Thomas’ Plea for Inclusion (Easter 2 Year C)

Acts 5:27-32

Psalm 118: 14-29

Revelation 1:4-8

John 20: 19-31

Imagine the scene:

The disciples were locked together in a room. I imagine a variety of mixed emotions would be going through their heads as they ponder the events of that first Easter.

Fear . . . will the religious authorities think we have stolen the body?

Terror . . . will we be crucified too?

Excitement . . . Is it true what Mary told us? (Luke and Matt have more women)

Incredibility . . . . Mark tells us the disciples didn’t believe.

Hopelessness . . . only three years and it’s ended, it’s all over .

Confusion . . . What’s going to happen to us now?

Shock . . . think how traumatic the weekend has been

Guilt . . . didn’t we all scatter and deny Jesus

Regret . . . I wish I’d stayed at the cross

Suddenly Jesus appears and says “Peace be with you”

Wow, amazing, what an impact that must have had . . .

Jesus was once again amongst them.

Jesus understood their inner turmoil

Jesus understood their weaknesses but didn’t condemn

They may have abandoned Jesus but Jesus didn’t abandon them

Then Jesus breathed on them. The Holy Breathe was breathed on them and into them. And something happened. Suddenly they had direction and strength and purpose.

Jesus mission hadn’t died on the cross. They were going to carry it on.

I believe this is the Johannine account of pentecost. I think here is a perfect example of what James Dunn calls ‘Unity and Diversity’ in a book of the same title. This is John’s account of the giving of the Holy Spirit. It is not spectacular and noisy as in Acts but quiet and relational.

However, I really want to focus on Thomas. I want to rethink the image of Thomas. I want to shake off the doubting label that has been upon him for centuries

Not a doubting Thomas but a Thomas who is so desperate for inclusion, desperate to share the experience, desperate not to have missed out.

Can you relate?

Has anyone ever told you about a great spiritual experience they had and you wanted it for yourself? (Not in a selfish way)

Have you ever felt excluded on the basis of gender, race, sexuality, etc.?

Have you ever felt you missed out on something?

Maybe Thomas who represents all who have ever felt excluded.

I think we can learn from how Thomas behaved:

Thomas stuck around in spite of missing the initial experience.

Thomas didn’t need the same experience (he didn’t get to touch the wounds)

Thomas was included in his own way.

Thomas saw his own vision of the risen Jesus.

This way of viewing contains hope for all of us. Even though we might not get to see and experience Jesus in the same way as others we are still blessed.

Some questions to ponder:

Can we identify with Thomas? (Have we ever felt excluded, that we missed out?)

Can we be content to be included in our way rather than seeking another’s way?

Can we find our place amongst the Christian church?

Women, can we find our place without striving to be one of the men?

Two Final Comments on Thomas:

1. Thomas wrote a gospel. It is older than the gospels we have included in the Bible. Pheme Perkins, in Searching the Scriptures ed Elisabeth Fiorenza.

“ The sayings in the Gospel of Thomas presents a Jesus who reveals a hidden but timeless wisdom . . . Jesus is not an end-time judge who rescues believers from the wrath of God. Rather Jesus mediates the discovery of a wisdom that enables persons to recover the integrity of the human person as created by God”

A great resource for looking at the Gospel of Thomas, various translations and commentaries.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/thomas.html

2. Thomas is supposed to have evangelized India

According to legendary tradition St. Thomas was invited by the King Gondophorus to India to build a palace for him. St. Thomas came and declared that he would build a heavenly palace instead and distributed the money among the poor. For this he was put into prison, but later pardoned. He evangelized the region of Malabar, then was martyred at Mylapore, near Madras. In 394 his remains were brought to Edessa. Another version that his remains are still in India at a place now called San Tome.

Lost and Found (Lent 4 Year C)

Joshua 5: 9-12

Psalm 32

2 Corinthians 5: 16-21

Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

On reflection, I wish that today’s gospel reading had covered the whole chapter and not jumped from verse three to verse eleven. Then we would have seen the story as part of a whole series of ‘lost and found’ stories.

So I want to briefly cast a glance at all three of the ‘lost and found’ stories. (The shepherd with the lost sheep, the woman with the lost coin and the parent with the lost child.) These stories were told as a response to the grumbling that Jesus welcomed sinners and ate with them.

‘Eating with them’ is significant. This is more than just accepting sinners, this is a sign of real friendship. In almost every culture inviting people into your home, sharing food and eating with them is a sign of intimacy and true friendship.

In these stories Jesus is showing the value of lost things. Jesus is revealing the seeking and compassionate heart of God. A picture of God as represented by a shepherd, a woman and a father.

Even the order the stories are placed in is interesting. They seem to subvert the expected positioning. First it is 1:100, then 1:10 and then 1:2. Surely we would have expected it the other way round, ending with the message that even one out of a hundred is important. Even one in a hundred is worthy of care and consideration.

I want to look, firstly, at the man with two sons. (Two sons perhaps representing the two groups of people mentioned at the outset of the chapter — tax-collectors & sinners and Pharisees & scribes).

Right at the beginning of the story the reader (or listener) is alerted to something unusual about this story. The man divided his property amongst his two sons. Surely that wasn’t quite right. Surely the elder son was entitled to more (a double portion at the very least). Right here at the outset of the story is something that will challenge and need careful consideration. This is pointing to a generosity that exceeds law.

We all know the story. The younger son squanders everything until his poverty and desperation cause him to realise that he needs to go home.

I want to look especially at how he is received. His father sees him and runs to meet him. Look at the heart of compassion. Compassion with its root meaning in womb. A God of womb-like love and nurture.

We are told that the son is repentant, but the father did not know this. He merely sees his child in the distance and ran and welcomed him with a kiss. This is another reversal of the norm. Shouldn’t forgiveness follow after confession and repentance? Not here, this is unconditional love poured out. Forgiveness precedes repentance.

Anne Thurston in her book Knowing Her Place comments that “It is love which creates the possibility for repentance, for true metanoia ‘change of heart’. Conversion is not a condition but a consequence of God’s love.”

In addition, several commentators have pointed out that it would be shocking for the first century readers to hear that the father ‘ran’ to the son. This would not happen. It would be considered undignified. This would certainly cause a ripple of shock through the early readers.

It seems that in this story both the sons have missed the aspect of true relationship. The younger son had planned to return as a servant. His elder brother had talked about himself as working like a slave.

Thurston comments, ‘”The language of servant and master, the relationships of patriarchal household have been replaced with the offer of unconditional love, ‘all that is mine is yours.’”

The father throws a party and the invitation to celebrate is open to all. No-one is excluded. What a wonderful offer of unconditional love to all!

In conclusion I want briefly to glance at the other two ‘lost and found’ stories.

A shepherd responsible for 100 sheep leaves 99 to seek for one lost one . . . madness! Not at all logical. Why leave 99 sheep unprotected to search for one? That is not even good shepherding. It is another unexpected view. Then when the sheep is found the shepherd hosts a feast. Perhaps costing more than the value of the sheep.

Then the second parable, the woman with 10 coins. She is obviously a rich woman, a householder, responsible for her own affairs. She does all the correct things in seeking diligently. What a great picture of God, a woman seeking for that which was lost until it is found. Yet again, when the lost thing is found the woman threw a party to celebrate finding the coin. Again the party may have cost more than the value of the coin!

Thurston again, commenting on this second parable, “the woman diligently searching portrays God, who even when there is no urgency, goes out of her way to seek out the lost. The woman hosts the feast with the prodigal generosity of God . . . the idea of a woman hosting the feast, which suggests the eschatological banquet prepares the way for the final subversion of the patriarchal model of God which we saw in the third parable.”

I want to end with two thoughts to ponder . . .

Can these three stories of ‘lost and found’, sheep/coins/sons help us in re-imagining our view of God?

Can we receive people with unconditional love?

+Ab. Jane

Power, Control and Service (Proper 24 Year B)

Isaiah 53:4-12

Psalm 91:9-16

Hebrews 5:1-10

Mark 10:35-45

Today, I want to think about the passage from Mark. In Mark we have three passion predictions. Today’s passage follows immediately after the third and most detailed one. Jesus has told the disciples that “the Child of Humanity will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes . . .they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him, and after three days he will rise again” (Mark 10:33-34) (1)

Immediately Jesus is asked by James and John if they could have seats of honour in the coming realm. Jesus does not rebuke them as one would expect, but merely asks if they can stand firm in persecution. After they have replied in the affirmative Jesus told them that they would suffer persecution, but that positions were not Jesus’ to grant. We (and the readers of Mark) know that these two disciples would indeed suffer persecution and that James would ultimately be martyred.

This first section of the passage shows us that suffering does not earn us any rewards. Jt is not exalted as the way of discipleship. It is simply something that happens. A possible consequence of following Jesus. This is a challenge to any Christian (or Jewish) understanding that suffering is pleasing to God and will merit reward. It is worth noting the contrast with Mark 9:41 where giving someone a glass of water will bring reward! We are already seeing that the way of discipleship is service not suffering.

As the story unfolds the other disciples were annoyed with James and John. Markan Jesus uses it as an opportunity to contrast the way of power with the way of servanthood. And not only a servant but a slave! Slave status was despised and thought of as even lower than the poor peasants. Additionally, Jesus said they needed to be a slave to all. Each person was to serve as if they were the lowest of the low.

It is worth noting who Mark had Jesus speaking to here. It was the twelve disciples. Jesus was not speaking to the women disciples, nor to the children, nor to a crowd of poor peasants, servants and slaves. In other words he was not speaking to those whom society already considered should serve, but to the free men, those who already had some status and power.

Then Jesus uses his own life as example of life given in service. Mark does not see the death of Jesus as atonement but as the completion of Jesus life lived in service for others. It is martyrdom not sacrifice. Martyrdom was considered honourable.

Joanna Dewey says, “The disciples are encouraged to follow Jesus not only in preaching and healing but also in faithful behaviour in the face of persecution”1 . The disciples, too, may have to give their lives as they seek to follow Jesus in lives of service to others.

Henri Nouwen in In the Name of Jesus says, "The long painful history of the church is the history of people ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led." and “The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which the world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross. . . . It is not a leadership of power and control, but a leadership of powerlessness and humility in which the suffering servant of God, Jesus Christ, is made manifest." (2)

This desire in humanity to seek power and success, seems to be part of the human make-up. It was present even with Adam and Eve as they sought to ‘be like God’.

As each of us seek to be disciples of God can we lay aside that human need for power and control and use our lives in the service of others?

(1) Joanna Dewey, “The Gospel of Mark” in Searching the Scriptures Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza (ed) 495 (I have followed her interpretation of this passage)

(2)Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus (Crossroads: New York, 1996), 60

Genesis Reflections (Proper 22 Year B)

Genesis 2:18-24

Psalm 8

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

Mark 10: 2-16

As I read the passages for this week I paused for a while with Genesis. I felt quite sad as I read those very familiar words. What was supposed to be a lovely story about the origin of the human race has been so often used to promote domination and abuse of both human and non-human animals.

Just before reading these verses I opened my e-mails one of which included details of the upcoming Walk for Farm Animals to promote ethical and compassionate treatment for the animals. Unspeakable cruelty is being done to animals every minute to produce food most of which we don’t even need. Nor is it just farm animals who are the victims of cruelty.

How did the human race get from the privilege of naming and caring for the animals to our present day situation?

Women, too, have been controlled and dominated by men who assume that these words give them the authority over them. In my opinion, these verses have been misinterpreted and misused. Partly, it is because of the change in language. Try reading the Genesis passage and substitute human being for man. It gives the passage a very different feel.

For anyone wanting to study the language in detail I recommend God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality by Phyllis Trible. I love her interpretation of the Genesis story. It makes the most sense to me especially in view of her knowledge and study of ancient languages.

Trible talks about how the first human being was “sexually undifferentiated (neither male nor female nor a combination of both)” p.98. Then after the second human being is created the human beings are sexually differentiated.

As Trible says,

“One is female, the other male. Their creation is simultaneous, not sequential. One does not precede the other, even though the time line of this story introduces the women first (2:20). Moreover, one is not the opposite of the other. In the very act of distinguishing female from male, the earth creature describes her as ‘bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh’ (2:23). These words speak unity, solidarity, mutuality and equality.” p99

Perhaps that last sentence of Trible’s is something to ponder as we consider how we treat others.

Another clue as to how we treat others can be found at the end of our final reading in Mark.

Here children are being brought to Jesus. The disciples rebuke those bringing them. It is so sad that discernment is already being made about who can be part of this new, evolving Christianity. Yet Jesus tells the disciples that it is “to such as these the Realm of God belongs”.

In a society where many children died young, where children had no legal rights, where children were considered the lowest of the low. I believe that in this scene Jesus is telling the disciples that the Realm of God welcomes all those who are outcasts and have been dominated.

A Revelatory Woman (Proper 18 Year B)

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

Psalm 125

James 2 1-10, 14-17

Mark 7:24-37

Some rich readings this week. James challenges us about our attitude to the poor. Perhaps a very pertinent reading for these weeks. As + Andy and I read it out loud I couldn’t help but inwardly change the last verse . . . ‘if a brother or sister is naked and lacks health care and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; Keep warm and stay healthy; and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that.’

Anyway, that is just a brief thought to ponder.

The verses that really excited me are the ones in Mark. A reminder, once again, of the important part women played in the life of Jesus and, indeed, in shaping the future and development of the newly emerging Christian faith.

I have many times in the past talked about revelatory women in the life of Jesus. Women who seem to challenge Jesus and open up new horizons to him. Here, in Mark’s gospel we meet another.

We meet the unnamed Canaanite (Syrophoenician) woman who came to Jesus asking for healing for her tormented daughter. In Matthew’s version of this story the disciples even begged Jesus to send her away. They did not want to associate with her.

Jesus spoke to her and told her that he was sent only to the Jews (the house of Israel). Then followed it with an insult . . . that the children’s food could not be thrown to the dogs. No cute pugs in this thought, no much loved family pets but scavengers hungry and a nuisance to all. The unnamed woman retorted that even the dogs were allowed to eat the crumbs. In the telling of the story Jesus recognised her faith and her daughter was healed.

We could read this as a nice story of faith. But I think it is so much more. This woman was used to reveal to Jesus that this newly emerging story was also for the gentiles. It was as if Jesus’ had his eyes opened through the prophetic voice of this woman. Forget waiting for Cornelius’ house to include the gentiles . . . this woman opened the door. Now was the time for the ministry to include the Gentiles. It was a gift which included all.

Blessings Jane