Hard Things
Commentary
According to the story, once when the great Greek mathematician Euclid was teaching a king about geometry his pupil complained because the subject was hard. Wasn’t there an easier path to knowledge? Euclid informed the king that there is no royal road to learning.
This week’s lections include hard things. In dedicating the Temple King Solomon prays aloud to God, reminding himself and the people that there is always the potential for failure if we do not remember our shared story of redemption from slavery and continued faithlessness despite the miracles and wonders we have seen. This is a hard thing to learn and remember.
Paul reminds the Ephesians that we are engaged in a cosmic struggle whose effects are felt in our present lives in the form of persecution and temptation, so we must be on our guard, fully armed, against the assaults of the cosmic and earthly forces. It’s not always easy to be an disciple. It can be a hard thing.
And finally the words of Jesus associated with communion, strong images including the necessity of eating his flesh, are also hard things. Yet after many of his disciples abandon him, Jesus must have been gratified to hear Simon Peter respond, when invited to leave with the others, by saying, “Lord, where would we go, your words are life eternal!”
1 Kings 8:(1, 6, 10-11), 22-30, 41-43 and Psalm 48
We’re used to thinking of four gospels showing us the same Jesus, but from a different perspective. Each of the evangelists has a different story to tell us, and our appreciation for their work increases as we come to understand their different perspectives.
In the Hebrew scriptures there is also more than one different version of history. In 1 Kings 8:41-43 we listen to that portion of Solomon’s prayer which invites God to bless those outside the circle, the “foreigners” who have come from afar to become a part of the Blessing. This theme is echoed in several places in scripture -- in Genesis 12:1-4 where Abram’s call to get up and go to the place God will show him includes the pledge that all the families of the world will be blessed through his name. Ruth is the ultimate outsider, a Moabite who understands the Levitical law that guarantees the poor the blessings of the harvest, restoring hope to her mother-in-law Naomi. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathseba are all outsiders who become insiders, and who find their way into the genealogy of Jesus. The blessings of the Sabbath are extended to all foreigners who live. Leviticus 19:34 tells us we are to love the alien in our midst as ourselves, for we were outsiders once upon a time.
By contrast the attitude of Ezra and Nehemiah, who see foreign wives and their innocent children as a threat, demanding their expulsion without ever bringing a charge against them, is more of an anomaly, an isolated witch hunt against a larger background that calls for protection and acceptance of outsiders who may become insiders.
Ephesians 6:10-20
There’s something about that phrase “the whole armor of God” that excites people. There’s something gladiator-like about putting on this gear. It’s almost like we’re looking in the mirror, admiring ourselves wearing a breastplate and armor and all kinds of cool stuff. But this is defensive gear -- we are in the position of deflecting the blows of evil, but at the same time turning the other cheek, not always a comfortable situation.
The images have a source, as you might guess, in the Hebrew Bible. In Isaiah 59 the prophet is alarmed because “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands at a distance; for truth stumbles in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and whoever turns from evil is despoiled. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice (59:14-15).”
So God’s servant went forward to defend what everyone else abandoned -- “He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle (59:17).”
Our defense, according to this letter to the Ephesians, is truth against the falsehoods that are accepted as truth, righteousness in a culture that seems to value ruthlessness, peace when others call for war, faith against disbelief enabling us to quench the flaming arrows of the evil one, a helmet of salvation, and finally -- a real weapon, something to swing back and forth, the “sword of the Spirit (John 6:17).” But the apostle quickly tells us that we’re not going to get to stab anyone with that sword. The sword of the Spirit is the “word of God.”
That word of life is meant to save even our enemies, and that is what God especially prizes. It is the reason that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., espoused nonviolence in the Civil Rights struggle -- because it would be possible through nonviolence to save even those who were the enemies of God.
This is not easy. This is hard. But this is God.
John 6:56-69
Each of the four gospels is written from a different viewpoint. The Gospel of John is written not from the viewpoint of Galilee, Capernaum, and the north, but is centered around the religious festivals as they are celebrated in the south, in Judea and Jerusalem. Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and especially the Beloved Disciple are the important witnesses to Jesus. Only four times in John does Jesus refer to “the twelve” which mentioning the apostles, and three of them are in this passage where Jesus asks the apostles if they are going to abandon him like some of the disciples because of the hard language Jesus used in describing himself not only as the Bread of Life, but also that those who followed him must eat his flesh and drink his blood.
Frankly, Peter doesn’t always come out looking good in the Gospel of John. But he does look good in his response to Jesus. Where else can we go, he replies. The words of Jesus, the Living Bread, are the word of life. Even with this affirmation Jesus will tell them that one of them will betray him.
We want everything to be easy when it comes to the gospel. We want as few requirements as possible. But discipleship is not always easy in the world we live in. There are tough choices, and sometimes we have to swim upstream against the river of the culture. But really what choice do we have? Where else can we go?
This week’s lections include hard things. In dedicating the Temple King Solomon prays aloud to God, reminding himself and the people that there is always the potential for failure if we do not remember our shared story of redemption from slavery and continued faithlessness despite the miracles and wonders we have seen. This is a hard thing to learn and remember.
Paul reminds the Ephesians that we are engaged in a cosmic struggle whose effects are felt in our present lives in the form of persecution and temptation, so we must be on our guard, fully armed, against the assaults of the cosmic and earthly forces. It’s not always easy to be an disciple. It can be a hard thing.
And finally the words of Jesus associated with communion, strong images including the necessity of eating his flesh, are also hard things. Yet after many of his disciples abandon him, Jesus must have been gratified to hear Simon Peter respond, when invited to leave with the others, by saying, “Lord, where would we go, your words are life eternal!”
1 Kings 8:(1, 6, 10-11), 22-30, 41-43 and Psalm 48
We’re used to thinking of four gospels showing us the same Jesus, but from a different perspective. Each of the evangelists has a different story to tell us, and our appreciation for their work increases as we come to understand their different perspectives.
In the Hebrew scriptures there is also more than one different version of history. In 1 Kings 8:41-43 we listen to that portion of Solomon’s prayer which invites God to bless those outside the circle, the “foreigners” who have come from afar to become a part of the Blessing. This theme is echoed in several places in scripture -- in Genesis 12:1-4 where Abram’s call to get up and go to the place God will show him includes the pledge that all the families of the world will be blessed through his name. Ruth is the ultimate outsider, a Moabite who understands the Levitical law that guarantees the poor the blessings of the harvest, restoring hope to her mother-in-law Naomi. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathseba are all outsiders who become insiders, and who find their way into the genealogy of Jesus. The blessings of the Sabbath are extended to all foreigners who live. Leviticus 19:34 tells us we are to love the alien in our midst as ourselves, for we were outsiders once upon a time.
By contrast the attitude of Ezra and Nehemiah, who see foreign wives and their innocent children as a threat, demanding their expulsion without ever bringing a charge against them, is more of an anomaly, an isolated witch hunt against a larger background that calls for protection and acceptance of outsiders who may become insiders.
Ephesians 6:10-20
There’s something about that phrase “the whole armor of God” that excites people. There’s something gladiator-like about putting on this gear. It’s almost like we’re looking in the mirror, admiring ourselves wearing a breastplate and armor and all kinds of cool stuff. But this is defensive gear -- we are in the position of deflecting the blows of evil, but at the same time turning the other cheek, not always a comfortable situation.
The images have a source, as you might guess, in the Hebrew Bible. In Isaiah 59 the prophet is alarmed because “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands at a distance; for truth stumbles in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and whoever turns from evil is despoiled. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice (59:14-15).”
So God’s servant went forward to defend what everyone else abandoned -- “He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle (59:17).”
Our defense, according to this letter to the Ephesians, is truth against the falsehoods that are accepted as truth, righteousness in a culture that seems to value ruthlessness, peace when others call for war, faith against disbelief enabling us to quench the flaming arrows of the evil one, a helmet of salvation, and finally -- a real weapon, something to swing back and forth, the “sword of the Spirit (John 6:17).” But the apostle quickly tells us that we’re not going to get to stab anyone with that sword. The sword of the Spirit is the “word of God.”
That word of life is meant to save even our enemies, and that is what God especially prizes. It is the reason that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., espoused nonviolence in the Civil Rights struggle -- because it would be possible through nonviolence to save even those who were the enemies of God.
This is not easy. This is hard. But this is God.
John 6:56-69
Each of the four gospels is written from a different viewpoint. The Gospel of John is written not from the viewpoint of Galilee, Capernaum, and the north, but is centered around the religious festivals as they are celebrated in the south, in Judea and Jerusalem. Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and especially the Beloved Disciple are the important witnesses to Jesus. Only four times in John does Jesus refer to “the twelve” which mentioning the apostles, and three of them are in this passage where Jesus asks the apostles if they are going to abandon him like some of the disciples because of the hard language Jesus used in describing himself not only as the Bread of Life, but also that those who followed him must eat his flesh and drink his blood.
Frankly, Peter doesn’t always come out looking good in the Gospel of John. But he does look good in his response to Jesus. Where else can we go, he replies. The words of Jesus, the Living Bread, are the word of life. Even with this affirmation Jesus will tell them that one of them will betray him.
We want everything to be easy when it comes to the gospel. We want as few requirements as possible. But discipleship is not always easy in the world we live in. There are tough choices, and sometimes we have to swim upstream against the river of the culture. But really what choice do we have? Where else can we go?
