The wrath that heals

THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

Readings:

Romans 12:16-21

Matthew 8:1-13

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

Rom. 12:19b-21: “It is written, ‘Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.’ Therefore ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him.  If he is thirsty, give him a drink…’ Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Matt. 8:7-8: “Jesus said to [the centurion], ‘I will come and heal [your servant].’  The centurion answered, ‘Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof.  Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.’”

Reflection

“Lord, I am not worthy to receive you,

but only say the word,

and I shall be healed.”

(Catholic liturgy, before Advent 2013)

I remember reciting these words during Catholic mass immediately before receiving Communion.  Even today as an Episcopalian, I recite them in my head as I approach the altar to receive.

The words are an adaptation from today’s story, in which a centurion—that is, a Roman centurion—approaches Jesus about his servant’s illness.  Note that the centurion doesn’t directly ask Jesus to heal his servant, though, by approaching a known healer in this way, the request is implied.  Note also that, whereas Jesus on other occasions displays the power to “remote-heal” a sick person, in this instance, Jesus resolves to “come and heal him.”

The centurion clearly knows about Jesus’ “remote-healing” abilities.  Citing his unworthiness to receive such a personal visit, he instead asks Jesus to “just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”  Where does this feeling of unworthiness come from?  Part of it, I think, stems from one’s natural reaction at being in the presence of something so good, so unconditional and selfless, that it reminds you of all those times you’ve fallen short of those qualities.  I think of the callings of Moses and Isaiah, where Moses must surely be thinking about when he killed an Egyptian, and Isaiah cites his “dirty mouth”—er, “unclean lips”, as he puts it.  But the centurion has another more personal reason to feel unworthy.

The Roman occupation of Judea began around 63 BCE, with the region becoming an official province of the Empire in the year 6 CE, that is, about 25 years before the start of Jesus’ ministry.  Both biblical and secular sources tell us that, for Judea, this period was far from the “Pax Romana”, inaugurated under Augustus.  Oppression, exploitation, and corruption were the order of the day, especially under rulers such as Herod the Great and Pontius Pilate.  The centurion must have known that, regardless of his own personal virtue and values, he was still complicit in a system that promoted the ongoing subjugation of the Judean people in the name of Roman power.  And despite all of that, here was a Judean, ready and willing to help him, the enemy!

I think this is why the ancient church paired this story with today’s reading from Paul’s Letter to the Romans.  Paul quotes Proverbs: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink…” Jesus looked upon someone who should’ve been his enemy, and helped him anyway.  Now, if we just stop here, we’ve got a pretty standard Christian lesson about how to treat our neighbor.  But Jesus’ actions shed some light on Paul’s other scriptural reference, which otherwise may sound a little out of place.  Paul says we have to love our neighbor because, quoting Deuteronomy, “‘Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay’, says the Lord.” We have to “give place to God’s wrath”.  How do “God’s wrath” and God’s “vengeance” fit into all of this?

Well, vengeance does belong to the Lord—but the Lord didn’t take vengeance.  What does that say about the Lord’s character when he healed one of his own personal oppressors?  Revenge was within his right, yet he chose to overcome evil with good.  Maybe that’s what “God’s wrath” really is.  God will repay, God will get angry, but, in the face of Jesus, we catch a glimpse of what that anger looks like.  And it doesn’t look like human anger.  It’s the kind of anger that becomes enraged when evil is repaid with evil, and therefore is zealous to avenge evil with good.

God has set the example, and now asks us: Can we show this type of anger?  Can we take this kind of revenge?

Prayer of the Day

Almighty and everlasting God,

mercifully look upon our infirmities,

and in all our dangers and necessities

stretch forth your right hand

to help and defend us;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

—Collect for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany; Book of Common Prayer, 1662

Or,

O God,

by the preaching of your apostle Paul,

you have caused the light of the Gospel

to shine throughout the world.

Grant, we pray, that we,

having his wonderful conversion in remembrance,

may show ourselves thankful to you

by following his holy teaching;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

—Collect for The Conversion of St. Paul, January 25; Book of Common Prayer, 1979

Hymn: “Put forth, O God, your Spirit’s might”

(Words: Howard Chandler Robbins, 1876-1952; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015

Tune: ‘Chelsea Square’, Howard Chandler Robbins, 1876-1952; harmony by Ray Francis Brown, 1897-1964; descant by Lois Fyfe, 1927-)

Put forth, O God, your Spirit’s might,

And bid your Church increase,

In breadth and length, in depth and height,

Her unity and peace.

Let works of darkness disappear

Before your conquering light.

Let hatred and tormenting fear

Pass with the passing night.

What your apostles came to see

Be ours from age to age:

Their steadfast faith, our unity.

Their peace, our heritage.

O Judge divine of human strife!

O Healer of all pain,

To know you is eternal life,

To serve you is to reign.

Praying for unity

SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

Readings:

Romans 12:6-16

John 2:1-11

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

Rom. 12:9-10a, 16: “Let love be without hypocrisy.  Abhor that which is evil.  Cling to that which is good.  In the love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another… Be of the same mind one toward another.”

John 2:5: “[Jesus’] mother said to the servants, ‘Whatever he says to you, do it.’”

Reflection

“I pray… for those whom you have given me…

Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me,

that they may be one, even as we are.”

(John 17:9, 11b)

Jesus prays these words in the Gospel of John a few hours before his betrayal and arrest.  This so-called “High Priestly Prayer” isn’t just a kind of review of the purpose behind Jesus’ mission—it’s also a window into Jesus’ thoughts during his final night on earth.  Clearly, he is worried about his followers who must now be left behind. 

And Jesus was right to be worried.  History shows that, from the very beginning, Christianity has been beset by division and quarrel.  Just decades after Jesus’ crucifixion, Paul begs for unity among the divided brothers, even as he himself once opposed Peter “to his face”.  After that, Christians disagreed about everything from Jesus’ divine/human nature, to the canon of Scripture, even to the proper calculation and observance of Easter.  All of these divisions persist to this day—and they’re not going away any time soon.

But the 20^th century brought with it a spirit of the celebration of social diversity.  Even if its implementation has never been perfect, much of modern Western society lives with the ideal that, regardless of age, race, religion, and increasingly, sexual orientation, everyone has something positive to bring to the world table.

Enter in the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity”.  Proposed in 1908 within the Roman Catholic Church, this eight-day period between January 18^th-25^th was embraced by Christians of various denominations (Orthodox, Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, and others), who in the 1950s began to work on joint liturgical material for use during the week.  The dates themselves are symbolically significant.  January 18^th commemorates Peter’s confession of Jesus as Messiah.  January 25^th celebrates Paul’s conversion to the Way he once persecuted.  The symbolism deepens when we realize that these are the same two apostles that argued over Christian practice.  Their eventual reconciliation and collaboration serve as excellent examples for the Christian ecumenical movement.

Paul’s words to the Romans in today’s reading can also serve as a similar example.  “Abhor that which is evil.  Cling to that which is good.”  It strikes me that maybe this is where “Love the sinner, hate the sin” comes from, a saying sadly often used in a condescending or disingenuous way.  But Paul is quick to bracket this guideline with “Let love be without hypocrisy… In the love of the brothers [i.e., ‘believers in Christ’] be tenderly affectionate to one another.”  We will often disagree about what it means to be a Christian—it’s in our nature.  But when we do, we must maintain a genuine and loving spirit of fellowship.

Yes, the quarrels of modern Christianity are sad.  But the divisions themselves don’t have to be.  We really can cling to that which is good in all of them because we all have differing gifts to offer at our common altar.  I can attest to this from personal experience.  My Roman Catholic upbringing instilled in me prayers and traditions that sustain me to this day.  Attending a college with Quaker roots taught me the value of silence, of waiting in quietness for the still, small voice of God.  Being received into the Episcopal Church opened up for me a community that fully accepts me for who I am.  A Greek Orthodox eucharist immersed me in the mystical beauty of the divine reality.  A Congregationalist service showed me a God who is found in simplicity, and in the here and now.  All of these things should be celebrated, for they all point and lead us towards the God we’ve come to know in Christ.  And if all of us continue sincerely to walk together in that direction, then we will in fact be one, just as he and the Father are one.

Prayer of the Day

Almighty God,

you inspired Simon Peter, first among the apostles,

to confess Jesus as Messiah and Son of the living God.

Keep your Church

steadfast upon the rock of this faith,

so that in unity and peace

we may proclaim the one truth

and follow the one Lord,

the same Savior Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

—Collect for the Confession of St. Peter, January 18 (adapted) from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979

Or,

Almighty and everlasting God,

you govern all things in heaven and earth.

Mercifully hear the supplications of your people,

and grant us your peace

all the days of our life;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

—Collect for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany (adapted) from the Book of Common Prayer (1662)

Hymn: “The Church’s one foundation”

(Words: Samuel J. Stone, 1866; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015, from The Hymnal 1982 of the Episcopal Church, and final stanza from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 2006

Tune: ‘Aurelia’, Samuel S. Wesley, 1864)

The Church’s one foundation

Is Jesus Christ her Lord,

She is his new creation

By water and the Word.

From heav’n he came and sought her

To be his holy bride.

With his own blood he bought her,

And for her life he died.

Elect from every nation,

Yet one o’er all the earth.

Her charter of salvation:

One Lord, one faith, one birth.

One holy Name she blesses,

Partakes one holy food,

And to one hope she presses,

With every grace endued.

The world, with scornful wonder,

May see her sore oppressed,

By schisms rent asunder,

By heresies distressed,

Yet saints their watch are keeping,

Their cry goes up, “How long?”

And soon the night of weeping

Shall be the morn of song!

‘Mid toil and tribulation,

And tumult of her war,

She waits the consummation

Of peace forevermore,

Till, with the vision glorious,

Her longing eyes are blest,

And then the Church victorious

Shall be the Church at rest.

On earth she still has union

With God, the Three in One,

And mystic, sweet communion

With those whose rest is won.

O happy, holy chorus!

Lord, grant us by your grace

That we, like saints before us,

May see you face to face.

Fulfilling righteousness

FIRST SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

(The Baptism of the Lord)

Readings:

Romans 3:19-24

Matthew 3:(1–)13-17

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

Rom. 3:21, 22: “Now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed… even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe.”

Matt. 3:15, 16: [John said to Jesus], “‘I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?’ But Jesus, answering, said to him, ‘Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.’”

Reflection

There’s a point in each of our lives when we realize that the world as we know it is not okay.  Some of us learned it the hard way through personal tragedy or despair.  But for those of us fortunate enough not to have such an intimate realization, we need look no further than the news.  Just this past week alone, terrorism struck the heart of France, as gunmen brutally killed journalists and police officers.  Terror, murder, injustice, greed, oppression, exploitation are still very much alive among us—and history has shown us that they always have been.

The Church has traditionally sets aside the first Sunday after the Epiphany to recall the baptism of Jesus.  We all know the story.  Jesus lets himself be baptized by John in the Jordan river, despite the Baptist’s objection, “for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  Now I always thought that this obscure and semi-cryptic response was just Jesus’ way of exemplifying humility, and in part this is true.  But the word “righteousness” especially caught my attention because it forms the main point of today’s first reading from Paul’s Letter to the Romans.

You see, Paul also came to the realization that the world as he knew it was not okay.  And he also saw why.  Quoting a mishmash of psalms, Paul concludes that this is because people don’t seek or fear God, they don’t do good, they say empty and deceitful things, they murder, they destroy—despite being told to do the very opposite.  In fact, because of our imperfect nature, we need rules and laws to teach and constantly remind us of how to act (or not to act) in order to be good people and do what’s right.  But what do we do when even those don’t work, or aren’t enough?

That’s when Paul had an “epiphany” of his own.  He discerned a different kind of “righteousness”, one that comes not from following rules and regulations, but “a righteousness from God” directly—through faith.  It had worked before: God declared Abraham “righteous”, not because he obeyed God and set off to a strange land, but because he first “believed” in God.  Paul realized that this same declaration of righteousness, of being considered “right-acting”, was now open to everyone through faith in God’s Son.

But faith in God’s Son isn’t just a passive belief in his existence.  It’s also a trust that leads to action, transforming us both inside and out in order to follow his footsteps, to live out his existence in our own.  For Jesus, unlike Abraham, acted based on faith in God even when he didn’t have to.  The Son of God didn’t need to be baptized by a son of Adam.  And yet Jesus’ and John’s mutual exchange of selflessness and humility, without the distinction of status or power, is exactly the kind of exchange that God wants us to have with one another.  It’s the kind of exchange that “fulfills all righteousness”, that is, fills righteousness full with a whole new meaning; one that sets us on the “right” path to change the world, even if we don’t know where to start; and one that, with God’s grace, will make things finally okay.

Prayer of the Day

Father in heaven,

at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan,

you proclaimed him your beloved Son

and anointed him with the Holy Spirit.

Grant that all who are baptized into his Name

may keep the covenant they have made,

and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior,

who with you and the Holy Spirit

lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting.

Amen.

—Adapted from the Collect for the First Sunday after the Epiphany in the Book of Common Prayer, p. 214

Or,

O God,

your only-begotten Son

appeared in the substance of our flesh.

We pray you,

grant that we may be counted worthy

to be inwardly renewed by him

whom we confess to have been like us

in outward appearance,

the same Jesus Christ our Lord,

who with you and the Holy Spirit,

lives and reigns, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

—Adapted from the Collect for the “Octave of the Epiphany” (January 13^th) in the Sarum Missal.

Hymn: “The sinless One to Jordan came”

(Words: George B. Timms, born 1910

Tune: ‘Solemnis haec festivitas’, melody from Graduale, 1685)

The sinless One to Jordan came,

And in the river shared our stain.

God’s righteousness he thus fulfilled,

And chose the path his Father willed.

Up rising from the waters there,

The Father’s voice did then declare

That Christ, the Son of God, had come

To lead his scattered people home.

Above him see the heav’nly Dove,

The sign of God the Father’s love,

Now by the Holy Spirit shed

Upon the Son’s anointed head.

How blest that mission then begun

To heal and save a race undone!

Straight to the wilderness he goes

To wrestle with his people’s foes.

O Christ, may we baptized from sin,

Go forth with you, a world to win.

Grant us the Holy Spirit’s power

To shield us in temptation’s hour.

On you may all your people feed,

And know you are the Bread indeed,

Who gives eternal life to those

That with you died, and with you rose.

"Members of one another"

SECOND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

(New Year’s Sunday)

Readings:

Romans 12:1-5

Luke 2:41-52

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

Rom. 12:4-5: “For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

Luke 2:46-47: [Joseph and his mother] “found [Jesus] in the temple, sitting in the middle of the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions.  All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.”

Reflection

My seven-year-old nephew loves playing on my smartphone—what child today doesn’t?  A few months ago, he wanted me to download yet another superhero or “temple run” game, but my phone warned us that there wasn’t enough space.  You’d think that 32GB would be enough for so many things, but with all my music, and photos, etc., and the size of these games, I guess I was wrong.  So I told them there wasn’t any more space on my phone.  Not that I was saddened about that; there were already about seven or eight games there he could choose from.  But that’s when he turned to me and calmly asked, “Well, why don’t we just delete this other game?  I don’t really play it anymore, and it would free up some space.”  I was amazed at both his impeccable logic, and at how he was able to arrive at this logic independently at such a young age.  Maybe I’m getting old after all.

The gospel today presents us with another independent and calculating young child.  The story is often known as “The Losing and Finding of the boy Jesus in the Temple”, but that’s a bit of a misnomer.  Jesus didn’t really get lost; he “stayed behind in Jerusalem” (Luke 2:43), which suggests intent, not accident.  That has to be every parent’s worst nightmare.  I know from experience that it can also be an uncle’s nightmare, losing your nephew from your field of vision, even if only for a few seconds.  But then, thankfully, they found Jesus amid the teachers, that is, the Jewish rabbis, learning and discussing presumably the Torah with them.

It’s a scene that to us is beautiful, familiar, and even unique, being our only canonical story about Jesus’ boyhood.  But, as with all stories about Jesus, it’s also prone to a little bias and even inaccuracy.  For example, the 1999 film Jesus, starring Jeremy Sisto, shows the boy Jesus sitting on a stool, and the rabbis on the floor, listening to his commentary on Scripture.  Christian artists across the centuries have also depicted the scene in a similar way, with this young prodigy visibly assuming the center role of “teacher to the teachers”.  And who can blame us?  Our natural inclination as followers of Jesus is to focus on him, to make him the center of everything.  But Luke is careful to tell us that Jesus was “sitting in the middle of the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46, emphasis added).

So maybe we can imagine a different scene—one of honest inquiry, courteous discussion, a respectful exchange of ideas and mutual desire to learn, all done in love of, and devotion to, God.  The rabbis learned a thing or two about the kingdom of heaven from this child (cf. Matt. 18:3), but Jesus also “increased in wisdom” that day.  We, who follow Jesus, can learn something from that.  Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, teaches us that we are one body in Christ, and therefore “members one of another”.  Yet even he who is the whole body did not stop from engaging the other “members” of his body, his own people, family, and heritage.  He sought to teach them, as much as to learn from them; to guide them, as much as to be made “subject to them”.

I don’t know if the story of Jesus in the Temple happened like this, or even at all.  Luke fancies himself a meticulous historian, and yet he’s our only witness to this event.  But I do know this: I know that this story happens now, in the present, any time a child surprises you with an idea you’d never thought of before.  Moments like those remind us that we are always immersed in a dialogue with those who came before us, and those who will remain after us—and that we must always make room for a newer perspective.  The boy Jesus teaches us that the journey towards God is a road paved with listening and asking, with obeying and challenging.  Like him, we have to be open to new insight, coming from even the unlikeliest sources.  For wisdom and understanding are always to be gained from this endless, and timeless, conversation.

Prayer of the Day

O God,

you wonderfully created,

and yet more wonderfully restored,

the dignity of human nature.

Grant that we may share the divine life

of him who humbled himself to share our humanity,

your Son Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

—Collect of the Second Sunday after Christmas Day in the Book of Common Prayer, 1979.

Or,

O Lord our God,

your only Son came into our world

born truly human,

flesh of our flesh, and blood of our blood.

Grant that he,

who outwardly was as we are,

may inwardly transform us to his likeness;

who lives and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

—Collect of New Year’s Day from “Den Danske Salmebog” (The Danish Hymnal),

translated and adapted by Joseph A. Soltero

Hymn: “What star is this, with beams so bright”

(Words: “Quae stella sole pulchrior” by Charles Coffin in the Paris Breviary, 1736; translated to English by John Chandler, 1837; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015

Tune: ‘Puer Nobis’, 15^th-cent. Trier, Germany; adapted by Michael Praetorius, 1609; harmony by George R. Woodward, 1910 )

What star is this, with beams so bright,

More lovely than the noonday light?

It heralds forth the newborn King,

Glad tidings of our God to bring.

Fulfilled is now what God decreed:

“From Jacob shall a star proceed”.

And lo! the Eastern sages stand

To read in heaven God’s command.

While outward signs the star displays,

An inward light the Lord conveys,

And urges them, with force benign,

To seek the Giver of the sign.

And still that star of heav’nly grace

Invites us, Lord, to seek your face.

O grant that we no more refuse

That grace and guiding light to use.

To God the Father, God the Son,

To God the Spirit, Three in One,

May every tongue and nation raise

An endless song of thankful praise!