Epiphany Week 4

Psalm: Psalm 111 
Old Testament: Deuteronomy 18:15-20 
Gospel: Mark 1:21-28 
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Today will be a relatively short post since as we all know today was Super Bowl Sunday, and thus we all probably partied most of the day.

Today, in our reading from Deuteronomy, God tells his people that due to their request at Horeb, he will no longer speak to them directly but rather through prophets. (See Ex. 20:18-19) Israel's request makes sense when we consider how things seemed to go when the presence of God showed up. Even when God spoke to only Moses on the mountain, Moses' face shown so brilliantly that he had to wear a veil over it. (Ex. 34) The presence of God often came in power and glory and people were known to not survive the encounter. So the people ask God for him not to speak to them directly. But God in his desire to reach his people provided the prophets to continue to deliver his words and call his people to faithfulness.
This theme continues into the New Testament when God continues to speak to humanity through fellow humans. But now God does something new and so much more powerful; he speaks to humanity through his Son, Jesus. God became incarnate and meet us right where we are. Now we see God through the Son. In Jesus' life time, and in this paricope, the people are surprised at Jesus because he speaks as one having authority--even the demons and impure spirits obey him. God has revealed himself now most fully through his very own Son and continues to speak to us through his Spirit. This is good news! In the Old Testament they had the prophets, and they tried and were faithful to call to Israel to obedience. But we know how that turned out. Then there was about 400 years of silence before Jesus arrived, which is perhaps why the people in Jesus' day were so surprised at Jesus' teaching. With the arrival of Jesus God again begin to interact with humanity in a direct way. The good news is that we no longer have to worry about 400 years of silence and waiting for God's prophets to arise in our midst. God is revealed through Jesus and speaks to each one of us through the Holy Spirit.

Briefly, I want to just mention our reading from 1 Corinthians. These verses, and others like them from Paul's letters, have been formative in my life and I think are something we ought to consider. Paul is discussing meat eaten to idols and exhorts the Corinthians to refrain from eating it if it will cause others to stumble. You can read the passage to understand his argument in his context, but the implications are clear for us. If our conscience is clear and we know that we are not "sinning" by doing something, yet by doing so we cause our brother or sister to sin, then in fact we are sinning. In verse 12 Paul writes these words, "When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ." We truly are our brothers keeper when we join the family of God. We no longer just have to worry about ourselves and not care about how our actions affect others. This is totally against what we as American's are taught and as humans in general act. I can tell you that these words challenge me. Now I don't just have to ask if I am sinning, but I have to think if what I am doing is causing my brothers or sisters to sin.

Through the Holy Spirit may we  have the insight and courage to ask this question and care for our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.

Grace and Peace.