Tag archieven: synagogue

A blessing in times of tribulation

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Sermon on the 2nd Sunday of Lent on March 13, 2022 in St. Peter en St. Pauls church in Cothen

Dear sisters and brothers, at the transfiguration on the mountain we see Jesus talking with the two great figures from the Holy Scriptures, Elijah and Moses 1). This means something very special. It means that throughout his life Jesus was always in conversation with the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms. He read all the words as addressed to him personally and as words about himself and his mission . When he was in the synagogue, but also at home and in the silence of nature. He kept the words all in his heart.
At various times Jesus explains to his disciples that Moses and the prophets speak of him. Even after his resurrection, when he joins those two disciples who return disappointed to their village Emmaus. They are saddened and confused because their master has died on the cross. He asks what is the matter. Then he answers: “O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the profets have spoken” Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concrening himsel
Peter, James and John are with Jesus on the mountain. Their eyes are lit. They see something only they can see and hear. Who Jesus really is. From heavenly perspective. And they hear from the cloud that surrounds them – image of the presence of God -: This is my beloved Son, hear him. Jesus thus revealed himself to them, to encourage them in advance. Because if they saw Jesus, abused, condemned, wounded, died on the cross, wouldn’t they drop out? Would not that ordeal be beyond their strength? With this image of the transfiguration on the mountain, Jesus promises them that he will not let them fall if they believe in him.
This vision will give them strength to endure the trial of their faith. Not just when they see what Jesus goes through to do the will of his heavenly Father and reveal God’s love to people. But it will also strengthen them if they themselves are tested by the suffering that befalls them because they remain faithful to Jesus and his glad tidings.
So Jesus also knew very well the story of Abraham that we have just read 2). It was read annually on a certain sabbath in the synagogue. It is about Abraham, the Father of all believers, with whom God makes a covenant. His progeny will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, not only so numerous but also so beautiful and radiant in the darkness. Such will be the people of God. But it will also face severe and prolonged trials, slave labor, opposition and disenfranchisement
This is pictured in the sacrifice Abraham must make. He must slaughter three times three animals in the middle and place them opposite each other . A cow, a goat and a ram. Those are animals that belonged to the household, close and subservient to human beings. The cow as milkproducer and draft animal. The buck, also a source of milk, but with a defense against the non-owner. And the ram who feels responsible for the herd. That they are split in half is a picture of the slavery, defenselessness and lawlessness that threatens to break the people. The birds are not bound to the earth. He was not allowed to split them into. These feathered feathered creatures are images of the refuge that God’s people are allowed to seek and find in God in times of tribulations. So Abraham sees in his dream what his descendants will suffer as a result of faithfulness to Abraham’s faith and God’s covenant. Abraham grows tired of chasing off the birds of prey that prey upon the flesh. He falls into a deep sleep of fear and darkness.
It is the same anguish that Jesus will endure in the Garden of Gethsemane as he envisions the suffering that awaits him. But even more frightening: the knowledge of what awaits his disciples and followers in the course of time. That they will be scattered in the world, that they will be persecuted and divided. That there will be times when faith seems to evaporate because a new generation doesn’t seem to want to pass the baton, as it does in our time.
But then a column of smoke and fire moves between the split animals. This is the image that God maintains His covenant. He heals the split halves. God will lead his people as a whole, undamaged, through all the tribulations. Despite everything, the strength of God’s people, of all believers, will not be broken.
Jesus knew that story of God’s covenant with Abraham. He not only knew it, he experienced it himself. He understood it as his way, his calling.
Dear brothers and sisters, in imitation of Jesus Christ, with his glorified image before our eyes, let us also remain faithful in all the trials that may yet lie ahead of us. Let’s not just believe as long as we are well doing. Like Abraham, we may hold our breath as we think about what awaits us personally and as a Church and as a human race. We may even be at a turning point in history. What will the war in Ukraine turn out to be? We feel powerless. It is a confusing time in every way. Let us continue to trust – yes even more intensely – May we as children of Abraham and as children of God shine like the stars in the sky, like countless points of light in the darkness. A voice from heaven says: This is my beloved Son, hear him. Amen

Martin Los, pr

1) Gospel reading this Sunday: Luke 9:28-36
2) 1st reading: Genesis 15:5-12,17-18
3) explanation of this sacrifice found with the Sefer Bereshiet commentary by Samson Rafael Hirsch (1808-1888). second edition completely revised by Isaac Levy 1976
Image: icon of Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain

Complacency ahead

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Sermon on the 4th Sunday of the Year H. Barbara Bunnik January 30, 2022

My dear sisters and brothers, the inhabitants of the small town of Nazareth where Jesus grew up were impressed by him 1). They had heard about the wonderful things he had said and done in other places. Now Jesus himself stood before them in their own synagogue. “All agreed to him and marveled that words flowed from his mouth so full of grace.” They elbowed each other, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” Apparently there was only one Joseph in Nazareth. So they didn’t even have to add “the carpenter” or “Mary’s husband”. Joseph was one of them. They were proud that their town had produced such an inspiring charming rabbi like Jesus.
Looking at Jesus increased their self-esteem. Nazareth was looked down upon a bit. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” was the general opinion. But now that they had heard Jesus themselves, pride awakened in them. Just like the neigbourhood Ondiep of the city of Utrecht at a beautiful goal or pass by Wesley Snijder who grew up there, they glowed with pride as if they had scored the goal themselves. Think more recently how the Dutch and their small country went almost crazy because of Max Verstappen Thus the inhabitants of Nazareth were proud that Jesus was one of them. Like an extension of them. A product they produced as Joseph’s son.
And this is where the shoe pinches. Pride in itself is not wrong. If you have something that is precious in your eyes and that you handle with care, something beautiful, you are proud of it. But if that precious thing you own, makes you more important in your eyes than others who don’t—especially if you look down on others for that—then something is wrong. Thus prestige, lineage, fame and virtue is in itself a privilege, but when it makes people rise above others, and look down on others, and pretend that they owe it to themselves, it changes from something valuable to something ugly. Pride is then nothing but vanity and self-love. “Though I have the perfect faith that moves mountains, I had not love, I was nothing,” we heard Paul say in his famous ode to love 2).
Jesus senses and was also prepared for his fellow citizens wanting to run off with him as a sort of trophy. That is why he holds up a mirror to them. And therefore us. For the Jesus who speaks to the people in the synagogue is none other than Jesus who speaks to us here and now. Therefore, at the end, the priest or deacon reading the Gospel silently prays: “May our sins be blotted out by the words of the Gospel” 4).
Jesus holds up a mirror to the people. He doesn’t punish them, he doesnot lashes with harsh words  but he uses humor. It is actually a kind of distorting mirror. So that the people who look into it feel caught and have to laugh at themselves too. Humor is liberating. It is very often an escape route in an uneasy tense situation.
That is why Jesus uses two examples from biblical history that they are all familiar with. Of that great famine in which Elijah went not to one of the many widow women in Israel, but to a widow across the border. And of the Syrian general who was healed of his leprosy by the prophet Elisha while many lepers were in Israel. Were not those events the example of a prophet not being honored in his own country? So why would the townspeople of Jesus think they had a right to have him perform miracles in their midst? Did they sometimes feel more important than others because he came from among them? Then this is precisely what stands in the way of Jesus from doing beneficial things in their midst. What Jesus encounters is complacency. From people who have known him from childhood and who think they have a right to him above others: “Physician, heal yourself. Now show here too the wonders that you did for.” They were actually jealous. Complacency is often accompanied by jealousy. A complacent person is hurt very easily. Jesus’ humor is seen as an insult. They get angry and banish Jesus from the synagogue. We often see this in politics, but also in the field of religion. Especially where complacency turns into fanatism. That people feel easily stepped on their toes. Humor is taken as an insult. And irony is often misunderstood.
It’s a bad sign that people get angry so easily in our days. The fuses are short. The people who were once so proud of Jesus as a fellow villager are now threatening to throw him off the rock. But Jesus turns and walks among them unharmed. He is fearless, for he knows that his mission to bring people closer to God cannot be hindered by anyone. “I will make you a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of bronze over all the land,” God said to the prophet Jeremiah 4).
Let us as people of faith be wary of complacency. If we are filled with our selves, even with our belief, we can’t be filled with Gods love. The fact that we are allowed to know Jesus is no reason to look down on others, or to think that we now have an advantage with God. As if we should not be happy with God, but that God should be happy with us. Indeed, for those who believe, there is nothing more precious than knowing Jesus and there is nothing more beautiful than being part of the Catholic tradition and forming together a community that puts the Gospel into practice. But without love and without gentleness and forgiveness and humor it is nothing. It should not be about ourselves, but about Jesus, a man of flesh and blood like us, son of Joseph, but above all the Son of God, the Father, who came into the world to make us feel God’s love and to save and heal the world

Martin Los, pr
1) Gospel in the Mass of this Sunday: Luke 4:21-30
2) second lesson I Korinthe 12:31-13:13
3) Missale Romanum
4) first lesson: Jeremijah 1;4-5,19-19