A17 Sunday 24 September 2017

         Homily for Sunday 24 September 2017
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp20_RCL.html#ot2
                                               Jonah 3:10 - 4:11

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There is a common theme to all three readings that we have heard this Sunday: mercy.  Specifically these readings point to Divine Mercy.  The optional reading from the Old Testament that we have not heard contains this theme also, but with an interesting twist.  The reading I'm referring to is the last verse of the third chapter and the whole of the fourth chapter of Jonah.

I must admit that of all the Old Testament prophets, Jonah is my favorite.  I say that because, like the apostle Peter, Jonah is real and unedited in what comes from his mouth with lightning speed.  The appointed reading from Jonah reveals for us a disturbed, even angry, prophet.  And with whom is Jonah angry?  He's upset with God.

As Christians, that makes us very uneasy.  We don't like to talk about moments when anger is directed towards God.  But today I invite you to set aside our anxiety at anger towards God and take a look at the experience of the prophet Jonah.  At the beginning of this very short book of the Bible, easily readable in one setting, we find Jonah as he as received the charge from God to go to the city of Nineveh, the ancient city known today as Mosul in Iraq.  Jonah wants no part of this charge.  He literally goes the opposite direction; westward to the sea.  He boards a ship heading who knows where in the attempt to run away from God.  In the midst of a storm at sea, he realizes that he is the cause of the storm.  He convinces those on the ship that they must throw him into the sea to save themselves.  When they do, the storm stops immediately.  A great fish swallows the prophet and returns him to the land.  God has shown mercy to the prophet who tried to escape the presence of God and who has been reminded that no one can ever succeed in fleeing from God.  On the land, God repeats the charge.  Jonah submits.  He goes to Nineveh.  He speaks against the city in the name of God, calling the city to repentance.  And when Jonah has completed his task, he finds a place outside the city to sit and await the judgment of God against the city.

But that judgment doesn't come.  Nineveh heard the Word of God proclaimed by the prophet and repented before God.  And when God saw how they repented, God forgave them and showed mercy upon the city.

Jonah is angry with God.  The Scriptures don't identify the offense of the city that was bringing about punishment from God.  And yet it is quite clear that Jonah believes the offense to be worthy of divine punishment that would mirror the judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah.  It is inconceivable in the mind of the prophet that these people could repent and that God would forgive.  Only when both occur does Jonah rationalize his initial response in which he tried to run away from the presence and calling of God.  He ran because he knew that God would forgive even Nineveh if the people of that city actually repented.  And make no mistake about the fact that Jonah was offended at that thought as a theory and angry when it became reality.  He was not drawn to proclaim with the prophet Joel that God is "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."  Jonah wants to be able to cast a vote on who is and who is not worthy of Divine Mercy, and then to watch judgment fall down like fire from heaven.

Before we jump on Jonah for his response over Nineveh marked by anger towards God, let's pause for a moment and ask ourselves: "Who is Nineveh for us?"  Who are those in our day and generation, in the world in which we live, who stir in us the emotions of Jonah?  Make no mistake about the fact that we believe some to be incapable of repentance and beyond the possibility of forgiveness by us or by God.  How ironic that is!  We parrot Joel for ourselves, delighting in the promises of God that give us confidence that whenever we repent, God will forgive.  And then we just as easily turn into Jonah.  I dare say that if it were not for the transformation of the Resurrection yet to come that shall change us to be more like God, that if we remained in the world to come as we are in this world, we might be as angry with Jonah to see who God forgives in response to repentance and ushers into the eternal kingdom.

Only, my friends, we are not called to await that transformation of the Kingdom of God for the world to come.  We are called here and now to grow daily in the knowledge and love of God, to embrace even now the transformation of the heart that makes us more and more like the God who is "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."  And as we grow in grace in the Kingdom of God, we are challenged again and again to consider who is worthy of grace.  The disturbing truth that arises from this growth is that the very last person whom we would deem worthy of Divine Mercy has as much right to forgiveness as do we.  The moment that we make grace in terms of worthiness, either for us or someone else, we are no longer speaking of grace or mercy.

Thankfully God is always longing for mercy.  The final word of Jonah's story is God speaking to Jonah about mercy and defending the forgiveness of Nineveh with tenderness and mercy even for the angry prophet.  We don't know how Jonah responded.  I'd like to think that when God's heart was fully opened to Jonah that the prophet repented of his desire to see punishment fall down upon Nineveh and his anger when repentance lead to forgiveness.  We cannot say whether that happened.  But what we can speak of and embrace is the commitment to joy when we encounter the mercy of God wherever it is found, and to repent for those moments when we have desired something else for anyone else.  And, thanks be to God, whenever we repent, God is always quick to receive our repentance and to grant unto us the forgiveness that leads to eternal life and transforms our hearts more and more to be like the Divine Heart from which mercy and grace flow for the healing of all that God has made and loved.

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                                   Father Timothy Alleman
                                                                  Rector
                         The Church of the Holy Cross
                                                 Wilkes-Barre, PA

1015 Reflection -- Matthew 22:1-14

Sunday 15 October 2017

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Matthew 22:1-14 (NRSV)

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

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There are two focal points in this Gospel.

1. Invited guests with excuses to rationalize their absence.
2. A wedding guest without a wedding garment.

#1: Absent Invitees...

We who hear this Gospel are called to a wedding banquet. In some sense, this side of the Gospel needs to be proclaimed for those who are not at the banquet. And yet it is those who are at the banquet who hear these words. The Mass, every time it is celebrated, is the wedding feast of Christ and the Bride. We who are the Church are the Bride. We are called regularly to be present as the Bride at the Mass. And when we are absent, often we have a laundry list of reasons for our absence that resembles that of the invited guests in this Gospel. The terms may be somewhat different, but the heart of them is the same. Some of us who are present wish all these distractions would just go away. They will not! As Christians, who are the bride, and not merely guests, we should long to be present not simply when there are no distractions, but in the knowledge that all else falls lower on our priorities than keeping the marriage feast of Christ and the Church.

#2: Improperly Attired Guest...

So here we are at the Wedding Feast. And here we might face some trepidation. To be present at this feast in a genuine way in which we are fully prepared is to know that "I have no wedding garment." But the wonder of this feast is that when we are most fully aware of our nakedness, or our "dirty rags," Christ clothes us in a wedding garment that is always and only gift and grace beyond compare and understanding. This is our Baptismal Garment. When Christ claimed us in the sacramental waters, he took off our rags, washed our nakedness, and clothed us with himself. And now that we are clothed in Christ, we are worthy only through grace and never by right to stand in the presence of the bridegroom and keep the feast.

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman

1008 Reflection -- Isaiah 5:1-7

Sunday 8 October 2017

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Isaiah 5:1-7 (NRSV)

Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!

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This is a pretty sad reading. It should be pointed out that what is at the heart of this reading is not merely a vineyard. The image of the vineyard points to a beloved, of whom the lover of the beloved speaks here in lament. This is the picture of unfaithfulness and of the sorrow and pain caused by this rejection of loving relationship. Only, it's not merely unfaithfulness here in this account. Isaiah is the medium but not the lover. The one who truly speaks through the words of the prophet Isaiah is God. The one of whom God speaks is the people of God as a single being. Thus the unfaithfulness here is the breaking of the commandment and covenant that none other than God would be the first love of the people. And so in a very real sense this is idolatry and unfaithfulness.

I am a little surprised this makes it into the lectionary, given what I have said in the past about "omitted portions that make us blush." After all, the response initially of the lover is the rejection of the beloved who has first rejected the lover. For a moment, we are left with the image of God who turns his back to the people, the beloved of God, who appears to be confirming that he is no longer their God and they no longer his people.

And yet there is something interesting to note here. At this point Isaiah has yet not been called by God to be a prophet. That moment of call comes in the next chapter (Isaiah 6). That is a reminder that, as the prophet Joel proclaims, God "is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing" [Joel 2:13b]. From among the unfaithful and idolatrous beloved, God finds a prophet who will be faithful even when the masses are not. And in the call of Isaiah, there is the promise of a remnant who will, with Isaiah, turn aside from unfaithfulness and cling to their first love.

Alas, then, the sadness is washed away, even if by tears. And in that washing away, we are called in our own day and generation to remain faithful and committed to the God who is faithful even when we are not.

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman

1008 Reflection -- Matthew 21:33-46

Sunday 8 October 2017

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Matthew 21:33-46 (NRSV)

Jesus said, “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

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This is an interesting reading to be sure. Where I am presently stuck with this is wondering "does this preach?" And at present, I'm leaning towards no. And yet just to read this is intriguing. I find myself on the verge of yelling in disbelief: "Why would you think that they would respect your son?" If, after all, they were respectable people who show respect, they would have shown it to those who came prior to the son. Instead the son's presence conjurs up a more harsh and disrespectful response than was shown to those who came prior.

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman

1008 Reflection -- Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Sunday 8 October 2017

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Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 (NRSV)

God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.”

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This reading presents us with familiar texts. The decalogue, more commonly known as "The Ten Commandments," is very well known to us. Sometimes we need to imagine it isn't. When something is well known, we tend to tune it out. And when we do so here, we're stuck with "commandments." And since a good many of us have a rebellious streak, we miss grace and mercy in this text. But these elements are present. In these 10 Words of God, if we can see and hear afresh what lies before us, as if for the first time again, there is a powerful reminder that the God who knows best longs for us to do what is best and life-giving in our relationships both with God and with one another. This need not be something to be viewed as heavy and oppressive, and thus to be rebelled against. This truly is a gift.

Is it an easy gift? No! Only one person has walked this earth and kept the decalogue fully without missing the mark of these words. Thankfully we have the confidence that this one who alone is perfect, Jesus, is the very one who comes to our assistance again and again to shepherd us in the right direction when we miss the mark.

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman

1001 Reflection -- Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32

Sunday 1 October 2017

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Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32 (NRSV)

The word of the Lord came to me: What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge”? “As I live,” says the Lord God, “this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Know that all lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child is mine: it is only the person who sins that shall die.

Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is unfair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? When the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity, they shall die for it; for the iniquity that they have committed they shall die. Again, when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what is lawful and right, they shall save their life. Because they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die. Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is unfair.’ O house of Israel, are my ways unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, all of you according to your ways,” says the Lord God. “Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone,” says the Lord God. “Turn, then, and live.”

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I always wonder at gaps in the lectionary. My mind races to thoughts of what made someone blush or get angry, or perhaps something else, and determine that portion had no place in the reading.

As it turns out, these omitted verses are actually quite helpful for the point of the reading. Their omission takes away the divine punch that drives home the judgment of God that one is accountable only for their own sins and offences. These omitted verses go to specific cases to bring this from theory to an applied reality.

The reading ends on an even better note. The final word from God through the prophet is a reminder that God does not wish for anyone to suffer from their sins. God desires to wipe the slate clean and give healing. God longs for life; the life of sinners. And thanks be to God for that. After all, we are those sinners.

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman

1001 Reflection -- Exodus 17:1-7

Sunday 1 October 2017

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Exodus 17:1-7 (NRSV)

From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

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It's a good thing I'm not God. Just reading these passages week after week as of late makes me shake my head in frustration. The people grumble against Moses and Aaron and God so much they become like the joke of the comedian of our day who talks about someone stuck in the shower endlessly because the directions on the bottle say "rinse, lather, repeat" but no direction to "get out and try it again tomorrow."

In spite of their behavior, God continues to provide for them. And with each passing time we wonder if maybe at last they will no more grumble but rather have confidence that God will provide all that is needful. Somewhere in that hope, of course, we need to embody these people and that hope. We don't hear this in order to make fun of our spiritual ancestors. This is intended to show us that God does always provide, and that we need not grumble, but rather trust in God.

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman