Gospel for August 16, 2020

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 15:21-28 
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jesus continues his healing ministry — only now he is no longer in Jewish Galilee.  He has departed from Gennesaret (just south of Capernaum, on the Sea of Galilee) and has withdrawn into the region of Tyre and Sidon to the north.  He seems to be seeking respite from the pressures of Herod (Matthew 14:1-13),  the needs of the multitudes (Matthew 14:14-21, 35-36), and the controversies of the Pharisees and scribes who have come all the way from Jerusalem to interrogate him (Matthew 15:1-14).  Perhaps he hopes to be a bit more anonymous as he moves out of Jewish territory into a pagan land.

However, even in Phoenicia, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the reputation of Jesus precedes him.  A Canaanite woman recognizes him.  Canaan was identified with the land of the Phoenicians.

And this Gentile Canaanite is aware of the heritage of Jesus.  She cries out:

 Have mercy on me, Lord, you son of David! My daughter is severely possessed by a demon!

This is historically significant.  We are reminded that David was the king of the united kingdoms of Israel and Judah.  David enjoyed unusual success as a monarch, and became the Biblical standard of a good king despite a serious moral lapse.  He was promised an eternal royal dynasty by God.  Thus, a pagan woman who recognizes that Jesus is a descendant of David suggests her awareness of Hebrew prophecies concerning the Messiah.

But a Jewish reader would have said — the son of David is our Messiah, not yours! The attitudes of Jews toward Canaanites were the same that they had toward Samaritans, Greeks or Romans — they were all Gentiles, and hence unclean.

Jesus seems at first to confirm this prejudice:

But he answered her not a word.

Jesus, who is normally described as a compassionate healer everywhere he goes, ignores this woman and her demon-possessed daughter.

Evidently the Canaanite woman is quite persistent.  She begins to annoy the disciples who beg him:

Send her away; for she cries after us.

It seems that what they are really saying to Jesus is “give her what she wants!  She won’t leave us alone.”

Again, Jesus’ response seems out of character:

I wasn’t sent to anyone but the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

We remember that when he commissioned his disciples to go out in his name, preaching the Good News, healing and casting out demons, he was very specific:

Jesus sent these twelve out, and commanded them, saying, “Don’t go among the Gentiles, and don’t enter into any city of the Samaritans. Rather, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:5-6).

If anything, Jesus was making it clear that his first priority at this point in his ministry is to reconcile to God those Jews who had strayed from the faith.  We know from reading the rest of the story that the ministry to the Gentiles will come, but later.  First things first.

We also know that Jesus has made some exceptions — he healed the servant of the Roman centurion from a distance (Matthew 10:5-13). He also casts out demons from two men in the region of Gergesenes, which is a Gentile region on the southeastern bank of the Sea of Galilee. Very likely the two men were Gentiles. The fact that the demons are cast into a herd of swine certainly confirms a Gentile connection — Jews wouldn’t keep pigs since they were forbidden to eat pork (Matthew 8:28-34).

But Jesus seems adamant in this account, even as this woman persists. Finally, he answers, rather harshly:

 It is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.

This is clearly an insult.  Dogs in Middle Eastern cultures were not considered “man’s best friend.”  Dogs were usually described as unclean scavengers.  Jesus seems to be racist at best — the children are obviously the Jews, and the dogs are Gentiles!

But this woman is tenacious.  She argues with Jesus!

 But she said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”

Yes, dogs may be scavengers — but they do belong to their master, and they eat what he throws them from the table!  They may not be children, but they still have a place, she seems to be arguing.

Jesus responds with some astonishment, and with action:

 “Woman, great is your faith! Be it done to you even as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Faith transcends race, class, ethnicity, even religious affiliation.

APPLY:  

This is a somewhat troublesome passage.  Matthew doesn’t “clean it up” for our convenience.  Jesus appears to be subject to the same bigotries against Gentiles that prevailed amongst his Jewish brethren.

How is this possible?  Jesus is the Son of God.  He loves all the world.  And at the end of Matthew’s Gospel he will commission his disciples to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.  How can he be so harsh to this pathetic woman seeking healing for her daughter?  It seems so out of character!

Is it because Jesus was also fully human as well as fully God?  Was he therefore influenced by the attitudes of his time, sharing even some of the prejudices of his own culture?  Did his views evolve so that he became more inclusive?  That might be a comforting humanistic explanation, but it still doesn’t seem to be consistent with the man who was described as worthy of worship in the previous chapter (Matthew 14:22-33).

Moreover, this episode is also inconsistent with what he has said earlier when he healed the servant of the Roman centurion.  The centurion begs Jesus not to come to his home — perhaps because the Roman is aware of Jewish attitudes toward Gentiles, and doesn’t want Jesus to be compromised.  Instead, he tells Jesus that as a soldier he understands authority, and all Jesus need do is issue the command and his servant will be healed.  And Jesus responds to him this way:

he marveled, and said to those who followed, “Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel.  I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”  (Matthew 8:10-12).

Clearly, in this account Jesus understands that there will be many Gentiles who will be saved and invited to the great wedding banquet at the end of the age, while many who assume they are included will be cast out.  Jesus is obviously articulating an inclusive message about the Gentiles.

So why the initial cold shoulder with the Canaanite woman?  I reject the notion that Jesus’ sensibilities somehow “evolved” over time, especially given his response to the centurion’s faith.  I do believe that the spread of the Gospel was to happen in stages. I believe that this was a strategic decision,  which explains why he initially told his disciples to go only to the lost sheep of Israel, and then after his resurrection commanded them to go to all the nations.  But I don’t think that Jesus fundamentally changed in his attitude toward others.

Perhaps there are two possibilities.  One is that Jesus is testing the Canaanite woman’s faith.  Did she merely see him as a wonderworker who might help her daughter?  Had she tried everything else and thought she might as well try this Jewish healer?  But she proved to Jesus’ satisfaction that what motivated her wasn’t merely her desperation, but her faith in the son of David. 

Another possibility is that Jesus was using this incident as a teaching moment for his own disciples.  He is certainly aware of the prejudices of his own disciples.  In fact, we know that even after his resurrection and after the day of Pentecost  there would still be great resistance to expanding the mission to the Gentiles.  It would require a direct vision from God to Peter in order to lead him to the house of Cornelius the Roman centurion (Acts 10).  And a similar experience on the road to Damascus between the risen Jesus and a Jewish Pharisee named Saul would change the course of history for the ministry to the Gentiles (Acts 9).

Perhaps Jesus is teaching the disciples that they must see this woman not as an annoyance, or as an unclean Canaanite, but as a woman of great faith.

RESPOND: 

The racial and ethnic attitudes that I discover in this passage about Jesus and this Canaanite woman are every bit as relevant today as they ever were.  In the United States, racism has become somewhat more subtle, but there are still boundaries and barriers that exist.

When I see a woman in the grocery store wearing a burka, I have to admit that my initial reaction is still uncomfortable.  And yet when I see her with her children selecting breakfast cereals, I realize that she and her family are not so unlike mine.

I really do believe that this encounter between Jesus and the Canaanite woman was meant to illustrate for us that the differences between ethnic groups shrink when we are reminded of our common humanity.  This woman has a daughter whom she loves deeply, and about whom she is desperately worried. She is so concerned that she actually crosses an ethnic and religious boundary, and recognizes this son of David from whom she seeks help.  And her faith is what Jesus acknowledges.  Human need and faith transcend all other barriers.

Lord, I pray that you will help me look beyond my differences with people who don’t look like me or talk like me or think like me.  Help me to see them as fellow human beings who need the healing and hope that you offer.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Matthew 15.27" by Baptist Union of Great Britain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for August 16, 2020

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
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OBSERVE:

This passage from Romans 11 addresses the fate of Israel from the perspective of a Jew who believes firmly that Jesus is the Messiah promised by the Hebrew Scriptures.  This is part of a larger discussion that encompasses not only the book of Romans, but Galatians and Ephesians as well.  Moreover, the selected verses of this particular lectionary passage may easily be taken out of context without considering the whole chapter.

Paul does not shy away from the tough question — now that Christ has come, what will happen to the Jews:

I ask then, did God reject his people?

His answer is decisive, and personal:

May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew.

Our lectionary editors have chosen to skip from verse 2b all the way to verse 29, which both complicates and oversimplifies the argument at the same time.

If we were to read verses 1-2, and then ignore verses 3-28, we might conclude that there are no consequences for rejecting Jesus as Messiah.  But that’s not what Paul says.  Instead, Paul employs the Biblical concept of the remnant in order to point out that some from Israel are among the elect by grace (Romans 11:5).  He again stresses the cardinal point, that salvation is not by works but by grace.  And he points out that because Israel has rejected Christ, the door has been opened for the salvation of the Gentiles.  He uses the famous metaphor of Israel as an olive tree (e.g., Hosea 14:5-7) , but he shifts the focus.  Some of the branches have been broken off from the olive tree (Israel) so that branches from a wild olive tree (the Gentiles) might be grafted in.  Partly, he believes, this is to provoke Israel to jealousy:

Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry;  if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them (Romans 11:13-14).

There is a seeming contradiction here.  Paul says that some may be saved — and then says this:

that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,  and so all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:25-26).

He resolves the seeming contradiction — the same conditions prevail for Jews and for Gentiles when it comes to salvation.  It is a gift of grace received through faith in Christ. There is no distinction.  Paul has established this at the very beginning of this letter:

For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.  For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17).

Salvation is not given because of genetics, nationality, or the righteousness of works.   

So, what does Paul mean when he writes the following to the Gentiles:

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience,  even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may also obtain mercy.  For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.

In keeping with what he has written in Romans 11:3-28, this is really a reminder to the Gentiles that they are included in the covenant as though they were latecomers to the party.  Because some of the natural branches of Israel have been broken off, the wild olive branches of the Gentiles have been grafted in.  God’s mercy is available to all who believe (cf. Romans 1:16 above).

The problematic part of this passage is his statement:

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

What does he mean?  He has already made it clear that faith is the one condition required to receive grace for both Jews and Gentiles.  Is he contradicting himself? Again, we must read the verses that immediately precede this sentence:

Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake (Romans 11:28).

Israel was the vessel through whom God has chosen to tell the story of salvation history, and through whom the Messiah has come.  Israel has been and continues to be beloved by God.  That doesn’t change the fact that salvation is only through faith in Jesus Christ, whether one is Jew or Gentile.

APPLY:  

This passage presents us with several questions.  What is the relationship of Jews and Christians?  Is the election and the covenant that was established by God with Israel still in effect?

It is obvious that Paul loves his own people.  He identifies himself as a Jew until the very end.  And he holds out the hope that all Israel will be saved. Jesus is clearly the fulfillment of the promise of a Messiah that was made to Israel throughout the Hebrew Bible.

This should be an antidote to any crude “Christian” anti-Semitism.  Jesus was a Jew.  His disciples were Jews.  And more than two-thirds of our Bible is the Jewish Old Testament.  Oh, and all of the New Testament, with the exception of the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, were written by Jews who followed Jesus. We cannot understand the coming of Christ without understanding the Old Testament.  There is no excuse for anti-Semitism.

There is, however, a concept called supersessionism that suggests that the Christian church has replaced Israel as the object of God’s promises, election and covenants. This view suggests that the church has replaced Israel as God’s chosen people, and the New Covenant of grace has superseded the Mosaic law.

This is a complicated and controversial debate that is far beyond my scope.  However, I would argue that the grounds of salvation have always been the same for Jew or Christian from the beginning.  Paul has taught us clearly that the righteousness of works cannot save any of us.  Only the righteousness of faith (cf. Romans 10:1-11).

Paul has previously given the example of Abraham — arguably the quintessential Hebrew patriarch.  And he has made it clear what the grounds of Abraham’s salvation were:

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Romans 4:2-3).

And then Paul points out that all who have such faith are descendants of Abraham, which is the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations.  Paul takes this to mean not merely the biological children of Abraham — the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Midianites (among others).

No, the true descendants of Abraham are those who share his singular family trait — faith:  

For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring,  not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.  As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations” (Romans 4:16-17).

Paul never wavers from his insistence that salvation is a gift of grace received not through the law or works or genetics, but only through faith:

Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.” Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone,  but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead, who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification (Romans 4:22-25).

All who have this faith are children of Abraham and no longer strangers to the covenant (cf. Ephesians 2:11-22).

RESPOND: 

In one of the churches I served there was a retired circuit judge who was very active in church — attending worship regularly, as well as Bible studies and small groups.  He had not always been that way, but he shared that he had experienced a real and deep conversion while he was a practicing lawyer.

He was married to a Jewish woman.  They had met when they were both serving in the Army during World War II. After his conversion, he worried about her salvation.  But he found great relief when he read these words from Romans:

I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew.

In this same chapter, the judge no doubt discovered the words:

all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:26).

This old judge felt that he had found a loophole that covered his wife.  As we have tried to explain above, it’s a little more complicated than that.

I have met many Jews in my life. Some are Messianic Jews who believe that Jesus (or Yeshua as they call him, according to the Hebrew language) is the Messiah.  Some  are Jews who are quite comfortable with their faith and traditions.  Some are secular Jews who aren’t particularly religious.  And I have become acquainted with some Jews who even came to my church and came very close to conversion — but declined to do so out of deference to their parents.  In one case in particular, the parents of one Jewish woman were survivors of the Nazi Holocaust.

Simone Weil was a Frenchwoman whose parents were Jewish agnostics.  She became a philosopher and mystic who reported an ecstatic spiritual encounter with Christ — and yet she was never baptized into the Christian faith.

How do we address the serious questions raised about God’s relationship with Israel and the Jews?  I plead ignorance — a Christian agnosticism (the word agnostic means to be without knowledge).  I just don’t know.  Like Paul, I pray for Israel and the Jews.  And I trust God’s mercy more than my own opinions.

Just to be clear, I restate my own conviction.  God doesn’t reject any of us; but we might reject God.

Lord, I trust your love for all people — certainly the people of the covenant, the Jews, but also every tribe, nation and people.  My prayer is that all people might be saved. Amen.

PHOTOS:

"Romans chapter 1 verse 1" uses the following graphic:
"rejected" by Vic is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for August 16, 2020

“Joseph Recognized by His Brothers” by Jean-Charles Tardieu (1788)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Genesis 45:1-15
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OBSERVE:

When Joseph’s envious brothers sold him into slavery, he was seventeen years old (Genesis 37:2).  When Joseph came to the attention of Pharaoh for his uncanny ability to interpret dreams, he was thirty (Genesis 41:46).  Those intervening thirteen years were tough — he was first a slave and then a prison inmate, imprisoned on false allegations of sexual assault.

Joseph’s status dramatically changes.  When he interprets the Pharaoh’s dreams and predicts seven years of abundant crops in Egypt followed by seven years of  famine, his rise to power is meteoric.  The Pharaoh has such confidence in this convict that he makes Joseph second in power and authority in Egypt only to himself!

Seven years of abundance followed by two years of famine have elapsed.  Canaan has also been hit hard by the famine. Joseph is at least thirty-nine years old when his ten brothers come from Canaan to buy food.  (Benjamin is not with them on their first visit.)

Joseph has been a wise vice regent to the Pharaoh — he has made sure that plentiful grain was stored during the abundant years.  Egypt is the only nation that has a surplus of grain.

It should be no surprise that when Joseph’s ten brothers come to Egypt, they don’t recognize Joseph, although he recognizes them (Genesis 42:7).  But Joseph keeps his identity secret from his brothers — for now.  Joseph was a teenager when they last saw him, shackled in the possession of the Ishmaelites.  He has matured and grown into a man, no doubt seasoned by adversity.  Also, the differences of culture and fashion between the Hebrew bedouin and sophisticated Egyptians would certainly explain the failure of the brothers to recognize Joseph. Not to mention the fact that they would never have expected to see their brother Joseph in such a position of power.  They assumed he was long dead (Genesis 42:13).

Joseph was pretty rough with his unsuspecting brothers.  He accused them of spying on Egypt (Genesis 42:9).  He demanded that they bring their youngest brother with them on a second trip in order to prove their sincerity (they have  made the mistake of revealing that they have another brother back home with their father Jacob, Genesis 42:13).  In the first visit, Joseph incarcerated the ten brothers for three days (Genesis 42:17), and demanded that they leave one of the brothers as a hostage until they return with Benjamin (Simeon was the unlucky choice made by Joseph, Genesis 42:24).

But Joseph is not made of stone.  He still understands his brothers when they speak in Hebrew.  He hears Reuben castigating his brothers for what they had done so many years earlier against Joseph when they sold him into slavery. Reuben insists that all of this is happening to them because of their guilt from years earlier (Genesis 42:21-24).  Joseph is moved to tears by this admission of responsibility. And Joseph secretly insures that the money they have paid for the grain is returned to them in the grain sacks.

When this week’s lectionary text begins, the brothers return for a second visit to Egypt, driven by their shortage of grain.  Their father Jacob has very reluctantly allowed his son Benjamin to go with them.  This is an indication of their desperate need for food.  The brothers also bring gifts, and double the money so that they can compensate Joseph for the first grain that was unpaid for.

The tension in the story grows increasingly intense.  The brothers still don’t know who this Egyptian official really is, and Joseph must hide his own intense emotion when he sees his younger brother Benjamin for the first time in more than twenty-two years.

This time, however, Joseph receives them with a demonstration of hospitality.  He brings them all into his own home and offers them a feast. This must have greatly puzzled the brothers, who had feared reprisals from Joseph because of his previous accusations and the money they had found in their grain sacks. Everything seems to be fine.  Simeon is restored to them. Their grain sacks are again filled to overflowing with grain, and they are sent on their way back to Canaan.

But Joseph ratchets up the pressure.  Not only has he had all of the money placed back in their grain sacks, he has his silver divining cup placed in Benjamin’s sack!  He then sends his steward — and presumably a detachment of armed soldiers — to pursue the Hebrew brothers, and accuses them of stealing his divining cup.

The crisis has now reached an extreme intensity.  They are escorted back to Joseph’s house and fall cringing before him.  Joseph offers them a deal — he will let them all go free, but will keep the one whose sack had the cup as a slave.  His own brother Benjamin!

Now it is Judah who intercedes, and tells Joseph that if Benjamin doesn’t return to his father Jacob, it will kill the old man.  Judah offers himself as a substitute, keeping his promise to his father when he offered to stand as collateral in order to protect Benjamin.

At this, Joseph reaches an emotional breaking point:

Then Joseph couldn’t control himself before all those who stood before him, and he cried, “Cause everyone to go out from me!” No one else stood with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. He wept aloud.

All of the hurt, anger, resentment, loss and sorrow of the twenty-two years since his betrayal by his brothers have come to a head.  Joseph’s wailing is so loud that even those in the court of the Pharaoh can hear it.

Now comes the moment when Joseph discloses his true identity.  No interpreter is needed.  Joseph speaks Hebrew as well as they do.  His first question reveals his priorities:

I am Joseph! Does my father still live?

The brothers, understandably, are speechless and terrified.  In this moment they don’t know how Joseph will treat them.  He has the absolute power of the Pharaoh’s court behind him.  Will he put the ten guilty brothers in prison, and adopt Benjamin into his own household? Will he spare Reuben because he wasn’t there when Joseph was sold into slavery? Will Joseph sell all of them into slavery as reprisal? Will he have them all executed?  All of these thoughts must have flashed through their minds in this moment of extreme crisis.

But they have misjudged their brother Joseph.  His years of servitude and his strange rise to power have given him a new perspective on his experiences, and even mellowed him.

Joseph actually speaks gently to them:

“Come near to me, please.” They came near. “He said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”

Joseph is able to see his own life through the theological lens of God’s providence — that all of these experiences have led to this very moment.  Joseph knows that the two years of famine that the known world has suffered are only the beginning.  There would be five more years of famine.

And then Joseph introduces a concept that will become a recurring theme in Hebrew Scripture and the history of Israel:

God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.

Joseph is no doubt keenly aware of his own family story — that their grandfather Abraham had been uniquely called by God into a covenant that was to bless all nations, with numberless descendants.  This legacy is threatened by the famine — but Joseph believes that he has been set apart by God as a kind of savior.  He has been uniquely placed where he is as a part of the salvation history of Israel.

And in centuries to come the prophets of Israel will speak of the remnant of Israel, even when they are faced with extinction at the hands of the Assyrians or the Babylonians (Amos 5:15; Isaiah 10:21; Jeremiah 23:3 and Micah 5:8 are just a few of the many examples of this concept in Scripture).

Joseph continues with his theological interpretation of his own life:

 So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

And this theological reflection is then followed up by a call to action.  Joseph tells them to hurry back to Canaan and tell their father Jacob that Joseph is alive, is lord of all Egypt, and to bring Jacob back to the fertile region of Goshen in the Egyptian delta.  This was good land suitable for raising sheep, the primary livestock of the Hebrews.

Joseph has a sense of urgency when he gives his brothers these instructions.  Perhaps he is concerned about the deepening famine.  Perhaps he is aware of his father Jacob’s advanced age.

What is clear is that this is a moment of profound emotion and the reconciliation of damaged relationships:

He fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.

APPLY:  

How do we respond to extreme adversity?  When we have been betrayed and wronged by people we trust, and then find ourselves in power over them — how do we treat them?

Joseph provides a brilliant role model for us. We see such a profound character development in Joseph — nothing short of a spiritual transformation. How this boy has been transformed into a man!

When he was a teen, Joseph seemed to be a snooty, narcissistic, spoiled brat, bragging about his superiority over his brothers.  No wonder they hated his guts!  And their father Jacob only made it worse by lavishing attention and gifts (the many-colored coat, for example) on his favorite son.

When Joseph is betrayed by his brothers, the tables are severely turned against him — the pampered son becomes a slave, and then is unjustly accused of sexual assault. But his resourcefulness and strong work ethic provide the narrow open windows of opportunity for him to overcome even this adversity.  How easily he could have succumbed to self-pity and despair!  Instead, he looks for opportunities to serve — first, his owner and master Potiphar; then the prison warden; the baker and the butler who are briefly incarcerated in the prison (with very different outcomes in their sentences!); and finally Pharaoh himself!

Clearly, Joseph recognizes the providential hand of God guiding his life.  He has taken the lemons of his life and made delicious lemonade, lemon meringue pie, and lemon ice box pie.  And instead of wreaking revenge on his brothers, he extends grace to them.  His life, his motives, his character have been transformed by this same grace of God.

How do we interpret our own experiences through a theological lens?  It is important to remember that when we undergo negative circumstances, betrayal, defeat, and disappointment, these circumstances do not have the final word.  God has the final word.  Following Joseph’s example, we are encouraged to remain faithful despite adversity. And, when the tables are once again turned, and we find ourselves in a position of power over our adversaries, we do well to remember Joseph’s example — forgive, and seek reconciliation with our enemies… even members of our own family.

And though not many of us may be placed in the exalted position Joseph found himself, nonetheless God will still accomplish good for others if we allow him to work through us.

RESPOND: 

Joseph’s theological interpretation of his own life certainly seems to differ from the message we receive from our culture.  Joseph sees that God has been at work in his life all along:

God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.

The message we tend to get from Hollywood — and in contemporary politics, for that matter — is that when we are hurt by someone we should retaliate ten times more severely.  Revenge provides such sweet satisfaction on the movie screen.

Joseph provides a different narrative.  After he has settled his father and his brothers in Egypt, Jacob lives seventeen years in this new land (Genesis 47:28).  But when Jacob dies, Joseph’s brothers are haunted by their old fears.  They fear that Joseph has been waiting for his father to pass before carrying out his revenge against them.  Joseph puts their fears to rest, once and for all:

Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God?  As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is today, to save many people alive.  Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones (Genesis 50:19-21).

What a wonderful response when someone wrongs us — you meant it for evil, but God can use it for good.

St. Augustine of Hippo said it this way:

God permits evil, so as to transform it into a greater good.

Lord, you are present in all of our lives.  Many of us fail to see that you are with us always, and fail to see that you take even the most negative of circumstances and transform them into good.  Open our eyes, as you did with Joseph, so that we can see what you are doing through our lives. Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Joseph Recognized by His Brothers” (1788) by Jean-Charles Tardieu, also called “Tardieu-Cochin” is in the Public Domain.

Gospel for August 16, 2015

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

John 6:51-58

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CLICK HERE FOR .PDF FILE TO PRINT WITHOUT PICTURES

OBSERVE:

The controversy intensifies. It has been provoked by the multiplication of the loaves and fish, and Jesus’ subsequent declaration that he is the bread of life.  Jesus has faced challenges from a variety of sources: first the crowd, then the Jewish leaders.

Previously, in verses 24-35, the debate centered around whether the miracle of feeding the five thousand exceeded the miracle of the manna that Moses supposedly gave their ancestors in the wilderness.   Jesus answered by declaring that the Father had given the manna, not Moses.  But Jesus had also challenged their piety about Moses by saying unequivocally I am the bread of life,  and that any who believed in him would be raised to life.

In verses 41-51, the Jewish leaders were disgruntled by that claim, and protested that Jesus was just a “local boy” from Nazareth; after all, they knew his family — how could he be so presumptuous to claim that he came from heaven?  Jesus counters that they don’t really know God because if they did they would know him as well.  And again, he increases the tension by claiming “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

In today’s reading, the Jewish leaders are beside themselves. They ask the very literal question: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Their response is much like that of  Nicodemus earlier, when Jesus declares  “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above (John 3:3).  Nicodemus chooses to interpret Jesus’ words literally, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?(John 3:4)?”

Here, the Jewish leaders stumble against the spiritual meaning of Jesus’ words, that he is the source of life and fulfillment.  But Jesus doesn’t choose to let ’em off easy.  He doubles down yet again: “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day;  for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.  Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.  Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.

Just in case they missed it the first time, Jesus says four times that unless they eat his flesh and drink his blood they have no life in them, and eternal life comes through eating his flesh and drinking his blood!  For a culture in which even the blood of sacrificial animals was drained in order to render it kosher or pure, this was an outrageous statement!  To them, it must have seemed Jesus was inviting them to some form of ritual cannibalism!

And still he will not relent: This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

As we will see in next week’s Gospel reading, these claims made by Jesus are among the most controversial and divisive in his entire ministry, according to the Gospel of John.

APPLY:  

Pardon the expression, but how one interprets this passage depends a lot on how the bread is sliced!

To some in the Christian family, this is a claim that must be taken absolutely literally.  In fact, it becomes the basis for a theology of the Eucharist that claims that Christ’s body is literally present in the Host, and his blood is literally present in the wine of the Lord’s Supper.

Others would say that of course Jesus isn’t being literal here. This is a metaphor that Jesus uses to suggest that those who believe on him take him into themselves in a spiritual sense.  They feed on him in their hearts.

What we cannot escape, though, is that Jesus does not shrink from claiming a unique relationship with the Father, and the unique ability to fulfill our human aspirations for God.  Only in him, he is saying, can we truly be satisfied, and can we truly have life.

When we eat his flesh, isn’t he saying that our identification and participation in him must be so complete that he becomes one with us and we become one with him?

Jesus prays something very like that later in this Gospel: “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us,  so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one,  I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me (John 17:21-23).”

He is speaking here of the unity that exists between himself and the Father, and the corporate unity that Jesus prays may exist between the church and himself.  But the goal is similar — that there be a union between himself and the believer.  Doesn’t Paul say something like this also in Galatians ?  I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,  who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:19-20).

These are profound and challenging claims!  No wonder the Jewish leaders and, as we will see, even the disciples,  had a hard time accepting them!

RESPOND: 

My dad was an ordained minister and a Chaplain in the United States Air Force.  We lived in Spain when I was a young boy.  One Monday morning, not long after Dad had gotten to the office at the Base Chapel, he heard a loud shriek from the direction of the sanctuary. The custodian, a Spanish woman, came running into his office, speaking Spanish very rapidly and very excitedly.  Dad couldn’t understand her at all.  Suddenly, she grabbed his hand and led him to the sanctuary.  He didn’t know whether he would find a fire, or a body, or just what awaited him!

When they arrived at the altar, she pointed at the floor.  A piece of the communion Host had fallen on the floor and gone unnoticed from the chapel services the day before.  But for her and her faith tradition, this wasn’t merely a piece of wafer thin bread — this was the very Body of Christ! And she believed that as a laywoman she shouldn’t even touch it, but should find an ordained clergyman to pick it up reverently and carefully.

Those of us from a Reformed Protestant tradition may smile at this.  But this has always impressed me.  On this point, the Roman Catholics are more literal than the most literal Protestants I know!

In point of fact, when I receive the Lord’s Supper even now, I sometimes think of that story.  No, I don’t believe that the bread has been changed into the literal flesh of Jesus, or the wine into his blood.  But I am reminded at the Lord’s Table that to me this is the Real Presence of Christ, though I can’t explain it.

Jesus has invited me, and all of us, to eat his flesh and drink his blood.  I believe what he invites me to do is to take him into my life by faith, and allow him to live his life in and through me.  If I balk at this invitation, he says to me  you have no life in you.

The secret to this mystery is found in faith — in losing myself in Jesus, and letting him live his life through me.

Lord, I struggle, like the Jewish leaders, to come to grips with your claims here!  Only it’s not so much about whether I am to literally eat your flesh or drink your blood. Rather it’s about becoming so identified with you that people can’t tell where you begin and I end! To have so much of you in my life that you are what people see when they see me!  I’m not there yet, I confess.  Feed me with your life-giving bread! Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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Epistle for August 16, 2015

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Ephesians 5:15-20

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OBSERVE:

Paul continues with paranesis — which means moral instruction and exhortation — intended for the church in Ephesus, and likely for other churches in Asia Minor as well.

The other scriptures for this week’s lectionary all seem to relate to wisdom at one level or another.  Paul exhorts the congregation, Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise.  The wisdom tradition in the scriptures is not necessarily focused on knowledge or philosophical speculation, but on how one lives well in this world.

So, with this exhortation there comes an additional instruction about the use of time: making the most of the time, because the days are evil. There is a sense of realism here. The days are evil, Paul acknowledges.  There is no sentimental, false optimism about the nature of ‘reality.’  Paul knows from personal experience what it is to be persecuted, injured and imprisoned.  In fact, he is likely writing this letter from a prison in Rome.

But at the same time he encourages his readers to make the most of the time.  Perhaps a paraphrase here might be use your time wisely. He further defines what he might mean by making the most of the time by saying  So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

To be frank, tackling the subject of understanding the will of God is worthy of a dissertation.  Paul’s intent here simply seems to be to direct his reader’s attention toward God’s ways rather than the foolish pursuits and lifestyles of this world.

Paul then turns to very practical advice that is also deeply spiritual:  Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,  giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Drinking wine to the point of drunkenness is frequently a trigger to other sins.  Debauchery may be defined as excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures in various forms of carnal desire. The Greek and Roman culture were renowned for banquets and even religious observances that quickly degenerated into orgies and Bacchanalia (literally, worshipping Bacchus the god of wine!).  These were invariably lubricated by the excessive use of wine.

But Paul doesn’t merely dwell on the negative prohibitions — “don’t do this, don’t do that”  — instead he proposes a very positive, and far superior, alternative:  be filled with the Spirit, and devote those energies to worship and thanksgiving.

In the letter to the Ephesians Paul has already carefully defined the nature of the Spirit as the presence of God by calling him the Holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30).  He has also declared that the Spirit comes to dwell in the lives of believers, who are sealed for salvation and filled with power by the Spirit.

Therefore, in answer to the Bacchanalia of the pagans with their alcohol-induced debauchery, Paul urges the Ephesians to a different kind of ecstasy — Christian worship!  The description he offers of a worship experience captures the joy of early Christian praise, which includes singing from the heart, giving thanks to God the Father in the name of his Son Jesus.

APPLY:  

True wisdom for the Christian doesn’t mean a grim, solemn, joyless life.  Although we acknowledge that the “world” in which we live is evil, we can make the most of our time on this planet.

This does require some realism.  Because we recognize that the days are evil, we are not naive, or surprised, when bad things happen — or at least we shouldn’t be!

But on the other hand, we can use our time and our days carefully and wisely to make a positive difference in the world.  Isn’t that what Paul did? Though he was arrested and incarcerated, he still witnessed to the Roman guards around him, and wrote most of  the precious letters that fill our New Testament canon!  He certainly used his time wisely.

And Paul also gives us a primer on where we can find true joy — how we as Christians can “party!”  Not with drunkenness, but being filled with the Spirit.

What greater joy can there be than to be filled with the fullness of God, to bear the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and to exhibit one or more of the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7-10).  And to abandon ourselves to the worship of the Triune God, as Ephesians encourages us to do with songs and hymns and melody from the heart.

We certainly see the fullness of the Triune God evident here: be filled with the Spirit . . . giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

RESPOND: 

There is one expression I’ve come to accept in my own life: “you never know what a day will bring.”  Sometimes that means a day will bring great joy, sometimes great sorrow.  But we as Christians are to make the most of each moment God has given us.

I’m reminded of two of my favorite references concerning the use of time.  One is the Medieval Latin phrase carpe diem.  Seize the day!  Use time wisely, and make the most of opportunities that God brings.

The second is from Psalm 90, which speaks of the brevity of human life in contrast to the eternity of God, and compares human life to a dream or the grass which flourishes in the morning and withers in the afternoon heat.  And the Psalmist pleads with the Lord,  So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart (Psalm 90:12).

One more thing.  We must get beyond the “Christian” attitude of joylessness that exists among some believers — this tendency to make  Christianity nothing more than do’s and don’ts like:

I don’t smoke
and I don’t chew
and I don’t go with girls/boys who do.

Of course, addictive, harmful habits are contrary to God’s will for us.  But we can’t simply reduce our lives to a list of superficial rules.

Instead, let us be drunk with the Spirit! Let us be so filled with love, joy and peace that life is ecstasy!

Another great quote comes to mind,  the lyrics from a Newsboys song:

Shine!
Make ’em wonder what you’ve got
Make ’em wish that they were not
On the outside lookin’ bored.

Lord, I pray for a heart of wisdom, that I may know how to live and how to make the most of every day.  Above all else, may I be filled with your Spirit, and enjoy the ecstasy of worship! Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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Psalm Reading for August 16, 2015

Lord, when I study the works of your hands, and your mighty deeds throughout history, I am aware of how small I really am, and I am full of reverential fear. And this fear is the beginning of real wisdom, the wisdom of knowing you! Amen!

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 111

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OBSERVE:

Psalm 11 is an acrostic Psalm.  Each 7-9 syllable phrase begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  This was likely a mnemonic device that aided the worshipper in memorization.

This is a Psalm of praise that celebrates God as creator of all his works, extols God for his character, celebrates the covenantal nature of God, gives thanks for God’s provision, extols the principles of his law, and exhorts the congregation to fear the Lord.

In its breadth, this brief Psalm connects the various threads of the Biblical story: creation, liberation from bondage, the giving of the Law, and the wisdom tradition.

Not only does the Psalmist extol the nature of God as honorable, majestic, righteous, gracious and merciful, but summons the people to study and delight in the works of the Lord.  The works or deeds of God are mentioned five times in the Psalm, suggesting that those who seek to know and worship God properly may do so through what God has accomplished.

This is what the congregation is encouraged to study and meditate upon: that God has manifested himself through creation, through his provision of food for all creatures, through his redemption of his people (which includes giving them the heritage of the nations), the giving of the law (precepts), and the making and keeping of covenant promises.

Thus, when the Psalmist declares The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding, he has already carefully defined the scope of the Lord’s work.  Fear, or reverential worship and awe, begins with the meditation on God’s many layers of work; and from meditating on the nature and work of God comes wisdom and good understanding.

APPLY:  

What if there were a course we could take that would give us a knowledge of God, or at least give us a beginning with “God 101?”  And what if that course could begin to show us what real wisdom and understanding are, and how we should live our lives?

The truth is, such a “course” exists.  The “course” is found in the faith and teaching of the best of Judeo-Christian tradition; and it’s textbook is the Bible and creation itself.

The Psalmist doesn’t see the false dichotomy that we modern people see between “natural science” and theology.  Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.  The works of the Lord includes creation itself.

By the same token, God’s works also are manifested by his great deeds in “salvation history,” calling his people, making covenant with us, redeeming us.

If we truly want to gain knowledge of God, the scope of this course is comprehensive: everything we study can lead us to God.  Provided, that is, that we begin with “first things first:”  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.

Fear and love of God are not mutually exclusive, by the way.  To fear the Lord is to understand his majesty, transcendence and holiness, and our complete weakness and dependence upon him.  To love the Lord is to understand that this majestic, transcendent and holy God has condescended to care for us, even to the point of emptying himself and taking the form of a human being and humbling himself to death on the cross!

This is a love that should make us tremble!

RESPOND: 

The night before I began this particular study of Psalm 111, I dragged a lawn chair out into my backyard some time after midnight, braving mosquitoes and things that go bump in the night.  I sat there for some time staring at the stars, hoping to catch a glimpse of at least one meteor from the Perseid shower.

As I gazed into the sky, I saw stars and constellations twinkling above me, with light travelling from such vast distances that I was likely seeing light from more than thousands of years ago.

Finally, after laying there awhile, humbled by the night sky, I thought of what Teddy Roosevelt said to a friend after star-gazing at Sagamore Hill: “Well, I think we’re small enough now.  Let’s go inside.”

When I consider the works of God’s hands in creation and in salvation history revealed throughout scripture, I think I know exactly what Roosevelt meant.  And I can say The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Oh, and I did see some meteors!

Lord, when I study the works of your hands, and your mighty deeds throughout history, I am aware of how small I really am, and I am full of reverential fear.  And this fear is the beginning of real wisdom, the wisdom of knowing you!  Amen!

PHOTOS:

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Old Testament for August 16, 2015

This photograph of a window in Bath Abbey depicts King Solomon. He’s holding a scepter, representing his monarchy, and a representation of the first Temple built during his reign. (photograph by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P.)

Start with Scripture:

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14

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OBSERVE:

There has been, as the saying goes, “a lot of water under the bridge” between 2 Samuel 18 and 2 Kings 2 & 3.  My mother used to sit in the den with the family and fall asleep while watching a t.v. show.   Inevitably, she would wake up, look at the t.v. and say “How did he get there?”

We might ask the same question of this passage from 2 Kings, if we haven’t been keeping up.  How did we go from David’s adultery with Bathsheba to Absalom’s rebellion to Solomon’s coronation?

In brief, here’s what’s happened: after Bathsheba’s husband Uriah the Hittite is “conveniently” killed in action, David makes an “honest woman” of Bathsheba by making her his queen.  Perhaps it could be said he is trying to make an honest man out of himself, after confessing his sin following the Prophet Nathan’s confrontation.  The first child of David and Bathsheba died in infancy.  However, their second son was none other than Solomon.

Still, there was a long line of “heir apparents” between Solomon and the throne.  1 Chronicles 3:1-9 lists nine sons who were born before Solomon, six while David reigned in Hebron and three born in Jerusalem, who all stood in the way of Solomon’s accession to the throne.  Amnon was murdered by Absalom; Absalom was killed by his cousin Joab in Absalom’s civil war against his father David; Adonijah was executed shortly after David’s death for attempting to usurp the throne.

It seems that Solomon’s rise to power was in part aided by a collusion between the Prophet Nathan and Solomon’s mother Queen Bathsheba.  All of this happened with David’s own consent, of course.  I encourage you to read 2 Samuel 12 through 1 Kings 1 for the fascinating intrigues, rebellions, and conspiracies of the latter part of David’s reign.

In 2 Kings 2:10-12 we have little more than an obituary entry for David – he reigned in Hebron for seven years over Judah, and then for 33 years over the united kingdom of Israel and Judah together, for a total reign of 40 years.  As they say “The King is dead. Long live the King!”  Solomon immediately takes the throne and eliminates his rivals, as per his father’s advice.

It should be noted that David leaves a strong legacy to his son: his kingdom was firmly established.

Solomon is, like his father, a sincere devotee of the Lord God of Israel: Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David.  The writer of 1 Kings does express one concern about Solomon, however:  only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places.  This is a foreshadowing not only of the eventual fate of Solomon, but also of Israel.

The high places were places of prayer and worship for the Israelites, but as time went on, the Israelites found them to be substitutes for centralized Temple worship and sacrifice in Jerusalem.  Moreover, the prophets will tell us later that the high places also become infamous for idolatry and even human sacrifice. The prophets would inveigh against the high places, and good kings would tear down the idols erected on them.

But for now, Solomon’s worship is centered around the Lord.  The only reason for going to Gibeon is because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord (1 Kings 3:2).  This would be one of Solomon’s first accomplishments as king.

First, though, Solomon is aware of his own limitations and his youth.  And he goes to Gibeon to seek the Lord’s guidance.  What ensues is a remarkable dialogue between God and man.  God offers Solomon whatever he desires!

So, Solomon, reverently and respectfully, praises God for all that has been done for David, and the relationship of love that existed between God and David.  He recognizes that David has walked before God in faithfulness and righteousness, and has secured his throne with a son — namely Solomon himself — who now reigns.

But Solomon humbly confesses his insecurities: although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted.

So the one thing Solomon seeks is the ability to govern wisely: Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”

God is pleased with Solomon’s choice of priorities.  Solomon could have asked for long life, wealth, power and revenge over his enemies — instead Solomon  asked for an understanding mind to govern the people and the ability to discern between good and evil that would enable him to reign wisely and well. And so God grants Solomon a wise and discerning mind.  God also promises that Solomon will be one of the greatest kings of Israel: no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you.  Even more, he will receive that for which he did not ask: both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you.

Note, though, that God does place a condition on this blessing: If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.” There is a big IF in this promise!

APPLY:  

What does one do when faced with a huge, overwhelming task, like running a country, running a company, pastoring a church, or simply taking on a new job or getting married?  Anyone with good sense and a living faith would do exactly what Solomon does: pray!

Note that Solomon doesn’t begin with self-confidence and “can do” gumption. Counter to so much of the advice we receive from motivational speakers/preachers and positive-thinking life-coaches, Solomon begins with a realistic self-assessment: he acknowledges he is young, and there is a huge task ahead of him.

We don’t have to be losers to admit that we need divine help.  In fact, one recurring theme in scripture is summed up in James 4:10: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Jesus, the divine/human descendant of Solomon, describes what Solomon has done, and what we are to do in our lives:   strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33).  Isn’t that essentially what Solomon has done?  He has sought God’s wisdom and will for his people, and God has given him not only wisdom but riches and honor and greatness.

On a side note, I can’t help but mention that in the same passage cited above from the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus is speaking of worry, he mentions his distinguished  ancestor: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith (Matthew 6:28-30)?

By the way, we aren’t promised wisdom and wealth and fame like Solomon’s — what we are promised is God’s grace sufficient for all our needs.

One more thing.  I note the conditional nature of God’s promise to Solomon: “If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.” If you look closely throughout scripture, these “ifs” appear again and again.

In our modern Christian ethos, we make much of God’s “unconditional love.” Of course that is true: God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).  God’s grace and mercy and love are offered even when we don’t deserve them.

However, there is a difference between God’s love and God’s approval.  As one of my seminary professors said, “There is a difference between acceptance and approval.  I can accept you, even love you; but that doesn’t always mean that I approve of your conduct.”

God’s love may indeed be unconditional, but our ability to thrive is conditional.  As we obey God’s law of love and his principles, we tend to experience the blessing and fulfillment that a Godly life tends to create.

God’s acceptance of us is not based on our worth, but on our need.  This is justification by grace through faith.

However, in order for us to continue to stay close to God and to grow in grace, we must obey his will as best we understand it, and with his help.  This is sanctification, which is also by grace through faith.

As Paul describes it,  the only thing that counts is faith working through love (Galatians 5:6). But this growth does require faith and loving obedience.

RESPOND: 

I have just one question left:  Was this a test?  Or was God allowing Solomon to discover his own priorities for himself by giving him the opportunity to ask for a blessing?

I wonder how I would answer if offered this kind of “deal”?  What would I say if God said to me, “Ask what I should give you”?

I find the German poet Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) to be sadly amusing on this question:  My wishes are: a humble cottage with a thatched roof, but a good bed, good food, the freshest milk and butter, flowers before my window, and a few fine trees before my door; and if God wants to make my happiness complete, he will grant me the joy of seeing some six or seven of my enemies hanging from those trees.

Well I think God does ask that question of each of us, one way or the other.  And we generally get what we really ask for, hence the saying “be careful what you ask for; you may get it.”  Asking only for worldly, superficial, transient stuff brings worldly, superficial, transient answers.  Seeking first the kingdom of God brings eternal love, peace and life.

Lord, I certainly know my limitations, I think. I pray that you might give me a heart to seek your kingdom and your righteousness above all else.  In finding that, I find you.  And finding you, I have everything!  Amen! 

PHOTOS:
"King Solomon" by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.