Ordinary Time week 2

Psalm: Psalm 130
Old Testament : 1 Samuel 8:4-11, 12-15, 16-20,
  11:14-15 or Genesis 3:8-15
Gospel : Mark 3:20-35
Epistle : 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

Well, I am late again on my blog.  Vacation was  good, but it has also made it almost impossible to write or access the internet consistently.  On Sunday I was able to celebrate with our old church, SouthEast in San Diego, for their 50^th anniversary.  The service was four hours of praise and thanksgiving for what God has done and is continuing to do in that neighborhood. 

It is ironic perhaps that our readings this week deal with sin and disobedience.  Psalm 130 is a cry from the writer to be heard by the Lord.  The writer recognizes that without the Lord he can do nothing.  He waits for Lord, like the watchmen waits for the morning.  This analogy is mostly lost on us, but tonight try standing and waiting outside your front door all night until the morning comes.  It’s a long, cold, and boring night! I think it will only take one night for the experience to make an impact.

From the Old Testament reading there are actually two choices, which I don’t know why.  I read both to see which fit, and they both kind of do.  Genesis 3 is the story of the fall of humanity and the consequences of disobedience.  The reading in 1 Sam is the story of the people of Israel demanding a king from Samuel and their wish being fulfilled with Israel’s first king, Saul.  The Lord warns the people that having a king was a rejection of God’s reign and would eventually lead to more trouble.  Verses 10-20 are a warning that the stipulations concerning kings from Deut. 17:14-17 would be broken.

I must admit that a connection between the Old and New Testaments is not readily apparent to me nor a connection between the Gospel and the Epistle readings.  The Gospel reading is a combination of ideas.  1.   Jesus is performing his miracles under a power which is not Satan’s; we can say that is the power of God. 2.   All sins can be forgiven except blaspheming the Holy Spirit.  This has confused many people and does me as well. 3.   Finally, Jesus redefines familial relationships by declaring that his mother and brother are those who do the will of God, not his biological family.  By extension this is true of us as well.  It is not that we reject our biological family, but we extend the borders to include in our family all who follow Jesus and do the will of God.

2 Corinthians 4 is confusing all on its own.  At first I thought Paul is sounding a bit gnostic here, and if this is all we have then it is very gnostic.  Paul is not just wishing for an escape from the body, allowing us to move on to a higher and better spiritual realm.  In his writings he recognize that there will be a renewal and re-creation.  This is what Revelation 21 and 22 look forward to, a new heaven and a new earth.  N.T. Wright says, that Paul is “standing firmly against all kinds of dualism which would envisage a final state in which the present created order was abandoned as worthless.” (Paul in Fresh Perspectives, 144)  Paul, in his own way is expressing the prayer Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done…”  When God’s kingdom is ultimately and completely inaugurated it will of course be better than the fallen creation is presently.  This is the hope Paul looks forward to, not a de-creation or an annihilation of the present creation.

Hopefully this explanation makes sense.  I think that the modern expectations of the Eschaton, last things, needs to be revaluated and reconsidered.  The “Left Behind” novels did more harm than good in pop-culture and in our churches.  Hopefully we can consider this ideas again as they arise.  But for now, we will leave it at the idea of re-creation.  It is God’s kingdom coming to us in a new way and not us escaping to a heavenly, better, and spiritual realm.

By now, it’s just a few days until I post again.  Grace and Peace.