Today's Scripture Readings
Isaiah 49:1-7 (NRSV)
Listen to me, O coastlands,
pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The LORD called me before I was born,
while I was in my mother's womb he named me.
He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me away.
And he said to me, "You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
But I said, "I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the LORD,
and my reward with my God."
And now the LORD says,
who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honored in the sight of the LORD,
and my God has become my strength--
he says,
"It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
Thus says the LORD,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers,
"Kings shall see and stand up,
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the LORD, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."
Psalm 71:1-14 (BCP., p.683)
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 (NRSV)
The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.
Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
John 12: 20-36 (NRSV)
Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
"Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say-- `Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" Jesus said to them, "The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light."
After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.
Blog Reflection
Over these past few months, I have begun baking bread. I make a honey wheat bread. Each time I make it, I am amazed at how all of the ingredients come together to make a dough. After the dough rises in a bowl, it gets put into bread pans to rise some more. Then, it finally gets baked. The aroma in the house is just wonderful.
The words of Jesus in today's Gospel about the grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying so that it bears fruit make a lot of sense to me. I cannot make the wheat flour and all the ingredients in to a dough for baking bread, unless the grain of wheat falls and dies. A single grain of wheat falls to give life far beyond what it was before.
Jesus is telling us that God will be glorified in what Jesus is about to do in giving His life. If Jesus is to bring new life to those for whom God sent Him; He must in obedience to the Father, surrender Himself to the service of humankind to the point of His death. When Jesus tells us about those saving their lives and losing them, and those who give them for the sake of the Gospel, He is telling us to do as He did. What Jesus does on the Cross, is what He has done throughout His entire earthly ministry. St. Paul tells us as much when he wrote: "The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18).
What does it mean for Christians to be an example of Christ's obedience this week?
One matter we might do well to meditate on is our response to the horrific shooting at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas. Bishop Dean Wolfe of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas made an outstanding statement about the incident found here.
The news of an armed man shooting and killing a teenager and his grandfather at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, and a woman at the Village Shalom assisted living facility, is another shocking reminder of the culture of violence that continues to flourish within our larger culture. We are particularly saddened to learn these murders appear to have been motivated by anti-Semitic feelings expressed by the man now in custody for these crimes.
On Sunday, the violence came to us. These are our neighbors. These are our friends. This is not somewhere strange and far away for us. These violent incidents happened in our diocese. My son played several basketball games at the Jewish Community Center when he was a student at Bishop Seabury Academy. We have friends who regularly participate in programs there.
On Sunday afternoon the Jewish Community Center was filled with young people from a myriad of faith traditions rehearsing plays and auditioning for musical competitions. It says something about the way in which people of different faith traditions live and work so closely together in our community that a man intent on killing members of the Jewish faith went to a Jewish Community Center and a Jewish assisted care facility and took the lives of two Methodists and a Roman Catholic. Hatred makes everyone look like the enemy.
I think for Christians, we must learn and relearn to think of those who worship in other faiths including Judaism and Islam as our Sisters and Brothers just like anyone else. Whether our neighbors worship God through Jesus or not, we demonstrate the meaning of the Cross when we chose to love others, even those different from ourselves without distinction. Jesus never suggested that we all have to agree with each other. Jesus did tell us to love one another. To those who celebrate life through hate and violence, the message of the Cross is foolishness. But to those of us being saved, it is the power of God in our lives to love beyond our comfort zones, and without prejudice.
Perhaps this Easter Day, we can all celebrate a Church and society with a little less violence, injustice and oppression. And show forth the evidence of the Resurrection, because we decided to do something about it.
Amen.
Prayer
O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an
instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life:
Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly
suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior
Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.220).
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