Between Hope and Humanity

Lent: a season between the bitterness of the Old Winter King and the balmy hope of Spring. A time to journey with Jesus toward the ultimate confrontation of power with truth. A time to understand the partial validity of the prevailing culture and to compare it with the eternal values of an alternative direction. Wesley is reported to have said that we are “a peculiar people.” Scriptures read this weekend will acknowledge our humanity even as we have been met by God.

We begin with an excursion into GENESIS 15:1-12, 17-18: Abram–no saint–is bemoaning to God his lack of descendants or family. “You have given me no offspring…” But God showed him the night-time sky, and assured him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars! Impatient Abram is bogged down in the gloom of impossibility, yet YHWH calls him to hope in the completely unforeseen gift of ancestry. Sure. Right. But he DID have children. This text holds humanity and hope as part of who we are; we join Abram & Sarai in our own doubts and dependence.

Turning to the Epistle, we join Paul in his Letter to the PHILIPPIANS, 3:17-4:1. He contrasts the destructive life of the “enemies of the Cross of Christ”–their minds are set on earthly things–with those who live “according to the example you have in us”. Our citizenship is in heaven, and from there we are transformed into the body of Christ’s glory. (Does that mean that we don’t hafta pay taxes? Or are we refugees en route…) Paul acknowledges this spiritual battle, and volunteers himself to be a mentor to all we who struggle.

This leads us to LUKE 13:31-35, the story of “The Fox and the Lamb”. Herod Antipas was a sly sort of guy: he was allowed by the Romans to be “King” just as long as there was no trouble. Jesus WAS “trouble” for the nation and the Empire–so Herod plotted how to do him in. Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem was not merely a blind fatalism, but his trust in the ultimate goodness of God. There’s an immediacy to the Gospel which cannot be interrupted by fear of civil censure. The holiness of Jesus wished to demonstrate the desire of God to embrace and shelter all humans (even the reluctant ones) from the storms of misplaced authority.

Lent is an analogy, isn’t it? We recognize our imperfect behavior, yet resolve to become more Christ-like. Our uncomfortable stance is between hope and humanity: we know who we are, and we affirm who we can be. An analogy happened out my front window just this morning: a bleak and chilly wind blew dry leaves in all directions…and the First Robin of the year came bob-bob-bobbin’ around my neighbor’s hedge! And so, my beloved, stand firm in the Lord…

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Please join me every Tuesday as we are met by Scriptures to be read on the upcoming weekend–at horacebrownking.com