Haydenville Congregational Church The Rev. Dr. Andrea Ayvazian Luke 14:1, 7-14 September 1, 2013 Opus Contra Naturam OR Why is this stuff so hard? May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen. Alchemy, as an esoteric art, is almost as old as civilization itself. But it wasn't until the 12th or 13th century, in the aftermath of the Crusades and the Arabic influence, that it filtered into Western Europe through Sicily and Spain. Alchemy, we are told, originated in ancient Egypt, where it was associated with the worship of ancient gods. In antiquity it was believed that the world originated from a single substance, or First Matter, which separated out into four elements earth, air, fire, and water and then recombined in various proportions to make all the physical objects in the world. Aristotle later refined this idea he believed that primary matter existed first in its purest form, but then changed character when associated with one of four primary qualities (hot, cold, wet, and dry). Aristotle believed that by manipulating the four elements (earth, air, fire and water) AND the four qualities (hot, cold, wet and dry) it was possible to change the elemental combinations of all basic matter. Early alchemists experimented with these ideas, and many set their sights on creating gold. It was reasoned that in order to transmute a base metal into gold, it must first be returned to its original, undifferentiated state. Since all substances are composed of the same four elements, it was thought theoretically possible to change one substance into another (for example, lead into gold) by reducing the substance to its original elements, re-arranging their relative proportions, and then bringing the new substance into being. Alchemy was slow, painstaking work requiring infinite patience. And what is fascinating about this science, or one could really say the ART of alchemy, is that 1
the alchemical process was a complete reversal of our contemporary understanding of biological evolution. Evolution is an outer, expanding process where over time things grow increasingly complex, more adapted to the outer world, and more intricate. With alchemy, it is just the opposite.the final goal is the creation of a very simplified, homogeneous material metal, mineral, crystal or stone. Consequently, the work of ancient alchemy has been described as work against nature, or opus contra naturam. The work of the alchemist was the opposite of God s work as told in the seven-day creation story in Genesis. In the Genesis story, God began with a complete void, and then proceeded to create all the components of our material existence the stars, planets, land masses, oceans, and a multitude of plants and animals. Man is the crown of creation, the top of the evolutionary ladder, the most advanced and precious of all of God s creations. But the work of the alchemist is the opposite the alchemist (as opposed to God) deliberately broke down the natural order of things in order to create something more simplified. The alchemist engaged in what has been called work against nature, opus contra naturam and it is that concept, opus contra naturam that I believe has relevance when we consider the Biblical passage Jesus parable for today. On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely. 7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. 8 When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, Give this person your place, and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, Friend, move up higher ; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. 12 He said also to the one who had invited him, When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. 2
I don t know what your reaction to this parable is. But my reaction is that I don t want to go ahead and do what Jesus suggests. When I go to a banquet, I want to sit at the head table, I want to visit with the host, that s the best place to be. I can see all the guests, I will be served first, and I will occupy a place of honor. And when I throw my own party, I want to invite my friends, my sisters, my relatives, and maybe my rich neighbors. I want to hang out with them. I am not inclined to host a party and invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind which today would be people with AIDS, undocumented refugees, homeless people, sick people, and poor people. Jesus wants me to invite all of them to my party, not my relatives and rich neighbors. But I am not sure I want to. I think it is human nature to want the best seat at the banquet, not to want to be sent to the most distant table. I think it is human nature to want to invite all your best friends to your party, I think these things are predictable, normal and well part of human nature. I think what Jesus is suggesting is opus contra naturam work against nature. I think Jesus wants me to grit my teeth and do what s right, while most of me is quietly objecting inside. I want to invite my own crew, my own peeps, to my own darn party. I want to sit up front with the host at the banquet. Jesus, you are asking me to work against my own nature, and that is very hard. Is Jesus parable really an example of opus contra naturam? Is it like the work of the alchemist work against nature? Is what Jesus is asking of us foreign to our very being, our very nature? Why does being a Jesus follower have to be so hard? Why can t his commands for my behavior go along with the natural grain in the wood my natural feelings, my wants, and desires? As I say to you often, frequently in Benedictions and often in sermons, we were all born perfect and whole. God knew us and loved us when we were the size of a grain of rice inside our mothers. Listen to these lines from Psalm 139, it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. 3
We are fearfully and wonderfully made a mysterious line, one of my favorites in the Bible. But what does it mean to be FEARFULLY made? We are made perfect loving and generous, compassionate and expansive, warm and caring, eager and bright and fabulous. We are made as people who would walk into the banquet and sit with the waitstaff. We are made as people who would invite the person asking for money on Main Street, someone who has not bathed in a while, home to our house for a party. We are made as people who are beautiful, humble, and ready to serve. All this is true. But we are also made as autonomous beings. God invested us with free will, we are not puppets attached by invisible strings to God. We are born independent; we have desires and needs, hopes and fears, and an inner fire. And so internal conflicts arise. As early as Adam and Eve, there were desires for things forbidden. As early as Cain and Able, there was competition and brutality. We ARE born perfect and whole. AND we are born complicated fearfully and wonderfully made. Maybe the fearfully part means we have a complex make-up we have complicated feelings, we have strong desires, we have big dreams, we have many needs. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. And so, as we grow, we experience our complicated needs, wants, and desires. We witness and desire power, we wonder about things and harbor doubts, we are wounded, we are hurt, we have selfish impulses, we get greedy, we learn to compete. This is human nature, the consequence of our being fearfully and wonderfully made. And so when we go to the banquet, we want to sit at the head table with the host. And when we throw a party, we want to invite our family and our closest friends. Seems like basic human nature. And then we read this parable. And Jesus says we are meant to take the worst place at the banquet, and invite people considered undesirable by society to our party. It seems like Jesus is asking us to make a huge leap a leap that seems a work against nature an opus contra naturam. 4
But what is remarkable about Jesus, and about our faith, is that Jesus always looks past our fears and our flaws, he jumps right over our wounds and our limitations, he continually remembers the we are wonderfully made part, and he believes in our best selves. Jesus does not cater to our weaknesses nor does he encourage our failings. Ever. He does not say, you are good enough as you are do what you want, do what is easier, no worries. Jesus looks deep into our hearts and sees that being humble, generous and gentle is right there in our inner selves, there from the time we were knit together in our mother s wombs. Jesus knows that calling those qualities to the foreground is not a work against nature, it is drawing forth our truest nature. Jesus knows that by being loving, giving, and not aggrandizing power and attention to ourselves, we are not working against nature, but honoring our truest nature, our best selves, our untainted, innocent nature. It is like Jesus is drawing water from the deep, pure well inside us. In A BOOK OF PSAMS: Selected and Adapted from the Hebrew, Stephen Mitchell, reinterpreting Psalm 139, writes these lines, Lord, you have searched me and known me; you understand everything I do; you are closer to me than my thoughts. You see through my selfishness and weakness, into my inmost self. There is not one corner of my mind that you do not know completely. That is why Jesus request that we sit at the worst table and invite poor and homeless people to our parties is not a work against nature, an opus contra naturam. Jesus is, as Mitchell wrote, seeing through our selfishness and weakness to our inmost self. When Jesus asks us to do hard things, things that stretch us and seem difficult, he is seeing through our weakness to our strength and beauty, to how wonderfully we were made. And he is calling forward those gifts and qualities. What Jesus asks of us is hard. Often very hard. 5
But he is not asking us to work against our nature, rather he is calling on our purest nature. The art of the ancient alchemists was called work against nature, opus contra naturam. The art of Jesus teaching could be called work in harmony with nature. Jesus is enjoining us to be in harmony with our best nature, our best selves. because Jesus knows, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Amen. 6