Weekly Thoughts

This is a continuation of some reflection material from "The Freeing of God", of the gospels for the Third, Fourth and Fifth Sundays of Lent. I hope you find them helpful.

(Luke 13:1-5) It’s at this point that some people come to Jesus to tell him about Pontius Pilate’s appalling treatment of Galileans. ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ they ask. ‘Is it because they’ve somehow secretly sinned?’ Jesus replies, ‘Do you still think it’s a question of God punishing you by making terrible things happen? Do you think God’s in the business of causing the deaths of your baby daughter or your father, in a tit-for-tat reaction to something you’ve done or not done? What kind of tyrannical despot does that make God to be? Why would anyone want to let that sort of God come close to them? Why should they?

‘No no no – my gracious Abba Father isn’t like this! God’s not in the industry of punishing; you might be, but don’t load that onto God! Don’t go running after scapegoats to blame when something calamitous happens, just so you can make yourselves feel virtuous and holy. Don’t castigate those you can’t stand, by saying “God hates them, and they made God cause this or that to occur”. Don’t you dare lumber that onto your Father!

‘Change your hearts from this sick way of seeing, to a much more expansive and true perspective: that we’re all in need of the mercy of God. Don’t waste another minute imputing blame on others, for it’s you who need to be transformed, to become a channel of God’s peace, co-suffering, co-joy and healing for the world – no matter what the circumstances. God sits and suffers in the mess with you, and is used to bringing grace out of grit, healing out of the catastrophes you cause, and renewal from the rubble.

‘Accidents happen and calamities erupt – so what’s going to be your response? Can you let these misfortunes make you ask a new set of questions, which in turn will lead you further into loving and living more humanly? Be part of the renewal and healing; don’t contribute to continuing the problem!

(13:6-9) ‘So the joys and sorrows that come your way provide opportunities for you to bear fruit. If you regard your life simply as one experience after another disconnected experience, and don’t let them take you more deeply into the heart of God and the heart of humanity, then you’re just like a fig tree that doesn’t bear fruit. Yet God will never give up on you and the world, and can’t ever give up on you and the world! Let the manure which inevitably gets dumped on you be the fertilizer for your soul! If you spend your life refusing chances to grow, then you’re choosing to be cut-off and dead – and God will respect your decision to remain dead. You’re forming your capacity to receive or refuse graciousness through the choices you make as you go along, and God can’t and won’t force you to come into the feast!’

(Luke 15:1-7) Now many of the “unacceptables” are crowding around Jesus, causing the good religious people to become even more upset. They begin to carp, ‘This man encourages backsliders and rule-breakers to flout God’s laws! He’s no loyal religious person if he does that!’

So Jesus uses some parables, to try to get through to those who sincerely want to hear what he’s trying to say. He declares, ‘God’s desire and passion is that everyone might live their life fully and truly. When you’ve wandered away from the call to live from your divine heritage, then God the Faithful One goes out to look for you – and won’t give up until you come home to yourself! This discovery needs to be celebrated, because like a shepherd who goes out to search for a sheep that’s wandered off, God does not and cannot give up on you!

(15:8-10) ‘Just like a woman who’s lost one of her valued ten silver coins, God doesn’t tire of searching high and low for ways to break through to you, and to tell you again of the dignity with which you’ve lost touch. My Father’s extravagant, and relishes using such an opportunity to joyfully lavish tenderness and compassion over you. In fact, the one who’s let herself or himself be found by God can come to know much better what God’s really like, than the person who thinks they’ve never made a mistake!

‘You may have considered yourself lost, but my Father’s been right there beside you and in you, wanting to make love with you. So don’t waste time by dividing up the world between “sinners” and “the saved”; you’re all God’s adult daughters and sons, and you’re all cherished! Be like God: rejoice when you see goodness budding in another, for their joy can be your joy!’

(15:11-19) Jesus continues with another parable. ‘There’s a man who has two sons. The younger son wants to obtain his share of his father’s estate before his father dies, so he can move away from his family as far as he can go, and to wring life dry by having a good time. In response to this request and without taking offence, his father sadly but magnanimously divides the estate between his two sons, and the younger son sets out! This son messes up his life very quickly though, through squandering and allowing himself to be used by others, and when he reaches the bottom of the trough, he realizes that even his father’s servants have more food than he does! So driven by sheer necessity but not much true sorrow for the way he’s treated his family (for in the act of asking his father for his inheritance, he’d really wished his father dead), the younger son returns, after carefully rehearsing his lines to get his father to take him back.

(15: 20-32) ‘Now the father’s been patiently waiting at the gate for many years, hoping seemingly against hope that perhaps his younger son might one day come over the hill. He’s an extraordinary father, for most patriarchs wouldn’t hang around at gates, and certainly they wouldn’t do what this father does: when he does perceive his son trudging down the road, the father runs to him. Runs to him! Not only that, but he puts a ring and sandals on him, and prepares a welcome-home party for the re-found son! Scandalous, to say the least! The father doesn’t demand of his son an accounting of how he’s spent the money; he gives no lecture on how sinful his son’s been; he delivers no finger-wagging moral instructions so the wayward son will do better next time.

‘Now it’s not long before news of the younger son’s return reaches the ears of the elder son, and when this elder son hears of the party to be thrown, he hits the roof! The elder son is the exact opposite of the younger: he’s dutiful and loyal, hardworking and uncomplaining. He’s stayed with his father through thick and thin (even though he too received his share of the inheritance at the same time as the other son) – yet throughout the years, his heart’s been carrying resentment, bitterness and self-righteousness. Outwardly he’s performed all the right things, yet he’s done them from the wrong disposition, and has locked himself into being offended.

‘His father, though, is full of compassion for both sons, and replies tenderly, ‘Never have I wanted to use guilt as a weapon. I want both my sons to share in the fullness of life, and all I’ve ever owned has always been there for both of you. There are no strings attached! You’re both my adult sons, and you’re both cherished! Be like God: rejoice when you see goodness budding in another, for their joy can be your joy!’”

Jesus has deliberately related this parable so his listeners can be staggered at the magnanimity of this gracious God, who’s scandalous in largesse. The story’s directed primarily towards the “good religious people”, who’ve become outraged, appalled and offended by Jesus’ openness and welcome towards the outsiders, and towards all those who haven’t been dutiful religious adherents for whatever reason. Such a lax attitude seems beyond the pale of acceptability – and the telling of this story contributes to sealing Jesus’ fate.

(8:1-6a) But Jesus decides to go to the Mount of Olives. Very early next morning, he again arrives at the temple, and all the people flock to him, so he sits down and begins to teach them. Suddenly the scribes and Pharisees appear with a woman who’s been caught in adultery, and rather than taking her to the Sanhedrin as they should, they drag her to Jesus. They set her in the midst of the crowd, and proclaim triumphantly to him, ‘Teacher, we’ve discovered this woman in the very act of adultery! Now as you know, the law of Moses has commanded us to stone such a person. So what’s your verdict?’

They ask him this not because they care one iota for the woman’s faith journey, nor for the way they’re scornfully using her as a pawn, nor for the man who also has been involved in the adultery, but simply so they can prove Jesus wrong and prove themselves right. They’ve invested some considerable time in keeping her under surveillance, waiting for the opportune moment to trap and exploit her to make their point. For there’s nothing like sins against the physical body to grab the headlines and to raise the ire of moral upstanding people, to distract from less titillating transgressions such as greed, pride and judgmentalism, which are the spawning grounds for violence.

If Jesus says “stone her!” then he’s broken the Roman law regarding an unapproved killing. If he says “don’t stone her!” then he can be accused of flouting the Mosaic law. They’re convinced that he’ll condemn himself, no matter what answer he gives.

(8:6b-8) But Jesus is weary of the stupid and endless blaming and shaming that people do to try to banish their soul-pain. So he stoops down and starts to doodle on the ground in the dust with his finger. By refusing to accept the mantle of arbitrator, he takes those assembled into the discomfort of silence. Time ticks on, and the accusers begin to feel as if they’re the ones who are on trial.

But unrelenting like a dog with a bone, they continue to pester Jesus and insist that he answer them, so he looks up and says to them, ‘Well – let the person who’s without sin cast the first stone at her! Who has not committed adultery in their heart? Who has not seized the moment to exploit someone, only to discard them when they’re no longer useful? Who has not been meek and mild to others on the outside, yet full of malice and hatred towards them within?’ And Jesus bends down and continues to write in the dirt.

(8:9-11) When the scribes and Pharisees hear this, the fervor for exposing the woman’s sins begins to evaporate. They begin to depart the scene one by one, beginning with the eldest – who have let the years teach them a little interiority – through to the youngest. For who would be game enough to make a public proclamation of their sinlessness? Jesus is left alone with the trembling woman. He stands up to return the look in her eyes, and says, ‘You’re a daughter of God, and God’s captivated by your beauty! Where have your accusers gone? Where are the ones who snooped on you? Does no one condemn you?’ She whispers hesitatingly, ‘No one, Lord.’

Jesus gazes at her tenderly and purely, saying ‘And neither do I! I take away the stones of blame and shame that have bashed and bruised you. Shaming others gets no-one anywhere except more trapped in their self-hatred. Go on your way now! Live from the love that you see in God’s gaze towards you, and you’ll find that you don’t have to look to another to tell you who you are. Be aware that the ache in every cell of your body to find completion, acceptance and total love is there because the urge for the divine Lover has been planted within you, and you were created to find completion in the One who’s first desired you!

‘It has been God’s gaze that’s haunted you through all those times when you’ve thought yourself alone and rejected, and although love has seemed so elusive, you’ve always been held within the eternal embrace – which is what you’ve continually searched and longed for, even if you haven’t been able to name it!

‘When people fear that love’s forgotten them, they do stupid things to try to matter, to be loved, and to be missed. God’s inviting you into a far more spacious place than what so many humans can serve up to you! Let your failures become the place where God can meet you in mercy; if you don’t, you’re bound to go searching for love from situations that can’t connect you with your divine Lover. And that’s living in sin, for you’ve forgotten the gaze! So go in peace, and don’t forget where you live – for where you live is in the heart of God!’