Sometime
a few years ago I was standing in my living room, watching a neighbour cut his
lawn. For where we were living at the time it was a typically hot and sunny
Saturday afternoon. My attention was drawn to him because I wondered why he
wasn't inside watching the cricket or tennis. But there he was, outside,
pushing the petrol-powered mower back and forth in endless repetitions, the
noise of his lawn mower joining with other mowers from other neighbours in what
some people call the "Saturday symphony."
Sometimes
when you stand and watch a small drama will unfold - and on this occasion it
was a bit like a pantomime for me because I was indoors and too far away to
hear any of the words. As my neighbour crisscrossed the lawn, suddenly the door
to the house opened and his five-year old son emerged, followed by his wife.
She put a small, plastic replica of a mower on the grass so that the son could
"help dad" cut the grass. Like father; like son. Very sexist in job
allocation but still typical at that time.
Mum
returned to the house, and I watched father and son pursue their separate
courses, the son "mowing" over grass that the father had already cut.
This charming scene continued for a minute or two, and of course, my heart was
warmed by the whole thing.
Then
something happened that surprised me, but also made the point with an
exclamation. The son abruptly stopped mowing, abandoning the mower where it
stood in the lawn. He disappeared into the house, and I thought he was through.
He'd had enough, or it was too hot, or he realized he wasn't cutting grass
anyway, or his five-year old attention span had reached its limit, ... none of
my guesses were correct.
After
a minute or two, he re-emerged followed by his mother. She was carrying a
plastic grocery bags, resourceful woman that she was. She crouched at the
plastic mower and tied the bag to the back of the mower where the handles
attach to the blade cover. I glanced over to the father again and knew
immediately what was occurring. The father's mower included a grass-catching
bag. The son could not truly be like his father - it wouldn't quite be right -
unless he was like his father in every detail. If his father had a grass
catcher, then he needed one too.
Jesus
said, "Whoever has seen me, has seen God my parent."
Just
five weeks ago we recalled the crucifixion of Jesus and collectively wondered
what kind of radical or revolutionary or extremist he must have been in order
to get himself executed. He was vilified by the religious and political
authorities of Judaism. He was sentenced to death under Roman decree,
crucifixion being a uniquely Roman form of state sanctioned execution. What on
earth do we law-abiding, tax-paying, church-going citizens have to do with him?
However,
in this week's gospel reading from John 14 we are reminded that Jesus is
neither renegade nor rogue. Instead, he stands precisely on the same ground
with God. This same God has been known down through the centuries as the God
who creates, who gives life, who seals covenant, who decrees law, who anoints
rulers, and who speaks through prophets. This one, true, living God and Jesus
are alike, in every detail. Rather than representing something totally new,
unheard-of, or tangential, Jesus speaks that which is consistent, constant, and
at the very core of the divine and human encounter. It turns out that the
people in authority - local and empire-wide - have strayed. No wonder Jesus was
accused of blasphemy.
Jesus
is the way, the truth, and the life. God's truth results in a life worth
living. Jesus is the way into that truth. He was the way into that truth to
people in the first century, just as he is the way into that truth for us.
Occupying pew space, even on a regular basis, is no guarantee that we are
immune to other "truths" that compete with God's truth. That has been
so true over the last months as various beliefs about the Covid-19 Virus have
been expounded.
These
competing truths possess great attraction. For example, many hold to the truth
that if we focus completely on our own life - our business and job, our assets
and property - to the exclusion of everything else, we can greatly increase our
personal net worth and live in greater comfort and enjoy greater pleasures. It
is also true that we can ingratiate ourselves to those who hold the reins of
power, and in the name of the "common good" achieve great personal
and monetary benefits. Both of these examples are true.
However,
God's truth, which has been consistently articulated from the beginning, and is
affirmed by Jesus, slices through these competing truths, calling us to a life
of fulfillment as its goal, not comfort. The widows and orphans cared for, the
prisoners released, the sick visited, the forgotten remembered, the outcasts
welcomed in, the workers compensated adequately, the strangers recognized, the
foreigners given a home, choosing these activities and others like them,
results in a different kind of life. Following a different truth results in a
different life. Following God's truth, we behave as God behaves.
In
our private lives, our professional lives, and our communal life Jesus is for
us the way into the truth of a passionate God who calls us to a life worth
living.
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