Lent Day 29: The selfie moment

Wherever Jesus went, big crowds always were near him. Getting close and managing a conversation with Jesus was a difficult task. Whenever celebrities and famous people come to a place, it is similar to this. There are people who want to get close, people who want to touch the person and people who want to say something. The bouncers or security keep them away and create a secure ring.

So many people wanted to see Jesus and so they followed him wherever he went. Not everyone managed to get close though. The able bodied, the well connected and the numerous disciples themselves kept getting close. When celebrities walk to the location where an event is planned, they sometimes stop unplanned. This could be when they see a child, youngsters and even an odd old lady. The security won’t be able to say no even though they feel there is a threat to the celebrity. This selfie moment with that lucky person will be something they savor for their entire lifetime.

In St. Luke 13: 10-13, we see such a selfie moment for a woman who was weak and bent over for eighteen years. The bent would have prevented her from seeing many of the people passing and would have also prevented them from noticing her. It was a fortunate thing that Jesus managed to notice her. Her bent would have prevented her from standing straight with him, with his hand over her shoulder. But Jesus then unlike many of us, who would be satisfied with a selfie with the weak woman and then sharing the selfie in our Instagram account, calls her and tells her that she is freed from her weakness.

Imagine the joy of the woman who would have looked people straight in the eye after a gap of eighteen years! Jesus then lays his hand upon her and she is made straight. The selfie moment is not one taken with her eyes down, with submission and in surrender. Rather the selfie moment comes with a confident, self-reliant and liberated woman, who becomes the darling of the crowd. So much that it irritates the ruler of the synagogue who makes a big speech about the sanctity of the Sabbath. The truth would have really been that he did not get a selfie moment with Jesus, whereas the woman at the margins, the unseen and unheard woman, becomes the centerpiece.

We will all have our selfie moment with Jesus. The more we are oppressed, the more he will see us. The more we are pushed to the margins, the more he will call us loud. The more we are bent with our troubles and problems, the more he will touch and heal us. Yes, our selfie moment will be a moment of happiness, healing, liberation and acceptance. Amen.

Picture credit- www.margmowczko.com

Prayer for jobs

We pray God for those who are looking for jobs and those who are finding it difficult to hold on to the job that they have. Guide those who are looking for a job to get one which will make use of their ability and qualification. Strengthen those with a job to learn the trade and perform well. We submit everyone to your care so that people struggling to find a job may not get desperate and find it difficult to face people. Jesus, we pray specially for those who move jobs or find their calling in something different from what others do. May new jobs be created and may new opportunities arise because of creative thinking and alternative ideas. We pray Jesus for job creating industries and communities which identify their responsibility of feeding families. May churches use their spaces to offer accommodation to young people searching for jobs and use their elaborate network to help in job searching and finding. We pray Holy Spirit for courage, inspiration and positive thinking for young and middle aged people so that they continue knocking on doors till one opens. May your church merciful God teach about the dignity of labour so that every job is one which has respect and dignity. May your doors of grace dear Lord open for your people. Amen.

This Christmas: Security to vulnerability

 

St. Matthew 1: 1-17

The genealogy of Jesus has two definite goals. One is the traditional need to show the Davidic succession and two is the more non-traditional goal to show the relationship of vulnerability with spirituality. The passage in St. Mathew is read haltingly and is listened to with not the same eagerness as other passages. Perhaps too many names and difficult names at that put off the congregation. But what is in store is quite a bit when we try to identify what kind of a spirituality we can seek during Christmas.

We are always behind secure things. A news editor who wanted change in his office finally became silent during the critical meeting with the owners of the news channel because he was reminded of the EMI’s he had to pay that month. Security which is of this world is difficult because it asks for compromise and compromise leads to silence and stepping back.  Christmas is one of the times when security is paramount in our mind but should it be like that? What is the message of the genealogy of Jesus? Is it security or is it vulnerability? The Davidic line of Jesus which the writer is trying to portray may suggest security but some of the characters in the genealogy do not suggest that.

Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Uriah’s wife (Bathsheba) and Mary are the women who are mentioned in the genealogy. They were all suspect of doing something which was different from traditional society. One could say that they did something out of marriage and a traditional family setting. At the end it was seen as good but traditional society would have not allowed it and neither will it do so now. These women did not just think about their security but worked around their vulnerability. Tamar is subject to abuse and humiliation and is forced to prove her worth. Rahab is seen as a sex worker and she sticks her neck out in the secure environs she lived in. Ruth is a widow who has to be with her mother in law because she is vulnerable after the death of her husband. She does what no one else would do. Ruth is also abused and she survives in her environment of abuse. Uriah’s wife Bathsheba is loathed and raped by David who then gets Uriah killed in battle. She has to stand David while mourning the loss of her husband and gives birth to Solomon who succeeds David as king. Finally, Mary conceives out of wedlock and gives birth to Jesus. All the women leave a life of security and struggle with their vulnerable lives. The birth of Jesus this way comes out of vulnerability and not the security of an assured line of kingly succession.

It is important for us to identify our vulnerability this Christmas. Being secure is not being close to God but close to societal norms and wrong traditions. Being vulnerable on the other hand is having faith in God even when everything around is bad. Some of us are already living vulnerable lives and Christmas is a time to imagine that Jesus was born out of such vulnerability. How else would we preach and wish Christmas in a place like Aleppo in Syria where there are unimaginable sufferings to the public. All the ordinary people are vulnerable to abuse, bombings, hunger, capture and torture. In effect Christ is born in places like Aleppo because vulnerability is at its peak there. Our houses can only reflect the security of Christmas whereas shelters and non-existent roads in Aleppo and other places reflect a vulnerable Christmas where Christ is born because the birth of Jesus as we see is associated with vulnerability.

Our Christmas symbolism is filled with definite things. The Christmas tree, stars, decorations, carol rounds, Christmas services, cakes, sweets and cards all show a secure and happy Christmas. The birth of Jesus was in a time of fear and insecurity and yet people said yes to a fallible security offered by the ruling dispensation. Those who went to see Jesus tried to associate with the vulnerability of his birth and those associated with it. The interpretation of vulnerability does not seek to discount and do away with the spirit of celebration during Christmas. It rather looks at the hope that the birth of Jesus offers in the midst of our vulnerable lives. There is no secure life, secure password, secure spirituality or secure Christmas. We are vulnerable always and we do not need to forget that during Christmas. Rather like the five women in the genealogy of Jesus, we must pull on and move forward finding ways to live and survive. The birth of Jesus signifies life in the midst of death and suffering. The women in St. Mathew show us just that.