By guest blogger, Lorienne Schwenk
Ben has some other things to take his time, so I offered to share my musings on the readings for a little while. On this Fifth Sunday of Lent, our last before Holy Week, we hear the voice of Jeremiah. Let me quote a little, “The days are surely coming, says the Lord. I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hears…No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me.”
By coincidence, or by the act of the Spirit, I was just reading a little earlier in Jeremiah (14.8) where God’s word through the prophet says “O hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler turning aside for the night?”
Jeremiah tells us that God will make a new covenant. Applied in Scripture, a covenant is God’s arrangement (agreement, pact, promise) with humankind as a translation of Latin testamentum, Greek diatheke, both rendering Hebrew berith (though testament also is used for the same word in different places). So, even the word we use for the two parts of the Bible— “testament”—is a reminder of the agreement between God and God’s creation. Imagine that agreement is written on your heart. Imagine it is the lens through which you make every decision, through which you speak to other people, through which you steer the course of your whole life. Imagine if our communities and governments and industries did the same!
Ben has written about the need to “deny your ego, and become humble enough (I must decrease, and Christ must increase)” and I hear Jeremiah showing us how. I often trace the sign of the cross on my forehead to remind myself of my Baptism. I believe I shall trace that symbol on my heart as well to refresh my connection to the covenant.
What is the journey from God being a stranger in the land, to being so well known that people no longer even have to teach each other about God? To answer that, we turn to the Gospel. “Among those who went up to the festival were some Greeks.” This takes place in Jerusalem after those gathering for Passover publicly greet Jesus as the Anointed with Hosannas and palm fronds. His ministry is coming to a close. These Greeks are strangers. They are understood to be Gentiles, not Jews, and for me, the answer to the question lies in what Philip and Andrew do. Andrew is big on bringing people to Jesus.
When Jesus responds by talking about a seed bearing much fruit, I get an image of Jesus as that seed and all of creation as that fruit. Jesus dies and Jesus does not die. The Christ blooms forth in myriad ways and one of those ways is every time a stranger is welcomed. [insert Ben’s painting??] For me, the seed is the Trinity/Triangle and it is bursting forth with color into the rest of the canvas and it is not destroyed, it is shared!
The Bible gives us many strangers in the land being welcomed and offered hospitality. Two examples, there is the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24) where two travelers implore a third to stay with them and when they break bread together, the stranger is revealed to be the Christ. Jesus and the woman at the well (John 4) know each other profoundly after their conversation. It seems more and more like we are being asked to recognize the Christ in all places and people because the Resurrection is that abundant a gift.
Who or what is the stranger? Anything can be the stranger and any stranger can be welcomed and introduced to the Christ. Treasure the word in your heart (Ps.119.11) and seek the Lord with your whole heart in every encounter with the cosmos, with people, with parts of yourself. Be the stranger and ask to meet Jesus. Embrace the Christ within and meet the stranger with welcome and hospitality.
Please share your thoughts either in the St. Ben’s Living Room on Facebook or to me directly at purrsbythesea@gmail.com.
Lorienne Schwenk really only wants to be known right now for podcasting about Middle Earth on A Sacred Fellowship.