Life is Hard

Tuesday, September 12, 2006 -- Week of Proper 18 (John Henry Hobart)

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 983)
Psalm 45 (morning) // 47, 48 (evening)
Job 29:1-20
Acts 14:1-18
John 10:31-42

Life is hard. And complicated. You do good, and you may not prosper for it. You give your best, and others still don't understand. It's not fair.

Job thinks back to the way it was. He was a good and just man, respected by all. He was one of those who helped the weak and poor and who challenged the unjust. Now look at him. Sick, childless, miserable. What good is God if God can't be as just and fair as you have been?

Paul and Barnabas come to another town where they enter the synagogue and start to tell their gospel. People are divided about them. It devolves into a plot to stone them. They flee. In the next town, Paul heals a man who had been crippled from birth. Everybody is wowed. They acclaim the strangers. The local priest sees an opportunity for some good publicity for the temple. He tells them Zeus and Hermes have visited them, and he gets ready to kick off a huge sacrifice (read big party). It will give rank to the temple and be great fun for the city. No! You don't understand, cry Paul and Barnabas. That stuff is worthless. We are people, just like you. Then the guys that are still mad from the previous town show up. Gotta go.

Jesus is doing good things -- healing, feeding, making wine from water. He points to those and says this is the presence of God with us. He tries to tell them of his intimacy with God. ...of their intimacy with God. He quotes Psalm 82 -- "you are all gods and children of the most high." The scrupulous hear blasphemy. Bad theology. He's claiming to be equal to God. Can't go there. Jesus asks them to look at the works. Look at what he's been doing. It's good stuff. He asks them to consider the possibility that he is one with the Father and the Father is one with him. If they'll give him a chance he'll tell them that they can be one with the Father and one with him. They want to arrest him, so he has to escape into Gentile territory.

These are our heroes of the faith. They did life about as well as life can be done. Their lives were hard. And complicated. They did good and did not prosper for it. They did their best toward others, and the others didn't understand. It wasn't fair.

So, why do we think we ought to have it any better?

Lowell

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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR