SECOND SUNDAY OF THE KINGDOM
3 November 2013
Readings:
Key Verses (using the World English Bible):
1 Pet. 2:9: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
Luke 6:22: Jesus said, “Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.”
Reflection
Today we read Luke’s variant of what are called the “Beatitudes”, a series of blessings Jesus bestows on the faithful for certain actions. Matthew’s version, which is read on All Saints’, may have been written down first, but scholars believe Luke’s may be closer to Jesus’ actual words. Matthew’s blessings appear to come from a more spiritual angle (“the poor in spirit… those who hunger and thirst after righteousness” in Matt. 5:3, 6); whereas Luke seems to reflect the people’s current living conditions (“you who are poor… who hunger now… who weep now”), something which might’ve better appealed to Jesus’ audience.
However, both sets of blessings agree on the earthly hostility and rejection, which threatened Jesus’ early followers, and indeed all of first-century Judea. Though not as splintered as modern-day Christianity, Jews of the time were divided in their reaction to Roman conquest. The Sadducees and Pharisees owed their elite positions (and wealth) to the Romans, whom some befriended in a desperate attempt to preserve what little was left of Israel. The Zealots saw this as hypocrisy (as do the Gospels), and decided that they would purge their land by force. The Essenes retreated from this mess into extreme isolation. And in the midst of all this were the every-day Jews, just living their lives, trying to get by, enduring the hardships of poverty. These are the people Jesus engages in his ministry.
After Jesus’ death, hostility against his followers only increased. The Romans, as I’ve said before, disliked the breaking of tradition, even traditions they didn’t agree with. Jewish antagonism toward fellow Jews who followed Jesus likely stemmed less from hatred, and more from not wanting to stir up trouble in an already troubled world. In any case, the first Christians found solace in the claim that their rejection was actually an indication of their holiness, of their being set aside as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.”
I have to wince a little at this claim because how many atrocities have been committed by people who believe they’re superior to others? Islamic fundamentalist groups are still a source of worldwide terrorism. White supremacists and Neo-Nazis still attract followers—and the Holocaust occurred not even a century ago! Even the early 20th-century practice of eugenics reflects this claim to superiority. But at the same time, one of the Bible’s major themes is “the chosen people”, stretching from God’s choosing of Abraham, on to choosing the people of Israel, which is what Peter’s First Letter references and now adapts to believers in Christ.
There’s nothing wrong with viewing yourself as “special”, or “set aside”; originally this is what “holy” means. What you do with that is what matters more. And here I note how the reading from the First Letter of Peter ends:
“[You] in time past were no people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”
We are set aside for mercy, to show to others the mercy that God has shown us. That’s what truly makes a people ‘holy’. Doing this, I believe, safeguards us from falling into the trap of superiority. For how can you feel superior when you show someone something you’ve been given in mercy, freely and unconditionally? That’s the only way to combat and heal hostility, rejection, and division without, in turn, becoming guilty of the same. And to fight this extraordinary fight, you have to feel like God is on your side—and he is.
Prayer of the Day
Almighty, eternal God,
it is your will to sanctify
all your chosen and beloved people
in your only Son, Jesus Christ.
Give us, by your Holy Spirit,
the grace to follow your holy witnesses
in faith, hope, and love,
so that we, too, may join the community of the blessèd;
through the same Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
—adapted from the Collect for All Saints’ Day in The Danish Hymnal, p. 1283-1284.
Hymn: “For your dear saints, O Lord”
(Words: Richard Mant, 1776-1848; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013
Tune: ‘St. George’, by Henry John Gauntlett, 1805-1876)
For your dear saints, O Lord,
Who strove in you to live,
Who followed you, obeyed, adored,
Our grateful hymn receive.
They all in life and death,
With you, their Lord, in view,
Learned from your Holy Spirit’s breath
To suffer and to do.
Your earthly members fit
To join your saints above
In one communion ever knit,
One fellowship of love.
Jesus, your Name, we bless,
And humbly pray we, too,
May follow them in holiness,
Who lived and died for you.
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