Elsie McGrath (left with red stole) at ordination ceremony of Marty Meyer-Gad
9.27.09 Homily
26th Sunday
Would you say this is kinda outta character for Jesus? Kinda crass? Kinda gross? Whatssup with this trash talk, anyway? And especially after it started off so well: Whoever is for us isn’t against us. Would that everybody would prophesy, as Moses said. Would that everybody would be Spirit-filled and drive out demons and share cool refreshing life-giving water.
But everybody isn’t, and everybody doesn’t, and there is very little heaven on earth. And so, in an about-face such as we are quite unaccustomed to, Jesus preached hellfire and brimstone in order to try to get his point across. And the denseness of his so-called apostles was the trigger for this outburst. They were trying to stop somebody who was doing some fine miracle-working because the healer wasn’t “one of them”? This on the heels, you might recall, of their argument over which of them was the “greatest.” And all this in the context of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem … while he’s telling these clods, over and over again, what is about to happen to him. No wonder Jesus lost it!
Jesus said [quote 1]. Jesus may very well be thinking of the Samaritan woman at the well when he used that example of one giving a drink of water out of what we might call “Christian charity,” even though she did not then know Christ. The clods who were with him that day, who returned to find him engaged in peer theological discussion with this woman, saw nothing except an infraction of the law. But what was really happening? Those same clods have, of course, been touted throughout the centuries as “the” apostles – but the nameless woman really WAS one.
Jesus said [quote 2]. I thought of pedophiles hiding under the guise of holy men of God, and of their enablers, who call them “mere sinners” while women priests are called destroyers of the system. Is everyone current with this week’s news stories about the priest who had been convicted for abusing some 30 children over the years of his “ministry”? He is being released from jail less than 5 years after his incarceration. I love the juxtaposition of words for water in Jesus’ quote – from life-giving drink to death-dealing drink. Two sides of the same coin, so to speak. Like two sides of the same story, in a way. As in, the pedophile may deserve to be released from prison because what he really needs is confinement in a safe place – which won’t happen. But the enabler really needs to be in prison because he is responsible for ruining the lives of at least 30 people – which also won’t happen. Such a thin line between right and wrong, between life and death.
I had strange recurring dreams last night, most of which I cannot remember, but what I woke up thinking each time was, “What did that mean? Who were those people?” And as I mulled over everything that I could recall to mind before I arose this morning, it came to me that nothing and no one was as it seemed. It was like we were “living” Halloween, disguised from the realities of who we were and what we were called to accomplish.
And then I realized that my dreams were metaphor for what really IS going on in our world. And that it has always been so.
I thought of inquisitioners hiding under the guise of seekers of the truth, who dare to question the faith and ministry of those women religious most responsible for walking with the least of these throughout their lifetimes without honor or recompense. On Friday night, Ree & I were with several such women -- Louise Lears, Jeannine Grammick and Donna Quinn among them. And I was once again struck by something that I used to consider a phenomenon – they were all very obviously glowing with love & peace & forgiveness. Such phenomena are becoming less and less rare, sisters and brothers. More and more people are owning up to their apostleship in the face of growing opposition. Like the guy in the cult movie, Network, we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore. These valiant sisters are women who, in earlier times, would have been thrown to the lions or burned at the stake. They have been uprooted and maligned and cut off from their communities. But they remain true to who they are and to what they are to do. They are among today’s apostles.
And perhaps, when the current “visitations” have concluded, perhaps some of their communities will be joining them.
Jesus said [quote 3]. I thought of predators, pimps & pushers. And I thought of fat-cat CEOs, big-money insurance brokers, smooth-talking swindlers, armed warriors & renegades & pirates & terrorists & murderers & burglars. I thought of a whole world collapsing under the weight of greed and graft and self-centered arrogance & misplaced pride. I thought of freak floods & fires & devastating winds, and the systematic destruction of our earthly flora and fauna. And, yeah, thinking of such enemies of the earth and its peoples, I thought hell was a pretty good place for them.
But is Jesus seriously talking hellfire and brimstone for those whose hands grab for the wrong things, whose feet walk on the wrong paths, whose eyes focus on the wrong prize? The all-forgiving Jesus?
The word some like to translate as “hell” is actually Gehenna, and Gehenna was a place of hellfire and brimstone – but not in the guise that has been presented to us over the centuries. (Note that I said “was” a place.) Child sacrifice, which should have been discontinued, recall, with the lesson taught by the Abraham/Isaac story, had rather recently continued in the Hinnom Valley, very near Jerusalem. As a result, and in an effort to atone for such abominations, the people literally turned that area into a trash dump and set the place on fire to keep disease and decay at bay. The fires were stoked, and burned 24/7, and everyone in the surrounding areas knew of Gehenna. Imagine the stench, carried on the winds for miles and miles. If you’re as old as me, you might remember burning ash pits, an acrid smell that I can still remember. It brought tears to my eyes and burned my nostrils. Everyone Jesus spoke to knew of Gehenna. Absolutely, the so-called apostles knew of Gehenna. What better place to dispose of “trash” like lecherous eyes, stampeding feet or grubbing hands?
So let’s be clear on what we hear … and know … and do. Jesus’ condemnation of those who aren’t what they appear to be is NOT a forever-be-damned condemnation. It is a wake-up call. LOOK at what you are doing, what you are feeling, where you are going. LOOK at who you really are … and at who you really are called to be. Get rid of the shams and the shames and the sins that are corrupting your true identity as a child of God. Be an apostle.
Tonight our Jewish sisters and brothers begin their celebration of Yom Kippur. This is the day the people, as a community, atone for everything that fractures their oneness with God. Jews learned that divided they fall centuries ago. It was why they burned Gehenna … a whole nation in mourning, atoning for the sins of the few. This corporate responsibility for the sins of the world is what sets Jews apart from the individualism that we tend to take such false pride in, albeit our penchance for blind obedience to whatever mob mentality is set before us for mindless emulation.
But did anything else come to mind as we heard this gospel being proclaimed? Did we hear any “good” news?
Jesus said [quote 4]. Did you think about yourself … here … in communion with – her … him … them … us …? Did you think of the miracles we’ve shared together … life-giving waters of baptism … healing oils of anointing … holy vows of matrimony … bread blessed & broken & shared & eaten …? Did you think that maybe … just maybe … we are among those whom Jesus is validating …?
Would that it be so, always and in every circumstance, for each of us and all of us. Amen.
1. If anyone gives you a drink of water because you belong to Christ and bear his name, that one will be rewarded.
2. If anyone should cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble and sin, it would be better for that one to be thrown into the sea.
3. If your hand causes you to err, cut it off. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. And if your eye is your downfall, tear it out.
4. No one who works a miracle in my name can soon after speak bad of me.
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