Good Morning Friends,
Today is Martin Luther King Day. And many will be quoting from his I have a dream speech, but a couple of months before his death he also gave a sermon entitled “Unfulfilled Dreams.” It is worth remembering for in some ways it is more accurate of the reality in which we live. The lectionary passages interestingly are related to the righteous and eternal kingship and priesthood of Melchizedek linked to the name of the king of Jerusalem, that the book of Hebrews connects to the Messiahship of Jesus. It is about the hope of the priesthood of Melchizedek and the dream of something new in Christ appointed by God. And so, looking at today’s lectionary selection from Hebrews I am amazed that Christ as a priest would gently deal with the issue of our weakness to perfect us. And in the Gospel of Mark, I am intrigued as to how Jesus sandwiches in two parables about the trial of social change that relates to today’s question about things new and old and those things fleeting and eternal. And that prompts today’s reflection about the purpose of laws in our church and society and our response to them as we are moved to change. Maybe we cannot all be Rosa Parks or Martin Luther Kings as social advocates. But
I wonder if we are really comfortable with change that might burst us open at the seams and so ask, Do We Have A Heart For God’s Type Of Dreams And Justice To Be Our Own?
Scripture: The Lord says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”
The Lord sends out from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes.
Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day you lead your forces on the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning, like dew, your youth will come to you.
The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
Psalm 110: 1-4 (NRSV)
Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 5:1-10 (NRSV)
Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”
Mark 2:18-22 (NRSV)
Message: The thing is that we are uncomfortable with transparency when it comes to self-interest and the issue of justice. We lament our addictions and weaknesses but too often suppress them instead of use them to form us for a purpose for the Kingdom. You see, Jesus never desired pain and suffering or the cross but knew and followed the will of the Father for our salvation anyway. We are to learn from Christ’s obedience to love with greater risk. We are to learn about the challenge and cost of social change. So today we look at the problem that happens when people in the name of religion developed practices and certain rituals, they expected everyone else to follow so that they might control others. We see it in the behavior of the Pharisees confronting Jesus for not fasting and in the atrocities of the Ku Klux Klan and Nazis, and perhaps even in the excessive crime rates and lack of voting rights for incarcerated minorities in our own nation, though Florida has made some progress on this issue. As a teaching tool in response to this overall challenge of social change Jesus presents two parables, which are similar, that make the same point. The first one, about the fabric of society, says you do not put a new patch on an old garment, and the second says you do not put new wine into an old wineskin. In the first parable, if you put a new patch on an old garment, when the new patch shrinks due to washing, it will tear away from the older garment, making the tear worse. Similarly, new wine needs a new wineskin because as the new wine expands during the fermentation process, it stretches the wineskin. An old wineskin will burst under the pressure of new wine. These two parables illustrate the fact that we cannot mix old religious rituals with new faith in Jesus. Jesus’ disciples were not fasting along with the Pharisees and John’s disciples because they were now under the new covenant of grace and faith in Christ.
And So, much of life can be a series of shattered dreams. Martin Luther King points out that many of us in life start out building temples: temples of character, temples of justice, temples of peace but will never finish them. And so, we, like David, find ourselves in so many instances having to face the fact that our dreams are not fulfilled. It happened to Moses. It happened to David. It happened to the Apostle Paul. It happened to Mahatma Gandhi. The point King makes in his Unrealized Dreams sermon is that the work of social change can be dismal and trying, and tribulations will come. But if you have faith in the God, it does not matter. For you can stand up amid the storms and the thunder and lightning, and Jesus will encourage you to fight on for He will never leave you alone. And when you get this faith, you can walk with your feet solid to the ground and your head to the air, and you have no fear of what comes before you. God is everywhere we turn we find him. We can never escape him. And that is what matters most.
Pray we realize that God’s laws were made for humans not humans for the law. Pray we develop spiritual integrity. Pray we have hope in the face of dreams not yet realized. Pray we realize that to have a dream in our hearts is to achieve something very important in and of itself. Pray because of our deep hope in Christ we are set free to love in a way that helps the dream to be realized. Pray our deep hope in Christ awakens us from our false sense of worldly comfort and prepares the way for social change and personal transformation. Pray we acknowledge that something has gone awry, and we have a responsibility to confront it by embracing a new way. Pray we choose not to live within the myth that there is always a direct correlation between a person’s social class and their personal character. Pray we find peace, but not a peace predicated upon tyranny and terrorizing others. Pray we do not wait to love. Pray we do not wait to extend God’s grace. Pray we do not wait to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before God. Pray we do not wait to repent and prepare the way for the one who has and will give us perfect peace. Pray we do not deceive ourselves about the challenge of our society’s addictions. Pray we are honest and transparent in our expression of feelings of pain and suffering and sorrow. Pray our feeling of pain and suffering can help us to know Christ. Pray we submit to a higher calling. Pray despite the pain and suffering in our lives we never feel that God is distant and never wonder if our prayers are heard. Pray that when we suffer, we immediately turn to prayer. Pray we realize that there is no escaping the presence and awareness of God if we choose to love beyond identity politics. Pray we pass on to the next generation an intimate life-giving relationship with God. Pray we genuinely love one another in a way that cannot be contained. Pray we have a dream that glorifies God.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 