A friend was reminiscing about “All In the Family”, where Archie was talking with Mike/Meathead about heavenly matters. “Edith, get in here!” Archie shouts. “I’m having to defend God all by myself!” Scriptures for this coming weekend address the alone feeling some of us have when Everyone Else seems to be running after other gods– gods of the Ego, or gods of the Old Way. Most prophets, those who dare speak heavenly images in human words, feel that there’s no one else; and that they alone are the surviving remnant of the True Faith.
So there’s danger when we recall the story about Elijah and the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18:20-39). We’ve all heard it in Sunday School: the followers of the Baal (the Phoenician gods/goddesses of fertility and good harvest) set up their sacrifice and tried their best to get the gods’ attention–to no avail. Then Elijah erected the old “True” altar, laid out the wood and meat, even soused it with water…and voila! A major conflagration ensued, demonstrating that Yahweh WAS there. It’s best to leave the story with the congregational assent: “The LORD indeed is God.” DON’T read any further, we have enough ethnic genocide without ascribing it to God!! The preacher or class leader presenting this saga needs to beware of saying, “Hoorah for Our Side”: the core message here is of Elijah’s faith in the midst of community apostasy.
The reading of Galatians 1:1-12 reflects an indignant Paul who is “astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ”! Seems that the congregations of what’s now central Turkey were adopting paths & practices utterly at odds with Paul’s earlier teachings. We don’t know the exact details of these; which allows backsliders from every generation to name their own heresies and blasphemies against the Good News of God’s Steadfast Love. Gregory H. Ledbetter writes, “There is little ‘good news’ in a system of belief that reverses the freedom of Christ, saps the strength of the Spirit, and re-locks the shackles of the law.” (FEASTING on the WORD, C 3:89) From a distance, Paul worries that he’s the only one who can heal these wanderers.
The lesson from Luke’s Gospel (7:1-10) doesn’t immediately uncover lonliness. Here a centurion–a Gentile, but he’s OK ’cause he built the synagogue–asks Jesus for a proxy healing of a beloved slave (!)…and it happens. Jesus tells the bystanders that this Gentile has more faith than any of the Jews he knows! If there’s a common thread with the Old Testament and the Epistle, it’s that this episode has worth in its comparison with the surrounding culture. Like the Elijah story, some believed Jesus could, most believed that he couldn’t. (And a slave? a Gentile??) It’s fierce to wade against the current…
There are some days when, like Tigger, I selfishly think that I’m the Only One: as an alien, I have answers for this puny humanity into which I was sent; and no one listens a bit. Thank goodness for scriptures like these which remind me that I’m merely one of the crowd, and that we’re surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
My thoughts on lectionary scriptures for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com
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