Let’s get it straight: Living God’s way in the
world is not for the faint-hearted. Our readings in the next
few weeks challenge our discipleship, calling to its very
foundations. We are invited to face our prejudice, to analyze
our motives for doing good, to reflect on our seemingly
endless capacity for conflict, to observe our desire for
status, as well as our murmuring and moaning against God when
the least thing upsets our way of doing things. And as they
say in the movies, "We’re the good guys!"
Most of us suffer from spiritual blindness. Bartimaeus,
who was blind, called out to Jesus, but before Jesus could
restore his sight he had to find out if that is what
Bartimaeus wanted— "What do you want me to do for
you?" "That I may receive my sight," he
replied. Let’s get it straight: What do you want me to
do for you? is the same question Jesus asks of us.
September 28
For...Or Against?
Psalm 124; Esther 7:1-6, 9:20-22; James 5:13-20;
Mark 9:38-50
"Anyone who is not against us is for us," says
Jesus to the disciple John (Mark 9:40). The disciples had
been arguing over status, and Jesus had given them a visual
parable by embracing a little child, saying, "Anyone who
welcomes a little child such as this...welcomes me." He
continues to surprise by advising his disciples that the most
basic hospitality, the "gift of a cup of water," is
evidence of being "for us." An important task for
God’s people is discerning allies who are allies in
"escaping from the fowler’s net" (Psalm
124:7).
Esther is the most secular book in the scriptures. It
tells of a Jewish woman who has found favor with a pagan
monarch, acting to prevent the genocide of her people. Boldly
risking her privileged position and status with a paranoid
ruler, she achieves freedom for her people and brings about
the punishment of the chief conspirator to the potential
holocaust.
There is little mention of God in this story. It is unlike
so much of what we read in the Old Testament. We are left to
draw conclusions rather than have them thrown at us. Michael
Fox has commented that it is "the willingness to face
history with an openness to the possibility of
providence—even when history seems to weigh against its
likelihood...this is a stance of profound faith."
Elie Wiesel, commenting on a meeting of "righteous
Gentiles" in New York, spoke of those who had defended
Jews in the European holocaust: "Most who cared were
simple people who didn’t even know what they were doing
was courageous.... They did it because it was the thing to
do. And I felt then, woe to our society if to be human
becomes an heroic act."
Jesus understood how much it takes to be a full human
being. He saw the need to affirm what was "good"
outside his discipleship community and to cut out what was
"bad" inside it. To be like salt is to be at peace.
The challenge of making shalom calls for "confession of
sins to one another" within the community (James 5:16);
and outside of it believing that "anyone who is not
against us is for us."
Reflection and Action
Who do you sense is "for us" but does not belong
to your faith community? Where have you witnessed being human
as "an heroic act"? What do you want to affirm as
"good" outside, and deal with as "bad" in
your church life? Re-read the Michael Fox quote. Do you agree
with him?
