DO YOU HAVE A RABBI?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Do You Have A Rabbi?”

On Wall Street, where people can lose a job just like that, [snap fingers], a person who has just lost their job is often asked, “Do you have a rabbi?”

Translation: do you have someone you can call – someone who knows the street, someone who has influence, someone who can get you another job?

“Do You Have A Rabbi?”

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s gospel and today’s readings have many things to explore.

I would like to explore the theme that Christ is our rabbi. Christ is the one we are following. Christ is the one who knows the streets of the human heart, the one who knows what’s going on. Christ is the one we can call upon, rely upon, who is the central influence in our life. Christ is the one to look to for the next step. We who follow Christ are following a person – not a principle. This does not mean we don’t have principles.

In today’s first reading, Samuel goes to Jesse who has many sons – because the Lord tells him to do this. The Lord had said, “I have chosen my king from among Jesse’s sons.”

It’s a great story – well crafted – and as you heard it read today, I’m sure you can picture the scene – as in a theater. I’m sure it was acted out dramatically over and over again.

As Samuel sees Jesse’s sons, he thinks, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is here before me.”

The Lord responds back, “Do not judge from appearance or looks. In fact, I reject all these sons. God does not see as humans see. Humans judge by appearance; the Lord looks into the heart.”

Great message. And we know after interviewing all 7 sons, Samuel asks, “Are these all the sons you have?”

And Jesse replies, “There is the youngest, who is tending the sheep!”

Samuel says, “Send for him!”

And when Samuel sees him – his youth, his looks, his appearance, he hears a voice say, “There, anoint him, for this is the one!”

How’s that for a great contradiction? How’s that for a theater laugh? After hearing the Lord say, “I don’t judge by appearance”, the reading seems to say God and Samuel both judge the 8th son by appearance and look.

Great scene. Great story telling. And surprise, David will surprise everyone starting with his brothers – and then Goliath and on and on and on.

Samuel anoints him in the presence of his brothers and it’s only then that we hear his name: “David.” And then the great line, “The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David.”

I would assume that this image of the rushing in of the Spirit into David is in the mix of the rushing in of the Spirit in Jesus, the Son of David. (Cf. Luke 4:1-44)

In today’s gospel, there is another surprise calling. This time it’s a blind man whom Jesus calls. It too is a well crafted story – surely acted out and developed in an early Jewish Christian community.

It begins by Jesus seeing a blind man and his disciples asking, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Notice Jesus is called, “Rabbi!”

And the story takes us to the central message of Christianity: we are following a person.

Just as the Jews are following Moses, Christians are following Jesus.

Then we can catch a central catch in the story: the followers of Moses got stuck somewhere along the line in principles – for example, keeping the Sabbath.

As we listen to the gospels we’ll hear this inability of the followers of Moses to accept Jesus’ understanding of the Sabbath – as well as Law. Jesus will end up saying, “The Sabbath is for us; not the other way around.” (Cf. Mark 2:27)

As we listen to the stories about Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, we will hear that this was the great insight that will hit Saul – who becomes Paul – after he is struck blind on the Road to Damascus.

He was persecuting Jewish Christians because he thought they were breaking the Law – till he discovered that he was breaking people in his efforts to keep the Law. (Cf. Acts 7:58-8:3; 9:1-30; 22:1-11)

Once we get this, the light goes on.

Paul will make this issue of the Law – the issue that Jesus kept dealing with as well – a central theme of his preaching and letters – whether dealing with circumcision or Sabbath, eating food that was forbidden or what have you. We need law – but Law will not save us. A person saves us. Faith and trust and commitment to that person will save us. (Cf. Romans 1:16 to 8:39.)

When I die I hope to wake up in the embrace of the Father. I don’t expect to be embraced by the cold stone of Ten Commandments because I kept them – or broke them – and experienced forgiveness. (Cf. Luke 15.)

Priests, parents, everyone can be blind on this issue of rules and regulations – and not noticing the people the rules and regulations are made for.

As Paul tells us in today’s second reading from Ephesians, “You were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of the light.

We come to Mass on the Sabbath – not to keep the Law – not to avoid Mortal Sin – but because Christ is here – this community is here – we are here.

Jesus was killed on the cross because of this message.

A DRAMATIC QUOTE

Here’s a dramatic quote from Frederic Buechner – a Protestant minister – and I think a very insightful religious preacher and writer:

"Principles are what people have instead of God.

"To be a Christian means among other things to be willing if necessary to sacrifice even your highest principles for God’s or your neighbor’s sake the way a Christian pacifist must be willing to pick up a baseball bat if there’s no other way to stop a man from savagely beating a child.

"Jesus didn’t forgive his executioners on principle but because in some unimaginable way he was able to love them.

"'Principle' is an even duller word than 'Religion'." (Listening to Your Life, Frederick Buechner, p. 174)

There’s a very important teaching right there. We’ll hear in the Letter of James where he says, “You can’t say to your brother or sister who is starving or freezing, ‘Best of luck. Keep warm. Eat all you can get.’ and then you head south without helping them. You have to break your own plans and help the person. (Cf. James 2:14-23.)

It’s the same message in "The Story of the Good Samaritan" in Luke when the priest and the Levite keep walking because they had other plans and left another human being to die on the road – whereas a Samaritan broke his culture codes and stopped to help the neighbor who was beaten up. (Cf. Luke 10:29-37.)

The human call is to help your neighbor if he or she needs your help on a Sabbath. It’s common sense to eat in cornfields on the Sabbath if your hungry and to heal hands if you can do it on a Sabbath. If you hear a sheep screaming in a ditch on a Sabbath, you’d get it out, wouldn’t you? (cf. Matthew 12:1-14)

How many times have we heard this message – that moved this tiny handful of human beings 2000 years ago to a worldwide community of well over a billion people following this person called “Jesus”.

St. Alphonsus said it this way: “The whole sanctity and perfection of a soul consists inloving Jesus Christ, our God, our sovereign good, and our Redeemer." (Introduction to The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ.)

C.S. Lewis discovered this big time – in his comparing Christianity with other religions – saying Christianity proclaims a person behind moral law and creation and suffering – a personal God behind everything. (Cf. Mere Christianity, Book 1, Chapter 5). That’s what Jesus taught. That’s who Jesus is. He wasn’t just a moral teacher. He is the Son of God. This is what Christianity teaches. And he makes an interesting comment about Christianity: “It is a religion you could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up. But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone could have made up. It has just that queer twist about it that real things have.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pages 47-48)

So it’s who we are about – more than what we are about.

THE BLIND MAN IN THE GOSPEL & BAPTISM

So in today’s gospel the blind man slowly discovers the person behind his getting his sight. The Pharisees don’t. They are blind and don’t know it.

This is a key gospel preparing us for Easter.

Notice the themes of darkness, water, light.

Notice the gospel moves from calling Christ “Rabbi” to the “Light of the world.”

Here in this Church on Easter Eve, those coming into our church and those who come to that long, long service, will sit here in the dark and then the light will come down the aisle and we’ll slowly see the light in the dark – and then our candle will be lit – and then all the lights will go on.

We’ll hear the proclamation sung after the new fire is lit, “Christ Our Light!” “Christ our Light!” “Christ our Light!”

Then folks will be baptized, confirmed, and all of us will be called to renew our baptismal call to follow this person called Christ.

CONCLUSION

As I was preparing this homily I was wondering why they didn’t pick the Genesis story of God forming us out of the clay of the earth – that great text in Genesis 2:7. It would fit beautifully in with Jesus in today’s gospel taking clay and spit and re-creating a blind person’s sight.

That’s what Baptism does. That’s what Confirmation does. That’s what coming to church each Sabbath hopefully does. We are made whole again because we spend time with Christ our teacher, our Rabbi, the Light of our World and Jesus spends time with us.

In the meanwhile, hopefully the Spirit of the Lord that we heard in the actual first reading will rush upon us each time we meet Jesus our Rabbi.

THERE’S MORE TO SEE
THAN MEETS THE EYE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “There’s More To See Than Meets The Eye.”

I see that as one of the major themes of the Gospel of John.

There’s more to see than meets the eye.

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

In the Gospel of John we meet big crowds at times, but I also see John introducing us to different characters one by one: John the Baptist, Andrew, the Couple at Cana who run out of wine, Nicodemus who comes to Jesus at night, The Man at the Pool at Bethesda who was sick for 38 years, The Woman Caught in Adultery whom the crowd wanted to stone to death, The Blind Man in Chapter 9, Lazarus, Jesus’ close friend, who had died, Thomas, Judas, Pilate, Mary Magdalene, and Peter. Then there’s the one I bypassed for a moment: The Woman at the Well – whom we meet in today’s gospel. We meet these people in depth – and in these meetings, we can meet Jesus in depth. I think that is a major theme in the Gospel of John.

There’s more to see than meets the eye.

There’s lots of stuff below the surface. There’s much more to the story. Superficial is superficial. Skin calls for us to be more, much more than just skin deep. There’s more to see than meets the eye. There’s more to me than meets the eye. There’s more to you than meets the eye.

Don’t we get angry or down when we are dismissed by another – who just sees us as a label or an old person or young person or a woman or a man or what have you?

TODAY’S GOSPEL

It helps to know the story of The Woman at the Well for our growth in spirituality and for more depth in our relationship with Jesus.

Jesus comes into town. It’s a Samaritan town. It’s noon time. Jesus is tired. Jesus is thirsty. Jesus sits down on the edge of a well. It’s the place where Jacob’s well was. Each item in the story is important.

A Samaritan woman comes to the well for water. Jesus asks her for a drink of water – and the rest of the story is the mystery of meeting.

Aren’t meetings, meetings, meetings, the story of each of our lives?

Well, well, well….

Each of us goes to the well many times.

Each of us has a well down deep inside of us.

What’s in our well?

Is there living water down there? Or has it become foul? Poisoned? Or is it a dry cistern?

What have been the experiences of our life?

Whom have we met in our life?

Whom have been the rivers in our lives? Whom have been those significant people whom we have met – and as we heard in the first reading for today, they taped the rock called “me” and living water flowed?

Jesus sits at the edge of our well and he is waiting for each of us – each Lent – each Sunday – each day – each moment.

We just heard the story. We find out the woman has been married 5 times. We find out that the man she is living with right now is not her husband. We discover she becomes an evangelist and brings the members of her town to meet Jesus. We discover that many in that town follow Jesus, first at the word of the woman – but then on their own – because Jesus stays with them two days.

There’s more to see than meets the eye.

A MAIN STREET RESTAURANT

I’m walking by a restaurant on Main Street here in Annapolis. I see a couple eating there almost as a window display. I notice they are not talking. Their forks are in pause. I look at their faces. They seem blank at the moment my eyes look at their faces.

Well, well, well….

As I continue walking, I wonder about the state of their marriage or relationship. Are they still in love? Do they still talk like they talked that whole first year they met – when they couldn’t get enough of each other, couldn’t get enough moments together…?

I continue walking. Maybe they are not married. Maybe they are old friends. Maybe they are brother and sister. Maybe they are on their second date – both divorced – or both lost a spouse. Maybe they are married to someone else.

I continue walking. Maybe they are parents of an only son or daughter who went to the Naval Academy – who was killed in Afghanistan or Iraq a year ago – and the three of them used to eat in this restaurant when he or she was at the Navy Academy – and they are sitting there at this moment doing this in memory of him or her.

There’s more to see than meets the eye.

POEMS OF SEAMUS HEANEY

I think of a poem* and the poems of Seamus Heaney. He’s sitting there writing with pen in hand and his dad is outside digging and digging – farming potatoes – and he reflects that his father is doing what his father did and his father did – and everything is in this moment. His dad is doing more than farming potatoes.

There’s more to see than meets the eye.

Several times I’ve sat down like Jesus at a well and began to drink Seamus Heaney’s words – like I’ve done with the poetry of Mary Oliver and Denise Levertov, and so many other poets and found myself drinking delicious water from deep wells.

I remember reading how Seamus Heaney was amazed at the stories of bodies found in peat bogs from way back in the Iron Age – around the 6 century BC in Northern Europe – all leather – all teeth – all earth – and how he reflected on these bodies. Then as I walked up and down streets and drove by a thousand fields, I thought about all that is buried below my feet – a zillion bugs who were born and flew and bugged and now gone – and dust – faded flowers that bees loved and honeyed and then disappeared – and people – lots of people.

And I look at all of you here in church and I see buried in all of you stories – meetings – husbands – wives – children – relationships – hurts – wonderings. I see all of you as cemeteries – with your tomb stones. I see all of you as libraries – filled with books – poems, travelogues – short stories – fiction and non-fiction. I see you as photo albums with lots of pictures of lots of people and lots of places and lots of moments – the stories of one’s life.

Well, well, well, ….

I see all of you here at this well called St. Mary’s – this well called the Sunday morning 10:30 Choir Mass here at St. Mary’s. I see some of you here this morning as this woman – ready to be surprised – to be filled with living water. I see some of you sometimes coming to Mass at this time – at this moment – because you come to Mass each Sunday – not ready to be surprised – just here to get your bucket filled with water and to go home – over and over again.

I know that because that’s me too – too many times. I’m here because I have to be here – too many times.

Of course, I hope all of us who are here this morning will experience Jesus surprising you – getting you to see that that you might have 5 husbands or 5 wives and the person you’re with now – you’re not married to – that you’re married to your job – or your children – or to your computer – or to the television set – or to the cell phone – or to your groups and the person you’re married to now, you’re not treating as a spouse.

CONCLUSION

So I hope all of you meet Jesus at this well this morning – in the word – in the moments of this mass – sitting here in this restaurant on Duke of Gloucester Street – hearing Jesus say, “This is my Body. This is my Blood. Take and eat. Take and drink.”

And I hope you meet Jesus deep in your well – not just on the edge of your well, when you receive him in communion – down deep – and he fills your well with living water.

And for the next two days at least, I hope you experience Jesus and you say to yourself, “I am your follower Jesus not just because my parents gave me this gift of faith, but because I have met Jesus, like this woman at the well met him.

I think that’s what John is trying to do with this story he told us this morning about The Woman at The Well.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

*Cf. pages 428-429, “Digging,” in For the Love of Ireland, edited by Susan Cahill

THE BIG PICTURE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “The Big Picture.”

It helps to see the big picture – to have a vision – a plan – to scope out the whole scene.

A rather large priest once told me, “Whenever you are at a buffet restaurant – don’t get on the line. Step back and look at everything. Then walk around and check out the whole territory. They often put the best stuff at the end of the line – because people have their plates full by then. Then get your plate, get on line and go for the best.”

Life is a cabaret. Life is a buffet line. Life is a smorgasbord. Choose well. Okay, sometimes life is a card game – you have to play the cards you’re dealt. So study who’s at the table. Look at faces. Watch finger tapping. Discard the bad cards – if you can. Play well.

The title of my homily is, “The Big Picture.”

TODAY’S READINGS

I think that’s a good theme for today’s readings on this Second Sunday in Lent.

In the first reading from Genesis, God gives Abraham the big picture – that he will become a great nation. Then he tells Abraham he wants him to relocate – to move. That’s the first step in the plan. Move.

Concerning Abraham, we’ll hear this theme over and over again. It was a difficult plan to see. It was difficult to believe he would be a great nation, when he and his wife didn’t have any children yet.

The second reading from Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy continues that theme as it talks about God’s design. Timothy is also called to follow God’s plan – to move forwards with the strength and grace that comes from God – through Jesus Christ.

And in today’s gospel, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a high mountain and is transfigured before them. They are given a great vision – a great view – the big picture. Then he leads them down the mountain – telling them to keep the vision quiet. To keep our mind focused and our mouth shut is not that easy.

MOUNTAIN’S, PLANES, TALL BUILDINGS

We’ve all had experiences of being on mountains or in a plane or in a tall building – and looking down and seeing everything in a big perspective.

We’ve all stopped in our car to look at a map – unless we have the guidance of GPS – The Global Positioning System – that uses 24 or more satellites up there to help us to see where we are down here.

If you use Google, and you haven’t downloaded Google Earth yet, do it. It’s neat. Then just type in your zip code or any zip code and the screen spins the earth and takes you to downtown Annapolis – or downtown San Francisco. For example, I put in 21401 and I can see our parking lot at St. Mary’s church and gardens and my car – or any place on the planet – from way up or up close.

Neat. It helps to see the big picture.

LIFE

But of course life is lived in the valley.

Life is the iddy biddy – the walking up and down the supermarket aisles with a hand written shopping list – sometimes a kid in a shopping cart reaching at stuff you don’t want him and her to touch or take. Then when you have everything you need and you get to the front of the store, you notice every check out lane is five deep.

The coach calls time out. There are 5 seconds left in the game. Your team has the ball. You’re behind by 1 point. He or she designs the big play on an erasable board. Then it’s time to get back on the court and the team to execute the design – to make the right moves.

It helps to see the big picture.

THE CROSS

It’s no accident that the cross is on top of churches and in churches – around necks – and along the highways of life.

Christ sees the big picture from on top of Calvary.

Christ on this enormous cross up here sees this whole church.

We too see a lot more when we are on the cross.

We too see a lot more when we are suffering.

We see a lot more in the hospital or on vacation – if we stop to look.

We see a lot more about a person at their funeral.

It helps to see the big picture.

Lent is a good time to step back – to take long walks – to look at our life – to see the big picture.

We see a lot more at 25 than we saw at 15.

We see a lot more at 50 than we saw at 25.

We see a lot more at 75 than we saw at 50.

We know a lot more about marriage or a job or kids or neighbors or friends in time – but not at the time. We all know hindsight is better than 20 / 20 sight.

We all know the old saying about the 6 people in a marriage: "The she, she thinks she is; the she, he thinks she is; the she, she really is; the he, he thinks he is; the he, she thinks he is; the he, he really is.” Try saying that ten times fast.

Then there is the better and the worse, the sickness and the health, death and sometimes we part.

We learn life when we move. We learn life in steps and stages – unless we stop seeing and stop growing.

We can become myopic. We can get tunnel vision. We can be dumb. We can give up. We can die, before we die. We can have eyes that don’t see, ears that don’t hear and have a heart and a mind that can become closed. Step back. What have you put on your plate?

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

One of my favorite books is, The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck. It was on the best seller list for years.

Lots of people read it. I’m sure many of you have it on your bookshelf – or in the attic, garage or cellar in a cardboard box.

If you haven’t read it lately, read it again this Lent.

Everyone who has read it knows the first line, the first paragraph, in the first section of the book after the introduction: “Life is difficult.”

Everyone who looks at or makes the Stations of the Cross knows that’s the meaning of the 14 Stations of the Cross: Life is difficult.

The book has so many examples that trigger good thoughts.

Today I’d like to refer to the example of the two generals. It’s on page 76. That’s easy to remember: 76 trombones – or 1776.

“Imagine two generals, each having to decide whether or not to commit a division of ten thousand men to battle. To one the division is but a thing, a unit of personnel, an instrument of strategy and nothing more. To the other it is these things, but he is also aware of each and every one of the ten thousand lives and the lives of the families of each of the ten thousand. For whom is the decision easier?”

Then M.Scott Peck answers his own question: “It is easier for the general who has blunted his awareness precisely because he cannot tolerate the pain of a more nearly complete awareness. It may be tempting to say, ‘Ah, but a spiritually evolved man would never become a general in the first place.’ But the same issue is involved in being a corporation president, a physician, a teacher, a parent. Decisions affecting the lives of others must always be made. The best decision-makers are those who are willing to suffer the most over their decisions but still retain their ability to be decisive. One measure – and perhaps the best measure – of a person’s greatness is the capacity for suffering. Yet the great are also joyful. This, then is the paradox. Buddhists tend to ignore the Buddha’s suffering and Christians forget Christ’s joy. Buddha and Christ were not different men. The suffering of Christ letting go on the cross and the joy of Buddha letting go under the bo tree are one.” (p. 76)

CONCLUSION

Hopefully, we’d all like to be the second general – to have the big picture.

How to have the big picture?

One answer: make a good Lent.

How to make a good Lent?

Some answers: Take good walks. Sit in quiet churches. Sit under the tree of the cross. Visit cemeteries. Drive with the radio off. Walk along the water in the Naval Academy or Quiet Waters Park. Read obituaries. Better: read autobiographies – or biographies. See the big picture of one’s own life by reading about another’s life. Write your own life – or your parent’s biographies. Take out your family pictures. Sort them out. Study them. Who’s next to whom? Who’s missing? Who’s up front? Who’s in the back? Sometimes looking at lots of individual pictures will give us the big picture. Or just look in a mirror. Look deep into your own eyes. Pause for a few moments of quiet. Then ask, “Hey you. How’s it going on in there?”

See the big picture. Are you enjoying being on the great buffet line of life? Are you making good choices? Are you choosing the best stuff to put on your plate?

LENTEN PRACTICES

Lord, this Lent,
let my good example be loud
and my ego soft and silent.
Let my sacrifices, prayer,
fasting and Lenten practices
be for your honor and glory,
as well as the lifting up
of the spirit and life
of my neighbor. Amen

© Andy Costello, Markings Prayers

PRAYER FOR LENT

Come Holy Spirit
during these 40 Days of Lent,
lead me like you led Jesus,
into the wilderness, to the mountains,
to the temple, to those places within me
that I need to go to face those temptations
in my life that I need to face and overcome.
Give me words, Sacred Words,
like you gave to Jesus,
so that I might challenge and face
my hungers and my needs,
my demons and Satan, the tempter within.

Come Holy Spirit
during these 40 Days of Lent,
give me the strength you gave Jesus
to face the great temptations of life:
the temptation to take the easy way out,
like changing rocks into bread,
without working and sweating for our daily bread;
the temptation to reach for power and self glory,
Satan’s kind of power, not God’s power of humility;
the temptation to place myself in dangerous situations,
saying that God will watch over me,
and in the process stumbling,
because I said, “It’s all up to God”
without any decisions coming from me.

© Andy Costello, Markings Prayers

DAILY PRAYER FOR LENT

Lord, guide me
through these 40 days of Lent.

Protect me and direct me:
be a cloud above me this day
and a pillar of fire above me this night.

Remind me to take some moments today to go
with you into the mountains of prayer,
where I might see you transfigured before me.

Enter into my temple this day; walk around;
remind me when I’m too busy buying and selling;
and cleanse me of my idols.

Lord, help me this day to be like you:
a grain of wheat willing to die
so that others might live.

© Andy Costello Markings Prayers

LENTEN PRAYER

Jesus, Temple,
and cleanser of temples,
cleanse my inner temple,
turn me and all my house
into a house of prayer.

Jesus, Passover,
pass over my sins,
but not over my house,
nor my work, nor all
the people in my life.

Jesus, Cross,
hanging high above
all the crosses
of the world,
help me to help others
as they too make the
way of the cross.

Jesus, Grain of Wheat
that died and was buried
in the earth,
help me to die to self,
so as to be like you:
daily bread for others.

© Andy Costello, Markings Prayers