April 7, 2020  (today’s lectionary)
In Tahiti, hear me. In the Maldives, listen! In the Canarys and on Madagascar, these words are for you. Even on John Island and James, on Kiaweh and Folly and Morris, on Long Island too … hear the word of the Lord. O, distant peoples, this is not from the Charleston Tea Plantation, or from JP Morgan’s bank on Wall Street, this is from heaven, these words are not to be ignored.
I carry the power of heaven inside my chest. I do not carry a sword; I am a sharp-edged sword. I do not hurl arrows at imaginary enemies, I AM the arrow, and I aim only to bring the power of God and the love of God into the breasts of any who call me enemy.
I am never enemy, I am God.
I have gathered, and you have scattered. I will gather again, and you all will be made glorious in the sight of the Lord.
I AM YOUR STRENGTH. You will become light unto each other, every nation bound together again, Babel will be no more, never to the ends of the earth, to all the islands. You are all one river, and you flow always toward me, your Source and your Sea. (from Isaiah 49)
Sing! Sing a song! You are my refuge, you are my rock, my stronghold and my strength. We trust and depend on you from birth, and always not just to dust, but to you we all return. So for now and now and now, my heart beats and my breath rises in my chest, and in this and more I PROCLAIM your wondrous deeds. (Psalm 71)
And now, in the depths of this holy week, Jesus is troubled. He speaks. You will, one of you, betray me. (Or will there be more?) And you already know, and you might as well come out with it. Just dip your bread here, now, in my blood, and speak up.
Is it I? Is it I? Will I be the one? Who is he talking about? What is he talking about? When is he talking about? Must I turn away, or can I let him look into my soul? Do I believe in you, Jesus? I really have that choice to make, right here and now. Look up. Look up. Look up and see what love the Father has for me!
Judas does not look up. He walks toward Jesus and dips his bread. May the blood of Jesus be upon my hands. But no, that’s not what Judas is thinking. He thinks that he has toiled in vain and Jesus will not rise to his rightful throne and claim kingship in Jerusalem, or Israel, or the Roman Empire, or in all the world. He is king to every island, every distant land. Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD! Rise up!
Go quickly, Judas. Jesus whispers in his ear, the last intimacy.
Judas, looking down and away, turns aside with a groan.
Peter claims his allegiance. Peter will follow Jesus everywhere he goes. Can he not? But Jesus tells Peter, “Oh my friend you are not as strong as you think you are. Just watch and wait, and see. Your mouth, open again, will betray me, Peter. Three times before dawn, three times as the fire burns, three times when I have gone … where you truly cannot follow.
In this spring the wind
Blows dead leaves, rises in new buds
Walk with me and sing
White, red, blue, color
Inside flower, inside tree, joy
Brushed free in broad strokes
