I hate snakes. Can’t trust ’em. Always popping out at me, even from the TV screen. Besides, who can trust anything that doesn’t have legs? Readings featured this weekend are stories about TRUST, especially aimed at persons in the pews who’ve had trust issues. Some feel betrayed by spouses or children. Some are smarting because someone at work shared publicly that which was meant to stay private. Others have buried their past guilts because they feel as though there wasn’t anyone to unburden with… I often envy those persons who have the relief of a formal and sacrosanct confessional to unload that which would tie them down! Perhaps these readings will inspire the self- isolated to move forward.
The passage from Genesis 3:8-15 bears the humor of Adam & Eve hiding from God after the Fruit Tree Incident. “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” (God really knew: this was to give Adam an opportunity to ‘fess up.) And now Adam knew what his index finger was for: “Not me, Boss! This WOMAN gave it to me…” Eve jumps into the fray, “The SNAKE tempted me…” The snake, having no fingers to point, just sat there and grinned. And thus guile was born. Up ’til now, everyone trusted the other party–but now humans need to be careful, cuz someone’s gonna snitch…
“Seeing is believing “, the old saw tells us. But, says Paul to the Corinthian church, “the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise US ALSO with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence.” (II, 14:15) There’s evidently more than meets the eye, and God through Christ is reliable, i.e., trustworthy. “We look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen.” There’s an element here of trustworthy expectation: “day after day” we’re being transformed into the holy image covered over by our insecurities long ago…
Mark’s Gospel tells us in 3:20-35 that the traditionalists thought Jesus to be possessed, and set up Jesus’ mother and brothers to make an intervention. How much had he trusted these to go along with him, even though they might not yet understand the full picture? “C’mon, Jesus! Get a real job, get married, have a lot of Jewish children!” Jesus’ non-compliance may be the lesson here, to persevere against the tempting demons, trusting (naively?) in God alone. And there are days when it feels VERY alone…
Somewhere along the road I learned the wisdom: “Love many, trust few; learn to paddle your own canoe.” This is the Popeye wisdom: “I yam what I yam!” The pandemic isolated our general society, and destroyed much of the trusting community. Now more than ever we the Church needs to confess our self-reliance as sinful, and show the way to community to the watching culture. Besides, I hate snakes…!
In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King
My reflections on Scripture assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at horacebrownking.com
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