The common theme in Lent seems to be contrasting The Light with so many signs of prevailing darkness. Most of us are groaning as we read the headlines and watch Rachel Maddow. Is there no perfection, no Balm in Gilead? Lections to be read this upcoming weekend are affirming the ongoing powers of God–if then, why not now? What stance should the Christians adopt as they realize that they’re just not fitting in? Do we “go along to get along”?
The Old Testament reading is from I SAMUEL 16:1-13, the humorous anointing of David to be king succeeding Saul. You may remember that Samuel wanted to appraise all of Jesse’s sons, but none fit the mold God desired. “Oh, yeah, I do have another son; but he’s out with the sheep, and besides, he’s only a little kid.” So David, the Ultimate King, was introduced as being a good shepherd, just what Israel needed. No longer would they stumble in the dark.
And so we attend to EPHESIANS 5:8-14: “For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord, you are light.” Not “were IN”, but the disciple IS darkness or light! Sorta like the old TV Westerns, where the good guys always wore white hats. How can our small posse hold back the juggernaut of complacency and the Devil of the Noonday Sun? I don’t know about you, but I can say truthfully that I’m pretty tired of the battle–I really need to hear these words again. And again. Seems that in Christ, we can apprehend “what is pleasing to the Lord”. For both activist and pew-sitter, our effort for Light reflects that in Christ, we are “woke” from our comfortable drowsiness.
JOHN 9:1-41 is the really well-told story of Jesus healing the man born blind by anointing his eyes with mud made from holy spittle (?) and the dirt of humility (humus). Although this blind man’s ancestors were created perfect, something–genetic, not ethically!–happened to contort light into darkness. Just as God once knelt in the dirt to create humans from Holy Mud, so Jesus completes this work with his timely ministry of anointing. Appearing only in this Gospel, this account may be an edited narrative about how God desires the People to come from Darkness into Light. Unsupported by his community, the local religious system AND his parents, the afflicted man turns to Jesus alone for wholeness. The Pharisees don’t like this, because it makes Jesus the hero and not them! The story appears to announce Jesus as the sole healer and source of seeing clearly.
So many idols control our present systems: militarism, consumerism, ego-centric charities and chicanery in banks… We’re bombarded by Evil in so many forms! “It’s better to light one little candle than to stumble in the dark.”
In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King
We’re comforted and challenged by the Scripture assigned to the upcoming weekend–join us every Tuesday as we begin to explore it at horacebrownking.com
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