Joy in the Presence
“Joy in the Presence”
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, September 15, 2019
Jeremiah 4;11-12, 22-28 1 Timothy 1:12-17 Luke 15:1-10
Pastor Andy Kennaly
Sandpoint, Idaho
Jeremiah gives God voice, confronting the people with a message. “A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights in the desert toward my poor people, not to winnow or cleanse – a wind too strong for that.” The threatening sounding passage goes on as God shares frustration that the people are stupid, not knowing how to do good. It’s like that John Wayne quote from Hollywood years ago, “Life is hard. It’s even harder when you’re stupid.” Another observation I heard is that our society is filled with elderly people, but not very many elders. Just because you get older does not mean you mature into wisdom. Sometimes you just get rigid, angry, and intractable. God is lamenting over this “poor people” that are skilled in doing evil, to the point that even the natural world is out of whack, laying in ruins because the people don’t know how to live life the way God intends.
Jeremiah is a brave prophet. Thank you, Jeremiah, thank you!
Winnowing is a technique of cleansing grain by having a basket full of grain, holding it over your head, shaking it so the contents gradually fall to the ground, to the threshing floor. As the contents fall, the wind picks up the chaff and dirt because they’re lightweight; they blow away as the heavier grain, the nutritious part, falls to the floor for collecting and use.
This wind which Jeremiah talks about blows everything, even the grain, so this natural process of working within optimal conditions is interrupted. If the grain blows away, the people go hungry.
If God sounds harsh in Jeremiah, saying such things as, “…the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger. For thus says the LORD: The whole land shall be a desolation,” there is also a hint of hope. Thrown into the mix of prophetic judgment is this saying, right after the part about desolation:
“…yet I will not make a full end.”
This is like a seed waiting for the right conditions, this is like someone giving a harsh talking to, but winking in the middle of it. What was that wink? “…yet I will not make a full end” changes the dynamic of total desolation into a different type of process. The next line starts, saying, “Because of this the earth shall mourn.” Because of what? Because of the hot wind too strong for a mere cleansing actually bringing destruction, or because there is not a full end? If there was total destruction, there wouldn’t be an earth to mourn, and no one to do the mourning, no reason for morning because the end is the end. But not making a full end, having some fragment of hope retaining enough integrity to keep potential; that potential, to be realized, needs the earth to mourn. Lessons must be learned, and they shall be gained the hard way. But it’s because God values the earth and its people that “…yet I will not make a full end” is a loving promise that invites a deeper wisdom gained only through the harsh teaching of experience.
God says, “I have spoken, I have purposed; I have not relented nor will I turn back.” Does this sound like an angry, Old Testament God judging the people and bringing punishment for their sins? Remember God speaking to Moses and Moses asks what God’s name is. “I am who I am” is the answer that can also be interpreted as “I will be who I will be” in this sense of subject and action combined. “I have spoken, I have purposed” reflects this creative dynamic of present and potential, of the power of God, having not a plan, but a purpose.
The part about not relenting is less about an angry God and more involving this purpose as intentional and trustworthy. God will be who God will be, and we can depend on that. In “not turning back,” this is a message of forgiveness, not judgment. If God is not turning back, then God is not bound by the peoples’ failures from the past, not obligated to hold this against them. God is freeing them from their past, and God is only looking forward from the powerful, creative Presence.
In Luke, a Gospel that seeks to include the marginalized, we see scene of Jesus interacting by sharing stories, parables which are simple yet complex, straightforward but multifaceted, basic but able to hold multiple interpretations depending on what level the interpreter is at. And there are levels, stages of development in the human psyche and spirit. Multiple models have been developed over the years to illustrate the dynamic movement as one matures in life, gradually moving from one level to the next, often ushered by a time of disillusionment and discomfort. That’s the hope anyway, that faith helps us through those uncertain times so we actually do move from one level to another. Sometimes this is so uncomfortable, and we get so fearful, even incapable of processing our inner stuff, our wounds, that we stagnate and remain stuck at one level, maybe even going down to where things are more comfortable and familiar.
The ego likes it that way, setting up boundaries of what’s in or out, what’s known and what is held with suspicion. Most things outside the boundary are labeled “bad” and are excluded, even condemned or destroyed because they seem threatening or ungodly. The ego’s mode of operation is wanting to be separate and superior. This helps the ego feel validated. Any limitations or lack of understanding are minimized, along with the fears that go with them, by setting up boundaries and becoming rigid. This is the ego’s defense mechanism, and at early stages, especially under stress, our reptilian brain kicks in and we get fixated on safety and security issues. All the while, the ego projects outward, transferring it’s own struggles and denials onto others, who are objectified as they get labelled. Outward reality is objectified to enhance the desire for separation and superiority, because objects can be disregarded, even destroyed. Like slaves viewed as property rather than people.
This is why the Pharisees and the scribes look at Jesus and write him off, especially because Jesus “welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Notice Luke uses the word, “all” when saying “all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to [Jesus]. No one is excluded. No one is separated. No one is better than another, or worse. Everyone is on the same level.
This illustrates a movement from one stage to another. The Pharisees and scribes are at that tribal level, distinct about who is acceptable and who is rejected. They even interpret God on their side, which most groups do. They are upset that Jesus eats with sinners, because in that culture of obligated hospitality, to eat with someone is a way of honoring God’s Presence in their life. Eating together is a sign of respect, of condoning, of uniting your life with theirs, all under God’s approval.
One thing about levels of development is that if you are at, for example, stage 2, even on a good day with no stress you will only be able to catch glimpses of stage 3. People at higher levels, like 4, 5, 6, up through 9, seem weird, just crazy, and if that level 2 person projects enough of their own unprocessed baggage, then the dualistic mindset seeks to destroy those people at higher levels. Think Jesus, and all prophets who get killed. Think Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., even Abraham Lincoln.
This story about the scribes and Pharisees is a story of human nature and the tremendous need for contemplation and spiritual disciplines to help us not transmit our pain, but to transform it, changing our own ego from a solid boundary keeper to the translucent, miraculously unique creation it is meant to be as created by God. And just as Luke’s story is about human nature, the parables within that story are Jesus’ way of sharing of God’s nature and quality, which is ultimately defined by love. Words like extravagant, patient, joyful may also come into play.
We’re all somewhere in the process of development and we have reasons for being where we’re at. Whether we stay there or not, that is a more dynamic invitation and highlights the tremendous importance of experiential prayer, such as Centering Prayer, and the need for Christian community expressed in authentic, trusting relationship.
As we keep Jeremiah and God not making a full end in the background, and hold that story of Luke sharing Jesus visiting with all those sinners among those who were grumbling in the foreground, let’s close with a story about lessons learned in life.
Here’s something I picked up along the way, and it fits for today as it leads us to this question, “Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?” (https://lessonslearnedinlife.com/grandmother-says-carrots-eggs-or-coffee-which-are-you-2/)
“A young woman went to her grandmother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.
Her grandmother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her granddaughter, she asked, “Tell me what do you see?”
“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.
She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it.
After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.
Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The granddaughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma. The granddaughter then asked. “What’s the point, grandmother?”
Her grandmother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity–boiling water–but each reacted differently.
The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.
The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water.
“Which are you?” she asked her granddaughter.
“When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”
Think of this: Which am I?
Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?
Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?
~Author Unknown”
May we have courage to do our shadow work as we come near to listen to Jesus. Like grandma at the stove, 20 minutes a day sitting in silence is one way to begin turning up the heat, giving God room to work by calming the mind, expanding the heart, and claiming joy in the Presence of our Divine Source. May we invite God’s purpose to transform our hearts, NOW, even as forever. Amen.