Wednesday, March 24, 2004

The Gospel for The Annunciation of Jesus to Mary (March 25, 2004) Luke 1:26-38 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, you who enjoy God’s favour! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. And I tell you this too: your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ Mary said, ‘You see before you the Lord’s servant, let it happen to me as you have said.’ And the angel left her. -- The New Jerusalem Bible. 1995, c1985. Doubleday: Garden City, N.Y. A Study " ... the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness is on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters." -- Young, R. 1997. Young's literal translation. Logos Research Systems: Oak Harbor How similarly God incarnates us in His image and Himself as our Savior. The Spirit of God covers the waters in the first creation story, and covers Mary in the second. As far back into creation as anyone can take it, whether it be a cosmological scientist or a "creationist," a miracle is required to kick off creation. If there was only the singularity of infinite mass occupying an infintely small space that subsequently became the "big bang," or there was the chaos of nothingness -- waste and void -- something that is beyond our knowing happened. And everything else followed. Likewise, the essence of Christianity has miracles as milestones. Mary, a virgin, is visited by the angel Gabriel, as was her son's messenger's mother six months earlier; and thirty-three years later, the tomb stood empty. Two inexplicable events for Christians, save for the explanation of the hand of God. A Reflection However you choose to deal with the creation of the Universe, there's not a good scientific answer if you keep asking "... and what happened before that?" The Earth, our Solar System, our galaxy, and the countless galaxies beyond are the evidence of a Creator. "What evidence," the scientist asks, "is there for your Christianity?" "It is only in my heart," I must answer. Intellectually, I cannot rationalize what I know is the case. Scientifically, I cannot "prove" Jesus. In fact, if alien scientists were to run across the mythology of an ancient civilization that purported a virgin birth and a resurrection, they would all be skeptical, and so would we were it not for the knowledge that we have that comes from within us. Intuition, the "gut feel" of the certainty of a circumstance, is often all we have to guide us for our major life decisions. There's no scientific basis for choosing a spouse, we just know who's right. And if we have been properly reared to believe in a lifelong commitment to that spouse, we choose with that in mind, and divorce is seldom an outcome. Many successful persons in business will tell you that the most important decisions are made after all the facts are in, and weighed, and then set aside for the intuition of the accountable to make the final choice. The accountable are those upon whom an entire corporation's future rests, a few with the knowledge and experience and wisdom, who have been properly reared in business for a lifelong commitment to the stakeholders in the enterprise. Is not each of us then accountable for the decisions we make that affect the lifelong commitment we should have to ourselves? Even an atheist psychiatrist will tell you that if you don't love yourself, you can't love anyone else. The wisdom that we build from a life of making honest mistakes, gaining experience, should help us bolster the decision that we made very early, on faith alone, or late, based on the evidence we have seen change over our lives. In either case, I must use my intuition to make the choice to believe. Or not. My heart, my gut (the "bowels" were what our ancient forbears called what we call our "hearts," hence the gut) reaction is that of course I believe. The evidence my heart has produced over the years tells me that the goodness of God, manifest in Jesus, keeps all whom I love safe from evil, both here and hereafter. And tries to teach me to love all the rest. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Pour your grace into our hearts, O Lord; that we who have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought unto the glory of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen   9:04:03 PM    comment []

The Gospel for Wednesday, March 24, 2004 Mark 8:11-26 The Pharisees came up and started a discussion with him; they demanded of him a sign from heaven, to put him to the test. And with a profound sigh he said, ‘Why does this generation demand a sign? In truth I tell you, no sign shall be given to this generation.’ And, leaving them again, he re–embarked and went away to the other side. The disciples had forgotten to take any bread and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. Then he gave them this warning, ‘Keep your eyes open; look out for the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.’ And they said to one another, ‘It is because we have no bread.’ And Jesus knew it, and he said to them, ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not understand, still not realise? Are your minds closed? Have you eyes and do not see, ears and do not hear? Or do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ They answered, ‘Twelve.’ ‘And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ And they answered, ‘Seven.’ Then he said to them, ‘Do you still not realise?’ They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought to him a blind man whom they begged him to touch. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Then, putting spittle on his eyes and laying his hands on him, he asked, ‘Can you see anything?’ The man, who was beginning to see, replied, ‘I can see people; they look like trees as they walk around.’ Then he laid his hands on the man’s eyes again and he saw clearly; he was cured, and he could see everything plainly and distinctly. And Jesus sent him home, saying, ‘Do not even go into the village.’ -- The New Jerusalem Bible. 1995, c1985. Doubleday: Garden City, N.Y. A Study Of Jesus' reaction to the Pharisees' demand for a sign, K.S. Wuest quotes the the Expositors' Bible Commentary saying, “The sigh physical, its source spiritual—a sense of irreconcilable enmity, invincible unbelief, and coming doom.” Wuest, K. S. 1997, c1984. Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament  : For the English reader . Eerdmans: Grand Rapids How hard it must have been for Jesus to hear such demands from the most learned of the chosen children of God. It must have seemed that all the Law and the Prophets had achieved was to build a man-made institution surrounding the Temple and Torah. God had been nudged out of the picture, the Creator replaced by his creations. Adding to the frustration recounted in these few verses, his own disciples are worried about food because they have only one loaf among them. Mark has Jesus really pile it on at this point, using the same words and syntax he used in feeding the five thousand and then the four thousand, reminding them that the scraps they themselves had collected were far more than enough to feed many more than themselves. A Reflection Jesus had just warned them about the leaven of the irreligious. Leaven was synonomous with evil in that Hebrew culture, and to have his warning turned into a discussion about having enough bread must have made him wonder if the disciples would ever "get it." His warning to them fell on deaf ears. He picked these men, perhaps to show us that even those who seem least able to become His can become the first of all of us. Reading scholarship on Mark is frustrating; opinions of the learned vary from high praise for symbolism to low marks for inaccurate Palestinian geography. In the verses concerning the blind man, I am reminded that we often see as the blind man -- first not at all, then very poorly, and finally, when we are resurrected through the Christ as He promised, as He meant us to.   7:03:35 AM    comment []

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