Stories heard this weekend remind us of the urgency of proclaiming God’s Kingdom. Headlines and digital posts say that the world is going crazy, that the System is exerting its ugly head yet again. Bombs and missiles fall from the sky to fulfill the wishes of a would-be king, and the chariots of Pharoah close upon us quickly. Is there a way out? or should we just lie down under a broom-tree and wait for death…? What in the world are you doing, for heaven’s sake?
II KINGS 2:1-14 revisit Elijah, as he walks with his protege Elisha. The (senior) prophet is going to see God, and his helper is gonna stick with him, come what may. They part the Jordan with Elijah’s cloak, to remind us that Elijah was in the Moses-tradition. Elisha does the same, on the return trip, to signify that he also is speaking up to the Pharoah-figure of the System. They are both engaged in the God-work of pointing out the fallacies of the king-figure and the constancy of YHWH. What is God calling US to do in Today’s challenge?
St. Paul, in GALATIANS 5:13-25, is telling the new Christians of Galatia to be nice to each other. The System can be pretty crude–Paul tells us to embrace one another in response. (The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-6 has already told these folks to “go the second mile”.) People in the pews are being commissioned to go tell the News TODAY, either by word or direct action. The fruit of the spirit is contrasted to the feel-good works of the Evil Empire, which spin disorderly cocoons in our daily life.
One commentator, James W. Thompson, points out that LUKE’s Gospel often portrays Jesus as on the road; 9:51-62 finds him in Samaria, with “his face set toward Jerusalem”. As he went from village to village, several confronted him by saying they would go with him, “but…”. Here Jesus points out the urgency of the Gospel: it is for Today, not Someday. (Reminds me of the story of the guy falling from the top of a skyscraper–as he goes past the Tenth Floor he calls out, “I’m OK so far!”) Annie was right: Tomorrow is always a day away!
Some worshipers may read along with these stories; others will drowse over their cell-phones. But more important than getting out of there for lunch is the urgency of telling and living out the Gospel today: maybe there won’t be a tomorrow…
In the process of unfoldiing, Horace Brown King
Please join us next Tuesday–if there IS a next Tuesday–to be met by scripture lessons from the Revised Common Lectionary which may be read to you on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com
My Blog 
Leave a comment