The Annuciation:

Εὐαγγελισμὸς τῆς παρθένου Μαρίας

26 ᾿Εν δὲ τῷ μηνὶ τῷ ἕκτῳ ἀπεστάλη ὁ ἄγγελος Γαβριὴλ ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς πόλιν τῆς Γαλιλαίας, ᾗ ὄνομα Ναζαρέτ, 27 πρὸς παρθένον μεμνηστευμένην ἀνδρί, ᾧ ὄνομα ᾿Ιωσήφ, ἐξ οἴκου Δαυΐδ, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τῆς παρθένου Μαριάμ. 28 καὶ εἰσελθὼν ὁ ἄγγελος πρὸς αὐτὴν εἶπε· χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη· ὁ Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ· εὐλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξίν. 29 ἡ δὲ ἰδοῦσα διεταράχθη ἐπὶ τῷ λόγῳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ διελογίζετο ποταπὸς εἴη ὁ ἀσπασμὸς οὗτος. 30 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ ἄγγελος αὐτῇ· μὴ φοβοῦ, Μαριάμ· εὗρες γὰρ χάριν παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ. 31 καὶ ἰδοὺ συλλήψῃ ἐν γαστρὶ καὶ τέξῃ υἱόν, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦν. 32 οὗτος ἔσται μέγας καὶ υἱὸς ὑψίστου κληθήσεται, καὶ δώσει αὐτῷ Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τὸν θρόνον Δαυῒδ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ, 33 καὶ βασιλεύσει ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον ᾿Ιακὼβ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, καὶ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔσται τέλος. 34 εἶπε δὲ Μαριὰμ πρὸς τὸν ἄγγελον· πῶς ἔσται μοι τοῦτο, ἐπεὶ ἄνδρα οὐ γινώσκω; 35 καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ ἄγγελος εἶπεν αὐτῇ· Πνεῦμα ῞Αγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σὲ καὶ δύναμις ὑψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι· διὸ καὶ τὸ γεννώμενον ἅγιον κληθήσεται υἱὸς Θεοῦ. 36 καὶ ἰδοὺ ᾿Ελισάβετ ἡ συγγενής σου καὶ αὐτὴ συνειληφυῖα υἱὸν ἐν γήρει αὐτῆς, καὶ οὗτος μὴν ἕκτος ἐστὶν αὐτῇ τῇ καλουμένῃ στείρᾳ· 37 ὅτι οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ πᾶν ρῆμα. 38 εἶπε δὲ Μαριάμ· ἰδοὺ ἡ δούλη Κυρίου· γένοιτό μοι κατὰ τὸ ρῆμά σου. καὶ ἀπῆλθεν ἀπ᾿ αὐτῆς ὁ ἄγγελος. Luke 1:26-38

Today we are in the midst of Lent, one week from celebrating the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and we are celebrating the nine months Mary was to be pregnant, of course looking forward to Christmas.  You can tell that men wrote the Church Calendar, there is no consideration of the fact that the gestation period of  a particular women is not necessarily nine months.  But leave that as we may, there is something paradoxical here, when we look forward to two events which mark the beginning and end of existence for man, and perhaps do it on the same day.  If we extract the magic from the text we get a picture of a man to be born and a man to die, all in a few weeks time.  We are confronted face to face, so to speak, with the existential finitude of human existence.

Given the current tendency to think that life begins at conception, we face a more paradoxical situation in a few short weeks time of thinking on life and death.  What is it to be human?  To be conceived, and then to die?  Should we do all in our power to preserve life?  Should we use any means necessary to insure that life continues? We face those dilemmas today because we put them there.

Should we believe in space men (ancient aliens) coming down from somewhere impregnating a young woman (a virgin according to Luke) so as to send a message of hope and peace to mankind?  I wonder about our attempts today to take biblical themes and stories so literally that we must search for some physical explanation of them.  We cannot see can we that we are confronting a spiritual theme here and ought not to be immersed in some form of literalism.  This day we are confronted with the story of our existence.  And we are to give it an existential meaning.  It’s about spirit not matter, as today’s materialistic and physicalistic mode of thinking demands.  More than anything today we ought to look to what we are, that we are mere travelers here, we are not owners.  In fact we might entertain the thought that we do not as a matter of fact own ourselves.  We are mere instances in the cosmic scheme of things.  We are conceived, born and then eventually we die (cease to exist).  All of us are such.  So what am I proposing that we make of this existential fact about ourselves?  Nothing more than this:  It matters naught that we were conceived and eventually will cease to be, what matter happens between those termini of life.  What matters is what we make of ourselves.  Just as a man was conceived by the name of Jesus and eventually we tired of him and he was put to death, so it is with us.  What matters is not Jesus’ birth or conception or even his death (and or resurrection), what matters is his message, what he left behind.  So with us it matters what we leave behind.

My Round Oak Stove

That awful wicked witch of the North 
hurls her bitter, angry invective 
from some Siberian wilderness.
She blows a cold tone over my chimney
as if to play a contra-bassoon or didgeridoo.

To meet her incessant nastiness, 
the round iron maiden named Oak
with eisenglass eyes and pleated skirt,
sporting a Tiara and collar, 
she exhausts a warm incense to dispel the witches curse.

All Winter long, the evil North witch
intones her incessant angry song,
my maiden with open mouth and arms
needs to be fed with Ash, Elm, and Oak,
to champion our righteous cause against northern terror.

With zest proportionate to that scorn
the witch pours down from her northern realm,
her scent becomes smooth when the wind
temporar’ly eases her temper 
to give those in the house a welcome coziness and warmth.

Now that spring is nearly upon us, 
the north Witch once again defeated,  
and the maiden softens her ardor
combating the witches moaning song,
she can rest a while in summer when she will get washed up.
                                                   February, 2012

Today’s Gospel November 13, 2011 - The Haves and the Have-nots.

῞Ωσπερ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ἀποδημῶν ἐκάλεσε τοὺς ἰδίους δούλους καὶ παρέδωκεν αὐτοῖς τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ, 15 καὶ ᾧ μὲν ἔδωκε πέντε τάλαντα, ᾧ δὲ δύο, ᾧ δὲ ἕν, ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν δύναμιν, καὶ ἀπεδήμησεν εὐθέως. 16 πορευθεὶς δὲ ὁ τὰ πέντε τάλαντα λαβὼν εἰργάσατο ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐποίησεν ἄλλα πέντε τάλαντα. 17 ὡσαύτως καὶ ὁ τὰ δύο ἐκέρδησε καὶ αὐτὸς ἄλλα δύο. 18 ὁ δὲ τὸ ἓν λαβὼν ἀπελθὼν ὤρυξεν ἐν τῇ γῇ καὶ ἀπέκρυψε τὸ ἀργύριον τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ. 19 μετὰ δὲ χρόνον πολὺν ἔρχεται ὁ κύριος τῶν δούλων ἐκείνων καὶ συναίρει μετ᾿ αὐτῶν λόγον. 20 καὶ προσελθὼν ὁ τὰ πέντε τάλαντα λαβὼν προσήνεγκεν ἄλλα πέντε τάλαντα λέγων· κύριε, πέντε τάλαντά μοι παρέδωκας· ἴδε ἄλλα πέντε τάλαντα ἐκέρδησα ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς. 21 ἔφη αὐτῷ ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ· εὖ, δοῦλε ἀγαθὲ καὶ πιστέ! ἐπὶ ὀλίγα ἦς πιστός, ἐπὶ πολλῶν σε καταστήσω· εἴσελθε εἰς τὴν χαρὰν τοῦ κυρίου σου. 22 προσελθὼν δὲ καὶ ὁ τὰ δύο τάλαντα λαβὼν εἶπε· κύριε, δύο τάλαντά μοι παρέδωκας· ἴδε ἄλλα δύο τάλαντα ἐκέρδησα ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς. 23 ἔφη αὐτῷ ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ· εὖ, δοῦλε ἀγαθὲ καὶ πιστέ! ἐπὶ ὀλίγα ἦς πιστός, ἐπὶ πολλῶν σε καταστήσω· εἴσελθε εἰς τὴν χαρὰν τοῦ κυρίου σου. 24 προσελθὼν δὲ καὶ ὁ τὸ ἓν τάλαντον εἰληφὼς εἶπε· κύριε· ἔγνων σε ὅτι σκληρὸς εἶ ἄνθρωπος, θερίζων ὅπου οὐκ ἔσπειρας καὶ συνάγων ὅθεν οὐ διεσκόρπισας· 25 καὶ φοβηθεὶς ἀπελθὼν ἔκρυψα τὸ τάλαντόν σου ἐν τῇ γῇ· ἴδε ἔχεις τὸ σόν. 26 ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· πονηρὲ δοῦλε καὶ ὀκνηρέ! ᾔδεις ὅτι θερίζω ὅπου οὐκ ἔσπειρα καὶ συνάγω ὅθεν οὐ διεσκόρπισα! 27 ἔδει οὖν σε βαλεῖν τὸ ἀργύριόν μου τοῖς τραπεζίταις, καὶ ἐλθὼν ἐγὼ ἐκομισάμην ἂν τὸ ἐμὸν σὺν τόκῳ. 28 ἄρατε οὖν ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τὸ τάλαντον καὶ δότε τῷ ἔχοντι τὰ δέκα τάλαντα. 29 τῷ γὰρ ἔχοντι παντὶ δοθήσεται καὶ περισσευθήσεται, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ μὴ ἔχοντος καὶ ὃ ἔχει ἀρθήσεται ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ. 30 καὶ τὸν ἀχρεῖον δοῦλον ἐκβάλετε εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον· ἐκεῖ ἔσται ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων. - Matthew 25:14-30

When a Philosopher reads the Gospel, it sets him/her to wondering, after all Aristotle told us Philosophy begins with wonder.  What is the message that one ought to extract from the lesson?  Jesus taught in parables so that the masses of the people, no matter how educated they were, would get the point.  So every parable it seems has a point to make and everyone ought to be able to get the point.  I’ve heard many sermons from a wide variety of Preachers on today’s lesson, giving widely differing interpretations of this parable, ranging from putting your money in the bank, to justifications of a surplus of wealth.  Some have even played on the double meaning of the word talent.  Since I am one of those who buried his talents and abilities for a long time, I found that sermon disturbing.  I guess one squirms in one’s seat, when the preacher seems to speak directly to/about one’s own faults.

When one considers the contentious times we live in, the vast difference between some of our society over others, the incredible income disparity of our nation as well as other nations the world over, one cannot help but wonder about this lesson.   Just what exactly does the punch line say?  Like a joke every parable has a punch line and the one in today’s lesson is rather disturbing.  It is disturbing, because to those of us on the bottom of the social ladder, it seems horribly unfair, that those who have will get more and those who have-not will be thrown out into the darkness. (καὶ τὸν ἀχρεῖον δοῦλον ἐκβάλετε εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον·) The rich do get richer it seems, τῷ γὰρ ἔχοντι παντὶ δοθήσεται καὶ περισσευθήσεται, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ μὴ ἔχοντος καὶ ὃ ἔχει ἀρθήσεται ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ.  It seems to be the story of our economy today doesn’t it, those who have will have more and a surplus of what they have at that, while those who have-not will have even what little they have taken away.  The philosopher in me wonders, if that is not what the recent occupy movements are about and what will happen to those who participate in them.  Will they be thrown out into the darkness?  Are those who have-not really worthless slaves/serfs?

While I can be in no way considered poor, my income for my work is so little, it is a joke, while some of my friends enjoy an income perhaps fifty fold my income. I work for love - the philo of Philosophy.  When it comes to moving the economy out of recession, it is clear that disposable income plays a large role in recovery.  If a person has more disposable income he/she tends to spend more, increasing the need for product and creators of product.  One should not be deluded by the political rhetoric, wealth in itself does not create jobs, but disposable income does, by creating demand (something to do with the “disposable” of one’s income). One should be assured that the worker creates product, capital does not, capital creates the conditions for the possibility of work and hence product.  If one lacks disposable income, as many do today, one cannot do anything but use the income on essentials, and if fortunate, maintain one’s status quo.  But one also realizes that the little one has can easily be gobbled up by inflation, so that for those who have-not, even what little they do have may be taken away (if one believes the rhetoric that we have little or no inflation, I invite him/her to go and purchase groceries and compare the receipt to one of a few years ago).  Clearly disposable income spent within the economy reverberates through the economy, while those who have and if the surplus they have is sacked away (perhaps off shore) do little, if anything, for the economy and or the general good.  The trillions of cash held by corporate entities and unused in the economy is a national disgrace.

Perhaps if the writer of Matthew had omitted verse 29, the wealthy might not be so quick to justify their abundance.  Perhaps the have-nots would not be so quick to see that the rich do in fact get richer, and they who have-not, even the little they do possess has eroded over time.  Besides when there are no jobs and layoffs are the order of the day, it does no good to tell those who don’t have a job, to “GET A JOB!”  They should and they certainly would, if they could.  My friend yesterday over a quick cup of coffee told me that we who have are quick to judge and feel superior over those who don’t, and in fact we often wish we would not have to deal with those who don’t.  What could I say, but nod my head, because oh how correct my good friend is.

I’m tired of hearing the excuse from those who have, that those who have-not have money for cigarettes and beer.  Well OK, but cigarettes and beer are a rather cheap opiate for the masses, it is certain that the church no longer is.

Today’s Gospel November 6, 2011 – Ten Virgins and their Lamps

Τὸτε  ὁμοιωθήσεται ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν δέκα παρθένοις, αἵτινες λαβοῦσαι τὰς λαμπάδας αὐτῶν ἐξῆλθον εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ νυμφίου. 2 πέντε δὲ ἦσαν ἐξ αὐτῶν φρόνιμοι καὶ αἱ πέντε μωραί. 3 αἵτινες μωραὶ λαβοῦσαι τὰς λαμπάδας ἑαυτῶν οὐκ ἔλαβον μεθ᾿ ἑαυτῶν ἔλαιον· 4 αἱ δὲ φρόνιμοι ἔλαβον ἔλαιον ἐν τοῖς ἀγγείοις αὐτῶν μετὰ τῶν λαμπάδων αὐτῶν. 5 χρονίζοντος δὲ τοῦ νυμφίου ἐνύσταξαν πᾶσαι καὶ ἐκάθευδον. 6 μέσης δὲ νυκτὸς κραυγὴ γέγονεν· ἰδοὺ ὁ νυμφίος ἔρχεται, ἐξέρχεσθε εἰς ἀπάντησιν αὐτοῦ.
7 τότε ἠγέρθησαν πᾶσαι αἱ παρθένοι ἐκεῖναι καὶ ἐκόσμησαν τὰς λαμπάδας αὐτῶν. 8 αἱ δὲ μωραὶ ταῖς φρονίμοις εἶπον· δότε ἡμῖν ἐκ τοῦ ἐλαίου ὑμῶν, ὅτι αἱ λαμπάδες ἡμῶν σβέννυνται. 9 ἀπεκρίθησαν δὲ αἱ φρόνιμοι λέγουσαι· μήποτε οὐκ ἀρκέσει ἡμῖν καὶ ὑμῖν· πορεύεσθε δὲ μᾶλλον πρὸς τοὺς πωλοῦντας καὶ ἀγοράσατε ἑαυταῖς. 10 ἀπερχομένων δὲ αὐτῶν ἀγοράσαι ἦλθεν ὁ νυμφίος καὶ αἱ ἕτοιμοι εἰσῆλθον μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ εἰς τοὺς γάμους, καὶ ἐκλείσθη ἡ θύρα. 11 ὕστερον δὲ ἔρχονται καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ παρθένοι λέγουσαι· κύριε κύριε, ἄνοιξον ἡμῖν. 12 ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐκ οἶδα ὑμᾶς. 13 γρηγορεῖτε οὖν, ὅτι οὐκ οἴδατε τὴν ἡμέραν οὐδὲ τὴν ὥραν ἐν ᾗ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔρχεται. - Matthew 25:1-13

There is a cultural disconnect in today’s gospel.  At least I don’t remember ten virgins coming to meet me when I was a bridegroom.  But leaving that aside, the virgins were probably equivalent to our bridesmaids and they had lamps for a night time procession.  The parable divides them in half between those who forget the oil for the lamps and those who remember.  Because they wait a long time for the bridegroom all ten fall asleep.  But when the Bridegroom comes those who forgot their oil plead for oil from those who remembered, but are told to go and buy their own.  In the meantime the bridegroom comes and the 5 who remembered go to the wedding banquet, and the door is shut.  When the five who forgot arrive with their oil they knock at the banquet door and are not admitted, in fact they are told they are unknown.

One wonders about this parable and obviously we should not take it too literally and think it applies only to the virgins amongst us.  But should we not take this parable as a continuation of the parable concerning the servant who beats his fellow servants and keeps company with drunkards in the last part of chapter 24.  To begin chapter 25 with Τὸτε tells us that. What is the Kingdom of heaven like?  Obviously we are not talking about a place like a paradise above where the souls go for a reward, we are talking metaphorically about the souls themselves.  We are talking about the people in the kingdom.  Note that in ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν the word for heaven is plural.  We are perhaps not talking about the banquet hall either.  In short we are talking about the spirit, like all parables we are metaphorically talking about that which we have no exact vocabulary for. 

The important part of the parable is the last verse.  It is the punch line, the point that is supposed to be driven home to those of us who are not altogether prepared for the spirit. I’m not sure that the Kingdom of heavens does not refer to all of creation, to all existence.  Perhaps all things (existents) are spirit and are part of the kingdom.  What an idealist assumption that is, and it can be gleaned from careful analysis of the texts which speak of the kingdom of heaven.  But today’s parable speaks specifically about persons - Virgins (παρθένοι) who are pure spirits in a sense, not corrupted by the material and vulgar reality.  So, we ought to keep watch, because we do not know the day, neither the hour when the Son of Man will come and establish the kingdom. Something is being said here which directly contradicts those who would foretell the end of the world or the day of “rapture”.  We cannot know and so must keep ourselves pure (παρθένος) and watchful of our purity of spirit, that we be admitted to the banquet hall, and be prepared with the oil that allows our lamp to shine. μακάριοι οἱ καθαροί τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν Θεὸν ὄψονται.

Today’s Gospel 10-16-11 - Taxes

Τότε πορευθέντες οἱ Φαρισαῖοι συμβούλιον ἔλαβον ὅπως αὐτὸν παγιδεύσωσιν ἐν λόγῳ. 16 καὶ ἀποστέλλουσιν αὐτῷ τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτῶν μετὰ τῶν ῾Ηρῳδιανῶν λέγοντες· διδάσκαλε, οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἀληθὴς εἶ καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ διδάσκεις, καὶ οὐ μέλει σοι περὶ οὐδενός· οὐ γὰρ βλέπεις εἰς πρόσωπον ἀνθρώπων· 17 εἰπὲ οὖν ἡμῖν, τί σοι δοκεῖ; ἔξεστι δοῦναι κῆνσον Καίσαρι ἢ οὔ; 18 γνοὺς δὲ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς τὴν πονηρίαν αὐτῶν εἶπε· τί με πειράζετε, ὑποκριταί; 19 ἐπιδείξατέ μοι τὸ νόμισμα τοῦ κήνσου. οἱ δὲ προσήνεγκαν αὐτῷ δηνάριον. 20 καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· τίνος ἡ εἰκὼν αὕτη καὶ ἡ ἐπιγραφή; 21 λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· Καίσαρος· τότε λέγει αὐτοῖς· ἀπόδοτε οὖν τὰ Καίσαρος Καίσαρι καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ Θεῷ. 22 καὶ ἀκούσαντες ἐθαύμασαν, καὶ ἀφέντες αὐτὸν ἀπῆλθον.  Matthew 22:15-22

No one has ever enjoyed paying taxes.  In an age when there is a relentless clamor on the right to shrink the size of government in order that those who are fully capable of paying their share, will pay less, this lesson seems appropriate.  Imagine a working class person, say a carpenter, advocating for paying less taxes to the government.  It’s hard to imagine in this day and age.  But it is easy to imagine a real estate tycoon advocating that we need to shrink the size of government and as a result have a smaller tax burden to pay - Easy because, a certain person comes immediately to our mind. So much for today’s Herodians.

What of today’s Pharisees?  We hear a great clamor on the right also for piety and religious fervor dominates some of their conversations.  There are definite legalisms at play here in issues such as abortion, homosexuality and marriage between man and woman only.  The din of the religious fervor and almost constant pejoratives in this regard, is so often so intense that it is like unto the noise level of a large city at rush hour.  Some among these Pharisees of today even advocate for a kind of near theocratic form of governance whereby the law of God is the law of the land.  Today we find an odd situation wherein these forces of corporate moneyed interests and religious interests have allied themselves together to advocate for a turn to the right in our government procedure.  Often the Pharisees amongst us also advocate for smaller government and tax cuts, while also simultaneously advocating for government overseeing our behavior in our bedrooms.

Now imagine, if you will, a carpenter today, who goes around, unlike today’s more materialistic sophists, and teaches about things of the spirit.  Imagine that he advocates love for your neighbor and empathy and sympathy for those of your fellows who are in trouble.  Further suppose he advocates that we treat our world as if it had a soul and was virtually, if not in fact the Kingdom of God.  Suppose this carpenter is quite popular among the working classes and draws huge crowds when he speaks.  Suppose he claims that not everything is done from  a profit motive.  Suppose he teaches about forgiveness and advocates for those among us who are not full blown citizens, or perhaps racially or ethnically different somehow.  Suppose he takes his meals with those who are the least in our society, and converses with the hated amongst us, the prostitutes and the government bureaucrats, even the INS and the IRS.  Would not the Herodians and Pharisees of today conspire together to trap him in his words - to somehow repudiate him with his own words?  If we examine ourselves honestly, would we not try to trap him in his own words, say for example ask, about his views on Gay Marriage or the size of government?  But this carpenter is a clever and intelligent thinker, a paradigm of what it is to be human, and he can tell us quite truthfully, so that we are shamed by our attempts to entrap him, "ἀπόδοτε οὖν τὰ Καίσαρος Καίσαρι καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ Θεῷ."  Would not we also be amazed and walk away from him?  

Thus concludes the lesson for today.

Today’s Gospel - 9-2-11 - The Householder’s Tennants

33 ῎Αλλην παραβολὴν ἀκούσατε. ἄνθρωπός τις ἦν οἰκοδεσπότης, ὅστις ἐφύτευσεν ἀμπελῶνα καὶ φραγμὸν αὐτῷ περιέθηκε καὶ ὤρυξεν ἐν αὐτῷ ληνὸν καὶ ᾠκοδόμησε πύργον, καὶ ἐξέδοτο αὐτὸν γεωργοῖς καὶ ἀπεδήμησεν. 34 ὅτε δὲ ἤγγισεν ὁ καιρὸς τῶν καρπῶν, ἀπέστειλε τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ πρὸς τοὺς γεωργοὺς λαβεῖν τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτοῦ.

35 καὶ λαβόντες οἱ γεωργοὶ τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ ὃν μὲν ἔδειραν, ὃν δὲ ἀπέκτειναν, ὃν δὲ ἐλιθοβόλησαν. 36 πάλιν ἀπέστειλεν ἄλλους δούλους πλείονας τῶν πρώτων, καὶ ἐποίησαν αὐτοῖς ὡσαύτως. 37 ὕστερον δὲ ἀπέστειλε πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ λέγων· ἐντραπήσονται τὸν υἱόν μου. 38 οἱ δὲ γεωργοὶ ἰδόντες τὸν υἱὸν εἶπον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς· οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ κληρονόμος· δεῦτε ἀποκτείνωμεν αὐτὸν καὶ κατάσχωμεν τὴν κληρονομίαν αὐτοῦ. 39 καὶ λαβόντες αὐτὸν ἐξέβαλον ἔξω τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος, καὶ ἀπέκτειναν.

40 ῞Οταν οὖν ἔλθῃ ὁ κύριος τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος, τί ποιήσει τοῖς γεωργοῖς ἐκείνοις; 41 λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· κακοὺς κακῶς ἀπολέσει αὐτούς, καὶ τὸν ἀμπελῶνα ἐκδώσεται ἄλλοις γεωργοῖς, οἵτινες ἀποδώσουσιν αὐτῷ τοὺς καρποὺς ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς αὐτῶν. 42 λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς· οὐδέποτε ἀνέγνωτε ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς, λίθον ὃν ἀπεδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, οὗτος ἐγενήθη εἰς κεφαλὴν γωνίας· παρὰ Κυρίου ἐγένετο αὕτη, καὶ ἔστι θαυμαστὴ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν; 43 διὰ τοῦτο λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ἀρθήσεται ἀφ᾿ ὑμῶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ δοθήσεται ἔθνει ποιοῦντι τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτῆς· 44 καὶ ὁ πεσὼν ἐπὶ τὸν λίθον τοῦτον συνθλασθήσεται· ἐφ᾿ ὃν δ᾿ ἂν πέσῃ, λικμήσει αὐτόν. 45 καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι τὰς παραβολὰς αὐτοῦ ἔγνωσαν ὅτι περὶ αὐτῶν λέγει· 46 καὶ ζητοῦντες αὐτὸν κρατῆσαι ἐφοβήθησαν τοὺς ὄχλους, ἐπειδὴ ὡς προφήτην αὐτὸν εἶχον. - Matthew 21:33-46

One wonders just exactly what this parable is about?  Is it a foretelling of Jesus death and the motivations behind it? Or is it a parable foretelling what will happen to the church after Jesus death?  There is obviously a parallel between this parable and the first verses of the fifth chapter of Isaiah.  We get a hint in the last two verses where we are told the chief priests (οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς) and the Pharisees (καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι) were aware that He was speaking of them.  They conspired to seize him but they were afraid of the crowd (Jesus followers) because to them (the followers) He was a prophet.  So in one sense we have a foretelling of Jesus death and the reasons for his death, He made enemies of the chief priests and the Pharisees, by telling parables which clearly referred to them and their ways. 

We might look at it as a parable about the church and what happens after Jesus death.  Here the cornerstone image is important.  Here Jesus’ message about the Kingdom of God is the stone which the builders rejected and will become the cornerstone of the new Kingdom.  In fact we are told that the Kingdom of God will be given to the people (nation - ἔθνει) which makes use of the fruit of that message (ὅτι ἀρθήσεται ἀφ᾿ ὑμῶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ δοθήσεται ἔθνει ποιοῦντι τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτῆς·)  I imagine; if you are a Greek or a Philhellene like myself, you see this as particularly interesting, because after Jesus death the church goes out among the Greek speaking world and establishes itself there.  The church is seen hereby as the Kingdom of God (ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ) and that is given to the peoples (ἔθνει) who will make use of the message (the fruits of Jesus message ποιοῦντι τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτῆς·)

One wonders if this latter interpretation of the parable is written by Matthew, or whether it is written in by the later church to indicate its ascendancy over the Jerusalem Church.  Is it there to indicate that Church is not a sect of Judaism or is it there to indicate that those who would have the Church remain under Judaism (the Judaizers) are in the wrong perhaps like Pharisees and Chief priests. 

But what should we take from this parable?  Are we to see ourselves as the nation to which has been given the Kingdom to make use of its fruit, or are we to remain stuck in our legalisms and dogmas we have been taught from generations.  Are we Pharisees (legalists) or are we Dogmatists.   We are to some degree I’m sure (Perhaps that is our History), but ought we not be the people to whom the Kingdom has been given to make use of its fruit.

Bhutan – Gross National Happiness

Bhutan is a small country tucked away in a remote part of the Himalayas.  It is a constitutional monarchy with a population of less than one million persons.  The country is mainly Buddhist with a minority of Hindus.  As an official policy they have what is called Gross National Happiness, established as official policy in 1972 by the then King Jigme Singye Wangchuck.  In 2008 Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck became the current King after his father’s abdication.  Gross National Happiness remains the national policy. 

Gross National Happiness is an attempt to measure the progress of the country and its overall health as a society.  It is a holistic attempt to come up with a measure of happiness, because the Gross Domestic Product measurement doesn’t adequately measure happiness, but only economic status of the nation (society) as a whole.  It is inadequate as the upper classes become wealthier at the expense of the lower, and while the GDP may be high overall, happiness of the lower class population suffers.

GNH is in accord with the basic principles of Buddhism, where the best societal progress comes from both economic (material) and spiritual development operating side by side. The holistic nature of the notion that the greatest good is not achieved by economic development alone leads to a more generous approach to all of society.  Buddhism reverences all forms of life so the preservation of environment, both human and physical, is seen as promoting a general happiness which cannot be achieved by exploitation of the material resources leaving the spiritual to decay.  The neglect of the spiritual leads only to greater unhappiness, which cannot be substituted for economic betterment. In some sense it is a conservative view and in others it is the ultimate liberal notion of the whole person versus mere material growth.  The holistic approach contributes to some sense of leaving things as they are, but simultaneously liberating the spirit from the demonic confines of consumerism and materialism.

As an eudemian form of Ethics and Politics, GNH leaves development to the whole rather than the basic.  While many of our well-off individuals in Western Societies seek happiness from the eastern practices of Tai Chi and Yoga, GNH has built into it a form of happiness where one seeks not some meaning other than the material, but seeks the whole well being of the individual and all of the environment. Ecology becomes important here, because without an environment wherein the spirit can find health, there is no wealth.  Wealth does not come from the exploitation of the natural, but instead from the natural development of the environment where spiritual development occurs. Who among us can say they did not get a spiritual uplift from a visit to a national park, or beautiful garden we have ourselves cultivated?  In an important sense GNH makes a garden of nature itself.

If there is any lesson to be learned from the recent collapse of the world economies and the resultant protests because the burden of recovery lies in cuts to lower class persons, the economic measure does not result in a greater happiness.  The greatest good for the greatest number cannot mean greatest wealth for the greatest number, since happiness is lost in the din of monetary gain.  The greatest happiness for the greatest number must also include not only legal persons, but all - the entire environment.  Nature, if allowed, may be able to heal herself, but if we exploit nature for the benefit of a few, we prevent her healing to occur. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXJwNSkdTH0