Epiphany 5A – George Yandell
Let me read you a letter to an insurance company about frustrations and disappointment. Maybe you have had similar experiences.
Dear Sir:
I am writing in response to your request for additional information. In Block #3 of the accident reporting form, I put quote – LOST PRESENCE OF MIND – unquote, as the cause of my accident. You said in your letter that I should explain more fully, and I trust that the following details will be sufficient.
I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a six-story building. When I completed my work, I discovered that I had about 500 lbs. of brick left over. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which fortunately was attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor.
Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out, and loaded the brick into it. Then I went back to the ground and untied the rope, holding it tightly to ensure a slow descent of the 500 lbs. of bricks. You will note in Block #11 of the accident reporting form that I weigh 135 lbs.
Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I LOST MY PRESENCE OF MIND and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rather rapid rate up the side of the building.
In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming down. This explains the fractured skull and broken collarbone.
Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley.
Fortunately, by this time I had regained my PRESENCE OF MIND and was able to hold tightly to the rope in spite of my pain.
At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground – and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel now weighed approximately 50 lbs.
I refer you again to my weight in Block #11. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building.
In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles and the lacerations of my legs and lower body.
This encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks and, fortunately, only three vertebrae were cracked.
I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay there on the bricks – in pain, unable to stand, and watching the empty barrel six stories above me – I again LOST PRESENCE OF MIND – I LET GO OF THE ROPE.//
Flash back 1500 years. The people of Israel could relate to the plight of the bricklayer. They had lost presence of mind, and were being called to account. In the reading from Isaiah, the prophet calls Israel to reject false piety and to shine as a light of justice and liberation. The people of Israel had been freed from captivity in Babylon and returned to Jerusalem from exile, but the time of restoration had proved frustrating, difficult and disappointing. The land itself was now under the control of the Persians. The era of peace and prosperity the people had anticipated had not happened. The country was beset by chaos and violence.
The people complained that even though they performed the expected rituals, God did not respond. The reading for today begins with a summons to the people to hear God’s judgments against them. They claim to honor the Lord and to seek God’s presence “as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God” (Is. 58:2). They had lost presence of mind.
When the people ask why the Lord does not acknowledge their fasts, God responds by proclaiming the difference between the fast that the Lord requires and that which they offer (vv. 3-7). The fasting of the people is corrupt and self-serving as they fight among themselves and ignore the needs of others. “Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high” (v. 4b). In contrast, true fasting requires repentance and turning to God—not economic exploitation and oppression of others. The Lord’s fast is characterized by genuine self-denial and humility that brings justice, liberation, and acts of mercy. When the hungry are fed, the homeless are sheltered, and the naked are clothed, then the people will find salvation. “Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly … ” The Lord will be their vindicator and answer their cries. [Adapted from Synthesis for Epiphany 5]
Talk about frustrations- the period between Isaiah’s words and the ministry of Jesus was 5 centuries- the plight of the Hebrew people, the chaos of their lives only increased by the time Jesus was born. Jesus gathered the people who were most oppressed and downtrodden in Galilee and Judea. And he astounded them when he recalled Isaiah and said: “You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.” These words of Jesus are reinforced in the collect for today: “Set us free from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life” made known to us in Jesus. Liberty of abundant life. That’s what Jesus aspires for us to know.
“You are the salt of the earth,” Jesus says to his disciples. “But if salt loses its zing, how will it be made salty? It then has not further use than to be thrown out and stomped on.” [This translation from The 5 Gospels by the Jesus Seminar.] The “you” is plural, and it is emphatic. Jesus is saying that theology, doctrine, and liturgy can never serve as the true “salt” of the earth. Rather, “It is you, the disciples together” who carry forth this importance.
Salt was irreplaceable in earlier days before refrigeration—the principal means used to delay decay of food or mask its progress. Salt-cured meat may now be a delicacy, but during Jesus’ time it was the only way to preserve meat until it could be consumed.
Jesus says to the disciples, “Have salt in yourselves” (Mk. 9:50a); and again the point is that the followers of Jesus are to be the agent through whom the earth will be saved from impending decay and made more palatable to God. Salt taken from the Dead Sea often was contaminated with other minerals that quickly turned it into a tasteless lump. When it lost this “saltiness,” salt was useless, except perhaps to prevent slipping in wet weather, where it literally was “trampled under foot” (Mt. 5:13b). Israel had been likened to salt. The Church was the New Israel, called into being because the Old Israel had lost its taste (cf Mt. 21:43). The task of the New Israel was to avoid a similar path of “savorless-ness.”
As well, Christians are to be “the light of the world.” Again, it is not theology, doctrine, or liturgy that enlightens but disciples themselves. Huston Smith stated: “Light itself corresponds to consciousness itself. It is the constant background.” (In Parabola, Summer 2001 issue, p. 84.) Like a city built on a hill, the fellowship of Jesus cannot be camouflaged and cannot be overlooked. Such a city is a beacon to its friends and a target to its enemies (5:14b). So it is with disciples as a community as light-bearers. Jesus intends that we become conscious and enriched in the Light.
The clay lamps of Palestine would light an entire one-room house. But the image can be extended and seen to infer that Christians are the light of the cosmos, as well as illumination “to all in the house” (v. 15b). Light is the first of God’s creations (Gen. 1:3), and thereby God is established as the source of all light. The people of faith—those who truly follow Jesus—are to refract this light to others. [Adapted from Synthesis for Epiphany 5] So God means to turn us from petty frustrations and preoccupations and bind us together in light-bringing. Jesus means for us to be Lucifer to the world. Bringer of dawn, light-bearer.