Father Snort

We heard today about Thomas doubting that his fellow disciples had seen the risen Jesus, and we hear about Jesus giving the Holy Spirit to his disciples and telling them to continue his work of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Have you ever heard someone say, "May God forgive you, because I never will"? I think I've heard it more in movies than in real life, and Queen Elizabeth I is reported to have said those words, but I'm guessing she's not the only person in the history of Christianity to utter those words. "God may forgive you, but I can't."

Who are we to think our complaint is greater than God's so that we can't forgive? Of course we don't forgive and feel that we can't when we still feel the darkness of the hurt that was caused and we see the other as that person who caused us pain.

How then does God see us, that he can forgive us? God sees us as beloved and broken, and hurting each other out of our brokenness. God forgives us and sent Jesus to forgive us, and then Jesus sent his disciples to continue God's work of reconciliation and forgiveness.

"Receive the Holy Spirit," Jesus said to his disciples, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." Jesus sent his disciples to continue his work.

So when we don't forgive others, we are actually thwarting the work of Jesus. We're denying the work of God when we don't forgive.

1 John 1:7-8 tells us, "If we say we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, then he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God forgives us. Who are we not to?

In fact, as 1 John 1:6 says, "if we say we have fellowship with God while we are walking in darkness," say holding that grudge and not forgiving, "then we lie and do not do what is true, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin."

How do we square that, then with all of what Jesus told his disciples when he appeared to them in the upper room. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained"? If Jesus telling his disciples that it is up to their good judgement as to when not to forgive? If someone really really upsets you, then don't forgive?

That doesn't seek to square with Jesus' death on the cross, or what we heard in 1 John about holding darkness within us. Not forgiving seems rather to be thwarting the work of Jesus. Jesus gave his disciples the Holy Spirit so that they and we could declare God's forgiveness on others. I think Jesus' statement to his disciples was not a command not to forgive, but a warning of what happens when we don't. Beware in this ministry of reconciliation which I have given you to do, that when you don't forgive others, those sins are held, and that darkness that you hold on to thwarts the will of God.

Philippians 2:5-7 says, "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness."

Jesus emptied himself of his majesty and humbled himself. Jesus chose forgiveness over righteous punishment. For the same mind to be in us, we also would forgive, rather than holding onto our possibly righteous anger, and we would continue the work of reconciliation.

What of Thomas? What is the role of doubt in this work? Jesus said in John 10, to those who did not believe in him, "If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me, but if I do them, then even if you don't believe me, believe the works..." There are lots of people who don't believe, and that's ok. Thomas doubted, and that was ok. What wouldn't have been ok is if Thomas didn't forgive.

Folks may not believe in Jesus, but when they see the way and the works of Jesus through the forgiveness and reconciliation we offer, then they may come to believe through those works. We may doubt, but when we do, we must still forgive.

In order to do this work of forgiveness and reconciliation, I offer one final piece of scripture, that we might continue walking in the light of Jesus: Colossians 3:12-15. "As God's chosen one, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful." Amen.

I love Jesus and the resurrection. As a Christian, that may seem obvious, but those two things are why I am a Christian. I love who Jesus was, the God of the universe become human to unite us with God. I love what he did and taught, his way, and how he treated people. Those were not just things that Jesus did, that was who Jesus was.

We saw who Jesus was exemplified in his final night with his disciples as he washed their feet and prayed that they would love one another. Then, when Jesus was resurrected, he found that his prayer had been answered and his commandment followed. At least some of his disciples were still together. When Mary thought someone had taken Jesus' body, she knew where to go to find Peter.

They were still together, still loving one another, and when they went back to see the empty tomb, Peter and the other disciple seemed to have some inkling of what had happened. They remembered Jesus' words that he would be raised, perhaps? John doesn't write that, but they seemed to have some hope at least.

Mary Magdalene, on the other hand remained weeping beside the tomb. Then Jesus appeared to her and consoled her, showing her the truth of his resurrection.

Without the resurrection all of this is nothing. Without the resurrection, Jesus wasn't God; he was just a pretty good preacher who had a following.

With the resurrection, however, we see that all Jesus said and did, all that Jesus was is true. Mary saw Jesus resurrected and knew that Jesus was true, that there is life after death, and there is truth of everything he taught and did.

All that Jesus was, he still is in the resurrection. Jesus told his disciples they were one with him, remember. He prayed that just as he and the father were one, so would they be one. With Jesus' resurrection, then, all that Jesus was (taught, did, loved,etc.) the disciples were also.

So we too are one with Jesus, and are all that he was. Jesus' teachings, his way, his loving is not just what we do. Love is a verb, we do love, but it isn't just what we do. It is what we are.

We share in his life, in who we are, and we will also then share in his death and share in his resurrection.

Even when we are weeping by the tomb, we weep with hope, hope that Jesus will come and reveal himself and his resurrection to us. In the mean time, we gather with our fellow disciples to be Jesus for each other, sharing his life together, just as we will one day share his death and share his resurrection. Amen.

Sometimes it feels as though Jesus is gone, like he is simply not there in our lives. Jesus has declared us to be one with him, as made evident in the last supper, and yet in John's Gospel, he does not tell about the last supper...at least not about the bread and wine being Jesus' body and blood. That has been discussed in chapter 6.

In John's Gospel, the final meal Jesus had with his disciples is told primarily through the story of Jesus washing his disciples' feet, and commanding them to love one another as he has loved them.

This was Jesus' death bed prayer for his disciples. "Little children", he calls them. I am reminded of an image of a parent on the death bed, telling his kids that he will no longer be with them, and praying that they will stay together and love each other after he is gone.

We harm each other, as the Body of Christ; there are times when we are not overly loving to one another. Jesus' death bed prayer, however, was that when we do harm each other, we would forgive each other and love one another as he has loved us.

We need each other. There are and there will be times when we feel lost, when we feel as though Jesus is not there. In those times, Jesus' prayer is that we will turn to each other for love, strength, and support and that Jesus will be with us through each other, even when he is arrested, and crucified, and in the tomb. Amen.

Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended,

that we to judge thee have in hate pretended?

By foes derided, by thine own rejected,

O most afflicted!

Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee?

Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee!

'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee;

I crucified thee.

Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee,

I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee,

think on thy pity and thy love unswerving,

not my deserving.

Jesus’ response to the news that some Greeks were looking for him seems odd.

“The hour has come for the son of man to be glorified.”

Just before this, Jesus had come into Jerusalem, the crowds cheered, and the Pharisees said, “You see, you can do nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him.”

The Greeks’ appearance and searching confirms what was said by the Pharisees – “the whole world has gone after him.”

The cat’s out of the bag and there’s no stopping it now.

They were right. Early church had no buildings or organized support. They could not worship in the synagogues, nor in the Roman temples, and yet the church, Jesus’ believers spread like wildfire.. They had to believe in Jesus, trust in him, and risk for their belief in Jesus…and the church thrived. The Gospel of Jesus and belief in Jesus spread like wildfire.

Contrast with:

How many articles, seminars, discussions have I read, attended, and participated in which have to do with growing the church again and reversing the decline of church attendance? People have spoken of church as a business – we need more people in order to keep the lights on.

I love our church, our buildings, etc. I recognize the reality that with church attendance decline, the thought of this building not being here in 100 years is a possibility. I don’t operate out of fear of that possibility. “Those who want to save their life will lose it.”

Ultimately, we’re talking about risk. Greeks risked. Early followers of Jesus risked being kicked out of their synagogues, which they were. Gentiles risked being ostracized.

Gospel of Jesus demands risk, and it demands that we invite others to share in the Gospel, not solely for our sake, but for theirs as well, we risk becoming something other than what we are.

Our future is uncertain. Jesus told us it would be. Following Jesus means risking that uncertainty. Our faith is not in ourselves, our buildings, our organization. Our faith is in Jesus, who himself risked everything for the sake of all people.

“’Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.” (John 12:33)

How did Jesus know that he would be raised and lifted up from the earth after he was crucified? My guess is he didn’t know it. He believed it.

How did Jesus know that he would draw all people to himself? How did he know that people wouldn’t simply forget, not believe, or ignore his life, message, and resurrection? How did he know the church would spread like wildfire. My guess is he didn’t know it. He believed it.

Jesus believed in God, and because of that belief, he risked everything for the sake of all humanity.

He asks us, then to risk as well, for the sake of his Gospel and for the sake of humanity, for the sake of people who may hear, receive, and live Jesus through the risks we take.

After Easter, I’m asking all of us to risk a little bit of time and maybe some tired eyes by reading a book together in small groups called, “Transformed.” Bishop Doyle introduced us to the book and the author, Caesar Kalinowski, at clergy conference. We heard him describe life at his church, life lived in community all together, worshipping as one at their church building, and life also lived in smaller communities of friends and neighbors who have meals together, pray together, study scripture together, and serve others together.

Together, these small communities bring people to Jesus, people who would not come to a church building. Lives are transformed through the Gospel.

To be clear, lives are transformed here too, but I wouldn’t say the Gospel is spreading like wildfire. The Gospel spreads when we risk. When we risk living in community together, intentionally as Jesus’ disciples, when we risk serving others and sharing the Gospel with others, then the Gospel spreads because we are showing people Jesus.

What are we willing to risk for the sake of Jesus and his Gospel? What are we willing to risk for the sake of the people whom we can introduce to Jesus, the people whose lives can be transformed by the Gospel? Amen.

Jesus said he came to bring light, to save the world. There seem to be a lot of "no"s with Jesus, e.g. the 10 Commandments. There are several things we are not supposed to do. Those "no"s, however, are really a way of saying "yes" to something else.

We say no to harming people (adultery, theft, murder, lies against someone) so that we might say yes to loving other people. We say no to putting things in front of or in place of God so that we can say yes to God, yes to life, love, beauty, and relationship.

We say no to hiding in the darkness, to keeping ourselves covered with fig leaves. In the Garden of Eden, the first thing Adam and Eve did after disobeying God was to cover themselves up with fig leaves. They were ashamed and they hid. That way they no longer had to connect to God or each other. They tried to stay safely hidden and invulnerable to each other.

There are all kinds of fig leaves with which we try to cover ourselves. Sometimes rules and law become those fig leaves that we hide behind.

Jesus was talking with Nicodemus about the need that we have to be born from above, and Nicodemus totally didn't get it. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, and as such, he had all the rules down pat, but those rules seem to have become fig leaves with which they covered themselves so they didn't have to be vulnerable with God.

Jesus said that instead we need to born from above; we need to be guided by the Holy Spirit, which is a lot riskier way to live. We don't know where the Spirit will lead us. Following all the rules may be difficult, but it is secure, it keeps us covered like a fig leaf.

The rules, however, don't cover every situation. Our relationships are much trickier that than. Our marriages, raising kids, being with people is much trickier than saying, "here is the rule, and I will follow it no matter what." We must be vulnerable enough to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

Without being guided by the Holy Spirit, even saying we believe in Jesus can become a fig leaf with which we cover ourselves. I've heard of folks who say that because they are Christian, because they believe in Jesus, they can kinda do whatever they want because Jesus will forgive them. It doesn't work that way.

Saying you can do what you want and Jesus will forgive you is to put Jesus up as a fig leaf so you don't actually have to be vulnerable with others, so you don't actually have to be in healthy, loving, and life-giving relationships with others. If we live lives in which we're breaking all the rules and commandments, then we're probably masking something else, so need or hurt or hunger which we're trying to fill through destructiveness.

Jesus didn't come to be our fig leaf. He came to be our light, to expose the darkness, to remove the fig leaves and return us to Eden. Jesus came that we might again be naked and unashamed with God and with each other. Jesus came that we might be born from and guided by the Holy Spirit in a risky and vulnerable life, saying "yes" to loving God and loving each other. Amen.

I stopped drinking coffee last week, not out of a Lenten discipline, but simply because I was drinking too much, still tired all the time, and I thought, "This won't do." The week was fine until Thursday. I had a long day leading to a long night, and I wanted just one cup of coffee in the afternoon.

Then I thought, "I can do all things through God who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13). I prayed that scripture, and I was suddenly no longer tired. God answered yes, and gave me strength.

I realized then that my comments in weeks past about diet coke and chocolate not meaning that much as Lenten sacrifices were wrong. If giving those things up can bring you to pray, "I can do all things through God who strengthens me," then it is a great disciple. Anything in your life that just won't do is a great Lenten sacrifice.

Jesus saw the money changers and the animals in the temple and thought, "this won't do." He was not, however, cleansing the temple as many Bible section headings say. Jesus was seeking to reform the temple.

Money was paid to the temple for its upkeep, and the money changers were there to trade foreign coins for coins proper for the temple. It was like a currency exchange when we go to other countries. There was likely however some underhanded profit going on, and that wouldn't do.

The animals that were there were supposed to be there. People were supposed to bring animals for sacrifice, the best they had. If their animals were deemed unworthy sacrifices, they would be redeemed for a certain amount of money. This was practice recorded in Leviticus.

It seems that for Jesus, however, the practice had gone on long enough. My guess is that the heart of the practice (giving the best you had to the Lord) had departed somewhat, and it had simply become a transactional arrangement. Not to mention that for centuries, God had been speaking through the prophets saying, "stop sacrificing animals. I made them all and I don't need any from you." Jesus saw all that was going on and said, "this won't do," and he sought to reform the Temple.

So, what in our life needs reforming? We've heard for a long time now about our need to live our lives as disciples of Jesus beyond the walls of the church building. Bishop Doyle has talked about it, and he brought Caesar Kalinowski to our last clergy conference to talk about his book, "Transformed".

In the book, he talks about life as Jesus' disciples being about not only the couple of hours at worship on Sunday, but also about the other 6 days and 22 hours. Salvation isn't just about getting a ticket punched to go to heaven when we die, but also about living as Jesus' disciples, his brothers and sisters, as servant missionaries. The church is the people, not the building.

He describes living out this life in simple ways of being together with "missionary communities", small groups of people from the larger church community who gather regularly to eat together, pray and study together, and live as Jesus' missionaries. If a neighbor is in need, they wouldn't necessarily call the pastor, they'd call their missionary community and help out together.

We'll be studying Caesar Kalinowski's book, "Transformed" over the next several Sundays (beginning March 22), and also in small groups after Easter.

That is the way of Jesus which we are going to be living at St. Mark's. Growing deeply with one another, and serving our community as Jesus' brothers and sisters. Such a life may seem daunting or difficult, but like our Lenten disciplines, we can do all things through God who strengthens us. Amen.

I received an article about resilience written by Terri Hendrix. Thinking about her friends who had gone through difficult times, she thought the dictionary definitions of resilience we lacking. They didn't simply bounce back.

She wrote:

“No matter how much faith we might carry in our hearts, I think it's unlikely for most of us to be pliable enough to return to our original form 'after being bent, compressed, and stretched to the breaking point.' When you walk through the bowels of hell and make it out the other side, I doubt you're unscathed from the journey...Perhaps resilience is simply mastering the art of living. Whatever it is, I think the interim between the dark and daylight is pure hell. And that's a pit you don't just "bounce" out of - you have to climb. You stick your hands into the sides of the unknown and claw until your nail beds peel back. Then you claw some more."

As disciples of Jesus, we are a people of resilience. Not because tragedy bounces off of us, not because we get over it so quickly. We are resilient because we are willing climb out of the pit, to stick our hands into the sides of the unknown and claw. We are also resilient because we do not climb and claw alone.

I don’t know at what point Jesus realized he was going to face a violent, bloody, and painful death. He was faithful in accepting this fate, and in believing that he would rise again after three days. We also see from his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, however, that he was not entirely overjoyed at the prospect of being mocked, beaten, and crucified. Going on with his daily life of teaching, preaching, healing, and caring for others required resilience.

Jesus had to claw his way out of the pit of fear and despair to go on with daily living, with the knowledge of his impending violent and bloody death. It took resilience for Jesus to do this, and it took his friends being there with him in that knowledge.

Jesus told his disciples about his death and resurrection so they would remember and believe, and I’d guess he also told them because he needed them for their support. He needed their help to be resilient. I’d guess that’s why his rebuke of Peter was so strong. Peter thought he was helping by saying Jesus should never have to go through suffering, but he was actually making it even more difficult for Jesus.

Denying someone’s pain or the hell someone is facing does not help them through it. Being there with them in the pain…that is what is needed for resilience, folks who’ll let you climb out of the pit and offer you a hand, not deny that you’re in the pit.

Peter had to be resilient too after his rebuke. He needed his friends there with him too. Resilience requires friends. Some parts are alone, then when we need friends to help pull us out, we really need them.

As Christians, we are people of resilience. We are dragged down into pits of fear and despair just like everyone else, but we are not alone. We have Jesus with us to be in there with us. Jesus supports us when we start clawing our way out of the pit. We have our friends to help pull us out of the pit. We don’t go through life unscathed, but we do go through with resilience, trusting in Jesus who faced hatred, scorn, torture, and death with resilience. Teaching us, his disciples to walk in that same way in which he led.

There is a song which my son sings from Vacation Bible School last summer that says, "I want to be like Jesus." I've often heard this idea that we want to be like Jesus. I understand the sentiment, but we may not actually want to try to be like Jesus.

As we observe our Lenten fasts, we realize that our fasting was inspired by Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness fasting and being tempted by Satan. We aren't really trying to copy or be like Jesus in our fasts, however.

Jesus' fast and trials with Satan were his task and his story, not ours. His story is that of the eternal Word of God becoming human to unite us with God. His fast and his story was that of the cosmic struggle between creation and the forces of darkness, and Jesus defeated the forces of darkness. That was his story to tell.

Our stories are not of cosmic victory over the forces of darkness, nor are they supposed to be. Jesus was God incarnate. We often can't go 40 days without diet coke and chocolate. Lent is not a time to compare ourselves to Jesus and feel badly because we aren't more like him.

Lent is a time to get to know Jesus more, to get to know ourselves more, and to become more like who we truly are. Whatever our vocation, we live and proclaim the Kingdom of God because we are Jesus' disciples, baptized into his body. We do so in the ways our personalities, vocations, and talents allow. We don't try to be like Jesus and beat ourselves up for falling short. We be who we are, and seek to be more fully who we are.

There are many ways that we try to escape life, many exit doors we take. Some seem fairly innocuous (TV, food, alcohol), while others are obviously more insidious (drug addiction, alcoholism, pornography). All of these escape routes are ways we fantasize about a better, more important life, in which we are great and our problems few.

Such fantasies are what "the hypocrites" had in Jesus' day when they prayed, fasted, and gave alms for others to see them and think they were wonderful. They were masking who they truly were behind a front of greatness.

We are told by Jesus not to put on a show or to fake who we are in front of others, but to be vulnerable enough with others for them to see us as we truly are. Deep down, we're all beloved of God, and deep down, we're all kind of a mess.

In giving things up for Lent this year, I thought about giving up coffee, but so what. So I'd be tired by mid-morning for a month. Instead, I'm going to give up my B.S. I joke with people a lot in order to mask my insecurity and shyness. Joking keeps me from having to be vulnerable with folks. So, I'm going to work on being more authentically who I am with people, even when it's uncomfortable.

My encouragement is that we all strive to be more vulnerable with each other and with God. Jesus already knows that we're a bit of a mess, and he declares us beloved just as we are.