Preacher: Rev. Jenn Geddes

Sermon for Nov. 14, 2021
Honour and Sacrifice: Remembrance Sunday
          One never knows what they might find when renovating an old house. Veronique Cote knows that better than most. She was renovating her home in Chambly, Quebec. It was time to remove the old papers and put in proper insulation. She began the arduous task and was pulling out all kinds of old newspapers that had been stuffed between the wall when all of a sudden an envelope fell to the floor. Inside the envelope was an 8 page love letter dated Sunday, May 23, 1943, written by Lt. Robert Macfarlane to his young wife Jean Macfarlane. A portion of the letter stated, “My dearest wife, I’ve just come in from a walk of a few miles and thought I would write down, if I could, some of the things I’ve been thinking about you, things that are deep in me but that I’ve expressed perhaps only rarely to you, I hope you won’t find it too sentimental. I don’t think you will, I know I never do when you write that way to me.” Veronique says that it was a beautiful letter about how much this engineer serving in the Canadian Armed Forces overseas deeply missed his wife. Veronique wanted to know the end of the story, wanted to know if Lt. Macfarlane made it home. She posted a picture of the envelope on social media and hoped that she might learn a thing or two about Robert and Jean. The next day, while she was back at work removing the paper between the walls, there was a knock at the door. The 70 year old man at the door introduced himself as Bruce Macfarlane, son of Robert and Jean. A friend had phoned him just 12hrs after the post went up. Macfarlane had grown up in Chambly and from the Facebook post describing the letter, he recognized the house where it had been found. He decided to drive from his home in the Eastern Township about 115 kilometres away and see the letter for himself. Robert did indeed return from the war and grew the Macfarlane family. This is just one of many stories of  sacrifice that we know took place and takes place amongst our armed forces families. Sacrifice is a funny word because it is usually made in reference to an offering towards a deity, but in this case we are talking about giving up or surrendering a part of ourselves in the service of others. The widow in our scripture passage today displays sacrifice as she makes a small offering at the treasury.

The passage we hear today occurs in two different places amongst two different groups but the two situations are closely related and linked to all that Jesus has been preaching and teaching for the last little while. In the first scene Jesus is in the temple amongst a mixed audience, disciples, followers, religious leaders, likely a few scribes too. In the next scene Jesus is opposite the treasury, within the temple grounds or nearby and he calls to only his disciples to make his final point.

Jesus has been teaching in the temple for the last few chapters. He has been fielding  of all sorts of questions about the resurrection and David’s son. Our reading picks up at Jesus’ cautionary words about the scribes who walk around with their swelled heads and expecting esteem as they make their way through the market place. Yet, as they take up the best seats in the house they are also devouring the widow’s houses. It is unlikely that Jesus meant that the scribes were literally devouring widow’s homes but perhaps it was the result of either demanding tithes from the widows beyond what they could afford or mismanagement of the widows’ assets with which the scribes would have been entrusted. Either way the scribes are behaving badly.

In the next scene, however, Jesus then points to an example as he sits opposite the treasury and sees a widow put in two copper coins. In this two part story Jesus is transforming our understanding of honour and sacrifice. Those who are listening to Jesus’ warning would have typically either been the scribes expecting respect in the market place or those who gave respect to the scribes in the market place. Yet with his follow up example Jesus is declaring that it is the widow who sacrifices much and therefore it is the widow who deserves honour. This would certainly have surprised the disciples who would likely have had pity for widows but not honour.

It is also perhaps surprising that this widow gives so much. Two copper coins, or lepta, was the smallest denomination in first century Palestine. Jesus seems to know about this particularly widow’s financial situation and states that she has put in her whole life. Truthfully, the NRSV version that we heard does not give a proper translation. The Greek expression is olon ton bion autes which means, “her whole life”. Yes, she puts in everything she had but really, she puts in what her life depends upon.

I read a commentary by Amanda Brobst-Renaud in which even our traditional reading of this text may be in need of some transforming. Yes, this is a story about stewardship and giving all that we are to God. But, what perhaps we might begin to wonder is, in relation to Jesus’ warning about the scribes devouring widow’s houses, why is the widow who gives two copper coins so poor? And why is she giving to a clearly broken system? Why does this woman sacrifice everything to an institution that has devoured her house?

You know, over the past year in particular, I have had a lot of conversations about why the church still matters, especially as we reflect on horrendous moments in the church’s history like the residential school system. One of the reasons I remain in the church, is not because of the story of redemption or salvation or grace, but because the church is often a broken system- and the only way it can be fixed is by sacrificing time, energy, and finances in trying to make it more like the kingdom of God. I suspect that many of my friends who serve or have served in the military feel somewhat similar. They serve not because it is the perfect system but because they want to work towards providing hope and peace and justice in a broken world.

Brobst-Renaud says, “Perhaps this widow’s house has been devoured as she gives the last of it to a broken system. Maybe this widow places her whole life in the treasury (not because she trusts the scribes but because) she trusts God with all she has and all she is. Maybe the widow’s offering is both an expression of trust in God in the midst of the world comprised of broken people, systems, and communities of faith…Those whose sacrifices provided for the temple financially were not the ones who gave the most. Rather than lifting up those with power and influence in the community, Jesus identifies the widow as having given more: she gives herself.”

This past week we took a moment to reflect and remember people who sacrificed their youth, their love, their efforts,  gave themselves up for our country, an often broken country, but this sacrifice represents hope, and for many trust in God. Giving of our whole lives to God means that the systems that are broken have a chance to be fixed. It forces us to ask the question, where do we put our energy, our finances, our time, our sacrifice, and our patience? Who do we honour?  How do we give of ourselves so that the kingdom of God, the realm of peace, and hope, and love, has a chance? When we remember- it is also an opportunity to reflect on how we can do our part to make it better.

As we think about how we can give of ourselves to fix a broken world or system and to demonstrate our trust in God,  I’m going to close today’s meditation with words written by F.B. MacNutt from his book A War Primer: an Anthology of War Prayers, Intercessions, and Prayers of Devotion:

We arise today with the power of God to guide us, the might of God to uphold us, the wisdom of God to teach us, the eye of God to watch over us, the ear of God to hear us, the word of God to give us speech, the hand of God to protect us, the way of God to direct us, and the shield of God to shelter us. Amen

 

Parables: Lost Son
The Rev. Jenn Geddes
          Most of you have seen my desk in the office. When you receive my updates entitled “A Message from the Minister’s Messy Desk” it is quite genuine. My desk looks like chaos. Real research by Arif Dalvi of Palm Beach Neuroscience Institute has discovered that a messy desk is one of the signs that you might be a genius. I’m not sure if that’s true in my case but I do know that when my desk is a mess I still know where everything is, most of the time. It is the minute I clean said desk that I am no longer capable of finding the information I need at the appointed time. And when I loose something I get so frustrated especially if I KNOW I have seen said item just moments ago but can’t quite remember where. Jesus tells three parables about loss back to back in the Gospel of Luke. First there is the lost sheep, then the lost coin and the trilogy is completed with the parable of the Lost Son- often entitled The Parable of the Prodigal and His Brother.

The Parable of the Lost Son is arguably one of Jesus’ most well known parables. Even people who have never heard the story, have heard the term prodigal, usually in reference to a wayward family member. Many of you have probably heard numerous sermons interpreting this parable most often comparing the father to God, the prodigal to the outcasts or tax collectors or sinners of Jesus’ day and the eldest son being compared to the pharisees. There is nothing overtly wrong with this interpretation- it is an interpretation that has been shared for centuries. What my course attempted to do and what I am going to attempt to do today is look at some alternative ways of reading this well known parable. But really, I’m not a genius. I not only using notes from my class but for this parable I am using the book, Short Stories by Jesus by Amy-Jill Levine. Amy-Jill is really interesting because she is a professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School. She is a self-described, “Yankee Jewish feminist who teaches in a predominantly Christian school in the buckle of the Bible Belt.” As a result, she has a really interesting perspective on some of the parables of Jesus.

As I mentioned this is part of a trilogy of parables about loss. The first was a parable about one lost sheep among a hundred. The next was a parable about one lost coin amongst ten. The parable of the lost son is distinct not only because it references one lost son amongst two but also because in those first two parables the man and woman diligently search for the lost item. The shepherd wanders around the countryside looking for the sheep. The woman sweeps under every piece of furniture looking for the coin. However, the father in our parable does not search. We do indeed get the impression that the father is waiting for his son to return but the father never goes after him when the son first leaves. This might be the first indication that the lost son, is not the one who wanders off into a foreign land. We might be getting a head of ourselves but another distinction is that the first two parables end with a party. This parable ends with two men standing in a field. Another indication that we might need to think about a different son when looking at this parable.

But let’s start at the start. The parable begins with “There was a man who had two sons.” Now, if you know your Biblical history you know that the relationship between brothers was not always positive. There are many men who have had two sons who did not get along. Adam had two sons, Cain and Abel. Abraham had two sons Ishmael and Isaac. Isaac had two sons Esau and Jacob. Jacob had many sons, but one favourite. Joseph had two sons. And do you know what most of those two sons had in common? The eldest son, who is supposed to get the descendant blessing, is often the one who gets cheated or murdered or rejected. There is a pattern throughout the old testament that most of the people hearing this parable would have understood. That elder sons usually end up with the short end of the stick. So, as the parable unfolds the audience would not have been surprised at hearing that this younger son is doing something conniving. Nor would they have been surprised at the father’s enabling reaction of just handing over a portion of his wealth.  It becomes increasingly more challenging to see God as the father in this story because the father is the one who bends and enables and acquiesces. God is not a push over, but this father is.

The prodigal then runs through his money in a foreign land and eventually he faces a big problem- starvation. I have always read that when the son comes to himself and decides to return to his father that it was out of contrition. But what if his repentance came from desperation not remorse. Levine claims that first-century listeners would not have heard contrition but more conniving as he plots a return home. Nor is this son “found” but rather that he “comes to himself.” Another key that there is more manipulation in this son’s words of “I have sinned against heaven and before you” is that they echo what Pharaoh said in Exodus 10, “I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you.” Levine says, “The lost son is no more repentant, has no more change of heart, than Egypt’s ruler.” This idea is deepened further when he recites the exact same words upon seeing his father. Interestingly the Father’s reaction of placing nice garments and a ring upon this son reminds us of the reunification of Joseph with his father in Egypt. And the father in our parable continues to enable this son by spoiling him.

Which brings us to the eldest son. The eldest son is in the field- and as he approaches the house, the party is already underway. Unlike the shepherd who searched for his sheep, unlike the woman who looked for her coin, no one runs to invite the elder son to the feast. In fact, no one noticed he was missing. His alienation is palpable. It is only after the eldest son refuses to go in that the father goes out looking for him. The elder son is the one who has been lost. The father goes out and pleads with him, other translations also say, comforted him. But years of resentment boil over for this elder son. Actually the eldest son even seems to remove himself from this familial relationship by stating, “your son”, not “my brother”. This son no longer wants to be part of this dysfunctional family. But the father pushes further and attempts to reconcile and restore. “In correcting the elder’s phrase “your son, this one” to “your brother, this one” the father reminds his child that the relationship exists between the two of them. Were either brother to be missing, the family would not be whole…when personal resentment overrides familial and cultural values, we all lose.”

As you can see there is a lot going on in this parable. But you know what doesn’t happen? Forgiveness. In fact, no one really expresses sorrow at hurting each other at all thus creating no reaction of forgiveness. Even the father doesn’t say he has forgiven the younger son, he simply says that was lost has been found. Perhaps the alternative message to this parable is- celebrate first, forgive later. Levine says that the message of this parable is, “Don’t wait until you receive an apology; you may never get one. Don’t wait until you can muster the ability to forgive; you may never find it. Don’t stew in your sense of being ignored, for there is nothing that can be done to retrieve the past. Instead, go have lunch.” We can also read this as a cautionary tale, do not take what is right in front of you for granted. Any of us who have lost someone, whether through death or broken relationships know this lesson well.

Perhaps Jesus was indeed speaking to the Pharisees in this parable, stating that they are still part of this family of God. Perhaps this is a parable of compassion for broken families. The beauty is that there are multiple ways to read this story.  I’ve been the father, enabling people, even pushing people away. I’ve been the younger son, distracting myself with partying it up rather than planning for the future, and as an actual older sibling, I’ve been the elder brother. But as I think of loss in my life, at least at this juncture, I think I will focus on how resentment hurts relationships. And as a member of the family of God- we have a lot of relationships to celebrate no matter how complicated they are!So, let’s have a party! Amen

 

 

The Parable of the Sower
The Rev. Jenn Geddes
          In the small rural town of Ripley, Ontario one can find the Bruce Botanical Food Gardens. Ripley, like many small towns across this country, has faced economic challenges as job opportunities are sparse and younger generations are moving away. It is also a town that has this interesting mix of long time farmers, young entrepreneurs, newly retired cottagers and old order Mennonites. In 2012, members of the community from all those walks of life, founded the Bruce Botantical Food Gardens as a non-profit organization, with the mandate to address the issues of food insecurity, sustainable agriculture and the issues faced by the small family farms through tourism, education, hands on experience and cultural activity.  The Bruce Garden’s main focus is not only on growing sustainable food but providing education so that people can foster self-sufficiency when it comes to growing food. Now, I know that BBFG is not the only garden of it’s kind and we have programs in the Comox Valley that have a similar mandate but to be perfectly honest I am partial to the gardens in Ripley because any time I visit the family’s cottage, not far from Ripley, a picnic at the gardens is a must. It’s not a huge space but in each patch one can find a unique kind of grain, or an interesting bean, or Ripley’s own apple variety!  You might not think that a region known for it’s agriculture, needs to worry about food security but in truth between cash crops and a struggling economy, food insecurity is a very real concern- even here in Comox, the land of plenty, there is a serious issue with food insecurity. I found that between our traditional celebrations of Thanksgiving Sunday and the focus on the Parable of the Sower I was struck by thoughts of food insecurity and the importance of knowing where our food comes from, and knowing how to sustainably grow food! A funny thing happens when you think about sustainability as you read the parable of the sower.

Like last week we are going to look at this parable through a different lens. In many of Jesus’ parables there is a relationship between the natural order of things and God’s kingdom. Think of the short parables like the mustard seed or the weeds and the wheat or even comparing the kingdom of heaven like a fishing net. There is an inward affinity between the kingdom of God and the natural world in part because the natural order of things IS the kingdom of God. For example, in the parable we’re focusing on today, seeds are meant to be scattered and grow.  But it is also not that simple. My professor this past summer said, “You can’t just observe a parable and get a meaning, you have to “get your hands dirty” and make decisions in order to find a meaning”. At the end of the passage, Jesus seems to imply that he speaks in parables precisely because they are hard to understand! When Jesus says “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables,” what I think he is saying is that parables contain revelation about God’s kingdom.  Only in Mark is it implied that as a result, there are both insiders and outsiders to the understanding of what God is doing. It gets messy, dirty even, but we have to get our hands dirty if we want to walk away with meaning.  And there is no better way to get one’s hands dirty than plunging them into dirt. Which ironically, the sower in our parable does not do!

First of all it needs to be pointed out that in most of our translations the title of this section already influences how we read this parable. In the NRSV, just as it is in this sermon title, the parable is called “The Parable of the Sower”. Automatically, rightly or wrongly, our focus is on the sower. And truthfully, if we read this parable with a heart towards food insecurity, this sower is sloppy and wasteful! As the sower is sowing his seed some falls on the path and immediately birds come and eat the seed. Now as a bird lover who likes to feed birds I don’t necessarily see those seeds going to waste. Rather they have nourished the birds. But then some seed ends up on rocky ground which produces a rapid crop but since it does not have much depth of soil these plants wither and die. And then you have seed that ends up among some pretty nasty thorns that chokes the plants and again they die. Now any of us who use green spaces in the Comox Valley know how rocky our soil can be AND how invasive thorny bushes like Himalayan black berry can be! And most of you who grow fruits and vegetables would know better than to toss seeds into or around either rocky soil or thorny bushes. Yet, as the parable teaches us, some seed does indeed fall on good soil and the yield that grows is quite large.

Back to this discussion about the title it is curious that it is traditionally called the parable of the sower when in reality the seed and growing conditions are really the stars of the story. I have also avoided Mark’s version of Jesus’ interpretation of the parable for two reasons. First, the interpretation differs in both Mark and Luke, as well as the Gospel of Thomas in which this parable also appears. Second, because as was mentioned last week parables have more than one meaning. As we studied this parable the professor turned to the class and asked, “What does this parable mean to you?” and I was amazed at the beauty and variety of interpretations. Here is some of the surprising wisdom that I learned from my fellow classmates.

One student, a priest in the United Methodist church in the Southern United States said, “God tosses us into the world but we are all subject to our own environment. Yes, we are all victims of our circumstances but there are different seeds that thrive in different soils.” Another, a single mom just starting her studies at VST replied, “this parable tells me that we all have to try and grow no matter our conditions.” And another, a former Bay street financier now studying for her Mdiv said, “Growth is experimental and we just need to throw things out there to see if they will grow.” And the professor responded, “Yes! Notice how this parable never mentions bad soil. All the seeds served a purpose.”

Perhaps this sower was being a little less wasteful than I originally thought because the act of throwing the seed is one act. Meaning the sower didn’t throw some of the path and then throw some on rocky ground, then some among thorns and finally some of good soil. Rather the sower threw it all in one fell swoop. Here is more of that surprising wisdom; in this parable everything has a measure of success and failure built in, the loss is part of the harvest, because ultimately it is a good harvest. This parable challenges our notion of success and success doesn’t always look like a fruitful harvest. Now, within the literal sense of harvest this isn’t necessarily true. This year, due to drought, floods, fires, pests, and a shortage of workers, harvests around the country are struggling. So to say that a success doesn’t always look like a fruitful harvest to a farmer is a little dismissive of real concerns. The same goes within the context of food security. It’s why gardens like the Bruce Botanical Gardens also include sustainability within their awareness programs. However, read allegorically, this parable demonstrates that being fruitful, also means, throwing things out there and risking that they may or may not grow.

I don’t know this absolutely but I am sure that when the Botanical Gardens were founded they encountered a few nay-sayers. People who said, growing a Food Garden in the heart of an agricultural region was a waste of time and nothing would come out of it but the founders had a passion and desire and failure, while always possible, would have helped their determination grow. As we continue to work within the parameters of a pandemic we have to think about our growing conditions. God has tossed us into these conditions- how are we going to grow? If growth is experimental how are we going to experiment in this time?  What purpose will our seeds serve?And it’s ok if our seeds end out serving a purpose we did not expect. And most importantly be thankful for the abundant harvest God has provided for us- where opportunities for growth are unending. Amen

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for Oct. 3, 2021

The Parable of the Feast

Luke 14:15-24

The Rev. Jenn Geddes
          Like most children my age I was a huge fan of Robert Munsch. I mean, who doesn’t love the story of the Paper Bag Princess, which celebrates 41 years since publication this year. When my brother, at the age of five ended up in hospital due to appendicitis and one of the side effects of the surgery is a lot of passing gas he received the book Good Families Don’t by Munsch and we howled at the story. And I don’t know any parents or grandparents who can’t be brought to tears by the beautiful story Love You Forever. Robert Munsch is not only a good story writer but an excellent storyteller. He has an intonation to his voice that keeps the listener engaged. I know this personally because I have seen him live, twice, once as a child and once as an adult. The thing about good storytellers is that the stories they tell stick with you.  In fact, when one of us is making clanging noises in the kitchen the other will shout out “Clang, clang, rattle bing bang gonna make my noise all day!” If you raised children in the 80s you may already know that this comes from Munsch’ story Mortimer Be Quiet. While I wasn’t around to witness it personally, I know Jesus was a good storyteller. Now perhaps you think Munsch’s stories are a bit trite compared to Jesus’ parables but I would beg to differ, after all Munsch trained as a Jesuit priest before deciding to work in early childhood education.  But the reason I am sure Jesus was a good storyteller is because Matthew, Mark and Luke recorded his stories.

The parables are often seen as a hallmark of Jesus’ ministry. Now, Jesus didn’t invent this style of preaching. The book of Judges includes the Parable of the Trees (Judges 9:8-15). Nathan taught King David a lesson or two through parables and Ezekiel often spoke in parables to the people of Israel. Jesus, however, seemed to master the skill. In fact, the Gospel of Matthew seems to imply that Jesus only spoke in parables when it states, “Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing.” And this was to fulfill words spoken by Isaiah that the messiah would speak in parables. Often parables will come up in the lectionary and I will do my very best to interpret them for our current context. However, following my course at VST entitled, ‘The Surprising Wisdom of the Parables’ I discovered a new depth. It is for that reason that we are going to embark on a month long journey, taking a deep dive into some of Jesus’ parables.

Today, in conjunction with communion, we are looking at the Parable of the Feast as told by Luke. I do want to point out that Jesus preaches and talks in parables in Matthew, Mark and Luke, but not in John. And sometimes the Gospel writers record the same parables, sometimes they record variations on the same parable, sometimes the story is told within very similar contexts and sometimes they place them in totally different circumstances, thus changing the meaning of the parables and sometimes the Gospel writers add their own spin- telling us how we should interpret them even if that’s not what Jesus said. For example, Matthew’s version of  the feast parable, while it has some similarities, like a big feast and the guests have excuses, is rather different in tone from Luke’s version. In Matthew, the story is a wedding banquet for a king’s son rather than a great dinner. And when the slaves tell the guests to come to the wedding banquet, some of them get fatally aggressive towards the slaves. The regal host gets upset and seeks revenge on the people who attacked his slaves and then invites everyone he can find, mostly marginalized people,  to attend the banquet. It gets even messier when one of the guests isn’t wearing the right outfit; but it takes a really gifted preacher to preach on that version this parable. Matthew puts this parable on an allegorical level whereas Luke’s emphasis on food fellowship really shines through.

Luke’s version of the parable involves a radical inclusion that would have been rather startling for the actual dinner guests  who are hearing this story. In Matthew’s version Jesus spouts off various parables, including the one about the feast,  while he awaits his arrest in Jerusalem. In Luke’s version Jesus is at a dinner party, a dinner party hosted by a pharisee no less! Here is some of that surprising wisdom of this parable as found in Luke.

I love understanding the allegory of the parables, in fact I love understanding most of Scripture in allegory, but good storytelling relies on the fact that there are many meanings within one story and sometimes it is important to look at the literal story rather than the allegory. In Jesus’ day, just like in ours in non-covid times, wealthy people put on dinner parties. This was often an effort to not only show off but make connections, grow one’s network. In this parable the first invited guests shame the host by making excuses as to why they are unable to attend. The host then turns around and invites the poor, crippled, blind etc. And a traditional reading of the parable would tell you that Jesus is seen as the host in this parable.  Yet, could it be Jesus? Because the poor, crippled, blind, lame were never Jesus’ second choice, they were always Jesus’ first choice.

Further more, the host, does not invite all these people on the margins because he wants to help them, rather he wants lots of guests to show up at his party. He is inviting them out, of revenge not honour. Thus it would appear that,  Jesus is poking fun at the honour-shame culture of the day as well as the culture of showing off or besting a neighbour.  This is what my professor called a social dislocation parable. Jesus is overturning an expected norm- one that the original listeners, wealthy dinner guests, would have been following. This is not the first time Jesus pokes fun at social structures and it won’t be the last. Jesus’ ministry was all about developing a more authentic way of living and that’s what this parable is about. The surprising wisdom within this story is that rather than trying to “play the game” we need to try to live a best-self life. A life that invites others indiscriminately. A life that lives according to Jesus’ standards of mercy rather than business, or power, or pride. A life that doesn’t expect gain out of relationships.

This got me thinking, how might this parable relate to communion, particularly World Communion Sunday when denominations from all over the world are celebrating this sacrament together? Perhaps, in the interpretation of trying to be authentic in our lives, it relates to the intent behind communion. Do we celebrate communion because it is part of the familiar rituals or is it something that reminds us of who we are as Christians? Who is invited to communion? We’ve talked about this before- that historically only those “in the know” where allowed to take communion which stands against how the very first communion ever took place. As Jesus shared this meal with his disciples, he didn’t ask them if they were members or not, he didn’t even explain to them the meaning behind his actions, he simply invited them to do as he was doing in remembrance of him. Jesus knew what was about to happen, that Judas who betray him, that Peter would deny him, that his disciples would fall asleep in his greatest hour of need and yet, Jesus still said those words, “This is my body, broken for you. This is my blood, shed for you.” Unlike the host in this parable, Jesus invited any and all who were willing to listen and more importantly Jesus overturned any social hierarchies and said, it doesn’t matter who you are- there is a place at this table for you.

Let us hear the invitation to come to this table. Let us invite any and all who want to come to join us at this table. Let the fact that many of us are physically a part not restrict us in living our most authentic selves but inspires us to think differently on how to go about living that best life. How to live as the great storyteller, preacher, healer, and saviour taught us to live.  Let us share in this communion with congregations all around the world and remember how it is we are called to live and who we are called to be. Amen

 

 

One of my favourite traditions around this time of year is all the fall fairs,
exhibitions and expositions that take place. While we didn’t go every year, as child and young adult, I always enjoyed the opportunities to go to the CNE, or the Rockland World’s Fair, and now that I’m here, of course the Comox Valley Exhibition. I think one of the reasons I love going is because these events are steeped in traditions. I don’t spend much time, if any, throughout the year on a farm but I love seeing the 4H club livestock. I don’t
normally pay much attention to equestrian sports but I’ll sit for an hour or two watching the competitors at the ex. I don’t gamble, ever, and I never pay attention to where chickens poop but I am obsessed with chicken poop bingo! And if you have never heard of chicken poop bingo…it is pretty much what it sounds like. A chicken is placed on a board with squares and numbers, people pay for a square and if the chicken’s poop lands on your
square you win a prize. I’m not kidding when I say it’s probably my favourite part of the CV Ex. I am told it is a tradition that has been around nearly as long as the Ex, 147 years this year. Traditions can bring out the best in us. They bring us comfort because they are familiar. They provide us with stability because they are part of the routine. They make us
feel safe because we know that what we’re doing has been done for many years. Traditions can also bring out the worst in us. They can be exclusionary. They can become idols. They can distract us from the real reason for such traditions. That is at the heart of what Jesus is
saying to the Pharisees and Scribes in today’s passage.

Discussion around traditions has been top of mind for me of late, particularly as we look to a return to full in-person worship. A year and half ago many of our traditions got overturned and disrupted. It didn’t feel great- in fact it was a pretty big struggle- but throughout we discovered some incredible gifts. The gift of re-connection with members
of our congregation who had moved away because everything was now available on line.
The realization that we have more people “participating” in worship when they can do so on their own schedule rather than only at 10:30am on a Sunday. We have more people participating in our Bible studies then ever before and they come from all over the country.
As we look to returning to the familiar, it is an imperative that we also look at ways in which the work that has started over this past year continues. Because, our traditions even our doctrine, do not dictate who we are, God does.
Now,as we look at the critiques of the Pharisees and Scribes I do want to point out that it is still very good practice to wash your hands and food before you eat it. In someways I can see why the Pharisees are questioning the disciples’ behaviour- because I would be too- but at the root it is not so much about washing hands before you eat but that word, “defile”. The greater issue who they are eating with. Also, in his rebuttal Jesus isn’t saying that we should get rid of the traditions rather that the traditions are part of a much larger context. Jesus is pointing out that our traditions are meaningless if they do not include genuine words or actions.
The Pharisees point to scripture to help them prove their point. The disciples are not following the laws as laid out by God through Moses, and the Levites, and the elders of the past. But Jesus throws scripture back in their faces and quotes from Isaiah 29: 13 which raises the concern that God’s people have neglected the foundation behind these laws, of love and mercy. They are consumed with getting the human traditions right at the
cost of neglecting why God put them in place in the first place. Commentary writer Darrel Bock says, “Part of the Jesus’ defence of his disciples’ not washing their hands before the meal to prevent ritual uncleanness was to accuse the Pharisees of majoring on minors and adding to the law, while hypocritically honouring God with their lips but not with their
hearts.” They have turned the law and traditions into idols.
I recently had a conversation with a friend and she asked, “When did the church become the pharisees?” I think at the root of the question was the fact that many of us can get wrapped up in our traditions rather than the purpose behind them. I can point my finger at other churches and say, look they require you to become a member before you take communion, that’s wrong. But the truth is, that used to be one of our rules too. As
moderator of the presbytery I have had to say to other sessions and search committees and ministers, you can’t do it that way because it is against our polity, as if the polity is the be all and end all. Of course most of these guidelines are supposed to help us, just like washing your hands before a meal makes good hygiene sense, but often our rules and traditions can become stumbling blocks to faith. If we use our traditions as a way of
keeping others out than we are indeed more like the pharisees than the disciples.
In our reading we skip over some of the details to find ourselves at the root of what Jesus is really saying, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”
While it appears that our traditions have power, it is really our words and actions that show our true feelings. For example, the tradition of praying a prayer of intercession during worship is meaningless if we do not live the prayer we are praying. I am not arguing that as we return to some form of what we knew before the pandemic that we should get rid of all of our traditions. I am however, suggesting that we need to look at why they are
important, why do they matter to us, and why do they exist. Jesus was not telling the
Pharisees that their traditions no longer matter but what he was saying is that the traditions are meaningless if they do not promote the love and mercy of God. A little further in this passage Jesus lists what defiles a person, evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. Now, I am not about to confess that I have been driven by everything on that list, I can say with certainty I have never been driven to murder…yet…but in reality I bet we have all experienced greed, or pride or foolishness. We
are all defiled in some way. Chicken poop bingo is definitely a foolish tradition- and one I’m not ready to give up. However, what all those things listed have in common is that they all damage relationships. If our traditions help to build or bolster relationships then they are doing God’s work. If they destroy or damage relationships then we need to reconsider.
Thankfully, God wants to have a relationship with us. I’m not one to normally declare in a sermon we are all sinners and therefore need Jesus to save us. But that is the truth. Yet as defiled as we are, through Jesus Christ, we our reconciled. That my friends needs to be at the heart of our traditions. Amen

Over a year ago, just as we were beginning to understand that this pandemic was going to affect us all in very tangible ways, not only did we experience shortages of toilet paper, but also flour and yeast. We may all laugh about it now but at the time, with so many people at home, having lost jobs or working from home, a sourdough baking craze reached most households, particularly if you lived with a millennial. I was very intrigued by this trend. Nearly everyone I knew of my age was baking bread. Journalist Emily
VanDerWerff had a theory, she wrote, “Bread baking is a thing we do in a crisis, perhaps because bread is one of the very foundations of human civilization, and perhaps because it has been marketed to us as life-giving. In the midst of quarantine, we have turned, seemingly collectively, to techniques from the past, like coaxing yeast out of the air, the
sort of sufficiently advanced technology that is indistinguishable from magic. We have learned to create something from nothing.” I warned you a couple of weeks ago that we were about to embark on a month long discussion on bread, more specifically, Jesus as bread. Jess will likely touch on this even more in the coming weeks. But my experiences over the pandemic and hearing VanDerWerff’s perspective, makes me think about Jesus’ claim to be the bread of life and bread from heaven in a new light. In some ways Jesus is “marketing” himself as life-giving as bread. It is also demonstrating that part of the foundations of human civilization is also faith.

Remember, Jesus has just fed five thousand people with five loaves and two fish- setting the stage for all this bread language. Then last week we heard a short story in which Jesus walks on water and declares “I AM is with you; do not be afraid.” setting the stage for all this “I am” language. It is now the next day, presumably people are still talking about the incredible miracles that took place the day before. It also appears based on our introduction that they all just spent the night on the shore waiting to see what would
happen next. It must have been a cold night with all that wind! When it appears that Jesus and his disciples aren’t going to show up the crowd decides to go to Capernaum.

Nowadays there is a very well travelled road that goes from Tiberias to Capernaum. It takes 20 minutes to drive from one place to another. Back then, the fastest way to travel was by boat, so they get in and go.
They find Jesus and begin to ask him questions. This morning we jump over 15 verses in which Jesus kind of chastises the crowd for following him with the expectation of more free food. Jesus says, don’t look for food that perishes but for food that endures.
From the get go the crowd has trouble understanding literal versus allegorical meanings and it get’s even more complicated as they realize that some of the crowd know Jesus’ parents. How can he claim to be bread from heaven when they know he grew up in Nazareth as a carpenter’s son.

This is where our passage comes in. As modern readers we can see that the crowd has completely missed the mark but I think that’s in part because none of us grew up with Jesus. I mean, yes, many of us grew up in the church and hold to the reformed idea that Jesus is our friend and king and lives in our hearts but I mean, none of us knew the earthly
Jesus. We didn’t watch him grow from a four year old to a trouble making twelve year old. We didn’t see a young 30 something year old blossom into a wise rabbi. Imagine if one of your friend’s children or grandchildren started claiming to be from heaven rather than from their parents. It gets complicated! This crowd knew too much about Jesus’ personal life to allow his words to ring true. Ironically the crowd also seems to know too little about Jesus’ authority and ability and power despite having witnessed two pretty impressive miracles.

The crowd is presuming to know something about Jesus which sadly clouds their understanding of who Jesus really is. Biblical scholar Brian Petersen calls this “theological irony” because the crowd professes to know Jesus’ father and mother but that only reveals a total ignorance of the Father who sent Jesus. The truth is not found in knowing the human parents but rather the truth is found in knowing that Jesus has come from the Father in Heaven. The crowd’s self-assured “knowledge” blocks their ability to
know the truth. I would argue that we, certainly me, have this problem also. We have difficulty seeing beyond what we “know” to be true and therefore we are unable to see the divine truth amongst us. I know I am right about certain things which means I am no longer learning new truths about this knowledge. The crowd knows who Jesus’ parents are and therefore they cannot move beyond his earth-liness- if only they could look beyond to
discover that they are actually experiencing the divinity God- right in front of them.

Jesus doesn’t loose patience- not yet at least- because he explains that the only way to be drawn into faith is by the Father. In Greek the word means more than to be drawn, a better translation might actually be, “to be dragged”. Essentially no one comes to Jesus without the Father’s pull. It is a two way relationship. We do not sit idly by waiting for God to open our eyes but God also doesn’t wait for us to finally see the truth through
our own merit. This is challenging for us to understand because, as Petersen puts it, there is paradoxical tension in this text between the call to faith and the declaration that faith can only come from God. But this is also not a paradox that is to be unwound, it is simply the mystery of faith. God pulls at us so that we can hear and believe Jesus’ words and have faith. This bread from heaven not only nurtures our souls but also reveals our hearts to
new possibilities and with God those possibilities are endless. Like pulling yeast out of the air to create something from nothing, God pulls us towards Jesus to make us something from nothing.

Jesus presses on with this image. Jesus is indeed bread from heaven but unlike the manna that nourished their ancestors in the wilderness Jesus is LIVING bread. This is not about their ancestors but about the here and now. Our passage closes with Jesus foreshadowing what this really means. It is not the end of the conversation; the crowd will challenge, dispute, and grumble amongst themselves for a while longer as they try to
unpack what Jesus is saying. However, what we hear as the closing to this particular section is, Jesus saying “The bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” While Jesus may have been speaking allegorically in reference to being the bread from heaven, here Jesus is being literal. They just don’t know it yet. Jesus is promising to give up his life for the world.
As complicated as they are Jesus words are supposed to provide nourishment.
Jesus is declaring that he, not our own understanding, is the source of our strength and faith. Jesus is stating that God pulls us, drags us, draws us to Christ. VanDerWerff said that bread is one of the very foundations of human civilization and this is likely why we turn to bread when we need comfort. It’s not the easiest thing to make, it takes time, patience and strength, but the pay off is pretty great. I would argue that there is nearly nothing more delicious than a slice of fresh baked bread. It may not be the easiest thing to
trust Jesus or understand his words. It may take time and patience on our part to see the ways in which Jesus has been raised to life. It may require us to have a strength of spirit that involves perseverance, and much like kneading dough it requires molding and pulling. Only then can we feel full, nourished by God. Like baking real bread its a bit complicated, understanding needs patience and wisdom needs strength. But the pay off, is worth it. Amen

You may not know this but I’m a big fan nature documentaries, whether it’s Blue Planet or Planet Earth or more recently A Perfect Planet, all featuring Sir David Attenborough or The Nature of Things or NatGeo, if Knowledge Network has it on you can bet I’m going to try at tune in. I find stories about God’s strange and wonderful creation super engaging. I recently watched an episode of one such show that featured the Common Basilisk, it’s a little brown lizard found in Central and South America and other than a strange protrusion on the heads of the male lizards they are generally quite unremarkable. That is, until they are being chased by a predator on water. The Common Basilisk is nicknamed the “Jesus Christ Lizard” because they are able to run on water. They have these large hind feet with scaly fringes on the sides of their toes. When on land these fringes are compressed and not used but when it senses danger it can jump into the water, flail it’s fringes against the water’s surface and lift it’s body so that it is on the surface of the water. They can run about 10-20 meters without sinking.  It is fascinating stuff and I’d totally recommend that after this service you look up Jesus Christ Lizards on youtube and watch in awe as it scampers across the water. It would be quite fitting to watch such a clip following today’s theme. What interests me is not so much the name of the lizard or it’s ability to run on water, despite the fact that walking on water is exactly what we hear Jesus does,  but the fact that this lizard only runs on water when it is afraid or feels threatened. Today we really focus in on how fear can affect our behaviour.

Usually this brief version of Jesus walking on water is included as part of last week’s reading of the feeding of the five thousand. While it seems a bit incongruous the truth is that both stories are an attempt on the part of the author of the Gospel of John to answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” We heard last week that by feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fish during passover that Jesus is creating a link between himself and God’s salvation. Next week we continue the theme of Jesus as the bread of heaven, a theme which continues for many weeks. This morning’s passage actually has more in common with this theme then it first appears as it too demonstrates who Jesus is. Both stories involve shocking miracles, miracles that go beyond Jesus’ traditional healing miracles and for John they are both signs that Jesus has divine power and authority.

Jesus gets in and out of the boats belonging to the disciples on a regular basis however, this story has the disciples getting into their own boats and beginning to cross the sea of Galilee without Jesus. John says something strange at the end of verse 17, “It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.” John is foreshadowing right away what is about to happen. Despite the fact that the disciples are in their boats without Jesus, Jesus will show up!

It’s dark. It’s windy and they are about three or four miles from shore. Even if we are not seasoned sailors we know that this is a bad situation. There is great risk of striking something just off the shore or rolling into rocks. The disciples are scared. What could be scarier then being in a boat, in the dark, in rough waters, about 3 miles from shore? Honestly, seeing a figure, approaching the boat, walking on water. I bet that in that moment, the disciples have enough adrenaline coursing through their veins that if they jumped out of the boats they too might be able to run on water. But by showing up Jesus is transforming the disciples’ fear.

Unfortunately there is something lost in most English translations of what happens next. Both the NRSV and NIV state that as Jesus approaches the boat he declares, “It is I, do not be afraid.” This is because in English that is the sentence that makes sense. However, in Greek what Jesus actually says is, “ego eimi” which means “I am”. The story of Jesus walking on water now connects the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand with all the passages regarding Jesus as the bread of heaven because Jesus will say “ego eimi” another four times in this chapter all referring to Jesus saying “I AM the bread of life or living bread or bread from heaven.” But in this moment Jesus simply says, “I Am, do not be afraid.”

Of course this may cause us to reflect on the first time the words “I AM” are uttered in reference to God in the Bible,  when Moses asks God who he shall say has sent him to Pharaoh and God responds tell him I AM has sent you.  Theologian Ginger Barfield has a hypothesis on why we need to remember that Jesus declares “I Am” to the disciples in this moment. She writes, “A simple understanding of the “I Am” statement  [is needed] in this context. It is as if one were to open the door to enter a dark room where another is present. There is fear over who is entering the room if the identity is not announced. A simple, “hello, it’s me” suffices as a voice recognition to calm the ear over who the intruder is.” Meaning that Jesus is aware that the disciples are afraid and he simply says, “I Am” as a way to say, “Hi, it’s me….God, don’t be afraid.”

In this moment Jesus recognizes that the disciples are afraid. In their fear, they need Jesus. They needed Jesus because he wasn’t with them. As Barfield says, “Their need came out of Jesus’ own absence.” Their fear was dominating how they were handling the situation, much like a few weeks ago when we heard about Jesus calming the storm by rebuking it and he then chastises the disciples for letting their fear get the best of them. This time, however, Jesus shows up to calm their fears. Jesus shows up and says, “I’m here. Stop being afraid.” Like a parent, who rushes into a child’s room while they are experiencing a nightmare. Jesus shows up, embraces them and says, I’m here. It’s ok. Don’t be afraid.

Put side by side these two signs, his feeding the five thousand and his walking on water,  show us something about Jesus. Sometimes Jesus can awaken needs and feed our souls with sustenance similar to what Jesus does with the feeding of the five thousand. But sometimes Jesus can provide us with reassurance by simply being present. Ego eimi. I AM is with you, do not be afraid. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid in some fashion of the future- it’s unknown, it’s unpredictable, it’s unclear. But then I hear Jesus’ words ego eimi, and instead of jumping up and running away I feel better prepared for the future. Jesus is active through grand miracles, sure, but also through simple presence. It might be rocky, windy, dark,  and a little turbulent at times but just by being present with us Jesus brings us to safe harbours. Amen

Devotional:

I want to tell you about a little boy named Tony Hudgell. For those of you who follow news out of the UK this boy’s story might be familiar to you. Certainly many of us have heard about Tony’s hero, Captain Sir Tom Moore, the centenarian who raised over 33 million pounds for the NHS covid relief by walking the length of his garden 100 times. Sadly Moore succumbed to complications from Covid just 8 months after being knighted. But this story is about Tony. As a baby Tony required amputation of both his legs. His surgery took place at Evelina London Children’s Hospital. At five Tony is learning to walk on his prosthesis. It’s not easy but he is a determined little boy. Inspired by Captain Sir Moore, Tony decided that he would raise 500 pounds for the Children’s hospital by walking 10 km in the month of June last year, a big feat for someone just learning how to walk.  But just like with Captain Moore, Tony surpassed his goal of 500 pounds and managed to raise 1.5 million for the hospital that saved his life. At the beginning of May this year Tony decided to raise more funds for Evelina Hospital, in part in memory of his hero, and walked 100 steps unaided by crutches, another big step towards his own recovery and an incredible gift to the hospital. All because a little boy was willing to step up, do something small,  and help others in a big way. 

I would argue that the feeding of the five thousand is one of the most familiar stories in the New Testament. This is in part because it is one of the few stories that is told in all for Gospels. What makes John’s version stand out is two-fold.   First, it is a very clear attempt at answering the question, “Who is Jesus?” In the introduction it says that a large crowd kept following Jesus because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Meaning, that people were very curious about Jesus’ gifts and ministry and they wanted to learn or experience more. Second, in John’s version this story sets the stage for a very lengthy section on Jesus as the bread of heaven. Seriously, this starts us on a month long look at this theme of bread and Jesus. I suspect that the lectionary collaborators chose to focus on this section during the summer because they expect people to be away, both preachers and parishioners, so for about five weeks the theme is the same to make sure that no one misses the point. Don’t worry, I’ve mixed things up a bit to make it a little more interesting this year. Next week we will hear a short interlude between the feeding of the five thousand and further bread imagery but we will find out that this interlude is answering the same question of “who is Jesus?” John uses these stories to answer that very question and in answering the question takes a deep dive into the image of Jesus as the bread of life. 

Learning who Jesus is does not come all at once, but we catch glimpses of it as this story unfolds. The introduction is only four verses but it hints at what is to come. Verses one to three describe the scene. Jesus has just defended himself against naysayers. He leaves to go to the other side of the lake, this time it appears not in a boat but on foot, and following behind him is a large crowd because they have seen Jesus perform signs. John often refers to Jesus’ miracles as signs. This is because, for John, these miracles are not just showing off Jesus’ power and authority but rather proof of Jesus’ divinity. For the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) Jesus is usually portrayed as a man, a very special gifted man, but a man. Whereas John really holds onto the divinity of Jesus. 

The next verse in the introduction, verse four, tells us the time of year and while it seems like an irrelevant detail it again speaks majorly to who Jesus is. John places this passage at the time of the Passover. As a result it links this meal on the Galilean hillside with the story of the Exodus, with the story of God saving the people from slavery and providing for both their physical and spiritual needs in part through Manna, miraculous bread from heaven. This tiny detail about the time of year is actually at the heart of the entire chapter. For the next 68 verses we will hear how Jesus not only nourishes but redeems, saves the people of God, much like the people of God were saved in the Exodus.

Another detail that makes John’s version stand out from the others is that when Jesus sees this large crowd Jesus is the one who asks, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” John claims that Jesus is the one asking the questions as a way to test Philip because in truth, Jesus already knows what he’s about to do.  In our Gospel story Philip answers that it would take an enormous amount of money to buy bread to feed all these people. Philip relates it to cost and thus establishes the mind-set of scarcity. It would cost way too much to feed these people so let’s not even try! I’m sure you can think of times in which the church has functioned on a scarcity model.

Andrew pipes in mentioning that a boy has brought with him a small supply of food but that such a small amount is worthless among so many people. This small boy’s offering is just a drop in a bucket- there’s no way it can make a difference! I’ve often wondered, did this boy offer up his loaves and fishes? Did this little boy step up, and hope that what little he had to offer would help others in a big way? How many of us look at a situation and say, it will cost too much, it will take too much time, it will be too much work, so we might as well not even try. Yet Jesus takes this small amount and nourishes the people, literally. The crowd was looking for a sign and they got one! Jesus fills their stomachs and their hunger. And all it took was something small and seemingly insignificant to make a big impact. 

Next week we will hear how a little bit of fear can affect an entire situation but today we hear that a little bit of effort and hope can change an entire situation. Too often I measure need, quantify my inadequate resources or gifts and resign to hopelessness.  Yet, I hear stories like Tony’s a five year old twice amputee who is re-learning how to walk and manages to raise funds, major funds, for a good cause and I realize that I have nothing about which to be hopeless. Jesus is standing on the shore amongst all of that need and hunger, with nothing but a few loaves of bread and a couple small fish, demonstrating that when we work with God, we have to expect the unexpected and trust that it will work out. Trust that small acts will show big results. We have to take what little we do have, funds, talents, efforts and step up because through the divinity of Jesus we have been redeemed, our small efforts may seem tiny in comparison but big things can happen when God feeds our souls.  Amen

Devotion: 

My husband Mike likes to ask people on their birthdays, what is your favourite childhood birthday memory? It’s amazing to see people’s faces light up as they recount stories about a surprising gift, or a hilarious party or a meaningful tradition. We all seem to have birthday memories that make us smile.  Mine, by the way, is that every year, even into adulthood, my mom would make an angel food money cake, wrapping dimes, quarters and eventually loonies and twoonies in cellophane and tucking them into the cake before it was iced. That is my favourite birthday memory. I don’t think today’s scripture passage is anyone’s favourite birthday party story but it is probably one of the most well known birthday stories in the Bible. It has been the subject of incredible art, infamous operas, an Oscar Wilde play and a prime example of how perverse, vile and salacious Herod II’s kingdom really was. Trust me, I thought long and hard about picking a different scripture passage. This is a shared service, after all, surely I could preach on something a little more “lite”, but then, that’s what makes the discipline of preaching the lectionary so important to me. We encounter and tackle uncomfortable stories.

Many scholars point to this passage as the end of innocence for Jesus’ ministry. 

Personally I think that the end of innocence happened the minute Jesus called fishermen on the sea of Galilee. Jesus was a disruptor, a boundary crosser, a whistle blower, and an agitator as well as a rebel. There was nothing “innocent” about his ministry. Jesus not only calmed storms and called out demons but pointed to the ways in which religion and society had strayed from their relationship with God. And Jesus garnered quite a reputation. We know this from the opening line of our text. King Herod had heard of Jesus because his name had become known. But that doesn’t make this passage any easier to preach!

Mark does some strange things by including this story. It needs to be treated as an interlude between two stories about Jesus.  What perhaps we forget is that this interlude, between Jesus sending out his disciples two by two (which is described just before our passage) and the feeding of the five thousand (which happens immediately after)  is actually a story about an event from the past.  It harkens back to Mark 1:14 when, without any further words, Mark states, “Now after John was arrested…” For six chapters readers have been left hanging, wondering what happened to John, it just so happens that Jesus’ ministry was deep in development, so many of us forgot that the early prophet has been in limbo. Now, Mark uses this gruesome story to fill in the details. Mark also uses this story to foreshadow the disciples’ and Jesus’ future in ministry. 

Before we get the details of this strange and frankly disturbing birthday party Mark tells the readers what others thought about Jesus. Word is spreading fast about his radical teaching and healing. People are baffled by Jesus and thus they try to explain Jesus by explaining who he might be, some say John the baptist, raised from the dead (the first indication that John has died), others say Elijah while others still think he is a new prophet like the prophets of old. We will hear similar words in Mark 8 when Jesus asks the disciples, “who do people say I am”, and then, “who do you say that I am?” Peter then confesses that Jesus is the Messiah and thanks to these short words in Mark 6 we now understand how profound Peter’s statement is. Jesus’ work is so outside the “normal” actions of religious leaders that people had trouble placing who he really was. We have had to adapt to “new normals” a lot in the last year and a half. At times it has been confusing, baffling, or bewildering. I have heard numerous theories that try to explain or rationalize what we have been through. But just like how people had trouble explaining Jesus and so claimed he was John raised from the dead or Elijah or a new prophet, sometimes by seeking explanations we miss the truth. 

The truth is that John’s fate foreshadows Jesus’ fate. It stands to reason that if John was arrested for his words against the people in power, then Jesus will be too. If John was beheaded based on fear or a whim, then Jesus’ life is in danger too. Herodias, Herod’s sister-in-law and now wife, feared John because John wasn’t afraid to speak out against their marriage. John wasn’t afraid to speak out against the corruption and hedonism found within Herod’s kingdom. And please remember, this is Herod II, the son of the Herod who had all boys under the age of 2 murdered due to his own fear about Jesus’ birth.  Because John wasn’t afraid, that made Herodias afraid of John. Fear can make us do irrational things. Fear can make us hold grudges. Fear resulted in John’s beheading, and fear is what put Jesus on the cross. 

To be fair, not that I want to be fair to Herod, but Herod wasn’t really “afraid” of John. Herod’s original intent was to just keep John locked up. Verse 20 has a fabulous line, “Herod was greatly perplexed” by John. Like the others who are perplexed by Jesus’ teachings and abilities, Herod is perplexed by John’s words. But this perplexity is not necessarily fear but more bewilderment because Herod likes listening to John. Again, I suspect that many people, despite being baffled by Jesus’ actions and words, still liked listening to him.  I think that the church can be a really baffling place. I have had many conversations with friends and strangers who say that they don’t want to come to church because they don’t know the rules, they don’t want to stand when they should be sitting or kneeling when they should be standing. They are baffled by our rituals. That has been one of the grace-filled gifts of this pandemic that people can just tune in without being worried about whether they are doing the right thing or not.

If I could pick a word for this week’s passage it would be “perplexing” because I find the whole passage perplexing. The people were perplexed by Jesus, Herod is perplexed by John and Herod is perplexed again when his neice/step-daughter asks for the head of John on a platter. Herod’s actions foreshadow Pilates’ reaction to the crowd asking for Jesus’ crucifixion. Herod wishes to “satisfy” his stepdaughter’s request just as Pilate, who washes his hands of the crucifixion, wishes to satisfy the crowd and orders Jesus’ death. This whole story is baffling but it is also setting us up with the knowledge that Jesus will go through a similarly horrendous and baffling event. And yet, out of that confusion, bewilderment, perplexity comes the story of the resurrection. God works through perplexing and baffling situations to expose the truth. 

This is a birthday party that no one will forget but it is part of a greater story of grace and renewal and discipleship. John and Jesus spoke truth to power and that put them in precarious situations that perplexed people. But God broken through all the confusion and bewilderment to reveal grace, truth, love, and salvation. I’m still perplexed by a lot of things God does but instead of responding with fear it is important that we open ourselves up to that race, truth, love and salvation! Amen

I’ve shared many times how I attempt to be a gardener. I openly admit that I am a great accidental gardener. Whenever I garden with intent and expectation it is a big flop. I end up with a really low yield. But if I just randomly plant without much expectation or hope things blossom. And of course I have great success with volunteer plants that pop up due to my neglect in dead heading the previous year’s growth. I don’t even know how I ended up with strawberry plants, parsley, or dill in my backyard garden. It appears that the minute I try to plan a harvest, reading all the books of companion plants and seed spacing those plants fail…majorly! I suspect that this has something to do with how I build up expectations. I expect plants that I’ve planned out to do well while I don’t expect plants I haven’t planned to succeed. Expectations can be like that, plans can be like that, life can be like that. 

Today Jesus delivers two brief parables about growth to describe the kingdom of God. We know that Jesus liked to use parables as teaching tools. It says so, at the end of our passage. Mark is clear that there are numerous other parables that Jesus shared that the author did not record. Not only that, Mark states that sometimes Jesus didn’t explain the intricacies or lessons of the parables except to his disciples in private. This fact, that we don’t always get explanations, used to really irk me. But I’m currently reading a textbook in preparation for a summer course I will be taking entitled “The Surprising Wisdom of the Parables” and author Amy-Jill Levine says, “The Gospel writers, in their wisdom, left most of the parables as open narratives in order to invite us into engagement with them. Each reader will hear a distinct message and may find that the same parable leaves multiple impressions over time…Reducing parables to a single meaning destroys their aesthetic as well as ethical potential. ” Levine also argues that one of the reasons Jesus spoke in parables is because they helped with auditory memory. We remember a good story far better than an intriguing lecture. Jesus used the parables so that people would remember his preaching. Something for a contemporary preacher to think about!

In the first parable Jesus compares the kingdom of God to seed being scatter on the ground that sprouts and grows while the gardener is asleep. I can appreciate this kind of gardening. I don’t know how my volunteer strawberry plants got in my garden but I’m currently reaping the benefit. To my knowledge, I had nothing to do with those plants getting to where they are now. That speaks a lot to my understanding of grace. There is nothing I have done to deserve the grace of God- in fact, if anything, I don’t deserve it, yet it is still offered. Yes, the gardener scatters the seed but the gardener does not have control over the growth. Yet, the gardener will be the one who gets to enjoy the harvest. There is really a sense of lack of control when it comes to the kingdom. We don’t control it, God does.

As much as I like to be in control of all aspects of my life- I have to acknowledge that there is much I do not have control over. The farmer scatters the seed but it is not the farmer who makes it grow, the farmer doesn’t even fully understand how it grows. Sure, we have a lot of wisdom and knowledge, science and experience that can teach us how something can grow but ultimately we are not in control. Jesus is stating that when it comes to the kingdom of God, the power and nature and will of God, we are not in control. Since God is the one who is in control of the kingdom then there is also mystery to it’s growth.

Jesus then builds on this theme of growth with a follow up parable that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed- a small seed that becomes the greatest of all shrubs. First of all, a mustard seed isn’t all that small nor is a mustard plant, all that great of a shrub, and mustard is my least favourite condiment. As a kid I hated it so much that I would tell people I was allergic. But there is wisdom in this parable as well and for all the times I have read and studied this parable, for the first time I realized it’s not just about the seed that grows into a shrub. The parable ends with, “so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” I couldn’t believe it, as an amateur birder, how could I have never thought about the symbolism of the birds in this parable. Levine points out that when commentators do focus on the birds, the modern take is to connect the birds to gentile nations. If God’s kingdom is symbolized as a small seed that grows into large shrub and the birds represent all the people who will flock to the kingdom, than God’s kingdom includes an array of birds! Or, another take is that the birds also represent the kingdom, because in most translations it is not “birds of the air” as we heard it in the NRSV but rather “birds of heaven” that make their nests in the shade. Levine says, “[This parable is about] the ability of God’s creatures- feathered or flesh- to survive, to make do with whatever is available.”

These two parables insist that the full manifestation of the reign of God will blossom gradually, unavoidably, unexpectedly, in all kinds of conditions, culminating in a state of completion. Jesus is stating that growth is inevitable. That no matter how scattered we humans become in our actions and distractions, the growing conditions will be ripe for God’s kingdom to come. We can plant all kinds of seeds and we may never know or come to realize what growth happened in our lifetime but we can be assured that God’s kingdom will come. I can bet that many of the saints of old, the people who influenced the church and us, had no idea that we would be providing ministry on line. Both parables teach me that we should never be daunted by the small things, never ashamed of modest beginnings, not be discouraged when things seem to be taking a long time to grow- because we are not the ones who control the final destiny or the ultimate growth.

It is our job to scatter that seed but also to reap the harvest. We must see where the soil is ready for growth AND we must not be afraid to take our sickles and harvest when things are ready. Otherwise, we run the risk of having the fruit spoil. Ok- maybe these growth and plant metaphors are getting out of hand so I will say it bluntly. If we have funds or land or resources or ministries that are ready to be harvested- ready to be used to benefit the kingdom of God or manifest the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, then it is our imperative to harvest those things. Building up funds for a rainy day serves no one. Only having our ministries available to inner circles is not reaping the harvest. Having a property that is underused is misuse of the harvest. It is true that we do not know what growth will take place, that’s out of our control, but we can have the confidence that God is in control. And whether our expectations of growth are met or not, whether we planned the planting perfectly or discover volunteer plants in places we didn’t expect, the growth of the kingdom happens, gradually, unavoidably, unexpectedly, in all kinds of growing conditions. Amen