Eastertide
May 11, 2019
Scripture Reading: John 10:22-30
At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered, ‘I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.’
Religion is defined as the service and worship of a god, of multiple gods, or of the supernatural : commitment or devotion to a god or gods, a system of beliefs, or religious observance*.
When does religion become an entity unto itself unrelated to its object of worship? When do followers of a religion become so steeped in its traditions and practices it loses sight of the god to whom it pledges allegiance? These seem to be the problems Jesus dealt with as he attempted to re-introduce the ways of God to his own people in Israel shaking the very core of what systems theory calls their homeostasis:
- a tendency toward maintenance of a relatively stable internal environment in the bodies of higher animals through a series of interacting physiological processes (as the maintenance of a fairly constant degree of body heat in the face of widely varying external temperatures)
- a tendency toward maintenance of a relatively stable psychological condition of the individual with respect to contending drives, motivations, and other psychodynamic forces
- a tendency toward maintenance of relatively stable social conditions among groups with respect to various factors (as food supply and population among animals) and to competing tendencies and powers within the body politic, to society, or to culture among men[people]**
This reality in our culture is probably best exemplified in our unwillingness to recognize and address climate change even as we wade through its devastating floods. Regarding religion, first century Jewish leaders clung to enforcing ritual and rules rather than practicing the love and justice foundation laid forth for them by God in God’s earliest encounters with God’s children. While our ritual and rules may differ as we hand pick and reshape the rituals and rules of our ancestors in faith, we display the same symptoms today.
Jesus called us not only to make love and justice our homeostasis but to spread its value to all people throughout the world. For humans, it is very hard to give us something we have grown to cherished even if it is harmful to us and to all about us. To be honest, I doubt if any of us can love and do justice like Jesus unless we lean heavily on God’s love as we transition into God’s ways.
Prayer: Lord, grant us the courage to face life changes required to love like you. Amen.
*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/Religion
**http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/homeostasis
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.