Sometimes, when I think I have a lot of time in the morning—or when something interesting grabs my attention as I scroll the news—I get lost in “the good, the bad and the ugly” and wonder what I am doing as the clock ticks away the day. I try not to let that happen because I usually come away anxious or depressed by the news.
Today is Sunday, the first of “daylight saving,” which confuses our internal clocks and makes some of us late for everything. Why do we think we can control time in this way—just saying that we have lost or gained an hour and acting on that dictum? Well, here we are again and I am taken by what I see as I look out my windows. I have two bedroom windows, you see. One of them is high and looks to the South. The other takes in sky and mountain and even the roof of the cottage in the back yard to the East. As I sit here today, I am happy to be looking south where a beautifully white cloud sails slowly by, encouraged by the wind kicking up. I can only “see” the wind, of course, because of the very tall tree flailing in the middle of the window. The eastern exposure is already preparing for what has been predicted as a serious snowstorm. The sun that was so happy earlier has gone into hiding behind very large and burly clouds.
The outer often mimics the inner here. I wonder if my mood would have stayed as lighthearted as it was an hour ago if I had left the news alone and attended only to the Scriptures after the day had dawned…but that stormy weather is predicted—heavy snow out west and who knows what for our neighborhood…and I have been depleted by the on-going trials around the world…The only way out for me now seems to be good ritual – even if it’s “virtual.”
As I look to the Scriptures for this Fourth Sunday of Lent I find solace in the healing of the blind man (Jn 9:1-41). Even as I look out on more clouds and wind, I know that blindness of all kinds can be healed and I look forward to that story (in an hour now) as well as the choice of David, that ruddy teenager that God chose out of all the brothers to lead the people out of darkness. David wasn’t prefect…by any stretch of the imagination, but God loved him dearly. I’ll hold to that as I prepare for prayer to calm whatever “the weather” brings to my soul today.
I am remembering a time when my cousin’s daughter was dating a tattoo artist and relatives in my generation began to worry about her reputation as piercing and tattoos began to appear on her body. Never mind that she was bright and attending college while living with her grandparents to help them as they aged. Never mind her wonderful personality and winning smile, because tattooed ladies did not belong in our family! Now when “body art” is everywhere, my young cousin is moving toward the ripe old age of 40 and is recognized by everyone as the brilliant star that she has always been, if only others had taken the time to truly know her.
Jealousy is a very dangerous trait in a person. It seems to me a bit more serious than envy although it appears in the dictionary as envy’s synonym. I might be envious of someone’s good looks or good luck but, if I have a positive attitude about my own life, I don’t spend a lot of time comparing my lot with those of others. If jealousy takes hold of my life, however, it can lead to wishing harm to others – sometimes instigating events that will cause very bad things to happen.
The Book of Isaiah is full of prophecies that chronicle events predicted for the life and salvation of the Hebrew people. They are not easily understood without a commentary as Isaiah often uses images like those in today’s lectionary where he says that “a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse…” which is interpreted as a recognition that the Messiah would be descended from royalty (the family of Jesse, father of David). But Isaiah was writing about a time when the fortunes of the house of David would be at their worst, thus the reference to the “stump of Jesse.” An interesting point of the commentary was that of the “shoot” as different from simply speaking of growth out of the stump as a branch. A shoot, notes the commentator, would be slender and insignificant, in contrast to the girth of the stump, thus indicating that the fruit would come from one person at a time of humiliation and obscurity. Thus, the surprise of a Messiah like Jesus.
The Scriptural texts for this morning tell good stories. I especially always like hearing how David became king. What a surprise for his family! When Samuel came to speak to Jesse and asked to meet his sons, (1 Sm 16) nobody even gave a thought to David, the youngest, who was probably happy living in obscurity, spending his days with the sheep of his father’s fields. And this time when Jesus cured a blind person it wasn’t because the man was crying out asking Jesus for healing, as in the similar gospel stories, but rather just because of a question from the disciples about why the man was blind in the first place. (Jn 9). What got me thinking, however, was the reading in the middle (Eph 5:8-14) that begins with a startling teaser if we don’t read it quickly. At least in my translation we might think it reads: Brothers and sisters, you were once IN darkness but now you are IN light in the Lord…but there are no prepositions preceding the words darkness and light! What Paul seems to be saying is that our identity was darkness and living in God changes our very existence into light.
Today is the feast of the apostle, Bartholomew. A commentary reminds me that we know very little about most of these people, the closest companions of Jesus. This is clearly true about Bartholomew who is sometimes known by the name of Nathaniel. (Not even a close guess, right?) That same commentary from 
