Hidden gems in plain sight

We often overlook things in life especially when it is close to us. In finding out the excellence that has been hidden from us we quite often become total boors in our outlook much as the friends and family of Christ did when he preached in Nazareth (Matt. 13:53-58). Instead of praise we become jealous of that which has been hidden in plain sight but we have completely overlooked or assumed something that was different. This most often occurs within the family but is rife within our society and community. It can be seen in the way we react to difference and our assumptions as to what should and should not be present. The other side of the coin is as equally true in that those who are different often feel discouraged by the reception they receive from those who are assumed to know better. In this case the light is lost as a result of our own perception of unworthiness as we rely on the perceptions of others rather than on the perception of God's presence (Rom. 8:31-35).

In the love life of Jacob we see how this playing out of perception actually works in the lives of people and because we are so often guided to see this story one way we miss the obvious undertones that are present (Gen. 29:15-28). We focus on the love of  Rachel and Jacob without paying much attention to Leah. Perhaps it is time for us to actually take a little more note of this hidden character because we have been taught to disregard this person, we know that she is there but she obviously has little bearing on the story as that is about how Jacob has been denied the love of his life Rachel. Do we really know any information other than the fact that she appears to be "dull eyed" (Gen. 29:17). How derogatory can we get? What does the story actually tell us of this person? Let us just imagine ourselves in her shoes for a few minutes. Here is a woman who has put aside any enmity she might feel for her beautiful sister despite being married to the same man. Here is a woman who actually bears the majority of Jacob's children and is obviously very much in love with him. We could almost say more so than Rachel as she does not appear to have any animosity towards her sister while the same cannot be said for Rachel's jealousy. Despite her looks she does more for Jacob then Rachel and is in some ways more honoured as in her death she is buried in the family plot while Rachel is buried on the road to Ephrath (Gen. 48.7).

Determining the value of anybody from what is seen is difficult without God's help

We are extremely quick when it comes to our relationships and how we see others. If things are not quite what we would like we are very quick to charge those that we do not get on with for bringing down the establishment. We often miss the jewels of God's love that works in all our hearts and minds because we judge only by what we think and not in prayer. Like Leah some people are just rough or rather have a demeanour about them that is problematic to our own way of thinking. They rub us up the wrong way because they either hold strong views as to the way things should be done or else they do things that we believe are wrong or disrespectful. The moment we set our eyes on others without seeing to the depths that God sees we lose sight of the gem that glows. This does not mean that every one is good, it just means we actually have to strive harder in love to see the good if it is obscured by our judgements. The merchant in the parable was able to see more than those around him to value the pearl. By selling everything he obtained the wisdom that the pearl represents. The question that this suggests is that can we see beyond our own prejudices and presumptions to see the pearls that are in those who we have rejected within the community in which we live? Just as Christ was rejected in his home town so we often reject those we have known within our own communities because we "know" them. The answer is that we do not truly know those in our own community until we have strived to be with them and walked beside them. We miss the pearls because "well everyone knows that (s)he is no good". Is that really the case or is it our imagination because we think or have been told it is the case? Are we able to put aside our past interactions and form a new relationship with those who are despised by others?

Small is good - one step at a time

In the Gospel passage we continue the agrarian parables told for a time and place that was centred in the midst of an agricultural world. Again one has to question the relevance of these parables in a society that has very little connection to the agrarian society of the past. It is of some relevance to those who live in the country but unless you work with crops it is unlikely that understanding is as intimate as it would have been for the first listeners. However, there are a few small things that can be taken away from what is being told to us in a time far removed from Christ's time. Darnell was to all intents and purposes very similar to wheat and it has only been through modern technology that separation of the seed has been possible. In terms of the plant it is much easier to determine when the grain is ready for harvest due to the nature of the head (Matt. 13:24-30). However, the interesting thing is that something small can make so much difference in terms of the farmers ability to obtain a good harvest.

Small things go on to create large consequences

If nature makes such great and such poor outcomes as a result of the small things we do, can this not be something for us to think about in terms of how we approach our faith life and our secular lives. Just as I was preparing to work on this I watched a clip about American politics. Yes, well we know how crazy those are but it does bring to mind the issues that some times challenge us and are doing so more and more in our lives. The clip was about how their democracy is failing, surprise, surprise, as a result of a small decision in the Supreme court some while ago. In law just as in this country and in fact just as any Anglican diocese in this country, there is what is known as a legal entity that is non-human. In many cases the legal entity is a company or a corporation or in the terms of Anglican polity the trustees of the diocese. That means the human face can hide behind the larger face so that small illegalities can be covered not by the human face but by the legal face. Yes, there are laws in place for accountability but these can become quite complex allowing loopholes and the escape of decision makers. Responsibility is no longer the face of a person but the legal entity that may and can pay up without blinking any financial impost placed on them away whilst the decision makers move on without facing consequences. Small decisions that have negative consequences are thereby negated. For example destruction of Indigenous artefacts and history in WA and elsewhere can be shrugged off as inconsequential by the "people" in charge. In terms of America it allowed corporations to act as people funding their political desires overwhelming the individual real person. A small change making a significant difference on the political field.

Yet, we need to understand that each individual is responsible not a legal entity or else we go the way of failed American politics. Each small thing we undertake to do has a consequence on the lives around us. The sowing of Darnell for my own profit and the destruction of my neighbours profit has a consequence. A small thing for one has a large consequence for another. In our faith lives we need to understand that it is the small things that effect others more in the long run rather than the large things. Each utterance in blessing or curse has an effect on the lives of the people around us, each piece of small gossip that is detrimental to someone is in the long term detrimental to the community. Each small piece of kindness is reflected in the continuation of that love in the community. Only we can make the decision to make the difference and if we choose to be derogatory then we choose a life away from Christ. The small decision to sleep at what became known as Bethel (Gen. 28.11) had an enormous ongoing effect on the lives of the Jewish faith and us today. For us these parables remind us that it is the small efforts that can make the largest change in the long run much like a lever shifting and obstacle. We do not need grandiose plans for some big splash but rather simple things that create the abundance of God's grace within our midst and build the community.

Sowing seeds or food for thought

Farming practice has come along way since the agrarian parable of the sower (Matthew 13.1-ff). Seeding the soil now is mechanised and does not have to rely on the randomness of the thrown seed from the basket that the sower holds. It is ordered and organised so that we do not have the loss that occurs with the far flung seed in the parable. It is rare that seed can be found in the places that it is not meant to be and that seed is normally the result, not of the farmer, but nature at its best as birds and other critters remove the sown seed to other areas. However, perhaps the more important aspect which is seldom contemplated is that growth is not immediate. This is as good now as it was when the seed was hand sown. All growth is a slow progression of change and maturing whether it is the form of a human baby (Gen. 25:19-34) or the cereal crop of the sower or indeed the spiritual crop of those journeying towards God (Rom. 8:1-11). If this is a truism then we need to examine it and glean a few truths from the parable and the other stories in the scriptures read today.

The sower went out to sow is very different today but growth is the same

The parable tends not to look very closely at the passage of time between sown seed and harvest, it is in fact a given. If we think of our own culture today we can perhaps see where this neglect of understanding, by those in the past, has brought us. No longer are we time dependent when it comes to our food resources. Indeed we often create with "bitching and moaning" if we are unable to obtain that which we desire, especially if it is not on the shelves of our local market. This sort of attitude, the instant gratification, has been enabled very largely by our disregard of the environment and the time that maturing takes to obtain that which is desired. The other reason that we rush to obtain that which takes time to mature is the presence of pain. In the midst of growth there is always pain as we move from one present into the next present. We just have to look at the birth scene with the twins and the lentil stew scene of the Hebrew scripture reading in Genesis. In the genesis of new birth there is pain (we have alleviated that through drugs and the instantanity of CS) and the vivid existential question of the Why? Rebecca asks the why question not solely to understand the birth process but also on a more personal basis of why me? why must I go through this? It is what we do when there is substantive pain in our lives. Why must I suffer? The same occurs with the lentil porridge, here it is Esau who asks the Why in relation to a birthright when he is dying (how often do we think that in times of crisis?). The instant availability removes the need to go through this phase of growth and so we forget that growth often requires pain (not just physical but psychological, emotional and spiritual), just as transition requires pain to understand what new life feels like. Of course we should not suffer needlessly and pain relief is valuable so long as it does not dampen the ability to grow (an epidural running high can kill the potentiality of growth as effectively as anything else). The presence of pain enables us to ask the Why and not just pass it of so that we never understand and never grow.

Time allows us to feel the changes that are made to ourselves in all realms where growth is possible. In some things we need the time and experience of pain to grow and change to become effective in our understanding of the other. We are then able to empathise with their pain which drives them beyond hope into despair. Only when we can grasp the reality of an other's pain can we hope to bring God's love into the world as we reflect on the pain that Christ suffered for us. In proclaiming our Gospel as the sower we are being inattentive to the changes in our ability to sow the seed. We become reckless in the belief that our efforts bring instant acceptance and growth or at least our belief that that is what should occur. Often what happens is that our wish for the instant brings only hurt, separation and divisiveness as a result of our need to push our gospel rather than live the Gospel. John of the Cross, and other great mystics of the Christian faith, reminds us that we too have to cross the dark night of the soul which is pain-filled rather than painless as we grow towards the spiritual heights that is discovered in the presence of God. This parable reminds us that it is through time that growth occurs and we cannot, despite the assurances of the modern market, go through life without a measure of pain as we grow towards maturity in Christ as individuals and as communities.

The yoke of sacrifice

We are told that we are to take up the yoke that Christ gives to us so that we may rest from the burdens that we carry (Matt. 11:29). This seems at first glance a somewhat paradoxical statement as the yoke, any yoke, implies some form of weight. If we are already overburdened how can taking more weight upon ourselves lead to rest. Perhaps we can see a glimmer of an answer in the story of Isaac and Rebecca's first meeting (Gen 24:58-67). In this section of the story Rebecca first sees Isaac in the field as she and the servant approach following the journey from her home. In this, as in similar Hebrew texts, the interpretation that we have is somewhat prosaic in comparison to the wealth of interpretation available i the Hebrew / Jewish interpretations. In this instance it is said firstly that Isaac was not just walking but rather there is a sense of his communing with God and perhaps recalling the akedah that was spoken about last week. In observing him Rebecca falls "in love" and falls to the ground in front of him because of the respect for his connection to God (much more romantic). It is however what comes after that needs our attention as in verse 67 Rebecca takes on the burden of Isaac's grief over his mother.

Rebecca is already burdened, if we think about it, with the re-location from a loving home into an unknown circumstance. She has given much up for the possibility of happiness with an totally unknown man and in a totally unknown culture. Yet, she willingly picks up the burden of grief that Isaac is suffering from and consoles him. This leads to what appears to be  a comfortable life or at least as comfortable as things can be within the harshness of nomadicity. Rebecca here makes a knowing sacrifice in love and lightens the burden not only upon herself as she becomes accepted within the new community but also that carried by another. This is perhaps what we need to understand when we are asked to carry the load. It is not that our concerns or worries are disappeared but rather by picking up the load we share our toils and our burdens with each other. In carrying our own burdens we actually destroy our lives both physical and mental. It has recently been brought home to me how anxiety and worry are easily manifested within the physical to such an extent that it incapacitates our own ability to function. If we decide to carry our own tears and our own anxieties then we will suffer greatly. It is often our response of not sharing that leads us to the physical dependence and pain we suffer in later years.

The yoke shares the burden or lightens the load

So how can we take the extra load and be relieved of the burden we carry so that the load becomes light? The main issue is not that we do not care but rather that our needs always predominate. The taking up of another load appears to be us to be something that is deleterious to our own health. In this case we are cautious if not downright over protective and selfish. We have to take real care here because selfishness leads us to act in such a manner that is overwhelmingly problematic for our community. Once we take this route we are on the mind bending logic that Paul uses to account for his ability not to do that which ought to be undertaken (Rom. 7.14-ff). The reality is that we need to take up the yoke that God calls us to take for this eases the burden not necessarily for us immediately but certainly in the long term. The reason for this is that the old adage " a problem shared is a problem halved" is so true even in the current day. In sharing the burdens of the community we are able to half the real issues that we think that we have to carry on our own. So often we have and start with good intentions that eventually become burdens usually because of our inability to share. Just think in terms of Parish councils or centre committees or any other sort of governance model that you wish to think of. The council / committee is often there to assist and share the burden of leadership. what so often happens is that it comes down to an issue of power and politics. The more power I have the less I wish to share and once I have power the less I wish to give that power up. The yoke that Christ asks us to pick up is so light because it is a shared responsibility. We do not take the burden on ourselves but share the burden with the other. Just as Rebecca learns to do and does with the burden of sorrow within the family. Only when we are ready for this sharing can we begin to understand how light God's burden is upon us as all of our brothers and sisters are able to share the burden with us.