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 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 Peaceful Heart For God’s Dreams Of 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)
Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” He replied, “Speak.” Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But from the spoil the people took sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”
1 Samuel 15:16-23 (NRSV)
Message: 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. As a teaching tool in response to this problem 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 you 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. Now there are things related to this that a prisoner might understand better than other people. John the Baptist, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Paul, Martin Luther King and Jesus posed a serious threat to the establishment. In calling for those in power to repent they all are saying that peace predicated upon tyranny and maintained by terror is not peace but sin. Therefore, we cannot just sit back and wait on the Prince of Peace to return. We cannot just submit ourselves to the logic of a sin, sick society that has no idea what peace really is. We cannot declare that we are preparing the way of the Lord, while accepting the status quo that claims the desire of peace but does not deliver. As we make our way through this post Advent season, on this Martin Luther King Day, I believe we must seek a message for our churches and families and the nations including our own that might well be unraveling at the thinly stitched seams of law and justice on the divided patched cloth of the rich and the poor. So, let us not put our heads in the sand. The natural consequence of ingrained behavioral patterns that are passed down from one generation to the next, poses a threat to our faith. Sorrow for what has happened is not enough. We must take personal responsibility where we can. Fear and self-protection are not the right motivators to be forgiven. Penance does not work. True repentance and lasting change are gifts from God that requires more than a little mercy. The thing is that we are uncomfortable with transparency when it comes to self-interest and the issue of justice. We get caught up in our own egos. For sure 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.
And So, looking at today’s lectionary selection from the Book of Samuel where King Saul is ousted for not exacting genocide on the Amalekites, I scratch my head even though I realize that the likes of Haman in the book of Esther were Amalekite and that King Saul had chosen earthly goods over spiritual obedience. Still, I realize that if God gives us a task to do, we need to carry it out. And I acknowledge that Martin Luther King did carry out the task God had given him. Nevertheless, as I contemplate his letter and life, and today’s scripture selections I confess Dr. King was right about the need for a radical non-violent departure from the status quo and that he was right about moderates being worthless to the cause of social change, and that Jesus was right about the need to create something new. So, as we look at today’s selection from the Gospel of Mark I am intrigued as to how Jesus sandwiches in two parables about the trial of social change. Friends, 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. 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 awaken from our false sense of comfort and prepare the way for the one who seeks to deliver and set free. 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 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 have a dream that glorifies God.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 