NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Readings:
Key Verses (using the New Revised Standard Version):
1 Cor. 10:13: “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”
Matt. 7:15-16a: Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.”
Reflection
SEX!!
Now that I’ve got your attention…
I don’t even remember where I first heard that. But with a blog entitled “purging lust”, I feel just like that speaker who just stood up in front of a large audience, and screamed the word “SEX!” just to get everyone’s attention. Sex has always been an attention-grabber. “Sex sells”, and has therefore become an important part of our consumerist culture.
And yet despite our automatic connection of lust with sex, the passion of lust, as understood by the ancients, encompasses so much more than sexual desire. The original Latin term for the passion is “luxuria”, which means “excess” or “extravagance”—hence our word “luxury”. Our word “lust” comes from Germanic/Nordic languages, where it means nothing more than “urge”, “impulse”, or “whim”. We see this in our word “listless” (literally “without lust”), meaning “lacking energy or enthusiasm.” We see this in the King James Version of John 3:8, where Jesus says, “The wind bloweth where it listeth”, that is, “The wind blows by its own whim/on impulse.” When we put these two ideas together, we get the picture that “lust” may be defined as “the impulsive desire for excess”.
When we think about it, we use the word like this too: lust for food or drink, or the lust for power, even a lust for life. This is why I think the passage from 1 Corinthians was chosen as our first reading this week. Notice the references to all of those—food, drink, and yes, sex. The context here is the story of the Golden Calf in which the people of Israel give up on Moses, and give in to their own desires. They forget the wonders that God had just done for them, and degenerate into an orgy of excess and revelry. Even “idolatry” fits under the passion of lust; consider how often the Bible connects idolatry with adultery. The episode of the Golden Calf, therefore, serves to remind us that the passion of lust is more multi-layered than just sex alone.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus warns us about “false prophets” coming to us “in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Now, as I mentioned last week, I’ve switched the Gospel readings for this Sunday and the previous; thus today’s passage should’ve been read last week, when we focused on covetousness and greed. Indeed, Hebrew Scripture does link “false prophets” with “greed”. However, I felt that the Parable of the Dishonest Manager, with its more specific references to money, fit last week’s theme better. So that leaves us with the suggestion that “false prophets” are motivated by lust—in all its forms, including money. And indeed isn’t this what we see today? Corrupt preachers of the prosperity gospel? Sex scandals in the Roman Catholic Church? Even pastors with a lust for violence, such as those who advocate killing gays. If covetousness and greed shout, “I want what my neighbor has!” then lust screams out, “I want more! I want it all for myself!”—just like a ravenous wolf.
How, then, do we stop this? After all, lust is built into our very evolutionary survival; otherwise we’d starve or die out as a species. But if this makes it one of the hardest passions to control, then it also makes it one of the easiest to spot. “You will know them by their fruits,” Jesus says. You can’t preach God’s love while abusing children. You can’t preach God’s generosity while hoarding resources away from those in need. You can’t preach God’s mercy while advocating the death of another human being. And if you are, then your motivations are quite clear. Most of us, thankfully, don’t let it get to those extremes, but it doesn’t take away the threat of losing control, and wanting more and more. We purge ourselves of lust by remembering that it is a test of our will and inner resolve.
In fact, as we close the cycle of purging the seven passions, we realize that each one of them—pride, vainglory, dejection, wrath, sloth, covetousness, and lust—has been a test, an internal examination of our strengths and weaknesses, and how we’re going to use them to live our lives, loving God, neighbor, and self. It’s the type of test we have to take individually—but not alone. For we have the assurance of God’s presence and faithfulness:
“No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone.
God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength,
but with the testing he will also provide the way out
so that you may be able to endure it.”
Prayer of the Day
Grant to us, Lord, we pray,
the spirit to think and do always those things that are right,
so that we, who cannot exist without you,
may be enabled, by you, to live according to your will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
—Collect for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, adapted from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer
Almighty God, we pray you,
grant that we may avoid the snares of those offenses,
which divert us from devoutly running after your ways;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
—Collect #2 for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity in the 5th-century Gelasian Sacramentary, adaptive translation from Latin by Joseph A. Soltero
Hymn: “Your love through the heavens is soaring, O God”
(Words: “Til himlene rækker din miskundhed, Gud”, Danish, by B. S. Ingemann, 1845; translated by Joseph A. Soltero, 2014
Tune: ’Til himlene rækker din miskundhed, Gud’, by J. P. E. Hartmann, 1852)
Your love through the heavens is soaring, O God;
Your faithfulness ever extending.
Your righteousness stretches onward abroad
O'er mountain and sea, never ending.
Your love everlasting embraces us, God.
Your kindness renews your creation.
Your judgments, deep as the ocean is broad,
Bring healing, and peace, and salvation.
How precious your merciful love is, O God!
Your wings shield your sons and your daughters.
We feed on bread from your heav'nly abode.
We drink with delight from your waters.
The fountain of life is with you only, God.
In your light, we see light forever.
Those who the way of your righteousness trod,
You keep in your love and your favor.
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