Bring The Fattened Calf

" Jesus addressed this parable: 'A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.'
So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off for a distant country. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend his swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, 'Here am I, dying of hunger. I shall get up and got o m y father and I shall say to him, 'Father I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would one of your hired workers.'
While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His father ordered to his servants, 'Quickly bring the finest rob; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fatted calf and slaughter it.' "
- [Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32].


We live in an age when social media has enabled us to scrutinized others' lives with infinite detail. Ordinary citizens, as well as big media, weigh in on everyone's relative merits. It is as if we believe ourselves to possess the ultimate powers of judge, jury and Arbiter. Some of the enumerated demerits are deserved. Others are exaggerated or completely false.

Imagine a celebrity who, it was found out, abused women or children. We would be horrified. But imagine that we discover that this abuser was himself abused as a child. The celebrity's act of abuse is still horrifying. But things get more complicated when we learn about how haunted the accused is from his own past.

Imagine a celebrity who, it is found out, used corrupt means to earn more money. We would call out that behavior with vehemence, for the greed and evil that it is. But imagine that we discover that this greedy person is also struggling with drug abuse? The corruption is still wrong. But things get more complicated when we learn about the addiction.

In Luke 15, the older son does not run off to a life of dissipation, he does stay with his father and do the right thing, supporting his father's orders and working hard. The older son is visibly angry when the father welcomes home the dissolute son.

The older son says, "Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends."

But the father says to the obedient son, "My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found."

I think that the son with whom you most identify says a lot about you. I was once like the older son, a dutiful daughter who always did the right thing. And yet my brother, who made mistakes and sometimes made a mess of his life, was always receiving help and special treatment.

I felt angry and self-righteous. Why did I not receive more, when I was the one who was loyal and sober-minded?

It did not occur to me that I had already "won" by living my life in good standing. But my brother, who struggled, felt pain and believed he could not ever measure up, was "dying on the vine", and felt like he could do no right.

You see, there is a big difference between being Right and being Compassionate. Said another way, there is a big difference between Justice and Mercy.

In a world of only Justice, we can only harp on what everyone did wrong. We can never let anyone live down that one moment when he made a horrible mistake or did something awful. We can never allow anyone to have an epiphany moment, when a person has gained hard-won perspective and can see the awful mistake for what it was.

In a world of only Justice, even a plea agreement or a prison term can never let anyone move on and try to live a life that makes amends. Instead, we hunt the person down for the rest of his life; we corner him and trap him and flog him endlessly. We take away all his future earnings, we hound him in public, we always return to that one horrible chapter, while never allowing the possibility of redemption.

At the same time, in a world of only Mercy, every act is morally relative. We "live and let live". We declare, "I am the one in charge of my own life, to hell with anyone else."  It is individuality run amok.

We need both Justice and Mercy, friends. Justice establishes Right from Wrong. Mercy allows us to overcome our sins.

God sees us in all of our complexity, virtues and faults alike. God allows us to name what we did wrong, in the same way that the younger son says, "I have sinned against you and Heaven."  God allows us to change our ways and to reap rewards from our redemption.

God allows us the free will to make a mess of our lives, but to also own those mistakes and to be given the chance to rise again. He allows us to move past the dark chapters into the Light.

[Related Postings: "The Prodigal Son", 3/10/13; "The Prodigal Daughter", 9/15/13; "To Forgive is Divine", 3/9/16.]

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2019. All Rights Reserved.

The Well

"Jesus came to a town of Samara called Sychar . . . Jacob's well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink.' His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, 'How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?' - For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans. - Jesus answered and said to her, 'If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.' The woman said to Him, 'Sir you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water?'
Jesus answered and said to her, 'Everyone who drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.' "-[John 4: 5-42.]


In Biblical times, the well was a gathering place. People drew life-giving water, they shared news, they socialized, they met friends and strangers alike.


What is striking about this story is that Jesus- a Jewish rabbi or teacher- directly addressed a woman, who was also a Samaritan. Jewish people actually believed that any contact with a Samaritan would contaminate them. But also,  a male in those times would never approach or address a woman in public.

The woman of Samaria addressed this directly with Jesus, saying, "How can YOU, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?"

By addressing the Samaritan woman directly, and by even accepting a drink of water from her cup, Jesus purposely ignored the social conventions of separation.

There is more. Jesus continued His conversation, asking the woman, "Go, call your husband." The woman replied, "I have no husband." To which Jesus replied, "You are right when you say that you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you are with now is not your husband."  This Samaritan woman was not considered "respectable" by society. Yes, she might have been shunned by society, but Jesus confronted her directly.

It occurs to me that, in our modern times, we have also fallen into the desert of separation from each other. It would be all too easy to mock the "Olden Days" of the Biblical era, when a man and a woman could not address each other in public; or when a person of one religion or class could never mix with someone who is different.

But even today, Muslims and Jews do not mix, women and men do not mix, Republicans and Democrats do not mix, upper class people refuse contact with lower classes, blacks and whites do not speak to each other. Mother Teresa said, "If you judge someone, you have no time to love them."  Mother Teresa also said to love your neighbor; then, sadly she asked, 'Do you even know your neighbor?'

Sin also separates us from God. Isaiah 59: 2 says, "But your iniquities  have made a separation between you and your God."

Despite our race, our gender, our social class, or even our Sins, Jesus addresses us directly. He KNOWS us. We cannot and must not hide our face from Him. He knows our strengths, our weaknesses, our Sins. And yet He offers us His Love and forgiveness.

I have spent many years feeling broken and humiliated from childhood abuse. I have always put up a good front. I never wanted to burden anyone with my traumas or my brokenness. I have "fetched water" with a brave face on - run loads of wash, worked for a boss, raised a child, swept my front porch, weeded my garden, volunteered at my church, cooked dinner, paid bills, etc. - all the while pretending that everything was perfect with me. No would could see my wounds if I did not reveal any cracks.

But, the hardest I have ever cried in the last several years was when I read Psalm 139: "O Lord, You have searched me and You know me, You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down  . . . Before a word is on my tongue, You know it completely, O Lord. . . For You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. . . "

This same sort of feeling of "unmasking" comes over me when I enter my church. Do we not, all along, desire simply to be seen for who we really are?

It can be frightening to become "unmasked". But it can be a life-changing relief, as well. Suddenly, we don't have to put on a false front any longer. We can bask in that awesome feeling of being loved, despite - or maybe, because - of all our faults and our foibles.

The endless fetching of earthly water, says Jesus, will quench our thirst for a day. But the water which Jesus gives will become a spring of water leading to eternal life.

The Love of Jesus will heal us and lead us to deep springs of peace and strength. Our encounters with Him will enable us to ask, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.' -[Psalm 139: 23-24].

[Related Postings: "The Woman at the Well", 3/20/17; "The Living Water", 3/23/14;.]

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2019. All Rights Reserved.

The Crystal

"Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up to the mountain to pray.  While He was praying, His face changed in appearance and His clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory  . . . Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw His glory, and the two men standing with Him. As they were about to part from Him, Peter said to Jesus, 'Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.' But he did not know what he was saying. While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, 'This is my chosen Son; listen to Him.' After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.". -[Luke 9: 28B-36].


This story of Scripture is arguably the most beautiful in the Bible. Many would misinterpret this event as the moment when Jesus is taken up in glory, after His crucifixion. But, actually, no one witnesses Jesus' Resurrection. Jesus is laid in the tomb one moment and is gone before daybreak. It is Mary Magdalene who rushes into the tomb, fully realizing what has happened, that by Jesus absence, a miracle has occurred.

In Luke 9 here, Jesus is on the mountaintop, praying, and dazzling in appearance. Jesus' appearance is described as "His glory."

In the end of this "Transfiguration", a voice speaks from a cloud, saying "This is my chosen Son; listen to Him."  This disembodied voice is, of course, God. I always hoped that if God's voice came from out of a cloud, that He would have a lot more to say than the tautological and the obvious, "Here is my Son."

But the truly significant import of this statement is that God does speak to us mere mortals, if only we could listen and recognize who He is. After all, Peter, James and John are initially asleep and come very close to kissing the Transfiguration entirely.

And God in His Trinity points clearly to Jesus as His Son, in case anyone could doubt. This statement of God's is God's deliberate and firm affirmation of who God IS, in and of Himself, and in His Son.

Peter, helpful and pragmatic, proposes pitching tents. What a completely ordinary and earthly response to a wholly dazzling and supernatural moment. Not only does Peter betray his quotidian self, he apparently means to stay on the mountain awhile if he is building tents.

But Jesus and His disciples are meant to descend the mountain and do the difficult work of encountering other human beings.

In his book, "The Seven Story Mountain", Thomas Merton writes a beautiful metaphor about the Transfiguration. He writes that "Grace" is God's own life, shared by us. God's life IS Love.

Merton goes on to say, "The soul of man, left to its own natural level, is a potentially lucid crystal left in darkness. It is perfect in its own nature, but it lacks something that it can only receive from outside and above itself. But when the light shines on it, it becomes in a manner transformed into light and seems to lose its nature in the splendor of a higher nature, the nature of the light that is in it."

"So the natural goodness of man, his capacity for love which must always be in some sense selfish if it remains in the natural order, becomes transfigured and transformed when the Love of God shines in it. . . . Christ established His Church, among other reasons, in order that [humankind] might lead one another to Him and in the process sanctify themselves and one another. For in this work it is Christ Who draws us to Himself through the action of our fellow men."

Loving one another is incredibly difficult. Think of fractured relationships, bias, hatred, jealousy, war, abuse, conflict, egoism, manipulations. But loving one another is our WORK. We perfect ourselves on a spiritual level by loving others. We draw closer to the model of Jesus, the more and better that we love. We inspire others, in our Love, to work on loving more fully and more perfectly.

And to know Jesus and to try to imitate His virtues, is to draw closer to Jesus and to God.

Many today believe that Christians are intolerant, rules-bound, judgmental people who cannot possibly love someone who falls short of the glory of God.

The reality is that our job is to love one another, and to "lead one another to Christ."

One cannot love another if we hold ourselves apart as either superior or inferior to those around us. In this work of Love, we are in the trenches together.

Others may believe that the holiest Christian remains on the mountaintop, dazzling in glory but too transfigured to ever relate to someone who is all too imperfect, all too human. Yes, there is a place for the contemplative, cloistered life. But the vast majority, along with Jesus and the disciples themselves, descend from the mountaintop and confront the spiritual warfare that is Love.

Others still, believe that they are, in their natural state, a fine, very serviceable crystal. But, not believing in God, or deriving light from His Love, they won't fully perfect their spiritual potential.

In fact, Merton states, "Indeed, outside of Him [God], there is nothing."  Later in his book Merton writes of the time "in which he was to become conscious of the fact that the only way to live was to live in a world that was shared with the presence and reality of God."

Merton concludes from his realizations that "God has willed that we should all depend on one another for our salvation, and strive together for our own mutual good and for our own common salvation."

It is perhaps a shocking revelation today, that we shall all find our salvation together, or otherwise, we shall all perish together. In this age of personal identity and of individual needs overshadowing any sense of the collective community, the notion that we "should all depend on one another" is counterintuitive and even astonishing.

For we all possess the capacity to absorb the Divine Light, and to reflect it back unto the world. In fact, that is precisely why God placed us on this earth. But we cannot ever experience our own spiritual transformation or transfiguration, if we believe that we are individual cells, alone in the world and totally disconnected from each other - or divorced from the Divine Being.

Merton concludes, " We are born with the thirst to know and to see Him [God], and therefore it cannot be otherwise."

God's voice, emerging from a cloud, proclaims, "This is my chosen Son."  - But will we listen?

[Related postings: "Be Dazzled", 2/27/18; "Transfigured", 2/22/16; "This is My Son", 3/16/14; "My Transformation", 2/24/13; "Transfiguration of Christ", 3/5/12; "Transfiguration", 3/20/11.]

(C) Spiritual Devotional 2019. All Rights Reserved.

Temptation

"Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.  He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, he was hungry. The devil said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.' Jesus answered him, 'One does not live on bread alone.'
Then he took Him up and showed all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him, 'I shall give you all the power and glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All of this will be yours if you worship me.'  Jesus said to him in reply, 'You shall worship the Lord, your God, and Him alone shall you serve.'
Then, he led Him to Jerusalem, and made Him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: 'He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you,' and 'With their hands they will support you.' Jesus said to him in reply, 'You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.' " - [Luke 4: 1-13].


This Scripture forms the very basis of our Lenten practices. Because of Jesus' hunger, we give food to the poor. Because of the devil's holding out the temptations of power, we intentionally minister to the powerless, the sick or the imprisoned. Because of the devil's holding out the temptations of testing God, we strengthen our Faith.

But this Scripture also represents a warning about how to live. This account of Jesus, wandering the desert for forty days and forty nights, may seem like an exaggeration or even a metaphor, but its lessons are all too real.

Christians may not believe in a devil cast as an actual red man running around, with horns and a wicked grin. But, just as we believe in a Good and Holy Spirit, so we also believe in a Dark Side.

In the first temptation, the devil entices Jesus to turn a stone into bread. What is this about?

This is about our fixation on materialism and greed. We want all the bread, as much as we can grab for ourselves, and we want it now. It is also about the real temptation of taking shortcuts to gain the most "bread" for ourselves.

Perhaps we are thinking, WHO would do that?!

In the news this week: Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign manager, has been sentenced to many years in prison, for conspiracy, for witness tampering, and for bank fraud, and for hiding income overseas to evade taxes; and has just been indicted in NY state for mortgage fraud, such as inflating the value of properties or falsely stating material facts about the property in order to get a more favorable loan.

As the judge in his case said, this is about greed. "Why? Not to support a family  but to sustain a lifestyle at the most opulent and extravagant level" - referring to more homes than anyone could possibly live in, custom suits, expensive clothes.

Legal commentators have said that this was about "gaming the system".

Also in the news, arrests and charges against prominent people for conspiracy and bribes, aimed at gaining college admissions for their sons and daughters. Again, "gaming the system". Taking the easy way out of the college process. Magically turning stones into bread.

Also in the news, actor Jussie Smollett being indicted on 16 felony counts for allegedly staging a hate attack on himself; the motive reportedly being that he wanted a big pay raise.

I am often left wondering, 'WHY would people who are already intelligent, accomplished, and so very blessed, be tempted to commit these crimes?' Don't they already have everything?'

In my mind, while these folks may be richer, more prominent, more accomplished, they are just as prone to temptation as anyone else.

All of us are also just as prone to the temptations of power and of pride. A person who tests God and demands things, as proof of Divine Existence, is entitled - plain and simple. He thinks that even God owes us something.

It is all too easy to fall for the half-truths and the lies of temptation - "Everyone does it."  "Anyone who gets things by hard work and honesty is just a patsy." "You have had some rough times in life, you deserve this." "No one will know."  "You will never get anywhere unless you play the game." "This is just the way the world is."  "The rules are unfair, how can a guy ever get ahead." "You will get everything you ever wanted."  These half-truths and unctuous platitudes are no different than the devil telling Jesus, "All of this can be yours."

We are sucked in on a slippery slope of half-steps: "If donating money is merely 'getting into someone's good graces', then an outright bribe is no different- RIGHT?"  "I am in so deep now, I might as well keep going".  "If I take this money now, I can always repay it later and no one will notice."

My son is in his late teens now. I talk to him a lot about the things that are priceless and that no amount of money can buy - Love, hard work, respect for others, humility, patience. I tell him, Anyone can walk right over even his own mother to grab more power. Anyone can have more money than you, or a shinier car, or more fancy homes. These don't impress me - at all.

What I AM impressed with is the person who walks away from the corruption of power, from the greed, from the egotism that engenders entitlement, and from the lure of the easy way out.

I tell my son that we must all be vigilant against the Dark Side. Even if you have it all, the temptation is always there. No one is above the peril of temptation. No one.

And if you have perhaps less than you desire, but you fall for the easy way out, then you lose everything.

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2019. All Rights Reserved.

The Plank

" Jesus told His disciples a parable, 'Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? . . . Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,' when you do not even notice the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye.' " -[Luke 6: 39-15].


When I read this Scripture, I have to laugh. Yes, Jesus does have a sense of humor. He also has a perfect sense of the ironies of life.

I can imagine this story, in Luke 6, as part of a modern-day comedy routine, it is that fresh and modern.

We contemporary folks tend to dismiss Scripture as awkwardly worded with its thee's and thou's; or, as filled with archaic advice.

The fact is, the Bible is filled with advice that is just as relevant today. In Matthew, for example, Jesus teaches, "Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear . . . Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? . . . Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, [for] each day has enough worry of its own." -[Matthew 6:25-34].

And then, we encounter Luke 6.  Jesus asks, "Can a blind person guide a blind person?  Will not both fall into a pit?"

Martin Luther King, Jr. said essentially the same thing in his statement at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama: "The reason I can't follow the old eye-for-an-eye philosophy is that it ends up leaving everybody blind. Somebody must have some sense, and somebody must have some religion."  He gave the example of driving from Atlanta to Chattanooga with his brother one night. The cars traveling in the opposite direction were not dimming their lights, and so King's brother vowed, "The next car that refuses to dim the lights, I'm going to refuse to dim mine."

King told his brother, "Wait a minute, don't do that. Somebody has to have sense enough on this highway to dim the lights, and if somebody doesn't have sense enough to dim the lights, we'll all be destroyed on this highway."

In other words, somebody has to have sense enough to be kind, first.

I am struck lately about the amount of judgment and hate speech emanating from so many sources. [Of course, evil and criminal acts can, and must, be investigated and punished by the proper authorities].

Most of the news that is broadcast today is ALL about pointing out the splinter in the other guy's eye.  One political side will expose corrupt behavior about the other side. So, the other side will ratchet things up with an expose about the first guy's behavior.

The news media even has a name for this - "What about-ism".  News item: "What about the Republicans. Look what they did wrong." Next news item: "What about the Democrats. Look what THEY did wrong." What about, what about, what about. Endless counter charges, no solutions.

We can go along this way forever, until we are ALL blind.

The danger is that in my personal life, I can be lured into the same pattern of speech. In my daily life, I am finding that I have to fight to stay objective, and fight to insert positive observations into my talk. Consuming too much "blaming speech" tends to tempt me to lose sight of self reflection and discernment about my own behavior.

In Luke 6, Jesus suggests "Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye."

In other words, we have strayed very far today from the concept of minding our own frailties, first, before we excoriate the other guy.

We have also strayed very far today from the concept of removing the splinter from our brother's eye. In other words, instead of minimizing our own sins, or of skewering the other person, maybe we ought to pitch in and help the other guy to be a better person - in other words, help the other person to lighten his burden of blindness and darkness.

Because, in the end, taking care of our own soul and of our own spiritual health, does not always mean rubbing it in that we are right and the other guy is so very wrong. Spiritual health means sometimes exercising Mercy over self-righteousness.

No one likes a hypocrite. Jesus says as much here, very plainly - "You hypocrite! You do not even notice the plank in your own eye!"

After all, we are ALL sinners. And in a never-ending spiral of recriminations and hate, do we even see clearly enough to stop rejoicing at another's faults, long enough to put our energy into solving the real problems at hand?

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2019. All Rights Reserved.