The Church of Jesus Christ is in the season of Easter. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, Easter is a season. It is not just a day. In fact, Easter is a point of view. It is a perspective, a way of life, a spirituality unto itself.
The Spirituality of Easter is all-too-often taken for granted. While it has stood as a hallmark of Spring, an omen that portends the end of the school year, the coming of warmer weather and a return to outdoor living, Easter is actually much more inclusive and encompassing than we have often imagined. Easter is new life. It cannot be had unless it comes from a dying, the closing of a door, moving on from what had been and moving toward that which shall be.
Easter is an opportunity to move toward a healthier version of what it means to be fully human, fully spiritual, fully incarnational.
Let's see if I can articulate this in an understandable manner. Jesus was Crucified. His lifeless body was placed in a borrowed tomb. On the third day following his death, women (or a woman) of the community around Jesus go to the tomb in order to: 1. Be certain that Jesus is really quite sincerely dead instead of being just merely dead; 2. Treat his body with caustic spices that are meant to hasten the decomposition process; 3. Wrap his corpse in linen cloths that, together with the spices, allow the entire process to take place in the length of one calendar year. Shock of all shocks, Jesus' body is not there. The angels declare that he has been raised from the dead. The women share the news and the disciples finally receive affirmation, in a series of post-resurrection appearances.
If this completes our telling of the story, we miss its power, however. Jesus' body is a vessel in which the animating spirit of God dwells, at least as human life was understood in the Middle Platonism of Jesus' day. The corporeal, physical flesh was little more than a vehicle for the animating spirit. It was an opportunity for that which lives to articulate the heavenly virtues in which the spirit existed apart from animating the flesh. The core of Jesus' life was therefore spiritual. It was in the Spirit that Jesus defined himself, understood himself, determined his behavior and shaped his life. It is in and from the Spirit that Jesus ministered and served.
To be fully human in Jesus' understanding meant to be fully spiritual. The point to which Jesus represented that spiritual reality of his humanness set him apart from those who live only in corporeal, physical, carnal reality. To put it bluntly, spiritual reality lives in order to makes the lives of others healthier, happier and more productive while the physical reality seeks to make one's self healthier, happier and more productive.
Easter Spirituality suggests that the new life of Christ is incarnational only insofar as we live as the body of Christ. It matters only insofar as we live spiritually, as empowered, enabled, called and sent ones, who dedicate our lives to the practice of those same heavenly virtues that Jesus so faithfully demonstrated. In this spirituality, we can cease our search for the body of Jesus Christ. In the spirituality of Easter, we are the lost body of Christ. His Spirit dwells in us, each of us and all of us. We represent him when we live in that spirituality.
We can be Easter together, then, in the incarnational reality that Jesus so vitally expressed. We are the body of Christ!
Monday, April 24, 2017
Monday, April 10, 2017
Not Easter Week!
Contrary to popular opinion, this is not Easter Week! Starting on the first day of the week, Easter Week is next week, Sunday April 16 and following.
This week is Crucifixion Week.
Crucifixion Week begins with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, at what we call Palm/Passion Sunday. It is no Triumphant Entry, however. Jesus arrives at Jerusalem and decides to enter the city in the symbolic form of an alternative king who comes for coronation. This is great news for those who beg at the Temple Gate. The population exists there as a gathering of lepers, the blind, the lame, the deaf, the poor, the Mudblood, the menstruating, the ugly, the broken and the damned. Unable to work, they sit and beg. There is no social safety net for the rejected and excluded masses of Bethany and Bethphage. They see Jesus as new hope, the possibility of social systems that will consider them, attend to their needs, see them and care for them. As Jesus rides past them, as a new king for coronation, these suffering masses applaud, yell, bow down, genuflect. chant and honor the new king who comes to deliver them from their miserable state.
These are tense times. Passover is pending. It starts Friday at sundown. Passover is the ancient recognition and celebration of emancipation from the slave pits of Egypt. It honors liberation from the oppressive power of the Empire. It is dangerous to be Empire in a season of celebration of liberation.
Of course, the Temple had reached accommodation with Rome. As long as Judaism remained a benign family and spiritual religious practice, it would be allowed to exist within the boundaries of the Roman Empire. As long as religious sentiments were held behind closed doors and out of public discourse, then the Temple remained safe. The moment that Judaism became a public display, however, the second it stepped from the realm of personally held beliefs, it became a threat to the Pax Romana.
On Sunday, the Temple authorities heard the stirrings. It threw the ruling classes of the Temple into turmoil. Some would-be prophet from Galilee, named Jesus, had caused a riot at the Gate. He arrived at Jerusalem in full public demonstration, as a new king for coronation, riding on an animal (or two, in Matthew's case) that had never before been ridden. The people at the Gate were all roiled up, chanting that their new king had come to deliver them. No matter what the Temple authority said or did, they could not hide the purely political statements that were inherent in this symbolic Jerusalem entry. The Pax Romana was in danger, and the very existence of the Temple was at stake.
Jesus marches on through the Gate to the Temple. The people of the Gate imagine that they might follow, but doing so would simply be too dangerous, too risky. Perhaps this "Jesus of Nazareth" would work for them, do miracles on their behalf, free them from their malaise, deliver them from their suffering. While they refused to accompany him to the Temple, their hope rode in with him on his pack animal. The Temple authorities were waiting with a less-then-warm-welcome. Jesus had endangered the already tenuous relationship between the Temple and Rome. One can only imagine Jesus, leading the Gate people to the Temple, meeting with a harsh arrival, turning to what he hopes is a throng, only to discover that Jesus stands utterly alone.
Jesus exits Jerusalem. He returns to the Temple on Monday, seeing for himself the economic and social injustice that is connected to the Temple. Jesus throws over the tables on the money changers, who charge a premium for the transfer of currency for the Temple-tax shekel. He sees, too, the many and varied animals that had been brought to the Temple for would-be sacrifices. Jesus knows that those animals would be sold instead, that only one animal would be sacrificed and the rest simply collected as additional revenue. Jesus sets loose the animals from their pens and cages. That is Monday. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Jesus returns to the Temple, where he teaches God's will as opposed to Temple injustice. The people of the Gate remain at the Gate, however. The people of the Temple remain at the temple. Nothing changes.
On Thursday, Jesus gathers with his disciples for a traditional Passover celebration. They dine. During the meal, Jesus alters the traditional liturgy with a new act that involved bread and wine. After they eat, Jesus leads his disciples (and others) our to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus prays while his closest associates sleep. Finally, after waking them, Jesus is betrayed and arrested. He faces several sham trials, one before the High Priest and another before Proconsul, Pilate. Pilate offers to release Jesus. The Roman bureaucrat even pits his release against a notorious outlaw, named Barabbas. But the crowd wants Jesus' blood. They chant for his crucifixion. They demand his death. Pilate is powerless before them and washes his hands of the affair, saying, "His blood is on your heads."
They taunt Jesus. They beat him. They spit at and on him. They tear his skin with a crown of thorns and flog him repeatedly. The guard is allowed its fun. Finally, they lead Jesus out of the city to Golgatha, a high hill from which all will see those who oppose Roman authority hoisted on crosses. This is the hill upon which Jesus is lifted high on the Cross of Crucifixion. Hour later, thinking that God had abandoned him, seeing in the small crowd not a single one of his followers, Jesus breathes his last. Utterly alone, Jesus dies. The hope of those at the Gate dies with him. The Temple is safe.
The week ends with Jesus dead in a borrowed tomb. He is simply dead.
This is not Easter week! But next week is!
This week is Crucifixion Week.
Crucifixion Week begins with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, at what we call Palm/Passion Sunday. It is no Triumphant Entry, however. Jesus arrives at Jerusalem and decides to enter the city in the symbolic form of an alternative king who comes for coronation. This is great news for those who beg at the Temple Gate. The population exists there as a gathering of lepers, the blind, the lame, the deaf, the poor, the Mudblood, the menstruating, the ugly, the broken and the damned. Unable to work, they sit and beg. There is no social safety net for the rejected and excluded masses of Bethany and Bethphage. They see Jesus as new hope, the possibility of social systems that will consider them, attend to their needs, see them and care for them. As Jesus rides past them, as a new king for coronation, these suffering masses applaud, yell, bow down, genuflect. chant and honor the new king who comes to deliver them from their miserable state.
These are tense times. Passover is pending. It starts Friday at sundown. Passover is the ancient recognition and celebration of emancipation from the slave pits of Egypt. It honors liberation from the oppressive power of the Empire. It is dangerous to be Empire in a season of celebration of liberation.
Of course, the Temple had reached accommodation with Rome. As long as Judaism remained a benign family and spiritual religious practice, it would be allowed to exist within the boundaries of the Roman Empire. As long as religious sentiments were held behind closed doors and out of public discourse, then the Temple remained safe. The moment that Judaism became a public display, however, the second it stepped from the realm of personally held beliefs, it became a threat to the Pax Romana.
On Sunday, the Temple authorities heard the stirrings. It threw the ruling classes of the Temple into turmoil. Some would-be prophet from Galilee, named Jesus, had caused a riot at the Gate. He arrived at Jerusalem in full public demonstration, as a new king for coronation, riding on an animal (or two, in Matthew's case) that had never before been ridden. The people at the Gate were all roiled up, chanting that their new king had come to deliver them. No matter what the Temple authority said or did, they could not hide the purely political statements that were inherent in this symbolic Jerusalem entry. The Pax Romana was in danger, and the very existence of the Temple was at stake.
Jesus marches on through the Gate to the Temple. The people of the Gate imagine that they might follow, but doing so would simply be too dangerous, too risky. Perhaps this "Jesus of Nazareth" would work for them, do miracles on their behalf, free them from their malaise, deliver them from their suffering. While they refused to accompany him to the Temple, their hope rode in with him on his pack animal. The Temple authorities were waiting with a less-then-warm-welcome. Jesus had endangered the already tenuous relationship between the Temple and Rome. One can only imagine Jesus, leading the Gate people to the Temple, meeting with a harsh arrival, turning to what he hopes is a throng, only to discover that Jesus stands utterly alone.
Jesus exits Jerusalem. He returns to the Temple on Monday, seeing for himself the economic and social injustice that is connected to the Temple. Jesus throws over the tables on the money changers, who charge a premium for the transfer of currency for the Temple-tax shekel. He sees, too, the many and varied animals that had been brought to the Temple for would-be sacrifices. Jesus knows that those animals would be sold instead, that only one animal would be sacrificed and the rest simply collected as additional revenue. Jesus sets loose the animals from their pens and cages. That is Monday. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Jesus returns to the Temple, where he teaches God's will as opposed to Temple injustice. The people of the Gate remain at the Gate, however. The people of the Temple remain at the temple. Nothing changes.
On Thursday, Jesus gathers with his disciples for a traditional Passover celebration. They dine. During the meal, Jesus alters the traditional liturgy with a new act that involved bread and wine. After they eat, Jesus leads his disciples (and others) our to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus prays while his closest associates sleep. Finally, after waking them, Jesus is betrayed and arrested. He faces several sham trials, one before the High Priest and another before Proconsul, Pilate. Pilate offers to release Jesus. The Roman bureaucrat even pits his release against a notorious outlaw, named Barabbas. But the crowd wants Jesus' blood. They chant for his crucifixion. They demand his death. Pilate is powerless before them and washes his hands of the affair, saying, "His blood is on your heads."
They taunt Jesus. They beat him. They spit at and on him. They tear his skin with a crown of thorns and flog him repeatedly. The guard is allowed its fun. Finally, they lead Jesus out of the city to Golgatha, a high hill from which all will see those who oppose Roman authority hoisted on crosses. This is the hill upon which Jesus is lifted high on the Cross of Crucifixion. Hour later, thinking that God had abandoned him, seeing in the small crowd not a single one of his followers, Jesus breathes his last. Utterly alone, Jesus dies. The hope of those at the Gate dies with him. The Temple is safe.
The week ends with Jesus dead in a borrowed tomb. He is simply dead.
This is not Easter week! But next week is!
Tuesday, April 04, 2017
Standing with Jesus in Dangerous Times
Jesus approaches Jerusalem. It is the capital of power and authority, the seat of religious tradition and a symbol of institutional compromise with Rome. Yet, Jerusalem stands, opulent and extravagant, amidst the suffering of its own people. Worse, the city stands in cooperation with the forces that have given rise to the suffering. The Temple exists as proof of the collusion. It dare not speak up. It dare not act out. It dare not express its opposition to empirical power, lest it be utterly and eternally destroyed. The Temple must be protected above all, even if it means silence in the face of oppression and injustice.
This fact is especially sentient during Passover. Now, Passover was an ancient recognition of Israel's emancipation from nearly three centuries of Egyptian slavery. You know the story. Moses, the one-time pretender to the throne of Egypt, had been found guilty of murdering an Egyptian guard who was abusing a Hebrew slave. Moses' unintentional subterfuge was revealed. Before he was sentenced to flogging or death, Moses escaped to the land of Midian, where he married into the High Priest's family. There he became heir to the high priesthood of Midian, following his father-in-law, Jethro. One day, Moses saw, on the side of the great mountain, a bush that was afire but not consumed. He went up on the mountain and was directed, by a cloud-voice, to return to Egypt and emancipate the Hebrew slaves. Moses went. After a series of plagues, the spirit of death killed all the first-born of Egypt, including the son of Pharaoh. The Hebrews were spared only by painting their doorposts withe the blood of a lamb. The spirit of death "passed over" them.
From the time the Hebrews settled in the "Promised Land," to the time when they returned to the land from Babylonian exile, Passover remained the core celebration. Within the celebration, Jews recognize the bitterness of their slavery, the oppression of the Egyptians, the emancipating power of God's outstretched arm, and the responsibility to which God's benevolence called them in the land.
In the time of Jesus, Jerusalem stood in allegiance with the forces of oppression, violence and fear. Jerusalem stood with Rome. In fact, many of the policies and practices of Judaism were, at worst, amended and, at best, accentuated, in order to fit the Roman agenda. While the Pharisees and Sadducees protected the Temple system in compromise with the Romans, the Zealots and Essenes separated themselves from the collusion of the Temple.
Jesus was likely an Essene who followed his mentor and Rabbi, John, who we know as "the Baptist." Jesus stood against the Temple authority. A year earlier, John had been arrested and martyred. Jesus had taken over the mantle of leadership and was distinguishing himself as "The One."
It was Passover. Jesus returned to Jerusalem from Galilee, where he had created a movement of his own, based on inclusion, the Spirit of God and the potential in each person to represent God's power on Earth. He was going there to state his case, to argue his point, to speak up for those who had been victimized by the Roman way of life, and to work the kind of emancipation that Moses had accomplished centuries earlier.That the Temple had become the enemy of God's people was meaningful for Jesus. After a "triumphant" entry, he went there. The town was abuzz, in turmoil, the Gospel of Matthew reads, because Jesus entered in the symbolic manner of an ancient king on the day of coronation. (He also entered miraculously in Matthews account, on two animals.) He went to the Temple and found exactly the kind of economic and spiritual corruption that he anticipated. Jesus reacted violently, clearly challenging the Temple authorities.
It is perhaps ironic, during Passover, that an attack on the Temple authorities is also seen as an attack on Rome. The Temple authorities react. They get Rome to react. Jesus ends up dead, on the Cross of social revolution and political dissidence, as the sun sets to begin the recognition of Passover.
Who stands today for those who are victimized by the systems under which we live? Who will march on our Jerusalems? Who will speak up? Who will act out? Who will dare to put themselves at risk? Who will place themselves, with Jesus, on the Cross? Or will we simply remain silent, abandoning him, like his own disciples, waiting for some divine miracle to deliver the oppressed? This is a dangerous age, my friends. These are challenging times. Let's stop concerning ourselves with the unpopularity of the church in our culture and act for those who are rejected and excluded by it. You know, following Jesus.
This fact is especially sentient during Passover. Now, Passover was an ancient recognition of Israel's emancipation from nearly three centuries of Egyptian slavery. You know the story. Moses, the one-time pretender to the throne of Egypt, had been found guilty of murdering an Egyptian guard who was abusing a Hebrew slave. Moses' unintentional subterfuge was revealed. Before he was sentenced to flogging or death, Moses escaped to the land of Midian, where he married into the High Priest's family. There he became heir to the high priesthood of Midian, following his father-in-law, Jethro. One day, Moses saw, on the side of the great mountain, a bush that was afire but not consumed. He went up on the mountain and was directed, by a cloud-voice, to return to Egypt and emancipate the Hebrew slaves. Moses went. After a series of plagues, the spirit of death killed all the first-born of Egypt, including the son of Pharaoh. The Hebrews were spared only by painting their doorposts withe the blood of a lamb. The spirit of death "passed over" them.
From the time the Hebrews settled in the "Promised Land," to the time when they returned to the land from Babylonian exile, Passover remained the core celebration. Within the celebration, Jews recognize the bitterness of their slavery, the oppression of the Egyptians, the emancipating power of God's outstretched arm, and the responsibility to which God's benevolence called them in the land.
In the time of Jesus, Jerusalem stood in allegiance with the forces of oppression, violence and fear. Jerusalem stood with Rome. In fact, many of the policies and practices of Judaism were, at worst, amended and, at best, accentuated, in order to fit the Roman agenda. While the Pharisees and Sadducees protected the Temple system in compromise with the Romans, the Zealots and Essenes separated themselves from the collusion of the Temple.
Jesus was likely an Essene who followed his mentor and Rabbi, John, who we know as "the Baptist." Jesus stood against the Temple authority. A year earlier, John had been arrested and martyred. Jesus had taken over the mantle of leadership and was distinguishing himself as "The One."
It was Passover. Jesus returned to Jerusalem from Galilee, where he had created a movement of his own, based on inclusion, the Spirit of God and the potential in each person to represent God's power on Earth. He was going there to state his case, to argue his point, to speak up for those who had been victimized by the Roman way of life, and to work the kind of emancipation that Moses had accomplished centuries earlier.That the Temple had become the enemy of God's people was meaningful for Jesus. After a "triumphant" entry, he went there. The town was abuzz, in turmoil, the Gospel of Matthew reads, because Jesus entered in the symbolic manner of an ancient king on the day of coronation. (He also entered miraculously in Matthews account, on two animals.) He went to the Temple and found exactly the kind of economic and spiritual corruption that he anticipated. Jesus reacted violently, clearly challenging the Temple authorities.
It is perhaps ironic, during Passover, that an attack on the Temple authorities is also seen as an attack on Rome. The Temple authorities react. They get Rome to react. Jesus ends up dead, on the Cross of social revolution and political dissidence, as the sun sets to begin the recognition of Passover.
Who stands today for those who are victimized by the systems under which we live? Who will march on our Jerusalems? Who will speak up? Who will act out? Who will dare to put themselves at risk? Who will place themselves, with Jesus, on the Cross? Or will we simply remain silent, abandoning him, like his own disciples, waiting for some divine miracle to deliver the oppressed? This is a dangerous age, my friends. These are challenging times. Let's stop concerning ourselves with the unpopularity of the church in our culture and act for those who are rejected and excluded by it. You know, following Jesus.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)