February
15, 2004 - Sixth
Sunday after Epiphany
Jeremiah 17:5-10
NRSV
KJV
CEV
Psalm 1
NRSV
KJV
CEV
Luke 6:17-26
NRSV
KJV
CEV
"Blessed are the Rooted"
Over the years I’ve dabbled in gardening here and there. Something I’ve discovered is that while it’s extremely satisfying – what does the poem say, “One is nearer God’s heart in a garden”? – it’s also a great deal of work. Last year we moved some bushes and getting those roots dug up – wow! Every time I thought we were just about ready to go, I had to dig more and deeper. What is true of good plants seems to be doubled for weeds! Who would ever think that a dandelion would have a root as deep in the ground as it is tall, but it does. That’s how plants survive, by the roots they put down. If a tree has shallow roots it can’t survive a strong wind or a long drought. I remember seeing trees just popped out of the ground because their roots had stayed too close to the surface. However, roots can be powerful in their search for water and nourishment. We’ve all seen sidewalks that have lost the battle with a tree root, haven’t we?
For a garden to grow and to flourish the plants must be well tended. The gardener develops a relationship, of sorts, with the plants. The prophet Jeremiah and the Psalmist see this organic relationship reflected in our relationship with God. And, while it’s not explicit, I think we’ll see the same emphasis in Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke’s Gospel. Essentially, what we’re hearing from all three of these texts are aspects of the same basic message: blessed are the rooted.
What does it mean to be “blessed”? Jeremiah says, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord.” Luke gives us his version of Jesus’ beatitudes, his ‘blessed be’ statements. The concept of blessing is an important one. The notion of blessing is that God is showing favor, exhibiting grace and, at the same time, it is also a mark of God’s presence among God’s people. There is in blessing a sharing in God’s very life and in God’s unchanging purpose and good will. To be blessed is to know fulfillment and to be – as some translators take it – truly happy. Blessing is also a reciprocal thing. Those who are blessed by God, bless God in return. They offer worship to God and seek to live lives that are in accord with the Divine Will. Those who are blessed have put their confidence, their trust in God and in God’s ways – and in their turn God trusts them to be God’s people and to carry forth God’s plans.
The question at the core of all of this is, “how do we know if we’re blessed?” What is the guarantee that what I’m doing, the way I’m living, and what I believe is the ‘right one,’ the way of blessing? Each of these questions is valid, hard, and essential. Some people ask themselves those questions and then come back with absolute certainty based on what they read in the Bible, or what they may hear from a teacher or a preacher. Theirs is a theology not only of blessedness, but certitude.
Jeremiah, however, prophesied against the certitude of Israel. He warned them that they could not rely on the covenant as their hope because they had not lived up to their part of it. Remember that a covenant is about relationship and its whole purpose is to give relationship parameters, show us how we’re to go about living it out. Jeremiah declared that the people had turned from God and allowed their hearts to follow a different path. The devious heart must look back to its source – to God – or it cannot flourish. Certitude is found in right relationship that shows itself in right attitudes and actions. Certainty comes in wanting to know the Lord more that in being sure that I do.
I came across a reflection by Will Campbell; he’s described as a “bootleg” preacher, who is also a farmer and a writer. (I understand from a parishioner, who hails from Missouri, that a “bootleg preacher” is one who is willing to take the message across denominational lines; just as a bootlegger is quite willing to take his wares across state lines. Here I have been a bootleg preacher for years and had no idea!) Campbell spent time he says in the “prestigious position” of cook on the country singer Waylon Jennings’s tour bus. My mother was a big fan of Waylon, but I have to confess that he doesn’t flip my musical switch. Still, I found Campbell’s account of a conversation with him about faith rather moving.
He said that late one night, on the bus, he asked Jennings, “Waylon, what do you believe.” Waylon answered, “Yeah.” Time passed, a long silence, and Campbell said, “Yeah? What’s that supposed to mean?” More silence and all Waylon said was, “Uh-huh.” Here’s what Campbell reflected: “Today we are bombarded with a theology of certitude. I don’t find much biblical support for the stance of “God told me and I’m telling you, and if you don’t believe as I do, you’re doomed.” A sort of “My god can whip your god” posture. From Abraham, going out by faith not knowing where he was being sent, to Jesus on the cross, beseeching the Father for a better way, there was always more inquiring faith than conceited certainty. It occurs to me that the troubadour’s response that late night might have been the most profound affirmation of faith I had ever heard.”
“Yeah” as a profession of faith, to me, means that God is, that the relationship is real, and that there is room for me to grow – for all of us to grow – into what God dreams of us becoming. Rather than worrying about certitude, perhaps we should heed the prophet when he says, “I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings”? God sees through the “devious” and the “perverse” ways of the heart. I suppose the better question to ask, rather than about certainty, is to ask whether our hearts are really turned toward God? Are we really focused on righteousness, on steadfast love, faithfulness, and peace? These are the true guarantors of the covenant and God knows if we aren’t there – and it shows up in our daily lives. I guess we show if we’re blessed by being blessings in return. If we don’t see ourselves bringing forth the fruit of blessings in other people’s lives, then we have to take stock and, again, go back to the source.
I think that Jeremiah, the Psalmist, and Jesus are all pointing us toward this reciprocal relationship with the ultimate source of life, of hope, and of blessing – God. Both Jeremiah and the Psalmist use rather graphic language that indicates there’s an almost organic side to the relationship. Jeremiah describes the one who trusts in “mere flesh” and whose heart turns “away from the Lord” as a “shrub in the desert.” In other words, they’re desiccated, truncated and struggling. He contrasts the one who trusts in the Lord as being like “a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.” This tree is full and lush and can take whatever the seasons and their conditions throw at it. Why? Because it is rooted in God and seeks to live life out of that relationship.
Psalm 1 reflects the same theme of the plant with deep roots flourishing even during difficult times. The Psalmist gives us the key to how that is accomplished when he says that they don’t follow sinners – doesn’t sit in the seat of the scoffers, “but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.” What we’re being called to here is a life saturated, marinated if you will, by the Scripture. This reflects something Rabbi Abraham Heschel wrote, “The Bible is a seed, God is the sun, but we are the soil. Every generation is expected to bring forth new understanding and new realization.” The Bible isn’t a dead letter, but contains the living Word that is to grow and bear fruit in us.
The early church understood this and that’s why the writings of the church fathers, and there were church mothers too, are so reflective of Scriptural language – it just oozed out of them. Meditation needs a source and the best source is the Scripture. My suggestion – and I can give you a large number of resources on this methodless method – is take a brief passage, read over it several times, narrow it down to a phrase, or even a word and go from there. The great tradition of ‘lectio divina’ – holy reading – says that one starts with reading, and then goes to meditation. Meditation, by the way, carries the same meaning as a cow chewing its cud. In other words, we digest what we’ve read and allow it to become a part of us. Out of meditation flows prayer; and from prayer we enter into contemplation where we simply enjoy the presence of God.
There’s a reason, then, why followers of Jesus are called disciples, because there is a discipline involved – it’s work to sit down and spend the time in this way, but it is the way of life, of union with God, and with hope. As we enter into this process we open ourselves to God’s Spirit, the teacher, the one called alongside to help, who will open the eyes of our hearts to behold the wonder of God, and will open the ears of our hearts to hear the still, small voice of God speaking to us. It begins when we allow our roots to go deep into the source of life.
Just as there are good and bad growing seasons for plants, there will be times when we struggle – that’s expected. Ralph Milton has done a paraphrase of Julian of Norwich’s writings, The Essence of Julian. One passage he sums up in this way, “I searched for God. I found God. I lost God. That will be the usual way in which we experience God throughout our lives.” Many of us go through times when we feel as thou we’ve lost the connection. The great spiritual writers have spoken of “dark nights” and “dry times,” too. In each one, including Julian, the discovery is that even when we think we’ve lost God, God actually finds us. Sometimes we can’t seem to get it together, but God is there, even though we can’t perceive it. That’s the result of being rooted – in times of drought, of hardship, and of low yield, the roots go deep and the plant of our lives in faith continues to grow “like trees planted by streams.”
When you get down to it, that’s what Jesus is saying as well. We read these statements and get caught up in “blessed are the poor,” look around at what we have and think, “Oh no…am I one of the woes?” I think there’s more going on here than that – Jesus is telling us to know blessing where we are. The blessing isn’t because of the poverty or the persecution, rather it’s in it. In every situation God is doing something that deepens us in relationship. Jesus is asking if our roots are deep enough to know that.
What is important here isn’t to get caught up in guilt – in the oughts and the shoulds (as someone has said, “don’t should all over ourselves”) – but to realize that God is at work in us right now. What Jesus, Jeremiah, and the Psalmist talk about is happening within us as we speak – we’re being blessed, we’re growing in relationship with the living God. I would simply urge you to check your roots, the ways in which you tap into the source of God’s love and life. Periodically ask yourself where do I put my trust and how is that trust reflected in how I live? Is my life a blessing to others?
So, blessed are the rooted – they shall not be easily pulled out, blown over, or dug up. Blessed are the rooted – they shall grow and bear fruit of life in relationship. Blessed are the rooted – for they see and know God in the now. Blessed are the rooted. Amen.