both time and place. “Those who humble themselves will be exalted.” “And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

An upside down God, preaching upside down values in the hope that by turning the world upside down, it will end right side up.

Pentecost 13

Luke 13:10-17 (18-21)

Marian Free

In the name of God whose kingdom shakes us up and sets us free. Amen.

Of course, we all know what today’s gospel is about. It is a simple miracle story about Jesus’ healing a woman. We might add to that, that it is a story about Jesus’ breaking the Sabbath and his conflict with the authorities. However, before we accept the account at face value, there are a few things that we need to note. First of all, we note that the account is set in the context of a synagogue. For the first century listeners, this setting would have evoked memory of the first time that Jesus taught the synagogue – in Nazareth. On that occasion Jesus announced that he had come to set the captives free and to bring good news to the poor and he narrowly escaped being chased off a cliff.

The second important thing to note is that the incident occurs on the Sabbath. Those listening to the gospel would have immediately understood the sensitivities of this time of the week and the sort of strictures that applied to behaviour on that day.

Thirdly we need to look at the characters in the story – Jesus, the woman, the leader of the synagogue and the crowds. Jesus’ actions are censured by the synagogue leader but cause rejoicing by the crowds. The woman is an outsider, excluded from society by her condition. The leader of the synagogue takes the place of the scribes and Pharisees as the opponent to Jesus. His role is to ensure the reading and teaching of the law. In the story his place is to critique Jesus’ behaviour in relation to the law, which in turn allows Jesus to interpret scripture in such a way that he is able to reveal the true nature of the kingdom.

A fourth point to note is the action.  Jesus and the woman are in the synagogue. Jesus is teaching, he is the centre of attention. The woman is no one special. She is not seeking Jesus’ attention or looking for healing. However, Jesus notices the woman and calls her to him. In so doing, he brings the woman into the centre of the scene thus making her the focal point of the action. Symbolically Jesus brings the outsider to the centre. The one who was excluded in now included – she is identified (restored) as a daughter of Abraham..

Finally the context makes it clear that the healing of the woman on the Sabbath is not primarily a story about healing or even a conflict story. The story is situated between a between a series of warnings about the coming end and the urgency of responding on one side and the parables about the mustard seed and the yeast on the other. In fact the parables belong with the story as is indicated by the “therefore” which introduces them.

What we have then is something like this. Jesus is in the synagogue on the Sabbath when a bent over woman attracts his attention. He calls her over to him and sets her free from her ailment – from the power that binds her. The synagogue leader fulfills his legitimate role by reminding the crowd how the Sabbath should be observed. He points out that the woman’s condition is not life-threatening. She has been bent over for eighteen years. It is not unreasonable to point out that the people have six other days on which they can seek healing.

Jesus responds to the synagogue leader with his own interpretation of the law, based on the same text – Deuteronomy 5:13 and 14 in which the prohibition against work refers not only to humans but also to animals. “³For six days you shall labour and do all your work. ¹⁴But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you.” Using a rabbinic technique of lesser to greater, Jesus make a number of parallel statements to illustrate the point that not only is it not against the law to heal on the Sabbath, but that it is absolutely appropriate that the woman should be liberated from her bondage on this day.

Based on the fact that animals are allowed to be untied on the Sabbath and allowed to walk to water, Jesus asks: If an animal can be unbound on the Sabbath, why not the woman – this daughter of Abraham? If an animal bound for only a few hours, why not this woman who has been bound for 18 years? If an animal can be set free on the Sabbath (as well as the other six days) why not loose the woman’s bonds on the Sabbath? Jesus’ argument not only illustrates his point, but also serves to expose the hypocrisy (and ignorance) of the synagogue leader and all whose interpretation of scripture is as limited as his. They interpret scripture in a way that binds. Jesus’ interpretation is one that liberates. Again we are taken back to Jesus’ announcement in Nazareth: “I have come to proclaim release to the captives.”

Jesus’ teaching in action is reinforced in the parables which follow: “Therefore, ‘What is the kingdom of God like?” It is like a mustard seed, which when thrown carelessly into the garden grows with wild abandon, or the yeast which produces effects beyond the expectation for something its size. Jesus catches his audience off-balance – mustard seed and yeast are strange images to use for a royal dominion. At the same time the wildness of the mustard seed contrasts with the orderliness of the synagogue and the domestic imagery of yeast sits uneasily with the male-dominated interpretation of the law.

Seen in its context, Luke’s account is quite subversive. Jesus has warned about the imminent coming of the kingdom. Now he moves to reveal the revolutionary nature of that kingdom. Jesus’ healing of the woman demonstrates that the coming of the kingdom will see the defeat of the cosmic forces which conspire against him. By setting the story in the synagogue and on the Sabbath, Luke explodes the current interpretation of the law and thus of the nature of the kingdom. The addition of the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast demonstrates that the kingdom of God cannot be contained by the limited imagination of the synagogue leaders or by the narrow interpretation of scripture or by the law. God’s healing power cannot be confined to certain times and places. Compassion cannot be constrained by a set of legal requirements. The kingdom of God is about liberation and restoration. It is wild and uncontrollable and its effect extends far beyond our capacity to imagine it.

Luke’s message is this – the coming kingdom will be unsettling and disturbing to all those who try to live their lives according to set patterns and behaviours. It will upset all those who think that they already have the answers. It will raise up the downtrodden and the arrogant will be put in their proper place. Those who are bound by societal expectations, by disease or infirmity will be set free. This is not a breaking of the law, but a radical understanding of the same.

A woman set free from 18 years of infirmity illustrates liberation from cosmic powers and the freedom, generosity and pervasiveness of the kingdom.

Pentecost 11

Luke 12:32-40

Marian Free

In the name of God, in whom is our only certainty. Amen.

“We, without a future,

Safe, defined, delivered

Now salute you God.

Knowing that nothing is safe,

Secure inviolable here.

Except you,

And even that eludes our minds at times.”[1] (A portion of a poem by Anna McKenzie in a book by Sheila Cassidy.)

Sheila Cassidy is an Australian doctor. She wanted to become a plastic surgeon but found the hours required impossible. Instead she went to Chile during the time of Salvador Allende. In 1975, she became a victim of the Pinochet regime. Her medical training meant that she was unable to refuse to help to anyone in need. One night she gave aid to an opponent of Pinochet who was being sought by police. Though she was not a formally a member of the opposition, her act of kindness led to her arrest, imprisonment and torture.

The poem is reproduced in one of her books, and while I know nothing of the author, it speaks to me of someone coming out of an experience as ghastly as Cassidy’s. Someone who has discovered that nothing in this life – status, profession, nationality, innocence – can completely protect one from the horrors of injustice, de-personalisation or torture. Nothing can protect one from terminal illness, natural disaster or acts of terror. The author of the poem has experienced the most dreadful trauma and has come out the other side realizing that the only thing on which she can truly depend is God.

Fortunately, in this nation we escape the worst traumas of human existence. War has barely touched our shores. Our country’s wealth and nature resources combined with our stable political system mean that victims of natural disaster can receive timely help. Our democratic government means that we can speak our minds without fear of reprisal. Our legal system ensures that we are innocent until proven guilty, that we cannot be arbitrarily imprisoned and that we must have a fair trial.

Most of us (thankfully) have no conception of what it might be like to live in constant fear of arrest and torture. Most of us have not been trapped for years in refugee camps – terrified to return home. Most of us have not been forced to watch our children die of starvation. Most of us have not known what it is like to wait for days for help to reach us after an earthquake or flood. Most of us have not known what it is to wake each day wondering if today will be the day you happen to be in the same place as a suicide bomber.

Most of us have been relatively protected from the worst that human existence has to offer, but that does not mean that we do not have real fears of our own. We have fears relative to our own situation. In this country we fear for our health, our finances and our children.  We fear what will happen if our partner dies or if we lose our job. The problem is that no matter how much we worry, no matter how much we do to try to protect ourselves, no matter how many vitamins we take, how much we exercise we do how much wealth we amass, we still remain vulnerable to trauma, disaster and ultimately to death.

In chapter 12 of Luke’s gospel, Jesus is pointing out these harsh realities to his disciples and encouraging them to trust in the only thing that matters – eternity. If we were to read the chapter in its entirety we would see that it is divided into sections dealing with fear (both false fear and salutary fear[2]) and security (both reliable and unreliable).

Looking ahead to a time when the disciples will face persecution, Jesus advises them that rather than being afraid of those who might be able to kill the body, they should be afraid spending eternity without God. This is followed by the assurance that God will be with them in even the most difficult situation – after all God sees the sparrow fall, and the disciples are more valuable than the sparrow.

Jesus continues with the parable of the rich fool – the farmer who thinks that his good crop will provide him with years of comfort. The farmer has forgotten that he does not have control over the length of his days. All his preparations for the future come to nothing, because at the very point at which he feels secure in his physical well-being, his life is brought to an end. Earthly wealth may temporarily allay fear, Jesus suggests, but it does not provide true and lasting security. In the long run possessions cannot keep you safe from harm or guarantee eternal life.

This salutary lesson is followed by a long section about the foolishness of worry. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. ²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing” and so on. The rich farmer relied on his wealth instead of finding his true security in God – God whose attention to detail is such that he even clothes the lilies of the field.

Jesus caps off the argument by demonstrating how foolish and short sighted it is to live a life dominated by fear: “it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” That being the case, why would anyone worry about anything in this life?

God has already given us everything that we need – our future, our eternal future is absolutely secure. All that we have to do is to receive the gift which God so generously offers, is to place our trust in the eternal rather than the temporal, to understand that no amount of material security and, no amount of defensive or protective behaviour, can keep us completely safe from harm in this life. In this life, nothing is certain, nothing is secure, nothing is forever. For that reason, Jesus urges us to trust in God to give us strength, courage, fortitude and resignation in this life, and to place all our confidence in the life to come – a life which cannot be shaken by any force, cannot be limited by ill-health, misfortune or sorrow and cannot be taken from us. Confidence in the life to come brings security, peace and happiness in the present because we know that for eternity we with finally enjoy perfect security, perfect peace and perfect happiness.

Why would we place our trust in anything sure?

---

[1] a portion of a poem by Anna McKenzie, quoted in full in the Appendix to Good Friday People. Sheila Cassidy, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991.

[2] Byrne’s words. Byrne, Brendan The Hospitality of God:A Reading of Luke’s Gospel. Collegeville, Minnesota:St Paul’s Press, 2006:114.

Pentecost 10

Luke 12:13-21

Marian Free

In the name of God in whose love is all the security we need. Amen.

The author of Luke’s gospel has quite a deal to say about money. It is Luke who makes it explicit that the disciples leave everything and follow him and Luke’s picture of the early church in Acts is one in which members sell everything and give the proceeds to the church (with disastrous results for those who withhold anything). For the author of Luke, discipleship quite clearly means complete trust in God. Unfortunately for us, the lectionary doesn’t allow us to put today’s gospel in context. Last week, we were looking at prayer, this week we are propelled forward into the prophetic teaching of Jesus without the advantage of any lead up. On its own, the parable is a condemnation of the accumulation of wealth, but the context gives the parable a much broader meaning.

The parable of the rich man does not occur in isolation. In chapters 11-14, Luke places Jesus’ teaching about the end and about judgement. As he turns to face Jerusalem, Jesus is aware that his own time is near. He has a sense of urgency about preparing those around him to be ready for the end (whether it is close at hand or a long way off). Being prepared for the end in Jesus’ view begins, by placing all one’s trust in God. He suggests that if believers trust God with their present (as indeed he does), they can be confident of their future. Awareness of the end and of judgement pervades Christian thought – the idea that we are accountable for what we do in this life plays an important role in determining how we live our lives. At the same time, awareness that life is finite reminds us that it is how we live now that is important – tomorrow may be too late – to do the right thing, to tell someone we love them, to exercise forgiveness, to place our trust in God.

Jesus’ teaching about judgement and the end is not meant to terrify, or hold us in its thrall – just the opposite. The Pharisees come in for some harsh criticism – for their hypocrisy, for pre-occupation with the external, for their concentration on minute details of the law while ignoring the broader issues of justice and mercy and for seeking attention for themselves. Jesus’ disciples on the other hand are given encouragement and confidence. They need not be afraid, God who does not forget the sparrows knows the number of hairs on their heads. Even in the face of persecution, God will not abandon them, but will give them what it is they are to say.

Trust in the present, provides security for the future: “do not fear those who can kill the body and after that can do nothing more”. If believers can place all their trust in God, then they have nothing to fear in this life or the next. This is illustrated by the parable in today’s gospel.

Jesus’ teaching is interrupted by an onlooker who want Jesus to arbitrate on matters of family inheritance. Jesus will not be drawn into the dispute, but he takes advantage of the question to press home the point that he is making – that trust in the present relates to security in the future. Jesus criticizes the questioner for his greed and for his dependence on “abundance of possessions” He illustrates his point with the parable of the successful farmer, who, on having produced abundantly can only think of how to store up his wealth, and who relies on his wealth for his future security. No amount of wealth however can provide the landowner with life. His death demonstrates that he has been pre-occupied with the wrong things. He was worried about how to store the grain for himself. He was not at all concerned with sharing from his abundance and his determination to build bigger store houses demonstrated his failure to trust God with his future.

Trust in God becomes the focus of the next section of teaching in which Jesus instructs the disciples not to worry about their lives, what they will eat and what they will wear – worry will not add even a single hour to their lives. Trust in God is the only security that a believer needs and in the end, trust in and dependence on God is the only security that is real.

The landowner’s problem was not that he was rich, but that he looked to his wealth to hedge himself around, to provide a secure future for himself not realizing that placing one’s trust worldly possessions is foolish. As the parable demonstrates, no amount of worldly possessions can protect one from harm. If we believe that we can use wealth or any other earthly form of security to keep us safe from the vagaries of the world, then we are placing our trust in the wrong place and it is likely that, like the man in the parable we will be caught out when we least expect it and when we are least prepared.

If, on the other hand, we have entrusted our future to God, we will not be distracted or absorbed by trying to escape or avoid the realities of this life only to discover that ultimately such escape is beyond our control. If our relationship with God comes first, we will be grateful for but not dependent on wealth and other forms of worldly security. If our relationship with God determines how we approach this life, not only will discover the strength and confidence to face any difficulties that lie in our paths, we will also be prepared for the relationship with God that outlasts this life.

As he turns his face to Jerusalem and his own certain torture and death, Jesus tries to encourage his follows to trust God with their present and their future. Nothing in this life is certain or permanent. The only thing that is true for eternity is our relationship with God. Instead of placing our faith in the things that do not last, let us place our trust in the things that endure for ever.

Pentecost 9

Luke 11:1-13

Marian Free

In the name of God who speaks peace to those who turn to him in their hearts. Amen.

The disciples said: “Lord, teach us to pray.” I wonder how you were taught to pray. I have a few very clear memories of my early education in prayer. When I was very young, my mother would come in to say “good night” and to pray with my sister and I. How well I remember the times that my sister and I would compete with each other to see how many and how varied were the things for which we would give thanks –  “the moon”, “the stars”, “the universe” we would call out as we gazed out of the window and strove to outdo each other with our thankfulness. I remember too the more dignified times when we would use the words of prayers written especially for children. My favourite which, sadly, I have long since forgotten, was one printed on a card sent to me by my favourite great aunt and stuck to the wall beside my bed.

When I was eleven a religious instruction teacher taught me a way of praying that was to influence – and sadly stultify – my prayer life for years. Using her (my) hand as a guide she taught the class that we should pray for the world, the church, the community, the sick and lastly – holding up the littlest and most insignificant finger – to pray for ourselves. Her point being that we shouldn’t think of ourselves. There is nothing wrong with this type of praying. It is very similar to the formula that we use week after week in our liturgy. For me, however, there were a number of problems with this form of prayer, the most important being that it didn’t really suit, or satisfy me. Of course, praying for others is one aspect of prayer, but this particular form of praying did not inform my knowledge of God or serve to deepen my relationship with God. At the same time, by suggesting that the self was not important, it actually prevented any attempt to think about myself in relationship with God. Thankfully, I have since learned that there are a great many ways in which to pray – some of which suit and some of which do not.

Last week, as a way to try to understand the difference between the frazzled Martha and the absorbed Mary, those of us who were here learned a very particular way of being totally present to Jesus. (If you weren’t here you can ask someone to tell you about the sultana or check the website.) Of course there are many and varied ways of paying attention to God – of making space for God in our lives. Praying for others or intercessions is one way to pray as we seek to share God’s compassion for the world. However, in order to pay attention to God, we need to listen as well. If we do all the talking then we will never hear what it is that God has to say to us. As the Psalmist reminds us today: ⁸ “Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.^*(Ps 85)”

Listening to God means paying attention to all the ways in which God tries to communicate with us. There are a number of ways in which we can try to hear what God is saying to us. We can listen to God by deliberately setting aside time to be quiet, by making space in our lives, by being fully present to whatever we are doing or whatever is going on around us, by meditating or by conscientiously looking for evidence of God’s presence in our relationships, in our work and in other aspects of a day to day living. Each of us has to find our own pattern, our own way of listening, and our own way of relating. It is important to find the pattern which suits us rather than to squeeze ourselves into a form of prayer that is forced and unfruitful.

For example, I know of people who rise early in the morning as they find that is the only time that they can pray without distraction. Praying in the morning means that they do not get to the end of the day and discover that they have not made the time to pray. There are others whose entire day is spent in conversation with Jesus. Jesus is their constant companion to whom they pour out their thoughts, hopes and frustrations. A friend of mine has developed the habit of making the sign of the cross at times throughout the day.  He has a busy schedule and that simple gesture helps to remind him that God is always present. It helps him to pause, if only briefly and focus on that presence. Many of us, taught well by our parents still cannot close our eyes at night unless we have offered up a prayer to God.

Today’s gospel is often taken out of context to imply that if only we pray hard enough and long enough, God will answer our prayer. It occurs to me that it may be saying something quite different. Prayer is not so much about getting what we want, as it is about finding out what it is that God wants. This become clear in verse 13 where Jesus says: “¹³If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit^* to those who ask him!” The gift we receive when we pray is not necessarily a shopping trolley full of answered requests but the gift of God’s presence – the Holy Spirit.

Understood in this we see that the fruit of a lifetime of prayer is not wealth and security or the absence of trouble, but a life filled with the presence of God. The benefits of prayer are demonstrated in the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. Through prayer we develop a deep trust in God which overrides any anxieties or fears and which satisfies all our needs.

Luke’s account of Martha and Mary, and Luke’s commendation of the way in which Mary is able to give Jesus her full attention, leads very naturally into the disciples’ request: “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus does this in the very familiar words that we know as the Lord’s prayer. This leads Jesus to an instruction on how to persevere in prayer. We are told not to give up when it seems as though there is no response to our prayer, or when our prayer life seems arid and empty. We are to keep on seeking and knocking, knowing that God who loves us more than we can know will respond by being present in us through the Holy Spirit, guiding us through the vicissitudes of this life. We are called to be persistent in our prayer – to seek, to ask and to knock so that we will receive the gift that God has promised and so that our lives are filled with the presence of God.

Through prayer we become more aware of the awesomeness of God (hallowed be your name), through prayer we develop an attitude of openness and expectancy towards God (thy will be done), through prayer we develop our trust in and dependence on God (give us today our daily bread), through prayer we learn more and more of the nature and compassion of God (forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us), through prayer we align ourselves with the power of God for good, we strengthen our resolve and in turn are strengthened to face whatever life might throw at us (save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil)..

Pentecost 8

Luke 10:38-42

Marian Free

In the name of God, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. Amen.

Over the last few weeks as our attention has been drawn to the beautiful windows in this church, I have become conscious how little attention I have given to them. I suspect that when many of us come into this amazing building, we are distracted by many things – the task that we have to do, the people with whom we want to catch up, the affairs of the week just been, the worries of the week to come. I don’t imagine that many of us bring our full attention not only to the place, but to the task (or should it be privilege) of worship.

Today I’d like us to do an exercise which I learned from a friend of mine who is both a psychologist and an Anglican priest. It will give you some idea of what it mans to be fully focused[1]. Please take a raisin as they are passed around. Then sitting quietly, I’d like you to imagine that you have come to earth from Mars and that you have never seen this object before.

Take the object (raisin) and hold it in the palm of your hand, or between your finger and thumb.

Pay attention to seeing it.

Look at it carefully, as if you had never seen such a thing before.

Turn it over between your fingers.

Explore its texture between your fingers.

Examine the highlights where the light shines … the darker hollows and folds.

Let your eyes explore every part of it, as if you had never seen such a thing before.

And if, while your are doing this, any thoughts come to mind about “what a strange thing we are doing” or “what is the point of this” just note them as thoughts and bring your awareness back to the object.

Now smell the object, take it and hold it beneath your nose, and with each in breath, carefully notice the smell of it.

Now take another look at it.

Now slowly take the object to your mouth, maybe noticing how your hand and arm know exactly where to put it, perhaps noticing your mouth watering as it comes up.

And then gently place the object in your mouth, noticing how it is “received”, without biting it, just exploring the sensation of having it in your mouth.

And when you are ready, very consciously take a bite into it and notice the taste that it releases.

Slowly chew it, ….  notice the saliva in the mouth, … the change in consistency of the object.

Then when you feel ready to swallow, see if you can first detect the intention to swallow as it comes up, so that even this is experienced consciously before you actually swallow it.

Finally, see if you can follow the sensations of swallowing it, seeing it moving down to [2]your stomach, and also realizing that your body is now exactly one raisin heavier.

I imagine that you have never experienced a raisin in quite that way before! You can apply this sort focus to any task. Next time you have a cup of tea try to be fully present – paying attention to the cup, the heat, the feel of the tea on your lips, in your mouth, as you swallow. You can do this sort of exercise at any time in any place – simply by giving your whole attention to the task at hand rather than being only partially present.

In today’s gospel, Jesus doesn’t berate Martha for being busy, but for being distracted. Martha, the host, is so caught up in her preparations, so concerned with providing an excellent meal for Jesus, that rather than being a good host, she is ignoring her guest. Worse still, Martha, instead of providing a comfortable, welcoming environment for Jesus is trying to draw him into her stress. Martha is not able to focus on what she is Mary’s “better part” is her ability to give Jesus her full attention, to be fully present to what is happening.

I wonder what sort of hosts we are. Do we give Jesus our full attention or are we only partially aware of his presence, constantly distracted by other things? How might our relationship with Jesus change if we were open and alert to his presence, fully attending to his place in our lives?

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[1]If you are reading this, you might like to find a friend to read the instructions to you. (Then you could swap.) If no friend is available, read the instructions to yourself and then spend some time focusing totally on your raisin. As you will see as you continue reading, this is an exercise that can be done at any time. Next time you have a cup of tea, focus totally on that experience – don’t sit down with a book, or with the television on – give your full attention to the act of drinking the tea. You might begin by looking at the cup, at the steam rising. Then you could think of the feel of the china as you pick up the cup – the weight of it in your hands, the feel of it on your lips. As you take a sip, feel the heat on your tongue, the dampness as it fills your mouth and finally be aware of the movement of your muscles as your body moves the tea from your mouth to your stomach. Be aware of moving the cup from your mouth to the table and so on until the tea is finished. Or you could give your full attention to simply the act of sitting – being aware of your body in the space it occupies, being fully present to everything you do rather than distracted by what has just happened or what will happen next. (Don’t worry if thoughts come into you mind – as they will – simply notice them and let them go and then return to the exercise.)

[2] Based on Kabat-Zinn, in Segal, Zindel V., Williams, J.Mark G., Teasdale, John D. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A New Approach to Preventing Relapse. London:The Guilford Press, 2002: 103.

Pentecost 8

Luke 10:25-37

Marian Free

In the name of God who shocks us out of our complacency so that we might see the world in a new and different way. Amen.

During the week I caught the end of a programme called The Gruen Transfer, in which a panel of experts critique advertisements and discuss the art of selling a product. I don’t know about you, but I love a good ad. I think that a well-executed advertisement is a testament to ingenuity as well as being interesting and fun to watch. As part of the programme each week two advertising companies are give the task to sell the unsellable. The challenge last week was to promote a huge international energy company Petroleum Brilliance which was responsible for a huge undersea oil leak! It sounds like an impossible task, but both companies did an amazing job. The first company decided that PB were not the bad guys but the good guys who were generous and altruistic. They tried to sell this message by showing how the oil spill was creating jobs, building communities AND sharing 60,000 barrels of oil a day with those less fortunate. The ad concludes: “PB – Let’s share the spoil”.

The second company looked for a truth to sell and a credible spokesperson to promote the message. They found the latter in Tim Flannery the Chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council. In their footage they had short visuals of the devastation followed by Tim Flannery saying “brilliant!”. The ad concluded with pictures of small clean cars and a voice-over saying: “We are driving the world to environmentally clean energy sources.” (The idea being that the horror of the spill was leading vast numbers of people to rethink their use of energy.) (Google “iview” and look for Panel and Discussion, Gruen Transfer, Series 3, Episode 4, fast forward to 17:26).

Both ads were very clever, but they were also shocking – “brilliant” and “devastating oil spill” are ideas that DO NOT go together. Even though I could admire the mastery of the ads, I still found the pitch utterly offensive. An event which has such destructive and horrendous long term consequences as the Florida oil spill cannot be brilliant no matter which way you look at it.

For the first century Jew, “good” and “Samaritan” were as offensive as “brilliant” and “oil spill” are today.  Hostility between Jews and Samaritans went back as far as the exile to Babylon. Such was the antagonism between the two that a Jew would travel miles out of his way rather than pass through Samaria, contact with a Samaritan would leave one ritually unclean and Jews viewed the Samaritan religion with utter contempt.

It is difficult to think of an Australian example of a Samaritan and therefore to retell the story in such a way that it would have the impact that Jesus originally intended. There are three main problems. First of all the parable is contextual – in order for it to make sense we first have to understand the situation between the Jews and the Samaritans. We also have to understand the Jewish laws of ritual cleanliness to understand why it is that the priest and the Levite not only avoid the injured man, but need to avoid him. Secondly, the parable of the Good Samaritan has been so misrepresented and misinterpreted that we often miss the primary point which is to make us rethink the question; “according to the law, who is our neighbour?”. Thirdly, we have become so familiar with the parable and so used to our interpretation of it that it has lost its sting – it would have been impossible for a Jew to imagine a Samaritan as a hero. The conclusions to the parable would have stunned Jesus’ listeners.

The parable that we know as the “Good Samaritan” is Jesus’ attempt to confront stereotypes and prejudices and to challenge a particular way of seeing the world. If a Samaritan can be a neighbour then anything is possible. You can imagine the lawyer and Jesus other listeners. As the story unfolds they would have been sympathetic to the priest and the Levite because, unlike us, they would have understood the law which says to the priests: “No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his relatives, except for his nearest kin. (Lev 21:1) and “The priest who is exalted above his fellows shall not go near where there is a dead body; he shall not defile himself even for his father or his mother (Lev 21:11). Had the priest or Levite gone to the aid of the injured or dying man, they would have been contaminated, worse still, it would have meant breaking the law which bound all observant Jews.

In the parable, Jesus exposes the limitations of the law. The law did not allow the good, law-abiding Jews to go to the aid of the dying man. The lawyer with whom Jesus is in debate knows the law – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.” It is in response to the lawyer’s question; “Who is my neighbour?” that Jesus tells the parable. By making the Samaritan the hero, Jesus reveals that the interpretation of the law has, until now, restricted the definition of neighbour. Until now, all good Jews had been able to excuse themselves from any relationship with the undeserving, unclean, Lawless Samaritans.

At the same time, the parable exposes the law as flawed – instead of resulting in good it actually leads to harm. The injured man is left to die. A literal interpretation of the law has turned out to be a misinterpretation. Love of neighbour which presumes to define who neighbour is, has been shown to be not love at all – a law which prevents a person from going to someone’s aid contradicts and even opposes the law of love.

The problem with all laws is that they are bound by history and culture and they are open to interpretation. Overtime laws need to be re-examined, re-interpreted, re-written and even dismantled. Laws that are devoid of compassion, love and understanding lead to more harm than good. Laws that protect the interests of one group and limit the potential of another group do not reflect the spirit of the gospel. Laws that prevent one person or group from helping another are life-denying rather than life-giving.

Jesus reveals that it is the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law which is important. What will see us through, and lead to our salvation is an understanding of the depth of God’s love for us and for others, a willingness to be led by the Holy Spirit, an openness to God’s new revelations in every generation, a determination to wrestle with God’s word until we truly understand it and a resolution to: “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself” without argument, without definition and without limit.