ISAIAH 1: 18

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 2nd Tuesday in Lent is, “Isaiah 1:18.”

Every once and a while someone asks us what our favorite Bible text is. If you don’t have one and you’re looking for candidates, Isaiah 1:18 is a good horse to put in the race.

IT BEGINS

Isaiah 1: 18 begins with a great line. “Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord.” That’s the New American Bible [NAB] translation and Mitzi read it so well this morning. I prefer the New Revised Standard Version [NRSV] translation: “Come now, let us argue it out, says the Lord” or the New International Version [NIV] translation: “’Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord.”

Scholars say this text has the settling of an argument in a court of law type language.

And what are we to settle with God or argue about with God or set things right with God?

It’s our sins – our stains – the bad stuff in our story – and if I’ve heard anything from people about what they worry about, it’s their past – their past mistakes, their sins, and how they think they stained their lives.

Scars, tatoos and sin last.

BLEACH

Next comes what makes this text, Isaiah 1:18, a favorite and a memorable text for so many people.

God wants to settle the matter with people - to forgive us, even if our sins are scarlet red. God will bleach them out – help them disappear them – forgive them – so that our souls can become as white as snow.

Isn’t that a great message? Isn’t that a great text.

A BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR THE TEXT

I read in a commentary on today's text that the red used for dye was a very rich red dye. It was taken from the dried female body of a worm called the “coccus ilicis”. Isn’t that interesting? Who and when did someone figure that out? The "coccus ilicis" is found on the leaves of oak trees in Spain and various other places. To come up with a rich red garment, the cotton cloth was double dipped, double dyed – a process unique to this color.

So this red color in cloth was more than spaghetti source on a white blouse or shirt – that those Tide sticks can remove.

Next there was an interesting Jewish practice using wool threads. I found this last night when I was going through some Jewish Midrash and Rabbinical comments on this first reading from Isaiah. (1)

To get at the issue of sin – in the community – a leader of the temple would take a woolen thread that was solid red crimson. It would be tied to the Porch or vestibule that leads into the Temple hall. People coming into the temple would see this red thread when they came into the temple.

Now if in time it turned white, the people knew that their sins were forgiven. If it stayed red, then the people still felt sinful and separated from God. If that crimson thread still stayed red over time, it would be cut in two. One part would be still tied to the temple wall – but the other part was tied between a goat’s horns. It would be the scapegoat that was lead out into the desert. Two goats were used for a penitential service. One would be killed; the other goat the priest put his hands over and symbolically load it down with the sins of the people before it was sent into the desert. (2)

If that red thread turned white – then hopefully the thread in the Temple Porch would also turn white – bleached by the sun. It they didn’t, the people remained with a feeling of being sinful and stupid.

CONCLUSION

For the Christian the scapegoat is Christ driven outside the city and hung on the cross. He is beaten blood red and killed and when we see him on the cross we know He is the Son who bleached our sins white as snow. (3)

NOTES

Painting on top, "The Scapegoat" [1854] by Holman Hunt [1827-1910]. Notice the red thread between the horns.

(1) page 181 in The Book of Legends - Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Legends from The Talmud and Midrash, edited by Hayim Nahman Bialik and Yehoshua Hanna Ravnigzky, Translated by William G. Braude

(2) page 69-70 in Dictionary of the Bible, John L. McKenzie.

(3) Read The Rene Girard Reader, by Rene Girard, edited by James G. Williams, especially pages 11-12; pages 97-141; as well as Violence and the Sacred by Rene Girard.

MY  MISS  TAKES

Quote for Today - March 22, 2011


"Use misssteps as stepping stones to deepen understanding and greater achievement."


Susan Taylor

TAPE MEASURE

INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 2nd Monday in Lent is, “Tape Measure.”

MOVIE: HOOSIERS
Now that March Madness is on TV – I’m sure one of the most famous sports movies of all time will also be on: Hoosiers.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie, “Hoosiers” takes place when the Hickory high school basketball team arrives at the big arena in Indianapolis – for the state championship game. This small, small high school team are to play in this enormous arena against a big team from South Bend. The coach, Norman Dale, played by Gene Hackman, is out on the basketball court with his team. They are in street clothes. They just got off the bus. The place is empty. The coach takes a tape measure out of his pocket and asks a few of his players in the presence of the whole team to measure how high the basket is from the floor. One player climbs on the shoulders of another player and they measure it. They give the measurement. The coach then says, “It’s the same as back home in Hickory.” Then he adds – pointing to the size of the court, “It’s the same size court as well.”

HOW WE MEASURE EACH OTHER
Sometimes we wish everyone had the same measuring tape for each other – but we don’t.

Jesus is well aware of that from his comments in today’s gospel.

He takes an example from the marketplace where everything is measured out very carefully.

Jesus must have seen a businessman in the marketplace who broke all the rules when pouring out wheat or what have you into a person’s garment. He then packed it down. Then he poured in some more. Then he shook it and added more till everything was overflowing.

Now that’s the way to measure out kind judgments on others – according to Jesus.

Jesus says very bluntly:
“Be merciful,
just as your Father is merciful.
“Stop judging
and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning
and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together,
shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure
with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”
CONCLUSION: WHAT DOES YOUR MEASURING TAPE LOOK LIKE?
What would it be like to look at your measuring tape today – this day of Lent – and compare it to Jesus’ measuring stick?

We know what a ruler looks like. We know what a yardstick looks like. We know what tape measures look like.

Is our rule of thumb, ruler, or measuring rod miniscule or maxed big?

Or imagine if our measuring tape was only an inch by a quarter inch and it was like the size of the cross on our rosary or a cross around our neck. That’s a tiny cross. Then imagine if we looked up and saw this gigantic cross, this gigantic measuring stick, hanging up here in this church?

Jesus is standing here today in this court, in this church today. He’s challenging us to compare the difference between the cross and our measuring stick. Can we say what Jesus said on the cross: “Father forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing?”

Now that’s a wide measurement.

But we might say, “That cross is too heavy – that’s too difficult a way to measure others. Heck, people know what they are doing!”


Try it! You might like it! In fact, once we learn to judge others with much wider judgments, watch how we discover this heavy cross of forgiveness becomes – watch how much inner peace we have – watch how others see in our face – a more understanding heart.

Jesus has the secret of making burdens lighter!

THERE ARE ALWAYS  

TWO  SIDES 

TO EVERY STORY 

AND SOMETIMES MORE  

Quote for Today  March 21,  2011

"He who knows only his side of the case, knows little of that."



John Stuart Mill [1806-1873], On Liberty [1859]. chapter 2.

GO FIGURE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Second Sunday in Lent is, “Go Figure.”

That’s one of those sayings one hears from time to time.

“Go Figure!”

Something strange happens. A person surprises us by doing something we didn’t expect – and we say, “Go figure!” Sometimes we say it with a shrug of the shoulders or a twist of the hand – in an either/or motion or what have you.

“Go Figure!”

It can be a good surprise or a bad surprise. Either way, to say, “Go Figure” usually has an element of intrigue or the unknown or mystery in the situation. So it can be a day when everything goes right and we didn’t expect there would be no traffic and we got all the lights and so we arrive ten minutes ahead of time and the doctor sees us immediately and we’re back on the road a half hour ahead of what we planned and we say, “Go Figure.”

SPENDING TIME – SPENDING LIFE

We spend much of our time and much of life trying to figure out life.

To be more specific: we spend much of our time trying to figure out what we want out of life. We try to figure out work; what would be the right job? We try to figure out how parents figured out life. We try to figure out what others are thinking. Go figure. We might be listening to music or the car radio or a sermon – but we are really listening to ourselves figuring out someone else – or something someone said last week or just yesterday or we’re trying to figure out what kind of car to buy – or house to buy – or house to sell – or what to do when the kids finally move out – or what have you. Will Maryland get a new basketball coach so the Terps can be in March Madness.

Go figure.

God? Is this all real? What’s with earthquakes and tsunamis and war and Islam and terrorism and why didn’t Libya fall just like Tunisia and Egypt? And how does this all work? Does nature hate a vacuum? Is the world uneasy with peace? As soon as the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall and the threat of communism fell – then something new starts up with Islam.

Go figure!

Why do we spend all this money on wars and helping up other nation’s defenses – and the money could be used for education or farming or what have you? How does the world work? Is it all about oil or the economy or greed or control or we’re # 1 and want to be #1 – as in sports? Now that we have TV and Internet News 24/7/365 – do we need to have fighting or killing somewhere – to have news?

Go Figure

TODAY’S GOSPEL – TODAY’S GOOD NEWS

Today’s gospel presents the great story of the Transfiguration.

This second part of the word “transfiguration” triggered the thought, title and theme for this homily. “…..figuration.” Go figure.

Jesus goes up a high mountain with 3 close friends and he is transfigured before them. He goes up there to figure things out.

The disciples can’t figure out what is happening. Jesus’ face shines like the sun and his clothes become white as light. They see Moses and Elijah appearing to Jesus – and he is talking with them.
What’s going on here? Uh oh. This is all new! What’s happening?

Go figure. Imagine being there? We’d be trying to figure it out as well.

Peter, James and John want to stay there. They need more time.

Peter says, “Lord it is good that we are here. We can set up 3 tents: one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

Then they see a cloud come over them and they hear a voice from the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Often listening is the first part of figuring.

This story is found in Matthew, Mark and Luke – so evidently it was an important moment in the life of Jesus and these disciples.

ISRAEL 2000In January of 2000, I had the trip of a lifetime for a priest – Israel – and it wasn’t just a tour of Israel – it was a retreat with about 25 priests.

It was a chance to go figure full blast – for 10 days.

I told Father Stephen Doyle – a Franciscan priest who was our guide and retreat master – that I had a lot of things I wanted to see.

He asked, “For example?”

I said I wanted to see, a mustard tree, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, sheep and goats, a sycamore tree, Gehenna, the Dead Sea, the Mosque in Jerusalem that is just above the Wailing Wall. I wanted to see the Lake of Galilee, the Jordan River. I wanted to see grapes – and wheat – a wine press and an outdoor oven.

So when we went by any of those things he’d yell out from the front of our bus, “Costello there’s a sycamore tree coming up on our left.”

The only place and the only thing we didn’t get to see was Samaria and hopefully the possible well where Jesus meet the woman – which is the story in next Sunday’s’ gospel.

The trip up to the top of the mountain – Mount Tabor - the so called place of the transfiguration was one of the big surprises of the trip.

We drove by from our hotel on the Lake of Tiberius – also called Galilee – to the base of the mountain. It’s pretty high. We got out of our bus and entered into white Mercedes Benz taxis. They took us – zig zag – up to the top. That was different. We had Mass up there – followed by an hour of quiet prayer after Mass – and the gospel reading at Mass obviously was today’s gospel.

Since it was a retreat we had an hour of silence – time for quiet prayer – up there on the top of that mountain. I found a great spot on the roof of some building up there. I was all by myself – looking out on the vast green fields down below of that part of northern Israel. Great farms. Artificial watering.

It was a time to go figure. I thought about Jesus – whether this was the actual mountain. I figured out that it really didn’t make any difference. I said to myself – “This whole land here was walked by Jesus and I’m following in his footsteps – by foot but mostly by bus.”

I understood Martin Luther King Jr’s famous, “I’ve been to the mountain” speech. When you’re on a mountain, the old saying is so true, “On a clear day you can see forever.”

I thought about life – being a priest – about the people I met – and all the blessings I’ve received so far.

I realized how blessed I was to have backpacked a lot when I was younger – in the Rockies as well as the Presidential range of mountains in New Hampshire – but back then I didn’t see what I was seeing that day. Old eyes can see a lot more than younger eyes.

Then the hour was up and we went down to a Franciscan rectory up there – and had this great Italian dinner. We had a meatball and spaghetti dinner and great bread on the transfiguration mountain. Go figure. It was good to have been there.

Then we took the white Mercedes cabs back to the bus.

CONCLUISION: REFIGURING
To come up with a Lenten type homily and to try to make a helpful point, the word refiguring hit me. I could also use the word, “reconfigure”.

But refigure works.

I would think Lent is a good time to get away from it all.

Lent is a good time to go figure.

Lent is a good time to become quiet – to take walks – to spring – to rise – to resurrect – to listen to God the Father say to us – “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Lent is a good time to plan ahead and look backwards. When were the transfiguration moments in my life – when I saw everything clear and bright and right. More.

Lent is a good time to look at any parts of my life that have become disfigured – and become refigured – reconfigured.

And when this happens in Lent – here in church – or on a nice spring walk – or just sitting in a good quiet place at home – and we realize we’re with Jesus – we say, “Lord it is good to be here.”

Post card on top is entitled, "Springtime In The Galilee Mt. Tabor".

CONVERSION:

HOW DEEP,

HOW WIDE,

HOW REAL?

Quote for Today  - March 20,  2011



"In 1951 Red Skelton and a party of friends flew to Europe, where Skelton was to appear at the London Palladium. As they were flying over the Swiss Alps, three of the airplane's engines failed. The situation looked very grave and the passengers began to pray. Skelton went into one of his best comic routines to distract them from the emergency as the plane lost height, coming closer and closer to the ominous-looking mountains. At the last moment the pilot spied a large field among the precipitous slopes and made a perfect landing. Skelton broke the relieved silence by saying, 'Now, ladies and gentlemen, you may return to all the evil habits you gave up twenty minutes ago.'"






page 511 in The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman, General Editor.

JOSEPH:
AN IMAGINARY STORY

It wasn’t the way I planned it. For that matter it wasn’t the way Mary planned it either. So we figured it was God’s plan – and we went from there. Not easy – sometimes it’s never easy with God’s plans and God’s ways – that is, when compared to my plans and my ways.

What we planned was marriage – family – the carpenter’s shop – meals together, love together, life together – a life like any other life.

Then I found out Mary was pregnant – and I knew it wasn’t me – and knowing Mary – I couldn’t fathom any one else but me – so I was left in the dark – and I couldn’t sleep and I couldn’t dream of what to do next.

In the beginning I knew I wasn’t going to throw her out to the wolves of gossip and to back of the hand whispered conversations. If you knew how small Nazareth was and how big gossip could be there. If you knew how sweet Mary was – you too would divorce her quietly. You couldn't just expose her to shame – and shame is strong stuff in a small village.

Of course I'm biased. We already were engaged. We already went through that ceremony – the first step in a Jewish wedding – and our wedding date was set.Good thing I’m a dreamer. Good thing I was named the same name as Joseph the Great Dreamer in Jewish history. In dreams he figured out his future. In dreams an angel told me what to do.

In a strange way, we got a break. It was a temporary way out. It was the census – the Roman Census – so we had to go to Bethlehem – where my roots extended back to David - way back. It gave us an opportunity to get away for a while. Sometimes the best thing to do is to hide.

It was fascinating the way events unfolded when we got to Bethlehem. We were just in time for Mary to have her baby. However, what happened was not expected. So I was amazed how things worked out. It helps to be a dreamer.

To be born in a stable – was just one more surprise. Shepherds came out of nowhere and Magi came out of somewhere – bringing their presence and their presents.Then came the nightmare and the night dream to get out of there – the warning that Herod didn’t want competition. Those in power usually erase, abort, get rid of all that will get in the way. An angel, a dream, directed us to Egypt. Sometimes the best thing to do is to hide.

Egypt made sense – because that was the same path my patron, Joseph the Dreamer, took.

However, I didn’t realize most of this till afterwards. Isn't that the way it usually happens?

So here I was another Joseph who landed in Egypt. He got there in as strange a way as we did. His brothers wanted to kill him. Sanity and luck prevailed. Joseph - betrayed by his own brothers - was sold for 20 pieces of silver – and his buyers brought him to Egypt. So here we were because of a dream and the message that here was a special baby.

I added, "One dangerous baby as well."

Mary added, "Well, I can't say I wasn't warned that a sword would pierce my heart."

When we heard that this Herod died – there were a few of those rascals - we headed back to Nazareth – our roots – and my carpenter shop. It needed a lot of work.

In the meanwhile Jesus grew in wisdom, age and grace before all.

It slowly became obvious to me that Jesus was going to be more than a carpenter, Would he be like Joseph the Dreamer who saved the world of his day when they were in famine –and he made Egypt the breadbox of the world? Will our Jesus feed the world – with bread and life? Will he become a great rabbi? Will he become a wisdom figure? Will he become a great healer. Time will tell. Time will tell.

In the meanwhile the three of us became fully settled in Nazareth, We were home.

I often wondered what our Jesus was wondering about when he stopped to watch the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. I saw his face wince and twist several times when he saw the worse use of wood that was possible – people hung on crosses - people crucified to crosses all along the roads we walked in Northern Palestine.

[Painting on top, "The Dream of St. Joseph," [1640] by Georges de La Tour [1593-1652]

This is a first draft of a possible story for a future book I'm working on from time to time on Biblical Characters.