Tuesday in Holy Week: Injustice and Evil Meet Their Match

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)

Now 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."

Blog Reflection

Is it possible for all of the injustice in the world to make sense?   Why can't there be an end to violence, wars, poverty, prejudice and destitution?    Why does evil have to win some times?

There are no simple answers to these and other questions we might ask.  Terrible incidents such as the tornadoes hitting Dallas, Texas today, just don't have explanations.  Diseases such as Alzheimer's,  Breast Cancer, Leukemia and HIV/AIDS are products of many cells and infections.  They are not the result of anything God could bring upon humankind.  Yet, if God is so powerful and merciful, why doesn't God stop them all?

There is a thought that can bring us comfort, if we will allow our hearts and minds to go there.  God in Jesus Christ experienced what it means for injustice to win, and still managed to be victorious.   It is the message contained in St. Paul's Letter to the Corinthians.  "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."  None of this could make sense to and for Christians, if we did not have the example of what Holy Week means.

If we think about what Jesus is saying in our Gospel today, he is suggesting that even God lost over the powers of evil, if you will.  After all, how can God die?   Yet, the most vile of evil's in the struggle between the powers of hell and those of God, would be if God died after the most brutal of tortures.   Having been rejected, scorned, mocked, spit upon, flogged, crowned with thorns and finally hung upon the Cross, Jesus wonders why God would have forsaken him.  How could God have abandoned God's Self?   Yet, in the humanity of Christ, God departed, and Jesus still trusted that God had the power to rescue him, even if he should die.  Salvation and justice would not have known a better victory, than the Son of God giving up his life for our sins, out of his self-sacrificing love, only to rise again on Easter Day.   Sin and death were rendered a failure.

Jesus in this Gospel reading from John, is prepared for this moment.  He recognizes that only by his death, will the things he had spoken and done would make sense.  In his resurrection, would the world know how much God loved us as John wrote in chapter 3 verse 16 and 17.  The wisdom of the world that says when evil wins it is all over, was made powerless and false as God in Christ accepted death so that there may be new and unending life.

We can see in our own times, examples of how a tragedy in all of its horror and madness, still reveals the power of God in the world.  Through the tragic killing of 17 year old Trayvon Martin, individuals are rising up to call our attention to how real the evil of racism is in our Nation.  People who might have given up on any hope of calling attention to how bad the Stand Your Ground laws really are, found a reason to raise our voices in concern for those threatened by violence that results from another person's prejudice.

The insane beating and killing of Matthew Shepard, called our attention to the horrible reality of hate crimes towards youth and other individuals who are LGBT.  The grief of Dennis and Judy Shepard was turned into a movement to eventually enact the hate crimes bill signed into law by President Obama in October of 2009. 

The courage of Sandra Fluke who was willing to testify this past February in a Congressional hearing about why access to contraception is so important for women, has helped many others become active in our concerns about male privilege deciding the reproductive health care for women.  The injustice of any and all women being kept from testifying during that hearing, gave women their voice and opportunity to speak out and inspire others to exercise their voice for women's rights.

Yet, we dare not stop seeing what injustices still play out in our times.  Individuals who could lose their health care should the Supreme Court strike down the Affordable Care Act.  Seniors and those who are disabled would see poverty in their regards increase dramatically should Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid become privatized.   People in our own neighborhoods dying as a result of starvation and dehydration, as well as in third world countries all over the world.  These and other injustices need our attention too.

As we look to Jesus' example during this Holy Week, we would do well to pray for that part within all of us that has yet to die to our self-centeredness, so that we may serve Christ in others.  The Paschal Mystery that we celebrate this week, should propel us from being apathetic towards those in need, to being active in not only helping them with their basic needs, but changing the system that keeps injustice and oppression as something we can just ignore.


Prayers

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.  (Tuesday in Holy Week, Book of Common Prayer, p. 220).

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which
infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;
unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in
your good time, all nations and races may serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.  (Prayer for the Human Family, Book of Common Prayer, p. 815).     

Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this
land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as
their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to
eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those
who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law
and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of
us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, p. 826).

Friday of the Third Week in Lent: The Cross is About Love

Today's Scripture Readings

Hosea 14: 1-9 (NRSV)

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
   for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Take words with you
   and return to the Lord;
say to him,
   ‘Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good,
   and we will offer
   the fruit of our lips.
Assyria shall not save us;
   we will not ride upon horses;
we will say no more, “Our God”,
   to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.’


I will heal their disloyalty;
   I will love them freely,
   for my anger has turned from them.
I will be like the dew to Israel;
   he shall blossom like the lily,
   he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon.
His shoots shall spread out;
   his beauty shall be like the olive tree,
   and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.
They shall again live beneath my shadow,
   they shall flourish as a garden;
they shall blossom like the vine,
   their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
   It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
   your faithfulness comes from me.
Those who are wise understand these things;
   those who are discerning know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
   and the upright walk in them,
   but transgressors stumble in them.

Mark 12: 28-34 (NRSV)

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second is this, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ Then the scribe said to him, ‘You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that “he is one, and besides him there is no other”; and “to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength”, and “to love one’s neighbour as oneself”,—this is much more important than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.’ When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ After that no one dared to ask him any question. 

Blog Reflection

If you have ever read any kind of book about sexuality, you will find that the chapter about love is the one that author have the most difficult time writing about. Love is something that has it's objective meanings, but also has subjective origins.  In love we can say how much we love another person. Yet, there is always that part of ourselves that doesn't love the other in quite the way we would like to. We really should make more time for that someone we are avoiding, but our work stuff, our taking care of our homes, churches, doing our activism always gets in our way.  We have been meaning to call our long time friend, but every time we sit down to dial the number, someone else calls us or we read something on the internet and we have put the other person off again.

Among the things to understand about God's love is that we are "the apple of God's eye's." (Psalm 17: 8).  Each of us is some one that God loves very personally and deeply.  Yet, God loves us in the same way a Parent loves all her/his children.  Each of us is loved and provided for by God.  As a Parent who seeks the very best for us, God also challenges us to love God and others with the same love, with which God loves each of us.  A love by which God is the apple of our eye.  A love for our neighbor, because God is present in her/him. We would not dream of offending and/or hurting that person so as to violate the love of God or the dignity of the other person.

Our problem is that we live in a world where love is based on conditions.  Wealth, race, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, ethnic origin, language, etc.  These and others I could name have become reasons for withholding and in some cases excuses for offending and denigrating the dignity of another person.  There is this kind of "you don't measure up" so we have a reason to treat and think of others different than ourselves, so as to justify ourselves for not thinking about what we might be saying or doing.  In some instances, we even use Bible verses violently to back ourselves up.

Last year, while at Creating Change 2011, I attended a workshop that addressed how non-white individuals see those of us who are, by way of the things we say and/or do.  It is so easy to think that our best of intentions are enough to give an individual of another race a view that we don't see them as different from ourselves. Except for one problem. We do not see ourselves from their point of view.  Their world view is different from ours. Their perspective on what is a racially biased behavior and/or comment.  For example, there are many who will say: "I am a white person, with black friends. I don't have a race problem."  When this is said by a person who is white, it means something very different to that individual, than it would for a non-white person to hear what was said.

The anger that has risen over these last few weeks about the attacks on women, and their rights to reproductive health care including contraception, from a male's view of the world, seems pretty foolish.  However, the world as we have it, has always put a man's perspective ahead of a woman's.  Hidden in there is a kind of "women should be grateful for all that we have provided for them."  But, men are not women.  Men do not face the consequences of an unplanned for pregnancy on their personal bodies, or future.  That is why Sandra Fluke's testimony is so important.  It helps men like me, be able to see the issue from where she is.  Because of her courage and excellent understanding of the issue, she is able to help men understand, even from a very limited point of reference, that a woman's reproductive health care is no political game chip.  We are talking about real women, who face real living consequences to their over all health and future when we subjugate their reproductive health care to the legislative actions of male privilege.

As a gay man, I can tell you that when I read or hear a comment such as: "Gays are after your children to recruit them"  it hurts in more ways that can be understood by heterosexual people.  It basically says that because I love my partner, I am now a danger to a child.  Especially one who suddenly finds out he might be gay and is looking to confide in another gay person to better understand himself.  That means that I now have to take every personal precaution, should I ever be approached by a questioning youth, as to what legal or personal consequences I could face if I advocated on a gay youths behalf.   I am someone that struggled intensely with my sexual orientation and my Faith.  When I hear of other gay youth struggling and/or committing suicide because of bullying and/or rejection in their schools, homes, churches and communities; I thank God that I had good people to inspire me.  A great man such as Bishop Gene Robinson and many more.  A Catholic Priest who told me to "love other people in the way God created you to love them."

Lent is a season to bring us to the Cross.  We are brought to the Cross as we look upon Jesus, hanging there in pain and bleeding so badly, out of love for all of us.   He faces every pain, every insult, rejection and injustice with love for all of us.  He hangs there on the Cross, while each of us are still the apple of God's eyes.  There is no one person who is rejected in God's love, nor subjugated to oppression, fear or hopelessness as Jesus dies for our sins.  In Jesus, God shows us that total love of God, neighbor and self is possible, even when it seems impossible.  All are lovable at the Cross.  Everyone of us receives a prayer for forgiveness from Jesus, who recognizes our helplessness and feelings of vulnerability to forces more powerful than our own.

A great Priest once told me to stop looking at myself through the eyes of the world, but to see myself through God's eyes.  To see that God sees in me, God's beloved, with whom God is well-pleased.  God sees me (and all of us) as a perfect masterpiece of God's creative design.  In those places where we are not so prefect, God sent Jesus to take upon God's Self our human condition with all of our sins, grief, despair and disappointments.  At the Cross, God shows us that out of sacrificial and self-giving love, death will meet it's match at the resurrection.

Do we see the Cross as the point at which God loves us unconditionally and all-inclusively?

Do we see ourselves masterpieces of God's creation?

Do we know ourselves as people redeemed by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross?

How might we seek God's love so that we love others as Jesus loves each of us?

Where do we see ourselves in the Good Friday and Easter Day stories?


Prayers

Grant us, O Lord our Strength, a true love of your holy Name; so that, trusting in your grace, we may fear no earthly evil, nor fix our hearts on earthly goods, but may rejoice in your full salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Friday in the Third Week of Lent. Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, p. 52).

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have
made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and
make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily
lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission
and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.  (Collect for Ash Wednesday, Book of Common Prayer, p. 217).

Lord Jesus Christ, who didst stretch out thine arms of love
on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come
within the reach of thy saving embrace: So clothe us in thy
Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring
those who do not know thee to the knowledge and love of
you; for the honor of thy Name.  Amen.  (Prayer for Mission, Book of Common Prayer, p. 58).