Matthew 11:2-11
Advent 3 - Year A
The blind see and some are offended.
The lame walk and some are offended.
Lepers are cleansed and some are offended
The deaf hear and some are offended.
The dead are raised and some are offended.
The poor receive good news and some are offended.
Blessed are those who are not offended.
When a change of status occurs we find ourselves offended (“losing trust” from the Greek; “to strike, kill” from the Indo-European). If our status is lowered we are offended by those whom we blame. If our status is raised we are amazingly offended by those from whom we came.
At one and the same time we are attracted by the danger and offended by the presence of such a rabble-rouser as Baptizer John. It is exciting to be around him as he calls for such radical things as chopping at the roots of despair and rooting out root causes of poverty and unkindness. Exciting, that is, until we make the connection of what is required from us.
Question: Where are you offended these days? Not to take offense at something is to be asleep at the wheel. But by what are we offended? That is a significant advent question.
When things improve for the blind, lame, lepers, deaf, dead, and poor it means that I cannot live as easily as I did. If such as these do not have too little, then it may mean that I, having much, will have less. If such as these find themselves even worse off, then my head rests less easy for there is a revolution brewing.
Be alert to what offends you this week. Then, decide what you will do about such offense. If you are the offended party, there is advent work of new birth to do. If you note someone else being offended against, there is advent work of new justice to do. Internal or external, on our own or on another’s behalf, a sense of offense sharpens our discernment of our call.
May we soon live in a world that is not offensive. May we soon live without taking offense and defend those who have been offended.
As found in Wrestling Year A: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience
Are you the one to come or are we to wait for another?
This is a question that haunts not only Jesus, but each of us.
Am I still in process of becoming or not?
We are called to love folks as we find them and as they might become. These other folks have the same task to love us as we are and as we might become. It is in this mutuality that we affirm that there is little room for taking offense or giving it.
In some ways the issue of offense is the canary warning that all is not as good as it appears. Where offense is experienced or inflicted we have lost the tipping point leading to a better future.
Offense is worse than anger. Anger can be transformed away from sin. Offense is anger turned to sin.
Take not offense.
Refuse to be bound by the offense others express.
I hope you, too, are haunted by the question of what you will be when you grow up. You are the one we have been waiting for and we are waiting to see what else will come forth from you.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/december2004.html
In this day and age it seems folks are willing to go out of their regular routine for the look of success rather than the look of challenge. Perhaps, just perhaps, they will find the secret to being just like everyone else, in a better way.
As we face the consequences of rampant wealth for a few, taxes on labor but not on wealth, devaluation of the currency, record number of bankruptcies, another unwinable war, deporting of jobs, and decreasing the value of education it is not too big a leap to feel a major crunch drawing ever nearer — nearer than heaven is claimed to be near.
As difficult as the next decline and fall will be, it may make it more possible for the overlooked to be the only hope left. Then we'll go out of our way to hear a word of change (unless, of course, such a situation merely coarsens us into smaller tribes and larger intolerance) from a non-success oriented prophet.
Where would you look these days to find such a prophet?
Would you think to look inside your clothes?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/december2004.html
Be patient, therefore, "bewombed".... This is variously translated as brothers, beloved, friends, etc., but the awkward neologism is more accurate and evocative.
Patience is possible when we look at our common connections that puts the present in larger perspective. Patience is difficult in the face of a temptation to grumble, not a lot, just a little mumble that will, inexorably, eventually grow to judgment and division. To see a common source life, rather than simply my individual life, brings a gift of humility needed for patience.
When having waited for seemingly too long, it is difficult not to question a soft little question, "Are you the one...?" It is likewise difficult not to spin a response, even one based on experience of sight and sound. For the moment, though, suppose you were called on to respond to a question (presume it is lovingly asked) "Is the church the one...?" Where would you point to ground your response? If you can point at all, would it be toward a common start of creation, particular instances of resurrection, or a tentative sign of hoped for things to come?
Put another way, what are we willing to go to any length or locale to find? Might it be connected with the meaning found in a prophetic tradition of suffering (repentance and renewal) and patience (forgiveness and hope)?
With the prophets we find the terror of G*D - salvation. This terror has to do with the consequences of life lived out of blindness coming home to roost as well as a necessity to admit to the need to change direction. Who in their right mind would look forward to honest consequences or one more change?
In craving a joyful moment in a time of waiting, we can be satisfied by recognizing an antidote to the terror of suffering is a gift of patience.
- - -
your patience while I am harried
adds to my sufferingI see desert all about
you find cool, clear water
thirsty for any relief in a wilderness
I bemoan your pilgrim's way
are you simply you or mirage?a messenger go-between would be nice
to test everlasting joy
joy within and beyond
suffering patience
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html
The blind see and some are offended.
The lame walk and some are offended.
Lepers are cleansed and some are offended
The deaf hear and some are offended.
The dead are raised and some are offended.
The poor receive good news and some are offended.Blessed are those who are not offended.
Another way to come at the sense of offense is to see what it requires from us. When a change of status occurs we find ourselves offended ("losing trust" from the Greek; "to strike, kill" from the Indo-European). If our status is lowered we are offended by those whom we blame. If our status is raised we are amazingly offended by those from whom we came.
At one and the same time we are attracted by the danger and offended by the presence of such as a rabble-rouser as Baptizer John. It is exciting to be in around him as he calls for such radical things as chopping at the roots of despair and rooting out root causes of poverty and unkindness. Exciting, that is, until we make the connection of what is required from us. The same is true of our response to Jesus and other prophets.
A part of our question this week is that of what we are taking offense at these days. To not take offense at something is to be asleep at the wheel. But by what are we offended? That is a significant advent question.
When things improve for the blind, lame, lepers, deaf, dead, and poor it means that I cannot live as easily as I did. If such as these do not have too little, then it may mean that I, in having much, will not have too much (I'll have less much). If such as these find themselves even worse off, then my head rests less easy for there is a revolution brewing.
Which of these states will cause me the most offense. Truth be told it is the improvement of the lot of the poor that causes the greater offense. If a revolution comes I have an excuse for my benefits – see what trouble-makers they are and not worth any further investment in their lives. It is far worse when the gap between us closes and I am called to recognize new community partners. Then all my past behavior is called into question.
Be alert to what offends you this week. Then, decide what you will do about your offense. If you are the offended party, there is advent work of new birth to do. If you note someone else being offended against, there is advent work of new justice to do. Internal or external, on our own or on another's behalf, a sense of offense sharpens our discernment of what arena of life we are called to.
May we soon live in a world that is not offensive. May we soon live without taking offense and defending those who have been offended.
Bottomline – Advent raises the questions of where our trust is based and whether or not we will strike some part of the body off of or kill offenders. What power does our sense of offense carry with it? – forgiveness and the reestablishment of trust? or separation and the further establishment of violence?
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html
What are you looking for? A miraculous sign? A guarantee of comfort?
What we are to be looking for is a prophet, a vision that will take our all and more.
No matter what their heritage or tradition or style or anything else, prophets revive our memories of who we are when we are at our best and point in a direction where we can put our best to work.
Whether Baptizer John knew it or not, he triggered memories of healings and revolution by the poor. We do not need to be constrained by our current situations. Healing can come. Release can come.
John pointed folks who had their memories revived toward Jesus as a way of engaging their renewed hope with their current reality.
So, this Advent season, what is your best ancient memory that you have put aside as no longer possible or practical?
May you find a prophet to follow who will allow the best hope in you to be engaged and to again lead you to participate in changing our present caughtness.
In another day or two, I'll tell you about one of my prophets, Amy.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2010/12/matthew-112-11.html
Apparently John the Baptist has difficulty recognizing in Jesus’ ministry of compassion (Matt 8-9) the deliverer and judge he had anticipated. [Common English Bible note]
A ministry of compassion always runs counter to privilege. The less aware we are of our privilege the less compassionate we are able to be. Our blindness supports a status quo—our keeping more than we need and our every attempt to gain more, regardless of its source.
Each of us have some arenas of life in which we question those who challenge us to become aware of those we have consciously or unconsciously taken advantage of to keep us in the style we have attained or are striving for. The extent to which we can’t make the connection between ourselves and compassion is the extent to which we are in one proverbial prison or another.
Whether wearing prophet’s coarse camel hair or a corporation’s silk suit, it is not easy to escape our preconceived notions of how health comes to all. Both can like to tell others how and when to repent. To the extent we can dive into the complications of life is the extent to which we can offer compassion beyond our comfort.
To preach the Good News to the poor does not therefore mean (as it is sometimes understood to mean) to catechize the poor, but to be catechized by them.... Jesus sent his disciples, as poor among the poor, to enable them to discover the presence and the working of God the Father. The concrete life of the rural and the urban poor is the context in which fundamental experiences occur which will renew the world and the spiritual life of all. [New Community Bible note]
Those who have experienced an Urban Immersion, a mission trip, a Catholic Worker house, a homeless shelter, etc. know how much there is to be learned from the poor. They are not a bottomless pit into which we toss pity and charity. The poor can teach the dignity of all under most difficult conditions. If we understand renewal and transformation came to us in the space of a manger, through the experience of being a refugee, and under threat of torture, we can catch a glimpse of how the lives of the poor are likewise a locus of renewal (whether you want to cast that in terms of world or spirit or both or neither or some other framework).
Remember back to the beginning of whatever religious tradition you follow. Wasn’t there a direct connection with the poor, the suffering, those from whom compassion was usually withheld? If you have forgotten this, you are not in the tradition you thought you were in. When this is forgotten, institutionalism sets in and with it actual power and power aspired to that requires whole classes of deaf, dumb, and blind kids with no access to pinballs, much less food.