A Fair Deal - Ordinary Time - September 21

Jonah 3:10 – 4:11

Psalm 145

Philippians 1:21-30

Matthew 20:1-16

         “That’s not fair!” The complaint plagues parents, educators, referees – anyone who makes decisions. Sometimes it comes from a perceived difference in treatment. Sometimes it comes from the perception of equal treatment. Everyone defines fair to their benefit; the decision-makers cannot win. Imagine God’s decision making process: “Jonah or Nineveh? Us or them? First century Christians or twenty-first century Christians? Who’s going to have a bad day?”

         As far as Jonah is concerned, I wonder if God could have given him a good day. Upon being released from the great fish, he probably pined for the coziness of the close quarters inside. God gave him a mission, but because of his view of himself and his view of the recipients of that mission, he acted contrary to his charge. Unlike the spies who hear the “should you choose to accept this assignment” qualification to their direction, prophets only hear, “your assignment….” Jonah still hoped God would have a change of mind. God did. God pardoned Nineveh – which Jonah knew would happen. He returned to pouting and hoped God would decide to smite them anyway.

         A first reading of the Gospel lets one ask, “what does God owe me?” The answer is pretty good: I get the same thing every Christian gets! A deeper reading though flips the question, “what do I owe God?” The answer is pretty rough: I owe God the same thing every Christian does. Suddenly, I do not see Jonah as the whiner; he has some good points. “They” are wicked: “I” am holy. “They” did not keep your commandments: “I” live according to your will…except for that one thing…and yes, that other….

         I am them. They are me.

         Since Easter Sunday I have been on a self-imposed hiatus. Honestly, it has been a self-imposed avoidance of anything religious. Through Lent and Holy Week I found myself responding to the texts with degrees of physical anger. How could the “Church” keep getting it so wrong? The Gospel I read left no doubt about Jesus’s message of inclusion yet dictate after dictate issued by various denominations established conditions of exclusion. I found myself fantasizing Nineveh² consequences on them.

         I was Jonah.

         Instead of reflecting on Scripture and other writings, I took up the gavel and pronounced judgment.

         Exactly the thing that in others led to such physical distress in me.

         I was them and it was killing me.

         It’s not fair! I had to embrace those who make me uncomfortable and “they” do not. Like Jonah, I fled.

         Last week, I heard the sermon one of my Tweeps (people I follow on Twitter) delivered. The message was simple but powerful: Don’t Judge. Exchanging the gavel for my collection of colored pens I use to notate the Scriptures I am studying removed the stress and anger that plagued me in the weeks leading up to Easter.

         What do I owe God? To do his will for me and not do his job (judge).

         What does God owe me? Only that which has been promised – the strength to do his will.

         That’s fair – whether I like it or not.

Advent - Week 1 - Hope

Scriptures

Isaiah 2:1-5

Romans 12:11-14

Matthew 24:36-44

The Advent season brings us to the start of a new liturgical year and preparation for the Christmas season. This year we begin with the powerful reminder that God set us apart from the rest of the world. We are required to stand out and demonstrate to the world the expectations God has for our interactions with one another. We have been given the power to live in the world, among everything that entails, while maintaining a standard above the world.

We can live this way because we look forward to the return of Christ and this Advent season we prepare for that return. As we know what Christ will do with his kingdom we can avoid the conflicts common in humanity. When the ultimate judge is coming, our conflicts suddenly seem pointless.

Standing apart from the world while being immersed in the middle of it challenges even the most faithful. None of us are perfect, but with the help of Holy Spirit and guidance from the Scriptures, we do our human best. We have support and knowing when to use them shows both wisdom and faith. We just need need to find the endurance to persevere until Christ’s return.

June 30 Ordinary Time

Today’s Scriptures: Lectionary selections from the Revised Common Lectionary Year C 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14 1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21 Psalm 77 Psalm 16 Galatians 5:1, 13-25 Luke 9:51-62

Today’s Reflection: These days everything in life seems to come with conditions. People often ask their leaders to make a decision – something cut-and-dried, black-or-white – when what they really want is some shade of gray. We want the wiggle-room of indecisiveness. We like changing our mind when the circumstances change. In today’s passages, we learn that God does not give us the option: our response must be yes or no. After Elijah fled to the desert to escape Jezebel’s threat, the Lord revealed his replacement prophet – Elisha. He found Elisha busy in the work of the fields, passed by and put his mantle over him. Elisha requested that he kiss his parents goodbye (translated: finish the work before him) and then he would follow. Elijah made it clear that was not what God wanted, so Elisha instead killed his oxen and cooked them using the wood of his plow to irrevocably cut his ties to his past. In the same way, Jesus gives cryptic answers, yet ones that called for immediate action in direction to his followers. A response cutting someone off from burying his/her parent or saying goodbye to family seems harsh on the surface, but in reality, the response was, “I will follow you when it is convenient,” and Jesus was not asking them to follow him, “maybe.” Elisha and Jesus’s followers were all in the middle of living their day-to-day lives when they received the Lord’s call. We are all in the middle of living our day-to-day lives. I have commitments booked months in advance on my calendar: “Oh just let me finish _________.” will always be a line I could use. Life will always be an obstacle in doing that which God calls us to do, so he does not allow us a “maybe” or “later” response. The only answers he takes are “yes” or “no.” Fortunately for us, when God calls us, he only has good things in store for us. While we may have to give up a certain good thing (our present circumstance) on faith for a better good thing (found in God’s call), we do know that it will be good. Our first task, though, is to say, “yes!”

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org