PREACHING THE LECTIONARY: THE McGREGOR PAGE
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Pentecost 5
July 13, 2003
2 Samuel 6:1-19 (Excising the mid-portion of this text shows a lack of reverence for the Scripture and a lack of confidence in the exegetical ability of the preacher. Karl Barth would not approve, and neither do I.)
Psalm 24
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29
What do John the Baptist and Uzzah have in common? They both fell to a flash of power that transcended them. This happens. Sometimes those who tell the story see the hand of God as primary in the person's demise. Other times the agent is more apparent. Another way to interpret the event is to assign it to fate, "He was in the wrong place at the wrong time." I find it inconsistent to give God the credit for our being "in the right place at the right time" and consign the other to bad luck. No, I'd rather wrestle with the problem of God's hand being in the evil that befalls us as well as the good. Otherwise, our suffering becomes meaningless. I would rather suffer at God's hand then at the hand of a stranger -- or worse, a mindless universe. Satan can be offered as another agent, though not in these Scriptures. If I die because of Satan, I die related to Satan, not to God. I die because Satan has the greater claim on my life. I believe that regardless of how we die, the children of God die in relation to God.
Would you rather make a pastoral call on Uzzah's wife and children to say that his death was just one of those things that happens occasionally when a person tries to steady the arc, a million to one chance -- or come to say that the anger of the Lord "was kindled against him?" A tough choice. It is tough because we always want to represent God in a winsome way. More important, is that we represent God truthfully. Was God angry? Or, was God off duty when it happened? Or, is there a dispassionate side to God's power, God's provision for the consequences of our actions apart from our intentions? I wouldn't presume to tell his wife more than I know, but I wouldn't withhold the truth I do know. She is going to blame God anyway. Better she should remember that God's anger does not endure like God's faithfulness. There are people in our audience who are wrestling with the memory of dreadful loss, not limited to death. If we forbid them from wrestling with God, how will they ever find blessing?
Is God powerful only to save, not to destroy? Psalm 24 and our Ephesians passage celebrate God's power to save. The story from Samuel and Mark invite us to ponder God's power to destroy. Oh, yes, it was Herod's order, but that order would never have come had it not been for God's calling John to preach. Can the one who knows all things not bear some responsibility for all things? The way John died fits his calling and his obedience to that call. Is it bad that he died that way rather than some other way?
The one who has all the power to save or destroy us has chosen to save us. Not, the one who only has the power to save us has managed to snatch us from the one who does have the power to destroy us. It is the mystery of God's choosing grace over judgment... It is the mystery of God choosing us... It is the mystery of God's choosing us for grace over judgment in Christ Jesus that is the Gospel.
Roland McGregor, Pastor
Asbury United Methodist Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
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