Ora et Labora – seeking balance

Ora et Labora – seeking balance

A reflection on Luke 10: 3-42

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her." 

(Luke 10:38-42, ESV)

I have long wrestled with this story from Luke’s Gospel. On the surface, it looks like Jesus is commending Mary for not helping with the work, and chastising Martha for being too concerned with the business of life to take in the moment and just be with Jesus. And, perhaps, Martha is being a bit self-righteous. But, let us not lose sight of the fact that if Martha had chosen “the good portion” of sitting at Jesus’ feet as well, they would all be going hungry that night.

It is likely true that when Martha heard that Jesus was coming her way, she saw it as an opportunity to show off her mad Martha Stewart skills. She was going to throw the party to end all parties. She was going to out-do all of the other women in Bethany and everything at her dinner part would be “just right”. And, we should remember that, in first century Palestine, hospitality was very important, and very time-consuming. They couldn’t just roll up to the nearest corner market and pick up some rotisserie chicken, throw a frozen lasagna in the oven, or, my favorite, call Papa John’s when company showed up. Bread had to be made from scratch, milk would be turned into curds, and an animal had to be killed, butchered and cooked over an open fire. It was a process that took literally all day. I am sure that Martha took some pride in her ability to accommodate such a crowd, as well she should.

While all of this preparation and busy-ness has been going on, Mary has been sitting with Jesus, hanging on every word that he has to say. She has been taking time to just be with Jesus, and I am sure that she has benefitted from the experience, just as we all need to take time occasionally, if not regularly, to sit in the presence of our Lord. I am sure that, throughout the day, her heart has been filled with the wisdom and love that is found only by spending quality time with Jesus, and that is a very good thing.

But, what would happen if we all decided to choose Mary’s “good portion” all of the time? I have heard it said, mainly about clergy, that a person has become so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good. If everyone in the church did nothing but spend time studying and spending time in meditation with Jesus, they might become very spiritually in touch, but would anything ever get done? The church must have a few Marthas around to get the work done, or better yet, what Christians need is to find the balance between work and being in the presence of Jesus that allows for Spiritual growth and working to build the Kingdom of God.

The motto of the Benedictine life is “Ora et Labora” – study and work. St. Benedict directed his monks to seek to balance their lives between the work of the mind and physical labor. This balance allows for both growth of the spirit, and growth of the body of Christ. If the Church of Christ is going to be relevant to the world in which we live and minster, we must seek to grow spiritually as we reach out into our community taking care of needs, being the hands and feet of Christ. We must be able to spend time with Christ, learning from His word being in His presence while we carry out his desire for us to be on mission in our world.

Let us be seeking Mary’s “good portion” while we seek to carry out Jesus’ commandment for us to “go into the world”. This is not an either-or proposition, it must be a both-and if we are going to be successful in bringing God’s Kingdom to our world, while leading people in our world toward His Kingdome in heaven.                                                                                                                                                                                       

Reflection on the Baptism of Christ -- Mark 1:4-11

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." (Mark 1:4-11)

In this Gospel, we witness Jesus being baptized by his cousin, John, in the Jordan River. We have fast-forwarded 30 years in the life of the eternal Word of God. He is no longer the infant of the Nativity, or even the toddler of the Epiphany. Jesus is now a mature man of 30, ready to begin the ministry for which he became incarnate. He is about to begin the three-year ministry that will reveal him as the Messiah, and end at the cross on Calvary. But first, his baptism.

The question comes to mind, “did Jesus need to be baptized?”

This question is actually two-fold, as Baptism has a two-fold purpose. John’s baptism, and that of Judaism up to this point, was a cleansing from sins. Those who were coming to John to be baptized were coming to have their sins washed-away. Jesus is without sin, so he certainly does not need this cleansing! John knows that “he is not worthy to even untie Jesus’ sandals”.

The second issue here is that, following Jesus, baptism becomes the rite of adoption into God’s family, and carries with it the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Son of God, a part of the Holy Trinity, for all eternity. He is the family of God, and is in eternal communion with the Holy Spirit, and the Father, so, has no need to receive what baptism offers us.

So, the short answer is that Jesus did not “need” to be baptized as we do. He chose to be baptized by John to announce the beginning of his earthly ministry, and to institute the Sacrament through which we would be able to receive full membership into God’s family after his work on earth was done.

Jesus comes to John at the Jordan to “do what is right”, but this also becomes a public announcement of who he is. As Jesus comes out of the water we have one of the few moments in Scripture where the Trinity is present. Jesus, the Son, comes out of the water. The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove appears. And, the Father makes his proclamation, “You are my beloved Son…” It is much more public than the angels’ announcement at his birth, and this time it’s the Father in heaven, not angels making the announcement. It is also interesting to notice that this announcement is made before those who have come seeking the repentance that John’s baptism offered – they were already seeking answers to eternal questions.

Most importantly for us, at this time, is that Jesus’ baptism announces his earthly ministry. From this point, after a 40-day stint in the desert, his eyes are fixed on the cross. He will spend the next three years healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, opening the ears of the deaf, and even raising the dead to let people know that he is the promised Messiah. Some will follow, some will not, some will walk away, but that will not change his mission – to offer salvation to a world in need.

As I said earlier, following Jesus, baptism is forever changed. It becomes much more than a cleansing from sin, although this remains as a part. From Jesus on, baptism is also the adoption rite into the family of God, and includes the anointing of the Holy Spirit to enable us to carry out the ministry placed before us.

At each of our baptisms, God the Father said in heaven, “This is my son,” or, “This is my daughter.” At our baptism, we received the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We are not made perfect, but we are washed clean of our sins. Jesus accepted his mission, and from his baptism sought to carry it out, knowing what the end was. The question for us today is, “will we accept our mission as members of the family of God?” Will we use the gifts that God has given us to bring others into His kingdom? Will we do our part in easing the suffering of our fellow man? Will we be the Body of Christ – his hands and feet in the world?

Let us be praying continually that we will be given the strength to do the difficult things as we seek to follow Christ and to the work that he has placed before us. That we will be willing and able to give everything that we are, and have in thanksgiving to the one who gave it all to us.

Here is the presentation from the September 27th Discipleship Class.

Who are we as christians from frshawn

How often should I forgive?

Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. "Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.' So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." (Mat 18:18-35)

We begin this Gospel with Peter’s attempt at magnanimity. "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" The rabbis of the day would say that forgiving three times would be more than adequate, so Peter is doubling that, and adding one. What a nice guy! But, here we see the difference between God’s forgiveness and ours, as Jesus replies, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.” He takes Peters number, then multiplies it ten-times and then times itself again. 

So, does this mean that we are to keep an account of the sins committed against us, and at 490 we get to cease forgiving? Well, Jesus explains that the answer is a resounding “no” in the parable that follows. This parable illustrates that we are to offer the same level of forgiveness to our brothers and sisters that we would like to, and actually do, receive from our eternal Father in Heaven.

The first debtor in this parable owes 10,000 talents. A talent was roughly 6000 denarii, or days’ wages. At the current minimum wage of $8.25/hour, assuming an 8-hour work day, one denarii would be $66, so one talent would be $396,000. This guy owes 10,000 talents, or $3.96 billion in today’s economy. That’s 60 million day’s wages! Of course Jesus point is that this guy was not going to be able to repay his debt in his lifetime, or that of his children and grandchildren, unless one of them was Bill Gates!

He begs the king to give him a chance and not sell him and his family into slavery, and the king forgives the debt. This is an act of extreme generosity by the king. So, how does this guy receive this act of generosity?

He comes across someone who owes him 100 denarii ($6600) a significant, but not unrepayable amount, given time and a favorable interest rate. Rather than remembering the huge debt that he had just been forgiving, and extending the same forgiveness to his brother, the guy roughs his debtor up and has him thrown in debtors’ prison.

We need to understand who we are in this story.

As debtors, in God’s economy, we are all the first guy. We have committed sins the penalty for which we can never pay. Yet, we have been forgiven. God paid our debt with the blood of His only Son, Jesus Christ. This is the definition of grace – undeserved favor. We can never do anything to earn this grace, we can only attempt to live into the sacrifice that has been made for us once and for all on the cross at Calvary.

Toward the end of the movie “Saving Private Ryan”, Tom Hanks’ character, as he is dying, tells Private Ryan, played by Matt Damon, to “earn this”. As the story goes, Ryan had three brothers. Two of them were killed during the invasion of Normandy on D-day, and the third died in the Pacific Theater. Hanks was given orders to take his company, find Private Ryan and get him out of the war so that this mother would not lose all four of her sons in the war.

The mission cost the lives of most of Hank’s company, including his own – a sacrifice that Ryan could never repay. But, he is given the charge to “earn this”. At the end of the film, an elder Ryan stands before a white tombstone at the Normandy cemetery and asks his wife, “am I a good man?” The question intended to answer the question, “Have I earned the sacrifice made on my behalf all those years ago?” She tells him that he is a good man, but we really don’t know for sure what kind of a life he has led. We assume that he has lived a life where few days have gone by where he did not hear echoing in his ears those two words, “Earn this”.

That is the point that is lost on the first debtor in Jesus’ parable. He just assumes that he deserved to be forgiven his debt, and gets on with his life as if nothing has changed. He goes out looking for ways to get ahead, without regard for the grace that has been given to him. He doesn’t even try to earn it.

Those of us who have been washed in the Blood of the Lamb must never forget, or take for granted, the gift that has been given to us. We have been spared the consequences of our own actions that got us into a terrible mess. In exchange for eternal damnation, we have been given eternal life in Heaven. We need to live our lives in an attempt to “Earn this”.

How do we do this? First, we are expected to be as forgiving toward others as God has been to us. The Lord’s Prayer says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” or “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” While we are not God, and will never be perfect in our dealings with other, we must be constantly evaluating our actions according to this standard: are we forgiving as we wish to be forgiven?

We are to be vessels of the grace that God has given us. This should be the characteristic that draws others to Christ through his people. We are to act differently toward those who have wronged us. If we do this, no matter how imperfectly, others will be drawn to Jesus through us. If we refuse to work toward forgiving others as we have been forgiven, we are failing to earn the grace that has been given to us, and that will have eternal consequences.

Let us be a people who are constantly seeking to earn the free gift that has been given to us through Jesus Christ. By doing so, we will also be fulfilling His commission to bring others to him.