I couldn't help think of that this morning when we read from Mark's gospel and we noticed that Mark rarely shows Jesus speaking. He has no sermons of Jesus at all. And so the earliest gospel form was that of 1st Corinthians, a very, very simple narrative And then a slightly more enlarged version in chapter 2 of Acts, just an embryonic public ministry, that Jesus was singled out by mighty signs and portents and wonders, and then was abandoned by God. A very, very simple hint of the public ministry, and then of course, raised up and made both Lord and Messiah. And Mark's gospel, presumably the first, the earliest gospel in spite of C.S.

[01:08]

Mann and others, Bernard Orchard, Reese Buck, I still think it's clearly the earliest gospel, all narrative. And very interesting narrative, Jesus is casting out demons constantly. healing, casting out demons, new creation. The demons, it's very difficult to know exactly what all these demon possessions were. Some of them may very well have been epilepsy and things like that. But the point is, it's not a clinical definition of devil possession that the Bible is interested in. All of them represent chaos. The devils, the demons and the gospel are agents of chaos. It is that ancient heaving of the deep, the tohu wabohu, the empty and the void of Genesis before creation, which of course reflects the condition of the slaves in Egypt before God entered their bondage or entered to deliver them.

[02:18]

God never quite conquered the original chaos in creation. Just as in Revelation we see he never quite eliminated the devil. He bound him and limited him, but he didn't eliminate him. That's for the end of time, when the final binding of the devil will take place. And so, the Hebrews pictured chaos trying to take back the order of creation, the goodness of creation. And these demons are manifestations. And in our own lives we don't see them in things like Rosemary's Baby and things like that, or these melodramatic stories about exorcisms. No, no. Any time that we sacrifice unity and harmony, to chaos, anytime chaos and dissension and disorder enter our being or our community, there's a demonic presence.

[03:26]

And Jesus has come to cast out the demons, to restore order, to make harmony, to cause harmony to exist. And then, of course, in Matthew and Luke and others, you have big sermons of Jesus. But the sermons of Jesus are all in service of his actions. It's clear. That's the proper order. You understand his actions and then look to the sermons as a kind of commentary on what he is doing. So it's not a Gnostic revelation to the mind, it's a Hebrew revelation in history, in reality, in action. And so, what we do, what our attitudes are, are the critically important thing, not what we say. And what we hear in the non-verbal part of life, What we hear in creation, what we hear in the events of our lives, what we hear in our experience, that is also a major source of revelation.

[04:34]

I mentioned that the Bible gives us the best idea of faith by showing us believers. And one of the classic ones is Abraham. And he is particularly important because he tells us that faith really manifests itself inevitably in hospitality. He was the great host, the entertainer, entertaining the alien, entertaining the strangers, entertaining the mystery in life, entertaining that which is uncontrollable and unexpected. potentially dangerous. Abraham made a famous journey from Mesopotamia to Hebron, to Mamre, Ur of the Chaldees.

[05:46]

Famous journey into the unknown. Go to the place that I will show you. Don't ask for names, don't ask for distance, simply go. He did it because God asked him to do it. His only concern was whether this request came from God. He did it at age 75. Well, who knows how old he really was, but symbolically 75 means he did it at a time when, humanly speaking, you don't start long journeys. God teased him in this journey with glowing promises about the distant future, but provided no comprehensible means of attaining those promises. So there's this interplay with God, Lord, Lord, you know, when how shall I become the father of many nations?

[06:54]

I have no child. And God would say, look at the stars, count the stars if you can. Abraham, in effect, reminded God, don't you know that a million starts with one? One, two, three. Sarah is childless. And finally, when Sarah is 90 years old and Abraham is 99, well beyond the time of childbearing. Again, perhaps exaggerated numbers to make the point that, humanly speaking, there was no hope. But Abraham believed. He hoped against hope, as Paul says. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead, because he was about a hundred years old. when you get close to a hundred, take a look at your body, was as good as dead.

[08:02]

And when he considered the barren condition of Sarah's womb, literally the dead condition of her womb, he did not weaken in faith. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God. Now that's the foolishness of faith. And finally, at Mamre, God came to him in the guise of three strangers, and he provided for them extravagant hospitality. Père Devaux in Jerusalem, the great Père Devaux, wonderful teacher, and when he got excited, he would tug at his beard and even turn it around and stick the end of his beard in his mouth. And there was an American there from Cleveland, you know, who was French-Canadian by origin. He spoke French quite well. And he says, Sal Barb. He stuck his dirty beard in his mouth.

[09:02]

And on this occasion, he stuck his beard in his mouth. He says, what a banquet. What a banquet. Enough for a battalion he provided for these three men. If you look at the majors in Hebrew, Extravagant banquet. He waited on them in person. And they said to him, next year in the springtime Sarah shall have a son. Next year in the springtime. Abraham entertained strangers in his old age. I suspect that his human inclination would have been to tell Sarah, let's keep quiet, pull down the blinds, hope they go by. Like, who needs strangers coming in in our condition? No, no, I'm settled in my ways. I don't want any surprises anymore.

[10:07]

Just let me in my little familiar path. No, no. Faith prevented him from doing that. He ran out, intercepted them lest they go by, invited them in, and they brought the word that he needed to hear at long last. Yes, God has remembered and that child will be born. The promises will begin to be fulfilled. Abraham is entertaining mystery, entertaining the unknown, faith overcoming fear, overcoming suspicion, overcoming distrust. At the other end of the Bible, at Emmaus, we have a similar example of faith.

[11:12]

The disciples are full of gloom. Jesus joined them as they were on the way, but he made himself a stranger to them. We don't know whether he changed his appearance or whether they were so convinced that he had died that even if he came looking the same, I mean, you know, if your Aunt Sophie dies and you bury her and next Friday you see her in the marketplace, you say, it's not her. You know it's not her. Anyway, he made himself a stranger to them, almost as if God is saying, you want to know whether you have faith? How do you handle strangers? How do you handle that which is new, unexpected, unplanned? that which I do not own and do not control. How do you handle that in your life?

[12:16]

The surprise. This will tell you far more about your faith than whether you say the creed or not. And on the way, they told him why they were discouraged, that Jesus of Nazareth had looked so promising But he died. It's all over. It's worse than before. And he began to speak to them about the Scriptures. Oh, they thought they knew the Scriptures. They thought the Scriptures were like an old senile man who had told all his stories, perhaps several times. And Jesus says, no, let's look at the Scriptures again. Let's look at them with faith. With my guidance, did you not know that the Messiah must suffer and thus enter into his glory?

[13:20]

Why did you read the scriptures so selectively? We are always editing the scriptures, looking for favorite passages. Very dangerous thing to do. No, let the scriptures speak to us. Even the cursing psalms should be read. even if we don't understand completely. I think they're therapeutic. We all have that spirit of cursing in us. Let's get it out in front of God. May your wife become a widow. Get the anger out where it can be healed, can be seen. So, he taught them He opened the mystery to them, and then he let on he was going farther, but they said, no, you can't, it's too dangerous, come in, join us. They showed him hospitality, and in the breaking of the bread, they recognized him.

[14:25]

Because they made room for mystery, for new understanding in their lives, It became the most important day of their lives. And then there's a famous passage from Hebrews chapter 13 verse 2. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for in this way some have entertained angels unawares. entertained angels. That's a good biblical example of what angels are. Angels are, as Peter Berger indicated in that wonderful book he wrote, A Rumor of Angels, angels are signals of the transcendent. The transcendent is breaking in all over, but never in loud and noisy ways, little hints, little whispers. of the transcendent everywhere.

[15:28]

For those who are attuned to receive those signs, they're angels. That tells me more about angels than all the medieval speculation. Our abbot just turned 64. He will offer his resignation next November. Things are still calm, but soon there will be a little more nervosity in the community. And I've always noticed before Abbott's elections, everybody starts treating everybody much more nicely, you know. You start showing hospitality to angels. You don't know which one. We should have an election every year almost, you know, I think, to make people a little nicer to others. entertain angels in life, not to be so quick to condemn and to curse.

[16:34]

Damn, another rotten day, another sore throat, another twinge of arthritis. No, let's not be too quick to call those strangers, those uninvited guests, to call them evil, Aliens. Let's invite them in. See what they have to tell us. Be hospitable to strangers. Show faith. I think this is at the heart of monastic instinct. We claim to be specialists in hospitality. I've always been a little skeptical about that. Are we really more hospitable than the Franciscans or the Dominicans?

[17:37]

Do we have an ownership of hospitality? Everybody is supposed to be hospitable. Everybody should be careful how they receive guests. And in particular, I think, in monasteries, my experience has been how you bring them from the airport and take them back. Father Priory did a fine job, I'm not talking about that. But I tell you, I've had some hair-raising experiences coming to and from the airport. Hospitality begins at the airport. You scare the devil out of somebody at 65, 80, 75 miles an hour. I won't tell you what monasteries. One guy almost ran out of gas. We were actually arriving on fumes. No, no, you shouldn't. You shouldn't be treated like that. No, hospitality goes much deeper.

[18:38]

It's very, very Benedictine, very monastic. And I think that if you want to know what monasticism is all about, you don't begin with the vows. The vows came later. Monasticism happened and then they said, well, tell us what's going on and let us get some order into this and some regulation into it. Make it more regular. So we say, well, let's see. Yes, we obey and we practice celibacy. All right, let's make that a vow then. The vows came only after the instinct. It was a phenomenon that was then regularized in some way through vows. and other things. And what was the instinct? It was the entertainment of God's mystery, first and foremost in prayer. There's no vow to pray, unless you lump it under obedience, which covers everything, but that is certainly the center of monastic life, to pray, as Benedict says,

[19:43]

We entertain God's mysterious presence to sing the Alleluia in season and out of season, whether you feel like it or not. Praise God. Some days it's easy. Some days you hardly need faith. Other days you can only do it because you believe, but to do it wholeheartedly, whether life is manifesting that to you or not, trusting, believing, hoping against hope, in public, unhurried prayer, and in personal, calm, quiet, intense prayer. and mostly listening to the Lord.

[20:46]

Listening to the Lord. That's got to be the center. And then one entertains the mystery of other human beings. God puts his mystery in all creation, but most of all in his human creatures. And so we entertain the mystery in other human beings primarily in the community. And you entertain that mystery by being respectful, by not thinking you have everybody figured out. Oh, we know a lot about each other. The hardest place to practice charity and show respect is in a family or community where everybody knows each other so much they think they know everything. As a matter of fact, we tend to stereotype people, and we lock them into that.

[21:49]

We don't allow them to be anything but that, and then we wonder why they seem boring. No, we entertain, we draw out of them surprises, happy surprises. Beyond the community, We reach out in many different ways to entertain and respect the mystery in creation, in other human beings, in apostolate, in service. You don't have to go out of the monastery to do it, writing a letter of sympathy, or many, many, many ways of reaching out and showing respect, giving encouragement to others. And then I think, too, finally, entertaining the mystery of God in the world of nature. We're very much concerned about ecology now, about the environment.

[22:49]

The Benedictines were concerned with the environment long before it became fashionable. The gentle touch, the gentle handling of pagan classics, wherever beauty is found. The Benedictines didn't burn books. They didn't mean that they followed their philosophy, but they recognized beauty in the classics and they saved them. They're not fanatics, not fundamentalists, not sectarians. open to the presence of beauty everywhere in creation, affirming it, drawing it out. No violence. My father was a non-violent farmer. I didn't know it. I thought all farmers were like that. But he would turn the soil over and you could see him smelling it and rejoicing it and thanking God for it.

[23:52]

You would never invest in a tractor. Makes all that noise and stinks. Well, horses don't always smell that good either. And I've seen farmers, you know, driving their tractors with their front wheels off the ground. Brrrr! Tearing up the earth. Well, no, obviously, you know, tractors are good, but there is a way of handling, handling a typewriter. I've seen people attacking typewriters, attacking computers. Gentle, calm, patient, respectful attitude toward all of life. Non-violence. A non-violent attitude towards one's body. I was scandalized when Congress voted to cast a medal to honor, not the person, but the myth of John Wayne.

[24:55]

The myth of John Wayne. Hard-smoking, hard-drinking, violent, pistol-packing John Wayne. Scandal. Died of lung cancer. destroyed his own body in a certain sense. I'm not blaming him as an individual, but he's a symbolic figure, and to hold that up as a model, that macho thing... No, no, the monk rejects that. Gentle care of the environment, gratitude for all that is, looking for good everywhere, seeing statues in stones, seeing music and sounds. Another great figure that represents faith, one of my favorites, is King David.

[26:02]

King David is bigger than life, symbolic figure. The Bible delights in giving us historical figures who have symbolic meaning. And no doubt in the stories about these historical figures, they embellish them to bring out the symbolism. David in the Bible is probably better than he was in real life, and Saul is probably not as bad as he was in real life. But they play roles. based on their historical reality, but we want to make sure we don't miss the symbolic meaning in them. And David is a profound, attractive example of believing. And Saul is a terrible, tragic example of lack of faith, loss of faith. David is also the one to whom the Psalms are attributed.

[27:08]

how much prayer depends on faith. David is associated with prayer in the Old Testament because he was a man of faith. He didn't write all the Psalms. He probably didn't write more than 10 of them. People who like him give him 15. Still not very much. But they all knew, Israel knew instinctively that whoever wrote the Psalms was a David figure, was a David type, was one like David, had the David attitude toward life, was a believer. It's interesting to note that David in the Middle Ages is presented more often in art and stuff as with a harp than he is with a sword. even though in the scriptures he's always wielding the sword, almost always. David can only be fully appreciated when he is contrasted with Saul.

[28:17]

When Walter Brueggemann put out his book, which I see you have in the bookstore here, his book, David, The Truth of... David in Truth, or something like that, anyway. I was a little worried because I had been working and worrying and fussing with this David thing. All that struck me as strange. Father Justin Krellner, who taught me scripture, so enthusiastic, a wonderful teacher, and he said, oh, that poor man Saul. And I used to say, well, you know, poor, yeah, poor old Saul, but what's the reason? Saul didn't even begin to commit the sins that David did. He was a very careful sinner. Cautious. He committed peccadilloes. David committed textbook sins. And yet, David comes out smelling like roses.

[29:19]

And Saul, doomed. Tragic figure. I worked and worried about that. What's going on here? It can't be locked. It can't be... God does not God is not a father who spins the wheel for his children. It's not luck. It's not the throw of the dice. That's pagan. Finally it dawned on me, yes, yes, David had faith and Saul didn't. And that's what the Bible is trying to show us. That faith will do, will make a person like David, And lack of faith will make a person like Saul." When Brueggemann wrote this book, David's Truth, I was a little concerned because I hadn't written my book yet, and I was afraid I waited too long. And he did say some very fine things and very true things about David, very good things.

[30:25]

He said, Israel liked to write stories about David, and probably some of the stories are embellished, maybe even made up. But that doesn't matter. David was the kind of person that generated stories. But I don't think he saw the importance of the Saul contrast. And I think the Saul contrast is evident in the scriptures. Their careers overlap and they are contrasted in a very clear way. Anyway, David, as I say, he had the golden touch, the Midas touch. Even when he made mistakes, he knew how to get out of it and be better off for the experience. He committed terrible sins. He repented. He was able to repent. And he ended up being a better man than he was before he had sinned.

[31:25]

Ophelius Culpa. Saul. Saul committed peccadillas, frightened little sins. And he was unable to repent of them. Instead, he drew out of them all the poison that was in them, magnified them, allowed them to destroy him. And so he was down at Jericho, and he gathered the soldiers to fight the Philistines. And he waited for Samuel to come to offer sacrifice. And he waited, and he waited, and for seven days Samuel did not come. And finally, in desperation, he sees his men are leaving him. His army is dissolving. In desperation, he says, bring the animal here, and he sacrifices it. No more than he did so, Samuel appears and says, who do you think you are? That's the priest's job. You have usurped the priest's function.

[32:28]

God is displeased. I think Samuel was in the bushes all those seven days. waiting to see how Saul would handle this. Saul said, I'm sorry, I made a mistake, I know. Saul looks like a wimp. Israel didn't like wimps, didn't like Ahab dominated by Jezebel. What would David have done? That's an interesting question. What would David have done if he was about to offer, wanted to offer sacrifice before the battle and the prophet didn't show up? I think I know what he would have done. About the second day, he would have sacrificed just like he did with the showbread. And when Samuel appeared and said, you're not supposed to do that, he would have drawn himself up full height

[33:31]

probably put his crown on and said, priest, you were late and you do that one more time and you aren't the chaplain anymore. Now let's get on with it. And Samuel would have said, oh, thank God. We have a king in Israel. Thank God. We have someone who will accept responsibility. I really think he was testing Saul, and Saul failed. He didn't... Why did he fail? He didn't believe... Well, he believed in the goodness of God. That's easy. He didn't believe in the goodness of God's world. And he didn't believe, most of all, in the goodness of Saul. He didn't think Saul was any good. He didn't think Saul's opinion mattered. He didn't think Saul could make a good decision. He didn't think he could follow his instincts.

[34:34]

And so he didn't. And when he tried to, he didn't do it rightly. To be in touch with God's goodness is to know when timing is so important. If you have to pass everything through 14 filters, it'll be too late then to do it. David, by contrast, was instinctive. He shouldn't have danced before the Ark, not the way he did. It was, you know, kings are supposed to be a little more pontifical than that, or perhaps I should say regal. But he danced before the ark as they brought it up to Jerusalem. And Michael, Saul's daughter, infected by the same disease, saw him dancing and chided him afterwards, shame on you, exposing yourself thus before the maidens of Israel.

[35:41]

I don't know what David did, but he must have shown more than an ankle. as he leapt and danced before the Ark. And what did he say to Michael? Oh, I'm sorry, I made a mistake. He says, get lost. I don't want to see you anymore. What else could I do except dance? I was happy. He knew and trusted his instincts. He was a trusted creature. Jesus was son of David. I don't think Jesus is son of David simply because of that genealogy. If anybody can follow that genealogy, in either Matthew or Luke, congratulations. It weaves and turns and... No, no, it's not a biological thing primarily.

[36:48]

Oh, I think he was of the tribe of David. That's no problem. He was son of David. because he was the ultimate David, the ultimate one who believed in the goodness of God and the goodness of life and his own goodness, the ultimate as one who trusted his own instincts and dared to be himself and dared to offer himself to God. The Pharisees are Saul people. Judas is the Saul of the New Testament. Suicidal like Saul. Suspicious. Angry. Felt betrayed by Jesus. Could not let Jesus be Jesus.

[37:48]

So he missed him altogether. David's faith also made him creative and imaginative. He stirred up his imagination. You know, we have this stereotype of holy people as being rather dull. No, that is a terrible caricature. Truly holy people are interesting. They have not destroyed their imagination, their creativity. That is illustrated by the magnificent story of David and Goliath. David is sent by his father to the battlefield to see how his older brothers are doing, and to take some cheesecakes for them, because you know how bad the food is in the army. And his father also told him, bring a token back from them so that I know that you delivered the cheesecakes.

[38:56]

It was a mischief as a little boy. So he came to the battlefield, he threw the cheesecakes down when he saw the armor and the swords and stuff and he forgot all about it. And he ran into the camp and he said, what's going on? And who is that man walking up and down in the valley? hurling insults at Israel and his older brother. He said, what are you doing here? Who's taking care of the sheep? Get back there and mind your own business, typical little brother. And as for that man down in the valley, well, he's challenging us to a battle, but, well, I would fight him, but I have a sore throat today. They are embarrassed. And then he said, talked about chutzpah, cheek and nerve. He said, I will fight him. Oh, for God's sake. And someone overheard it and ran to Saul and said, I think we found someone.

[39:59]

And Saul said, oh, for God's sakes, bring him here to deliver us from our shame. He doesn't have a chance. Saul knew that nobody has a chance. But send him down, you know, somebody. And he brought him in just a lad, a stripling. And Saul noticed he had no armor. Said, you've got to put armor on. Oh, how revealing that is. Poor old Saul could only think of one way to fight the giant, the old way, the giant's way, the way that was doomed. He couldn't imagine any other way. He had lost his creativity. He had lost his imagination. He didn't trust the goodness of God enough to know that God has given us wits to use. David put the armor on and he couldn't take a step hardly.

[41:09]

He said, take this off. And he reached into his pocket and pulled out one of those stones. And all those days watching the sheep were boring. There aren't many lions around, really. So he would practice, you know. I used to watch the cows for my dad, and I took Grimm's fairy tales with me. He didn't have it, though. So he would practice with his sling. He could hit a leaf at 10 paces, then 15. Then he could hit a fly on the leaf. And as soon as he thought of the sling, the giant was dead. No longer a question of whether he would hit his forehead. The question was, which wrinkle would he hit in his forehead? And so he went down, and the giant is hurling insults at him, so sure of himself, peer-devoted. Le politesse! Invitations, you know, I'll feed you to the birds, other things like that.

[42:20]

Anyway, he went down and at just the right distance, he took his sling out, brought the giant down. Seems like, you know, the Bible says God was with him and God did it. No, no. No, no. David did it. With the wits that God had given him, David did it. David knew that God has put all the goodness in life that we need and invites us to draw it out. But we'll never get it out, we'll never find it unless we look for it, unless we're ready for it. Someone has said, Saul and his men said, look how big Goliath is, how can we fight him? And David said, look how big he is. How can I miss him? Have you ever noticed how simple inventions are after they've been made?

[43:28]

And wonder why you never thought of that? Because we have succeeded, sometimes through formal education, to virtually destroy our imaginations. It's interesting, people like Thomas Edison had very little formal education. Too often teachers don't want imagination. I always tell my students, if you want to add something of your own in the test, be my guest. Just make sure you put in what I said, too. Let your imagination run, but make sure that my imagination has a chance, too. Anyway, Like Sir Alexander Fleming. Père Devot's life was saved by penicillin. I would never have known him if it hadn't been for penicillin. Found by Sir Alexander Fleming. And what was he looking for? He wasn't looking for penicillin at all when he found it. He was trying to raise a culture of bacteria.

[44:29]

And they were being... His culture was destroyed by this mold. And anyone without an imagination would have said, oh, another failed experiment. Sterilize it and start over. And he said, what is this mold that's killing all those bugs? And he started, well, talk about a stranger coming into his experiment. An unwanted contamination. But he turned it into friend. And he was knighted for it. and saved thousands and thousands of lives in the Second World War. No, no, we need people with faith and imagination and creativity that don't say, oh, there it is. I knew it wasn't going to work out. Say hello and everything. I guess we can't do that. Sometimes monastic chapters are like the Greek choruses.

[45:32]

Somebody brings up something, you know, let's do this, let's do that, and you hear this Greek chorus on the side. It won't work. We've tried it before. Oh, too dangerous. So then you wrote it down, you know. The most beautiful things in life are always risky. Giving cut flowers is risky. And if you receive cut flowers, you know what they mean. If anybody puts plastic flowers in my grave, I'm coming back to haunt them. I guarantee it. Look at our cemetery. Blooming all winter in the snow. There's awful plastic flowers. They don't even fade anymore. Well, Jesus is the ultimate David who fought the Goliath of sin and death.

[46:35]

Sin and death seems unconquerable. All the best you can do is postpone it. The ravages of death. Jesus conquered the giant. And we no longer need to be afraid of that giant. He gave us the new and invisible weapon, the sling of love and sacrifice. The new weapon. He put away the weapon of violence. He put away the weapon of miracles and took up the weapon of love and sacrifice. The invincible weapon. And if we rely on love and care and sacrifice, we won't ever have to be afraid of death.

[47:39]

Quiet concern, respect, service to others. The fruit of authentic faith.

[47:51]

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