A blind man sat by the road and cried...

I find the miracle (sign) in the ministry of Jesus this week (Mark 10.46-52), both encouraging and befuddling all at the same time. It is encouraging because even though he is this close to the cross and all that is going to happen, Jesus is still true to who he is and that gives me hope for what is still to come to me in my own life and ministry. It is befuddling because nothing happens that causes more to happen and for problems to ensue, like people running off and proclaiming what Jesus has done for them when Jesus has asked them not to.

First let me say a word about faith and believing. We seem to think in our modern, Western culture that these are different things. Where Jesus and the Scriptures – Mark in particular – are concerned they are not. In order to believe, one must both trust and participate in order to know that you do believe and are expressing it. Thereby one demonstrates his or her faith. Believing in Jesus is something that everyone can do, including the devil – and he shudders at the thought of Christ. Faith is an action of the body not just a memory of the mind.

See it in the actions and life of Bartimaeus. When he heard of Jesus passing him by and knowing that he was on his way to Jerusalem, to confrontation and probably to his death, the son of Timaeus started calling out to Jesus, by name. People were trying to listen to Jesus as they walked and talked. This fool, this ungrateful blind beggar was disrupting that, making it impossible for them to participate. They tried without success to ‘shhh’ and in fact the harder they tried, the louder Bartimaeus shouted and carried on. So much so, that Jesus heard and said to them – you call him to me. There was both relief and shame that hey had tried to silence this man and now had to do what they should have done in the first place. And why should Bartimaeus have been quiet – he needed mercy, and this might be his last chance in this life to get it. It means he is going to hang on to this moment with all that he worth that he might receive what he needs: mercy.

This is more than just for one man to receive his eyesight back – this for a person of God to be made whole that he might know God better and be drawn into eternal life. Bartimaeus did all he could to get Jesus’ attention and then “sprang up” to get to Jesus, leaving what little he had behind to get to him so that he could receive mercy. He needed to be drawn out his situation – his blindness. This is completely different from the rich young ruler wanted to be done with rule keeping and with the necessity of giving to those in need. This is also completely different from the power and glory seeking of James and John, who wanted to be given seats of honour, power and authority in the kingdom, even above those who they have learned and served with. Members of the community had to help this man get to Jesus so tht they could have their conversation. They had to participate in the miracle and put aside what they think is right and righteous. They needed to stop worrying about having their needs and demands met and consider another – that the other could be restored and made whole.

What did this man do with the mercy, grace and healing he received? He left his old life behind and followed Jesus up the hill and out of Jericho, towards Jerusalem and the cross. He went without anything but himself/ So if lack of a road map and a mission statement did not stop Abraham, if the sea could not stop Moses, if a wall would not stop Joshua, if a giant couldn’t stop David, Bartimaeus had no clothes or bank account, and if death cannot stop Jesus, then what’s stopping you from becoming the child of God you are called to become?

Jason+

Trusting in the Presence of God

Nearly 25 years ago, I can remember feeling that I had the world as my oyster. There was a moment when I was newly married, preaching and teaching all over Southern Ontario leading a growing and fruitful ministry. There was even a little money left in the bank at end of the month instead of month left at the end of the money. I could have been this rich, young ruler. But then it all came to a screeching halt.

On the morning of May 29^th, 1994 my wife had to rush me to the Emergency Room at the Toronto Western Hospital. I had awakened to discover that I was struggling to walk or talk. And so, off we went into the dark. After time in the Emergency room I was told it was the flu and to go home, drink lots and rest. We had two more trips like this to the same hospital and was told the same thing each time, go home, drink lots and rest. So finally, on the Thursday night, a friend took us to the hospital they would go to – Mount Sinai. It was here, in a bed and in front of a doctor and two nurses that I suffered a grand maul seizure.

After questioning my wife, the doctor thought that this was not the flu and I was swiftly admitted to the hospital. As the doctors investigated, it was narrowed done to some harrowing choices: leukemia, a brain tumour, or meningitis. After a couple more days of testing, it was concluded that I had an atypical viral meningitis. And as the days when by, the doctors grew grim and thought that there was little time left for me. In spite of the fact that they could give me medications to knock out the infection, they could not control the swelling.

I do remember times during those three weeks when Nova would come in first thing in the morning and help me to do morning devotions by reading scripture and visits from friends and colleagues who would pray unceasingly for me to be healed. Of these I can remember praying with our upstairs neighbours Captain Henk and Sue Willems who go out to what is now known as the Toronto Blessing and then come directly to my hospital room to lay hands on me and pray. 

It wasn’t until my 21^st day in hospital, when all of the medical measures had been withdrawn and life was allowed to take it course, that the Lord acted. The priest who had married Nova and I (His name is Richard) in May came to visit. The visit was good and it was helpful to see Richard, even if I could not physically see him. I remember vividly the prayer that was offered as he was ready to depart. I remember a hand on my back where the needles had been used to determine that it was meningitis. The hand as hot – but not uncomfortable.

I went from not being able to see or even tolerate light; from hardly being able to hear; from not being to walk that afternoon to the following morning be able to be in my room with the blinds wide open, sitting up, eating my breakfast when Nova walked in. Nova that day encountered one of the doctors who had been responsible for my care noted for her, “Your husband’s case has us baffled. We don’t know why he got sick and we don’t know why he got better.”

I share this not to make myself look great or to look for pity because of what happened. I share it because of what God did in the life of one person and what he continues to in the lives of other people because of that one person. I have been enabled to see what God can do when there is trust, even in the tiniest amounts, in him is in operation.

And for what is it worth, I had been wowed for some time by the Christians who were around me. They had wonderful testimonies of how God broke down all kinds of walls and barriers for them to come to faith because of where their lives had taken them. For a time, I thought myself a puny Christian next to them. The suffering and pain of those days serves a reminder that we are not alone and when things are at their worst. What we need to do is to keep looking to God for his grace and leading in the way that we should go, trusting him to get us there.

Jason+

Dealing with worries

Have you ever wondered why we worry about things? Ever wondered about how to deal with worries? The Gospel this week (Matthew 6.25-33) calls us to consider some things, not the least of which is to consider where our focus is. I say this because I know that where our focus is, there is our faith and strength. And if, as believers, we are not focused on Jesus, does that not lead to fear and frustration because we lack power and courage?

We need to do more than “just believe”. We need to stop and consider that Jesus knows what our needs before we even ask and our simple ignorance in asking. We need to ask, to seek him and to knock on the door until we get not because Jesus acts like a certain jolly old elf but because we need to know what it is that we need. So that when we receive it we are willing to do more that just hold on and treat what we have been given as a personal possession. We are called in this way to seek first the kingdom of God and all that comes with it, starting with righteousness. Keep in mind that the Father calls us into a deeper and deeper relationship with him – that he wants, desires for us to come closer to him so that he can give us all that we need to do what he needs us to do so that others can come into that same kind of righteous relationship with both God and with us.

God’s mercy through us as the Church retrieves us and others from trouble. God grace strives to make us not just holy but whole. Faith makes us ready for Jesus to come again and for what is next – life that is abundant and irrepressible. We come to congregate on this morning to give thanks for all that God has given us. Giving thanks to God keeps us from making idols out of what we have in our lives and us from becoming self idolatrous because we believe that everything depends on us… it does not. Thanksgiving grows because we are in relationship with a God whose giving knows no ending. Trusting God for what we need, is in and of itself an act of faith which is a gift God has already given and we have received. We honour God by taking this moment to praise, to glorify, to pray and to give thanks. Worship causes us to find our focus again and to return to what it is that God is calling each and all of us to.

Fears, misgivings, mistrust and unfaithfulness arise from an unwillingness to accept God at his word and to lean on what he has promised. We often refuse to learn that God is faithful to us all the time. As human beings we are willing to defer to ‘expert opinions’ because of involvements in other matters. We comply with something we know not to be right or the truth because we fear ridicule and being excluded from community because of personal opinions, motives and agendas concerning Church and the Faith we hold in common.

We are dragged into the spot where we are persisting in certain things: to ask, to seek and to knock, and await God’s answer to our needs and necessities. We do so in order that we might become answers to at least a few of our own prayers.

And as a last thought, let’s consider the encouragement of Scripture, specifically Psalm 37.3-7a which says, 

“Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!"

We need to give thanks, overcome things in the name of the Lord Jesus and focus on what we are called to. He will deal with our worries in ways that will cause us to give thanks and to rejoice.

Jason+

Salt in the wound

If it seems like Jesus us jumping on his disciples with both feet, that is probably because he is. Mark 9.38-50 is one of the testier parts of the Gospel of ark where Jesus is working on the Twelve to get them thinking more about the kingdom and the needs of other people while at the same time thinking and worrying less about themselves and their lives.

The Gospel this week is about reminding the Twelve of what ministry is really all about. The Apostle John speaks up and points out that they found a man doing what they can do, but he would not fall under their authority, so they tried to stop him from doing ministry at all. It occurs to me that the greatest sign of the kingdom, which is what ministry does. Is your own relationship with Jesus and how you live it out with him and with others? In fact, it is about “being weird” as we live in this world and as we walk into the next one.

Leading ministry does not mean that the leader owns it. Ownership belongs to God and that makes us stewards of what Good has and what God wants done. Jesus points out to the Twelve that it is better and wiser for them to allow people who can do these things t do them because they will not turn on Jesus or the community easily, having done them. It also occurs to me that while ministry needs to be under authority and to be accountable for what is done (because it enables testimony and celebration) it is not just for the chosen few who lead nor is it just about “the Minister”. Moreover, is it not a sin to leave a person in their pain and sorrow, sin and sickness because the right people do not control that particular person? “Whoever is not against us, is for us.”

And let’s look a little deeper into the life of ministry and what we do with how we live and how we act. Jesus’ solution to dealing with what makes us sin and fall, is pretty radical, but it is not our bodies he wants dealt with. It is our capacity to be able to sin. We need to be radical in dealing with your sin. How do we do that? 

Here is some things to consider before you move to radical surgery:

• ·         Be very careful what you pick up and what you put down; not just with your hands but with your tongue as well. – Let your conversation be seasoned with salt.
• ·         Be wise in walk you walk into and what you walk away from.
• ·         Be compassionate with those you choose to see and those you choose to not see.

You show were you are going to live by how you are living. Choose to be salt and light, even if it means sometimes being salt in the wound or light in the eyes. It will sting, it can hurt but then it will heal, life will be restored and all that will be left is a scar as a reminder of how gracious God is. And one last thing? Patience in serving and under suffering brings joy and freedom to those who need it most, including the servant.

Jason+

Who are we when we come home?

Who are you when you come home? I can remember times when my boys were small, and they would love to come running to the door to greet me. Invariably they would want to be picked up and have my full and undivided attention because I had been out doing what Dad does when he was not downstairs in the Parish Office. They loved to wrap their arms around my neck and hold on for dear life - as if they had not seen me in a thousand years though it had only been a few hours at most. The Gospel for Sunday (Mark 9.30-37) got me to thinking about home. Jesus came home to Capernaum for the last time on his way to Jerusalem and the cross. Jesus came home and to the house where he lived through his ministry and life away from Nazareth. Who was he when he was home?

I ask this question because I often wonder as a priest, who people become when the walk out the doors of the Church and go home from worship – who do they become? I ask because I find it interesting that I can write blogs about life, peace, hope and people respond to that like gangbusters. On the other hand, when I write about things like following Jesus and the realities that we face in doing that, people don’t want to deal with that. People seem to only want the sweetness and light and not reality. Maybe it is reality they are trying to avoid. That’s why it is critical to understand that Mark’s Jesus is at a critical spot because they are going to Jerusalem and the time is short. 

So, it makes it important when Jesus asks them the question, “What were you arguing about on the road?” they were ashamed, not because they had argued, but because of what they had argued about: who was the greatest amongst them. Wanting to be great is a good thing but if you are going to be great in Jesus’ eyes, you’re going to have to be a good servant for everyone. The Twelve were worried about who was going to get position and power, not about the people around them who were suffering. It occurs to me that things aren’t all that different in the Church from then until now. What do you do with a bunch of disciples who are self serving, self interested and self seeking? Jesus knew what to do! He called them into deeper service with him. “if you want to be great, then you must be least and servant of all. We must learn to not only seek to bring people into relationship with Jesus we need to be humble enough to stay with them and teach them what they need to know to be effective Christians too.

Every person you receive and befriend, regardless of who they are, is worthy of the service you can offer them. It is not about you, it is about God and them. Remember the baptismal promise to seek and to serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbour as yourself? Every person, every life matters because you seek Jesus in them. Every life has significance where the Father is concerned because each of us is worth the life of the Son of God. Even if and even when they cannot give us the power, position and prestige we think that we deserve. Every person is entitled to the care and protection that we can offer through the grace and strength that God gives us.

Moreover, the service that we offer others then becomes thank offering for all that God the Father has given and all that we have received from him. We are sustained in our life and ministry because we are continuing to seek Christ both in the Church and in the world. The Father makes this happen because he is seeking to reconcile all of his creation with himself. As Stanley Hauerwas recently said, “The pastoral task of the Church, is the building up of the Church in holiness.”

This means that when we come home to God, and we are at his table, we are received as a desirable guest but that is not where we remain if we are in relationship with him. We do not, we cannot remain the same and remain with God forever. Our relationships with the Father and with one another transform because we know each other increasing measure. Being holy and righteous are about the relationships we hold not who we become. Such states therefore, are communal and relational much more than they are personal.

So when you come home who are you?

Jason+

Hope is kindled

There is a great little moment in the last of the Lord of the Rings movies, the Return of the King, when Gandalf the White utters a simple phrase, “Hope is kindled.” He says this to acknowledge that the message has been sent from Gondor to Rohan, that aid in the fight against the enemy Sauron and evil is needed. Rohan under the lead of King Théoden will respond, but will they come in time and with enough strength to drive back the enemy?

I connect this with what we read this Sunday in the Gospel and through out the Scriptures about how God is coming to the aid of his people, whom he loves and how he deals with the separation that has been created between him and them. Which leads me to ask, do you know what the first question is in the Bible? It is God who asks Adam and Eve, “Where are you?”

In the moment when Peter announces that the disciples believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah we have a biblical moment when the flame is kindled and hope springs into the world. But then Jesus orders them to stay silent about it and with God reason. To announce the presence of the one who is going to upset the status quo and who is going to overthrow the government, is not helpful to what Jesus is trying to do and is dangerous for those who would bring such a message. It is ultimately why there is a confrontation between Jesus and the Jewish leadership which led to a conflict with Pilate. This in turn led to Jesus’ death on the cross. This too is a moment when hope is kindled. Jesus told them that he was going to be rejected, suffer and die and three days later, rise again. All Peter could he is that his dream wasn’t going to come true – that Jesus wasn’t going to be the kind of Messiah that he wanted him to be. After all, of what use is a dead Messiah?

Jesus, in rebuffing Peter, looks at his disciples before he says anything. He knows that what he says is going to be crucial. It is why, I think Jesus was so pointed and demanding. He insisted that Peter stop playing God and get with the program. He wanted Peter to follow and learn to lead, even if it meant learn to do it the hard way. Jesus does not have interest in claiming his royal seat through his bloodline. He is not interested in furthering a political agenda.

We are far off and away from God. It is why God asks the question of you, “Where are you?” Jesus came to find us and to bring us home. We are worried about failure. We worry about loss. What we need to start doing and to be aware of is what Jesus is asking of each and of all of us, so that we can together help to build the kingdom of God.

So maybe it is time that we follow Peter and with him get back in line. But let’s be clear, no disciple follows the Master on their own terms. You have a choice. You can live with and for Jesus and all that this means, including what St. Paul would call “light and momentary troubles”. Or you can live your life the way you want, at least for a time and then face an eternity without God on your own. It is totally your choice.

Jesus and his demands on his disciples are clear. He is not looking for men and women to become a band of martyrs. Martyrdom is a gift you can use but once and at the end of your life. Jesus calls you to live for him and that is why he calls for your surrender and submission. As the Scriptures remind us, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37.4)

Because we seek to follow Jesus in this moment. Hope is kindled. Let’s get to it.

Jason+

Hope and Light for life

In recent weeks, I have been reminded of the necessity of Christian people learning to be merciful in their actions, especially when dealing with one another. The Gospel this week (Mark 7.24-37) speaks of the necessity of mercy in the stories of a woman who calls on Jesus to heal her little daughter and a man who is brought to Jesus by the community for Jesus to heal because of his hearing loss and being tongue tied. Now maybe at first, these don’t look like mercies offered but we need to consider carefully who these people were that Jesus healed and the impact they had on the people around them, including Jesus.

Firstly, there is the Syrian Phoenician woman. She had some many things against her and Jesus, when he encountered her in Tyre. She had gone in search of Jesus and found him out when he wanted to be in quiet and spend time with the Twelve, to make sure that they understood everything because time was short, and the cross was coming nearer and nearer. Jesus wanted to ensure that his work and his Church would thrive after the Resurrection and Ascension. So, when the woman came to him and interrupted his plan, Jesus did not make it easy for her to make the request. The woman remained undeterred in her persistence for her daughter’s health and well being. I think that this is important to the Markan community because it shows that someone who is thought of as an outsider, an enemy of the kingdom, or worse an insignificant speck, could have faith and receive what God is offer to the rest of his children. This understanding would be huge to those to whom Mark is writing because that is how the Empire and the world are treating them. They are hunted, persecuted and executed for claiming to believe that Jesus is their Lord. They needed encouragement and they wanted more hope for the life they needed to live, if they were going to live it for the name of Jesus.

Secondly then, to get further away from his popularity, Jesus went north from Tyre to Sidon, and then from Sidon to the region of the Decapolis (Ten Towns) where they brought a man to Jesus who had no hearing and only had a little bit of speech. It might be that the man had suffered an illness and lost his hearing. What is certain is that Jesus took him indoors to keep the healing from being a public spectacle. Wet Willies and your spit on another person’s tongue is a dramatic (if not completely icky) action to a modern ear and mind. In declaring that man to be open, Jesus opened the man’s life to all the good and grace that God had for him which in turn allowed the man to opening and plainly praise God for what he has and was doing, in his life and in the life of the nation. 

That is why I found this past weekend so powerful for the lives that were spoken into by the Spirit. The speaker at the youth weekend has the gift of prophecy. He spoke a word to each and every one of the 20 teens that were there because he had been praying for them for weeks. He told them about the things that God could see in them. He told them about how much God loved them and about how much joy there was in God’s heart over them. He worked to help these young people open up to God and to the people around them so that the world around them could hear about the transforming power and love of God for them. People who have experienced this kind of transformation cannot help but talk about God and how God has opened them up – and they keep talking and talking about God and how wonderful God is and what he is doing in Jesus in this world.

This has helped me to realize that true darkness is not the complete absence of light, but rather the total loss of hope. Being around younger people, newer Christians, has reminded me of a long-held belief that when the light and hope of Christ are seen in the life of a young person, then not only is a life saved, but so is the lifetime that goes with it.

Seeing Light and hope in another, is a mercy and a God given grace. I know that this is true in my life and pray is so with you as well.

Jason+