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Pentecost 2 Proper 5B June 6, 2021

Posted on June 6, 2021 by Beth Crane

1 Samuel 8: 4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15)
Psalm 138
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
Mark 3:20-35

Our first reading from the first Book of Samuel invites us to look in on a crucial turning point in the history of God’s people. The elders of Israel come together and tell Samuel that he is old and his sons are not faithful followers of God as Samuel is. They want Samuel to appoint a king, as they say, “to govern us, like other nations.”

Samuel prays to the Lord. I think he is feeling rejected by the people. God tells Samuel to “listen to the voice of the people, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.” God is making it clear that the people are rejecting God, not Samuel. 

Ever since the people left Egypt and escaped from slavery, the people have been led by judges. They are like the judges we know in that people can come to them and have them mediate or arbitrate in difficult situations, But they are much more. They are priestly and prophetic figures who can help the people to discern the will of God and then faithfully follow God’s leading. They are also skilled and courageous military leaders.

In a poignant moment, God actually tells Samuel that the people are rejecting God’s leadership. Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann writes, “In their craving for a monarchy, patterned not on Yahweh’s will but on the countless kingdoms around them, they are simply giving in to the ancient temptation to counter the sword with the sword.” He continues, “For simply to repose in the expectation that God will take care of all the hard issues of life is a thinly veiled form of escapism. We shall work for the kingdom because we must. Yet, even as we do so. we are forced to admit that it is not we, but God, who will eventually bring the kingdom into perfect realization. Our efforts, while useful, are inevitably distorted and sinful. But, as God did not abandon sinful Israel, so the true king will not abandon any who long and work for the in-breaking of the kingdom. Brueggemann, Texts for Preaching, p. 375-76.)

Samuel tells the people that the king will take their sons to serve in the military and make weapons and to plow and harvest the king’s crops. And the king will also take their daughters to serve as perfumers, cooks, and bakers. The list goes on, There will be a high price. And then he and the people anoint Saul as king. And a tragic period begins in the history of God’s people. Samuel lives long enough to anoint David the next king of Israel. Centuries later, Lord Acton summed it all up when he said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.”

In our epistle for today, Paul is writing to his beloved congregation in Corinth. There are some tensions going on. Scholars tell us that Paul had hoped to visit them and had not been able to. Also, false teachers are telling the people that Paul is insincere. Paul shares the depth of his faith by reminding us that we know that the one who raised Jesus from the dead can also raise us and can help us through every affliction. And he says, “So we do not lose heart.” We live in earthly bodies, which he compares to tents because they are temporary homes, but we are living in the realm of eternal life— life in a new dimension filled with light and love.

In our gospel, Jesus is in a house with his disciples. There are so many people there that they cannot eat. People want to hear what he has to say. They want to be with him. Some people are saying that Jesus is insane. The scribes have come down from Jerusalem and they say that he is healing people through the power of the head demon, Beelzebul. And Jesus tells them that you can’t cast out evil with evil.

For religious authorities to attribute the work of God to evil forces is the ultimate corruption. To confuse good with evil is a very dangerous and sinful thing. Jesus reminds us that “A house that is divided against itself cannot stand.” He is calling his people to be united and work for what is good.

Then someone tells him that his mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking to see him. And he looks around him and says, “Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and  mother.” We remember when he was on the cross, how he told John the apostle and his mother that they were now mother and son. He is creating a new family. a big family, as Archbishop Tutu says. All of us who are following him are part of that family. This does not take away from his love for his own genetic mother and brothers and sisters. His own  brother James became Bishop of Jerusalem and at the Council of Jerusalem insisted that all people are part of Jesus’ big family. 

These readings are so filled with important messages. Leaders are called to use their power for the good of the people. We as Christians are called to focus on the values of the shalom of God as we evaluate our leaders. There is a profound difference between good and evil. Confusing the two is highly dangerous and damaging. We know that our loving God is calling us to help build God’s kingdom of peace, harmony, and wholeness. May we continue to do that, with God’s grace.

Our Collect for today is a wonderful help. O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Pentecost 3 Proper 5B RCL June 10, 2018

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Beth Crane

1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15)
Psalm 138
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
Mark 3:20-35

Last Sunday, we were present as God called Samuel to be the last of the judges, the leaders who mediated between the Israelites when they had a conflict, but were also spiritual leaders and prophets. Ironically, Samuel is now in the position that Eli was in last week. Samuel has grown old; his sons are not able to carry out the work of a judge, and the people want a  king just as all their neighbors have.

Samuel may be old, but he has not lost his wisdom or his integrity. He knows that, in the words of Lord Acton , “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.” Samuel warns the people that their king is going to place their sons in military service; and he will he will take their daughters to serve his court in the palace; and he will take over fields and orchards and give them to his courtiers and will demand tithes of all the produce of the land.

As usual. Samuel consults God about this issue, and God instructs Samuel to listen to the will of the people. In the end, Samuel anoints Saul as king. This is the beginning of a tragic time in the history of God’s people.

As Christians, we are called to understand the right use of power. Here again, we can remember David Brown’s distinction between auctoritas and imperium. Auctoritas, authority, the right use of power, is authorship, creativity, helping the people to be creative and to flourish. Imperium is tyranny, control, the opposite of true authority.

In our epistle, Paul is writing to his beloved congregation in Corinth. People have been accusing Paul of being insincere, and he is struggling to help the Corinthians realize that charge is simply not true. Yet, as Herbert O’Driscoll points out, Paul is becoming discouraged. Paul writes powerfully and eloquently, “Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.” We’re all getting older, but God is constantly renewing us. Our “earthly tent,” our mortal body, will perish, but our spirits will dwell forever with God. How anybody could accuse Paul of being insincere about the faith when he could give us such poetic insights about God’s love and the nature of life in Christ is beyond me, but there were folks in Corinth who wanted to take control of the congregation and teach some ideas that were very far from our faith. There again, we have an example of people who were trying to seize power and then misuse that power.

In our gospel for today, we have a complicated and heart wrenching scene. Jesus is surrounded by huge crowds. His truth and his love and healing are magnetic. Word is going around that he has lost his mind. Some people are saying that he is doing all these healings by the power of the devil. It is a very serious and terrible thing when we give credit to the devil for the works that God is doing. It is a serious distortion of reality when we call what is good evil and what is evil good. The scribes, supposedly religious leaders and scholars are doing this. That is a horrendous misuse of power. Jesus vehemently denounces this. Biblical scholar Bruce Metzger writes, “The unforgivable sin is the utter rebellion against God that denies him as the doer of his own acts.” (Note, Matthew 12:31-32, NRSV NT p. 18.) It is difficult to fathom how anyone could watch what Jesus was doing for God’s people and accuse him of being possessed by the ultimate evil forces.

Meanwhile, there is another encounter happening in this gospel. Jesus’ family has come. Even his mother, Mary, has made the long journey. Perhaps they have heard the rumors that Jesus has lost his mind. I think it is more likely that they know the authorities are watching Jesus and trying to entrap him and they are hoping to persuade Jesus to go with them and lie low for awhile. The crowd is so big that they can’t get anywhere near Jesus, but they do get a message to him. “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.” And Jesus responds, “Who are my mother and my brothers? He looks around at those near him and says, “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Herbert O’Driscoll invites us to think about how Mary must have felt when she heard that. It always reminds me of that time the family headed home and found out Jesus wasn’t with them and went back to the temple in Jerusalem. When they told him how worried they were, he said, “Didn’t you know I have to be about my father’s business?” That must have been a shock to Mary and Joseph.

This time, I think he is trying to say that he is creating a new family. It does not erase the former family, but it includes everyone who does God’s will. It may have hurt Mary and Jesus’ siblings to hear that comment about family.

We do not know the rest of the story, but we do know that Jesus would steal away to the mountains to pray, or take some time and go to the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. We can imagine that he found some time to get away and talk with Mary about what God was calling him to do and to reassure her of his love for her and his brothers and sisters. We know that one of his brothers, James, became Bishop of Jerusalem and died for his faith. Obviously, the family of Jesus cared deeply about him. They all showed up to try to help in whatever way they could. Jesus, the personification of love, cared about them as well.

And, of course, we recall that, in John’s gospel, when Jesus was dying on the cross, Mary stood there at the foot of that horrible instrument of torture and John stood beside her, and Jesus made them a family, He said, “Son, here is your mother; Mother, here is your son.” He was asking his beloved disciple John to take care of his mother. That was part of forming that new family. He wasn’t abolishing existing family ties; he was expanding the concept of family to include all of us.

There is so much to think about in these lessons. May we choose leaders who have true authority. May we, with your help, O Lord, accurately discern between good and evil. May we know the power of your love and healing. In your holy Name. Amen

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