John Davies - Notes From a Small Vicar

Scattering and gathering: brooding over Jerusalem

...Now, if you have ever seen a mother hen gather chicks you’ll feel the power in Jesus’ metaphor. For, unlike unruly inner-city schoolkids rounding up hens, a mother hen gathers her chicks easily; with an economy of motion and a few well-chosen clucks of comfort and guidance she draws them to herself - she needs not chase them, they come to her, gladly, for they know that under her wings is love, warmth and protection. This is the way that Jesus longs to gather us, away from the lure of the fox. Jesus values the uniqueness of each person, of each pilgrim party, of each tribe, and longs to shelter each one just as they are, united in their diversity, under his wings.

So we hear the despair in Jesus’ voice because the scattered tribes of Jerusalem refused to be gathered together by him. Rather like a diplomat or mediator in a neighbourhood dispute, we can appreciate his sadness:

That the Sadducees would not be gathered by Jesus with all the other tribes of Jerusalem for fear of compromising their social standing; that the Pharisees refused for fear of corrupting their religious purity, the Essenes for fear of undermining their precious separateness; that the Zealots refused for fear of being accommodated to the system they aggressively opposed, the Herodians refused because they could not be seen in the same room as Zealot terrorists, and the occupying Romans refused for fear this would undermine their power in the region.

And so the way of the fox, the way of Herod, the way of all empires, prevailed, in the end, all the way to Calvary. And it is the way of the fox which seems to still prevail in Jerusalem - and in all our Jerusalems - today...

 - from my talk today, Scattering and gathering: brooding over Jerusalem.

 

The temptations of Jesus and the horsemeat scandal

The devil roamed the moral wilderness of the international food industry, and met a supplier, hungry for profits. The devil said to him, ‘As you have the means to do it, why don’t you substitute horsemeat for beef?’ And the supplier said, ‘That sounds like a profitable idea, I’ll give it a try’.

Then the devil came across the executive of a multinational supermarket chain and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority, if you do things my way, exploiting the land and the poor to maximise your profits.’ And the executive said, ‘Show me the contract, I’ll get our lawyers to approve it straightaway’.

Then the devil appeared at a supermarket checkout, and said to the customers purchasing processed food, ‘If you throw yourself wholeheartedly into consuming food full of additives, fat, sugar, and calories, you have nothing to fear, for the angels of God will protect you from cancer, heart disease, obesity and tooth decay.’ And they said, ‘I believe you, here’s my loyalty card’.

The three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness are the very same temptations which we all succumb to today:

First, the temptation to turn stones into bread - or horsemeat into beef: in other words to manipulate nature for our own gain; a temptation which troubles our delicate relationship with the earth;

Second, the temptation to gain power and authority over others in the world: to stop at nothing to increase our wealth and improve our social status; a temptation which troubles our delicate relationship with others; and

Third, the temptation to jump from the temple: that is, to behave in self-destructive ways, believing that however noxious our lifestyle, we will be saved; a temptation which troubles our delicate relationship with God. ... 

- the start of my talk today, The temptations of Jesus and the horsemeat scandal (2016 version). Surprisingly fresh three years after the scandal first broke and I preached on it then. Thanks to Brian D. McLaren this version might be called 'The temptations of Jesus and how to overcome our complicity in corporate sin'.

Jacques Ellul, a twentieth-century Reformed theologian, wrote that

A major fact of our present civilisation is that more an more sin becomes collective, and the individual is forced to participate in collective sin. Everyone bears the consequences of the faults of others.

When, in the words of David Korten, ‘ordinary people find their choices controlled by the hierarchies of big business, big government, big education, big unions, big media’, a small gospel will seem pathetic and incredible.

[Brian D. McLaren, Everything Must Change: When the World's Biggest Problems and Jesus' Good News Collide] 

 

The Transfiguration: taking notice of clouds

My atomic take on the Transfiguration of Christ, featuring Joni Mitchell and Takashi Nagai, the Saint of Nagasaki: The Transfiguration: taking notice of clouds, my talk today.