Through the ages, we’ve had certain ideas about what’s proper, what’s normal: Gaining territory and wealth by killing current tenants. Pushing others out of the way to get their resources. Abuse of power over strangers, women & children, and the chronically poor.We’ve coined phrases to excuse our selfish behavior–“Look the other way”, “Boys will be boys”. Big Ag and Big Pharma get away with unfathomable profits while the sick pinch their pennies. Ethical discussion stops when someone plays the Economy card. Readings for this weekend tell the stories of some whom God has raised to Break the Mold, who will shake up business-as-usual.
Jeremiah, the Reluctant Prophet, has a lifetime of confronting the idolatry of Judah who is trying hard to be as corrupt as their surrounding nations. God tells Jeremiah that he had set him aside for prophecy before birth (1:4-10). Jeremiah understandably replies, “Who, ME? I’m only a KID!” Yet God places words and responsibility with him to speak Truth to Power. “…we find ourselves grasped by a God passionate for the fate of human beings. When we are called as individuals or congregations into the service of God’s word and way, God’s passion for goodness and wholeness becomes our passion as well.” (Sally A. Brown, in FEASTING on the WORD, C 3:367)
The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews points out the difference between the Church and those of pre-Christian tradition: the blazing terror of Mt. Sinai yields to Mt.Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, replete with angels, God & Jesus plus “the spirits of the righteous now made perfect” (12:18-29). The Way of the World will yet again be shaken, as a waiter shakes the crumbs from a tablecloth. Here again Jesus is presented as “warning” the earth from heaven, I believe against self-made material idols.
Luke tells how Jesus was criticized by the leader of the synagogue for healing a woman on the Sabbath (13:10-17). Here’s a direct breaking of the normative mold: the customs of the Sabbath law were challenged by need. The leader of the synagogue equated healing with WORK; Jesus presented healing as God’s good pleasure. Relieving the woman’s suffering isn’t the point; Jesus’s actions are seen to undermine the social order and religious law. Controlling Sabbath practices are a way to feed an established system that was often oppressive. Truly, the afflicted woman got whole; but the story is included to remind further generations that God continues to rattle the cage of entrenched manipulation.
And yet the power game goes on. The nations just don’t seem to get it. Pre-emptive strikes ensure that Number One won’t be challenged by Developing Peoples: “Do unto others BEFORE they do unto you.” Fatigued and ground down by the selfish-ness and materialism around me, I’m torn daily between running into the desert in a frenzy or battling at Agincourt–“Once more, dear friends, into the breach”. Or maybe I’ll just follow the advice of Hobbes the Tiger, taking a nap until suppertime…
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
My angst when met by scriptures for the upcoming weekend can be clinically observed every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com
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