+Z’ev

Today’s assigned readings:
Ezra 10:1-17, Acts 24:10-21, Luke 14:12-24

So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ Then the master said to the slave, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.
Luke 14:21-23

At the Diocese of New York Summer Camp, where I used to work for one or two weeks a year, the director was always trying to remember the words to a song.

I can not come to the banquet; don’t trouble me now.
I have married a wife; I have bought me a cow.
I have fields and commitments that cost a pretty sum.
Pray hold me excused; I can not come.

Never mind that “married a wife” is paralleled with “bout me a cow” - a parallel that most kids get with peals of laughter. The Director usually thought of this song on the day that some kids didn’t show up - despite having paid a deposit. The excuses were usually good: Mom and Dad decided to go on vacation, the kid is getting punished, etc. We never figured out why sending them to church camp - three daily offices plus mass, every day for 7 days - wasn’t preferable to punishment for education… anyway, standing there, looking over a list of no-shows, we’d start to hum “I can not come to the banquet” and shrug.

Driving around Asheville yesterday, with a new friend, I shared with him that one of the best things I learned in the Eastern Orthodox Church was the negative focus on self. If one is looking for sin, if one is looking for bad things, the only place one can look is within oneself. This is the meaning of “Judge Not let ye be Judged”. All the passages about “how to be bad” contained in the Bible are to be read in the first person.

It’s very easy to focus outwards, though.

Traditionally, this parable has been read as being about Jews. You know - the Jews rejected Jesus: they had a whole series of excuses about why they couldn’t come to the party. So the church went out for the Gentiles. This attitude reaches an extreme in what’s called Dispensationalism, a very recent development (which as produced a lot of modern sorts of things like the “Rapture” and Left Behind books). But the idea of Gentiles or, specifically, the Church, replacing the Jews as God’s People is quite common, the doctrine of Supersessionism can been seen all the way back to the Second Century of the current era. Rather than saying the “Gentiles replace the Jews” the idea is that the Church is Israel, not a replacement, but a faithful remnant that grew out of the religious collapse of “those people” who rejected God’s Messiah.

So they were invited to a banquet and yet didn’t come - and God went out and got more. And we all look at a list of no-shows and shrug.

This passage also has a parallel in the Gospel of Thomas. For this reason it’s seen as a “probably authentic” saying of Jesus by the Jesus Seminar folks. Here’s Thomas’ version:

Jesus said, “A person was receiving guests. When he had prepared the dinner, he sent his slave to invite the guests. The slave went to the first and said to that one, ‘My master invites you.’ That one said, ‘Some merchants owe me money; they are coming to me tonight. I have to go and give them instructions. Please excuse me from dinner.’ The slave went to another and said to that one, ‘My master has invited you.’ That one said to the slave, ‘I have bought a house, and I have been called away for a day. I shall have no time.’ The slave went to another and said to that one, ‘My master invites you.’ That one said to the slave, ‘My friend is to be married, and I am to arrange the banquet. I shall not be able to come. Please excuse me from dinner.’ The slave went to another and said to that one, ‘My master invites you.’ That one said to the slave, ‘I have bought an estate, and I am going to collect the rent. I shall not be able to come. Please excuse me.’ The slave returned and said to his master, ‘Those whom you invited to dinner have asked to be excused.’ The master said to his slave, ‘Go out on the streets and bring back whomever you find to have dinner.’ Buyers and merchants [will] not enter the places of my Father.”
Saying 64

But if it’s an authentic or even probably authentic saying of Jesus, then the idea of Supersessionism doesn’t enter into the picture. Jesus was reaching out to Jews all the way to the end. The Apostles were worshipping in the Temple until the Temple was destroyed. So what might be going on here?

Well, the possibility that I might know what Jesus means when he said these words is - exactly - nil. All I have is the history of reading in and out of the Church and what this text means to us in conversation with God. And it’s clear to many now that reading the text in a way that cuts off the Jews is not acceptable.

I think the solution is in the first person: the text asks me to wonder when I’ve refused God’s invitation to the Banquet.

Last Sunday in the Adult Forum, we discussed (among other things) how Communion was viewed in “the old school”. Many people (Anglicans, Orthodox, Roman Catholics) “of a certain age” were raised not taking communion or only rarely taking communion: once a year, twice, maybe. The logic being “I’m not worthy”. Of course I’m not! But if I’m not worthy today, what can I possible do to make myself worthy tomorrow or next week? It is God’s invite. And God knows I’m not worthy anyway.

It’s in the first person, not in the second: I and no one else am the one in danger of having my invite rescinded. The answer is not to withdraw from communion or to offer an excuse.

The answer is to go forward trusting in God’s mercy. To just do it.

The pre-communion prayers of the Liturgies of St John and St Basil are an example of this “Go Forward” attitude:

I believe, O Lord, and I confess that Thou art truly the Christ, the Son of the living God, who camest into the world to save sinners, of whom I am first. I believe also that this is truly Thine own most pure Body, and that this is truly Thine own precious Blood. Therefore, I pray Thee: have mercy upon me and forgive my transgressions both voluntary and involuntary, of word and of deed, committed in knowledge or in ignorance. And make me worthy to partake without condemnation of Thy most pure Mysteries, for the remission of my sins, and unto life everlasting. Amen.

Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God, accept me today as a communicant; for I will not speak of Thy Mystery to Thine enemies, neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss; but like the thief will I confess Thee: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom.

May the communion of Thy holy Mysteries be neither to my judgment, nor to my condemnation, O Lord, but to the healing of soul and body.

The one praying is firmly aware that he’s not worthy, but he’s trusting in God’s mercy. Likewise the prayer from the older rite in the BCP, the Prayer of Humble Access:

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

I’m called forward to communion not because I’m worthy or because I know what it means, or because I have the right theology or because I baptised or “ready” but because God wants me at his banquet. The parable becomes a caution not to reject God’s mercy now, in the hopes that I might feel better about myself later: God already feels pretty good about me and has invited me to a party. Come as I am.

Much love,

Huw

Today’s assigned readings:
Ezra 7:27-28, 8:21-36, Revelation 15:1-8, Matthew 14:13-21

Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” The disciples replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.”
Matthew 14:16-18

Mmm. So many ways to go… Eucharistic Fellowship? Share food with all = share communion with all? Sharing your food with everyone = enough food for everyone?

I remember one sermon preached from that angle where the preacher passed a Snickers bar around. Clearly she was only think of the women in this story - not the 5,000 Men or Children - and assuming that the women were all anorexic super models! While the preacher had one child of her own, he was not yet old enough to have friends too share with. Else she would have known that asking several thousand children to “share” would not have worked.

Besides, I almost took two pieces of her Snickers bar.

And one member of the congregation commented that for so many loaves to be shared around, they’d have to have been HUGE loaves.

Mmm. Miracle stories? Share my doubts about miracles? Share my doubts about this story in general? Can you get 10,000+ people to follow you around the hillsides of a Roman Province - hailing you as Messiah - without causing trouble? That I doubt sincerely even before the the issue of possibility arises.

Nope… let’s go back to the sharing.

I go there because it’s the least likely thing to have happened on this day. We didn’t have loaves of 10,000 kg. We had some pita. It wasn’t sharing that made it happen, it was a miracle if at all: God responding to our hunger with even MORE than we needed.

Oddly enough that’s what they tell us about food in this world now, too. There is enough food - if we’d only share it around. Yet I KNOW that I throw out a bunch of wasted food all the time.

Why? Cuz I bought so much of it at one time that some of it spoiled. I’ve lost 4 or 5 avocados this autumn alone - just because I forgot them in the bags where they were ripening. What would it bee like to clean out the entirety of my kitchen? I’ve no idea. There’s always something I can eat in my house. But we can’t afford to feed everyone because of the illusion of scarcity created by waste and greed.

What brought up all this today? Drugs.

In this 3rd world nation we call the USA, we can’t afford to provide health care for everyone. The reason we can’t is because of waste and greed.

These are the drugs I threw away last night. It’s rather appalling. The majority of these drugs were provided as “free samples” to patients - and then left behind. When I say free samples, I mean the patients were given one or two month supplies to try them out. Naturally, they know they can’t afford them when they leave - so they stop taking these pills. And we get them to dispose of. These “free samples” are sent by the truck load to Doctors around the country.

They are not free: they are treated as an advertising loss, a tax write-off. You and I pay for these drugs.

And then I get to throw them away. Hundreds of dollars worth every month. Now multiply that by the number of doctors in the country.

There goes our free healthcare.

Waste. And Greed.

Instead of Miracles and Sharing.

Some call the latter “communism” and get all stressed out and patriotic.

I call it Christianity.

Much love,

Huw

Today’s assigned readings:
Ezra 7:1-26, Revelation 14:1-13, Matthew 14:1-12

Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth - to every nation and tribe and language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
Revelation 14:6-7

If you read these verses - and our passage today - with an eye to the future, and in the context of the other angels’ cries, this is somewhat curiously described as an “everlasting Gospel”: everlasting Good News. It’s hard to imagine at the end of the world that anything would be everlasting Gospel.

But if you read this with an eye to the Church’s view of herself, this makes perfect sense. There, as the 144,000 (a symbol of the Church) stand witness, the Gospel is proclaimed throughout all the world, Worship God! Now is the hour of Judgement! Indeed, the Fathers and Saints direct us to see the hour of judgement coming upon us at every turn. There is only today, there is only now.

I can often be found lost in daydreams of the past. I’m not too big on the future, to be honest. Anyone who has studied my finances or my travel planning will know that while I like to make an appointment weeks in the future I will be preparing for it at the last minute and running around like a crazy man. But the past, now: I love the past. I have a good set of memories (comfortable ones and uncomfortable ones). I relive them over and over. They play through my memories, haunting me with things I could have or should have or would have done. Did I say the right thing? Could that party have been hosted any better? Might something be learned from that really embarrassing moment? Usually, I’m not focusing on good things. Even the things that I might call grudges are usually focused not on what “they” did but on what I did or didn’t do. How could I have made the past any better?

But it’s always now, you understand. When the Angel is flying overhead.

Usually now passes me by as I’m engaged with my past mistakes.

I’ve learned that partaking of sacramental confession helps me refocus on today; especially after a long bout of focusing on the past. And that’s where I want to point:

Now is the hour of judgement.

And confession is the best thing out there.

Much love,

Huw

Today’s assigned readings:

AM: Ezra 6:1-22, Revelation 5:1-10, Matthew 13:10-17
Eve of All Saints: Wisdom 3:1-9, Revelation 19:1,4-10

But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought to be a disaster, and their going from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace.
Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-3

I’m interested today in exclusive faith claims. We often make a comment about the three Abrahamic religions (yes, I know the Southern Baptists now say there are four) offering each mutually-exclusive faith claims. The assumption (held mostly by Christians) is that Jews say you have to be Jewish to “get into heaven”. Christians say you must be Christian. Muslims say you must be Muslim.

That is not true of at least some forms of Christianity, nor is it true of Judaism. In fact, it was a debated point among the Rabbis and it was allowed that “the souls of the righteous are in the hands of God” one needn’t be Jewish in order to Get Right with God (in fact some Jews in History and Today say you can’t convert). Some Christians, too, hold this doctrine. It comes in varying shades ranging from full-on Universalism to what I imagine as “Particular Universalism” (a la CS Lewis) when everyone is saved, but because of Christ and I’m sure there are a few shades in between. I’m honestly not certain how Islam teaches on this point other than I know that some Muslims teach, at least, that Jews and Christians are ok (better if they were Muslims but ok as they are).

What is exclusive about each religion, however, is their individual understandings of the Godhead in whose hands the righteous are: You can not believe in the Holy Trinity and at the same time believe that one of the members of that Trinity is just a prophet (a la Islam) or a bit of a nut job if not a heretic (a la the Jews).

There are, of course, other views. As I’ve read recently, there are some Jews who have, historically, wondered if non-Jews have immortal souls at all (Rabbi Eliezar). There are some Jews who teach that the Jewish Soul is a very important thing that Gentiles just don’t get. (Someone offered me recently that I might be a reincarnated Jewish soul… sigh) And some Christians, of course, teach that only “real” Christians (which they define very narrowly) will get into Heaven at all. For all of these people, religion seems to be a “Get out of Hell Free Card.” If you don’t have the right ID in place, you will burn for ever.

Without wondering about the meaning of salvation and without wondering about the meaning of heaven, hell or immortal souls, today is the eve of All Saints and we are assured by this ancient Jewish text that the souls of the righteous are in the hands of God.

The Wisdom of Solomon is traditionally attributed to King Solomon, although the style and content indicate it was written sometime in the 2nd or 1st Century BCE. The Wiki says, “According to St. Melito in the second century AD, it was considered canonical by Jews and Christians, and a Hebrew translation of the Wisdom of Solomon is mentioned by Naḥmanides in the preface to his commentary on the Pentateuch.” But, the article continues, “Scholars believe that the book represents the most classical Greek language found in the Septuagint, having been written during the Jewish Hellenistic period (the 1st or 2nd century BCE). The author of the text appears well versed in the popular philosophical, religious, and ethical writings adopted by Hellenistic Alexandria.”

All of the above reasons are why it is considered “doubtful” or “apocryphal”: clearly not written by Solomon. For the Jews it is not used at all and is no longer in their canon. (Liturgy Geek Moment: the Wiki says that some scholars opine the latter part of the book may be an early Passover Hagaddah.) For Catholics and Orthodox it is part of the full Bible, used in liturgy and teaching. For Anglicans it’s ok… but the articles of religion say it’s not to be used for doctrine. That’s why we don’t carry the theological meaning of this reading too far - lest we end up with the idea of reincarnation. (Notice they *are* gone from us but “in the time of their visitation they *will* shine forth.”)

The text goes on, of course. It also talks about the souls of the unGodly. Some are quite clear they know what that means. Certainly the punishments mentioned for the unGodly are not pretty. But if you read it from the mind of early Judaism you know the text is not referring to “eternal hell fire”. We usually think of hell in the second or third person. It’s another one of those irregular nouns, isn’t it?

I am having a hellish day.
You will have hell to pay.
He/She/It will roast for his/her/its harlotries.

The Church Fathers teach us quite clearly that Hell is only in the first person: I’m the only sinner I will ever know. Everyone else is Christ.

The righteous are in the hands of God. The rest of us are sinners in the hands of a loving and forgiving God - as the Tanakh promises. I believe that firmly no matter what the nay-sayers say. I also believe I can’t tell you who is unrighteous because I shouldn’t judge. I stick also to my firm belief that Jesus isn’t a fire escape. Rather he is a way-shower. Maybe we’re all walking that way.

For All Saints Day, I will be listing my personal saints: those wholly Holy Men and Women who have danced through my life either as heroes or as teachers. They may be dead or alive. Saints can be alive, yes? Think of this like a huge icon of saints dancing around, led by Jesus. (Where have I seen that before?) For All Souls Day (which is not on our calendar) or Dia Los Muertos, I will be listing my departed. Think of it as a page-long shrine. I will be telling stories on both days. I invite you to use the comment boxes on those days to do the same.

Much love,

Huw

Today’s assigned readings:
Ezra 5:1-17, Revelation 4:1-11, Matthew 13:1-9

And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow…
Matthew 13:3

This parable sounds strange without the commentary applied in Luke. Is that commentary Jesus talking or the community making sense of this text? Because All Saints’ Day, with it’s special readings, falls on Thursday, we won’t get to read the Explanation, so I include it here.

“Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

I don’t know if it is Apostolic, Dominical or Ecclesial midrash, but usually in modern sermons it’s made to be about what kind of dirt one wants to be. Here, in Matthew, the parable’s strangeness is used almost as an excuse for what follows (in tomorrow’s reading), a nearly-gnostic proclamation that there are secrets in this faith and some folks just are not good enough. Then, the commentary shows up. In fact, the bulk of chapter 13 is taken up with farming parables. This parable, came up in Sunday School a couple of weeks ago and we discussed there, whether the parable, standing alone and without comment, invites us to wonder at the sower - rather than the dirt. But since I’m ruminating on what an Adult Faith might be, we’ll go with the midrash. What kind of dirt are you?

First, I guess we can all be certain, none of us want to be anything other than the good soil, right? I mean, the results are bad in all the other cases. The first one - on the path - is the most troubling, if you ask me. The one who does not “understand it”. The implication here is also (as in tomorrow’s reading) that there is something secret that all of us just won’t understand - our brains are not good enough. When you eliminate the legal mojo introduced by Augustine and Anselm, though, the mysterious heart of the church shines out. It is quite glorious and occult.

But there is no need to actually understand it - it cries out for living, not knowing. More to the point, it lives us, this active life of Christ sown in the world. We can dissect it: How does X happen? What is the nature of Christ? How is the atonement effected? How many angels can dance on the head of pin? We get to obscure terms that neither the twelve fishermen nor the vast majority of Christians in all history would ever have understood.

Because someone doesn’t know the difference between homoiousis and homoousis or between Real Presence and Transubstantiation, are we to say “they don’t understand… they are bad dirt”? I have only recently understood the theological difference implied by the filioque. Does that make all the times I recited it (either way) without understanding to be meaningless?

I think the Greek word can help here:

The word rendered in verse 19 and elsewhere in this chapter as “understand” is Suniemi συνιεμι. Its primary meanings are:

1. to set or bring together
     in a hostile sense, of combatants
2. to put (as it were) the perception with the thing perceived
     to set or join together in the mind

And I like that #1 - imagining something out of the WWF. It’s not a sense of mere assent, of passive yielding, of submission. It’s a sense of struggle, of wrestling with an idea, coming to grips with it.

I’m reminded that Israel indicates that we are to wrestle with God. It is a title of the Church as well. The shallow soil was not someone who failed to submit to the Word of God™ but rather someone who submitted too easily! Someone who wanted easy and clear answers, someone who expected it all to make sense. The other signs in the parable suddenly make sense, too. You have to wrestle with the word to get it deep inside of you. Hold on (as Jacob did to the angel) demanding, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” This is what the Jews do to scripture. This is what many Christians do as well. Some, however, back down to the shallow, literal sense.

To risk too stereotypical an example, think of Creationists who insist that the text of Genesis has to be literal sense. They eventually end up in a catch 22 - given all words of Genesis must be literally true, then anything said contrariwise MUST be wrong. And if one dare admit that one word is even out of place, then suddenly the entire thing falls apart.

But a living faith, it seems to me, keeps wrestling with the message, finding new meanings for new times, turning the old meanings, not away as outdated, but rather under as fertiliser for the new. “Time makes ancient good uncouth”, as the hymn says.

This is something anyone can do - no matter how they’ve been educated. The wrestling match depends not on brains but, if you will, on the brawn of your heart. Your willingness to, as Bruce Cockburn says, “kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight.” Butt your head into it until it hurts and it will start to make sense. Even if you’ve never entered a Bible Class. The thing to do is not to give up. Origen compared the literal meaning of the text to the bitter rind on an Almond. We need to dig deeper to get to the sweet meat.

Of course this wrestling is done in respect and allowing God to speak to us now. But it neither demands that he always say the same thing nor is it surprised if he does. It’s not enough to simply take up the Bible and wave it around - waiting for the Sun to dry it up, or the birds to take it away or the thorns to choke it.

Follow the example of the rabbis, saints and faithful who rip it open, tear it to shreds and, sewing it in richly fertile soil, bring forth new life.

Much love,

Huw