Where do you experience hunger when you fast? I get headaches sometimes. And there is that grumbling in my gutt. I also find myself getting reacquainted with old wounds, hurts. I don't know if the very mild suffering of hunger reminds me of other suffering or what happens there. But it is good to know that the physical and the spiritual suffering are connected. Well they should be. Spiritual suffering has physical symptoms. Physical suffering has spiritual symptoms. This is not rocket science.
Psalm 126Weeping and laughter are signs of our spiritual state. Our relationship with God is physical and spiritual. The ancient Israelites interpreted their political relationships through the lens of this truth. They understood God's favor in this way. We might take a moment to see our own political life through the lens of spiritual health and "favor." We might find ourselves asking very different questions about how we live our political lives on both the local and national stage.126:1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
126:2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."
126:3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.
126:4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb.
126:5 May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
126:6 Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.
John 12:1-8John tells this story a little differently from the other writers. He is more interested in Judas' character than the others perhaps. He foreshadows Jesus' death more clearly than the others. In this way, John allows us to see Judas' emptiness (greed), Jesus' emptiness (death), Mary's emptiness (grief), and even the emptiness of Lazarous (death) one more time. Some of that emptiness has been filled by God...Lazarous' resurrection and Mary's gratitude may reflect this. Restoration...reconciliation. Judas' unredeemed need is clear to the Gospel writer. And Jesus speaks to his own need...which will be answered with resurrection. We have to wait for Easter to get that full on.12:1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
12:2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him.
12:3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
12:4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said,
12:5 "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?"
12:6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)
12:7 Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.
12:8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
This, at least in my wild extrapolation, is the context and fruit of fasting, of discipline. God is clealry active in the lives of all the people in these scripture readings. Transformation occurs. Emptiness is met with God's love, rebirth, resurrection. And the incredible pain of God' absence in Judas' life is witnessed as well. Participation in God's work has real and tangible effects.
Who knew?
Posted by tripp at March 24, 2007 07:22 PM