Rev. Mary McCue
0 Comments
Zachary Baker Rodes Today’s Daily Office Gospel reading comes to us from Mark 10:32-45.
Verse 45 is well known and goes like this, “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” This phrase is the key Christological statement of Mark’s Gospel. The Son of Man, Jesus Christ, is a servant. In the reading, James and John ask Jesus if they could be seated next to him, “in your glory”. In fact, in a way the question is much more arrogant for they ask Jesus to do what they want. But it isn’t that easy, and he warns them that too will have to go through trials just like he is to go through because that is the way of servanthood. The other apostles get angry at James and John for even asking the question, but Jesus doesn’t scold any of them because none of them know that in order to lead and in order to be first, is actually to make oneself last and servant to all. And when Jesus says that “[he] give[s] his life a ransom for many”, this does not mean many and not all, but simply the many for whom the Gospel is written, which is all of us. But in all of us, our servanthood towards others can only happen when we put Jesus first and ourselves last. In this humility is the hope that God’s glory will be shown, and the Gospel fully taught and fully lived. Rev. Charles Hoffacker Today is the Epiphany, which the Book of Common Prayer (page 15) identifies as one of the seven principal feasts of our Church.
“Epiphany” comes from a Greek word meaning manifestation, and Jesus Christ is the one manifest. At his Nativity (December 25), Jesus is manifested to the Jewish people, represented by those in the Bethlehem stable, including the shepherds directed there by an angel who appears to them in the night sky (Luke 2:8-16). At the Epiphany (January 6), Jesus is manifested to Gentiles, represented by magi, proto-scientists perhaps, who are led westward by an extraordinary star and bring him strange gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:1-12). Matthew’s Gospel mentions three gifts, but does not say how many gift-givers there were. Some old Christian traditions identify more than three magi, complete with their names. Everybody in the New Testament world was either a Jew or a Gentile. Christmas and Epiphany thus testify that Jesus was manifest for everybody. To emphasize this point, Christian art sometimes presents the magi as people of diverse ethnicities. Meditating on the Epiphany can strengthen our commitment to being anti-racist people. Zachary Baker Rodes Today the Church commemorates the feast of Agatha of Sicily.
One of the most harrowing martyrdom stories of the early church, Agatha’s story is one of faithfulness and fortitude in the face of helplessness. She was born in the 3rd century and believed to have come from a noble family. At an early age, she dedicated herself to being a consecrated virgin. However, a Roman prefect was infatuated with her and would not stop making advances until finally he denounced her as a Christian. Unfortunately, it came to be that he would be both accuser and judge. She was sentenced to live at a brothel, but she still held steadfast against any sexual advances. She would be tortured then killed in 251. She is considered the patron saint of sexual assault and breast cancer survivors. While I am not a personal victim of sexual assault, it is helpful for me to know there is a saint who I can pray to and help others to learn about and pray to to help through such times of darkness. Almighty and everlasting God, who didst strengthen thy martyr Agatha with constancy and courage: Grant us for the love of thee to make no peace with oppression, to fear no adversity, and to have no tolerance for those who wouldst use their power to abuse or exploit; Through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. M.J. Layton
Rev. Mary McCue Last week, many of us heard the hymn by John Newton a slave trader-turned-abolitionist-- Amazing Grace. Amazing grace certainly applies to the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle. We celebrate that Conversion today.
Paul was born Saul, a son of well-off parents, and raised in Cilicia (southern Turkey). Like his parents, he was a Pharisee. And he was a zealous one. He delighted in persecuting Jews, and others who followed Jesus. And he aided and abetted others doing the same. Acts tells us that he held the cloaks of those who stoned Stephen, the first deacon, to death (Acts 7: 58) And he was looking for opportunities to continue the persecution. He applied to authorities to travel further afield to do so. Granted that permission, he set out on the road to Damascus -- and was struck down by a force he’d never felt before. Left blind, he was led to Damascus – and was released from his blindness by Ananias, who was a disciple. Ananias released him at the direction, and in the name of, Jesus Christ. Paul changed his way of life completely. He became an apostle – some say the Apostle -- of Jesus Christ. For the rest of his life, he traveled far and wide to bring the message of Jesus to Jews – and to Gentiles. Amazing grace – how sweet the sound. Rev. Charles Hoffacker Tomorrow is the feast of St. Agnes and next Sunday, January 24, is when our parish will observe this feast.
We are fortunate to have what is believed to be a relic of St. Agnes, a tiny particle of the body of this young woman who died for her faith at Rome in the year 304 and with the restoration of the St. Agnes altar, this relic has been placed under the altar stone. The veneration of relics is a human reflex and an ancient Christian practice. A wholesome understanding of relics calls for an expansive view of the Body of Christ, in whom everything holds together (Colossians 1:17). When we gather in church, we encounter Christ’s Body in several distinctive ways. The assembled congregation is the Body of Christ. If the Eucharist is celebrated, Christ becomes present in the consecrated Bread and Wine. If the Eucharist is reserved in a tabernacle or aumbry, Christ is present in those Elements. The church may be surrounded by a cemetery or include a columbarium. The mortal remains of departed Christians belong to Christ’s Body in yet another respect. In a manner beyond our ability to imagine; they await their resurrection. A church may also contain relics of saints who are honored with feast days and other marks of public devotion. These exemplary believers are certainly one with Christ and with all members of Christ’s Body. Fragments of their human remains or articles of clothing, can remind us that as Christ’s holiness permeated their lives, including their bodies, so we are invited into a holiness that is no less comprehensive. M.J. Layton Hope must be dared.
Hope only happens when we cannot see its object. “Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?” (Romans 8:24) We dare to hopefor the unseen; we refuse to believe that the world around us, with all its suffering, is all there is. Job was a man who dared to hope. The story recounted in the Book of Job tells us that he was a wealthy and righteous man who lost all his belongings, his family, and his health, in a test of faith designed by the Accuser and allowed by God. In the midst of all his suffering, he says these words: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” (Job 19:25-27) Today may we dare to hope in God our Redeemer, regardless of what happens around us. Rev. Charles Hoffacker In his book, Losing Moses on the Freeway: The 10 Commandments in America, Chris Hedges—journalist and son of a Presbyterian minister—recalls an experience he had in his twenties while staying in a United Nations camp for Guatemalan refugees in Honduras. These refugees had fled fighting in their homeland. Most of them had seen family members killed.
On the dreary January afternoon when Hedges arrived, the refugees were decorating tents and wooden warehouses with colored paper. These displaced peasants were celebrating the flight of the Holy Family to escape Herod’s order for children to be killed. That flight took Joseph, Mary, and Jesus from Judea to Egypt. Hedges asked one of the peasants why this was an important day. “It was on this day that Christ became a refugee,” he replied. Hedges knew the Bible passage by heart. He remembered hearing his father read it every year. “But until that moment, standing in a muddy refugee camp with a man who may not have been able to read, I did not understand it. This passage meant one thing to me and another to parents who had swept children into their arms and fled to escape death.” What can we learn from marginalized people about the real meaning of the Bible? Rev. Charles Hoffacker Today is the Epiphany, which the Book of Common Prayer (page 15) identifies as one of the seven principal feasts of our Church.
“Epiphany” comes from a Greek word meaning manifestation, and Jesus Christ is the one manifest. At his Nativity (December 25), Jesus is manifested to the Jewish people, represented by those in the Bethlehem stable, including the shepherds directed there by an angel who appears to them in the night sky (Luke 2:8-16). At the Epiphany (January 6), Jesus is manifested to Gentiles, represented by magi, proto-scientists perhaps, who are led westward by an extraordinary star and bring him strange gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:1-12). Matthew’s Gospel mentions three gifts, but does not say how many gift-givers there were. Some old Christian traditions identify more than three magi, complete with their names. Everybody in the New Testament world was either a Jew or a Gentile. Christmas and Epiphany thus testify that Jesus was manifest for everybody. To emphasize this point, Christian art sometimes presents the magi as people of diverse ethnicities. Meditating on the Epiphany can strengthen our commitment to being anti-racist people. |
Archives
May 2021
authorsThe Rev. Charles Hoffacker is a retired priest of the Diocese of Washington |