Three Good Readings

Monday, September 28, 2009 -- Week of Proper 21, Year One
Sergius, Abbot of Holy Trinity, Moscow, 1392

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 986)
Psalms 89:1-18 (morning) 89:19-52 (evening)
2 Kings 17:24-41
1 Corinthians 7:25-31
Matthew 6:25-34

This is one of those days when all three of the readings seem particularly stimulating to me.

In 2 Kings we see some of the origin of the bitter animosity between Jews and Samaritans that we see reflected several places in the Gospels. It is a sad story. The northern kingdom of Israel was invaded and defeated by Assyria. The capital city Samaria held out under siege for three years. Imagine the courage and suffering behind that story.

Then the Assyrians deported the people of Israel to cities near the Assyrian homeland and resettled captives from other lands into Israel. When lions began threatening the settlers, the Assyrians retrieved one of the exiled priests and returned him to the shrine at Bethel to placate "the god of the land," as the Assyrians referred to the God of Israel. The Jewish priest "taught (the settlers) how they should worship the Lord." But those who had been exiled into Israel also brought their own religious customs and worship with them. The deuteronomic editor concludes, "So they worshiped the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away."

It seems that another Biblical editor disagreed with the deuteronomic editor. "They do not worship the Lord and they do not follow the statues or the ordinances or the law or the commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel." The section 34b-40 stands out as an insertion from a later scribe who had more stringent views about the heresy of the Samaritans than did the deuteronomic author. In verse 41 we return to the familiar voice of the deuteronomic editor: "So these nations worshiped the Lord, but also served their carved images; to this day their children and their children's children continue to do as their ancestors did."

By the time of Jesus, the animosity between Samaritans and Jews was bitter and extreme. Yet Jesus reached out compassionately, visiting with a Samaritan woman at a well and offering her living water, and telling a parable using the generosity of a Samaritan to illustrate our responsibility to our neighbor. Jesus' example is illustrative today as a guide for us as some Americans are reacting with considerable prejudice against our Abrahamic brothers and sisters who practice Islam.
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Paul's quip that "those who marry will experience distress in this life" is often quoted in mirth. But the passage we read today is a good example of an interim ethic. Expecting the imminent return of Jesus and its accompanying social and cosmic upheaval, Paul has a sense of urgency that changes relationships -- domestic, personal, and economic. "For the present form of this world is passing away."

One of the biggest challenges of the early church was the growing delay of the expected return of the Lord. We see the church's adaptation as we move from Paul's early letters, influenced by immediate expectations of a climactic return, and the later letters of the Pastoral epistles -- 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus -- more concerned with establishing long-lasting systems.

There are some Christians who combine an expectation of the second coming with the command in Genesis to have dominion over the earth as a justification for a fundamentally exploitative attitude toward the environment. They ignore the New Testament images that insist that Jesus' return is to the earth and his call is for an earthly reign of justice and peace. Christians who pursue a more Biblically grounded tradition of stewardship for the earth, for the earth is the Lord's, have been troubled by politicians like the Reagan administration Interior Secretary James Watt and by Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin ("drill, baby, drill") who seem to follow an interim ethic -- use and abuse the earth; Jesus is coming soon and he'll destroy it anyway. Happily for the future of the church, early Christians did not universally follow Paul's advice, or there would not have been another generation of Christians to continue the faith.
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Well, I've used up most of my time and words, but the best reading was today's Gospel. "Do not worry about your life..." "Look at the bird of the air..." "Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?" "Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

The day is starting. Time to relax.

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