As human beings, it is not easy to navigate loss. So also is living with the painful experience of being excluded.
Saul was searching for his father’s donkeys that were lost. How much he was emotionally affected is not clear but he did a pretty good job of searching far and wide. It was in that journey that Samuel the seer invites him for sharing the fellowship meal. He is anointed to be a king.
Levi was going about his job and Jesus calls him. And then we see them sharing a fellowship meal with Levis’ fellow tax collectors and it is said – ‘sinners.’ Levi was excluded by the religious community on account of his profession. But Jesus calls him to be a disciple.
Saul was called to be the king of Israel as he was searching for animals that his family had lost.
Levi was called to be the apostle of Jesus Christ, as he was living a life that was rejected and excluded by the community.
To someone reading this: You might have lost something precious to you. Maybe others don’t understand. Or you might be someone who is excluded by others around you. Maybe they don’t (or don’t want to) see you. But in loss and rejection, may you discover the call of God.
May we hear God saying to us: ‘You are mine!’ Amen.
The first book of Samuel chapter 8 is a heartrending story. It tells how the people so badly wanted a king. They longed for a ruler like all other nations. The activating event was the sad fact that Samuel’s sons were not up to the life or job needed to lead the people. The solution that the people wanted was to do what all nations were doing – have a king to lead them. The detailed warning by God and communicated by Samuel makes clear how much of a liability a king is. It is possible to have a benign ruler, of course! But it is too much power in the hands of one person. And, once a human being tastes that they are never willing to let go. Even at the point of death, they would prefer that the power stays in the family.
The making of a king has serious liabilities for the general population. The king and his entourage will have to be maintained in all their glory by the sweat and blood of the people. It is not just the taxes which in itself can be oppressive. It is forced labour, grabbing off family inheritance or one’s hard earned resources in the name of development. It is a system that can be very rewarding to those whom the ruler favours. It comes at the cost of those whom he does not favour or treats as expendable. Well, the justification is – It is for the greater good!!
Why would people allow this? Why would they ask for the creation of such a system? This system has every possibility to become burdensome. It could also go the wrong way. I think it is the aspect of convenience. Having a strong leader is convenient. Then we can just lead a lazy life. The leader will take care of all things. Will they? We are living in a time when strong leaders exist even in democratic nations. They ride the wave of intense devotion and hate. They build and maintain an image of being the strong person that the people or nation needs. But even after years of being in power, the problems are not being solved. People are fed a narrative that the world/nation/people need them more than ever before! I would also like to mention that much of this could be the result of the previous wave of leaders. Those leaders did not solve the emerging problems. In some cases, they unwittingly created these very problems. It’s hard to excuse them.
In the Christian community also, we have a situation where the time tested, centuries of practices and spiritual disciplines like liturgical worship and prayers, the holy sacraments, the lectionary and liturgical calendars, the homilies and scriptural readings, etc. are considered as NOT ENOUGH. There is this craving for artistic singers who lead ‘free worship’ and gifted orators who ‘preach and teach.’ An expensive stage with lights, sounds, and smoke, expensive artists and orators are purportedly going to solve all the ills of Christendom. Just like in the days of Samuel when the people thought that delegating it all to the king will solve all their problems, no matter the cost; and the nations of the world are playing a dangerous game of transferring immense power to strongmen leaders; so also the hard-work of spiritual disciplines and daily practices can be sacrificed by going to concerts and conferences.
God told Samuel: “Grant the people’s every request. It is not you they reject, they are rejecting me as their king.”
Samuel was part of a problem because there was no clearcut answer to how the people could be led. His sons were not upto the mark. But then, God was on the throne and He was leading his people in a system that He had instituted. But sadly, only God thought that. The people did not care about God. They ignored what He had established and what He was capable of doing with fallen people. The nation of Israel fell for a notion that a king will solve all our problems. Christians have experimented over the past half a millennia that charismatic singers and orators will lead us out of all the mess. My question: Have we with all the best and celebrated leaders and giants who led us, managed to solve the problems? Was this a delusion that ended up going against all that God through his Son had built and established?
Finally, Israel did have a few good kings and we have had some good leaders. But most of them were and today are in the game because of what they stand to gain or sustain in terms of personal profit. While people are happy to give generously and support anyone and everyone who capture their imagination, and spirituality can be a great tool to control the people. It will be good to ask: Into whose bank account is this going? Who controls the resources? And many leaders will bemoan the fact that even after years of their work they do not seem to find one person to whom they can pass the baton, so they prefer to pass it on to their children. Well it is all for the glory of God. And let all God’s people say: Amen!!!
“If we keep heading as we are, we are likely to get where we are going.” (Chinese proverb)
This adage makes us think about our life direction and destination. As human beings we often hope for a destiny that has little to no bearings on how we are actually living our life. I believe in miracles but, wishful thinking may not be the best way to make miracles happen! Another way to look at this is: considering the way you are going where will you reach in 10 years or 20 years. I acknowledge that life is full of uncertainties. But, if we want to try to have a different life, to reach somewhere that we feel destined for. Then we need to seriously reckon, are we doing what it takes to reach there.
Today might be the day when you make a small course correction that can result in setting you on the path to your destiny.
The people came and saw the demon-possessed man clothed and in his right mind. The witnesses told what had happened to the man and the pigs. Then, the people begged Jesus to go away from them. Apparently, they wanted their pigs, and they had gotten used to the demon-possessed man! They could not live without pigs, demons and a man who was a testament to God’s healing.
Lord, remove from within and among us all the hindrances to your healing presence and work. May our words and deeds be conducive to bringing healing to the body, soul, and spirit. Amen.
“They hear the word, take it to heart and produce, some thirty, some sixty and some a hundred times as much.”
Lord, Hearing your voice is not enough. Receiving your word with joy and excitement (without soil to put forth deep roots) is not enough. Growth of the word amid competing worries, hopes, and desires is not enough.
As often as I hear your word, help me take it to heart and produce manifold times. Amen.
It is convenient to be a part of the system. To be a part of the group. Doing your will can become a journey that turns our world upside down.
Surprisingly, the biggest hindrance to doing the will of God comes from what we have learnt to be the will of God. The Pharisees were very sincere, but with respect to Jesus, they were sincerely wrong. And only a few of them could undo their positions to do the will of God.
Yet, O Lord, teach and help us do your holy will. Amen.
The historical Church is held suspect. Somehow, many people like it that way. Somehow, there is this comfortable identification with the Old Testament rituals and rites, especially in living as a people of “the Book.” Cleverly, “new wine for new skins” has been construed to imply that we need to distance ourselves from the past of the Church and discover novel ways to live our Christian life. There are two main possibilities here: to stay “scripture-based” or become “experience-based.” The former is never satisfied with teachings and insights, and the latter is never satisfied with the experiential. My fundamental question is, “Is this what Jesus wanted?” An endless obsession with ‘dots and commas’ of the sacred scriptures or the constant quest for novel experiences. As I see it, blaming the Church has led us back to “living by the written word” – making us go back to the ‘old ways’ of the Mosaic law. Thus, the new covenant promises and aspirations of God tabernacling with us, humanity communing with the Trinity, and the Holy Spirit dwelling in us are treated as things for the future – yet to be fulfilled.
New wine in new wineskins is the story of the Church.
This Advent Season, Day 1, I would pray: “Dear Lord, lead us back to the holy experiences and practices of the one, holy, apostolic and catholic Church. May we, the new covenant community, live as the new wine in the new wineskin. Let the work of God in and through the holy Church continue. Amen.
Jesus speaks about how to present ourselves when invited to a feast and also whom to invite when we prepare a dinner banquet. These are practical teachings that have implications in practising humility and social justice. This happened in the house of a ruler of the Pharisees who had prepared a feast and Jesus healed a man there though it was the Sabbath.
The act of healing a sick person on the Sabbath, the teachings on how to present oneself when invited, and to invite those who are not invited by anybody – the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind – show, how down to earth Jesus was in His work and teaching. In a place where many were vying for places of honour, Jesus saw the need of a sick person. How futile and vain are the ways of people? Both in seeking places of honour and also inviting their peers and honoured people to their homes only to be invited by them in return. How does it benefit anybody? And these exercises can become a comfortable smokescreen that keeps us from seeing the uncomfortable realities of life.
For a change, sit in a place that we are not accustomed to, the lowest place of honour and try to catch a glimpse of life from the vantage point that place offers.
It is up to the host to elevate you. And it is definitely far better than being degraded. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Lk 14:11)
For a change, invite them who have no means to invite you and you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. Moreover, you can listen to their stories and see what life means to them which will prove to be a reward in itself.
Hearing all these, a man says: “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” (Luke 14:15)
Jesus responded to that by sharing the parable of the banquet where many were invited and they did not turn up for some reason or the other. In the end, the banquet is filled with people who were not invited and the host wanted to ensure that none of those who were invited in the first place would taste his banquet, for they had refused his invitation.
As easy as it is to speak of things that are concerning the afterlife, it is a serious question as to who will partake in the oft-spoken joys of afterlife.
Will we heed the call? Will we hear the invitation in the constant din of our life happenings? Will we give greater importance to the call of God over and above the plans and schemes that we chart for ourselves?
Three teachings that relate to feast or banquet:
How to present yourself when invited
Whom to invite
How we miss the greatest invitation
All three go against the grain of what we would like to hear.
Even if they are good to hear – they are not easy choices to make.
From a mission perspective – we find a model.
To be humble and choose the places that are below our status and position.
To invite and befriend the unwanted, unlovely, and the poor who can never pay us back.
To be careful that our agenda does not keep us from the invitation of God.
To lead a less cluttered life, a less busy life, so that we do make it to where it counts the most.
scribethomas 