The Teacher Says; The Teacher Asks

 

This lovely image was painted by the American artist Morgan Weistling (b. 1964). "The hardest thing for a painter to learn is how to paint light," an artist friend told me. What a perfect title for this painting then — Glow. But while the young girl holds the light, she is pensive. She is in an interior place, isn't she? This is Christ's invitation. He doesn't say, "Let's go to Rome and get these issues settled once and for all." He doesn't say, "Let's go to court and find the judges who will decide in our favor." He says, "Go to your inner room," Matthew 6:6. It is a great sadness when Christianity misses Jesus in an inner way.

Many years ago, when visiting the Guadalupe Shrine in Mexico City, I discovered a large sign posted before the monstrance where there was adoration all day. It's said that the average American can identify over one hundred commercial logos and over one hundred commercial slogans. Maybe we could learn these verses and their invitation by heart and rehearse them when we are feeling unhappy, unsure, afraid, unwell. Each saying of Jesus has been translated into a question, as if he is speaking to us personally. I've made some adjustments where the online Spanish-to-English translation struck me as perhaps shallow or dull.

The teacher says; the teacher asks:

I am the bread of life — do you want to be filled with me? John 6:51

I am the light — will you allow me to penetrate your heart? John 8:12

I am the stone — will you dash your thoughts against me? All of them? Mark 12:10

I am the way — will you follow me? John 14:6

I am the truth — will you allow me to disturb you? John 14:6

I am the life — are you searching for me? John 11:25

I am a teacher — are you listening to me? John 11:28

I am the Lord — how are you allowing me to refashion you? John 20:28

I am your friend — how do you love me? Matthew 26: 50

I am the good shepherd — do you really know me? John 10:11

I am the living water — does this fountain well up within you? John 4:10-11

I am peace — do you want me deeply? John 20:20

I am your God — do you still wonder about me, as when you were a child? John 20:28  

If you are unhappy, don't blame me, because I have come to give you life and to give it abundantly. John 10:10

"There is a little boy here."

Here is the Flemish painter, Ambrosius Francken's (1544-1618) great painting depicting this well known Gospel scene — The Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes. There's a lot going on in the painting. Ambrosius has placed Jesus in the center — open-handed (a gesture of non-violence). He has a pleasant soft-smile and wears a beautiful, rose-colored outer mantle. And while eleven apostles are talking among themselves, we see this most important moment, Andrew, making an essential introduction: "There is a little boy here...." We see the boy with his five barley loaves and the two fish on a plate. It appears that the boy has unwrapped the bread for Jesus.

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased. Jesus went up into the hills, and there sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said, to Phillip, "How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a little boy here who has five  barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many? Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." John 6:1-10

I can well imagine Jesus saying to the boy, "What's your name? Thank you for sharing all you have." We know nothing about the little boy, but we can imagine that he told his mother he was going to hear Jesus, and so she sent him off with something to eat. He was in the right place at the right time, and Andrew had the clarity of mind to make the introduction. And so, a great thing happened.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day which read, The most radical thing we can do is introduce people to one another.  The word radical comes from the Latin radix = root. But an ugly darkness has overcome us these past few years. We are living in suspicion and fear of others. We're quick to assess and judge others. A great bitterness, fueled by conspiracy theories, has spread among us. There are even scenarios that the days following Election Day will be traumatic and violent. Some have called what's going on with us a "cold civil war," ready to burst into flame. People from other countries worry about us, feel embarrassed for us, let down by us. We are not a very United States these days. Our enemies are glad that we are unsettled and at each other. We need to re-discover the good and fundamental work of introducing people to one another. And not just for the sake of winning votes for our candidate. Sad that it's all been reduced to that.

I had a pastor who taught me the necessity of making introductions — an easy way for a pastor to build and enhance community. Sad to say, but Catholics don't get high marks in this regard. I know a young man who when he went away for his first year of college also started attending daily mass in the nearby cathedral. After one year he stopped and said to me, "I went to the noon Mass everyday, and after a year not one person had come near me to say hello or to introduce themselves." I once suggested from the pulpit that we periodically change the pew we sit in week after week, year after year, sometimes for a lifetime, as it would give us a chance to meet new people. You would have thought I had denied the Eucharistic Presence the rejection of the idea was so visceral. Discouraging, really.

A great wonder happened because Andrew made an introduction. Divinity broke in through a human introduction. Want to be a radical — deeply rooted in the gospel? This week, why don't we do something about making introductions — and not just in church. Time is short — let's get past all the excuses.

 

Duccio's Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

Here is Duccio's painting and St. John's account of Jesus in conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. Some one might think, "Oh, forty-two verses,  I know that story already; I don't need to read it again." Hmm. Strange how a Christian will tune in to a favorite radio, talk-show guy, endlessly blathering his themes, but opt out of a fresh reading of Christ's words in the Gospel. Anyway, might I suggest a meditative reading which allows for some new insight or observation.

¹ When Jesus heard that the Pharisees had found out that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John-² though in fact it was his disciples who baptized, not Jesus himself-³ he left Judaea and went back to Galilee. ⁴ He had to pass through Samaria. ⁵ On the way he came to the Samaritan town called Sychar near the land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob's well was there and Jesus, tired by the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. ⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Give me something to drink.' ⁸ His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, 'You are a Jew. How is it that you ask me, a Samaritan, for something to drink?' -- Jews, of course, do not associate with Samaritans. ¹⁰ Jesus replied to her: If you only knew what God is offering and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me something to drink,' you would have been the one to ask, and he would have given you living water. ¹¹ 'You have no bucket, sir,' she answered, 'and the well is deep: how do you get this living water? ¹² Are you a greater man than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his sons and his cattle?' ¹³ Jesus replied: Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again; ¹⁴ but no one who drinks the water that I shall give will ever be thirsty again: the water that I shall give will become a spring of water within, welling up for eternal life. ¹⁵ 'Sir,' said the woman, 'give me some of that water, so that I may never be thirsty or come here again to draw water.' ¹⁶ 'Go and call your husband,' said Jesus to her, 'and come back here.' ¹⁷ The woman answered, 'I have no husband.' Jesus said to her, 'You are right to say, "I have no husband"; ¹⁸ for although you have had five, the one you now have is not your husband. You spoke the truth there.' ¹⁹ 'I see you are a prophet, sir,' said the woman. ²⁰ 'Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, though you say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.' ²¹ Jesus said: Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know; for salvation comes from the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming -- indeed is already here -- when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: that is the kind of worshiper the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth. ²⁵ The woman said to him, 'I know that Messiah -- that is, Christ -- is coming; and when he comes he will explain everything.' ²⁶ Jesus said, 'That is who I am, I who speak to you.' ²⁷ At this point his disciples returned and were surprised to find him speaking to a woman, though none of them asked, 'What do you want from her?' or, 'What are you talking to her about?' ²⁸ The woman put down her water jar and hurried back to the town to tell the people, ²⁹ 'Come and see a man who has told me everything I have done; could this be the Christ?' ³⁰ This brought people out of the town and they made their way towards him. ³¹ Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, 'Rabbi, do have something to eat'; ³² but he said, 'I have food to eat that you do not know about.' ³³ So the disciples said to one another, 'Has someone brought him food?' ³⁴ But Jesus said: My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, and to complete his work. ³⁵ Do you not have a saying: Four months and then the harvest? Well, I tell you, look around you, look at the fields; already they are white, ready for harvest! ³⁶ Already the reaper is being paid his wages, already he is bringing in the grain for eternal life, so that sower and reaper can rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the proverb holds true: one sows, another reaps; ³⁸ I sent you to reap a harvest you have not laboured for. Others have laboured for it; and you have come into the rewards of their labour. ³⁹ Many Samaritans of that town believed in him on the strength of the woman's words of testimony, 'He told me everything I have done.' ⁴⁰ So, when the Samaritans came up to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed for two days, and ⁴¹ many more came to believe on the strength of the words he spoke to them; ⁴² and they said to the woman, 'Now we believe no longer because of what you told us; we have heard him ourselves and we know that he is indeed the Saviour of the world.' John 4:1-42

Verses 4:1,2: Perhaps Jesus senses there could be trouble with the investigator Pharisees, so he heads back to Galilee. 

Verses 3-6: Along the way, Jesus has to pass through a Samaritan area. Jacob, his land and well are mentioned. Jacob was Abraham's grandson and so we are taken all the way back to the very beginning of that lineage from which the Messiah will come. The Messiah: the great and glorious king, greater than Solomon and David, who will usher in a kingdom of security, prosperity and peace.

Duccio has Jesus seated on the edge of a great green marble well. He's sitting because he's tired, but I would suggest also because he is going to teach. In the ancient world, a teacher sat.

Verses 6,7: It's noon when the Samaritan woman appears. It is the little window of time when she can go to the well without being hassled, the Jewish women having left after their morning time, the men in the afternoon. Duccio shows us the woman arriving. She is poor, carrying the clay water jar on her head. She holds a metal pot in her left hand with a rope attached, so she can lower the pot into the well.

The apostles have gone off for some lunch and so Jesus is alone when the woman arrives. He should not talk with her because she is the wrong race and gender. Jesus poses a simple request to get the conversation going. That question will take her (and eventually her village) to new spiritual awareness. When did I last have some new personal spiritual awareness? 

Verses 8-10: Jews considered Samaritans to be heretics: worshipping on the wrong mountain, following the wrong scripture arrangement, having allowed themselves to be infiltrated by pagan god-worship (maybe symbolically alluded to later with the five husbands). But isn't it interesting that the Gospels propose Samaritans as the great heroes of Jesus' stories. I mean, the poor Jew who was beaten up and left naked on the roadside, wasn't helped by a fellow Jew, but by a Samaritan! There's a teaching in there for us too.

Living water! Wells and water play a major role in the ancient stories. Springs welling up symbolize the richness of life God gives through the Law and God's Wisdom. But now, Jesus takes this further—the living water he offers is his Word and his enduring Spirit which invites us to become truly alive in God.

Verse 11: She doesn't get it (let's be honest, we usually don't). She is still on the level of buckets and geologic wells—like people who are religious practitioners but have no interior understanding that challenges them in any meaningful way.

Verses 12-14: She's a little snappy, kind of like, "Who do you think you are? Are you greater than Jacob, whose well this was?" The answer is, Yes.

Jesus leads her to spiritual insight, and she allows herself to be taught. "I have water that can well up in you that will enable you to live fully."  He says eternally. But we usually think eternal life means just a happy heaven, a forever-get-together with our relatives. Eternal life starts now. This is where Christianity can fail miserably—leaving us untransformed, thinking and acting like everyone else, especially as it pertains to how we view and treat other people. Our lack of transformation is perhaps most evident there. 

Verses 15-20: The woman is coming to understand in stages. That's how it is, isn't it? She's interested, but is still thinking of the satisfaction of physical thirst. Jesus doesn't fuss about that, but tells her to get her husband. This is the part where the five husbands may be symbolic of the Samaritans dabbling in pagan worship. Don't judge her harshly—the whole nation dabbles in false worship: our vulgarity and greed, shopping lust, gun worship, thinking we can solve every problem by throwing money at it, our selfishness that leaves children poor and environment wasted, the militarization which will bankrupt us, our over eating, our equating real life with having fun, our obsession with looking young, the bubble worlds we create which are zones of comfort protecting our petty and immature opinions about everything, the entertainment and political personalities around which we create adoring cults. The panoply of stupid gods is endless.

Verses 21-24: Then there's this bit of conversation about mountains and where we should worship. Ugh! Do we get it? So many Catholic and Orthodox agenda ridden books and websites that exist essentially to tell people, "The way you're going about it is all wrong." Jesus tips his hat to the Jews who worship in the Jerusalem temple, but then, the time is already here when people will worship in spirit and truth. But that's because the Jews have the lineage from which he would come. Jesus is the one with spirit and truth. But what's that? A new thousand-paged catechism? No, spirit and truth is his law of love. Not his law of nice, but his law of love. Love is a heart loved by God and set on fire for people, who, like the Samaritan woman are excluded, told to mind their place, not to bother trying to get in, who are "other" or not worth the trouble. The planet is filled with these kinds of people and many Christians respond to them with fear, not love.

Verses 25,26: The woman brings up Messiah, and Jesus, now speaking plainly says, "That is who I am, I who speak to you."  No chariot. No escorts. No imperial anything. In seminary, we often sang a hymn at Mass: "The King of love, my shepherd is..."

Verses 27-38: The apostles return from their food shopping and are surprised to find Jesus talking alone with this woman. Duccio shows us the first four coming through the gate, looking perhaps confused. John holds a couple of little rolls in his cloak, the second has a weightier meal hidden in his. Another conversation takes place, this time a mysterious conversation about food, a full harvest and farm laborers. They don't get it anymore than the woman understood Jesus' words about a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Remember Brother Luke, who when asked to give a speech to the guests on the occasion of his monastic jubilee, stood up and simply said, "I think I see the starting gate." He'd been at it - living as a monk for fifty or sixty years and in humility announced he wasn't even a beginner. We're all Christ-disciple wanna-bees.

Verses 39-42: The Samaritan woman then ran off to share with the village the news of her having met Jesus. She's an evangelizer. How hospitable of these Samaritans, inviting Jesus (a Jew) to stay with them. And Jesus accepted the invite, undoubtedly talking with them about these things further and personally, such that they came to believe for themselves. One priest theologian fearfully wonders aloud, "Do Christians in our country even really believe in Jesus anymore?" Many Christians can't tell the simplest stories about him, let alone grasp what Saint Paul's words can mean, "For me, to live is Christ," or "May you have the mind of Christ."

Duccio's Cana Wedding

1 There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had likewise been invited to the celebration. 3 At a certain point the wine ran out, and Jesus' mother told him, "They have no more wine." 4 Jesus replied, "Woman, how does this concern of yours involve me? My hour has not yet come." 5 His mother instructed those waiting on table, "Do whatever he tells you." 6 As prescribed for Jewish ceremonial washings, there were at hand six stone  water jars, each hold holding fifteen to twenty-five gallons. 7 "Fill those jars with water," Jesus ordered, at which they filled them to the brim. 8 "Now, " he said, "draw some out and take it to the waiter in charge." They did as he instructed them. 9 The waiter in charge tasted the water made wine, without knowing where it had come from; only the waiters knew, since they had drawn the water. Then the waiter in charge called the groom over 10 and remarked to him: "People usually serve the choice wine first; then when the guests have been drinking awhile, a lesser vintage. What you have done is keep the choice wine until now." 11 Jesus performed this first of his signs at Cana in Galilee. Thus did he reveal his glory, and his disciples believed in him. 12 After this he went down to Capernaum, along with his mother and brothers (and his disciples) but they stayed there only a few days. John 2:1-12

Here is Duccio de Buoninsegna's Wedding Feast at Cana, one of the dozens of paintings from the Life of Jesus and Mary, which comprised his early 14th century Maesta Altarpiece.  Unfortunately, the Maesta was sawed up 700 years after its creation and the pieces passed around, landing in a number of museums or lost. Human beings do awful things. Anyway, how blessed we are to have the image of Jesus' first sign, as recorded in St. John's Gospel. 

Here are some thoughts, combining John's Gospel verses with Duccio's wonderful image.

Verse 1: The artist takes us inside for the wedding feast. He's not simply showing us that he's skilled at painting architectural features, but he wants us to go inside ourselves. Spiritual architecture wants us to be able to go beyond just knowing data or facts about the story, but to progress inwardly. Notice between Jesus and Mary there is an archway that takes us beyond to another room, and then a second archway that invites us to enter still further into another room. Soul work—going deeply into one's psychological soul-place is terrifying to many people. 

Verse 2:  O my goodness, look, it's only in this second verse that we're told that Jesus and his disciples were invited. But it's in the first verse (at the story's start)  that we're told, "the mother of Jesus was there." What does this mean? Lots of Catholics say exalted things about Mary, but they pay no heed to the most important gospel awareness of her: She's the first disciple. She's an image of us. So John introduces us to Mary (notice she's not called by name but referred to as mother and woman) because this story is about US! Notice too, Mary is at the very start of the story as she will be present at the end. Disciples are with Jesus from beginning to end.

Verses 3,4: Right away, like much of life there's a snag or a problem. A Jewish wedding lasted days. Running out of wine would have brought great embarrassment to a family. Mary brings the problem to Jesus' awareness. Some folks will say, "Oh, Mary brings our problems to Jesus." It's not about that. What follows immediately is what matters.

Jesus calls his mother "woman".  Mary's the new Eve—Mother of the living. Who's that? US. We're the people who, pray God, are more alive because we've been baptized into Christ. Sad to say, but a lot of Christians are living a bourgeois religion—we're like everyone else. And it's not religious do-ings that are our distinguishing feature, but love. 

Again, Jesus calls Mary, woman. We might think that sounds rude, but it's really only a formal Aramaic form of address. Then Jesus says to his mother's request: "What does your concern have to do with me?" Jesus knows that if he performs this sign (John doesn't use the word miracle) that enemies will start to form around him and the time for that contest is not here yet. That's inside information between himself and the Father.

Verse 5: There's some tension here, as there was tension when Jesus was lost and found in the Temple as a boy. Remember that somewhat contentious conversation between himself and his mother. Still, even while Jesus lets her know he lives by God's timetable and not that of family relationships, she seems to know he'll respond. She's a disciple who trusts Jesus utterly. 

Verses 6,7: Six stone jars at roughly 25 gallons each—that's a lot of water. "Fill those jars with water...they filled them to the brim." We are getting ready to witness a sign of God's great and overflowing abundance. God's gifts aren't puny, parsing out little bits of grace, blessing, mercy and forgiveness. 

Verses 8,9: The water is changed to wine in transit. Wine has great spiritual significance. Wine brings joy. It's a sign of happiness. For knowing Christ, we're supposed to be a joyful, happy people. It's the sign of our becoming spiritually mature, as grapes have to move through the maturation process - from simply grape juice, to fermentation, to mature wine. Wine symbolizes the perfected human life, which doesn't mean, no mistakes, but a whole life. I want to be a whole human being - kind of fermented in God. Some of that fermentation is struggling with sin, but by no means all of it. Evolving into a whole human person takes time, real self-awareness, honesty and a willingness to change. It's work to become a whole or full human person. 

Notice that Duccio hasn't placed the bride and groom in the scene. That's because it's not about them but about us. Wine at this wedding symbolizes that now, in Christ, we are God's bride—loved abundantly. This is why the real focal point of the Duccio painting is the conversation between Jesus and Mary, the disciple. The guests at the table at looking at that dynamic. BTW: boring table; no women apart from Mary.

Verse 10: This isn't just wine, but (choice) a super abundant and fabulous wine. 

Verses 11,12: This is the first of seven (number of completion, fullness, wholeness) signs John shares with us. Signs of what? Signs of Jesus' glory—that in Jesus Christ we have an encounter with God's own power and beauty. The disciples see it and start to believe. To believe isn't to nod one's head in agreement, but to live in trust and confident joy.  Notice Jesus doesn't hang around to have a confab about the wine and all the questions guests might pose, "Oh wow, Jesus, how'd you do that?" He leaves and moves on to Capernaum where he stays only a few days. I knew a young Franciscan Friar who (in habit) walked 111 miles from Assisi to Florence and back. Along the way he greeted everyone he met, sang a song for them, gave them a holy card or medal, prayed with them, told them a funny story, cheered them. There's something about the Christian disciple that's (like Jesus) on the road.