Our Eyes Are Wide Open
We are living in an incredibly beautiful and exciting time. So many discoveries are being made, to expand our awareness of life and the universe. Just a couple weeks ago we saw the first ever picture of a black hole in the galaxy M87 – a super-massive elliptical galaxy in our local group of galaxies. “Local” – 53 million light years away. Which means what we see today is what the galaxy looked like 53 million years ago. So vast, so beautiful our universe! It took eight powerful telescopes around the world, perfectly coordinated, to produce this historic image. And because two of the telescopes are located in Hawaii, the black hole has been given a Hawaiian name, Pōwehi – combining two words — “po” and “wehi” – giving it an epic meaning: “embellished dark source of unending creation.” Who said scientists can’t be poets?
Closer to home, our eyes are being opened to appreciate the fragile beauty of our planet and life on it before we destroy it forever in our neglect of our ecological responsibility – a responsibility given to us by God. And another responsibility given to us: to open our eyes to the needs around us. And I don’t mean trivial needs such as puffing up people’s egos or so-called self-esteem. No, I’m talking about seeing the poor, the outcasts, the rejects of society. The incident of Mary’s anointing of Jesus in today’s Gospel reading brings it all together for us: It is a beautiful moment, worthy of God’s beautiful creation. But human blindness and greed interfere, and Mary is rebuked for “wasting” money on such a costly ointment. Why that money could have been given to the poor! Jesus saw right through the hypocrisy, and spoke words that continue to resound 2,000 years later: Leave her alone. The poor you will always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
Powerful. The poor we will always have with us, because 2,000 years after Jesus walked and taught our eyes are still not open. And yet these are exciting times. Many of us are waking to our responsibilities to the least of Christ’s brothers and sisters. Many of us are waking to the care of our home planet. What we are doing today – to each other, to our planet – is known only to us and to God. It is highly unlikely that anyone in space is watching us. If there are planets with technologically advanced civilizations in our galaxy, they might be thousands of light years away. And the nearest galaxy is 2 million light years away. For the time being we are alone. If there is a super-intelligent alien race in Andromeda capable of seeing the Earth, they are seeing our Earth as it was 2 million years ago – not as it is today! So to all intents and purposes we are alone. It’s us and God. And we are only accountable to God.
Our Philoptochos baked and sold hundreds of Easter breads this past week. Throughout the year they help individuals in need. But I was happy to see that with each loaf they included a little slip of paper listing some of the organizations that their baking helps support:
- Hospice of Maine
- Maine Veterans Home
- Maine Children’s Cancer Program
- Autism Society of Maine
- Shalom House
- National Multiple Sclerosis Society
- Family Crisis Services
- Camp Sunshine
- Susan G. Komen for the Cure
- Opportunity Alliance
- Prison Chaplain Services, Cumberland County Jail
An impressive list. Thank you, ladies. Your eyes are wide open to what is needed.
When Jesus said, the poor you will always have with you, he didn’t say it cynically. He said it with full awareness and knowledge of human nature. But he added: You will not always have me. That’s right, Lord Jesus, we do not have you. But we have the poor and the prisoners and the refugees and the drug addicts – and we have to see you in them. We thank you Lord, that you traveled the road to death and beyond, so that we also should never lose hope when things close around us and we don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. Open our eyes to see you and to never lose hope.
Today we woke up to news of horrible attacks on Christian churches in Sri Lanka, packed with Easter Sunday worshippers. There is no end to the evils that human beings will perpetrate. And there is no limit to the redemption that human beings need from our redeemer God. So let me conclude by quoting the great chorus that concludes the first part of the St. Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach.
O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß…
O Man, your heavy sin lament,
for which Christ from his Father’s bosom
went forth and came to earth.
Of a Virgin pure and gentle
he was born here for our sake,
he wished to mediate.
He healed the sick, he raised the dead
Until the time came,
that he should be sacrificed for us,
carry the heavy burden of our sins
upon the Cross itself.
It is a story of redemption. Our Lord Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem to bring redemption. He was greeted with palms and words of prophecy. May this Palm Sunday mark your own road to redemption and the knowledge of God’s goodness and infinite love as revealed in the life and death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The above was the Palm Sunday sermon at Holy Trinity Church, 21 April 2019 – minus the video segment of course. One segment of the sermon was deleted from this text version.