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July 20
Out of Two, One
Psalm
89:20-37; 2 Samuel 7:1-14; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34,
53-56
This week's readings are frustrating! The selected verses from
the psalm paint a picture of King David as God's anointed,
crushing and striking his enemies, in order to establish power.
Sure, there are some words of warning for David's descendants who
desert God's law and commandments. But the lectionary selection
omits the stinging critique of a theology of success and
prosperity with its unqualified support of rulers. As author David
Pleins has pointed out, we need to read the whole of Psalm 89 in
order to offer a word that helps us "cope with and expose the
unstable nature of our political and economic institutions."
The second frustrating reading is the gospel—the guts are taken
out! Jesus invites his disciples to cross over the lake for a
retreat. The crowds hurry off to the destination, where Jesus
teaches them. Period. There follows another sea voyage—but if you
read only the allocated verses, you have to guess this!—where the
disciples end up in Gentile territory, where Jesus heals the sick,
and so on. Left out is the feeding of the crowds, the disciples'
journey of faith (or doubt!), and the walk on the water (Mark
6:33-52). Perhaps the lectionary compilers are seeking to draw us
to think about reconciliation, the theme of the Ephesians passage.
If so, what kind of reconciliation?
The point of the events associated with the crossing is to
illustrate just how difficult reconciliation is. The story is
about God wanting to reconcile Jew and Gentile (Galatians 3:28).
And the stories reveal the true difficulty of accepting such a
vision. Jesus has been alone praying while the disciples struggle
with the boat in the storm. He comes to them in the crisis not as
a miracle of grace over nature, to prove he can walk on water, but
rather as a greater miracle: the vision of a reconciled
humanity.
But such reconciliation is costly, even if the result is the
creation of a single New Humanity, as happens in Christ Jesus
through the cross (Ephesians 2:13-16). Jesus' action of feeding
the Jewish poor, by taking available resources and organizing a
sharing, is a practical critique of the system that oppresses.
From that communal yet profoundly critical act, Jesus paves the
way for reconciliation between Jew and Gentile. We should note
that he feeds a similar Gentile crowd prior to the conclusion of
his mission in that region (Mark 8:1-10).
Reflection and Action
What storms do you face in "reaching the other side" of a
reconciled humanity? How does your worship critique the dominant
theology of success and unquestioning support of rulers?
PETER B. PRICE is general secretary of the United Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel, an Anglican mission agency
based in London, and practices—with his wife, Dee—a ministry of
hospitality.
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