Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Commentary
In the book “Through the Looking Glass,” by Lewis Carroll, the chess pieces come to life, including the befuddled White Queen who in response to Alice’s assertion that one can’t believe in things that are impossible, replies, “I daresay you haven’t had much practice. When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
The lectionary scriptures cut the number in half and ask us to believe in three, if not quite impossible, then certainly improbable things.
In the wake of a devastating invasion of crop destroying insects, and facing possible destruction by hostile nations surrounding God’s people, the prophet Joel tells them if they will return to worshiping God, the impossible will happen and they will regain all they lost to the great army of insects. Early rains will bless the earth, the fields will become like the Garden of Eden, and the lost years will be recovered.
Paul writes to Timothy calling upon the people to pray for a distant, self-centered, and dangerous aristocracy with God’s assurance that though it might seem impossible these evil rulers may let them alone.
Jesus tells us to do something most impossible of all -- stop worrying! Trust in God! And in the midst of all these impossibilities, give thanks!
Joel 2:21-27 and Psalm 126
The poet John Donne, who in later life would pen some of the strongest and most moving Christian poems in the English language, in his early verse “Go and Catch a Falling Star” instructs the listener to attempt a number of impossible tasks. One is exceptionally poignant: “Tell me where all past years are.”
The prophet Joel writes at a time when the people have experienced a devastating invasion of insects who have mercilessly and mechanically destroyed the crops. There was also a drought. And there are nations who threaten God’s people. Perhaps calling to mind calamities viewed in the skies, eclipses, comets, portents of doom, Joel even warns the people that they cannot automatically assume that when the Day of the Lord finally comes, and things are set to right, that they will necessarily be among the saved!
But if -- and if is a powerful word! The whole prophetic experiment is based on that small word. If the people will return to God, all will be restored. There is a delay of the end, there is still time tor repent -- for now.
So if the people will repent the lost years will be restored. The land, the animals, and the people will have cause for rejoicing. God will be found in the midst of a people who will have good cause to rejoice and give thanks.
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Paul/Saul lived in at least three worlds: the Roman Empire, along with the Jewish societies of both Palestinian Jerusalem and the Diaspora. Paul as a citizen both of the Jewish world and the Roman world took full advantage of Roman roads, Roman privileges (he is a citizen of Rome), and Roman culture.
Paul recognizes that Christians live in a larger world, and they are not to retreat from it. Rather, they are “to be subject to rulers and authorities.” This provides an opportunity for good works not simply for those in the community of faith, but for everyone (Titus 3:1-2). Prayer is to be offered for all rulers in the hope that we may live peaceably in society at large -- especially because we are reminded by Paul that Jesus “gave himself a ransom for all,” and that is why Paul has chosen to be an apostle to the Gentiles (1 Timothy 2:1-7).
Regardless, Christians were to live by the example of Jesus, not the customs of the larger world they in which found themselves. An anonymous second century Christian composed a letter to an official named Diognetus defending believers as good citizens, countering rumors that Christians participated in strange and unnatural practices with the argument that Christians are nonconformists who challenge the world’s standards, yet do their best to be good neighbors.
For Christians don’t come from other countries, speak a different language, or act differently. They don’t have their own economies, or dialect, nor do they have bizarre lifestyles.… They live according to chance in both Greek speaking and foreign cities, and dress the same, eat the same foods, act the same in all the rest of life’s ways -- except that they also paradoxically different because of their citizenship. They live in the same countries, but they are foreigners. They take part in the political life of their land, but they endure the hardships of aliens.… They live on the earth but they are citizens of heaven.… They are put to death, but they are brought to life. They are made poor, but they make many rich.… People curse them but they bless in return. They honor those who insult them.… Simply put, Christians are to the world what the soul is to the body. (Author’s translation)
However, the author then lists several contemporary customs, such as disposing of unwanted children or sharing spouses, which Christians do not take part in, but added that “;They are poor, yet they make many rich; they are in need of everything, yet they abound in everything.”;
Matthew 6:25-33
Today’s passage from Matthew is a part of what we know as the Sermon on the Mount. This famous speech includes the Beatitudes, in which Jesus gives a series of statements framed as paradoxes -- for instance those who seem most in need of pity are actually those who are blessed. There is a redefinition of the meaning of the Law in which Jesus points us to the Spirit rather than the letter of the law. Jesus asks us to re-examine the way we live and look at life.
And Jesus tells us not to worry.
Just how are we to accomplish all that? It’s not like we don’t have something to worry about! There are the stresses of employment. There are economic stresses. We may be taking care of our children, or we have become the parents of our parents! We may be getting much older, and dealing with the stresses that come with financial and medical complications. We may be younger and dealing with the stresses of trying to get a foothold on our future while saddled down with student debt way back then.
The very fact that Jesus brings up the subject of anxiety tells us that people were anxious about the complications in their lives -- a ruinous economy that drove many people off their ancestral land, military occupation by a distant and unfriendly foreign power, diseases that not only disabled people but drove a wedge between them and their families and villages, a much lower life span than we experience, wars, rumors of wars, and public unrest.
We give thanks to God on Thanksgiving. The holiday as celebrated in the United States is not officially tied to any particular faith. Everyone is invited to give thanks to God. So how do people give thanks? Perhaps one model that might be helpful for us is the Thanksgiving festival we find in the Bible, Sukkoth, otherwise known as the Jewish Feast of Booths.
Once a year God’s people would leave the comfort of their homes and villages and rough it in tents set up outside of town. It was not unlike a week-long family camp. Part of the reason was to remind the people how their ancestors lived in tents for forty years in the desert. They needed to be thankful for what God had done for them in the past. But they were also to be thankful for the present, as they shared the bounty of harvest time as a gift from God. The Feast of Booths (Deuteronomy 16:13-15, among other places) celebrated the conclusion of the agricultural year. Just as people shared the first fruits at Pentecost, now they shared the final fruits of the season. This included the all important production of wine.
The people were also to remember that God traveled in a tent as well! The Ark of the Covenant was housed in a tent sometimes referred to as the tabernacle. When the pitched broke camp, the Ark, representing the presence of God, went with them, and when the people pitched camp they had a visible symbol that God remained with them no matter where they went.
(Adapted from the sermon by the present author in the CSS book “Mark His Words.” Want to know more about Sukkhot, or the Feast of Booths? Read chapters 7 & 8 in “The Five Festal Scrolls” by Robert W. Neff and Frank Ramirez)
The lectionary scriptures cut the number in half and ask us to believe in three, if not quite impossible, then certainly improbable things.
In the wake of a devastating invasion of crop destroying insects, and facing possible destruction by hostile nations surrounding God’s people, the prophet Joel tells them if they will return to worshiping God, the impossible will happen and they will regain all they lost to the great army of insects. Early rains will bless the earth, the fields will become like the Garden of Eden, and the lost years will be recovered.
Paul writes to Timothy calling upon the people to pray for a distant, self-centered, and dangerous aristocracy with God’s assurance that though it might seem impossible these evil rulers may let them alone.
Jesus tells us to do something most impossible of all -- stop worrying! Trust in God! And in the midst of all these impossibilities, give thanks!
Joel 2:21-27 and Psalm 126
The poet John Donne, who in later life would pen some of the strongest and most moving Christian poems in the English language, in his early verse “Go and Catch a Falling Star” instructs the listener to attempt a number of impossible tasks. One is exceptionally poignant: “Tell me where all past years are.”
The prophet Joel writes at a time when the people have experienced a devastating invasion of insects who have mercilessly and mechanically destroyed the crops. There was also a drought. And there are nations who threaten God’s people. Perhaps calling to mind calamities viewed in the skies, eclipses, comets, portents of doom, Joel even warns the people that they cannot automatically assume that when the Day of the Lord finally comes, and things are set to right, that they will necessarily be among the saved!
But if -- and if is a powerful word! The whole prophetic experiment is based on that small word. If the people will return to God, all will be restored. There is a delay of the end, there is still time tor repent -- for now.
So if the people will repent the lost years will be restored. The land, the animals, and the people will have cause for rejoicing. God will be found in the midst of a people who will have good cause to rejoice and give thanks.
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Paul/Saul lived in at least three worlds: the Roman Empire, along with the Jewish societies of both Palestinian Jerusalem and the Diaspora. Paul as a citizen both of the Jewish world and the Roman world took full advantage of Roman roads, Roman privileges (he is a citizen of Rome), and Roman culture.
Paul recognizes that Christians live in a larger world, and they are not to retreat from it. Rather, they are “to be subject to rulers and authorities.” This provides an opportunity for good works not simply for those in the community of faith, but for everyone (Titus 3:1-2). Prayer is to be offered for all rulers in the hope that we may live peaceably in society at large -- especially because we are reminded by Paul that Jesus “gave himself a ransom for all,” and that is why Paul has chosen to be an apostle to the Gentiles (1 Timothy 2:1-7).
Regardless, Christians were to live by the example of Jesus, not the customs of the larger world they in which found themselves. An anonymous second century Christian composed a letter to an official named Diognetus defending believers as good citizens, countering rumors that Christians participated in strange and unnatural practices with the argument that Christians are nonconformists who challenge the world’s standards, yet do their best to be good neighbors.
For Christians don’t come from other countries, speak a different language, or act differently. They don’t have their own economies, or dialect, nor do they have bizarre lifestyles.… They live according to chance in both Greek speaking and foreign cities, and dress the same, eat the same foods, act the same in all the rest of life’s ways -- except that they also paradoxically different because of their citizenship. They live in the same countries, but they are foreigners. They take part in the political life of their land, but they endure the hardships of aliens.… They live on the earth but they are citizens of heaven.… They are put to death, but they are brought to life. They are made poor, but they make many rich.… People curse them but they bless in return. They honor those who insult them.… Simply put, Christians are to the world what the soul is to the body. (Author’s translation)
However, the author then lists several contemporary customs, such as disposing of unwanted children or sharing spouses, which Christians do not take part in, but added that “;They are poor, yet they make many rich; they are in need of everything, yet they abound in everything.”;
Matthew 6:25-33
Today’s passage from Matthew is a part of what we know as the Sermon on the Mount. This famous speech includes the Beatitudes, in which Jesus gives a series of statements framed as paradoxes -- for instance those who seem most in need of pity are actually those who are blessed. There is a redefinition of the meaning of the Law in which Jesus points us to the Spirit rather than the letter of the law. Jesus asks us to re-examine the way we live and look at life.
And Jesus tells us not to worry.
Just how are we to accomplish all that? It’s not like we don’t have something to worry about! There are the stresses of employment. There are economic stresses. We may be taking care of our children, or we have become the parents of our parents! We may be getting much older, and dealing with the stresses that come with financial and medical complications. We may be younger and dealing with the stresses of trying to get a foothold on our future while saddled down with student debt way back then.
The very fact that Jesus brings up the subject of anxiety tells us that people were anxious about the complications in their lives -- a ruinous economy that drove many people off their ancestral land, military occupation by a distant and unfriendly foreign power, diseases that not only disabled people but drove a wedge between them and their families and villages, a much lower life span than we experience, wars, rumors of wars, and public unrest.
We give thanks to God on Thanksgiving. The holiday as celebrated in the United States is not officially tied to any particular faith. Everyone is invited to give thanks to God. So how do people give thanks? Perhaps one model that might be helpful for us is the Thanksgiving festival we find in the Bible, Sukkoth, otherwise known as the Jewish Feast of Booths.
Once a year God’s people would leave the comfort of their homes and villages and rough it in tents set up outside of town. It was not unlike a week-long family camp. Part of the reason was to remind the people how their ancestors lived in tents for forty years in the desert. They needed to be thankful for what God had done for them in the past. But they were also to be thankful for the present, as they shared the bounty of harvest time as a gift from God. The Feast of Booths (Deuteronomy 16:13-15, among other places) celebrated the conclusion of the agricultural year. Just as people shared the first fruits at Pentecost, now they shared the final fruits of the season. This included the all important production of wine.
The people were also to remember that God traveled in a tent as well! The Ark of the Covenant was housed in a tent sometimes referred to as the tabernacle. When the pitched broke camp, the Ark, representing the presence of God, went with them, and when the people pitched camp they had a visible symbol that God remained with them no matter where they went.
(Adapted from the sermon by the present author in the CSS book “Mark His Words.” Want to know more about Sukkhot, or the Feast of Booths? Read chapters 7 & 8 in “The Five Festal Scrolls” by Robert W. Neff and Frank Ramirez)
