Whose Words Are We Trusting Anyway?
Good Morning Friends,
The whole idea of divided countries is in the news with the Winter Olympic Games in the mountainous country of Korea this week. We get a sense of the dynamics and tensions of this reality in our scripture from 1 Kings that applies to other parts of our divided reality in this world. And what comes to mind first is that there is a substantial contrast in the approaches of Jesus Christ and King Jeroboam. What makes the difference in outcomes is the approach of the leadership. Jesus is a just and selfless King who expects a miracle and is blessed with one. Jeroboam just does not believe God will deliver and is ultimately doomed because of it. Friends, what we believe makes all the difference. Whose Words Are We Trusting Anyway?
Scripture: Then Jeroboam said to himself, “Now the kingdom may well revert to the house of David. If this people continues to go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, the heart of this people will turn again to their master, King Rehoboam of Judah; they will kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.” So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold. He said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one at Bethel and before the other as far as Dan. He also made houses on high places, and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not Levites. Jeroboam appointed a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the festival that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar; so he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. Even after this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people; any who wanted to be priests he consecrated for the high places. This matter became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.
1 Kings 12:26-32; 13:33-34 (NRSV)
In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way—and some of them have come from a great distance.” His disciples replied, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?” He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
Mark 8:1-10 (NRSV)
Message: Yesterday I asked a question as always and one of my friends, Malcolm King, answered it in a way that is also a great message for today’s text and the world in which we live. So, with his permission I am taking a bit of a holiday. Here are Malcolm’s thoughts:
Without going too deep, I might suggest that there is only one response when words and/or actions divide us. That response must be reconciliation. What makes reconciliation so hard is that it must begin with the person(s) who feels damaged. This is not to say that the one who “feels” damaged is always in the right, but this one is always the one who believes they have the right to justice… and for reconciliation to take place, this one must give up her/his right to justice.
This is essentially what God does with the cross and the resurrection. This is what Jesus does when he approaches Peter on the seashore after the resurrection and asks him to feed his sheep. This is what the Church is called to do when it is persecuted and rejected in the town square.
Unfortunately, today’s way of dealing with hurtful words and actions is not only to demand justice, but to require a complete annihilation of those whom we “feel” have harmed us. Pick any conflict in the news today and you will find a demand for recompense that attempts to erase the other side from the pages of history. There is never a request for reconciliation and renewal for all involved; there is only a demand for vengeance that ends up harming everyone involved.
I hear way too many Church folk claiming that we need to recover “our” place in the American narrative. This would be okay, if they meant that the Church would be a mediator for reconciliation. But, what they really mean is that they want the Church, and its “postmodern” understanding of the Gospel, to become the legal and moral “interpreters” of our society. It is ironic how Christians decry the Islamic demand for Sharia law in their countries, but seek the same thing in our nation. What is surprising is surprising to me is that this demand comes from both the right and the left.
Only grace and mercy can lead to peace. Justice is blind, and she will always come up short. We need only to look at the cross to understand this. Unfortunately, we have tuned out these last words of Jesus, “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”
hesed ve shalom,
m
Pray we be reconciled. Pray we not seek just our own counsel but engage others as well. Pray
we not worship the wrong god. Pray we not worship in the wrong manner or with the wrong motives. Pray instead we have faith in the provision of the God of miracles who multiples what seems insignificant into what is more than sufficient. Pray our motive be of love not fear. Pray we are empowered to reach out to the world with God’s love and grace. Pray we are thankful for friends we can trust. Pray we forgive and receive forgiveness. Pray we be transformed.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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