Don't Miss It

“Earth's crammed with heaven,

 And every common bush afire with God;

 But only he who sees, takes off his shoes.

The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

(Gospel Lesson considered: Luke 10:38-42, Jesus in the house of Mary and Martha)

These words may sound familiar to some of us here at Nashotah.

I first heard this bit of poetry in David Sherwood’s Ascetical Theology class.

I don’t quite remember the context (sorry, David) – but in the two years that have passed since I took the class, I find that I can’t stop thinking about these words.

“Earth’s crammed with Heaven,

and every common bush afire with God.”

…. and yet we just sit around and pluck the blackberries.

Don’t get me wrong, I love blackberries

– but please don’t miss the point.

We often say (easily enough) that Creation happens through the Word of God –

But actually think about that idea.

Let that soak that in.

Everything that ever was or will be – everything that has being – is produced by that Eternal Word

– that Word  which is the Perfect and Living Expression of Who-God-Is –pouring out across space and time…

 and present at every moment and in every single place.

So it’s no wonder that we miss it so often.

In this same world where the very Self Expression of God is bursting forth with Creative Life - things still need to be done.

Papers still need to be written (…apparently), 

berries need to be plucked,

families need to be taken care of,

and the poor and the destitute still need to be fed.

My sisters and brothers, we soon find (like our sister Martha in the Gospel according to Luke ) that we still have many things to take care of.

Having welcomed Jesus the Christ into her home, Martha frantically set out to finish tasks left undone (as any good host would). 

Her Lord, her Teacher, God’s own Messiah had come to be in her home. 

Whether she was fully aware of it or not – the Eternal Son of God was sitting under her roof… 

 But in her frantic need to make sure everything was perfect, she almost missed a unique chance in that moment to just be with him.

To simply sit with her sister at the feet of Jesus – to soak in his presence – and to drink deeply of his Word.

Things still need to be done… and by the grace of God, they will be. 

We know that Christ is not one to idly sit by as things unfold.  At this point in Luke’s gospel, Jesus has already set his face towards Jerusalem – this guy was on a mission – one that he knew would cost him his life.

And yet…. here he sits among friends. 

My friends, we all have tasks that have been set before us.

And we who would invite the Living Word into our midst have more to do than most. We are called to bear witness to Christ in all of our words and all of our actions.

But in our tasks we must not lose sight of the point.

Our Lord is not a taskmaster, but One who gives birth to stars and worlds and lives. 

Our work for him is our work with him.

So when you look into the eyes of the person sitting across from you, whoever they are – see that the Eternal Word of God is at work in them.

That within every single human being – in every single moment and in every single place – the Spirit of Christ stirs and yearns to break forth.

Don’t miss it.

“Earth is crammed with Heaven

And every common bush afire with God.”

… but don’t worry, the blackberries are quite cool.

Flesh and Blood

“Now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made us both one...”

(Ephesians 2:13-14) 

This passage from Saint Paul’s letter to the Ephesians speaks to a most profound mystery.

Namely that whatever happened in Galilee and Judea 2,000 years ago is still happening.

Indeed it has been happening from before all ages, but it is in the womb of Mary that this reality is first made fully manifest…

“The Word has become flesh, and dwells among us.”

In the person of Jesus Christ, the very Word of God - the expression of God’s Self, has become a human being (located in space and time).

Thus the Infinite God who transcends all space and time has become known to us, not in a blinding flash but as a frail human being.

As a mother giving birth and a baby whose eyes shown with the redemption of the human race,

as a young man who knew that he was called to abide in the House of his Father, always - even at the expense of being separated from those who loved him…

and as a craftsman-turned-Rabbi whose Message of Truth and Eternal Life could not be silenced even by death.

But my friends, the Event of the Incarnation did not end with the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ. For us, that was only a beginning.

From the Right Hand of the Father and the place where Christ is, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon us – making us one with the Glorified Christ and therefore participants in the Incarnation.

Jesus himself tells us in the Gospel According to John:

“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.”

In a few moments, after offering our up our prayers and the gifts of human hands, we will be nourished by the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ (made manifest once more). In this Holy act of Communion we who have gathered in this place from across world are made one with the Living Christ – the eternally beloved Child of God.

As the Word of God has been made manifest in the Flesh and Blood of a human being, so now are we creatures of flesh and blood united to his life by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Nourished by the sacrament of Bread and Wine and having been one-ed to Christ, we who bear his Spirit have become his Body -- It is his Blood that flows through each of us according to the rhythms of his loving heart.

But Beloved, as we become Christ’s very Flesh and Blood, discern for yourselves what it is exactly that you are signing up for. As the Prayer Book says, we come to this table “not for solace only, but for strength.”

If we are to learn anything from the ministry of Jesus the Christ it is this:

“God is Love… and the Love that God is does not sit idle for very long.”

By uniting ourselves to the Living Christ, we are being united to that Revelation of Divine Love.

Love which bring forth things from no-thing.

Love which brings the dust of the Earth to life.

Love which became Incarnate in the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

We who are Christ’s Flesh and Blood (if we take that vocation seriously) are called to manifest the Love of God as he does.

We are called to look upon every single human being as God does: Beloved Children made in the Divine Image.

Even when that Image seems obscured from our vantage point, we are called to love them all the same, as Christ Loved us… because their flesh is our flesh, and their blood is ours....

When a young man is chained to a fence, beaten, and left for dead because of his sexuality... our flesh must show bruises and cuts.

When a woman’s story of abuse goes unheard… our cheeks must be wet with her tears.

When a gunman enters a synagogue, full of hatred and murderous intent… we must be ready to stand in the line of fire.

In Christ Jesus, the Infinite Love of God was forever united to Humanity 

in flesh and in blood.

We who have been gathered here to be united to Christ and study his word share in Christ’s vocation. 

Wherever we might be sent when we leave this place, we are called bear the Divine Image of Love – to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world and unite ourselves to the broken and the outcast as he did– that these too might know that they are the Beloved Sons and Daughters of the Ever Living God.

As Christ’s own Flesh and Blood, he will never leave us…    
and he will never let us go.

For I am a Sojourner with you, my Father

“For I am but a sojourner with you; a wayfarer, as all my forbears were.”

(Psalm 39:14)

Throughout scripture we find examples of God calling people out of their present context; inviting them beyond familiar horizons into the uncertainty of the unknown.

• In the story of Noah we find God calling a man and his family to “sail away” from impending doom, lest they too be washed away in the floodwaters.
• In Abraham we have someone being called away from his city, his life, his father; having been promised that his descendants would go on to be a Light unto the whole world (as numerous as the stars in the sky).
• In the Exodus we hear of a people who have become trapped – stuck under the rule of mortals who claim to be “god” – and of how the True God (of Heaven and Earth) shook the very foundations of nature so that God’s people might be free to continue the journey begun by their ancestors.

This image of the journey – of being “called out” into the unknown by a Divine Voice – is one of the most enduring human ideas across time and place. We find it writ large in the stories and mythologies across the world; famously “distilled” in the work of Joseph Campbell and his “Hero’s Journey.”
Campbell presents the Journey as the “monomyth” – a common thread woven into stories throughout the world; each story being unique to its time and place, but with similarities popping up in stories across other cultures:

• The not-yet-hero is called by Fate to leave her home and cross the threshold of the unknown.
• She enters the wilderness to be challenged and tempted by gods and monsters.
• The hero undergoes a kind of death; sometimes literal but always real in the sense that they are forever cut off from their old way of being.
• The hero is then experiences a kind of resurrection and presses on towards further triumph and transformation.
• After having finally reached a state of Divine Union, the hero eventually returns home, newly empowered and with newfound wisdom to aid her people in their own transformation.

While today’s great stories (in movie form) often end with the climactic triumph of the hero, that journey home is often just as problematic as the initial call to adventure. Having been forever changed by our experiences of God on the road – out in those Wild places beyond urban experience – the “civilized” world to which the sojourner returns seems different. It is indeed the home they left, but having looked into the Wild Face of God, they no longer see the world in the same way – the journey has given them new eyes.

To the people who never left, the returned traveler seems to have shorted a few circuits upstairs. The person no longer seems bound by the constraints of ordinary society and even begins to challenge settled truths.

This could be the story of any prophet, of any man or woman of God who has stepped beyond ordinary. Having been drawn across the threshold of everyday experience, they are gifted with the Revelation of the Untamable God – but upon their return their message is often challenged on the basis of “status quo” and rejected (until it’s too late).

After running from the guilt of murder, Moses eventually found himself in those wild reaches at the edge of human civilization. In the shadow of Mount Sinai, he is drawn into the Wild Mystery of the God of his ancestors (the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), the Holy One who drew his forbears from the nations of the world to be a Holy People. The Mighty Voice commissions Moses to go and proclaim freedom to his people and judgement upon Pharaoh if the king blocks their way (which he will).

But before Moses even begins his contest with Pharaoh, he must first prove the legitimacy of the Divine Message to his own people. His brother Aaron is driven into the wilderness by the spirit to meet Moses on his way to Egypt. Moses shares his encounter with Aaron, and together they boldly bear the Divine Name and the hope of freedom to their Hebrew brothers and sisters, and preform the miraculous signs of the Most High God among them.

Then Moses, Aaron, and their sister Miriam, with the backing of the united Hebrew people (most of the time) went on to face the man who had claimed the title of “god” for himself, Pharaoh – the one who would attempt to stop God’s people from following the course into the Wild Places to which they have been called.
Not that they’ll necessarily like the wilderness once they get there…


Having witnessed the wonders and miracles in Egypt which won their freedom, the people of Israel followed Moses into the desert with their sights set on a promised land and somewhere beyond the horizon – that place their ancestors once knew they’d return to. But before they could get there, the people of God had to undergo a period of transformation in that wilderness between their old ways of being and the New Life into which God was ultimately calling them – between Egypt and Jerusalem.

Moses once more ends up at the base of Mount Sinai, now with an increasingly restless and quarrelsome flock of people hungering for the lives they left behind. He once more ascends the mountain to seek God’s will for the wandering people and the Lord proclaims:

“You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.”

After the people receive this message, the holy mountain becomes covered in smoke and flame, shaking with the wild glory of God. Seeing that the mountain is most holy, and fearing the awesome Presence of the Most High, Moses is appointed both by God and his people to be an intermediary. Moses is given the task of bearing the concerns of his people before the creator of heaven and earth, and then delivering the Diving Word back to this chosen people – to look into the Wild Face of the Almighty and reflect the brightness of that Face back to God’s people.

This is the task of the prophet and of any man or woman of God who seeks to bear the Divine and transformative Word in this world. We are called to journey into those wild places where others fear to tread – to those places that disorient and confuse our worldviews, where everything we know about the world is stripped away and we are left with nothing but the untamable power of the Living God. Having looked into that Wild Face, nothing will ever be the same. Our perception will have shifted and we will have new eyes to see and love world in which we find ourselves. But this gift is not our own, we are called to turn those loving eyes upon those towns and villages and cities which produced us in the first place, to present that Wild and recklessly loving Face upon God’s people, that they too may know the One who calls them to be a priestly people.

My great love for the wild places of the world primarily comes from my father, a man absolutely enamored with the natural beauty of creation. His perfect bliss in life was found either in the woods with a rifle (or bow) in hand, or out on the waters where Tampa Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico, pulling up the living treasures of the sea. He taught me a great love for all living things, chastising me from ever plucking leaves off of a plant unless I had a very good reason. My father was a hunter through and through, entering the woods and joining that primordial dance of predator and prey – always watching, always searching.

But eventually this hunt and this search lead elsewhere; in his wandering my father got lost in his journey and eventually made turns which left him broken and struggling for the rest of his life. I didn’t really know my father for the last ten years of his life, and in 2008 he passed away from a brain hemorrhage – I was fifteen years old.

Now, ten years later (as a twenty-five year old man) I know that in some sense I’m still looking for my father; to know more about who this man was and who I am as his son – a newly bearded Telemachus watching for the return of an unknowable father.

In a few days (after the conclusion of this conference) I will be taking a cross-country, road trip; camping in national forests and arid badlands, beside lakes, on the sides of mountains, and on the edges of canyons. On this road trip I plan to take my father’s ashes to the most beautiful and wild places that I can access, before releasing the last of his remains in the waters he knew best.
I will be hunting with my father, searching for the Wild Face of God in the best of creation. Everyday offering more of my own lost father to our Heavenly Father, and leaning ever more into my own identity as a beloved child of God. Upon my own return from the mountains I pray that I may bear something of that Wild and Wonderful Face I seek, having been transformed by the experience and strengthened in my ability to minister to God’s beloved people.

Following our Lord’s baptism in the Jordan River, a Great Voice from Heaven proclaimed “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11)

Saint Mark (of course) gives the shortest account of what happens next:
“…the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.” (Mark 1:12-3)

Having been divinely pronounced the Beloved Son of God, Jesus is immediately driven out into the lonely places, away from “civilized” company to live among animals and the spirits of the wild places. Here he is tempted by Satan and apportioned a time to reflect on the kind of messiah that he is called to be - rather than simply running straight into Jerusalem to establish the earthly kingdom of heaven without having first gone out to listen for the Voice of his Father, and establishing his messianic identity.

As in all things, we are called to follow our Lord Jesus out into the wilderness, to be tempted and tried by the spirits that dwell there, ever growing in our understanding of what it means to be Children of the Most High God in Christ Jesus.

We should not fear to tread beyond our own familiar horizons and follow the Spirit into the unknown; for we trust that our Father is there also, ever ready to reveal more of his earth-shattering (and down-right terrifying) Wonder, Glory, and Love. Having followed Christ into those places, and having looked into the eyes of the One who has made deserts and mountains, rivers, oceans, canyons, and forests; let us now stare out onto this world with those same eyes, showing the world just how wild the Most High is.

Spring is here; Whether we see it or not

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

This is the ancient festal shout of Easter. Which we, as members of the Body of Christ, shout vigorously on Easter Sunday (like, at each other) – the day that we confess that Jesus broke down the doors of death some 2,000 years ago.

In the weeks that follow that greatest of feast days we continue to hear that same refrain over and over again – Christ is risen! Alleluia!

It becomes the greeting of the faithful, as if we have some great news to share and can’t help blurting it out at random moments.

“Alleluia! Christ is risen!

What are you plans for Easter?”

 Or 

“The Lord is risen! I’m going to the store, do you need anything?”

On the Tuesday following Easter, when our Paschal zeal is still humming just beneath the surface, I actually had a professor email me about an assignment which began with:

“Dear Shane,

Alleluia! Christ is risen! Do you happen to have another copy of such-and-such?”

My reply was, of course:

“The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! Attached to this email you will find….”

It’s inescapable. It’s everywhere.

The news cannot be unheard. 

Alleluia!

Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed!

Alleluia.

And yet now, just a few short weeks after we first proclaimed the radical news of the Resurrection – having just unearthed the great Alleluia after its long exile during the season of Lent – the shout has become a bit quieter.

The alleluias are still there of course (we’ve already said it a few times this morning; and I just keep saying it), but it’s not everywhere – not in the same way.

We still confess that Christ is risen, and that this reality is the source of our Hope and our Joy; yet things are gradually returning to normal.

The altar is still decked out in in its Easter best, but the Easter flowers have gone.

The paschal candle is still lit (proclaiming the presence of the risen Christ among us), but it’s a bit shorter and seems less proud and commanding upon its stand.

We can look back upon young men and women with hand-bells and brass instruments,

Easter egg hunts and sermons about extinct and vaguely unsafe automobiles.

But things have otherwise kind of gone back to normal.

and yet, everything is different. Everything is new.

The Lord is risen.

And because of that, nothing will ever be the same….

The Christ Event shook the foundations of this universe.

The Incarnation (made known in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ), has altered the very natural order.

• ·        The Virgin has given birth.
• ·        The youth teaches his elders
• ·        The blind see, the deaf hear, and the mute speak.
• ·        The great King, the promised one, dies humiliated and naked, nailed to a cross.
• ·        But, most wonderfully, the tomb was opened and that which was dead has been raised to New Life – a new mode of Being Human.

These are things we actually confess happened, every time we gather together;

We blatantly admit that the laws of nature and reason bended and warped around this man, Jesus, as if it’s the most normal thing in the world.

In the Incarnation something profoundly immense and mysterious began,

Something that challenges everything we thought we knew about ourselves, nature, and God…

and in a very real sense, whatever “this” is - it's still happening.

But my taxes are still due this Tuesday, and I really need to shave, and life seemingly goes on…

About a month ago I had to take a Psychological Evaluation for my Diocese in Illinois, which is a standard requirement for anyone pursuing Holy Orders, as a Deacon or a Priest.

(Don’t worry, I passed, I think.)

Part of the evaluation included a test of my general awareness; did I know my name, could I fold a piece of paper, did I know the date…

But one of the interviewer’s questions especially stood out to me: he asked me if I knew what season it was.

Now for some background: the date was March 24th, so the Spring Equinox had just passed, therefore it was technically spring.

But the weather was very much like it is today, and I had just driven three hours through a snow and ice-storms to get to the interview.

So after he asked me if I knew the season, I just looked at him for a moment and asked him if that was a trick question.

According to the calendar date, were we very clearly in spring; but looking outside one could reasonably assume that it is still very much winter.

We’ve had days of warmth, sure; I put on my flip flops every time the weather gets above freezing.

Yet wintery days like this can quickly make us forget those warm days, and all the sunny days of the seasons to come.

When it snows in April, it’s quite easy to ask whether or not it’s ever going to be warm again.

The apostles and those first followers of Jesus witnessed the turning of the seasons in a different kind of way. They walked with Christ and saw the first glimpses of the Kingdom that comes in his wake.  In his life, death, and resurrection they saw the first-green-shoots of a greater spring breaking through the ice.

These first Christians were so fired up by what they had seen, heard, and felt that they began giving up everything which they owned  – sure that the Kingdom of the risen Christ would be manifest in all of its glory at any moment.

The Spring of God’s Messiah has come, winter can no longer hold us!

Alleluia!

But the winter winds continue to blow, and sometimes that Easter Joy and the Fiery Warmth of the Resurrection seem far off – distant memories of sunny days.

And yet spring is here; the Lord is risen.

In Jesus Christ, things beyond our understanding have been put into motion; and across time, those machinations of the Holy Spirit continue to work in us, continuing to form us according to the Image of God in the Son… even some 2,000 years later.

Though it is not always easy to see…

As the John the Elder wrote in his First Epistle (which we heard from this morning):

“Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.”

Though we cannot always see it in a way that seems obvious, we have already been grafted into the life of Christ through the sacrament of Baptism.

When we approach the altar and partake of Christ’s Body and Blood, we truly are entering into a new mode of existing; being united to him in our very flesh and our very blood as we eat of the bread and sip wine from the cup.

We truly are Sons and Daughters of the Most High, even if we can’t always see it ourselves.

In order to discover who we truly are we must look into the face of Christ, for that is our end and that is our destiny, to be as Christ is.

That is the destiny which we approach every time we gather for Holy Communion.

And as we walk away from the altar railing we are called to carry the presence of Christ out into the world;

having been renewed as fellow Sons and Daughters of the Most High God we are called to present the Image of Christ - the very Image of our Heavenly Father - that the world might be transformed by that Resurrection Power in us… 

  just as the snow is melted by the rays of the sun.

In a work called “The Weight of Glory,” C.S. Lewis wrote the following:

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal."

I love that quote so much that I ended up posting it on Facebook yesterday, and a friend of mine (a rabbi from California) commented with a story about the Baal Shem Tov, a Rabbi who lived in the 1700’s and was largely responsible for the founding of Chasidic Judaism:

According to the story,

A man ran into the Baal Shem Tov one day, and the Great Rabbi asked if he could join the man and his family for Shabbat dinner that Friday night. All week, the man and his family prepared in their excitement.

On Friday, just before sunset, a beggar knocked on the door asking if they had room for one more at their table for Shabbat.

The man didn't want to insult the Rabbi, his honored guest, and turned the beggar away. The Baal Shem Tov arrived and they had a lovely dinner and time for singing.

Before the Rabbi left, he let out a deep sigh and the man asked what was wrong. The Rabbi said, "I was sure that the Messiah was going to be here tonight."

The man realized what he had done, but didn't quite remember what the beggar looked like. So from that day forward, the man treated every person as though they might be the Messiah, so as to never make that mistake again.

We may not always see the presence of the Risen Christ among us, we may not always see the Image of God stamped upon our brothers and sisters throughout the week; but Christ is among us, in the flesh.

Christ is present in our friends, our co-workers, and even in annoying relatives.

And though it may be difficult to see the Face of Christ in the face of our enemies, even then we are called to draw out the image of Christ buried deep within them by presenting the face of Christ to them – just as others have done for us.

Remember, the risen Jesus is not some ghostly apparition, but flesh and blood raised up to a new kind of life – a life in which now we share as members of his body.

We are therefore called to actually embody that reality; with our hands, in our touch, letting our feet take us where we need to go, speaking the words that God has placed on our hearts, and letting our gaze fall upon the beggar at the door, seeing the image of Christ present in them beneath the grime of this world.

Beloved, the power of the Resurrection didn’t end on that Easter Sunday, 2,000 years ago. The Incarnation continues in us.

The Image of Christ shines in the face of every person here, and though we cannot always see it as we would like to, we experience it in the Love that we show for each other and to all those who still have yet to come through those red doors.

When the beggar comes to the door and asked for a simple piece of broiled fish to eat, I pray that we may recognize our savior in that person, and that we may rush to feed him with the same haste that the disciples had when the risen Jesus asked the same.

The Lord is risen.

He walks among us.

And, whether we see it or not, he is making all things new.

Alleluia.

(Lessons used:  1 John 3:1-7 and Luke 24:36b-48)

(Image Credit: "Christ appears to the Eleven," James Tissot)

"Okay, yeah; but..." and Testing Authority

“And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.”

(Readings considered: Deuteronomy 18:15-20, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13,  Mark 1:21-28)

We’ve all had a teacher.

We’ve all had the experience of “being taught” by another individual who has (or at least claims to have) access to knowledge that we have at some point needed in our lives – or knowledge that we have built upon as we have progressed in our lives and gained new wisdom and new teachers.

We’ve all had the experience of being students in some way, or have submitted ourselves as an apprentice to some Master of a Craft that we too wish to master.

Therefore, in light of this shared experience, I have a confession to make:

I’m not really the best student.

When someone claims to speak to me from a position “of authority” (as if that word somehow shields whatever they are about to say from any shadow of a doubt), I often feel the instantaneous urge to pipe up and say:

“Okay, yeah…. But…”  (and challenge the teaching to see if it will truly hold)

There is this incessant urge – this need to challenge, to prod, to prove in the search for Truth.

To simply accept something as true because the “authorities” say that it is, has (historically) not generally been the best idea.

In the best case, this is how knowledge stagnates, how cultures and civilizations stop moving forward and eventually collapse in on themselves – going down easy because they know that they finally got it right.

But this is also how misinformation and lies become the Truth of the land.

This is how oppression and terror become the norm for people in their everyday lives.  Because someone else said it was meant to be this way… and then people went along with it.

That’s all it takes; one misleading, but convincing, voice and the consent of the people.

Presto; you've built yourself a new reality.

That is… until someone raises her hand and says:

“Yeah, okay; but….       No.”

Because there is Truth and there is Authority.

True “Authority” comes not from the ambitions of vainglorious men and women who strive to control the reality we all inhabit for their own benefit.

True Authority comes from the One who is the Author of all Reality, of all Life, of all Being.

True Authority comes from the One who orders the Cosmos, not for any benefit to Self, but simply from of an outpouring of Love. The desire to create and raise up those creations into the very heart of the Divine Life that they might be transformed in that Life and brought into an ever fuller realization of who they are as the Beloved of the Most High God.

Beloved, that is where authority rests.

As we read in Deuteronomy this morning, the Word of God has promised, through Moses, to raise up prophets in every generation to speak on behalf of the One who is the Author of All Things.

These prophets are not to speak with their own authority and slap a Divine Label on it for marketing purposes; for such individuals are false prophets and should be condemned.

Rather, a prophet is a human being who has been given something of the very Word of God to share with God’s people – that same Word which produced the Universe and worlds upon worlds upon worlds.

That Word which still sustains everyone and everything, everywhere and at every moment.

It is the linchpin of all reality, the foundation of all things, the very ground of our Being.

It is that Word, which calls us not to a life of subjugation and oppression, but calls us forth from those things as we grow into the life into which God is calling us.

It is that same Word, which took on the flesh and form of humanity, that we might know His Love for us and be capable of truly loving Him in return.

The Word who calls out to each and every one of us and says: “Follow me."

But one of the most curious things about today’s Gospel Lesson is the fact that (for all this hype about the authority of God manifest in Christ)

Jesus doesn’t really say a whole lot.

Rather, we simply read that:

At this early point in Jesus’ ministry

“They went to Capernaum; and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

So we don’t even get the actual words of His teaching in this passage, the focus is completely on his manner of teaching (with authority, and not as the scribes).

This continues with a constant theme present in the Gospel according to Mark; the image of an itinerant Jesus just kind of showing up with there being a subtle air of “Just who does this guy think he is.”

He’s not a scribe; he has no fancy theological degree or scholarly credentials: and yet here he is, teaching with a such an authority that everyone who listens is amazed and astounded.

It’s not quite discernible just where this authority is coming from (yet), but it is certainly there… and everyone knows it.

What’s even more interesting is that Jesus seems content to let the people wonder; to let them grow in their knowledge and understanding of who He really Is rather than revealing everything at once with a metaphorical mic drop.

(For that is how God chooses to be revealed. Incrementally – bit by bit, as we mature in our walk with Christ and come to know the infinite God ever more fully.)

At this point in the story, the Demon-possessed man comes in and ruins the big reveal… in Chapter One of all places.

“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”

As a spiritual being who once served in the presence of God but turned away, the demon possessing this man knows exactly who Jesus is – and it’s terrified.

The corrupt spirit knows that Jesus of Nazareth is the Holy One of God.

The Messianic Lord, one who is not only a prophet like Moses but surpasses Moses in that He represents the ultimate authority of God made manifest on this earth.

But seeing past the physical, the spirit can also see that Jesus is more than just a man who represents the Word of God…

It can see that Jesus is the Divine Word, that Christ is the Word of God exploding into this world and transforming it to the glory of the One who made it.

It can see that Christ has come to reorder the world and bring all of Creation into the Life of the Most High – and that should terrify every oppressive force that has claimed authority in this present age.

For as St. Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians:

There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

My brothers and sisters, as we gather here to partake in the life of Christ’s Body; as we unite ourselves to the One who is the Word made flesh, we are not only submitting to the Authority of the one who made us, but taking on the rights and the status of the Beloved of the Most High.

We too can rest in that place from which all authority – from which the very authorship of the cosmos flows and to which all things eventually return….

And when the road gets tough (and it will), we may remember the comforting words of the Eternal Word:

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Following him won’t always be easy, but it will be good and it will be astounding... 

and it will be amazing.

*(The image provided at the beginning comes from an eleventh century fresco depicting the scene at the synagogue in Capernaum.)

Bearing the Image of Christ as the Economy of Salvation

Sermon Preached for Zion Episcopal Church

Year A Proper 24 – October 22, 2017

Oconmowoc, Wisconsin

(Lectionary Readings: Exodus 33:12-23, 1Thessalonians 1:1-10, Matthew 22:15-22)

         
I have to admit, when I first looked at the readings for this Sunday, I thought “You have got to be kidding me.” At first I was brimming with nervous excitement at the thought of sharing the word with you – my brothers and sisters – here at Zion.

Yet here we are, left with a passage in which Jesus talks about taxes. Great.

Someone thought it was a good idea for a millennial in his mid-twenties to get up and talk to Christ’s beloved about the economy… (My brothers and sisters) We’re off to a great start…

Thankfully, while a reading of economic responsibility and good citizenship is certainly one possible reading of this text – I’m not entirely sure that was the main point that Jesus was trying to make. 

Though the Pharisees and the Herodians of today’s lesson were indeed challenging Jesus about the payment of taxes to the Roman state, we once again find our Lord turning the question around to discuss something much bigger – an economy that far surpasses the economic systems of our world – a Divine economy – the very economy of salvation.

          Allow me to provide a bit of context for today’s gospel lesson.  At this point in the gospel according to Matthew. Jesus has already made his triumphal entry to Jerusalem (on the back of a donkey), he has already caused a rukus in the temple by flipping tables and disrupting the daily life of the people in that Holy Place, he has told parables which directly challenge the authority of his people’s religious leaders – those same leaders who are, at this point, infuriated by this man who deliberately seems to be upsetting the status quo;

This man who claims to be teaching the ways of righteousness, yet whose actions seem to be irreverent at best, and, at worst outright blasphemous.

The opponents of our Lord now sought to trip him up in some way; so as to either discredit him in the eyes of the people, or (perhaps better yet) get him into trouble with the Roman authorities.

Now our scene is set…

As Jesus is teaching in the temple, the Herodians and the disciples of the Pharisees present him with a question:

“Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor?”

The question may seem simple enough to our ears, but is in fact loaded with both political and theological implications. The Roman Emperor was both a political and religious figure. Not only was he the leader of the Roman state, but he was also considered a quasi-god by the Romans.

Therefore, if Jesus would have answered, “Yes, you should pay taxes to the emperor,” he would have been seen as a blasphemer and a Roman sympathizer – one who supports the occupation of their homeland by an Emperor who calls himself God.

By answering “yes,” Jesus would have been discredited in the eyes of the people, who, if stirred up enough, could have easily been aroused to violence against him.

If he would have answered “no” – then his opponents could have simply handed him over to the Roman authorities as a traitor to the state… The Romans would take care of the rest.

So in truth, there was really no good answer to this question.

Instead of answering, Jesus immediately calls out the hypocrisy inherent in the trap they have set.

 He asks for a denarius, the official coinage of the Roman state. 

On it you would probably find an image of the Roman Emperor Tiberius and proclamations of that emperor’s divinity – to possess such an image within the Holy Precincts of the Temple would be considered absolutely blasphemous.

In asking for the coin, we are to assume that Jesus did not have a denarius on his person; but, lo and behold, his opponents were quickly able to produce one.

Our Lord then has them identify the person depicted on the coin to which they reply, “Caesar.”

With that answer, Jesus completely dismisses their original question.

“If it obviously belongs to Caesar, then you should give it back to Caesar.”

At that point the issue isn’t even about payment so much as it is “giving something back.”

“If you want to bear Caesar’s image and participate in his economy, then you should follow the rules of that game.”

This answer alone would satisfy the requirements of the question that was originally asked, but Jesus keeps going:

Give “to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and give to God the things that are God’s.”

Remember, the emperor claimed to be Divine – there was no separation of Church and state as we understand it today.

Yet here we have Jesus making a sharp distinction between the worldly economy of the emperor and the Divine economy of God – inviting us to shift our focus from the affairs of worldly empires towards participation in an economy that truly leads to our salvation.

And so, rather than spending our time focused on the monopoly money of our human society, and bearing the image of Caesar(s) (and little moustached men with monocles and top hats). Christ calls us to consider the Image already imprinted upon us.

We are made in the very Image of God.

That Image (whatever that is) is pressed into the very fabric of our Human existence. And while the grace of God seeks to constantly renew and refine that Image within us, we also have the ability to deny that grace and allow our Image-ness to tarnish be covered up with the grime of sin.

Yet in Jesus Christ, who is the Second Person of the Trinity and the True and Perfect Image of the Father, we find the Image of God restored in us. In some fundamental way, we are called and empowered, as Human Beings, to display something of Who God Is.

But as “Bearers of God’s Image,” how are we to “give to God what is God’s” ?

God already knows who God is, so our Image-ness doesn’t really serve to show God any more than God already knows. 

God is also the only one who can ever really know who God is, being that God is necessarily infinite and more glorious than we can ever fathom.

Consider our reading from Exodus:

After his prayer of intersession, Moses asks God to appear to him in the fullness of Gory. God grants his request, and says that he will indeed pass by, yet will not reveal his Face to Moses, only his Back.

“For no one shall see me and live.”

 Even Moses, “the Law-giver,” the one who spoke to God “as with a friend” could not look fully into the face of God without perishing. Yet still God comes, proclaiming the Divine “I AM” and pronouncing grace and mercy as hallmarks of His Divinity. 

As finite, mortal beings, we cannot possibly hope to gaze upon, let alone comprehend, the Face of the infinite God. Yet in the Incarnation we are given the Way. 

In the person of Jesus of Nazareth, God and humanity meet and are irrevocably united. By allowing ourselves to be united to Christ in Holy Communion, we are constantly renewed into ever more perfected “Images” of Christ. Becoming truer images as we draw ever closer to the One who is the Truest Image of God.

It thus becomes the human project (the human “role” in the economy of God), to constantly have the Image of God refined within us as we seek to embody an ever deepening understanding of who God is (gracious, merciful, self-revealing).

And part of what it means to bare the Image of Christ (and therefore the Image of God) is manifesting the self-revealing love of God. The drive to make the transforming love of God known in all the world, so that all the world might participate in His life.

 This is what we owe to the One who imprinted us with His Image in the first place.

 While there are countless saints and Holy men and women who have borne the Image of God and acted as true Icons of Christ throughout history, my mind keeps returning to one particular individual.

After the events of the past week I can’t help but think of Daniel Westberg. As many of you know, Fr. Westberg passed from beyond our midst after a boating accident which occurred less than a week ago. The suddenness of the event sent a shockwave throughout the Nashotah House community. For us and for many others, Father Westberg had borne the Image of Christ in his love, in his wit - in his constant pursuit to know God more and more; and to reflect the love of the God he knew.

The morning before his death, the residential community was privileged to see Father Westberg at his absolute finest. He was both the celebrant of the Eucharist that day as well as the Preacher.  We were privileged to see a man fully living into his vocation as a priest of Christ’s church.

Fr. Westberg, in his very Fr. Westberg-ness, revealed something of God to us in such a way that we are all better off for having known him and for having interacted with him. And yet, at his passing, there is also a great feeling of deficit. It is as if a treasure has been plucked from among us, leaving a great vacuum in the Divine economy of Christian community.

It’s as if something of God has left us.

And yet, in the midst of this tragedy I watched something beautiful take shape over the course of the week. In the wake of this deficit, in the face of this loss, we all strove to bear the love and compassion of God for each other. Though we all felt debilitated, to some degree - that something had been taken from our community - we attempted to inhabit that void with our Love for each other. Our communal desire to reflect the loving and healing presence of Christ to each other in such a dark time.

Beloved we all know that there are times when God seems particularly far away. But in all times, it is our vocation as Christians (or “little Christs”) to bear the Image of God for each other and to ever draw more of the Image out of each other.

This is how we participate in that Divine Economy.

My beloved brothers and sisters, we are (each of us) called to be Icons of Christ and bear the restored Image of God to the whole Created Order.

Pray that we may ever seek a better understanding who God is and a deeper knowledge of His Love for us, that as we grow in our understanding of God we strive to become ever more refined bearers of His Image. Amen.