SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT

Jesus, Rabbi
He is addressed as Rabbi, Teacher

Each generation has the responsibility of passing on to the next the learning of the ages; those charged with ensuring that the “young” learn we call teachers. In our society we, the people, have determined that education is the responsibility of the government. In other societies the lessons to be preserved were rituals of faith, secrets of the gods, so the teacher often was an official of the sacred structure—priest, shaman, druid, magician. In some areas teachers were wandering philosophers preaching their visions of reality. Other teachers were employees or slaves of wealthy citizens charged with instructing the sons and daughters of the elite the charms and ways of the aristocracy. Most frequently for all societies education of the young happens at home and the teachers we all have are mothers and fathers.

Who have been your teachers? What did you call them? How do you feel about them? How did they instruct you?

As you read Mark’s gospel, soon you will find Jesus addressed as Rabbi or Teacher. The name carries the voice of the sacred for a rabbi was a teacher of God’s way with God’s people Israel. A rabbi was one who knew well the Holy Scriptures. Rabbis were parts of various schools of interpretation and skilled in arguing the meaning of God’s word. Rabbi meant respected teacher.
Jesus fit these descriptions and more. His teaching not only confounded the authorities but also illuminated the poor. Jesus taught with tools we find very modern—he told stories and asked his hearers to find the truth. Jesus used the ordinary events of his audience’s living so that the sacred and secular became one. Jesus challenged the all-knowing and encouraged the weak. Jesus taught both in word and deed.

Jesus, Rabbi, teach me this day God’s way. Amen.

SATURDAY, FIRST WEEK OF LENT

Jesus was Human as We Are
And history calls him Jesus of Nazareth...
Imagine the breadth of humanity as you look at the picture, humanity that includes Jesus. Jesus was one of us.
What sort of person is Jesus of Nazareth?
How is he like you, how different?
How do we recognize Jesus today?

“Traveling Monk “ Central France Youth Retreat , fall, 2002

Jesus of Nazareth, born of a woman, human like the least of us, hear our prayers. We seek to know you; we seek to know ourselves as you see us. We stand in awe of your power; we wonder at your capacity for compassion. We wish to be your family. Come to us anew for it is in your name that we pray. Amen.

FRIDAY, FIRST WEEK OF LENT

Jesus was a Healer of the Infirm

They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” And the man looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw every thing clearly. Mark 8: 22-25

Until last week, there was a large box outside the sanctuary. We encouraged our members to put used coats into that box, coats that would be distributed to students at Lorenzo de Zavala Elementary School whose families could not afford a warm coat for the winter. From time to time, we’ve all seen places in our building that invite us to a special kind of giving---angels on the angel tree, a place for cellphone recycling and for shoes, baskets for non-perishable food items for Network, and a collection box for used eyeglasses. Glasses are something I take most for granted, and it is a source of amazement to me that they can be so wonderfully reused to help people to see.

Jesus was not automatically successful in restoring the sight of the blind man. When he was asked what he saw after Jesus first laid hands on him, he responded that he saw people, but they looked like walking trees. Anyone who has had to wear corrective lenses has some idea of what this is like. A second touch from Jesus, and the man was able to see clearly.

In the gospel of Mark, the common folk of the land (unlike most of us) do not recognize Jesus primarily as a teacher. He is a healer. He comes from the backwater town of Nazareth with a very uncommon touch---the ability to restore people to health.

As disciples of a Lord who is known as a healer, how can we reflect that aspect of his Lordship in our present place and time?

Jesus of Nazareth, guide our hands in your healing way.

THURSDAY, FIRST WEEK OF LENT

Jesus Attracted Crowds He Loved

As [Jesus] went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. Mark 6: 34

"Crowd without a Leader" Dallas Morning News, Januarty 14, 2008

How are we still like sheep without a shepherd?

How will he, how does he, have compassion on us?

Holy Jesus, how often we are caught in crowds, lost for we have no shepherd. Sometimes the crowd follows a false teacher and we are led astray; sometimes we wish to avoid life so we lose ourselves in the crowd; sometimes we reject the crowd just to be different. But Jesus we pray today that you have compassion on us and on all in crowds in danger of being lost. Amen.

WEDNESDAY, FIRST WEEK OF LENT

JESUS HAD A FAMILY

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." Mark 3:31-35

A mother went with her two sons to pick up her oldest son at the bowling alley. He was spending an evening with the local chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The family was new in town, and the woman didn’t know the streets very well. It was dark and getting late. She had had a long day, and this was a school night. She stopped a girl going into the alley and asked her to send her son out to the car.

The girl found him with a large group in the dining area. She told him, “Your family is here to pick you up.” He turned from her and cryptically asked the group, “Who is my family”? He swept his arms to include the whole group and said, “You are my family: You are my brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Waiting in the car, his mother reflected on the widening of her son’s social circle. At first his world was just the two of them. Over time, the boy’s world had expanded to include the rest of the family, the neighborhood and now the community. She leaned her head back and waited.

Jesus had a family; so do we. How do you understand family now?

Precious Lord, guide us and teach us to share in the familial love Jesus holds for all people who are obedient to Your will. Amen.

TUESDAY, FIRST WEEK OF LENT

JESUS HAD A JOB, A MINISTRY

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” Mark 1: 14-15

“Time’s up, test-takers. Please put down your pencils.” “I’m going to need this on my desk by Friday.” “What’s your five-year plan?” “They’re always late. So we told them to meet us at 6:30, even though our reservations aren’t until 7!” “Later. I don’t have time for that right now.” One of the primary ways we measure and order our lives is through time. We keep track of it almost obsessively. We hate for it to be wasted. We often wish it would move faster, yet we also regret that we can’t slow it down. The Greek word for this kind of time is “chronos.” It’s the linear flow of events, one after the other, in a sequence that can be marked and quantified.

But that definition doesn’t suffice. We experience time in yet another way. Babies aren’t always delivered on the due date. When we’re fully engaged in an activity, we can lose all sense of time. An event from twenty years ago can seem like yesterday, and yesterday is already a distant memory. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is told in our liturgy each year as a continuing reality 2000 years later. Time sometimes defies our attempts to package it up into neat increments. “Kairos”: time untamed. God’s time. When the divine breaks into our ordinary lives and we feel the stirrings of a beautiful kingdom very near.

Jesus’ time had come; he had a job to do. What time is it for us, for our world? What is our ministry?

Gracious God, even as I keep my calendar and my clock close at hand, may I turn to you for the deepest and fullest sense of time. Open my heart, my mind, and all my senses to the Good News proclaimed in Jesus Christ. Amen.

MONDAY, FIRST WEEK OF LENT

JESUS WAS FROM GALILEE

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Mark 1:9


Allow your mind to react to the picture remembering where Jesus came from. Be aware of your preconceptions. Ponder.

Can anything good “come out of Nazareth”, out of the hills? Could this be God’s chosen one?


How do we understand Jesus’ heritage, home? What does it suggest for us today?

“James of Princeton in W. Va.” Home, 1952

Jesus of Nazareth, savior of the world, open our eyes, silence our prejudices, awaken our souls to the goodness of all creation. Let us see you in all we meet. Let us see the oneness of all you have made. Let us be surprised and blessed. Amen.