Preaching Kit - 19th October - Pentecost 19
There appears to be a theme running through all four Scriptures this week. This theme relates to the consequences of our actions. That what we do and think and say, shapes our lives for good and bad.
This is a somewhat uncomfortable reading as it places responsibility squarely on our shoulders for the choices we make. Wisdom cries out to those who have refused to listen to her. She warns that people, who ignore the wise counsel she offers, will find that those wise words will return to haunt them, when their lives fall to pieces. We could read this passage in a spiteful way – ‘you didn’t listen to me, and now a bad thing will happen to you’; but I think a more helpful way the read it is as a pastoral warning ‘pay attention to wisdom, so you can avoid the errors which will bring you great distress and anguish’.
Almost every one of us has had the experience of painful choices, which have been damaging to others, and ourselves and as we have reflected on what happened, we have realised that if we had listened to someone more carefully at the right time, we could have avoided the trauma. We say that we learn from our mistakes, I think one of the best things to learn from our mistakes is to listen more attentively to the voices of wisdom in our homes, churches and communities.
This is a classic and I think many in my congregations would be happy for it to be read almost every week. The sense of God’s glory on a cosmic scale pouring out day and night touches us deeply. Obviously, it is written in a different scientific framework, than that of expanding galaxies and planets revolving around stars. But still the sense that all creation is ‘telling the glory of God’ and ‘proclaim his handiwork’ invites us to worship God from this planet.
Then the psalmist turns to ‘the law of the Lord is perfect’ theme. Note the clear connection with the Proverbs passage: the effect of ‘the law of the Lord’ - - reviving the soul - - making wise the simple - - rejoicing the heart - - enlightening the eyes; expresses the call to be attentive to the wisdom found in the pages of scripture. Verse 11 notes: ‘Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them is great reward.’ We hear a call to pay close attention to the wisdom that speaks to us from the scriptures.
This is a powerful passage encouraging us to recognise the power of the tongue in our lives. The passage is full of images of the impact of the tongue – the power of language: bits in the mouths of horses, rudders on ships, the small fire that sets the forest alight. The way we speak and the images we use in speech, have great power to shape peoples lives. It is increasingly frustrating to see the way the media can use its ability to pick and choose quotations, often taken out of context, to shape how we think about issues and people. In our everyday lives, we can often choose to speak words of encouragement and affirmation or words of judgement and criticism. As preachers, we have opportunities to create language that builds up or tears down, and I think concerns about our choices in this area are behind the sober warning in verse 1.
Again, we are back with the theme of the choices we make and their consequences for ourselves and others. Every word that comes out of our mouths has potential for good or harm. Every image we chose to communicate can likewise be positive or negative. The words and images that we allow into our minds and hearts also have consequences in terms of the sort of people we become. How are images like the Twin Towers, régime change in Afghanistan and war in Iraq affecting how we cope with people we don’t relate easily to? Do we allow the mature voices of wisdom and compassion to be heard by us and through us, or do we settle for simplistic and superficial language that reinforces the status quo in thought and action?
There is some powerful language used in this passage – Peter’s declaration ‘you are the Messiah’ will give shape to the disciples’ perception of Jesus from this point on. Peter’s choice to use the messiah language of Jesus has had far reaching consequences in the lives of Christians ever since. But it is more than choosing one word over another; it is the naming of a reality Peter and the disciples have observed. There are times when someone uses an expression, which so resonates with the reality they are describing, that it redefines how people see things. I think this is what is happening with Peter, rather than choosing an expression that creates the perception that Jesus is the Messiah, he finds a word, which resonates with the perception, which was already growing among the disciples.
However, Peter could have chosen not to name this perception of who Jesus was. He could have played it safe and used an expression like ‘you’re the son of Mary’ or ‘you’re the Galilee prophet’. There are times when the act of naming what is going on, takes real courage. In contrast, a failure to give expression to what is happening is a failure of courage. As preachers we often face the dilemma, do we speak of comfortable non-controversial things, or do we adopt the mantle of the prophet and speak courageously of the realities we observe around us.
There is another power image in this passage, which also has implications in terms of the theme of the consequences of our actions. Jesus says: “Let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me”. Even before Jesus’ own death by crucifixion, this must have been an immensely powerful image. The people seen dragging their crosses through city streets were identified as people about to have their lives ended. None of these people would be seen alive again. So the invitation to ‘take up your cross and follow’, was a clear invitation to costly and demanding discipleship.
Following Jesus’ death and resurrection, the image of the ‘cross carrying disciple’, gained even more significance among the early Christians. The ‘cross carrying disciple’ embarks on a journey where the consequence of our actions are immense. You don’t pick up your cross to follow Jesus, and then change your mind. Discipleship is a permanent choice, more like becoming a parent than choosing a career. The image of carrying a cross emphasizes how significant the consequences of that choice are. Life can never be the same again, for those who take up their cross and follow Jesus.
Explore one of the powerful images used in these passages, for example: Taming the tongue, or being a ‘cross carrying disciple’, or the nature of true wisdom, or the significance of Peter’s confession that ‘Jesus is the Messiah’.
Where Could I Go [Ps 139] – Natalie Yule Yeoman
Journeying God, we have decided again today to follow you on this journey called faith. Today we take up our cross as you did and follow in your footsteps. Help us to be faithful disciples through all the experiences of this life, to live with dignity and integrity, and to stay faithful to the end. Amen.
Reading through these passages I am drawn to the theme of ‘The Two Ways’, a biblical theme developed in both the rabbinic tradition and the writings of the apostolic tradition especially ‘The Didache’ and ‘The Epistle of Barnabas’. To quote the Didache, which is dated around 100CE, ‘There are two ways: the one is that of life and the other is that of death. There is a great difference between the two ways. The way of life is this: first you shall love the God who made you, you shall love your neighbour as yourself. Everything that you do not wish to be done to you, do not do to another!’ and it then proceeds to summarise Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. The way of death is described like this: ‘It is the way of those who persecute the good and hate the truth, who love lying and do not know the reward of righteousness, who do not cleave to the good and to just judgement…’
The theme of the two ways of life has been an ongoing theme in Christian thinking and preaching, down though the centuries and into our own. Coupled with this is the recognition that we have a choice about which path we take and that through appropriate guidance we can influence the choices of others. The conviction that there are two ways to live underpins diverse movements like evangelicalism, the peace movement, values education and campaigns for tougher sentencing. Each encourages people to choose the better way of life over ways that are destructive and harmful.
This clearly depicts the two ways and in some versions has the title ‘The Two Ways’ for this psalm. The ‘Happy’ or ‘Blessed’ people are those who have the wisdom to see the dangers inherent in the lifestyles of people described as wicked, sinners and scoffers. The psalm doesn’t describe the characteristics of the two ways, but provides a timely warning to choose the way of those the Lord watches over - the way of the righteous - vs 6. In this psalm, we see the clear implication that God is not neutral towards the two ways, but that God will take care of those who choose the way of life.
We could have long discussions around the implications in this passage in terms of the roles of women and wives in general. But I think it is more helpful to see this as a specific tribute from one husband to his wife. This man wants to praise his wife and draw attention to her many skills and the characteristics he admires. It could be a helpful exercise for us to paraphrase this passage for the important people in our lives, wives, husbands, partners, children, mothers and fathers, best friends.
If Psalm 1 is a little short on the detail of the characteristics of the way of life, this Proverbs passage provides lots of examples: trust, care, faithfulness, diligence, using skills well, business sense, compassion for the poor and needy, careful planning, strength, dignity, wisdom, and faith. If we want to live the way of life and avoid the way of death, nurturing these characteristics is a good place to start.
Again a contrast is being drawn between two ways, the title in my Bible is ‘Two Kinds Of Wisdom’. One way is described as earthly, unspiritual and devilish with characteristics like bitter envy, selfish ambition, falsehood and disorder identified. In contrast, the wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. It is clear in which category the woman described in Proverbs 31 fits. She virtually personifies the way of genuine wisdom.
James chapter 4 reminds us how common ‘conflict and disputes’ are among Christian communities. From the beginning until now, being ‘peaceable’ has been an elusive characteristic among the followers of Jesus. Even those who are passionate about the way of life, find that the dangers of conflict are never far away. Once conflict and disputes enter the Christian community, the hand of the way of death falls heavily on us. I think James is right to highlight this area of Christian discipleship as a matter of utmost concern. His advice to divided communities is strong and to the point “Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you”. This is an area where we need to go back to the basics of faith, recognising that conflict among Christians has the potential to turn us from the way of life to the way of death. We need to turn back to God and resist the evil, which is knocking at the door of our lives.
Our passage concludes in hope “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”. God is more eager than we are, to draw us into the way of life and away from the way of death. In the midst of conflict and disharmony, wherever you find it, it’s good to make some ‘God space’ in your life, an opportunity to let God minister to you and show you how to deal with the challenges disharmony poses.
In this passage disharmony and conflict have entered into the fledgling Jesus community, even as Jesus is teaching about his immanent death and the resurrection to follow. We often are amazed that when Jesus died, the disciples didn’t anticipate the resurrection. One of the reasons for this seems to be that while Jesus was telling them, their minds were preoccupied with the question of ‘who is the greatest’. Their questions of personal status blocked their ears to Jesus’ vital teaching about what would happen in Jerusalem. It is amazing how often in the Church we become preoccupied with status questions and issues related to who has power, and more vital subjects get overlooked. We need to remember James’ words about resisting evil – the temptation to be preoccupied with status – and submitting to God’s ways of living.
This passage from Mark again highlights the two ways. Jesus is talking about how his life would end, but that the end was the end of a chapter, not the end of the story. Jesus is talking about how even in the midst of apparent tragedy, God’s grace pours out. The way of life! But in contrast, the disciples are preoccupied with, to use James’ words, ‘bitter envy’ and ‘selfish ambition’. The way of death! So, the two ways collide once again.
Consider the tribute in Proverbs from a husband to his wife, and discuss ways we can affirm others especially those we are closest to.
* Each parish in Otago and Southland received a free copy of Natalie’s CD ‘Cloud and Fire’ funded by the Synod. Northerners might like to purchase a copy from her c/- the Mosgiel Parish.
Loving God, today we again face the choice between two ways, two paths, two journeys – one is the way of life, the other the way of death. Help us to choose the better way. We want to be your people living in ways that celebrate life and create life, but often we turn aside into destructive choices. Place your hands on us again today and guide us towards ways of love, compassion and hope and let your grace pour into our world through us. Amen.
You might want to play around with the actual recommended readings this week. My suggestions are indicated above in brackets with question marks. I can’t see the point of missing out verse 8 in the Esther reading unless your congregations are particularly squeamish – the death of Ha’man being partly related to the king’s assumption about what Ha’man was doing to the Queen in verse 8. The other suggestion in Mark, to start reading from verse 36, is because it gives context to John’s question which follows. This does mean an overlap with last week’s gospel reading, but I don’t think that will hurt.
This week I can see a theme which runs through the first three readings, but not into the gospel. It is to do with the importance of prayer, and how God responds to the urgent prayers of people.
A passage like this is an invitation to read or remember the whole amazing story of Esther, Mordecai and Ha’man. A story full of threat and grace and the good guys beating the evil ones. You can see why this story became commemorated in the annual celebration noted in chapter 9; it includes all the ingredients of a great story. At the heart is the desperate cry of the Hebrew exiles to God to save them – a prayer that was answered very dramatically. I will never recall this story without remembering a sermon by Rev Bev Holt - one of the early female kiwi Baptist ministers- on the text ‘You were called to the kingdom for such a time as this’. These words are spoken by Mordecai to Esther [chapter 4 verse 14]. There are times in each of our lives when those words ring true for us and we know that God has called us to do something courageous, for which we have been prepared over many years. This passage shows us the courage of this young woman who recognised that her position in royal society placed responsibility on her shoulders. It also encourages us to receive God’s call to courageous living in the places God has placed us, whether we enjoy a life of privilege or not.
This psalm clearly resonates with the experiences of the Hebrew people described in Esther. Their enemies attacking, ‘their anger kindled against us’, the image of a flood sweeping the people away, and being ‘given as prey to their teeth’. This is a psalm attributed to David, or at least the collection of psalms associated with David. So the circumstances will be a different set of threats and enemies, possibly Saul’s campaign to hunt David down. But they apply powerfully to Esther’s situation and to countless numbers of ‘threats’ and ‘enemies’ since then. The message of the psalm rings true in every generation and to every person faced with any ‘threat’; that if God hadn’t been at our side, we would have been swallowed alive. God’s powerful presence as our rescuer, our Saviour, is a passionate theme of the faith of the people of God through the generations.
This is one of the classic passages about prayer among Christians. The basic message is - if you’ve got trouble, pray. Whatever the trouble – whether sickness or sinfulness or lack of rain or someone struggling with their faith journey – pray. There is community language used of this praying - pray for yourself, pray for others, ask the church leaders to pray. The basic assumption is that part of our responsibilities to each other in churches is to pray for one another especially when we are in trouble. This is advice which the Hebrews in Esther’s day understood and took seriously. Faced with an enormous threat to their ethnic survival, they turned to God in prayer, ‘with fasting, weeping and lamenting’.
James refers to a different example of faith-filled prayer, that of Elijah. His prayers were about rain, and the rain gauge in rural Israel, was as accurate an economic indicator, as any of our modern measurements of economic growth. Elijah is an example that the prayers of ‘the righteous’ are powerful and effective. James encourages us to pray because he is convinced that God hears and responds to our prayers. This is a conviction shared by the psalmist and the characters in the Esther story.
An interesting contrast in attitude is seen between Jesus and his disciple John in this passage. Jesus takes a child and says that anyone who welcomes a child in his name, welcomes him and the one who sent him. In contrast John says that they stopped people casting out demons in Jesus’ name, because they weren’t following ‘us’. This is a question the church has often wrestled with – to what extent do we allow people to engage in ministry who are not strongly identified with us, our congregation, our denomination, and our style of being a Christian. Who do we let preach in church, or lead youth group or children’s ministries. This is becoming an increasingly key issue as postmodern culture impacts the church; because increasingly people are reluctant to join the church formally, but they still wish to actively engaged in the mission of the church.
Jesus’ response to John is “Do not stop him ….Whoever is not against us is for us”. The way I read Jesus’ response is to not be overly concerned about membership in faith communities, but instead to encourage participation in the mission of Jesus. It is as we participate in what Jesus is about, that a sense of belonging grows to others who also participate in what Jesus is doing.
The final section of Mark 9 is straight to the point. Do not put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in Jesus. Jesus shows how serious he is by talking dramatically about millstones around necks and cutting off hands and feet. It is serious business to be the cause of anyone stumbling in their faith; whether it is turning children back who want to see Jesus, or telling those ministering in Jesus’ name that they can’t. In the history of the church we have been better at telling people not to minister in Jesus’ name, than we have been at enabling ministry to happen. So we need to take careful note of Jesus’ warning here. It is good to place this warning alongside James 5: 19 which commends those who, rather than being stumbling blocks, help the wanderers return to the fold.
Consider the issues related to authority, participation and belonging in the mission of Jesus, based around the gospel reading.
Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace
Lord may we live with Esther’s courage and Mordecai’s faithfulness in hostile times. Let us hear Mordecai’s words to Esther as your word to us today: ‘You were called to the kingdom for such a time as this’. We hear your call to live as your people in our world. We respond in courage and faithfulness and pledge ourselves to walk the way of the cross in our communities this week. Lord give us the strength we need to face the challenges of this week. In the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
This week the lectionary kicks off readings from two new books; Hebrews where the selections continue until November 23rd and Job where the selections run for 4 weeks. Both are books many of us place in the ‘too hard basket’, because they require a high level of concentration and don’t lend themselves to passage by passage exegesis or easy application to the preaching task.
I was interested in a pastoral conversation I had recently, where someone suggested to her partner that he read Job, because some of his key hopes for the future had been dashed. We ended up talking about how some scriptures are there to help us in particular seasons of our lives, and that Job is a book for the hard times. In these first few chapters, Job’s life completely falls apart in absolutely devastating ways. He loses his property, his children, his health and his unsympathetic wife suggests he throw away his faith as well.
The bulk of the rest of this book consists of conversations and/or speeches between Job and three so called friends who try to argue that Job must have done something really bad to be punished by God so cruelly. Job’s argument and the message of the book is that suffering is not always a consequence of personal fault. That it is possible to be good and faithful, yet still experience suffering. The common view that those who suffer must have earnt it in some way, also lies behind the comments at the beginning of Luke chapter 13. Jesus indicates that those who died when Pilate massacred Galileans or when the tower of Saloam collapsed in Jerusalem were no worse than everyone else.
The associations people have between success and holiness, and suffering and sin is challenged in both passages. Yet we continue to believe at some fundamental level that those who do well in business, family and health, must be good people and those who suffer and experience calamity must be personally at fault. But these scriptures teach otherwise, and suggest that sometimes suffering is a sign of a godly life. It will be interesting to apply this insight to the gospel reading which touches on a significant area of suffering in our communities – divorce.
This psalm reflects the struggles in Job’s life, someone who has lived in integrity and trusted without wavering in the Lord (v1) and is devoted to the worship of God (v7) finds life threatened by the bloodthirsty and those in whose hands are evil devices and whose right hands are full of bribes (v10). In the face of such attacks the palmist is determined to walk in integrity, rely on God and look forward to blessing the Lord in the great congregation (vs 11-12). Here we see really courageous faith in the face of cruelty and hostility. The first part of verse 1 is a prayer ‘Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity’. This is the prayer of Job and countless others who have faced cruel challenges to the integrity of their faith down through the centuries. Possibly there will be people in your congregation on Sunday morning who have faced such attacks on their integrity and their faith in God.
It appears that Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were facing hostility from their fellow Jews because they had followed Jesus. They were facing significant attacks on the integrity of their faith because they recognised Jesus as their Messiah. Hebrews emphasises the humanity of Jesus more than any other book in the New Testament, apart from the gospels. It also emphasises the role of Jesus as mediator between God and humanity, the one who brings forgiveness once and for all.
There is a lot in the Hebrew readings, but can I particularly comment on suffering as this is the theme we are seeing through all the readings this week. Why in verse 9 is Jesus to be crowned with glory and honour? It is because of the suffering of death. Alongside the righteous suffering of Job and the psalmist, we now place Jesus’ suffering which focuses on his death – the Cross. The writer of Hebrews notes that it was fitting that God ‘should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings’. This raises the discussion about suffering to a new level, rather than just denying that suffering is a symptom of ungodliness, we now have the view that suffering is the means by which even Jesus is made perfect. The implication is that the suffering that the Jewish Christians are experiencing from other Jews because of their faith, is perfecting them in a way comparable to Jesus’ perfection through his sufferings. From this point on, suffering gains a noble place in the experiences of Christian people, seen as a sign of divine blessing and the means by which God is perfecting the saints, rather than the curse of suffering understood by Job’s friends.
These reflections on suffering bring us to this reading on divorce with different, hopefully more compassionate, eyes. I’d like to suggest that what Jesus is saying here is motivated by compassion for those suffering the effects of divorce, rather than imposing unbending rules. Apparently a pattern had developed among some Jews sometimes described as ‘serial divorce’ where all the power lay with the husbands. It was possible for men to dismiss their wives with the slightest of provocations. This lead to some men having a sequence of short term marriages and the divorced women being thrown into serious poverty through lack of financial support. It was the suffering of the women that Jesus was responding to. In that context, Jesus was saying what was going on was wrong and to allow it to continue would be to sanction injustice.
However I don’t believe Jesus’ words apply to the situation true of most modern divorces where the dissolution occurs with a degree of mutual consent, with opportunity for dialogue and counseling and where the welfare state provides a degree of financial support (especially where children are involved) and society supports the earning capacity of women. The injustice of women being cast adrift into poverty and long term misery, true of Jesus’ time, is not present in the cases of most modern divorce settlements.
The theme which runs through all our readings is suffering and appropriate responses to it. They call us to understand suffering in a healthier way, rejecting the view of suffering as punishment, but instead seeing it as an experience God uses to shape us into the people we are made to be. The gospel reading, in particular, alerts us to respond with compassion to those suffering from injustice in our world.
If you feel like a challenge you might tackle the NT teaching on divorce.
Lead Kindly Light
Help us Lord, when we face hardship and suffering. Help us to see these times as opportunities to experience more of your grace in our lives. Help us to grow through the experiences, even when our hearts are breaking and our mouths are shouting ‘unfair’, ‘unfair’. Lord you knew real and painful suffering, so we place our lives in your hands in all our sufferings, and ask for your gentle care. We pray for people we know who are suffering today and trust you to sustain them in their day in the shadows. God of all sufferers, we ask for your generous love for all who cry out to you. Amen.
The New RSV heads chapter 23 with the words ‘Job Replies: My Complaint Is Bitter’ and the previous chapter heading is “Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great’. Obviously the intensity of the conflict with Job’s comforters / tormentors is getting worse. Eliphaz inflames the situation with these words (22 vs 5 ff) “Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities … you have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.” In response Job wishes to track God down (v3) so he could ‘present his case’ and argue with God and then get an answer from God (v5). Underlying this section is the conviction that God is reasonable and can be reasoned with, even in an extreme situation. That our God and judge will treat everyone fairly, a conviction that goes right against Job’s experiences up to this point.
Verse 8 and 9 are reversed in psalm 139 vs 7 – 12. One describes the absence or hiddeness of God and the other God’s presence everywhere. In a sense both realities are true simultaneously. God is present with us, but not always perceived to be present. In the valley of the shadow, our eyes seem blind to the presence of the one we seek so desperately and urgently. A central part of Job’s suffering is spiritual, the feeling that God has abandoned him, and closed his ears to Job’s anguished cries.
The chapter finishes with a terrified Job, frightened deeply by his experience of the hiddeness of God ‘the Almighty has terrified me’, he says. The darkness has hidden God from him, now he prays that he could vanish into that same darkness and be hidden from God in return. Strange though it might seem, often it is in the darkness that we find God most deeply and powerfully.
If the opening words of this psalm sound familiar – read the gospel accounts of the crucifixion. At Jesus’ darkest moment he cries out in the words of this psalm ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me’. These words could just as easily be placed on the lips of Job in his darkness of the soul. But they originate in the life of David at a time he felt encircled by bulls (v12) and at the point of being dismembered by ‘a ravening and roaring lion’ (v13), not to mention the dogs (vs 16, 20). These are images of vulnerability in the face of the ruthless and aggressive enemy. The psalmist searches for God not in placidness and stillness, but in the cut and thrust of political intrigue and amidst the violence of injustice. Like Job, like Jesus, the psalmist doesn’t give up on his search for God, even in his darkest hour. Perhaps the signs of true faith are not the success stories, but what happens when we think God has forsaken us, in the dark night of the soul.
Isn’t it amazing how the Word of God cuts into our lives with such power. Words on a page seem so passive, but God’s Word to us, inspired and empowered through the Spirit, really is living and active, transforming people and churches and communities. The image of a double edged sword wouldn’t be my image of choice for the living and active Word – but there is no denying that when God’s Word impacts our lives, it cuts deep into the spirit and the marrow of our lives.
It would have been great if Job and David could have picked up their Bibles and read Hebrews 4: 15, because it really would have been a living and active word of God to them. Knowing that Jesus is able to sympathise with us in our weaknesses, and has been tested as we are, makes all the difference as we experience the harsh times, when God seems to disappear into the darkness. Knowing that Jesus has been through it all, gives us confidence to approach God with boldness, to receive mercy and grace in times of need. These are powerful and comforting words – living and active – especially when going through the experiences reflected in our readings from Psalms and Job.
Wealth and possessions can have a major impact on the lives of people. After a while it becomes almost impossible to give them up. You don’t have to be involved in parish ministry long to know that wealth does not bring happiness – often the opposite. How many have said if they win lotto they will give half to charity – how few have. Another interesting question is if wealthy Job had met Jesus and been asked to give away his wealth to the poor, would he have been able to do it. I think it is easier to have wealth taken from you, than to give it away.
The rich man in this passage was shocked by what Jesus said. He expected Jesus to be impressed by his keeping of the 10 commandments – and Jesus was. But he didn’t expect Jesus to challenge him so deeply over financial matters and I think he was just as shocked by his own reaction. Because few of us recognise how important possessions are to us, until we are asked to give them up. The hold possessions have over us has a very spiritual dynamic to it. We need deliverance from its hold on us. Perhaps this is why Jesus says in vs 23 ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of heaven.’ Perhaps this is another instance of the word of God cutting deeply and uncomfortably into our souls.
Jesus got everyone’s attention that day and they asked each other ‘Then who can be saved?’ Societies have a habit of implying that the wealthy and powerful and economically successful, will be in the front row when rewards are handed out. So the people were astounded to hear that the wealthy would have difficulty even getting through the front gate into the kingdom – the response is almost ‘if they can’t be saved, how can we’. Jesus response indicates that God doesn’t buy into the social hierarchies of human societies. God will have no use for the NZ rich list, because wealth and status don’t feature in the criteria for entry into the kingdom.
The last verse of our passage captures the heart of what Jesus is saying ‘But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. It’s a topsy-turvey kingdom of God, where Jesus stands our standards on their heads, and the guests to the wedding banquet come out of the back streets, not the castles. Can you hear the poor and the outcasts of Israel cheering, as the wealthy Pharisees make plans to silence the prophet of Galilee.
Try to make sense of the text ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God’ Matt 10: 23.
Where Human Voices Cannot Sing (AA, 151)
God of shadows and light, our preference is to experience you in the strong light of your glory, but often you come to us through the valley of the shadow, bringing comfort and reassurance in the toughest times. Today we ask that you would touch those people we know who are walking in the valley of the shadow, give them your comfort and renew their hope with your loving presence. We ask that we would be beacons of light in their lives, reflecting you compassion and grace. Amen.
Finally Job hears from God. After all the silence God speaks. Notice God speaks out of the whirlwind, and remember it was the windstorm that killed his children. God doesn’t always speak to us from a place a safety and security, sometimes God speaks out of danger and our deepest fears. God’s response to Job covers 4 long chapters, where to be quite frank, Job is put in his place by the Almighty. Instead of answering Job’s questions about why he is suffering, God has questions of his own, fired one after another. The emphasis is that God is God, and is intimately involved in the everyday cycles of ecosystems and the universe. A fine example is verse 39, ‘can you hunt prey for the lion' emphasizing how God is seen as the creator and sustainer of all things, even underlying the instincts of the law of the jungle. God chides Job for not recognising how thorough and extensive is God’s involvement with all creation. These chapters contain a litany of aspects of creation that are beyond the control of humanity, but not out of God’s control.
Often in the face of our endless questions about why hard things happen to us, God’s response is to point to the creation beyond our control, and invite us to recognise the smallness of our influence in contrast with the greatness and diversity of the world we inhabit. We in the 21st century feel we have control over our environment beyond the imaginings of our predecessors, but still most of what happens in ‘our’ world is beyond our power to control. Perhaps one of the most significant lessons of suffering is that we are small actors in the total scheme of things, and that only God has the perspective and power to be God. In the face of suffering we need to accept that we are human and not ‘gods’; worshippers – not controllers of our own destiny. Too much success distorts our perception of things; suffering brings the humility we need to see things as they really are.
Here the psalmist acknowledges God as the creator and sustainer of all things. The language used of the world, as with Job, is pre-scientific using expressions like, ‘stretching out the heavens like a tent’ and God ‘setting the earth on its foundations’, implying that the elements behave in response to God’s directives. A contrast to today where we talk about ‘natural disasters’ and become defensive when disasters are refered to as ‘acts of God’. But note verse 24, the heart of the worship of the psalm, where God is worshiped for creation and the amazing insightful wisdom reflected in every aspect of creation. Sometimes we just need to get our heads out of the world of people and machines, and allow God to speak to us through the wonder of this world, created for all to enjoy.
Hebrews is living up to its reputation and getting complicated. As I read it there are two varieties of priesthood identified in Hebrews. One is the run of the mill everyday priesthood of the Israelites, the other is an exceptional priesthood where only two people are identified, Jesus and Melchezedek, who features in Gen 14: 17ff. Melchezedek is identified as king of Salem (possibly Jerusalem) and as priest of El Elyon (God Most High). He brought bread and wine to Abraham, and the Christian tradition has tended to make associations with communion, for obvious reasons. Hebrews 7 describes Melchezedek as king of righteousness and king of peace. Whatever you make of all this, the writer of Hebrews uses Melchizedek as a way of distinguishing Jesus’ priestly role from that of the Israelite priesthood.
Again we have the theme of Jesus being perfected through suffering (vs 8, 9). I love verse 2, ‘he is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness’. If that is a cause and consequence statement, let’s pray for more weakness in the church, so we can respond with more gentleness towards each other.
This is a more familiar reading for most of us and has much relevance in the middle of the power struggles which sadly happen too often in the church. The seats at Jesus’ left and right, were seen as places on honour and power. Like cabinet rankings, where PM is no. 1 and deputy PM is number 2 and a major portfolio is ranked no 3. James and John were trying to get the jump on the others, but provided Jesus with the right platform to teach about how leadership should function in the church. The servant leadership model may be out of vogue in the PCANZ, but it is still here in the Bible. Jesus says to the early leaders of the church that they need to adopt the mindset of servants not tyrants, in contrast with the leadership styles of the world around us. It seems that the best of business and political leadership recognises that empowerment, rather than control, works best. Since Jesus has been so direct, it is strange that Christians find the concept novel. Maybe this is because being servants to God’s people is such a challenging way to live.
In the centre of this reading is an exchange with Jesus, James and John which finishes with Jesus saying ‘the cup that I drink you will drink; and the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. Clearly, by hindsight, a reference to his suffering on the cross and their suffering for the gospel. It is interesting to note that James was the first martyr among the apostles, killed by Herod ‘with the sword’ (Acts 12: 2) and John outlived the rest yet suffered much for his faith including lengthy imprisonment on the Island of Patmos.
God’s response to Job’s questions doesn’t amount to an answer. You might want to look into how God uses suffering to teach us that we need to have a different perspective. ‘Perhaps one of the most significant lessons of suffering is that we are small actors in the total scheme of things, and that only God has the perspective and power to be God.’
Tell My people I Love Them (AA, 132)
Creator God we worship you. Your hand is seen in every corner of creation, the sky and galaxies beyond, the sea teaming with life hidden from view, the land giving room to live and grow. Your stabilizing hand is seen in every ecosystem, the lion hunting for prey, the kiwi scurrying around searching for worms, the grass growing and being eaten by sheep, the mountain forest teaming with bird life, each seeking food for their young.
“O Lord how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures”.
Show us how to be better caretakers of all you have made and how to live in our environment in sustaining ways. Amen.