Mary; Out of Her Shell

On Day 27 of The Social Justice Bible Challenge the author of this reflection chooses Luke 1:39-55 as her text. This is the beautiful "song" of Mary, the Magnificat. The author describes Mary as, "... impulsive, brave, and radical" and admits that we more often think of her as, '... meek and mild..." But given the solique that Mary has in Luke's book "brave and radical" are apt descriptions.

     "Mary sings that God is not only lifting up the poor but also that God is tearing the rich and powerful down from lofty places. This is radical indeed, particularly in our time in which the wealthy are emulated." (page 104)

On this 20th day of December 2017 with a wealthy, self-centered, wannabe despot sitting in the White House who cares nothing for the "lowly" Mary's words that, "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty" (v. 52b-53) in many ways seem no nearer now than it did 2000 years ago. And although we can today see organizations, both NGOs and religious institutions, who work to help to feed the hungry and cloth those in need the forces of greed and Earthly power claim victories even in this "Christian nation" where forces opposed to Mary's sentiments push for legislation that deprives those most in need and pushes wealth upward to further enrich the wealthy, currently labeled as the "1%".

What are we to make of this contrast between Mary's vision and what we think of as reality now in this time? We can look with hope at history that tells us that the despot, the extremely greedy, and those who grasp for power at the expense of others, who build their houses on the sand of these goals (gods) will see their mansions crumble and be exposed for their hollowness. But we can not wait around for history to bring this about. We must do what we can to push history along toward Mary's better vision of society. We push whenever we can by "speaking truth to power" in our conversations with others, by writing letters to Congress persons, and news outlets. By challenging the new normal when ever and where ever possible in a myriad of peaceful actions.

Reality tells us that greedy, unscrupulous people will try and sometimes succede in gaining power again and again even after others have struggled to construct a just society. So it is an on going task.  But, as Christians, it is a task that we are called to. The radical Jesus championed the poor underclass all during his time on this beautiful blue marble and he called on his disciples (that includes us) to do the same. His message at its most basic is to love God and to love our fellow human beings. He made this clear when challenged by those in authority and when he called for God's kingdom to come in a prayer that he taught his disciples.

If we ask God will give us the wisdom, and courage to help, "... thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven."

Bartimaeus or the Rich Young Ruler

On Day 26 of the little book The Social Justice Bible Challenge the author of the piece uses as her scripture reference the incident that occurred between Jesus and Bartimaeus. The first thing that caught my attention in the scripture in verse 52b of chapter 10 of Mark was this: "...and he [Bartimaeus] followed him on the way." I like this phrase because I think that it incapsulates what discipleship is. I like it for another reason as well. Today there are those who take the name of Christian, in the church , in government, and others, and who then do not then"follow the way" of Jesus. They are more like another individual that the author of the meditation cites, the Rich Young Ruler. To quote the Rev. Canon Callaway, "... the prosperous young man who zealously kept God's law is trapped by his wealth." Trapped by his wealth seems very contemporary. That is the contrast that the author emphasises; Bartimaus gives up his sole possession, his cloak, to follow Jesus while the Rich Young Ruler can not give up his wealth. Those who preach the Prosperity Gospel, the current administration in D.C. and others who finance politicians who champion laws that favor the rich at the expense of the less fortunate are modern day versions of the Rich Young Ruler who do not follow "the way". (The encounter with Bartimaeus is found in Mark 10:46-52 and with the Rich Young Ruler in Mark 10: 10-22.)

At the end of each section of The Social Justice Bible Challenge there are questions for the reader to ponder. The first question at the end of Day 26 was, "The recent wave of refugees is one of the world's most explosive social issues. There are now 100 million refugees representing 1% of the world's population. What does Jesus' encounter with Bartimaeus and the rich man say about how we see and respond to refugees?" I'll leave you to ponder that question for yourself. However, in my estimation it speaks volumes about how the current administration in Washington treats and labels refugees; and that treatment and labeling does not reflect the direction Jesus would have us take. Those who support it do not "follow the way".

Sheep and Goats

In The Social Justice Bible Challenge (A 40 Day Bible Challenge) edited by Marek P. Zabriskie the scripture for day 22 is Matthew 25:31-46, the parable about the sheep and the goats. In the parable Jesus likens the people who help those in need to sheep and those who do not help the less fortunate to goats. In the  parable Jesus describes those who are needy as hungry, or thirsty, or in need of clothing, or sick, or in prison. But he also discribes them as strangers.  The people that the Son of Man is addressing in the parablle ask, "And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you..." (v. 38a) or did not welcome you?

A stranger can be someone newly arrived where we live or the stranger can be someone who lives among us who we have never attempted to know. Those living among us can be "strangers" because they practice another religion, speak a different language, or have different customs. We welcome them when we accept and attempt to know about those differences. This is a way of welcoming the stranger; a direction that Jesus gives us in this parable.

Yet as a nation, self described as a Christian nation, we often reject the stranger thereby abandoning the name Christian and adopting the name USA,USA! and becoming goats herded along by the shepherds Hate, Fear, Distrust, and Insularity.

Leaving the context of the parable and reentering the context of the present day, if our eyes are wide open, we can see that there are forces in our government and our society who would have us behave as goats, not as the sheep who cared for and welcomed the stranger. These forces continually propose laws or Executive Orders that slams the door of welcome. Additionally, they propose budgets that favor the wealthy, curtail or eliminate health care for those in need and lead us toward a domination society where there is a wealthy class and an under class with a wide chasm between.

Are we as a nation to be sheep or goats? We make the decision to be goats whenever we support the forces of Hate, Fear, Distrust, and Insularity.  Or we can decide to be sheep reaching out to the stranger in our day-to-day lives or when by voting or  taking other actions we support those who would have us act like the Christian sheep we need to be.

God, help us to be sheep.