I especially admire the DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS. These folks go all over the world with their medicine and skill, even to places where unrest and tribal bickering make life dangerous. They seem to have caught the message that “borders” are strictly human measurements created to separate “them” from “us”. Readings that you may hear this weekend deal with borders and tribal boundaries, both geographic and cultural. We who live in the shadow of The Wall may take some solace from the message of God who basically ignores our limits and borders.
Jeremiah was just a kid, “too young to be a prophet” (1:4-10). I mean, who’s gonna listen to or believe the admonitions of a child? Culture has drawn lines of separation between those who are too young to vote, too young to drink, too young to drive… “But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say I am only a boy; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you…” Experience? “Often just a code word for initiation into the [cynical and grasping] values of an unjust order.” (Martin L. Smith, in SOJOURNERS, February 2019: page 44)
Note this: I Corinthians 13 is NOT about lace & bouquets and drunken uncles! The love which is expressed here is the mutual affection called forth by knowing that God is involved with ALL Creation. This, Paul claims, is the antidote for all the jealousies bothering the Church at Corinth. He’s provoking them to graph their lives against this model of Perfection. If you can follow this ideal, then you’ll grow in appreciation of others touched by Grace. Pretty radical stuff, especially for those who fence off their virtue from being contaminated by Those Outside.
Luke’s Gospel is a continuation of the story about Jesus’ rejection as a HomeBoy (4:21-30). Let the Reader begin with a brief synopsis of Part 1. The congregation’s ire was sparked when he recalled God’s grace to the gentile widow of Zarephath and to the (awwk!) Syrian general Naaman. Do we former playmates of Jesus get special attention; I mean, we SHOULD! Can we share our specialness with THEM? Has the Messiah inaugurated a new age ending oppression and injustice for even those others? Is Yahweh only a tribal deity??
James C. Howell writes, “No good life from God can grow without our dying to our old self, as old bogus priorities are tossed aside, the house of cards cast down.” (FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:295) Evidently the Creator of the Universe is going for the whole nine yards, trampling our lines in the sand. Andrew Greely reminds us that God draws straight with crooked lines…
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
My encounter with Scripture readings assigned to the upcoming weekend can be sampled every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com
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