I have had some illnesses and increased chronic problems as I get older, but nothing in comparison to the suffering of so many hurting people around the globe.  Those who live their lives with special challenges deserve as much compassion and understanding as we can offer, while at the same time we must not impose our judgment on others.     

Our Gospel lesson for the fourth Sunday in Lent, March 2, 2008, includes Jesus healing a blind man on the Sabbath.  The gospel writer includes a lengthy discussion on the subject of the reason for the man’s inability.  He had been born blind.  The disciples asked, “who sinned, the blind man or his parents?”  The assumption was that one or the other had sinned and the man’s blindness was a punishment for sin.  Both problems and blessings were considered to be the direct result of God’s intervention.

Later, religious leaders questioned the blind man and his parents about the healing.  They were concerned that Jesus had sinned by healing the man on the Sabbath day.  Religious rules didn’t allow working on the Sabbath, and Jesus mixed some dirt and spittle, making it into a paste and placed it on the man’s eyes.  This little bit of effort on Jesus part was condemned by the religious court as sinful.  Jesus told the man to go wash his eyes, and when he did so, he could see.

One parishioner at a church I served was convinced that her son’s cancer was a result of some sinful act she had done.  She thought God was punishing her through her son’s disease.  When he was in remission she was an extremely devout and religious woman, she gave a great deal to others and attended church services at every opportunity.  When the cancer cells were growing, she became suicidal because she thought it was her fault.  When he died, she gave up on God altogether and stopped attending church, becoming a recluse.

It is hard to understand why some people appear to suffer more than others.  Sickness, disease and impairments cannot be justified by even the best of philosophers and theologians.  It is easy to blame the individual for either being too sinful, or not having enough faith.  Some people like to blame what they perceive to be the devil.  Others simply look at the biological aspects of bacteria, viruses, or cell decay as the cause for human illness.  Some like to think of suffering as a part of the natural cycles of life.  None of these explanations are sufficient if we believe in a benevolent omnipotent deity.  How can God allow horrible things to happen to creation?

When the disciples asked Jesus who had sinned, Christ’s response was that no one had.  This birth impairment was intended to bring glory to God.  Hindsight allows us to easily see that the man’s blindness gave glory to God because Jesus healed him, and therefore many people believed in Christ’s message.  Faith healers and television evangelists today take a similar approach by making a spectacle of healing in order to “give God glory” in their way of thinking.  But, what about those who aren’t healed?

The last time I attended a faith healing service, some people said that they had been miraculously healed.  However, far more people left that place with the same diseases they came in with.  There were more people who were sick than there were people who said they had been healed.  Even if we think of healing in terms of medical science; certainly not everyone is healed.  Great things can be accomplished by modern medicine, technology, and skilled surgeons, but they can never keep up with the number of people who are sick.

I believe there is opportunity for God to receive glory from human sickness, disease, and impairment regardless of whether the individual gets physically better or not. I believe that God looks at health in a different way than we do.  As our reading from First Samuel reminds us, humanity looks at the outward appearance; God looks at the inside of a person.  God is most concerned with the health of the human spirit and soul.  

Every one of us who suffers from chronic illness or impairment has an opportunity to live our lives with strength, courage and dignity in spite of our limitations.  We can choose to make our best effort to be at peace with God, ourselves and others so that we can live fully human through our suffering, or we can choose to complain, feel sorry for ourselves and demand that others pity us.  God is honored when we choose the fully human dignified way of life, regardless of our pain.

Those of us who know of the suffering of others have an opportunity to choose to ignore them, or to treat with them with kindness, love and respect.  God is honored when we choose to do everything possible to alleviate pain and suffering.  Sickness can give glory to God through human beings caring for one another, loving one another, and treating others like we would ourselves.

The HIV epidemic has been a wonderful opportunity for humanity to reach out with compassion for others.  Unfortunately, some religious leaders have chosen to take the low road and blame the sufferer for their suffering, or say God is punishing those who are sick.  Religious and political leaders had a great opportunity to give Glory to God, and many are coming around to a place of compassion, but so many more people could have been helped if the disease had not been virtually ignored for many years after the illness was identified.  However, millions have given of their time and resources to reach out in love to those who are sick. 

It is not pleasant to suffer, but God receives glory and honor when human beings respond to suffering with an open heart rather than ignoring or having pity on others.  Illness and impairment is our opportunity to be fully human by loving others and ourselves.  It is not a good thing to be sick or impaired, but it is a good thing to be a good soul regardless of the condition of our body.

Scripture Readings for March 2, 2008:

I Samuel 16:1-13

Ephesians 5:8-14

John 9:1-41

Several years ago I took a mission trip to Pakistan.  One of the problems I faced while there was a lack of water that would be safe for a westerner to drink.  The locals had built up immunity to the microbes in the water that I didn’t have.  While in the city I could easily drink bottled water, but when visiting the desert and small towns bottled water wasn’t available.  Since I wanted to be polite to my hosts, I drank a great deal of hot tea.  I’m not particularly fond of hot tea, especially in warm climates.  I traveled back to Islamabad to fly to Rome on my last day there.  I sat in the restaurant in the International Hotel.  I asked if the water had been boiled.  They assured me that it had, and I saw other travelers drinking the water.  I asked for an entire pitcher of water, and drank it all.

The Gospel narrative for the third Sunday of Lent begins with Christ thirsting for water after traveling by foot into Samaria.  When he came upon a well, he met a woman and he asked her for a drink.  She was shocked that Jesus would ask.  Later, the disciples were also surprised that Jesus initiated a conversation with her.  Many miss the importance of this discussion by focusing on the fact that Jesus reminded this woman that she had many husbands in her lifetime and was currently living with a man she was not married to.  However, Jesus never corrected or condemned her.  He simply told her a part of her history in order to get her attention.

His strategy worked.  She acknowledged that he was a prophet and later that he was the Christ.  She heard the message of Christ about living water that flows from deep within.  She understood that he was sharing a spiritual truth that had not been recognized before.  Unlike Nicodemus, the religious leader Jesus spoke with in the previous chapter, she was so excited that she told the entire town and brought them out to meet Jesus.  Once they met Christ, the Samaritans believed.  The simple physical need of water, gave opportunity for Jesus to present his message to a new group of people in a new way. 

This narrative is included in the Gospel to illustrate some very important truths about Jesus.  Some think of followers of Jesus as calm and peaceful.  Often those who don’t make waves in society are seen as devout.  However, Jesus’ approach to life was radical and even scandalous in his day.  This passage shows Jesus breaking many social norms and taboos. 

The first record of Jesus revealing the most intimate parts of his true nature in this Gospel is to a woman. He trusted her with his truth.  It was taboo for a man to speak to an unknown woman.  He took the risk of ridicule and shame and challenged a woman to not only understand what he was saying, but to take that message to a new group of people.  That was unheard of in the first century.  Women were mostly servants of men.  They were not allowed to even speak in the religious meetings of the day.  Yet Christ broke with what was expected and made this woman equal with men. 

The second scandal was that Jesus was talking with a Samaritan, and then an entire village of Samaritans.  Racial prejudice was extremely strong.  The Samaritans shared a common ancestry with the Jews, but they also intermixed with the Assyrians when the nation was conquered several hundred years before.  Inter-racial marriage was scorned, and the Samaritans were considered unclean because they were of mixed racial ancestry.  Jesus treated them the same as he did anyone else.  He made no distinction between the racial groups. 

Many people today like to promote what they call “family values”.  However family is often defined in a very narrow way.   It usually means the nuclear family with one man, one woman, and a couple of children or so.  Many think this social unit is the core of society and the church.  However, Jesus was presented with a non-traditional family and he had no problem with it.  Jesus didn’t warn this woman to repent.  He didn’t scold her for having several husbands.  He didn’t call her names or say she was immoral because she had been divorced and remarried.  Instead, he shared the good news with her.  Jesus didn’t have time to worry about who she was sleeping with.  First century society’s leaders would have been shocked.

This conversation was also quite a challenge for the religious leaders of Jesus’ day.  The Jews believed that true worship only took place at the Temple in Jerusalem.  Since they had been denied access to the Temple centuries before, the Samaritans had built a place to worship on the Mountain of Gerizim.  This was considered such blasphemy that the Jews sent an army to tear down the worship space about 150 years before Christ.  The religious battle over where to worship continued for generations.  Jesus brought a new idea.  Those who worship God, do so in Spirit and truth.  Sincere worship happens regardless of the location or custom of the culture.  

These same kinds of prejudice still exist.  Sexism, the belief that males are superior to women continues.  Sexism is the root of heterosexism, the belief that to be homosexual is to be inferior.  Jesus challenges us to live above sexism by his actions.

Racial prejudice continues.  Truly integrated churches are difficult to find.  People are condemned because of the color of their skin or the language they speak.  Jesus challenges us to live above racial prejudice by his actions.

The type of family one belongs to, or the kind of person one is attracted to, remains a source of prejudice.  Jesus never condemned those with alternative families that he met on his travels. Jesus challenges us to live above familial prejudice by his actions.

Religious prejudice is probably as strong, if not stronger, as it has ever been.  Religious leaders like to make rules and regulations to control others and get them to do their will.  Jesus challenges us to live above religious prejudice by his actions.

Prejudice and hatred have no room in the realm of God.  As Paul wrote in our Epistle from Romans today, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”  Radical faith is the kind that allows the Holy Spirit to cause us to love and accept one another the way we are. 

Lectionary readings for February 24, 2008

Exodus 17:1-7

Romans 5:1-11

John4:5-42

Many years ago I sat in a fast-food restaurant with a minister friend and his spouse.  I was a visiting speaker at the church and we had a quick meal before traveling.  One sentence has stuck in my mind for all the years since.  One spouse said to the other, “Honey, if you love me you’ll get me some more French fries.”  I immediately thought they may be in trouble.  Because of their religious convictions they endured many years together, but eventually the relationship ended with both of them broken and miserable.

There is one expectation that will sour a personal relationship almost immediately.  That is when one person in the relationship expects the other to “prove” their love.  If you have been a relationship where someone continually said, if you really love me you will do this, or that; you probably already know that it is a toxic relationship and something needs to be done to change the situation.  If not, we become completely drained of energy and are emotionally exhausted.  One can never do enough to prove our love, and therefore the individuals become ever more frustrated, angry and possibly destructive. 

When someone asks another to prove their love it speaks volumes about the insecurities of the individual who asks.  Often, this attitude spills over to children, or even grandchildren as people either look for others to prove their love, or spend enormous amounts of energy trying to prove that they love someone.  It doesn’t work.  Genuine love is unconditional.  Love is to be given and received freely.  We may remind someone we love them, and show kindness to our loved ones, but this isn’t in order to earn or prove love, it is the result of our love.  We do wonderful things for others because we love them, not so that we can earn their love.

The Scripture lessons for the second Sunday in Lent speak of unconditional love on a much larger scale.  Both the Old Testament Lesson and the Epistle lesson speak of Abraham, who is considered a patriarch of three of the world’s major religions.  It was through Abraham that the people of the middle east moved from polytheism, the worship of many gods, to monotheism, the worship of one God.  Abraham received God’s grace, not because he did anything to earn it, or because he had some special talent or skill. 

Our Gospel lesson includes one of the most famous Scripture passages in the Bible; John 3:16.  Many evangelical Christians’ in American culture have taken this passage as a mantra to proclaim salvation to others.  People put the Scripture on posters and paint the reference in graffiti on the streets of our cities.  Some even paint John3:16 on themselves at sporting events in hopes that a national television audience will see the words.  It is almost as if people believe that the words contain some magical formula that will solve the ills of the world. 

There are some popular preachers who look at the passage from only one perspective, and therefore use it to exclude segments of society who do not have the same kind of faith that they do.  The passage does indeed promise that those who believe have eternal life.  Many however use the passage in a negative way by stating that those who do not believe do not have eternal life.  Religion can be very divisive and exclusive.  Even John 3:16 can be turned into bad news by some people.  They limit themselves to looking only at the human response to God’s actions and often fail to emphasize the other half of the message.

John 3:16 should be considered in light of the entire text.  A religious leader, Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and told him that he recognized that Jesus came from God because of the miracles that he had performed.  Jesus changed the conversation to say that “no one can see the Kingdom of God, unless he has been born from above.”  Nicodemus couldn’t understand what Jesus was saying.  He was a Pharisee and they believed in strict adherence to religious laws and rules.  Christ wanted to correct the idea that salvation depends on what a person does.  Instead he talked about spiritual birth. 

Spiritual birth means different things for different people.  Some say that it takes place when a person walks forward in church and makes a profession of faith or prays a certain prayer.  Most Christians believe that it takes place at baptism.  Others recognize an emotional and spiritual catharsis that leads to conversion.  All of these ideas are limited because the focus is on the human response rather than the work of Christ. 

The message of the New Testament is that good news and salvation comes through Christ.  Our response to Christ’s life and work may be expressed in many different ways, but it is still our response.  The truth is that God loves the whole world, not a chosen few.  Our salvation does not depend on our ability to earn a position with God by our actions.  The focus of John was on the person and work of Jesus, not the response of human beings.

It is because of who Jesus is, and what Jesus has done that we belong to God. God does not demand that we prove our love.  Instead, we worship, give, and live lives to promote justice and mercy because of our love for God, not in order to deserve God’s love.   

In the years since Christ many have failed to recognize the all-inclusive love of God, and have tried to do great acts to deserve it.  Some have even gone to the point of punishing their bodies and commit horrible acts of penance thinking it would help them get closer to God. God’s love is greater than anything we can do, either positive or negative.  Those who think love must be proven are in a dysfunctional relationship.  God is not dysfunctional.  God loves the whole world.  We have nothing to prove.

Lectionary Readings for the Second Sunday in Lent, February 17, 2007:

Genesis 12:1-4

Romans 4:1-17

John 3:1-17

Our Gospel lesson for the first Sunday in Lent is Matthew’s account of Jesus spending forty days and nights fasting in the wilderness.  At the conclusion of the fast he faced temptation from the devil.  I have always felt that I know what temptation is because I have experienced a great deal of temptation.  I’m sure that I’m not alone in this.  If you don’t believe you have any temptations, perhaps you ought to see a therapist, because something is probably not working the way it should.

Most of us think of temptation as a negative and difficult thing.  We often only think of it in light of the risk of committing sin.  However, I think temptation is an opportunity for us to find out who we are and grow as human beings.  Jesus’ wilderness temptations spoke a great deal about who Jesus was, and allowed Christ to make choices about the direction his life would take going forward. Temptations are opportunities to make decisions.

James explains that temptation is something that comes from our inner thoughts and desires.  We don’t need an evil spirit to tempt us; temptation takes place within our minds.  Christ’s temptations gave him the opportunity to be self-less instead of selfish.  His character development included becoming the kind of person who would make sacrifices for others.  He also had the opportunity to be humble rather than sensationalistic.  He did not draw attention to himself, but wanted to point others toward the right path to find God. Christ had the opportunity to devote himself to service to others rather than seeking personal wealth and power.  Once these things were resolved his mind was settled.  As Matthew records it, the devil left him alone and angels ministered to him. 

For much of my life I interpreted my temptations incorrectly and therefore failed to be the person God created me to be.  Like many others, I spent decades of daily anguish in my soul struggling with what I was told by others was a temptation to do evil, but in reality was an opportunity to recognize a part of my true character, as God naturally intended.

From a very early time in life I was attracted to other men.  However, society, the church, and my family all seemed to believe that to be homosexual was inherently evil.  I became convinced that there was no way I could be homosexual and Christian.  I was taunted by others to believe that, should I give in to my attraction to other men, I would never be able to live a happy, content and fulfilling life and would spend eternity in hell. 

Of course this caused an inner struggle that was almost unbearable at times.  I prayed continually for God to take these desires away from me.  I tried my best to do everything I could do to be heterosexual rather than homosexual.  For the most part I spent much of my life in fear; fear that I would never be happy, fear that I would never be at peace with God, and fear that I would be rejected by those who were supposed to love me.  In spite of all my prayers, efforts, and numerous counselors and advisors, God never changed my homosexuality.  Peace didn’t come until I could admit to myself and others that homosexuality is a natural part of my character that God is pleased with, whether human beings are pleased with it or not.

There are millions of people, both young and older, who are in the same place that I found myself.  The suicide rate is highest among teenagers who cannot accept that they are homosexual.  I recently consulted as a psychotherapist on the case of a 17 year old young man seeking treatment for substance abuse.  He has put himself at great risk, living on the streets and prostituting himself in order to buy drugs of various kinds. After nearly seven years of drug abuse and a very dangerous lifestyle he is only beginning to admit that he is gay, and afraid of rejection. 

There are thousands of young people who cry out to God on the streets of our cities because parents have forced them out of their homes because they are homosexual.  While they may be able to admit this part of their nature, they are unable to find a place in life because the church and society often rejects homosexuals as evil.  Parents are rarely held responsible for the fact that they have abandoned their gay children and failed to meet their basic needs of food, shelter, and safety. 

Many adult men and women are living unsatisfactory lives today, and put themselves at risk in various ways because they believe they cannot live true to their nature.  These people suffer from many kinds of anxiety and depression because of the fear of rejection.  Families suffer because this stress causes relationships to struggle or deteriorate.

There is hope for those who face temptations.  We shouldn’t fear temptation as some kind of test to catch us in a mistake so that we will sin.  Instead, we should see temptation as an opportunity to discover ourselves and decide how we should deal with our true nature.  Like many others, I was told my temptation was to do evil, while in reality the opportunity was to find out more about myself.  I imagine that many others find themselves in the same place, regardless of the kind of the temptation they are facing.

Jesus' temptations were to challenge him to decide and know what his priorities were. Human life must be lived with an understanding of what is important. Life must not become only a series of reactions to circumstances. Life is a series of decisions.  We should not always believe that every temptation is to sin, but must ask ourselves where the temptation is coming from, and decide whether acting on that temptation is true to our character or not.  If it is, then we have developed to a higher level of maturity.  If it is not it is probably an unhealthy temptation that we can use to challenge ourselves to be more fully human by deciding to follow the healthy path.

Gospel Reading for February 10, 2008:Matthew 4:1-11