Juxtaposition

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beatitudes, heart of God, justice, Matthew, mercy, obfuscation, reconciled, reconciliation, responsibility, right relationship, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unconditional love

Chapter 5 of Matthew’s gospel is so full of teaching that it provides a lifetime of material for reflection. The Beatitudes alone are enough! In today’s lectionary selection, however, there is a very important section on how we ought to treat those persons closest to us. (Jesus calls them our brothers, but we know he meant our sisters too.) It’s about the fact that we must be in right relationship with our neighbors before we approach God in our worship services. The very familiar text (vs. 20-26) tells us that if there is something separating us from another person we need to leave our gift at the altar to go and be reconciled. It’s that important. The interesting thing about this passage for me, however, is a simple twist in the way the recognition of our duty is expressed by Jesus. He doesn’t say, “If you recall that you have anything against your brother, go first and reconcile…” Instead, Jesus makes the job of reconciliation ours even though it is “if your brother has anything against you…”

It would seem unfair to say it is our responsibility to take the first step in such a case. It’s much easier to blame others for their misunderstanding of us or their unwillingness to come to us when we have nothing (maybe) against them. I think that Jesus is looking for two things from us here: 1. a willingness to look in a mirror to be sure that there is no obfuscation going on from our part and 2. a willingness to practice unconditional love in any situation – whether or not we share responsibility for the breach in relationship. Letting go of justice for mercy is a large-hearted step. Taking it goes a long way in moving toward the heart of God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn Around

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a new heart, a new spirit, change the world, commited, Ezekiel, God, Lenten practice, Matthew, reconciled, relationships, restore, right relationship, self-surrender, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, turn around

The word conversion comes from the Latin and calls us to turn in another direction. This morning’s gospel verse (EZ 18:31) urges us to “turn away from all the crimes you have committed and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.” I was interested in the responsibility for those actions whose agent in the Scriptures is often God; in this case it is we ourselves who do the creating of something new. In the same manner, the gospel puts responsibility on us this morning in our relationships with others and adds a twist that calls for even more self-surrender than we might expect. Jesus does not say, “If you have something against your brother [or sister] go and be reconciled.” Rather the text reads, “If you bring your gift to the altar and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (MT 5:23) So whether or not we think we have been wronged, there is no pouting allowed here. It doesn’t tell us to go and ask for an apology, nor to apologize for something that is not our fault just to get it over with. The command is to go and be reconciled which means to restore to relationship and it clearly says it’s up to us to figure out how to do that.

Both Ezekiel and Matthew this morning speak to something that we might care to work on if we’re looking for a Lenten practice, but it is really something that belongs in our daily intentions throughout the year. Each day we ought to be committed to right relationship with God, with other people and with the whole of creation. We can’t wait for others to take the first step. Make for yourselves a new heart and spirit, Ezekiel says. Don’t wait for the other to come to you, Jesus urges. Turn around and see what can be done to change yourself, to change the world. It starts today.

Family Ties

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Australia, bring your entire self to the moment, close family, family, Jesus, Mark, mission, pay attention, right relationship, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, will of God

Yesterday my sister forwarded an e-mail message she had received from our cousin Chris from Australia that included a family photo from 2013, celebrating the 99th birthday of the patriarch, whose wife (only 93 years young) sat beside him. Now Aunt Dory is the last survivor from that generation. The picture is symbolic of a happy reconnection with the Australian branch of our family that began during “The Troubles” in Ireland in the 1800’s. Two of my grandmother’s elder sisters accompanied a childless neighbor couple to Australia to become a family with a chance for a better life – a huge sacrifice for my great-grandparents but a blessing for the two girls. As I scanned the photo trying to see in the 60-something cousins vestiges of the children whose pictures we kept in shoeboxes with our own during my young life nostalgia settled in and I vowed to rekindle my correspondence with my cousin Rosemary, sitting there with her husband, children and grandchildren. The internet will make reconnection easier; I hope I will keep my promise.

Things are different now than in the time of Jesus – as well as in the generations before my parents. People were more often born and buried in the same town and it was rare for families to live as far apart as we do now. My nuclear family is a good example. In the years before my parents’ deaths we were one each in New York State, Virginia and California with two in Florida. for a close family like ours that was and is quite a challenge. Our lives have been full and primary commitments keep us busy. Visits are rare but we continue to value the successful jockeying of schedules that brings us together.

I think all of this helps me to understand the situation of Jesus (MK 3:31-35) when the crowd around him said that his mother & siblings were outside to see him. His response of “whoever does the will of God is my brother, sister and mother” points up to me the willingness of Jesus to follow the path before him, the mission he had been given, with an understanding of right relationship. He did not send his relatives away; my guess is that they had a wonderful visit after the crowd had dispersed. I think what he was saying to the crowd was something like this: “Pay attention to what you’re doing and do it until you finish. Then do the next thing fully – bringing your entire self to the moment. In that way nothing is wasted and no one is ignored.”