Musings from the High Desert

Here's what may be a different way to look at the infancy narrative in Matthew (with and eye to Luke and John into the bargain), and a different way to conceive of "messianic prophecy.

Luke 13:10-17 is a simple passage with two major lessons for us. First, the leader of the synagogue was wrong: healing and compassion are the hallmark of God, and they should not be withheld even on the Sabbath. Secondly, the woman who had been infirm for 18 years was, in a sense, raised from the death of her condition to new life. Listen in.

In this tightly wrapped package from St. Paul we hear about the work of the Holy Trinity in the church, in our lives, and in the world. In a few short sentences, St. Paul gives us a basic understanding that we can learn and see at work in our own lives.

The Rich Fool is one of the pivotal parables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, which is the only Gospel in which it occurs. There is a clear turn in the parable which leads to the rich man as being called "fool," but the word itself means more than simply a nonsensical thinker. It refers to someone who is not prudent, not wise, making judgment about the wrong things in his life. Listen in as we move with this person through that change and why it is so important for our own lives.

The parable of the "Good Samaritan" needs a new look for our age. Specifically we have to look again at how the original audience would have heard this, and then we will be prepared to hear it for our time. Listen in.

We remember the unmercenary saints in the proskomedia—Cosmas and Damian, especially, whom we commemorate this weekend—but I would draw your attention to the earliest of the unmercenaries, the sisters Zenaida and Philonella. There are lessons for us here. Please listen in for what we can learn from these wonderful unmercenary saints who practiced medicine in Thessaly in the first century.

In Luke 16, we find the only parable in which a name is given to a character: Lazarus - "God helps." The contrast with the rich man who remains unnamed is very important as we consider the meaning of this parable for our lives. We're called to not only help but to understand others in our midst and beyond. This is part of our mission as pointed out by this special parable.

In Luke 7:11-16, we have to look again at the recipient of the healing. Widows had an ambivalent place in society at this time: on one hand they were sidelined for a number of reasons, and yet the injunction to care for widows from the Old Testament pertains as well. So in this case there is not only a physical and spiritual reason for the raising of the son, there is an economic one as well, which should teach us that there is more than one way to be "raised from death."

We have to consider 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9 together to get the full message St Paul has for us. The generosity he expects from the Corinthians is grounded in the emptying of Christ to which he has referred at 8:9 (and which we find also at Philippians 2:5-11). This movement beyond ego and selfishness is to be the reason for the generosity of the Corinthians, and it will eventually redound to the glory of God.

Our Lord starts from the so-called "Golden Rule" but develops it in a way that clearly reflects how we as Christians need to respond to it: through emphasis upon an ethic of compassion and gregariousness, not based on reciprocity, which is the way of the world. This is a hard saying, but we need to not only hear it but take it to heart.

This is a difficult message on several levels. Paul here is not talking about marriage between Jews and Christians, but rather about marriage between those who are involved in other religions. We have to remember the context: Corinth, which was full of alternative religions, especially those known as "mystery religions." There is some relationship between Christianity and the mystery religions, but beware, says St. Paul: don't be confused by them. That's the basis of his statement about not being "unequally yoked" with unbelievers. We unpack this idea in this homily.

Sometimes you hear passages from the Gospels and they roll past you. Usually we just hear that Christ called fishermen to his disciple band and don't think more about it. But what about fishing on Lake Gennesaret; what can we learn from this? Let's look at fishing in order to discover what it might mean for them...and for us.

It is always important to check the precise words St Paul uses in his addresses. In 2 Cor. 6:1-11, he appeals to his experience and that of the other Apostles and accompanists, and then he appeals to his and their behavior as a way to encourage the Corinthians to live out the Gospel. This is a message for us as well.

The Shema is central to Judaism to this day; in this passage Jesus puts the love worship of the one God together with the love of humanity and, for that matter, all of creation. This is the yoke that he lays upon us; this is the heritage we bear from our Judaic background.

It's very important to recognize the background to the Letter to the Galatians. St Paul wants them to understand that legalism is not the answer to how one becomes Christian, a reminder from his previous teaching. Listen in.

St. Paul to the Corinthians a second time: All the promises of God find their "Yes" in Christ. Fr Gabriel explores this opening salvo from St. Paul, what it means given his background, and explores with particular interest the notes about being sealed in the Spirit as a proclaimer of the Gospel.

The so-called parable of the Wicked Vinedressers comes up each year in our lectionary and frequently we register its meaning, along allegorical lines. We're all familiar with that interpretation: the Owner is God, the Vineyard is Israel, and so forth. But what if we turn back to the notion that all of Christ's parables have to do with the Kingdom (or Ruling) of God. Let's take a look at this parable from that angle this week and see what news it has for us today.

Etymology is not theology, of course, but in some cases it really helps to sharpen our understanding of what is required of us, particularly with regard to behavior. In these two short verses from St. Paul, we receive a good deal of counsel on how to live out our Christian faith in the culture we inhabit.

This passage has a twist in it which we may not often recognize: the question the young man asks is the wrong question. As a responsible and faithful member of the covenant people he would or should have known that eternal life is the promise of God for his people. So Jesus turns the question over and responds to make the young man focus on this life.

This is St Paul's great chapter on the resurrection, but what we need to notice at the outset is that he is not claiming to make any of this up, but that it rests on the firm foundation of a tradition which he has passed on without addition, without subtraction, and without comment on the initial proclamation. The tradition is embedded in verses 3-6 which are definitely pre-Pauline and which Paul learned as the core of his Gospel (verses 1 and 2). This is of great importance to us!

We are familiar with this parable from Matthew 18; the point seems to be clear. But let's look at it again, first, within the context of the chapter, and then secondly, in relation to the whole concept of death and resurrection. Perhaps there is something new to be learned here this week.

Have you ever thought about that phrase "faith as a mustard seed"? Often we bypass passages like this because they are so cryptic. This week Fr. Gabriel Rochelle looks at the idea of faith in relation to healing and discipleship.

Every once in a while you look at a text that is as familiar "as the back of your hand," and then you notice something new. In this case it is nothing that is in the text. It's actually what is NOT in the text; namely, the note that this is a miracle, one of the "signs and wonders," as Apostle and Evangelist St. John would call it. Let's think together about the significance of the feeding of the 5000 being an ordinary rather than an extraordinary event.

This passage, Romans 15:1-7, comes as the conclusion to a long argument begun at the start of chapter 14, in which Paul considers how to treat those who, for one reason or another, are "weaker." (A better translation would be unable, in contrast those who are able). The passage is hard-hitting for the clear reason that we are not very gifted at support naturally; we need to submit ourselves to Christ's witness, sacrifice, and ministry in order to enable our own ministry.

Forgiveness and healing: do they go together, and how shall we understand their connection? That's the question posed by today's Gospel lesson. Furthermore, do these actions have continuity in the church of today?

In chapters 9-11 of Romans, Paul thinks about the relationship of Messianic and non-Messianic Jews. In chapter 10, he begins by talking about "zeal without knowledge." This is the stopper for this week. Fr. Gabriel Rochelle works with this principal passage and explains Paul's emphasis on the two ways: righteousness grounded in your own ideas, concepts, and behaviors versus righteousness grounded in the Gospel.

Classic passage that is at the heart of not only Paul's Gospel but certainly at the heart of the dominant force in American Christianity, Protestantism. Fr. Gabriel Rochelle looks in particular at the interesting construction in verse 17, what it implies, and how we might be responding to this passage in these troubled times.

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle focuses on the meaning and nature of Mammon and its meaning in our lives, particularly in our current time. Jesus calls us to focus on the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of God, but this is not beyond the edge of our own lives, history, or the world. This means to make choices in this life that are colored by our understanding of eternity.

Romans 5:1-11 is the core of Paul's Gospel. Fr. Gabriel Rochelle discusses the subtle differences between Paul's approach to the the Law and the approach of his age, along with the problems that we inherit from the overwhelming witness of Protestantism in our country.

Veering from his usual homiletical practice, Fr Gabriel reviews the life of St. Herman for us as we commemorate the Saints of North America this Sunday.

The question is: was the Lord really serious? Are we do leave ancestry and progeny, land and life, behind? What is this call to such a radical Gospel? This week we consider these awesome and sometimes frightening words.

One of the greatest gifts of the Spirit is the reunion of people above and beyond and through the medium of language, the great turnaround and reversal of the Tower of Babel. Fr. Gabriel Rochelle dwells on this gift in the light of this past weekend when four new members entered the faith in our parish through the awesome rites of initiation.

This week we commemorate those who, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, crafted a narrow passage between denying Christ as fully human and Christ as fully God. This faith still informs and undergirds the faith to this day.

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle looks at an overview of the Gospel of John, noting that all that needs to be said about the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist has been completed by the sixth chapter. Then the gospel moves us to understand the fullness of the sacramental life beyond the rituals themselves, to see that we are caught up in God's presence in the everyday, if only we can see it. In this time of coronavirus, when not all of us can participate in the rites of the sacraments, we can understand ourselves in a larger context.

What do the soliloquies of Jesus Christ (as we find in the Gospel of St. John) lead us to? What is the confusing language leading to? How are we like the Samaritan Woman? Listen in.

We all experience some sort of paralysis in our lives, some inability to move off dead center and take a step forward into new life. How does this paralysis affect us, how do we respond to it, and how can the message of the resurrection come to us in the midst of our own paralysis? That's at the heart of today's gospel, and especially important is the news that we can change with Christ's help.

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle uses a waterfall of quotes from early fathers of the church to show the cosmic meaning of the resurrection of Christ, ending with reflections on St. Maximos the Confessor. Christ is risen!

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle asks us to set aside the preconceptions we approach the entry with, chiefly the compartmentalization of aspects of our lives. This would not have been the case in the time of Jesus Christ and so we need to hear this message from a different perspective. We are "prisoners of hope" (the third lesson from Vespers) and we look forward to our release and the constitution of a new life in keeping with the servanthood of Christ.

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle takes off from one of the stichery from Vespers, which has the words (about St. Mary) "through violence you broke the rebellion of your flesh, taking the Kingdom of God by force." This is a reference to Matthew 11:12, which forms the basis for reflections on that passage and on both the Gospels assigned for this Sunday.

Father Gabriel Rochelle considers the humor in this week's Gospel and, as an aside, muses on why the text was placed on this Sunday by the ancient lectionary compilers. (The texts for the Sunday of Orthodoxy precede the commemoration historically and have remained in place.)

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle takes a slightly different view of the passage we know as "inasmuch": "Inasmuch as you have fed the hungry," and so forth. Listen in to hear how this passage ultimately applies to all of us in its specificity and concreteness.

Forget humility! Forget pride! Forget, for sure, comparing yourself to anyone else on the spiritual journey. In an alternative reading of the Greek at this point in Luke, we hear that the Pharisee and the tax collector go away together justified. What's that all about? We shift the focus this week from the characters in the parable to the God who stands in and behind Christ the parable teller.

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle surveys the whole message of the First Letter of Timothy, focusing on the concept of godliness, a word that doesn't occur until later in the New Testament witness. What does this word mean and how does it apply to both Timothy as minister of the gospel and us as faithful Christians?

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle focuses on the hymn of Simeon, "Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace" and shows its origin in his life and its meaning for our lives today.

The rich young man who comes to Jesus is a model of those who cannot part with their material possessions. He hopes to take it with him! Jesus drives us all deeply into our understanding of life in order to make us confront the lust and even anger that fuels our desires. For those who live like this, salvation is impossible. The rich man cannot be saved in and with his richness. But with God, all things are possible.

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle looks into the Jewish background of Matthew's gospel from the viewpoint of seeing it as a novel with history and biography folded in. In particular, there may be an interesting background to Matthew's assertion of the fourteen generations separating Abraham from David, David from the deportation to Babylon, and the deportation to the Christ. Lastly we consider how we might use this information in our own ministries today.

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle looks at the Epistle lesson for today from Colossians 3, which is underlined by he opening verses of the chapter about seeking Christ above and the mind of Christ. In the following verses, "putting off" five sins of sex and five sins of speech are addressed, and then we hear about "putting on" Christ - which has an echo of baptism. Ultimately we are pointed toward a life of relationships underlined by the self-giving love God showed in Christ, a life which was projected in the ancestry of Christ, those who submitted to the guidance of God forward through history.

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle addresses the cultural concept of "Santa Claus" in comparison to what we know about the real St. Nicholas of Myra, commemorated each time we serve the liturgy of preparation at the proskomedia table.

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle returns to his series of meditations on the meaning of the liturgy. Today we consider the meaning of "remembrance" or "memorial." This remembrance is far more than a mental act; it is the presence of Christ himself in and through the eucharistic sacrifice, a presence which is available to us as a "foretaste of the feast to come."

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle offers a brief meditation on the marvelous passage in Ephesians 2 on the peace which Christ can and will create among peoples, a promise carried forth in the early church's notion that we are a new or "third" race uniting peoples.

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle suspends his series on the liturgy for this week to contemplate the meaning of the cosmic Christ as depicted in Colossians and especially in the opening chapter of Ephesians. This connects with the imagery that the early church fathers found in the Old Testament referring to Christ. Fr. Gabriel demonstrates how this form of interpretation enables us to overcome literalism and discover deeper insights into the meaning of the Holy Trinity.