Levitical cleaning

Reading the bible is a wonderful gift. But for many people, who with great zeal and commitment begin to read the bible in the book of Genesis, everything goes well for a while. The book of Genesis is interesting, and it is full of familiar stories beginning with creation and then the 'myths' of pre-history, followed by the wonderful narratives of the patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons, and then especially the story of Joseph and his exploits in Egypt. Things continue well in the book of Exodus with the story of Moses and then all of the plagues and the great events of the exodus itself, into the wilderness and the events around Mount Sinai. The story begins to slow down with the ritual descriptions and laws concerning the temple. But if the committed reader has made it this far, the next book in the bible is often the killer - the book of Leviticus.

I am pretty sure that no other book of scripture would single-handedly be responsible for so many people dropping off in their commitment to read the Bible. Although there are only 27 chapters (the first 16 dealing with feasts and festivals and ritual requirements; the final 11 dealing with moral and ethical behaviour), once we lose the sense of narrative and get swamped by the minute detail of these holiness codes and the concern to place all of life into one of three categories - unclean, clean and holy - it can all seem just too much to deal with. The question quickly emerges - "why am I bothering with this again"?

One of the problems in reading this book is that the context seems so-far-removed from our own experience, and it can be too easy to dismiss it as irrelevant - especially for Christians who can think that the sacrifice of Christ has removed almost all of these commandments and prescriptions - or the ones in Lev 1 - 16 anyway. But that can miss the richness of the Jewish worldview and the power of the story that lies beneath these laws which remain just as relevant for us today.

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Sunday 06B. Recorded at St Paul's Camden (12'57")

Immediately driven

Every book in the biblical library has unique characteristics that set it apart from all other books in the bible. The passage that is our first reading today from the book of Job - dealing with suffering and pain - is fairly typical of this book. So also each of the gospels have particular ways of telling the story of Jesus that are unique. John features long and exalted speeches of Jesus; Matthew is marked by 5 large blocks of teaching that begins with the famous sermon on the mount, identifying Jesus as the new Moses; in the prayerful gospel of Luke, the most characteristic feature are the parables that are unique to him.

The gospel of Mark, that we are reading from this liturgical year, uses particular language. For example, the word euthus appears 72 times in the Greek New Testament - but 42 of those times are in the relatively short gospel of Mark. The word is usually translated into English as 'immediately' or 'straight away'. The use of the word helps to convey the breathless quality of this action-packed story of the ministry of Jesus. Jesus is on the move, bringing in the kingdom of God - through his teaching authority, but especially through the mighty works of God that Jesus does - to heal the sick, to forgive sins and to cast out devils. There is almost a child-like quality in the telling of the story: Jesus did this, and then he did this, and then he did this...

The gospel today also contains an insight into the reasons for the healing ministry of Jesus. When he goes euthus from the synagogue (last Sunday's gospel) to the house of his friend Simon-Peter, he is told euthus that his mother-in-law is sick with a fever - not a 'man-flu' either, but a serious illness that was potentially life-threatening. So Jesus goes to her bed, takes her by the hand and raises her to new life. Her response is key. She begins to serve them. This is the point of healing - it enables us to resume our rightful activity in the world in sharing in the love of God with those around us.

Then as evening falls (and the Sabbath ends) the crowds of people descend on the house to share in the mighty works of Jesus. This is what God does. This is what the kingdom looks like.

Even after an exhausting day of pastoral ministry, Jesus is up early in the new day - long before dawn - to spend time with the Father in prayer. Later, Simon and the other disciples will come to him, reminding him of the crowds that continue to press around their house, looking for him, wanting more of the action and the show.

The response of Jesus is amazing. He doesn't return to the crowd. He doesn't continue to heal. He declares that his place is somewhere else. His place is at another village, among other people who need to know the reality of the kingdom as it breaks into life on earth.

When we become so caught up in the activities of our jam-packed lives - full of so many good things - maybe we should take the time to do what Jesus does. Maybe we also need to go away to a lonely place and pray - to see if the Lord actually wants us to leave aside some of these good things - so that we can concentrate on the one necessary thing that the spirit will drive us to do?

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 - note all my homilies and other resources can now be found on my new website: http://www.fecitmihimagna.com/

Recorded at St Paul's, 6pm (11'22")
Sunday 05B

Peace be with you

'Peace be with you' - this is the greeting that Jesus proclaims to the disciples when he appears to them - even if they are locked behind closed doors for fear of the same fate falling on them as has just happened to Jesus. But the peace that Jesus promised, and the peace that he now gives to them is much more than the absence of fear, conflict, violence or noise. This peace, the true 'shalom' of the Lord, is infinitely creative and becomes one of the true signs of the new creation that happens in the resurrection. This is the peace that we are invited to share in and to be ambassadors of the peace that is only known in the wounds of Jesus.

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Recorded at St Brigid's, 9am (9'43")
Easter Sunday 2A - Octave Day (John 20)
Divine Mercy Sunday, Beatification of Pope John Paul the Great

Roll the stone away from the stink

This most powerful healing story - perhaps the ultimate miracle with the raising of a man four-days dead - begins so simply with a description of the fact that a man called Lazarus was ill. Most of our English biblical names have come to us via the Latin Vulgate translation. In the original Hebrew, Lararus would have been called El'Azar - which means God helps and he lived with his two sisters Miryam and Marta in Bethany (or Biet'Anyah, which means 'house of the afflicted') - an appropriate place for someone who was ill. El'Azar then becomes a sign for anyone who is afflicted in anyway, and who needs the help of God. So why does Yeshua (Jesus) wait two days to visit his beloved friends?

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Recorded at St Francis Xavier Cathedral, 9.00am (12'06")
Lent Sunday 5A. John 11:1-45

Blinded by the light

To truly appreciate the full scope of this sixth sign in the gospel of John - the healing and faith of the man born blind - we need to remember the full scope of John's spiritual vision. John is always leading us to look back to the beginning of creation and forward to the wonders of the new creation that was already breaking in through the ministry of Jesus and would find its final fulfillment in the resurrection of Jesus. Let us journey with the man in his encounter with Jesus, the neighbours and the pharisees across the eight scenes of this story to see where we also may be led.

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Recorded at Mater Dolorosa, 10am (10'59")
Lent, Sunday 4A. John 9:1-42.

Thirst quenched by living water

The story of the woman at the well presents many strange scenes in this most beautiful Gospel. John 4 begins by telling us that Jesus learnt that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was baptising and making more disciples than John the Baptist (although it wasn't Jesus who was baptising, but his disciples - apparantly) and for this reason he has to leave town and head north to the more peaceful lands of Galilee. But rather than go to usual - albeit longer road down to the Jordan river valley and up to the Lake, Jesus takes the shorter but riskier road through Samaritan territory.

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Recorded at Mater Dolorosa during Mass with the Disciples of Jesus Community. (12'07")
Lent, Sunday 3A.