SEEING IS BELIEVING?

In our lesson from the lectionary for this May 1st, the first Sunday after Easter, we look at the appearance of Jesus to his followers. But it seems Thomas didn't get the email, so he wasn't there. Jesus appears again and this time he shows his hands so Thomas might believe.

Could the message on the hand in the image have been something that Jesus was attempting to also communicate to Thomas?


What does it mean to believe? Is it different than faith? If so, what are the differences?


Have you ever had a time in your life when it didn't seem to matter what you believed but rather if you had faith?


John 20:19-31
20:19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."

20:20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

20:21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

20:22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

20:23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

20:24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.

20:25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

20:26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."

20:27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe."

20:28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"

20:29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

20:30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.

20:31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION...

This is Easter, also known as resurrection Sunday. It is the culmination of both Passion week as well as the entire Cristian calendar. For Jesus it was the fulfillment of his ministry and calling from the Father.
He went willingly, of his own volition to crucifixion. His choice remained his even up to the last evening before in the garden of Gethsemane.

"Freedom of Expression" is the title of the lesson for today. I have chosen two images to illustrate this concept.. The first image on the left is an art piece by Andreas Serrano, an artist who as a child was reared as a strict Catholic. This expression was vandalized with a hammer just a week ago, this Palm Sunday, as it hung in a museum in Avignon, France. It has been a highly controversial freedom of expression since it was created in 1987 and has gained the name "Piss Christ."

The image on the right, found in a Google image search, is one that interested me for its juxtaposition of the nails and Jesus, but then so is the juxtaposition of the liquid media and Jesus in the Serrano image.

What do these images mean to us in the light of free expression?

How was Jesus on the cross an "Expression of Freedom?"

As Paul speaks in Colossians, how does that relate to our expression of Christ?

Colossians 3:1-4
3:1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,

3:3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

3:4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

THE PALM PARTY...

Hardy Palm Tree Farms

In the passages for today we look at the entering of Jesus into Jerusalem on what has become known as Palm Sunday.

The event is accompanied by a festive atmosphere. As Jesus enters Jerusalem,  everyone is crying "Hosanna in the Highest."

However, by the end of the week, it appears this same crowd was crying, "Crucify Him, Crucify Him." A lesson in how fickle the crowd can be. So Jesus finds his relationship with the crowd turned by week's end.

For the crowd, in the end, Jesus was most likely just "another messiah" entering Jerusalem. Possibly a somewhat routine event in the Holy City of David. So get a rent-a-donkey. Oh, and order some more palm trees from Hardy Farms, we're running low.

However, by Sunday, Jesus stands having followed and accomplished his calling before God. And the truth is that his actions were for the very people who populated the crowds of both popularity and condemnation. This week is known as Christ's Passion. His passion does not wane for the people or for his calling.

What about your passion? Have you ever had an experience that started out glorious but by the end of the week was a complete dilemma? Have you ever been through both the hallelujah and the dilemma and finally find yourself standing resurrected in accomplishment?


Where are you presently in your passion experience?


How does Jesus' passion instruct yours?



Matthew 21:1-11
21:1 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,

21:2 saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.

21:3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, 'The Lord needs them.' And he will send them immediately."

21:4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,

21:5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

21:6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them;

21:7 they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.

21:8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

21:9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

21:10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?"

21:11 The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."

NOW HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD...

"Put together dem bones,

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Let's connect dem bones, dem dry bones.
Let's connect dem bones, dem dry bones.
Let's connect dem bones, dem dry bones.
Now hear the word of the Lord..."
(James Weldon Johnson 1871 - 1938)

The African American poet, James Weldon Johnson, wrote these words above to describe the occurrence from our lectionary script for this Sunday, April 10 found in Ezekiel chapter 37.

Traditionally, the scenario described in the 37th chapter of Ezekiel was describing the sustained concern of God for Israel during their exile in Babylon and to impart hope for their future.

What sustains us? What makes us dance? What gives us life? What makes our spirits thrive?
In the passages below, Ezekiel is told by God to prophesy to the bones, "O hear the word of the Lord." God then promises to breathe into these skeletons and "you shall live." In another poem by James Weldon Johnson, "The Creation," he ends in the last stanza with God breathing the breath of life into Adam and "man became a living soul. Amen." Pneumos is the Greek word for both wind/breath and spirit.

What is it that gives you life? What sustains you? Do you have hope for the future?

Ezekiel 37:1-14
37:1 The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.

37:2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry.

37:3 He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know."

37:4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

37:5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.

37:6 I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD."

37:7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

37:8 I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them.

37:9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live."

37:10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

37:11 Then he said to me, "Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.'

37:12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.

37:13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people.

37:14 I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act," says the LORD.

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

DAVID, A GOOD BET ?

In today's lectionary lesson from 1 Samuel 16:1-13, God sends Samuel to anoint a new King over Israel.

Samuel is hesitant at first for fear of his own life, but God gives him reason to go, making the journey one of sacrifice, sanctification and anointing. 

In the illustration, the chip is embellished with the Star of David. What is the traditional interpretation of the star? What does it have to say about the world and our relationships?


The way the game eventually plays out, was David a good bet to lead God's people? What does that have to say about our relationship to our God and others?


16:1 The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons."

16:2 Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.'

16:3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you."

16:4 Samuel did what the LORD commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, "Do you come peaceably?"

16:5 He said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

16:6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is now before the LORD."

16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

16:8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."

16:9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."

16:10 Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen any of these."

16:11 Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here."

16:12 He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; for this is the one."

16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

WATER AS LIFE...

A woman waits for water

What would you say is the most valuable physical resource in the world today or for all time for that matter? 

It is a liquid but it's not oil. It covers the majority of the earth but replenishes only in its fresh form. It has made life possible in the temperate zones of our planet which is not possible on those worlds that orbit closest to us. 

In one of my favorite films of all time, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, an aged prospector who is leading two greenhorns in their first gold mining adventure in the mountains of central Mexico, warns when the two greenhorns splash water from canteens on rock streaked with pyrite, fool's gold, "let me know before you go splashing water around again, water can be precious, sometimes more than gold."


What is precious about the exchange that occurs between Jesus and the Woman at the Well? How does her Samaritan status influence the exchange? What does that tell us about our relationships with others in the world today? Water is a precious commodity of the earth we must share. How does that make us like our neighbor?


 John 4:5-42
4:5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

4:6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

4:7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."

4:8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)

4:9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)

4:10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

4:11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?

4:12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?"

4:13 Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,

4:14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."

4:15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."

4:16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back."

4:17 The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband';

4:18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!"

4:19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet.

4:20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."

4:21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

4:22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

4:23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.

4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

4:25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us."

4:26 Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."

4:27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?"

4:28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people,

4:29 "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?"

4:30 They left the city and were on their way to him.

4:31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something."

4:32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."

4:33 So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has brought him something to eat?"

4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.

4:35 Do you not say, 'Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.

4:36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.

4:37 For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.'

4:38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

4:39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done."

4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.

4:41 And many more believed because of his word.

4:42 They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world."

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

Born from above?

The Butterfly Nebula from the Hubble space scope

In classical Greek, the word "psyche" has two connotations. It can mean soul as in our spiritual self. But it is also the word for butterfly. The creature that metamorphoses from the earthbound caterpillar to the winged beauty of spring was for the ancient Greeks a symbol of our soul's development into its full potential and presence.
The ancient Greeks even had a story of the relationship between Eros and Psyche, and how Psyche gained eternal existence because her example of showing trust in another.
As we have been able to extend our gaze into the heavens, we have been both thrilled and awe struck as to what a vast universe there is beyond us. It is both above and beyond much of who we are in this earthbound abode.

In today's lectionary lesson from Matthew 3:1-17, Jesus speaks to Nicodemus, a very faith seeking and inquisitive man who wonders what it means to trust and what results from such a relationship. How do we look at being born from above? What does this have to say about our earthbound development and our expression of trust in others?


John 3:1-17
3:1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.

3:2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God."

3:3 Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."

3:4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?"

3:5 Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.

3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

3:7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.'

3:8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

3:9 Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?"

3:10 Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

3:11 "Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.

3:12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

3:13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

3:17 "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line