The Non-Power Option

Thursday, December 11, 2008 -- Week of 2 Advent; Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 936)
Psalms 37:1-18 (morning) 37:19-42 (evening)
Isaiah 7:1-9
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Luke 22:1-13

There is considerable plotting and intrigue in today's readings.

First, the setting for Isaiah's prophecy of the three children's names. The northern kingdom of Israel (capital in Samaria) was forming an alliance to oppose the rising power of Assyria in upper Mesopotamia. Israel had allied with Aram (Damascus, Syria). King Ahaz ruled the southern kingdom of Judah (capital in Jerusalem). Israel and Judah had fought one another over a territorial dispute not to long in the past. Now King Pekah of Israel sought to depose King Ahaz of Judah to put a puppet on the throne who would join the alliance against the rise of Assyria. Ahaz was outmanned and frightened.

Isaiah urged Ahaz not to be afraid and not to do something desperate, like give tribute to Assyria for protection from Israel and Aram. Isaiah used the names of three children, possibly his own, as a symbolic story to calm Ahaz's fear and dissuade him from aligning with Assyria. Isaiah brings his first child with him -- Shear-jashub, meaning "a remnant returns" -- and tells Ahaz the armies of Israel and Aram will be defeated and retreat with only a remnant of their warriors. Tomorrow Isaiah will continue the argument and use the name of a child named Immanuel, "God is with us." That's a famous passage.

King Ahaz will not follow Isaiah's counsel. Instead, he will become a vassal of Assyria. It will be a disastrous and costly decision.

In 2 Thessalonians it is hard to understand fully the setting without making some presumptions about its authorship. This section is more easily interpreted if we assume it is written sometime after Paul's ministry. One of the major difficulties the early Church faced was the delay of the expected return of Jesus. We can trace some of the ways the Church adapted to its disappointment in the changing expectations we read within the New Testament itself. The writer of 2 Thessalonians wants to counter one of the current explanations. Some Christian leaders taught that the "day of the Lord" had already happened in the resurrection of Jesus. From this context, it would seem that some leaders had endorsed that interpretation in the name of Paul. This writer says "No" -- the Lord's day has not already come. There must be some future political upheaval involving an unnamed "lawless one" and involving an unnamed person or circumstance that was restraining the lawless one. Some conflict must occur before the day of the Lord, the writer asserts. In the tradition of the Revelation of John, the writer says that the means of Jesus' triumph will be by word not by violence: "And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth..."

Finally we see the plot of Judas. He conspires to betray Jesus to the authorities. The scene shifts like a spy novel, and Jesus give his disciples a code. Look for a man carrying water. (Only women carry water in his culture.) Follow him, and he will take you to the secret Passover preparations. A new Passover is being prepared. Everything will be changed.

I've long believed Judas thought he was doing something to help. I think he believed that Jesus was God's Messiah, but that Judas got impatient with the lack of progress in Jesus' mission. Most Jews expected that the Messiah would inaugurate a new kingdom in Israel, defeating the occupying foreign armies and restoring Israel to military, economic and political glory. Maybe Judas thought that if he could create a decisive conflict between Jesus and the authorities, Jesus would finally reveal and unleash his Messianic identity and powers to bring about the hoped for revolution. Judas only brought about Jesus' downfall -- his torture, suffering and death. Seeing the disaster, Judas took his own life in grief and hopelessness.

All of these are stories of trust. Trust God and not Assyria, says Isaiah. Trust my version of the end and not the others, says 2 Thessalonians. Trust Jesus' non-violent, non-militaristic leadership instead of your own expectations, says Luke. Where do we put our trust? The common thread among these readings is an invitation to embrace something more creative than the usual temptation to solve things with the most powerful option. So often we see that God is working below the radar of the obvious power-solutions. Trust three children's names, says Isaiah. Trust that Jesus will have his day, says 2 Thessalonians. Trust a vulnerable man willing to go to a cross, says Luke. Don't be co-opted by the power-option. God is still working below the scene. Trust.

Lowell

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About Morning Reflections
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


The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas