GETHSEMANE - A REFLECTION

 

This Reflection is written by this blogger as a devotion for Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, SD on  Sunday, March 28, 2021.

Matthew 26:36-46

Then Jesus went with [his disciples] to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”  He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour?  Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again he went away for the second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

GETHSEMANE

Holy Week can become a blur as our minds tend to focus on the upcoming celebration of Easter.  To prevent it from being a blur, some churches hold services throughout the week to keep their parishioners mindful of what led to making Easter such a significant Holy Day.  Properly understood, the services during HolyWeek serve as one continuous worship service that begins on Palm Sunday and culminates with Easter.  

In many churches, the story of Christ’s Passion, his suffering and death, is told twice during Holy Week, on Palm Sunday and on Good Friday.  There is a great deal to ponder in its telling that some aspects of the events which took place can get lost on us.  One such event is Jesus going with his disciples to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane (the Mount of Olives in Luke’s account) which took place after the Last Supper and became the site of his arrest.

While Jesus going to a solitary place in the darkness of night to pray was a common feature of Jesus’ prayer practice, his praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his arrest was not in keeping with it.  In that case, he brings his disciples with him, minus Judas Iscariot.  In particular, he brought his closest disciples, Peter, James, and John to be near him as he went a short distance from them to pray.  

Some biblical scholars have suggested Jesus bringing his disciples along with him to the Garden of Gethsemane or to the Mount of Olives outside of Jerusalem’s city walls was done to protect himself and his disciples and, if necessary, to make an escape through the dense foliage in the darkness of night.  To give this notion some credibility, the Gospel of John’s account of Jesus’ arrest has Peter cutting off the ear of the high priest’s slave, Malchus, with a sword presumably brought along for defending against an armed assault.  Whether or not it was Jesus’ intent to bring his disciples along for the purpose of escape, planning to do so would have been a rational response to the real danger that was clearly on Jesus’ mind.  

For me, the story of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane is a depiction of a human being struggling with a life and death decision.  It was while meditating on this particular story that I began to understand that what is true about us is true about Jesus, and that what is true for Jesus is true for us.  What makes this story so relevant is its importance not only for our understanding of Easter but also our understanding of what it means to be in the world but not of it.

In the liminality of that night’s darkness, when the features of this world were muted, Jesus found himself seeking a way to be true to his calling and finding a way to be true to the faith our Father invested in him.  While he preferred the obvious outcome of the predicament he faced would pass him by, Jesus resisted the temptation to fall prey to this world’s manner to have his own way and save his life at the risk of forfeiting everything he stood for.  Rather Jesus sought to fulfill God’s original script of love for the world by redeeming it, no matter the personal cost to himself. 

The dividing line between being in this world but not of it is simply this, the difference between seeking to pursue a way of one’s own making or to seek and do the will of God in the world. 

In various ways and to various degrees, we all encounter Gethsemane moments; moments of uncertainty, moments in which there is no apparent clear or good choice, moments that challenge us as children of God, and moments in which the way of this world entices us to flee or to fight.  Jesus neither prepared to flee the moment or to fight it, but rather he faced and embraced it because, in the predicament he faced, there was no clear way to flee it or fight it and remain true to the son God called him to be.  

This was not easy for Jesus.  Jesus loved this life.  Jesus loved his life. 

In Matthew, the weight of the situation caused Jesus to throw himself to the ground.  In Luke’s account, we are told that Jesus perspires so much in his distress that his sweat drops to the ground like huge drops of blood.   Jesus, out of faith, deferred the decision to his Father, our Father, because there was something in that moment that prohibited him from fleeing it, something that prohibited him from fighting it, something that allowed him to enter into it, and that something was love. 

There are many things in this life we cannot avoid; situations in which the best way forward is not going around them but going through them.  In the end, there was no way for Jesus to get around the predicament he faced him because it was not a matter of it simply being his predicament, it was a predicament facing all of humanity; a predicament brought about by the perennial desire to have things our way.  Jesus could not run from it.  Jesus could only face it and go through it out of love for the world of God’s creating; a world created by and for love.

At this moment, let us pause to ponder that decisive moment which paved the way for God’s love to wash over us.

JESUS I WILL PONDER NOW

                           Jesus, I will ponder now on you holy passion;

                           with your Spirit me endow for such mediation.

                           Grant that I in love and faith may the image cherish

                           of your suffering, pain, and death that I may not perish.

                           Graciously my faith renew; help me bear my crosses,

                           learning humbleness from you, peace mid pain and losses.

                           May I give you love for Love! Hear me, O my Savior,

                           that I may in heaven above sing your praise forever.

         (Sigismund von Birken 1626-1681)

* * * * * * * * * *

Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm

THE TRUE VINE - A REFLECTION

 

This Reflection is taken from the Sunday Devotion written by this blogger for Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, SD on  Sunday, March 21, 2021.

John 15: 1-12 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.  He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

The Bible texts are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

REFLECTION

+

Lord of love, give us the joy of your salvation and sustain us with your bountiful Spirit.  Amen.

I selected an alternate lesson for this Sunday to get us on a fast track to communion, which in the Gospel of John crosses the divide of being in the world but not of the world.  This lesson comes from Jesus’ supper discourse with his disciples; John’s version of the Last Supper.  In this reading we find Jesus, who earlier described himself as the Bread of Life in John 6, describing himself as the True Vine, thus rounding out the implied bread and wine of Holy Communion, but instead of speaking of wine directly, he speaks of its source, the vine and the fruit it produces.  The vine uniquely defines what Holy Communion is about.  

We frequently treat the sacraments like vaccines.  Baptism becomes the one and done initial dose and Holy Communion becomes a weekly or periodic booster shot to keep us immune from the effects of the sins we keep spinning in, but this is an erroneous understanding of these signs and symbols of God’s grace.  The sacraments do not actuate God’s grace, they symbolize it to make it recognizable. One might say they dramatize God’s grace through the blessing of water and the consecrating of bread and wine to remind us whose we are and the role we are to play in living out the grace of God in this world as the mystical (not of this world) Body of Christ. 

God’s grace has been present since the first day of creation.  God’s eternal assessment of creation as good has never changed, but in the drama that has become this life, we have.  In the story of Adam and Eve is revealed the onset of the continuing drama about how we humans have created a world of our own making, a differentiated world dominated by polar opposites brought about by our ability to discriminate and identify what we determine as good and evil.  This is why God the Son entered into our drama in the person of Jesus to save us from ourselves; to stop us playing from the same old script of selfishness and deceitfulness in order to provide us with a new script by which to change the setting in which our lives are played out. 

This new script has been threaded through the entirety of scripture.  It is hinted at in our first lesson where Jeremiah writes, “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant (a new script) with the house of Israel and the house of Judah… I will put my law within them… I will write it on their hearts… I will be their God… they shall be my people… for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”

Rooted in the metaphorical Tree of Life, the original script, which God guarded after Adam and Eve were banished from Eden, emerges as the True Vine, as a new script played out in the life and ministry of Jesus who, in John14: 6 declared he is the way, the truth, and the life.  Jesus’ way of life is the way to being truly alive.

Using the imagery of the vine, Jesus describes a mystical, holy communion as a living organism in which those who are baptized into the Body of Christ take on the role of bearing its fruit, of becoming the Body of Christ in this world; being rooted in God’s original script, spoken through the language of love.  As we read last Sunday, “For God so loved the world.”    

This new script provides a new stage on which to live out our lives.  It calls for a new direction in which to play the roles that have been given to us from the beginning.  The new setting is a backdrop of contrasts that sheds light on what this world is and what it could be. The one stage direction we are to follow in this new script is to love one another as Christ has loved us; to give ourselves to one another, to be there for the other as Christ was and is for us.  

While the Ten commandments provides a list of things we should and shouldn’t do, and can be understood as rooted in the idea of loving God and one’s neighbor, they are not explicit in telling us to do so from the perspective of love, but rather from the perspective of being obedient. In this new script, Jesus transfigures them into one “new” commandment; one thing to invest our our faith in, and this one thing is all that God ever wanted from us from day one; to love God as God loves us and to love one another.  The pathway to exhibiting one’s faith and one’s love for God is to love that which God loves as Jesus did, and in that love we find ourselves in communion one another and with God in Christ. 

Amen

* * * * * * * * * * 

Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm

SEEKING JESUS - A REFLECTION

 This Reflection is taken from the Sunday Devotion written by this blogger for Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, SD on  Sunday, March 14, 2021.

Ephesians 2:1-10

You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-- by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

John 3:[1-13], 14-18

[Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe , how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.]  And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes  in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

The Bible texts are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

REFLECTION

+

Lord, help us do what is true so that the light of your way may be clearly seen.  Amen

I’ve taken the liberty to expand today’s assigned reading from the Gospel of John to give context to what is likely the most famous verse in the New Testament, John 3:16 “For God so loved the world… .”  This verse comes from Jesus’ first monologue in the Gospel of John which occurs during a conversation in the dark of night between Jesus and Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin who is trying to figure out who Jesus is.  Before Nicodemus can ask a question, Jesus makes a statement, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 

One of the interesting features running through the Gospel of John is that Jesus reveals himself to those who actively seek him, who want to know him better. Since Nicodemus doesn’t know what to ask, Jesus prods him into asking questions  related to baptism which this Gospel identifies as the first step into into recognizing the Kingdom of God. We see this revelatory aspect of Jesus played out throughout John; to the Samaritan woman at the well, to the man blind from his birth, to Mary Magdalene, and toThomas.  [See John 4, 9, and 20] 

This seeking-Jesus motif gives the Gospel of John a knowing (gnostic) vibe that is expressed in the frequent translation of the Greek verb for faith as “believe.”  We need to be careful, however, to avoid treating belief as synonymous with faith. Believing, in John, simply implies recognizing who Jesus is. In John, Jesus bestows God’s healing grace before anyone asks to be healed. Receiving God’s grace is not dependent on one’s belief or faith.  Recognizing it does.  In this respect the Gospel of John serves as a quasi-catechism.  

In today’s Gospel, Jesus invites Nicodemus to become a seeker and enter into new life with Christ; in essence, to be born again.  And so with Nicodemus (who interestingly disappears from the narrative), we enter into the Mystery of Faith signified by the rebirth of baptism into the life of Christ.  Baptism signifies the living soul being reshaped by water and the Spirit as a new creation, much like the reshaping of the original creation story in the first chapter of John.  So while we are in this world born of the flesh, we are, at the same time, a new creation born of the Spirit (not of the world), as Paul states in today’s first lesson, “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”  

John 3:16 is Jesus explaining who he is in light of John 1. God the Son, in the person of Jesus, becomes for those who seek Jesus the wellspring of eternal life (John 4:13-14).  The essential message of today’s lesson from John, however, is this line, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  

It’s easy to lose this line in verses that follow.  Jesus didn’t come to hate the world we’re in, with all of its illusions, fears, hatreds and difficulties.  After all, God created this world to love it and to be loved by it.  God doesn’t want to see it self-destruct.  That is exactly why God came to be among us as God the Son, as Jesus, to pull this world out of its addiction to the illusions we have created.  

Perhaps the most misunderstood and misapplied verse in today’s lesson from John is, “Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” This verse is not talking about eternal damnation.  It is talking about those who in this life and in this world have the opportunity to know Jesus or perhaps know something about Jesus but have no desire to seek Jesus, much less, follow Jesus; those who willfully prefer the darkness that is the world of their making and who, in that sense, are shackled to it.  

Sadly, this verse and others in John have led Christians throughout history to become judgmental and condemn others considered “nonbelievers.”  In the Gospel of John, Jesus declares that he has other sheep not of this flock, those who may not know him by name or, as yet, believe he came to redeem them, but who do the works that he started. [See John 10:16 and John14:11]  In today’s lesson Jesus recognizes this by saying, “But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” 

Scripture is written to give us a roadmap through this life and the world of our making; to expose what is illusionary and to reveal what is true.  Scripture sheds light on who we are in God’s eyes;

that we are are so much more than we can possibly imagine ourselves to be and so much less than what we think and see ourselves to be.   

One baptism is all that is needed to recognize the grace of God and to remind us that our sins are forgiven, but baptism is not a “one and done” event in this world.  Baptism is the starting line between being in this world but not of it.  It signifies our entry into the Mystery of Faith; that place of trusting God to accomplish the works “God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”  In this life and throughout this life we are in a perpetual state of becoming, of seeing through a glass darkly; a place of faith, a place of seeking, and a place of discovering that we are constantly  being sought by Love.

Amen.

* * * * * * * * * * 

Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm

PRESUMPTUOUS SIN - A REFLECTION

This Reflection is taken from the Sunday Devotion written by this blogger for Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, SD on  Sunday, March 7, 2021.

Psalm 19:9-14

9 The fear of the Lord is clean

and endures for ever; *

the judgments of the Lord are true

and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold,

more than much fine gold, *

sweeter far than honey,

than honey in the comb.

11 By them also is your servant enlightened, *

and in keeping them there is great reward.

12 Who can tell how often he offends? *

cleanse me from my secret faults.

13 Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins;

let them not get dominion over me; *

then shall I be whole and sound,

and innocent of a great offense.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my

heart be acceptable in your sight, *

O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

From the Book of Common Prayer, 1979

1 Corinthians 3:16 -20

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. 

Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,

‘He catches the wise in their craftiness’,

and again,

‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,

           that they are futile.’

John2:13-22

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

The Bible texts are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

REFLECTION

Lord, keep us from the dominion of presumptuous sin.  Amen 

+

In a reflection on Psalm 19 posted last October, I defined presumptuous sin (arrogant sinning) as “something that proceeds from a sense of entitlement, pride, and self-deceit.  The psalmist is cognizant that engaging in presumptuous sin can subjugate and recoil on those who engage in such offensive behavior.” 

In today’s lesson from the Gospel of John, Jesus recoils on those practicing presumptuous sin; the Temple’s money exchangers and vendors supplying sacrificial animals, who felt entitled to cheat people out of their money with unfair money exchanges and fixing a premium prices on animals used in sacrifices; particularly, during religious festivals when large crowds would come from far away lands to worship at the Temple and offer sacrifices. 

Jesus took great offense to this practice of open extortion and literally cleans house.  People making required sacrifices would find themselves at the mercy of money exchanger and vendor who would cheat them out of their money when they arrived.  In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said, as he cleansed the Temple, “My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you are making it a den of robbers.” [Matt. 21:13]

In the Synoptic Gospels, this event takes place during the week of Jesus’ crucifixion but in the Gospel of John, it takes place near the beginning of the Gospel. The authors of this gospel are intentional in their use and placement of the events and stories found in the Synoptic Gospels as a way to guide the reader into a deeper understanding of who Jesus is.   

Just before the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple, John records a story that isn’t found in the other gospels, the Wedding at Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine.  In John, this event is recorded as the first miracle of Jesus.  The Gospel of John utilizes what I refer to as coded language and imagery.  

For example, in that story, water turning into wine symbolizes baptism as a change in the make up of one who seeks a deeper relationship with God. It is used to describe the journey into the Mystery of Faith as being initiated in baptism and culminating in communion.  Before this journey begins, Mary tells the servants (code for Jesus’ followers), “Do whatever he tells you.” 

And so we begin this journey with a house cleaning.

In the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple, Jesus refers to his body as a temple.  Within Jesus’ metaphor is the implication that our bodies are temples also.  As Paul reminds us in today’s first lesson, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? …God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”  

It is helpful to understand that what this house cleaning entails.  It is a purging of presumptuous sin from the temples that we are; the presumption that I have a right to do what I want because of who I am or because others are doing the same thing, and so on.  The presumptuous sin is rooted in lies which are the most damaging sins of all.  

Last Sunday, Jesus asked those who would follow him to deny themselves. The difficulty with presumptuous sin is that it is self-deceiving.  It blinds oneself to the need to deny oneself of one’s illusions, to rid oneself of that which is untrue.  

In this past year, we have witnessed the result of presumptuous sin on a national scale.  It can be subtle; in that, it can sanctioned by cultures and systems, but it is more likely to become a private domain, an excuse for doing what I shouldn’t or an excuse for not doing what I should.

Cleaning the temple of our souls involves turning the tables on sin and purging the arrogance within; turning away (repenting) from whatever is blocking the way and turning towards the one who helps us find our way, the life-giving word that is Jesus.

Rote repentance can become a non-stop sin-cycle where one keeps spinning one’s wheels in the ruts of sins we really don’t want to get rid of.  If we find ourselves going nowhere in our spiritual lives, perhaps we’re dealing with a presumptuous sin we are unaware of or don’t want to let go of. 

We living souls are temples, the places where God dwells in us; the collective places where the Body of Christ dwells on earth and from which the light of God shines on those living in darkness that’s all around.  That light can’t get out if our souls are too cluttered with a selfish sense of entitlement and mired in self-deception.  

There is no escaping the effects of sin and committing sin in this life. There is only the grace of God that shields us from its effects.  In this world we are going to sin, but we don’t have to be shackled to them.  We don’t have to keep spinning in them.

Turning over the tables of self-deception and presumptuous sin involves giving it a name; identifying that which is blocking the light within us and turning away from it. The good news is that we can repent. We can turn towards Jesus who knows our attraction to sin, our struggle with sin, and forgives it unconditionally and cleanses us from it so that we may shine as the temples in which God’s Spirit dwells. 

Amen.

* * * * * * * * * * 

Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm