Ezek22 Lectionary Reflections

Today’s Readings (text):

• 2nd Kings 4:42-44
• Ps 145:10-11, 15-18
• Ephesians 4:1-6
• John 6:1-16

On rare occasions, the lectionary takes a departure from its normal course. During the current liturgical year, we would ordinarily be making our way through Mark’s gospel at this time, but the story of the loaves and fishes is better told in John, so we are treated to a departure from the ordinary into John’s evangelism.

Baseball is also pretty ordinary these days: most people don’t watch it on TV anymore, and the season goes on forever. But last week, there was a rare departure from the ordinariness of baseball: Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox pitched a perfect game, as his team defeated the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-0.

It was only the 18th perfect game in the history of Major League Baseball and the only perfect game in the last five seasons.

In the top of the ninth inning, reserve center fielder Dewayne Wise made a great catch on a deep fly ball that would have been a home run and taken away not only Buehrle’s perfect game but the no-hitter and shut-out as well.

About the catch, Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano, who also has a no-hitter to his credit, said the following on ESPN:

Behind every no-hitter and every perfect game, there is always a great catch. I think that comes with the package. The pitcher throws the game, but the eight other players make it happen for you.

I suppose it’s possible today’s gospel story happened exactly as reported — just an everyday miracle of multiplying food. Jesus did that stuff all the time, and 5,000 people had come to see what he had to say or do this time.

But that’s not likely, is it? Not even Jesus can create matter.

I can see Jesus as the pitcher and all of us as the fielders on a baseball team. Except, as we hear in the epistle today, there is only one Lord, one Savior.

The folks who gathered around Jesus during this miracle, like us, were probably pilgrims. If so, they would have brought some food for their journey and, as any normal human beings would, tried to keep it for themselves and their own individual families.

But then, the little boy brought up a very small portion of bread and fish. Jesus gave thanks, as we can be sure Mark Buehrle did when Dewayne Wise made the catch, and then proceeded.

Yes, we will talk about Dewayne Wise’s fabulous catch on the center field wall every time we remember the 18th perfect game in baseball. And it was a fantastic play. But Mark Buehrle struck out only six batters during the game; he therefore needed his fielders to get the other 21 outs, including Dewayne Wise.

What I actually think happened in this gospel story is that with a smile, a divine smile, Jesus led the way. He shared what he had and what the little boy had, which won over the hearts and minds of the 5,000, who then shared.

We know the little boy shared, and we talk about it every time we remember this story or hear it read. And if Jesus did indeed multiply matter like that, it’s fine. It’s a very nice miracle.

It’s even a better miracle, though, to lead others to share what they have so that there’s an abundance for all. If that is what happened in the gospel story, it shows Jesus as someone who teaches us if we share what we have with others who have less, we’ll all have enough. It goes a little against human nature, since we naturally want to cover our own needs first, but in the end, those are taken care of.

It also proves Jesus needs us. Without our presence — our bringing of food, our making of great plays on the field, our loving of our neighbors — all the miracles and teachings he can offer us as God on Earth don’t mean a thing.

Today’s Readings (text):

• Jeremiah 23:1-6
• Ps 23:1-6
• Ephesians 2:13-18
• Mark 6:30-34

In today’s gospel passage, Jesus invites his apostles to “come away by [themselves] to a deserted place and rest a while.”

It is difficult to imagine a more deserted place man has ever traveled than to the moon, which began 40 years ago tomorrow, with Neil Armstrong’s historic trip on Apollo 11, and his words upon stepping onto the lunar surface, “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”

St. Paul tells us today in his epistle to the Ephesians, “In Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have become near by the blood of Christ.”

I had the chance last week to be near enough to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida that I could catch a glimpse of our Space Shuttle Endeavour lifting off to take seven people to the International Space Station, where they will put the finishing touches on the Japanese lab known as Kibo (in English, Hope).

They are also carrying food and other supplies for people who are living on the International Space Station. This wonder of engineering achievement also gives us a spot of quiet desolation, in orbit around the Earth. Although we can’t know the individual spirituality of our scientists in space, no doubt they see things and experience views of our planet formerly known only to our Creator.

The purpose of bringing together scientists from the US, Russia, Canada, Japan, Italy, and a number of other nations, parallels Christ’s “breaking down the dividing wall of enmity” that once existed between these nations. No wonder our Creator endowed us with the intelligence necessary to build the space station!

Those who today live in the quiet, beautiful desolation of space remain connected to us on Earth through microwave radio transmissions and delivery supply vehicles, just as those who have died remain connected to their loved ones on Earth through prayer. Admittedly, that’s a one-way communication, unlike our communication to the ISS, but it is similar in other important ways.

For example, we pray for the peaceful repose of our loved ones’ souls, and those aboard the ISS communicate as a result of international cooperation. This is as St. Paul described it: “thus establishing peace … reconcile both” and “in one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it.”

Second, as our psalmist declares, “In verdant pastures, he gives me repose; beside restful waters, he leads me; he guides me in right paths for his name’s sake.”

Just as NASA engineers guide the shuttle on the right path toward the ISS for the sake of international peace, so does Jesus guide us on the right path toward love for the sake of our eternal rest and communion with him and his Spirit.

Today’s Readings (text):

• Amos 7:12-15
• Ps 85:9-14
• Ephesians 1:3-14
• Mark 6:7-13

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus gives his disciples instructions about what they should take with them as they travel to preach his gospel of love. Don’t read anything into this: his words are nothing more than what they appear to be: Go out with the intention of giving rather than receiving, and if hospitality is not offered to you, get yourselves out of there.

The reading in Amos tells us to earn our keep based on what we preach. But the message we are to deliver is much bigger than an article that might pay a freelancer’s dinner bill, as told in St. Paul’s epistle, read today.

Rather, the “message” is the great gift bestowed upon us through God’s kindness and his grace: forgiveness for our sins and our salvation in Christ. That’s what we need to take with us on our journey. Earthly needs, such as money for travel, food, or anything else we would put in a “sack,” are completely irrelevant compared to the salvation we have through Christ.

Here, Jesus gives us a snapshot of what it means to “preach” the gospel. It’s not about standing on a street corner and babbling like an idiot who has memorized a few dozen verses of scripture. Rather, take a look at what his disciples did after getting charged:

The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Demons? Although skeptics abound when it comes to dissociative identity disorder, it is generally known as the medical diagnosis in cases of demonic possession.

We can discuss whether certain diseases actually exist, but we can’t deny that many people suffer. Those discussions are good in that they help us understand the root causes of suffering. One possible cause of the symptoms observed in dissociative identity disorder is child abuse. In order to cope, children build a wall between the outside world and their own identities, their own spirit.

Based on this analysis, closing our eyes to abuse, as ministers did in several child-sex-abuse scandals in the church, where actions of adults were swept under the rug, is therefore repugnant to the instructions of our Lord.

As for the other part of Jesus’ commandment and the work of his disciples, we understand what curing the sick means, I think. Our Lord’s message involves the whole person, though: preaching the gospel would bring a peaceful mind and healthy body to those who believed it.

This has led religious organizations to establish schools and hospitals, bring food and clothing to those who can’t afford it themselves, and so on. For example, sixth on the U.S. News and World Report list of the best hospitals is New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell.

And in that regard, our failures to understand the gospel are not limited to extreme cases of child abuse. We have also failed to “cast out demons” in everyday hospital emergency rooms: In 2001, the American Journal of Public Health printed a letter entitled “Post-rape care in hospital emergency rooms,” which read, in part,

The California State Court of Appeals ruled that a woman who did not receive complete post-rape counseling and the right to choose a post-rape antipregnancy treatment had standing to sue the hospital that provided the inadequate care. We had hoped that this California precedent would send a clear message to hospital emergency rooms across the nation.

The letter noted in emergency rooms at hospitals with a religious affiliation, post-rape counseling and care had been lacking. It didn’t measure up to our standards of medical excellence. That also means it doesn’t live up to our Lord’s instructions to his apostles.

Today’s Readings (text):

• Genesis 41:55-57, 42:5-7a, 17-24a
• Ps 33:2-3, 10-11, 18-19
• Matthew 10:1-7

I can scarcely believe Jesus would ever exclude people, as he does in today’s gospel passage when he instructs his 12 disciples as follows:

Don’t travel foreign roads, and don’t enter a Samaritan city. Go instead to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Go and announce: “Heaven’s imperial rule is at hand.”

Excluding the Samaritans (or anyone, for that matter) was so uncharacteristic of Jesus, even the scholars of the Jesus Seminar, headed by Robert W. Funk and Roy W. Hoover, came to the consensus opinion that Jesus didn’t actually tell his disciples to stay out of Samaria. The words are part of our scripture-based heritage, though.

Others, such as the late William Barclay, professor of divinity and biblical criticism at Glasgow University in Scotland, suggest that Jesus’ exclusiveness was so unlike him that nobody could possibly have made up these words. In other words, they must have been spoken by Jesus.

The Roman Catholic Church never disputes the authenticity of the quote but reminds the faithful that “everyone is called to enter the kingdom” (emphasis theirs, see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2e, @543). Both Barclay and CCC cite the commission at the end of Matthew’s gospel (28:19), and Barclay adds Jesus’ revealing of himself to a Samaritan woman in John’s gospel (4:4-42), as proof that Jesus intended no permanent exclusion.

But whether or not Jesus actually said these words, let’s consider the lesson we can learn from them. Why do you suppose Jesus would want to exclude anybody from his gospel at this point in time?

The British Broadcasting Corporation posted an interesting graphic on its website recently, concerning the scheduled withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. If the image still links, it will be displayed below:

It shows US troops in Iraq remaining steady between 120,000 and 150,000 for the last six years, followed by the predicted pullout that will result in zero US troops in Iraq by December 2011. As the US began the pullout process at the beginning of the month, President Barack Obama warned of trouble ahead:

“Make no mistake, there will be difficult days ahead,” he said. “There are those who will test Iraq’s security forces and the resolve of the Iraqi people through more sectarian bombings and the murder of innocent civilians. I am confident that those forces will fail. Today’s transition is further proof that those who have tried to pull Iraq into the abyss of disunion and civil war are on the wrong side of history.”

I am more convinced than ever that Jesus’ decision to pull his disciples out of Samaria, despite his obvious intention to include everyone in the gospel and his clear acceptance of Samaritans at other points in his journey, was like a military leader pulling back troops in order to focus his efforts.

Right now, North Korea and Iran are threatening the rest of the world with nuclear weapons. If our military spreads itself too thin, we may find that we are ill-equipped to handle a crisis in some other region of the world.

Jesus’ disciples were ill-equipped to preach to the Gentiles at the time Jesus gave this instruction. That preaching would require someone like Paul, who came just a few years later.

Likewise, we are ill-equipped to handle the security of Iraq when our June unemployment soared to 9.5 percent, a 26-year high. It will be tough, but all great commanders know that concentrating your forces—whether they are forces for a gospel of love or forces for peace and security—will get the job done right in the most effective way.

And just as Jesus eventually preached to everyone, including the Samaritans, so will we one day continue our genuine expression of interest and love for the people of Iraq—the Muslims, Christians, Jews, and others. Just because we’ve got our own problems and need to begin the process of turning Iraqi security over to the Iraqis doesn’t mean we’ve lost hope in including everybody in a prosperous world.

Today’s Readings (text):

• Ezekiel 2:2-5
• Ps 123:1-4
• 2nd Corinthians 12:7-10
• Mark 6:1-6

When Jesus returned to Nazareth, his home town, people who knew him from when he was growing up didn’t understand his works as miraculous. And this is how it is today, when our own family often fails to recognize the significance of our work.

Here we have evidence, though, that God only asks us to obey his commandments. The success of our message is not up to us, for some people come not to listen but to defend their own position. There can be no talking to these people, and God, Jesus, and everybody knows that. Be careful you don’t harden your hearts when someone else tries to preach to you.

But in St Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, we hear of great suffering, “a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.”

There are many theories as to what this pain was: some say it was a longing for sex, others physical disfigurement that made it difficult for people to watch Paul preach. Others say he suffered from headaches, eye trouble, or a form of malaria.

John Wesley (1703-1791), shown above in a picture I took in Savannah, Ga., founded Methodism, which gave rise to the United Methodist Church. He preached over 40,000 sermons, traveling extensively as a minister. Some say he traveled up to 60 miles a day, and this was well before automobiles were invented.

John Wesley first came to Savannah at the request of General Oglethorpe, and there he established churches and was well respected as he grew in his faith. We have to wonder why he traveled so much.

One reason could be that a romantic interest developed in him for a student, which led him to refuse to give her communion in his church after she married another man. This upset the folks in his home town, for how could he do such a thing to a woman—and a family—that he had known since anyone could remember?

The woman and her new husband hauled John Wesley into court for defamation of character in connection with him refusing to offer her the Holy Sacrament. The case and another eventually chased him out of Savannah, as it seemed impossible that he would ever regain his reputation as a holy man. In fact, some considered him to be a Roman Catholic, which was frowned upon in the colony of Georgia, with the Spaniards in Florida just to the south.

He left in disgrace on December 22, 1737. But according to the article,

The United Methodist Church throughout the world can boast of an organization which is tolerant of other religions, open communion, and a history that is rich in song. Charles Wesley wrote hundreds of hymns which are still sung in churches today. John Wesley was a driven man in his beliefs and through his convictions was able to have a lasting effect on the colony of Savannah that has spread throughout the world.

This is what Christ meant when he said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Despite Rev. Wesley’s suffering in Savannah, our Lord’s grace was sufficient: it alone allowed the minister to preach the gospel through both words and actions.

Today’s Readings (text):

• Genesis 27:1-5, 15-29
• Ps 135:1-6
• Matthew 9:14-17

It’s perhaps a little ironic that the story of Jacob getting Isaac’s blessing comes to us on our nation’s birthday. As you may know, Isaac was supposed to give his blessing to his first-born son, Esau, but Jacob tricked his nearly blind father into giving him the blessing, with the help of his mother, Rebekah.

The problem here is with Isaac. Why on Earth did he wait so long to give his son his blessing? And for us today, sometimes we have allowed our prayer life and our relationship with God to become so old and stale that we no longer see it for what it truly is, for what God intended our friendship with him to be.

I was struck recently with a story of a high school graduation at Pace High School in Florida. When the school’s principal told students they couldn’t say a prayer at the ceremony, students took matters into their own hands: After the principal told them to take their seats, about 400 of them remained standing and recited the Lord’s Prayer, also known as the Our Father. This was done in defiance of the order of a federal court.

Most students felt proud to stand up for what they believed in. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. I am proud that students prayed, but I do not believe it was Christ-like or lawful to say the prayer out loud like that.

Often one motive masks another, less obvious one. And just as Isaac was blind, which made it easy for Jacob to fool him, so are some Christians, who have good intentions, but ultimately cause a general rejection of Jesus’ gospel of love (see the comments to the newspaper article).

You cannot parade preaching of Christian prayer in the public schools as a statement of First Amendment rights of free speech. It isn’t. It is blatantly promoting Christianity, monotheism, and many other religious beliefs (for example, that God has the power to forgive our sins). These concepts about God do not apply across faiths, and the Constitution of your nation prohibits promotion of these beliefs at a school that gets tax dollars from all Americans.

And it shouldn’t be done by Christians. Consider today’s gospel passage, in which Jesus himself says

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. … People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.

This means so many things for the students at Pace High School and for us as Americans. First, there are a few times in life for saying prayers out loud, and graduation from your public high school is not one of them. You are being disrespectful to others and self-righteous, which our Lord does not promote. When the day or time comes for you to pray out loud, do so as Jesus taught you.

Second, pour your new wine into new wineskins, and preserve both your American heritage and your devout prayer life. The new wine is your faith, which is renewed every time you pray, and the old wineskins are your high school. You may hold high school near and dear to your heart, but it is time to move on.

You have poured this “new wine” (your prayer life) into old wineskins and, in the process, brought dishonor to both your Christian beliefs and your high school. By shouting a prayer in protest, rather than in seeking a right relationship with God, it became something other than prayer. I’m happy to call you Christians, but your methods of preaching the gospel, which is what our Lord commanded you to do, could use some guidance. At graduation, your methods showed disrespect to other children of God.

Instead, try praying for all of God’s children, in the right way and the right place. That way, you stand a better chance of teaching people how Jesus loved, rather than how you memorize words of a prayer. Admittedly, that’s a good prayer, but words are nothing; your actions define you.