Mark 16:1-8

Mark 16:1-8 (NRSV)

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Call this one an honest ending.

This original ending of the Gospel of Mark has always struck me. We are used to Easter and the Resurrection as our high, triumphant day on the church calendar.

But here Mark shows that an initial reaction anyway to Jesus' being gone from the tomb was anything but triumphant and joyous.

Here, instead, the women run away in fear.

And quite honestly, I think I might have wanted to do the same.

Resurrection - despite Jesus' frequent predictions of it - was unexpected, surprising, and awe-inspiring to his disciples. And their reactions to it were understandably not filled initially with courage, conviction, and triumph.

And it is in the midst of this fear.

This terror.

This lack of understanding and conviction.

That the Gospel story took root and took off.

The fact that the early disciples admitted to this fear, and that 2000 years later, Christianity has become what it is, makes this resurrection story for my money anyway, one of our most convincing backbones of our faith.

Remind me, Lord, when I am afraid, that in the midst of fear that you love is that which I can cling to and be assured of, and that you can turn my fear into something amazing. Amen.

Luke 24:36-43

Luke 24:36-43(NRSV)

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

For these few days after Easter Sunday, I think a little about Jesus' post-Resurrection appearances.

This is one from Luke that I've always liked. It bears similarities to John's tale of Doubting Thomas, yet Thomas is not named here as being the doubter. I like that.

Always thought he got a bad rep!

But what I like especially is that Jesus is hungry.

He eats with them.

After all the angst and drama and grief of Good Friday...

After death and burial and friends feeling left alone...

He is back.

And eats with them. While they are disbelieving and still wondering.

I like it because the truth is I'll bet there are days you are disbelieving and wondering. I know I am.

And yet then we come together and eat. We share in the Lord's Supper and are joined with the Risen Christ.

And that sustains us. Makes us knew. Makes us forgiven.

Fed and forgiven.

Something perhaps to wonder about. But something also to rejoice in.

Lord, feed me and forgive me. Amen.

Taking a break for Holy Week

Be back after Easter!

Luke 6:27-36 - Non-Violent resistance

Luke 6:27-36 (NRSV)

“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

The issue of turning the other cheek has always been one to raise some eyebrows.

Some context helps. 

According to Christian scholar Walter Wink, in advising people to turn the other cheek Jesus is offering a third alternative to either violent resistance or passive acceptance.

In Roman times, the left hand was only used for certain bodily functions and would never have been used to strike someone. Only the right hand would be. And slaps of power would be back-handed, rather than open palmed. (Watch any old Biblical movie and you'll see that).

So to strike someone's cheek, you would backhand their right cheek with your right hand. (the Gospel of Matthew in fact specifies that it is the right cheek that is slapped).

Now, if someone does that to you and you turn the other cheek, what happens?

They aren't going to use their left hand to slap you. You have then rendered them powerless, even if it is only momentarily.

And this is Jesus' "third way" of non-violent resistance.

Non-violance is not passive. It is not submitting.

It is taking power and turning it back against the perpetrator without using more violence. It is refusing humiliation.

Yes, it is possible you will still be beaten. 

But the perpetrator of the violence will at the very least be given pause as they confront the unexpected response.

Similarly, in offering your shirt in addition to your coat, your nakedness would shame the person who would take your coat. Disconcerting at the very least!

Jesus is not advising passive submission to violence against us. Instead, Jesus offers a way of taking back some of our self-respect and turning the tables non-violently against a violent world.

Lord, turn me away from violence and help me to respect the dignity of all people. Amen

Luke 6:27-36 - Who is your enemy?

Luke 6:27-36 (NRSV)

“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

I started to break this long segment from Jesus' sermon into chunks, but I'm not sure that in this case that's especially helpful.

Each piece of this famous discourse on loving your enemy feeds on itself. Taking each piece out of the whole makes it harder I think to even comprehend.

For example if someone is in a violent or abusive relationship, reading some of these texts is going to be difficult rather than transformative.

And transformative is definitely what Jesus was going for!

So, instead maybe looking at this text in a large chunk over a few days might be helpful.

For now, to begin, start by asking yourself who your enemy is.

Who is the person you are being called to love. to bless, and do good to.

The person who it feels like it would be impossible to do so.

And then - before we go any further - stop and pray for that person.

Right now.

Lord, I ask you to look with kindness upon the person that it is hardest for me to do so and to enlarge my capacity to do so as well. Amen

Luke 6:24-26 - Woes

Luke 6:24-26 (NRSV)

“But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have received your consolation.
“Woe to you who are full now,
    for you will be hungry.
“Woe to you who are laughing now,
    for you will mourn and weep.

“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

Different also from the Sermon on the Mount, is that here in Luke (at the Sermon on the Plain), in addition to blessings, Jesus includes "woes."

The question always for me when I read these is this: are these woes like curses, where Jesus is saying "IF you are rich or full or happy, THEN you will be cursed with sadness."

OR...

If Jesus saying not to hold onto those blessings as THE blessings.

Don't imagine being rich or full or happy is what you deserve.

Because sadness ultimately comes to everyone.

We have a tendency perhaps to think blessings are our reward. Or what we deserve.

Or the culmination of effort and hard work.

But maybe Jesus is saying that the blessings from God are much more and much richer and much deeper than anything we can conceive of.

Certainly more than wealth or feasting or happiness.

And we lose out on the fullness of God's blessing when we think otherwise.

Lord, show me how your blessings exceed anything I can imagine. Amen.

Luke 6:21-23 - What is blessing?

Luke 6:21-23 (NRSV)

“Blessed are you who are hungry now,
    for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.

“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

The blessings continue for those whom Jesus' hearers - including us - would least expect. And not only are they blessed, according to Jesus, but they are blessed now.

We are used to hearing the phrase "I am so blessed" when everything is going well. When in gratitude we look at all we have and take stock in it and feel our good fortune, and attribute it to God.

Yet Jesus is telling us we were blessed when quite the opposite is the case. 

What can we make of that?

Are God's blessings what we think they are?

Are they something that we hold onto? Or are they something that aren't complete until they are shared so that through us others may be blessed?

If that is the case, then when we are poor or hungry or grieving or despised, could it be that our blessings come and are shared when we become a vehicle for healing for someone else?

Are we blessed when someone reaches out to us to clothe or feed or comfort us?

And are they blessed in doing so?

When we remember that God's love doesn't exist in a vacuum maybe we begin to see how blessing works. Love itself can only thrive and happen in community, and so our blessings are not ours alone. They are not individual badges of honor, but instead are ways in which we share that abundant love with others.

And that love isn't something simply for the future heaven. Yes, it is perhaps for "not yet." But it is also remembering that the Kingdom of Heaven is now. 

Help my need, Lord, to be a vehicle of blessing for those around me and let their need be a blessing for me. Amen.

Luke 6:20 - Blessed are you who are poor

Luke 6:20 (NRSV)

Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

    for yours is the kingdom of God.

Immediately before this, Jesus has been healing this crowd he stands on a level playing field with.  A great multitude of people  and a great crowd of disciples.

To the crowd he acted.

And to the disciples now he speaks. 

And connects both.

He shows the crowd they are blessed.

He tells the disciples what that blessedness means.

No one...

NO one...

NO ONE...

Would have called the poor blessed.

But Jesus expects his disciples to see them that way.

Expects his followers to see how the poor - those who we see as having nothing - instead are emblematic of God's kingdom.

Those with nothing are instead the inheritors of everything.

And blessedness is meant to be shared. 

For Jesus hearers this wasn't just radical.

It was unheard of. It was impossible. It was against everything they thought they knew.

And I'm guessing times haven't changed so much.

Show us how to share your blessings, Lord, and see your blessedness in the face of those who would surprise us. Amen

Introduction: Sermon on the Plain

Luke 6:20-26New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now,
    for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.

“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

“But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have received your consolation.
“Woe to you who are full now,
    for you will be hungry.
“Woe to you who are laughing now,
    for you will mourn and weep.

“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

We need to go back a couple of verses before we dive into what is arguably Jesus' most famous teaching moment.

You've heard of the Sermon on the Mount?

Well, this isn't it - though it sure sounds like it.

You may already know that Matthew and Luke's accounts of Jesus' teaching is different in some respects. (blessed are the poor in spirit vs. blessed are the poor, for example).

But even before we get there, the location is the first big difference.

Here we don't have the Sermon on the Mount, but instead, the Sermon on the Plain.

Jesus in Luke doesn't go up and preach on a mountain top. Instead, Luke tells us a couple of verses earlier that: "(Jesus) came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon."

Jesus came down.

Jesus stood on a level place.

And then began to preach...starting with the word "blessed."

Jesus stood level with the people - with the poor; with the hungry; with the grieving - and called them blessed.

Something to work through this week...

Lord, teach me what being blessed truly means. Amen.

Matthew 20:1-16 - Fair?

Matthew 20:1-16 (NRSV)

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Is there a tougher parable for many of us than this one? Well, maybe.

But I'm going to guess this is up there.

We like things to be fair. Don't we? Starts when we are about two and we first begin to be told to share our toys. It's not really fair, is it?

I've been the person in the corporate job who watched while a new person was hired after me for more money than me.

I've been the person was last served at a meal and got less because of it. Who maybe didn't even get a taste of the food I couldn't wait to eat.

I've been the person who was waiting the longest in a doctor's office and saw those who came after me, treated before me.

I'm guessing you've been those people too.

The urge for fairness bubbles up out of us usually without our being able to help it. We are taught fairness at an early age and our self-justification feeds the desire for it as we get older.

And yet, God isn't fair, huh?

Instead, God is just.

Justice and fairness aren't always the same thing. In fact they are often not the same thing.

Sometimes God's justice will rain down on you fairly. In your favor.

And other times not.

Other times, God's justice will serve someone else first.

And you will be last.

And yet that justice shows over and over again God's generosity. And God's call for us to be just as well.

Rather than fair.

Generous rather than self-justifying.

And there...

right there...

Is the Kingdom of God.

Just and merciful God: widen my heart beyond fairness to generosity and justice. Amen.

Luke 10:29-37 - The Road to Charlotte

Luke 10:29-37 (NRSV)

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

"Who is my neighbor?" the lawyer asked.

And Jesus replied: “A man was hitchhiking down from Washington DC to Charlotte, and fell into the hands of gang members, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a Catholic Priest was driving down that road; and when he saw him, he kept driving. Likewise a Baptist minister, when he drove by the place and saw him, hurried on his way. Next a Lutheran seminarian drove by, saw him, and then kept going. 

But a Muslim student while traveling drove by; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and cleaned and bandaged his wounds. Then he put him in his car and brought him to an nearby hospital, and stayed with him while the doctors tended to him.  Then, knowing the man had no insurance, gave the hospital his credit card and said: 'Pay for all of his bills with this.' Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the gang members?” The lawyer said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Who am I Lord? Help me to be one who shows mercy to all. Amen