FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT
(Judica)
Readings:
Key Verses (using the World English Bible):
Heb. 9:14: “How much more will the blood of Christ… cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
John 8:48-50: “[They asked Jesus,] ‘Don’t we say well that you… have a demon?’ Jesus answered, ‘I don’t have a demon, but I honor my Father… I don’t seek my own glory.’”
Reflection
An article last week about Creflo Dollar oddly brought back some fond memories of college. In case the name doesn’t ring a bell, Creflo Dollar is an American televangelist, active since the late 80’s, founder of a number of ministries, including World Changers Church International. He preaches “prosperity theology”, a controversial interpretation of Scripture that teaches that God rewards Christians in this life with financial security and material wealth—especially when they donate to certain suggested Christian ministries. The “fond memories of college” might start to make a little more sense now. My friends and I, most of us religion majors, would stay up Sunday nights to watch the televised “prosperity theology/apocalypse” lineup of televangelists Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, and Jack Van Impe. Surprised at what we heard, we’d ask ourselves: do people really believe this?
And so, when I read that Creflo Dollar was calling on his congregation to buy him a new $65 million private jet, today’s Gospel came to mind: “Aren’t you possessed by a demon?!”
Money is an inextricable part of this world, and therefore also of the church on earth. In last week’s Gospel, Philip knew that 200 denarii, roughly six months’ wages, wouldn’t be enough to buy bread for the multitudes. The Book of Acts records that the apostles took charge of distributing money, according to members’ needs. The early church recognized the slippery slope that comes with money: preachers and teachers should earn it, but loving it is “the root of all evil”.
This link between money and evil is hard to accept, but worth exploring, especially in Lent. And I think today’s Gospel provides a guide for our conscience. When accused of being demon-possessed, Jesus replied, “I don’t have a demon, but I honor my Father… I don’t seek my own glory.” In other words, he challenges his accusers to judge him based on his actions. Some of those actions were visible to everyone around him, such as healing the sick, casting out demons, showing power over nature, teaching his followers, seeking and inviting the outcasts and unclean. Others, such as those we remember in Lent, were not meant to be understood except over time: his temptation in the wilderness, his betrayal and arrest, and his torturous execution. And Christianity has come to understand that nothing of what Jesus did was for his own benefit. To save humanity, he became fully human, humbling himself, coming not to be served, but to serve. He was, as the hymn below puts it, “seeking not himself but us.”
All of us, including church employees, need to work and earn a living. Even a church is a physical structure that needs to be maintained. Even Jesus had to eat. But it’s one thing to spend millions of dollars on a church where you have not only Sunday worship, but (hopefully and ideally) also other types of ministries during the week, such as feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, programs for the youth and elderly, so that the building itself becomes a vital part of the community because it services and supports the community. It’s quite another thing to invest that kind of money into a $65 million private jet—unless World Changers Church International is actually changing the world with it, say, by flying food, clothing, and other essentials every single week to different cities across the globe. But I doubt that most members of that church will ever get to see the inside of the plane they’re funding.
Only when our works, our actions, serve the living God, and not just our own gain, can we know, with a clean conscience, that we're on the right track.
Prayer of the Day
We pray you, almighty God,
mercifully to look upon your people;
that by your great goodness
they may be governed and preserved evermore,
both in body and soul;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
—Collect for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Book of Common Prayer, 1662
Grant, O Lord,
that those we bring before you,
instructed in the holy mysteries,
may be renewed by the waters of baptism,
and be counted as members of your church;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
—Collect for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, translated and adapted from the Gelasian Sacramentary, 5th century, by Joseph A. Soltero
(Words: ‘O amor quam ecstaticus’, Latin, 15th century; attributed to Thomas à Kempis; translated to English by Benjamin Webb, 1819-1885, adapted by Joseph A. Soltero
Tune: ‘Deus tuorum militum’, from Antiphoner, 1753, adapted by The English Hymnal, 1906)
O love, how deep, how broad, how high,
How passing thought and fantasy,
That God—the Son of God should take
Our mortal form for mortals’ sake.
For us baptized, for us he bore
His holy fast and hungered sore,
For us temptation sharp he knew,
For us the tempter overthrew.
For us he prayed, for us he taught,
For us his daily works he wrought
By words, and signs, and actions thus
Still seeking not himself but us.
For us to wicked hands betrayed,
For us in thorns and robe arrayed,
He bore the shameful cross of death,
For us gave up his dying breath.
For us he rose from death again,
For us he went on high to reign,
For us he sent his Spirit here
To guide, to strengthen, and to cheer.
All glory to the Lord our God
For love so deep, so high, so broad,
The Trinity whom we adore
For ever and for evermore.
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