Following a time of testing which seemingly confirmed and deepened his sense of his vocation, Jesus returns to his hometown, to the place where people thought they knew who he was, because he had grown up among them. In the already ancient words of the prophet Isaiah, he shares with the people there his sense of both his identity and his purpose. He has been anointed by the Spirit of God in a time of God’s favour, to reveal the depths of God’s heart by bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, letting the oppressed go free. Poverty, captivity, blindness and oppression can be both physical and spiritual conditions, and Jesus worked against all of them as he carried out his earthly ministry.
And yet, as Charisse Tucker wrote in a recent essay, “These times of ours are replete with crisis, distress, and upheaval. Some of the cares cross our screens, bringing faces and issues from faraway places. Others find us in familiar locations: across dinner tables, in doctor’s offices or boardroom meetings, at supermarkets or our children’s schools. For those of us who don’t see ourselves as having what is needed to fix what is broken, heal what is wounded, or transform what has been gnarled beyond recognition, it is easy to seek and wait for others—for the ones with the answers, the gifts, or the power to change everything. It can even seem reasonable when the stakes are high to minimize or dismiss the significance of our own gifts and calling and instead just defer to the people who already possess the charisma, following, or influence to get things done.”[1]
When we are tempted to think this way, the apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthian church, offers a startling perspective. You, together, are the body of Christ, he says, to them and to us. None of us alone has all that is needed, but we are not expected to do it alone. When Jesus returned to his heavenly home, his Spirit came to take his place in and through us, to form us together into his continuing presence in the world, his body in community. When we take our place in that body, contributing the various gifts we have each been given by that same Spirit, we become a part of something more than just ourselves alone, something that shows something of who God is and what God cares about.
The apostle Paul describes the mystical body of Christ on earth in terms of great abundance in a wonderful variety of people and gifts, a necessary variety if the body is to be a healthy presence that witnesses to the life of God within it to the world around it. I am aware of the considerable diversity of people in this place right now. I have been even more strongly aware of the diversity of people within our own monastic community, all the more so as our Br Mpumelelo prepares to make a significant commitment in terms of the gift of his presence in our community, taking his place even more deeply within our community as he makes his initial profession of the monastic vow on Saturday.
I am sometimes astonished when I think about the variety within our monastic community, a variety of cultures and personalities, experiences and interests, perspectives and priorities. With all of these differences that might divide us, all of the potential for misunderstanding, it is by no means always easy for us to allow God to hold it all together, but when we do, I believe we become something of a prophetic witness to the creative diversity that is within God. When we do, those differences become a variety of ways of allowing God’s Spirit to get worked into our lives, a variety of ways of allowing God to be present through us to those around us.
Charisse Tucker goes on to say: “[Each member] relies on the community for a more robust and complete expression of his calling. And as uncertain as the community is, their reliance on [one another] will be key to their stepping into their own [identity]—not merely as the people who will be saved but as those who will be empowered by the Saviour to do their own work and make their own mark. They all have been waiting for each other. They all, whether or not they yet know it, are the ones they’ve been waiting for. [We] all have a role to play. God has so interwoven us together that some truths can only be known, some mysteries can only be [revealed], when we do it in community together.”[2]
How are we to do that? The apostle Paul will go on to tell us that patience is required, and kindness. He will say that we should not be envious or boastful or arrogant or rude or irritable. We should not insist on our own way. We should keep no record of wrongs. All of which is just another way of saying that we will need to learn to love with the love that is from God, the God who has called us together to bear witness to that same love, the love which is finally the only hope for this world.
[1] The Christian Century, Volume 142, Issue #1, January 2025
[2] Ibid.