November 4, 2012
Pentecost 23
Ruth 1:1-18
Mark 12:28-34
(prayer)
There is a scene, in the
movie Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home, where Captain Kirk and the bridge crew of
the Enterprise journey back in time to 1980s San Francisco:
[I didn’t have time to edit
out an obscene finger gesture, so I
won’t play the clip for you in church – I’ll post the unedited link with the
sermon on the church website, if you want to watch it later.]
Let me paint the picture
for you: Spock and Kirk are on a city bus while a punk rocker is listening to
his boombox...very loudly. When Kirk
asks him to turn it down, he only cranks the volume higher. Mr Spock (who has hidden his Vulcan ears with
a simple headband) leans forward and ... puts the punk asleep with a classic
neck pinch - to the delight of the people on the bus.
//
I am just old enough that I
lived through the social transition between ... Boomboxes and Walkmans. Sometime in the years after high school while
I was in university, I noticed an increasing proliferation of people listening
to their cassettes through little portable devices. And they all had their own earphones: these little
foam jobbies connected by an adjustable wire band that fit over the head.
It seemed that it was a few
years earlier that if you wanted to listen to music in public (like in the Star
Trek scene) that you had to afflict everyone in the area with your musical
tastes by blasting your tunes through a boombox (which at the time we called
(the less-than-politically-correct term) ‘ghetto blasters’.
No, but as the 1980s moved
forward, each person could be in their own musical universe. All the rest of us had to hear was the
white-noise-buzz of the bass beat (tzse, tzse, tzse...).
//
In the last 30 years,
cassettes gave way to CDs and eventually mp3s, wmas, mp4s, etc. And modern ear buds have even improved to
drown out all outside noise and even limit the white noise heard by others.
//
We live in an increasingly
isolating society. Actual face-to-face
contact and mouth-to-ear communication is becoming increasingly rare with the
use of texting, instant messaging and the like.
We rarely even listen to
music together again. I have driven in a
car with several people where everyone was plugged into their own world. You, too, likely have seen the crowded room
or bus or street corner where dozens of people are 'listening' on their own,
but there is no connection happening.
Our earbuds allow us to
live for a while in our own little bubble; that’s not necessarily a bad
thing. This world is a crowded place and
we all need to escape now and
then. I know that I relish opportunities
when the drone of the world can be ignored in favour of a personal song or
podcast or website experience.
We may not all do it this
specific way, but each of us (in some way or another) has times when we need to
be plugged in to a personal distraction – to feed us mentally, emotionally and
spiritually. I hear that there are still these things called 'books' - some of which still come in paper form.
//
//
And sometimes, we all need
to unplug and listen together and share an experience.
//
Our scripture passages for
today both centre on the value that is added into one’s life when connections
are sought.
The book of Ruth begins
with deep, unimaginable tragedy.
Elimelech (whose name means ‘my god, the king’ - which speaks to relationship) and his family are
forced to move away from Bethlehem because a famine had made life there
impossible. So he, his wife Naomi and
his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, moved across the border to live in the
country of Moab. Presumably, they were
able to scrape by a living there.
But famine was only the
start of the tragedy: Elimelech dies leaving Naomi a widow and Chilion and
Mahlon, fatherless. Even so, Naomi
remained in Moab and continued to raise her sons. They still had each other. As the boys matured, they took wives: Mahlon
married Orpah and Chilion married Ruth.
The culture dictated that Naomi would be ever cared for by her sons.
But it seems that famine
and the death of Elimelech weren’t tragedy enough – the text doesn’t tell us
how or why, but (within ten years) Mahlon and Chilion also died – leaving Naomi
without a husband or sons.
The only option Naomi had
left was to go back home to Judah and find family there: brothers, parents,
cousins, someone. Her daughters-in-law
were in the same position, they were destined to head back to their families as
well.
But...culture be damned,
these three women had made a significant connection with each other. They were a family, even if the men
that bonded them together were no longer alive, Orpah, Ruth and Naomi were a
family! Ruth and Orpah insisited on
staying with Naomi – even following her back to Bethelehem.
But, it couldn’t work –
they needed more support than they could offer each other alone. These Moabite women would not find an open
armed welcome in Judah – by all good predictions, they would be ostracized and
nothing more than a burden to Naomi and her family.
They had to part their
separate ways. It was the only plan that
made sense. The relationship they had
forged over the years would have to be broken (the final tragedy of the
beginning to this story).
//
It took some convincing,
but Orpah gave in to the logic and reason ... and went back to her family. Ruth was a bit more stubbornly
illogical. 17...
‘Do not press me to
leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where
you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17Where
you die, I will die—there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so
to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!’ 18When
Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.
In the end, compassion
strengthened in the past and promised for the future won the day.
//
Chapter 12 in the gospel of
Mark is a series of case studies that Jesus has to endure – he is challenged by
four distinct groups of religious and political leaders: Pharisees, Herodians,
Sadducees and Scribes. It would have been
impossible to get anyone from these groups to agree with each other, so it is
not surprising that they had issues with Jesus.
They each had questions for Jesus to see if he could measure up with
their version of ‘the truth’.
The Herodians and Pharisees
has a political and moral question for Jesus – 14Is it
lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?
The Sadducees tried to
catch Jesus is scriptural paradox over the issue of life-after-death (which
Sadducees didn’t believe in, by the way): 21 ...There
were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left no children; 21and
the second married [his brother’s widow] and died, leaving no children; and the
third likewise; 22none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself
died. 23In the resurrection, whose wife will she be?’
In each case, Jesus came up
with answers that did not allow his challengers to gloat. In today’s reading, the fourth group takes
their shot – the experts on the Torah, the Scribes: 28Which
commandment is the first of all?’
The Torah is vast and
varied – no matter which commandment or law or suggestion or ritual Jesus
chooses, an argument could be made for something else just as great or greater.
Jesus answers by saying
that (what has since been labelled as) Deuteronomy 6:4-5 is the
first of the commandments.
4Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God,
the Lord alone. 5You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
Sh'ma
Yisrael (שְׁמַע
יִשְׂרָאֵל; "Hear, [O] Israel”) are the first two words of a section
of the Torah, and are the title (sometimes
shortened to simply "Sh’ma") of a prayer that serves as a centerpiece
of the morning and evening Jewish
prayer services. The
first verse encapsulates the monotheistic essence of Judaism: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is one,".
Observant Jews (of before and during Jesus’ time and even of today) consider
the Sh’ma to be the most important part of the prayer
service in Judaism, and its twice-daily recitation as a mitzvah (a religious commandment). It is traditional for Jews to
say the Sh’ma as their last
words, and for parents to
teach their children to say it before they go to sleep at night.
It was also a common practice to have
the first few letters of the Sh’ma etched into the house’s doorpost or on a
plaque affixed to the door, so that people would be reminded of this prayerful
commandment each time they left and arrived at the home.
You may recall the scene from the
Fiddler on the Roof where (just before the family leave Anatevka for the last
time) Tevye pries his “Sh’ma off the door and takes it with him to attach to a
new home when that is found.
In our time, you can also get the
first words of the Sh’ma on rings, on bracelets, necklaces, pendants, etc. -
all ways to keep this great prayer a part of daily life.
//
The greatest thing Jesus
sees in all of the Torah is the call to love
this one God with every emotion, from the very depth of our spirit, and with every
effort our bodies and minds can muster .
//
Before the Scribe can tell
Jesus he is correct (which is seems he is prepared to admit), Jesus goes
further: ‘the second greatest commandment is (what was later labelled) Levitcus
19:18’: 18You
shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you
shall love your neighbour as yourself.
Mark
and the other gospel writers only quote the final line of this verse from
Leviticus.
By linking Deuteronomy 6
and Leviticus 19, Jesus created a triangular loving relationship: Love of God, Love of Neighbour and Love of
Self.
//
How is the greatness of
God’s Law expressed? In love. In compassion that comes from every facet of
our being – love for God, love for neighbour and love for one’s self. Love and compassion need to be this
full, this complete.
This three-fold love calls
us to be egocentric, but doesn’t call us to abide there.
It is only in the fullness
of 'sharing' that true compassion can be known.
//
Jesus and the ancient
lawkeepers are telling us that we have to unplug to live our lives to their
fullest. It is not just about ourselves;
it’s not just about a personal relationship with The Holy; it’s not just about
selflessly serving others; it’s not about serving God, by sharing God’s love
with others.
Meat Loaf may have sung
that Two Outta Three Ain’t Bad; but
that’s not good enough when it comes to being true to the heart of the Torah or
the heart of the Gospel:
Love of God, Love of
Neighbour AND Love of Self are all needed.
//
The most profound nature of
our existence is known in the full sharing that becomes community - community
where God’s and our love and compassion are known.
//
The great commandment
begins with the call to listen (Sh’ma ’Israel: Hear, O Israel) – ‘pay
attention, listen up, this is something YOU NEED TO KNOW...’
Love God from the heart,
from the soul and from the mind/body.
And then Jesus adds: You also NEED TO KNOW...
Love yourself and Love your
neighbour.
Grudges, self-loathing,
desires for vengeance or actions leading to burnout will not help you find true
body, mind and spirit balance – for yourself or for your community.
//
//
Plugging in and enjoying
the quiet personal universe of the self is good and valuable – it is not to be
ignored, Jesus has mandated that.
But, when unplugged, we are
to serve a greater good – that our fellow travellers on this road know the full
blessings of compassion: that they not only are told that they have value and
matter to this world, but that they experience this as true in how we all get
along with deep respect and acceptance.
And throughout our
self-care and service, we are also to hold space for the holy mystery of our
existence ... for the humble connection we have with the source of all being:
with the heartbeat of the universe ... with God.
//
//
Balance is a tricky
thing. We seldom have those moments of
perfect clarity where all is in sync. If
Jesus has anything for us to hear today, it may very well be that we are to
attune our hearts, our spirits, our efforts to a concern for God and Neighbour
and Self – this can allow us to know when there is part of this triangle that
is being overshadowed or lost in the noise.
Some Good News: It is God’s
very nature to be loving and, when we seek to be more loving (internally and
externally), we find ourselves drawing closer to God.
May this be our
experience, today and forever more. [end]
Let us pray:
Fill us with your love, gracious God
that we might love you, others and ourselves.
Amen.
***Offerings***
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