Messiah
Posted: 18
Jan 2012 02:00 AM PST
Like Peter, we believe that Jesus is the promised one of God who
will make real and present for us the mystery of God’s reign. What sets us
apart as Christians is that we believe with Peter that Jesus is not simply an
itinerant preacher and miracle worker or even a prophet but that he is himself
“Emmanuel” — “God with us.”
–Br. James Koester
Society of Saint
John the Evangelist
How many of you enjoy jigsaw
puzzles, crossword puzzles, Scrabble or something similar? I am hooked on a
Word with Friends game that I have been playing with one of my buddies for
several months! As challenging and frustrating as a puzzle can be there are a
lot of gratifying moments along the way to completion – AHA! A piece that had
been escaping your eyes falls right into place and another part of the puzzle
is revealed. In cartoons we see a light bulb over the head of a character who
has a sudden insightful thought – AHA! Or why didn’t I see that before? What was so confusing is suddenly lighted up
– AHA! The meaning is revealed. People
have been known to exclaim Eureka! upon suddenly finding or discovering
something, like Archimedes and his discovery of the displacement of water or
like the 49er miners finding gold in California. Eureka! It’s a city in California and it is
also our state motto – the only state motto with an exclamation point in it. The
word we use for communion is Eucharist – the “EU” coming from the same Greek
root as the first two letters in Eureka – meaning good or well or OH! The
moment of discovery. This AHA! moment is what Epiphany is all about. In popular usage the meaning of epiphany is
more linked with a sudden revelation than it is with the effort that went into
creating that moment of discovery. But
the three wise men didn’t suddenly appear at Jesus’ door – an accidental
discovery. No, indeed they spent a long
time searching for Jesus, faithfully and diligently following the star to the
place where Jesus lay. Or maybe by the time
they got there he was running around making Mary crazy. In any case – the epiphany of God’s
Incarnation in the Human Being, Jesus, was not sudden or unexpected or in any
way spontaneous. God intentionally sent
his son, “The Word” who had existed from the beginning, into the world to show us, reveal to us, give us the
AHA! Moment of realization of who God really is, Jesus: the exact and perfect
image of God.
Last week Rev. Leslie spoke to
us about how important it is for human beings to be appropriately and lovingly
mirrored by their parents and caregivers. And that God sees us and mirrors us
in human form in Jesus – who is perfectly God and perfectly human. Rev. Leslie
also talked about how we see and mirror others in our world, in our daily
encounters. If we are crabby and
impatient then we mirror that to those around us. And if we see others in context of their
circumstances and mirror them with loving kindness then the reality of their
lives can be revealed to us. Then we get the AHA! moment of knowing the others
to be like ourselves and like God. And the possibility of loving them with the
same passion and compassion with which God loves us is open to us. God sees us for who we are and mirrors back
boundless unconditional love. What happens then, when we see the other the way
God sees us? What happens when we see “the other” with boundless love as God’s
precious child?
In our Gospel today Simon, Andrew, Zebedee
and John are going about their daily work – fishing with their families and
co-workers, making a living, supporting their loved ones. And along comes Jesus – who is a
charismatically powerful man. So powerful
is his love and kindness that grown men, responsible for the livelihood of many
others, walk away from their jobs and take up lives accompanying this itinerant
preacher. “As he
went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who
were in their boat mending the nets. 20Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee
in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.” Immediately! AHA! There he is – the one we have been seeking
for centuries! Not an impulsive moment of irresponsibility, but a moment God
has had in the works forever. I can just imagine Zebedee’s father and the hired
men in the boat – where are you going? Come back, there is work to do! His sons
have had the AHA! moment of the loving call of Christ and there is no turning
back. Jesus has called them over and
beyond the love of father and mother, wife and children. And off they go. We don’t know if they went back to explain,
or make amends, or arrange support. We
only know that the working out of God’s great plan for mankind was in that
moment clear to the disciples who were called from the sea – so clear that they
dropped everything, everyone, the life they knew and followed him. Amazing.
Imagine for a moment that Jesus is visibly present here at St. Georges’.
He stands among us and we see him for who he really is – all God, all
human. The visible form of the invisible
God. What would that be like? It’s hard
to imagine the human Jesus sitting here in this pew. I have known a person who
have waited all her life for a vision of the living Christ to come to her – and
had not seen him and was bitterly disappointed.
The person I am thinking of wanted to SEE GOD and to be seen by God and
she wanted a sign, a vision, something concrete that let her know that God
loved her beyond any doubt, had not forgotten her. She felt forgotten and left behind because
she was dying of breast cancer and was convinced that God didn’t love her
anymore. She was my first hospice
patient and I was such a novice, I didn’t know how to address her concern and
so I was silent. Week after week she
told me how God had abandoned her because she wasn’t good enough. And I listened. I hurt for her and wanted to comfort her but
the evidence of God’s love that she craved had to be tangible and I was
unpracticed enough not to know what to say.
Until the day I had my Eureka! Ah! moment. She had asked me some questions about how I
became a hospice chaplain and why I did it.
She accused me of self-righteousness and pitying others who were dying
like she was. I felt hurt by what she
said and I started to cry. And then the words came out – God sent me to you,
there is no other way I could have found you.
We never would have met if God hadn’t called me to ministry in hospice –
I am the evidence that God loves you and I keep coming here because God loves
you and I love you too. She was shocked
into silence and became compassionate and loving toward me and patted my hair. We sat in silence for a while each in our own
AHA! moment. . And she reflected back to
me all the love God showered on her in that moment – once she opened her heart
to receive it. I see how it could have been different she said then. I regret
all the time I wasted being angry. But
it was part of the process – the leading up to her awareness that Christ is an
icon of God and that we are all icons of Christ for each other. Around us in
this church are icons of Christ, and we are all called now, immediately, in
this moment to turn and follow Jesus’ call to join him on the way. We don’t
know where we are going – it is an adventure! And this adventure of compassion
is what we were made for – to be Christ for each other and all the others in
the world with whom we come in contact.
May it be so.
Amen.
