The journey to unconditional self-giving love

Today was the first day of rain on our pilgrimage, which was rather disappointing given that we were travelling to ancient city of Caesarea Philippi in the Golan Heights. 

Our morning prayer as we left Tiberias came from St Paul's letter to the Corinthians...

Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them.

If I have all the eloquence of people or of angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all its fullness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no good whatever.

Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

Love does not come to an end. But if there are gifts of prophecy, the time will come when they must fail; or the gift of languages, it will not continue for ever; and knowledge - for this, too, the time will come when it must fail. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophesying is imperfect; but once perfection comes, all imperfect things will disappear. When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and think like a child, and argue like a child, but now I am a man, all childish ways are put behind me. Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge that I have now is imperfect; but then I shall know as fully as I am known.

In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.

Its a reading we have heard many times before, especially at weddings, and we because it is so familiar we can easily brush over its meanings... 

At times at weddings I suggest to couples since God is love take out the word "love" and replace it with "God" and the meaning suddenly starts to change... God is always patient and kind; God is never jealous; God is never boastful or conceited; God is never rude or selfish; God does not take offence, and is not resentful. God takes no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the truth; God is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

And since we are created in the image and likeness of God take out "love" and "God" and replace it with your own name... Dimitrius is always patient and kind; Colleen is never jealous; David is never boastful or conceited; Andrea is never rude or selfish; Marcel does not take offence, and is not resentful. Susi takes no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the truth; Teresa is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

When we do that we all realise that we are a work in progress, that love and our relationships of love, whether in marriage, in family or with God are a work in progress as we grow from childish ways to a deeper perfection of love. Since we are created in the image and likeness of God who is love this is truly the vocation of us all, to grow to become love itself in Christ Jesus who is the love of God made manifest.

Sadly we signs of the absence of love in the Golan Height, that area of Israel was captured from Syria during the Six Day War of 1967.

The aftermath of the state of the state of tensions between Israel and its northern neigbours, Lebanon and Syria... several kilometres of areas mined...

Military equipment ready to repulse another attack

Our first stop today was Caesarea Philippi. The first mention of the ancient city was during the Hellenistic period was in the context of the Battle of Panium, fought around 200–198 BC, when the name of the region was given as the Panion. Later, Pliny called the city Paneas. Both names were derived from that of Pan, the god of the wild and companion of the nymphs.

The spring initially originated in a large cave carved out of a sheer cliff face which was gradually lined with a series of shrines. The temenos (sacred precinct) included in its final phase a temple placed at the mouth of the cave, courtyards for rituals, and niches for statues. It was constructed on an elevated, 80m long natural terrace along the cliff which towered over the north of the city. A four-line inscription at the base of one of the niches relates to Pan and Echo, the mountain nymph, and was dated to 87 BCE.

The once very large spring gushed from the limestone cave, but an earthquake moved it to the foot of the natural terrace where it now seeps quietly from the bedrock, with a greatly reduced flow. 

Statues of the gods?

In Greek and Roman times Caesarea Philippi was an important home of the gods.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of Man is?' And they said, 'Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' 'But you,' he said 'who do you say I am?' Then Simon Peter spoke up, 'You are the Christ,' he said, 'the Son of the living God.' Jesus replied, 'Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.' Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
Matthew 16:13-20

Whenever I read this I always imagined Peter trying to work out the answer to Jesus' question in his head... But then one day, at St Benedict's in Auckland, a Deacon was reading the Gospel, and just the way he read it, it was as if there was a burst of inspiration from Peter's heart, like a spring of water bursting forth. And so I was amazed to see Caesarea Philippi for the first times and the number of springs everywhere bursting forth from the mountain here.

But the question has another significance... What would you answer to Jesus if he said to you, "But YOU, who do YOU say I am?" And again, the answer can't be something that just comes from our head or our figuring out. What is the answer that bursts forth like a spring from within you? 

The spring at Caesarea Philippi

Notice the water bursting forth at the base of the rock... unfortunately the camera chose to focus on the leaves of the tree not the water and rocks

But the Gospel continues... 

From that time Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, to put to death and to be raised up on the third day.  Then, taking him aside, Peter started to remonstrate with him.  'Heaven preserve you, Lord,' he said 'this must not happen to you.'  But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me Satan!  You are an obstacle in my path, because the way you think is not God's way but a human way. If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let them renounce themself and take up their cross and follow me.'
Matthew 16:21-24

Peter wanted a good news Jesus... But life is not like that, and nor is love. At a wedding couples promise to be true to each other in good times and bad, in sickness and health, for richer for poorer. Suffering is a dangerous opportunity that has the potential to bring out the best of love and to deepen love. This is the same in our relationship with God, and in Christ, in God's relationship for us, for his suffering and death reveals the fullness of God's love for us. But so often we think in a human way as we wrestle with the meaning and mystery of suffering in human life. When you think of it in this way, to take up your cross is not simply accepting suffering, for the cross is THE sign of total self-giving love and that is what each of us are called to, to be people of unconditional self-giving love after the example of Jesus himself. 

With that thought in mind we headed for Cana where at the wedding feast Jesus turned the water into wine. Our first stop was to the beautiful Greek Orthodox church in Cana.

We then went to the next door Catholic Church for Mass...

The size of the stone jars

Ruth said, Wherever you go, I will go, wherever you live, I will live. 

Your people shall be my people and your God, my God.

Wherever you die, I will die and there I will be buried.

- Ruth 1:16-17

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited. When they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the wedding was all finished, the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.' Jesus said, 'Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not come yet.' His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you.' There were six stone water jars standing there, meant for the ablutions that are customary among the Jews: each could hold twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water, 'and they filled them to the brim. 'Draw some out now,' he told them, 'and take it to the steward. 'They did this; the steward tasted the water, and it had turned into wine. Having no idea where it come from - only the servants who had drawn the water knew - the steward called the bridegroom and said, 'People generally serve the best wine first, and keep the cheaper sort till the guests have had plenty to drink, but you have kept the best wine till now.'

This was the first of the signs given by Jesus: it was given at Cana in Galilee. He let his glory be seen, and his disciples believed in him.

John 2:1-11

When you look at the size of the stone jars there is a lot of the stone jars you wonder how long it would have taken them a long time to carve out with hammer and chisel. Then, when Jesus told the servants to fill the stone jars with water, it wasn't a simple matter of turning a tap. It may well have involved repeated trips to the well and with smaller pots to fill the six large stone jars... 900 wine bottles full!

In the same way marriage takes work... it involves a chiseling out a space in the heart for first the spouse, then the children, then the children's friends, and then the grandchildren, and the grandchildren's friends. Our journey of life is a call to a constant expanding of the heart. And that space in the heart has to be filled with the ordinary things of love and service, looking out for the other, ready to do things for the other. In fact it can be so ordinary we don't notice just how the love is growing. Perhaps its only when we someone dies we realise just how much we love them and what they have meant for us.

But along the way we get little glimpses when our hearts burst overflowing with love, They are graced moments, they last for a time but they give us the courage to carry on. 

And so with the reading from Ruth, which is about her relationship with her mother in law, we remember that the more we become one with the other the more the love within us in transformed - what is ordinary is revealed as a fine wine that matures day by day. 

The three married couples on the hikoi then renewed their vows to each other while others in the group renewed their promises to spouses at home or in heaven.

What we see in marriage becomes the patter

I, HUSBAND, renew to you, WIFE,

the promises I made to you 

on our wedding day

when I took you as my wife.

We have seen good times 

and difficult times.

We have seen our love challenged and we have felt our love deepen

I stand by you now and I will love and honour you all the days of my life.

I, WIFE, renew to you, HUSBAND,

the promises I made to you 

on our wedding day

when I took you as my husband.

We have seen good times 

and difficult times.

We have seen our love challenged and we have felt our love deepen

I stand by you now and I will love and honour you all the days of my life.

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks.
You created us in love to share your divine life.
We see our high destiny in the love of husband and wife,
which bears the imprint of your own divine love.
Love is our origin, love is our constant calling, love is our fulfilment in heaven.
The love of man and woman is made holy in the sacrament of marriage,
and becomes the mirror of your everlasting love.
We ask your blessing on these couples as they renew their wedding vows. 
Lord, they have shared with each other the gifts of your love 
and have become one in heart and mind 
as witnesses to your presence in their marriage. 
You have helped them create a caring and loving home  
and have given them children formed by the gospel.
They have seen good times and difficult times.
They have seen their love challenged and have felt their love deepen.
Lord, continue to pour out your blessings upon them 
as they continue to love and honour each other.
May they both praise you when they are happy and turn to you in their sorrows.
May they be glad that you help them in their work,
and know that you are with them in their need,
May they grow graciously together in old age
until at last they come to the kingdom of heaven.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen

The concluding prayer for today is the Shema, the central prayer of the Jewish faith. It is contained in the Mezuzahs, a little "box" you find on doorposts in Jewish homes and buildings. It should be touched as you enter and leave the house much like we bless ourselves entering and leaving the church.

Moses said to the people: 

Listen, Israel: the Lord our God is the one Lord. 

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. 

Let these  words I urge on you today be written on your heart.  You shall repeat them to your children and say them over to them whether at rest in your house or walking abroad, at your lying down or at your rising;  you shall fasten them on your hands as a sign and on your forehead as a circlet; you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Expand our hearts Lord 

so that we may love you 

and our neighbour

with an unconditional self-giving love