Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany: The First Followers of Christ and Today's "Christians"

Deliberate imperfection? + Brian Driscoll, my new FBI hero + 136,000 HIV infected children = an "abomination" for "Christians?" + "Come Ye Sinners"

Feb 09, 2025

I. LOOK:

I took this photo in the produce section of the grocery store where my wife and I shopped the other evening. The colors first caught my eye. Then I noticed the organization of the peppers and how care was clearly taken to align them just so (particularly the white ones on the left.)

I thought for a moment about moving the two out of place red peppers from where they were mis-placed. I resisted this adjustment as I appreciate the imperfection on display here.

And I wondered how this happened. Did a customer decide against buying those peppers and thus quickly returned them to the display? Was the produce clerk who set these baskets, in a pickle about where to place the overflow peppers - and so they put this pair close, but not quite in their proper home?

Or, might this have been made as an intentional statement about imperfection, like the Navajo blanket weavers make in their work:

The Navajos also believe that only God is perfect and that humans cannot achieve the same perfect level. So, they make sure to leave little imperfection in anything they create. Usually, one has to look very close to find the imperfection, so it does not detract from the beauty of the item. It might be a loose piece of yarn, or a different colored bead. [From: “The Art of Deliberate Imperfection”]

As Planetary Pilgrims, we are invited to pay attention to where our earth is in its annual trek around the sun as well as where our moon - Luna - is in its 28 day cycle around Earth.

So, as of this writing (10:45pm on Saturday):

The Spring Equinox arrives (3/20/25, 5:01am) where I live in 39 days, 5 hours, 17 minutes

Luna is in the waxing (increasing) gibbous or 88% of full.

II. FEEL - When it comes right down to it, there are three basic human emotions/motivators - LOVE, Fear, Anger.

I place LOVE first as “willing the good of another” is aspirational and our deepest longing. It is expansive, transformative, often light-hearted - and the highest goal.

I have a new hero. It’s this guy (and his mustache):

Heard his story yet? Check it out here (NYT Gift Article Link):

Here’s my favorite part of this excellent story:

Following the 2024 presidential election, the Trump transition team asked Driscoll to serve as Deputy Director of the FBI.
However, due to a mistake on the White House website, Driscoll was incorrectly listed as the acting director, and Robert Kissane was listed as the deputy director.
Instead of correcting the error, the roles were swapped, and Driscoll became the acting director when Donald Trump took office in January 2025.
[From: https://ticklethewire.com/brian-driscoll-becomes-symbol-of-fbi-resistance-amid-justice-department-scrutiny/]

Driscoll has become such an inspirational figure to the FBI agents who are being targeted in retribution for investigating T-Rump’s crimes that they’ve created and circulated memes like these:

Fear (which is empathetic) leads us to feel concern about harms which will result from action/inaction.

The abrupt, almost certainly illegal shutdown of US AID will cause great harm to the people Jesus called “the least of these” as well as to the way the world views the U.S.A.

USAID is responsible for the most successful international health program of the 21st century. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, created in 2003 by President George W. Bush to combat HIV globally, has saved an estimated 26 million lives over the past 22 years. It currently helps supply HIV medicines to 20 million people, and it funds HIV testing and jobs for thousands of health care workers, mainly in Africa.
That all ground to a halt this week. Since receiving the U.S. government’s stop-work orders, contractors who manage the program say they have so far received little communication about what work they will be allowed to continue, or when. They are not allowed to hand out medicines already bought and sitting on shelves.
If the exemption waivers don’t come through, policy analysts and HIV advocates say the full 90-day suspension of those programs would have disastrous consequences. More than 222,000 people pick up HIV treatment every day through the program, according to an analysis by amFAR, a nonprofit dedicated to AIDS research and advocacy. As of Friday morning, those orders had not been lifted, according to three people with direct knowledge.
Up through last week, PEPFAR was providing HIV treatment to an estimated 680,000 pregnant women, the majority of whom are in Africa. A 90-day stoppage could lead to an estimated 136,000 babies acquiring HIV, according to the amfAR analysis. Since HIV testing services are also suspended, many of those could go undiagnosed. [From: https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-state-department-usaid-humanitarian-aid-freeze-ukraine-gaza-sudan, Published on 1/31/25]

Let that number sink in for a moment - 136,000 babies could get HIV because of the recklessness of T-Rump/Musk.

This is harm which will result as a direct result of the ceasing of just one of the vast number of life-saving programs supported by US AID.

Staggering. Shameful. And most of all - UNNECESSARY!

Anger, a derivative of fear, is a lashing out against whom or what we fear.

I did see this quote from a “Christian” influencer:

Scott Ross, a Texas-based leadership coach and self-described “Orthodox Christian,” called the move “an abomination.”
[Ross continued] “Arguably, this is the worst and most dangerous thing President Trump has done…

Another “Christian” leader also had this to say:

Conservative commentator Jon Root, who typically posts in support of Trump, wrote, “This is the worst decision President Trump has made since taking office…

These “Christians” are surely defending the vulnerable and standing with the 136,000 babies who will get HIV because of T-Rump’s cruel decision, right?

NOPE. These quotes are from this article published on 2/8/25:

Here’s another quote from this article:

Even though President Trump is enforcing laws that line up with our values, that doesn’t mean he has any clue what biblical Christianity is or why it matters,” Christian podcast host John Mason wrote on X. “Paula White is a known heretic and known false teacher who has no regard for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

And to be fair to “Orthodox Christian” Scott Ross, his full quote from the article reads:

“Paula White, head of Trump’s White House Faith Office, is no Christian leader,” he wrote. “She preaches the heresies of Word of Faith & Prosperity Gospel, both utterly opposed to authentic Christianity. Worse, she has lived a life of scandal, with multiple husbands, twisting the Gospel for profit….
“Arguably, this is the worst and most dangerous thing President Trump has done—putting a false teacher at the helm of faith outreach. Lord, have mercy on our country and this administration,” Ross added.

And the whole quote from Jon Root:

“This is the worst decision President Trump has made since taking office… Paula White is a heretic, who pedals the prosperity gospel. Plus, women should not be pastors according to The Bible.”

God, please help us.

III. LISTEN - In this section, we place a source of wisdom in dialog with what’s going on around us.

The lectionary gospel for today is the well-known story about Jesus’ call of Peter and two of the other first apostles.

There’s many wonder-full details in this story - the crowds pressing Jesus so much that he has to teach from an offshore boat; the tired, disheartened fishermen pushing back out and reluctantly lowering their nets; and the remarkable catch of fish that threatens to break their nets - and requires help from other boats to haul it all in!

My favorite part comes next:

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. [Luke 5:8-11]

Biblical commentator Diane G. Chen in The New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Bible Commentary writes of this moment:

Most people would have focused on the miraculous catch and the fortune it would bring, but Peter immediately recognizes his unworthiness in Jesus’ numinous presence. His reaction is reminiscent of Isaiah’s cry: ‘Woe to me!’ when the prophet saw a vision of God’s throne (Is 6:1-5)
Falling on his knees, Peter entreats, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man. Jesus’ response is not a rebuke but an invitation to discipleship.

This is what discipleship looks like.

And this is NOT what discipleship looks like:

IV. WATCH this individual whom we should observe, learn from, and emulate.

Here’s my new hero once again:

In 2007, Driscoll joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a special agent. He was first assigned to the New York field office, where he worked in organized crime and later became a member of the regional SWAT team.^[1] In 2011, he was selected for the Hostage Rescue Team, the elite special operations unit of the agency, serving in the Blue Squadron.^[3] In this role, Driscoll was part of two notable raids. First, in 2013, his unit was sent to Alabama and successfully saved a five year old boy who had been taken hostage in a bunker.^[3] Two years later, he was part of a raid in Syria along with Delta Force, involved in rescue efforts of Kayla Mueller who had been taken hostage by the Islamic State. The operation led to the elimination of a top Islamic State official and the capture of his wife. [From: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/Brian_Driscoll]