Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'A'

Saturday July 2, 2011

Shabbat Shalom!

For many years, a Jewish Memorial Home in Brooklyn, was the sponsor of a music segment on WQXR, formerly the classical station of the New York Times. The brief commercial was introduced with an invitation to the observance of ‘Shabbat’—the Sabbath rest—concluding with the salutation: “Shabbat Shalom.”

I suppose it is appropriate for a funeral home to invite listeners to rest, as long as it was not immediate eternal rest!

In any event, Shabbot is a deeply spiritual notion rooted in our Judeo-Christian biblical and theological tradition.

In a world of increasing stress created by financial failures, a high jobless rate, excessive fuel and food prices, to say nothing about our fear of another terrorist attack, there is little time for R and R—rest and relaxation—except perhaps for a mandatory break created by a power outage when everything shuts down although battery power enables us to keep note pads and cell phones alive for several hours.

A study conducted several years ago revealed that increasing numbers of vacationers are never far from their work as long as they have their laptops and cell phones at arms’ length.

Biblical scholars believe the prophecy of Zechariah that we just heard was probably written by a disciple of Zechariah about a hundred years after the Babylonian exile. It’s a gentle invitation to his contemporaries to lay down their weapons and look for refreshment and repose in God. It was a difficult period of reconstruction following the exile. There was no king to lead them and they were plagued by the threat of conquest by Alexander the Great who brought Persian control of Judah to an end. Notice that God is depicted as a good king rulling from afar.

There is still a sense of exile among people of faith: trouble in the world, trouble in the political arena, trouble in the churches, troubles at home and troubles abroad but in the midst of it all, isn’t there a yearning for serenity and for words of wisdom from a higher power?

Notwithstanding the primitive notion of God the people of Judah envisioned the messiah as a divine potentate or warrior. But the prophecy of Zechariah predicts that in fact he will come in gentleness of spirit, meek and humble of heart. The word meek means ‘not easily provoked.’ This was symbolized by the description of his arrival on a donkey rather than on a chariot of fire.

No tanks and no weapons of mass destruction!
He will rule like a shepherd
and his dominion will be inclusive—open to all.

The disciples of Zechariah were working from a different vision of what life could be in a country without war or weapons of mass destruction; a country in which justice would be the great equalizer and peace the common denominator.

Was his vision a utopian dream or the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? Only the childlike are able to hear and understand.

It is no coincidence that in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem on a donkey, the humble prophet reaching out to the lowly: “Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. Your souls will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” [Matt 11:28]

In this same gospel, Matthew points out that this wisdom is not what the world teaches. It is the wisdom that is given only to the simple and to the childlike. “I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to the merest children.” [Ibid. 25]

This wisdom is also espoused by St. Paul in his letter to the Romans. It is what he means by living not according to the flesh but in the Spirit. By “flesh” he means living only for the pursuit of material goods and worldly power. Life in the Spirit is life in Christ. This is wisdom for the simple, not for the simplistic.

In this little meditation on an ancient Buddist teaching, Jewish author, Rachel Remen in her book “My Grandfather’s Blessings” puts it in a nutshell:

“Life offers its wisdom generously. Everything teaches. Not everyone learns. Life asks of us the same thing we have been asked in every class: ‘Stay awake.’ ‘Pay attention.’ But paying attention is no simple matter. It requires us not to be distracted by expectations, past experiences, labels, and masks. It asks that we not jump to early conclusions and that we remain open to surprise. Wisdom comes most easily to those who have the courage to embrace life without judgment and are willing not to know, sometimes for a long time. It requires us to be more fully and simply alive than we have been taught to be. It may require us to suffer. (It will require us to suffer!) But ultimately we will be more than we were when we began. There is the seed of a greater wholeness in everyone.”

And so we pray on this weekend in celebration of our independence:

O God of many names,
lover of all people;
we pray for peace
in our hearts and homes,
in our nations and our world;
the peace of your will,
the peace of our need.

Dear Christ, our friend and our guide,
pioneer through the shadow of death,
passing through darkness to make it light,
be our companion that we may fear no evil,
and bring us to life and to glory.

For the hungry and overfed
May we have enough.

For the mourners and the mockers May we laugh together.

For the victims and the oppressors
May we share power wisely.

For the peacemakers and the warmongers
May clear truth and stern love lead us to harmony.

For the silenced and the propagandists
May we speak our own words in truth.

For the unemployed and the overworked
May our impress on the earth be kindly and creative.

For the troubled and the sleek
May we live together as wounded healers.

For the homeless and the comfortably sheltered
May our homes be simple, warm and welcoming.

For the vibrant and the dying
May we all die to live.

May God kindle in us
the fire of love
to bring us alive
and give warmth to the world.

Lead me from death to life,
from falsehood to truth;
_Lead me from despair to hope,
from fear to trust;
Lead me from hate to love,
from war to peace.
Let peace fill our hearts,
our world, our universe.

[Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, published in Prayers for the World, Continuum, NY, 1996]

“Shabbot shalom!”

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