Lent - Day Thirty - Making A Big Splash

John  Chapter 7 Verses 40 to 52 

The Law does not allow us to pass judgment on a man without hearing him

Several people, who had been listening to Jesus said, ‘Surely he must be the prophet’, and some said, ‘He is the Christ’, but others said, ‘Would the Christ be from Galilee? Does not scripture say that the Christ must be descended from David and come from the town of Bethlehem?’ So the people could not agree about him. Some would have liked to arrest him, but no one actually laid hands on him.

  The police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, ‘Why haven’t you brought him?’ The police replied, ‘There has never been anybody who has spoken like him.’ ‘So’ the Pharisees answered ‘you have been led astray as well? Have any of the authorities believed in him? Any of the Pharisees? This rabble knows nothing about the Law – they are damned.’ One of them, Nicodemus – the same man who had come to Jesus earlier – said to them, ‘But surely the Law does not allow us to pass judgment on a man without giving him a hearing and discovering what he is about?’ To this, they answered, ‘Are you a Galilean too? Go into the matter, and see for yourself: prophets do not come out of Galilee.’

As I walked along today, the heat was just as hot as always but I did not seem to mind it so much.  Uriah says we are getting closer to our destination and the mountains are finally in what appears to be in walking distance.  He says before we can get to the mountains we have to go through territory that once was a large salt lake.  He says if you like sand, you will love salt.  He also cautions us to stay away from plants that appear to be succulent and ripe with water as they will lay you low if not kill you outright.  He says once we get through this purgatory the way will become easier and cooler.  There will be streams of cold water flowing and the heat of the desert will become a distant memory.  So, I spent the day thinking about my childhood.  I lived in the country and worked on the family farm.  But my Dad wanted me to have free time as well so he did not make me a slave of the land.  I helped out, of course, but he let me be a boy and I was able to hang out with my friends.  As the sun was poaching my noodle and the prospect of spending several days walking through salt, my mind wandered to the old swimming hole at St. Francis' Creek.  It was more than a creek, it was almost as wide and deep to be called a river.  We used to fish there and there were times when I was the one that provided the dinner for the household by bringing in a bunch of catfish.  Mom took care of all of the cleaning and cooking and I swear that when it was put before us along with cornbread and greens, it was a little bit of heaven!  But we guys used the creek for swimming.  You can imagine that our swimming attire was lacking but our birthday suits never went out of style during those carefree summer days so we didn't care.  I felt the breeze hit me as I swung out on the rope trying to get as close to the center of the creek as possible and then I let go of the rope and felt weightless for a second and then relished the feeling the of icy cold water pulling me down as I splashed down like a space capsule sending water high into the sky!  It was time that I will always remember with great fondness.   

When the Master spoke today He spoke on how Jesus made a big splash Himself when He was on earth.  He brought attention to Himself and the Pharisees and the Temple management was running scared.  Considering the procurator, Pilate, was not very fond of the Jews and in fact had killed some of them on the Temple grounds, well, they just did not need a messiah coming on the scene to stir things up.  So they sent temple militia to arrest him and haul him before the Sanhedrin.  Off they went, but then they heard Him speak and they were amazed as was the large crowd.  The prudence of a soldier was woven into the temple guards and they returned to the high priest and his cronies without the so-called messiah.  But it was not just the presence of all of the people that would have protested his arrest and have caused a riot which Pilate would be only too glad to quell.  No, it was what was said, the words were powerful and unlike other messiahs that cropped up from time to time, this Jesus did not advocate violence.  How they would get rid of the cursed Romans without bloodshed was beyond their way of thinking.  But He did not even advocate war against Rome of the emperor. So, the guards came back empty-handed.  In the council, Jesus had few friends.  But He had Nicodemus, the man who had visited Him in the night, you know when it was safe.  It was he who said that before a man could be condemned there had to be an opportunity for the man to state what his teachings and there must be witnesses to an infraction.  This annoyed the powers in the Temple who just wanted to rid themselves of this Jesus.  He was making a splash with the people and large gatherings were hearing His message.  He was making a big splash but the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes all wondered if the splash would come at the cost of Jewish blood.  They made note the sentiments and loyalties of Nicodemus, he would not be summoned when the time came for the Sanhedrin to deal with this charlatan.  They began to plot in earnest against Jesus and a gaggle of Pharisees followed Him wherever He went.  The sun began to set for the man called Jesus.  Once the temple management wanted you gone, it was only a matter of time before you were stoned (mercifully) or crucified (unmercifully).  The followers of Jesus would take note that the Pharisees had sent a team of their best goaders who would do their utmost to trip Jesus up.  They never failed, never.  But this Jesus would be the one to spoil their record and even when they were rejoicing at the sight of Jesus dying in public view on the cross, they would later come to understand that in spite of their wishes that the mission of Jesus, the Messiah foretold of old, had been accomplished in spite and not because of them.  One interesting thing, one of the Apostles, Judas Iscariot by name was more worldly than the others and he could see the writing on the wall.  Far be it from him to be on a losing team.  He began to ponder ways to profit from betraying The Christ. 

Lent - Day Twenty Four - The Proud and The Humble

Gospel	Luke 18:9-14 ©

The tax collector, not the Pharisee, went home justified.

Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else: ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’

It is hard for me to put into words just how hot the desert can be.  The sun is unrelenting in its attention to you. You do not really sweat because as soon as your body forms the sweat it evaporates without effect. The sand gets into everything.  If you have the slightest hole in a sack at the end of the day besides what you yourself placed in the sack you will find sand.  We use the sand to clean our dishes - it does that very well.  It is a little known fact that Saudi Arabia imports camels and sand from Australia.  I know, its like the Eskimos importing ice cubes.  But it is true. Don't tell Benjamin, my camel but camel meat is a staple in Saudi Arabia and the world's largest herd of wild camels happens to be in Australia.  As far as importing sand, the sand from down under possesses special qualities that the Saharan sand does not have and it is used for sandblasting.  Again I have to see if you want beachfront property but do not like the noise of the ocean, this horrible but beautiful desert is the place to come.  Here you find your place in the scheme of things. Spending hours in the hot sun with your only view being the ass of the camel in front of you gives you time to reflect on who you are. The Master said it best.  First, he read the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple. Then he went on and said:

"So, brothers, we have two men in the temple.  Being in the temple is a good thing, a laudable thing.  It is an action that pleases the Father.  But in our case, one of the men is filled with pride and tells the Father just how much he does for Him and how he cannot be compared to the miserable sinner behind him.  The Pharisee made a good beginning in coming to the temple but the lost it when he spoke with such pride of all the things he had quote, done for God unquote."

"What made him think that God had any need of his fasting or tithing or refraining from unseemly conduct?  Fasting and other works of self-mortification are not for God.  He takes no pleasure in the suffering of His people, but He does commend them for their efforts to subjugate their bodies and minds to God's will.  The actions of the Pharisee were useless because of the pride he took in completing it.  He thought that the mere actions made him better than others while that was far from the truth.  Mind you, the Father still loved the Pharisee but the Pharisee loved himself and admired himself more than he loved and admired the Father."

"The tax collector, now what can we say about him? He had a more humble view of himself and knew his life needed many changes to become a whole man, that is to say, "Holy."  He entered the temple for some reason.  Tax collectors did not spend a whole lot of time in the temple.  They spent their time collecting money and going to parties. So, our man, for some reason, felt compelled to come to the temple.  Perhaps he had a change of heart and was wanting to repent. We don't know what inspired him to come on this day but when he came he knew his place. He remained far off, in the back of the temple and he would not even raise his eyes.  He poured out his soul to the Father with the simple words, "God be merciful to me a sinner.""

"Every person has dignity.  Every person from the Queen of England to an untouchable privy cleaner in New Delhi is dignified by the fact that the Father loves him with an unquenchable love that cannot be described with human language. But the one truth that all of us have to learn is that the sum total of a man is what God sees him as, nothing more or nothing less. God's vision of you is true and He sees all down to the depths of the farthest reaches of your soul. So, remember that God can say "I AM" and only He has the right to say "You are."

Lent - Day Fourteen - Lost and Found

Alternative Gospel	Luke 2:41-51a ©

Mary stored up all these things in her heart

Every year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the caravan, and it was only after a day’s journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances. When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere.

  Three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the doctors, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, ‘My child, why have, you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.’

  ‘Why were you looking for me?’ he replied. ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ But they did not understand what he meant.

  He then went down with them and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority.

Lost

It was one of those days where the work seemed lighter than usual. It was the same thing that we had been doing for the last couple of weeks, that is walking in the desert dragging stinking ornery camels behind us only to end up in a place that looked like the place we were in twelve hours ago.  But today the sun, although brutally hot seemed to step back a bit and did not weigh so heavily on our backs and the camels, except for Goliath, seemed cheerful in their own way.  Goliath, of course, was not happy with his load and I had to help my brother adjust it to Goliath's liking before the spit would stop flying.  Our walk was easier and the brothers were all in a good mood.  We stopped for the night in yet another nameless, featureless place where we set up camp and the cook got busy preparing the daily dinner.  It was about this time that I found that I had a problem.  It pulled my canteen out of its place in my belt and found that the cap, which had been held on by a stout chain, was nowhere to be seen.  A canteen without a cap is useless and in a race would be beaten by useless by less than half a step.  I could not imagine what had happened to it.  Perhaps it was a manufacturing defect coupled with a bit of carelessness on my part that has placed me in a dilemma.  If I had lost it outside, well, there would be no hope because the desert is a vast place with no point of reference to guide one to follow his path back.  Besides, the sand eventually swallowed everything and it would not have remained uncovered long.  I was beside myself.  I did not have a spare canteen so while I could fill it in the morning, walking would cause it to empty by our noon break.  I went to my space and tore through my belongings without luck.  I went mournfully to my cushion and sat down.  I jumped right back up because I sat down upon something and in the desert that something would deliver a powerful and potentially deadly sting.  I jumped up ready to stomp on the desert creature that dared to invade my bed.  What I saw was the dark black cap to my canteen sans the chain which somehow had fallen off.  I was relieved that I had found it. 

The Master told the story about the Boy Jesus who when twelve years old, went up to the Temple with His parents.  They all worshipped in accordance with The Law and as was custom the caravan reformed with the men in one group and women and children in another and they began the journey back to their home.  Joseph thought Jesus was with Mary and Mary thought Jesus was with Joseph.  They discovered he was not with either and not among their friends and acquaintances.  The two of them broke camp and spent the next three days searching for Jesus.  They finally decided to go to the Temple and pray to God for the return of their son.   They entered the courtyard and what did they see?  A group of elders engaged in lively discussion with their boy.  This should have been a proud moment for the Holy Family but they had just spent three days searching for Him and they fretted over the penalties that they would merit had the lost the very Messiah over whom they had been placed in charge. Mary asked the Boy why He had done this.  Jesus gave what sounds like a "smart" reply to His parents and said that didn't they realize that He had work to do for His Father?  Then without further delay, he left the elders and went with Joseph and Mary and lived under their authority.

It is good to live under authority.  People who live by themselves and have no one to answer to can develop squirrelly tendencies.  They have to answer to nobody except themselves so that they develop a misguided sense of importance.  That is why it is not good for man to live alone.  We all benefit when we place ourselves under authority of some kind.  We are meant to be a social animal and without the hints that being among our kind provides we lose our way. Sometimes it is not possible for a person to live with others and be comfortable.  It is rare, but it happens.  These people are the most vulnerable to become dislodged from the corporate behavior pattern.  This too, is why it is important for us to come together to worship so that we can see our fellow Christians and talk with them, be with them and refresh our spirits by engaging in social congress with them.  It is why the Eucharist binds us together into one local church that extends ever outward until we are united to all Christians who receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ in the Eucharist.   This unity brings us strength and reminds us that as good at is to have an "It's just Jesus and me relationship" that such a relationship is only one part of the Christian experience. 

So as the campfire dwindles and sleep invades my eyes I thank God for helping me find what I had lost and I thank Him too for restoring the cap to my canteen.