March 19, 2023
Lent 4A – George Yandell
One day some people observed a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet and a sign that read “I am blind, please help.” A creative publicist was walking by him and stopped to observe that he had only a few coins in his hat. So he dropped a few more coins in the hat, and without asking for the blind man’s permission, took the sign, turned it over and wrote another message on it. Then he replaced the sign at the man’s feet and left.
That afternoon the creative publicist returned to check on the blind man and noticed that his hat was full of bills and coins. The blind man recognized his footsteps and asked if it was he who had rewritten his sign. He wanted to know what did he write on it? The publicist responded, “Nothing that was not true, I just phrased your message differently.” He smiled and went on his way. The blind man never knew, but his revised sign read “TODAY IS SPRING AND I CANNOT SEE IT.”
What do WE see in the story of the man born blind? The initial scene raises a perennial issue in the work of the Church—which is, do we see people as problems to be solved (or reflected on) – or as people in need of God’s love and our care? [Above story adapted from Synthesis for March 2014 by King Oehmig.]
John Dominic Crossan has said that many of the stories of Jesus in our gospels can be read as parables about Jesus// parables about Jesus. I understand today’s reading from John about Jesus and the blind man as a parable. Let me tell you what I mean.
March 12, 2023
Lent 3A – Bill Harkins
Good morning, and welcome to Holy Family on this third Sunday of Lent, a day on which we hear again the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. It is a risky encounter for both Jesus and the woman, as both willingly subject themselves to “exposure” of various kinds. This is a fascinating word, exposure, with subtle meanings, the etymology and synonyms of which are relevant to today’s Gospel text. We define exposure, for example, as the fact or condition of being presented to view or made known, or the condition of being unprotected, especially from severe weather. It isn’t necessarily pejorative, of course, as in being subjected to some beneficial influence. When our boys were growing up we sought to expose them to culture in the forms of art, and music, for example. As a professor I have endeavored to expose students—and myself—to new ideas and ways of thinking. But, we know all too well from the past several years that exposure to a virus or illness is not good, nor is the condition of being at risk of financial loss. Hikers, trail runners, anyone who spends time in the outdoors is vulnerable to exposure to weather, geography, and all that exposes us—both physically and psychologically—in those spaces. We seek to limit our exposure to market fluctuations, for example, and as a licensed clinician I take care to avoid exposure to ethical or legal liability.
March 5, 2023
Lent 2A – George Yandell
Who said these words?
“There’s no place like home.” Dorothy in Wizard of Oz
“Home is where the heart is.” Pliny the Elder – (CE 23- 79), Como, Italy
“Home sweet home.” Irving Berlin in “America”
“Home is the where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Robert Frost
“I wish I were homeward bound.” Paul Simon
“You can’t go home again.” Thomas Wolfe
“The Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’” I wonder – if you and I had been Abram, Sara and Lot, would we have answered Yahweh and followed that command? Who was this God Yahweh anyway, to be giving them such instructions?
Abram had the same fondness for home we have, I’d imagine. And yet he left everything and followed his Lord’s whimsy. Yet we never hear of Abram wishing to go back home. He went so far from home to get to Canaan, it would be like us flying to Mars and burning the spaceship when we got there. His relationship with Yahweh was founded on a two-way covenant, and depended on trust supreme. Yahweh promised to make of Abram a great nation.
I want to do a thought experiment with you. Close your eyes, breathe deeply and picture your home. The place that’s more home for you than anywhere else. It could be your parents’ home when you were a child,
February 26, 2023
Lent 1A – George Yandell
What appears most senseless can often seem most meaningful of all. What of Matthew’s story that becomes the gospel for today? This story tells of an event that proves to be a major turning point in Jesus’ personal history. It is recorded in three of the gospels. What could seem more senseless than Jesus getting baptized? Theologians have argued about it for centuries. Who could need more vocational reassurance than Jesus, standing there dripping wet and hearing, “This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well-pleased?” How many of us have ever had that kind of certainty?
And what sense is there to this wilderness temptation thing? It’s a great and dramatic story out of which preachers get a lot of mileage, but for Jesus, how senseless can it get? Well, there’s this. Matthew says that it wasn’t Jesus’ idea after all, for as soon as he was baptized, “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” What sort of sense does that make? [The above two paragraphs adapted from Lane Denson’s sermon of 3/9/2003.]
The wilderness temptation is reminiscent of the trials of the wilderness wanderings of Israel, as well as the fasts of Moses and Elijah. During this time Jesus discerns the true meaning of the baptismal proclamation that he is the Son of God. Here the devil represents the role of the tempter rather than the personification of evil.