Disaster Averted
Commentary
In the book of Esther, the tables are turned on Haman’s genocidal plot and the people emerge triumphant. James is aware the worst sometimes happens but reminds us the prayers of the faithful are part of the equation that averts disaster. And Jesus scolds the disciples for wanting him to discourage those who work for the gospel. There’s a great task we share, and we can avert the disaster toward which the world seems to be heading by working with all people of good will who are furthering the work of the kingdom.
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22
Everything about the book of Esther is overblown. It begins with a six-months long party demonstrating how truly decadent the Persian civilization could be (at least in the eyes of the biblical writers). It continues with an extravagant beauty pageant that can only be won by a nice Jewish girl. An enemy hatches a genocidal plot to destroy all Jews but his oversized self-love leads him to believe the king seeks to honor him but all the honors he plots for himself is given to his mortal enemy, Mordecai. The brutal revenge-death he plans for Mordecai is inflicted on him when his plot is exposed by the beauty contest winner who at great risk to herself removes all risk from her people. The tables are turned again and again and again.
The author of the story didn’t include God once perhaps because the merriment it inspires (people were expected to boo Haman and cheer Mordecai when the story was read aloud) was not somehow religious enough. Indeed, Adele Berlin in her commentary on Esther written for the Jewish Publication Society correctly identifies the whole narrative as a farce — and fun!
However the book of Esther certainly wasn’t pious enough for the strict believers in the Judean desert because not one scrap of it has been found among the thousands of fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
This is the kind of story oppressed people tell to assure themselves that as a people they will survive. It’s a good reminder not to push scripture past the stretching point. In the midst of the revelry of the holiday of Purim, it celebrates is the grim history of persecution, genocide, and near-eradication of European Judaism that our faith cousins have experienced and survived. And this story is for all who experiencing this kind of genocidal hatred. God is not explicitly mentioned but is working unseen through faithful servants to stop the insanity.
There’s a villain in this story, to be sure, but there’s also someone who should scare us even more — the king, who is clueless about what is really happening in his realm, and has even authorized genocide based on misinformation which he has not researched or cross-checked. In a way it’s scary that he authorizes the changes Esther recommends just as swiftly. In this case we’re on his side, but seriously — what were you thinking in the first place.
This is a reminder to do more that “conduct research,” by which many mean search for websites that agree with what you already believe but have never truly examined. I’m pretty sure while there are next to no Haman’s, true villains, in our congregations, but many of us are like the king, ready to believe anything without actually studying the scriptures with others, willing to listen to God, to others, and the still, small voice that speaks out of our hearts.
This is a changed ending, a tables-turned, with a vengeance, and this should give us hope that our future is not inevitable.
James 5:13-20
The singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer wrote a song I especially enjoy — the refrain reminds us, “sometimes there’s only one shoe.” People always talk about waiting for the other shoe to fall, for disaster to strike, for folks to get what they deserve. But Newcomer’s song reminds us we don’t need to live looking over our shoulders for a looming disaster. Sometimes there’s only one shoe.
James, the brother of the Lord, offers practical advice throughout this letter, and here at the end he reminds us that disasters can be averted. The community can come together to bring healing. Sinners can be pulled back from the brink. Lives can be changed. Do something besides wring your hands. Fold them. In prayer. Work for healing. And while you’re at it, pull someone back from the edge before they fall over taking that selfie next to a sheer drop.
James purports to be from Jacob, the second son of Mary, the oldest of the four brothers who followed Jesus in birth order. He was one of the brothers who with Mary tried to bring Jesus back home because of their worries that he’d gone crazy or something. The Apostle Paul mentions a special meeting between Jesus and James following the resurrection, and in the Acts of the Apostles, it’s clear that until the year of his martyrdom in 62 AD James was the leader of the Jerusalem church.
Interestingly, James does not identify himself as the brother of Jesus, but as his slave — the follower who obeys. Jesus is at the heart of this letter. Outside of the gospels, no other book of the New Testament echoes so many of the words of Jesus, more like from memory than from memorizing the words of the evangelists. The book is down to earth, practical, pointed, and even witty at times.
The passage opens with a tri-fold of situational advice. Those suffering should pray. Those who are cheerful should sing. As for those who are sick — well, so many of us prefer to suffer in silence. Instead, we’re to share our burden with the elders of the church, bring others into the circle of prayer and anointing. Some may question the medicinal value of oil, but note that the forgiveness of sins is part of healing. I’m a pastor in a denomination (the Church of the Brethren) that practices anointing for healing. From the beginnings of this practice we have always performed the rite in cooperation with medical science, and we’ve also recognized that healing and curing are sometimes too different things.
As for the reference to Elijah and rain, I think many are finally coming to realize that we are connected with the physical world, and that our sins as a people has had a real effect on rain, wind, storm, snow, fire and heat. And God favors the outsider.
James’ assumption is that we are connected in life and prayer, and therefore, as the keeper of our sister and brother we must keep their welfare, spiritual and physical, uppermost in our minds. How does that hymn go? “Christian, let your light shine all along your way. You may lead a wanderer to eternal day.” You could do worse that pull someone back from the brink.
Disaster doesn’t have to strike. The other shoe doesn’t have to drop. We might just save a life. And our own in the process.
Mark 9:38-50
Jesus told the disciples that whoever is not against us is for us. Don’t stand in the way of others who serve Jesus, regardless of whether we seem to be part of the same group or not. And then Jesus said:
If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire (42-43).
If you take these words as a warning not to harm children — Great! It’s hard to imagine people doing worse. After all, the children in our direct care as well as the children around the world, are God’s gift and in God’s heart and hand. Be good. Protect and defend the children.
But that’s not the context of this passage. Jesus warns us don’t harm, alienate, disillusion, or turn away anybody taking their first steps toward the Lord. They may not even know they’re on the path to Jesus, but stop putting stumbling blocks, correcting small things, or discouraging those discovering new life in Christ. Sure, you know more about the prophet Habakkuk. You can distinguish between the beloved disciple in John and the Apostle John in Matthew. But stop circling the wagons. Don’t exclude. Your creed may be of human origin, not divine revelation, so stop putting stumbling blocks in the way of new disciples.
A change is taking place in hearts. There’s a happy ending being written — so why get in the way of God’s glorious plan.
And I shouldn’t have to write this, but if you’re a literalist, don’t cut off your hand, or anything else, and make sure others understand this. Hyperbole, exaggeration, was part of humor used by Jesus and others in first century Judea. People who thought Hebraically understood that. But later, some of the first Christians, who thought legalistically in Latin, misunderstood and actually lopped off body parts, thinking that’s what Jesus wanted them to do. That’s why the fourth century African pastor Augustine wrote:
Let none of you think, brothers (and sisters), that the Lord is here commending the cutting off of members. His meaning is that the incentive should be cut off, not the members. The causes which allure to sin are to be cut off, in order that our thought, borne up on the chariot of sight, may push toward the love of God, supported by the bodily senses. (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament, Volume II Mark, p 131)
We definitely want to change this kind of ending!
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22
Everything about the book of Esther is overblown. It begins with a six-months long party demonstrating how truly decadent the Persian civilization could be (at least in the eyes of the biblical writers). It continues with an extravagant beauty pageant that can only be won by a nice Jewish girl. An enemy hatches a genocidal plot to destroy all Jews but his oversized self-love leads him to believe the king seeks to honor him but all the honors he plots for himself is given to his mortal enemy, Mordecai. The brutal revenge-death he plans for Mordecai is inflicted on him when his plot is exposed by the beauty contest winner who at great risk to herself removes all risk from her people. The tables are turned again and again and again.
The author of the story didn’t include God once perhaps because the merriment it inspires (people were expected to boo Haman and cheer Mordecai when the story was read aloud) was not somehow religious enough. Indeed, Adele Berlin in her commentary on Esther written for the Jewish Publication Society correctly identifies the whole narrative as a farce — and fun!
However the book of Esther certainly wasn’t pious enough for the strict believers in the Judean desert because not one scrap of it has been found among the thousands of fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
This is the kind of story oppressed people tell to assure themselves that as a people they will survive. It’s a good reminder not to push scripture past the stretching point. In the midst of the revelry of the holiday of Purim, it celebrates is the grim history of persecution, genocide, and near-eradication of European Judaism that our faith cousins have experienced and survived. And this story is for all who experiencing this kind of genocidal hatred. God is not explicitly mentioned but is working unseen through faithful servants to stop the insanity.
There’s a villain in this story, to be sure, but there’s also someone who should scare us even more — the king, who is clueless about what is really happening in his realm, and has even authorized genocide based on misinformation which he has not researched or cross-checked. In a way it’s scary that he authorizes the changes Esther recommends just as swiftly. In this case we’re on his side, but seriously — what were you thinking in the first place.
This is a reminder to do more that “conduct research,” by which many mean search for websites that agree with what you already believe but have never truly examined. I’m pretty sure while there are next to no Haman’s, true villains, in our congregations, but many of us are like the king, ready to believe anything without actually studying the scriptures with others, willing to listen to God, to others, and the still, small voice that speaks out of our hearts.
This is a changed ending, a tables-turned, with a vengeance, and this should give us hope that our future is not inevitable.
James 5:13-20
The singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer wrote a song I especially enjoy — the refrain reminds us, “sometimes there’s only one shoe.” People always talk about waiting for the other shoe to fall, for disaster to strike, for folks to get what they deserve. But Newcomer’s song reminds us we don’t need to live looking over our shoulders for a looming disaster. Sometimes there’s only one shoe.
James, the brother of the Lord, offers practical advice throughout this letter, and here at the end he reminds us that disasters can be averted. The community can come together to bring healing. Sinners can be pulled back from the brink. Lives can be changed. Do something besides wring your hands. Fold them. In prayer. Work for healing. And while you’re at it, pull someone back from the edge before they fall over taking that selfie next to a sheer drop.
James purports to be from Jacob, the second son of Mary, the oldest of the four brothers who followed Jesus in birth order. He was one of the brothers who with Mary tried to bring Jesus back home because of their worries that he’d gone crazy or something. The Apostle Paul mentions a special meeting between Jesus and James following the resurrection, and in the Acts of the Apostles, it’s clear that until the year of his martyrdom in 62 AD James was the leader of the Jerusalem church.
Interestingly, James does not identify himself as the brother of Jesus, but as his slave — the follower who obeys. Jesus is at the heart of this letter. Outside of the gospels, no other book of the New Testament echoes so many of the words of Jesus, more like from memory than from memorizing the words of the evangelists. The book is down to earth, practical, pointed, and even witty at times.
The passage opens with a tri-fold of situational advice. Those suffering should pray. Those who are cheerful should sing. As for those who are sick — well, so many of us prefer to suffer in silence. Instead, we’re to share our burden with the elders of the church, bring others into the circle of prayer and anointing. Some may question the medicinal value of oil, but note that the forgiveness of sins is part of healing. I’m a pastor in a denomination (the Church of the Brethren) that practices anointing for healing. From the beginnings of this practice we have always performed the rite in cooperation with medical science, and we’ve also recognized that healing and curing are sometimes too different things.
As for the reference to Elijah and rain, I think many are finally coming to realize that we are connected with the physical world, and that our sins as a people has had a real effect on rain, wind, storm, snow, fire and heat. And God favors the outsider.
James’ assumption is that we are connected in life and prayer, and therefore, as the keeper of our sister and brother we must keep their welfare, spiritual and physical, uppermost in our minds. How does that hymn go? “Christian, let your light shine all along your way. You may lead a wanderer to eternal day.” You could do worse that pull someone back from the brink.
Disaster doesn’t have to strike. The other shoe doesn’t have to drop. We might just save a life. And our own in the process.
Mark 9:38-50
Jesus told the disciples that whoever is not against us is for us. Don’t stand in the way of others who serve Jesus, regardless of whether we seem to be part of the same group or not. And then Jesus said:
If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire (42-43).
If you take these words as a warning not to harm children — Great! It’s hard to imagine people doing worse. After all, the children in our direct care as well as the children around the world, are God’s gift and in God’s heart and hand. Be good. Protect and defend the children.
But that’s not the context of this passage. Jesus warns us don’t harm, alienate, disillusion, or turn away anybody taking their first steps toward the Lord. They may not even know they’re on the path to Jesus, but stop putting stumbling blocks, correcting small things, or discouraging those discovering new life in Christ. Sure, you know more about the prophet Habakkuk. You can distinguish between the beloved disciple in John and the Apostle John in Matthew. But stop circling the wagons. Don’t exclude. Your creed may be of human origin, not divine revelation, so stop putting stumbling blocks in the way of new disciples.
A change is taking place in hearts. There’s a happy ending being written — so why get in the way of God’s glorious plan.
And I shouldn’t have to write this, but if you’re a literalist, don’t cut off your hand, or anything else, and make sure others understand this. Hyperbole, exaggeration, was part of humor used by Jesus and others in first century Judea. People who thought Hebraically understood that. But later, some of the first Christians, who thought legalistically in Latin, misunderstood and actually lopped off body parts, thinking that’s what Jesus wanted them to do. That’s why the fourth century African pastor Augustine wrote:
Let none of you think, brothers (and sisters), that the Lord is here commending the cutting off of members. His meaning is that the incentive should be cut off, not the members. The causes which allure to sin are to be cut off, in order that our thought, borne up on the chariot of sight, may push toward the love of God, supported by the bodily senses. (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament, Volume II Mark, p 131)
We definitely want to change this kind of ending!
