RonBlog

Sunday 23rd October, 2011 Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Sentence
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment: and a second is like it. You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets. Matthew 23:37

Collect
O God Whose Son has taught us that love is the fulfilment of Your law; stir up within us the fire of Your Holy Spirit, and pour into our hearts Your greatest gift of love, so that we may love You with our whole being, and our neighbours as ourselves, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

Old Testament Lesson Deuteronomy 34: 1- 12

Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the LORD showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the Plain--that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees--as far as Zoar. The LORD said to him, "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants'; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there."
Then Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord's command. He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigour had not abated. The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.
Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the LORD had commanded Moses. Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face. He was unequalled for all the signs and wonders that the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

Psalm 90: 1 – 6 & 13 – 17

Lord, You have been our refuge: from one generation to another
Before the mountains were born, or the earth or the world were brought to be: from eternity to eternity, You are God
You turn us back into dust: saying, ‘Return to dust, O children of Adam.’
For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday passing: or like one watch in the night
You cut them short like a dream: like the fresh grass of the morning
In the morning it is green and flourishes: at evening it is withered and dried up

Relent, O Lord, How long will You be angry?: take pity on Your servants.
O satisfy us early with Your mercy: that all our days we may rejoice and sing.
Give us joy for all the days You have afflicted us: for the years we have suffered adversity
Show Your servants Your work: and let their children see Your glory.
May the gracious favour of the Lord our God be upon us: prosper the work of our hands, O prosper the work of our hands

Epistle 1 Thessalonians 2: 1 – 13

You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children.
So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us. You remember our labour and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.
You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was toward you believers.
As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God's word, which is also at work in you believers.

GOSPEL Matthew 22:34 – 46

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: "What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet"'? If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

© New Revised Standard Version of the Bible Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. All rights reserved


NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament

Here is an epitaph to end all epitaphs – the passing of Moses, who here was classified as a prophet. That is an interesting statement to make about this person. Added to this passage is the passing of the mantle to Joshua, son of Nun. That transition is just as interesting.

There is some tragedy in this passage; because of his intransigence, Moses was refused permission to enter the Promised Land. That must have torn at Moses’ heartstrings, but he had erred powerfully you might recall. He had the temerity to assume the role of God in dispute with Israel, and that was the end of that.

So Moses died, and his grave is unknown to this day – meaning that it would never be possible to make a shrine out of that place, for that would have the distinct likelihood of distorting the Hebrew faith. It is a sad fact of history that Christians have not followed that pattern of not having shrines.

Psalm
The ancient Jews were nothing if not practical and honest in their assessment of humanity. We are not immortal, as the author clearly indicates, and as we have just seen that applies even to noted people like Moses. So the clear distinction is drawn between eternal God and mortal humanity. Not a bad base from which to work.

And in a way the prayer at the end of this psalm had already been answered. One clear perception of the Hebrew Faith has always been that not only was the Faith effective but that God was unchanging, as were His attributes and values. That factor is a universe away from any chaotic view of life.

Epistle
From the end of Moses, so to speaks, to the start of Paul, whose ministry was to places far distant from Israel. But with the same profound caring for people in spite of the stresses and strains of the role, Paul presented the same optimistic outlook on life, even for those in a far-from-satisfactory situation. Never imagine that life was easy for the first-generation Christians in a pagan land.

GOSPEL
It may doubtless be a surprise to us who have lived with this story all our lives, to find that it may well be the case that the questioner of our Lord did not expect the answer He gave. Even less did that lawyer expect such a powerful response for the Torah – so vastly important to Jews. However, the said lawyer did not grasp the enormity of Jesus’ response, for he would have assumed that Jesus’ concern and attention would go no further than Jewry.
The second challenge, from Jesus to the Pharisees, may be quite confusing to the modern reader. That confusion may well remain until one sees why Jesus raised the question at all. Our Lord had to answer to a wide range of titles epithets and misnomers, and ‘Messiah’ was one of them. Sadly, much of Hebrew thought for centuries up to that time had focussed on the longing for another King David, for under him the nation was at its strongest and with widest boundaries than any other time in its history. Like most people, the hope was for a return to the halcyon days of power and pomp, and most of all for the vindication of Israel – being proved right in its life, faith and God.
So this rather confusing conversation was, seems to me, an attempt on the part of Jesus, to force a rethink in the minds of His interlocutors, to see way past any power politics to issues far more significant and important. Sadly, not only was that attempt far from successful, there remain to this day Christians who are as triumphalist as the old Pharisees, looking to power, of numbers or of wealth to bring in the great new age. Such folk need to study their Scriptures (and their secular history!) far more seriously

NOTES FOR A SERMON

What a confusing Gospel this is today. If you think it to be so, then may I make a comment not all that helpful either? It is an answer, of a sort anyhow.
I have (still I hope) a delightful Jewish friend whose husband’s funeral I celebrated quite a number of years ago. Both then and in the years subsequent, we have had quite a series of email discussions and debates about the Faith. I have found her Jewishness a delight in her perception and meeting with the Almighty in every aspect of her life. On the other hand, when discussing particular passages of Scripture (Old Testament of course) I have to confess to being utterly confused by her approach to, for example, the writings of Isaiah. What Isaiah says to me is a universe away from what the prophet says to her - and her Jewish people. Neither of us can make the slightest connection with each other’s ‘interpretation,’ and that is particularly so when it comes to the Servant Songs.
No doubt quite some of that extraordinary difference must have to do with cultural issues and outlooks. I have no doubt about the veracity of my friend. On the other hand, it would seem to me to be more a matter of avoiding the issues. That it can hardly be, for that friend is determinably open to the Creator.
Now you would have to say, would you not, in that conversation with Pharisees, their focus was singularly one-eyed, one might say. They were certain that Jesus had all but thrown out the Torah, which would have meant that He was hoist on His own petard. He would have destroyed His own case to be listened to. However on that issue of the Law, the Shema Israel, and Jesus was completely and totally orthodox. (It spoilt the game of those rather nasty Pharisees.)
However, Jesus was not finished with them it would appear. He was wanting them to come a step or two closer, and give some thought to the relationship between God and Himself. Certainly it is a somewhat obscure passage from the Psalms that Jesus employed, and certainly it would have made those ancient theologians work their little butts off, and they sensed that Jesus was painting them into somewhat of a corner. A tactical retreat was the best they could do, before they dropped themselves into a rather deep hole.
Funny thing about that! In many discussions I have had with people of vehement no-faith, they love to raise issues – usually quite out of left field, as to what we are said to believe, and caricaturise it as stupid, superstitious, unacceptable. When I underline what we do believe and why, they tend to react in as way rather similar to those old Pharisees. Retreat. Or refuse to discuss further on the grounds that ‘you are not dealing with the subject, Ron.’ Never be put off by this rather sad and pathetic smokescreen. Nor push the issue at them further. I suspect they know when they are outside their safe boundaries.
What am I trying to say?
Really, that we tend to be unaware of the veracity and the power of the Faith once delivered. It is not easily demolished, unless of course we have slipped into what really is some sort of superstitious ‘belief.’ The facts of the Faith are incontrovertible. The reality of the eternal verities are beyond reproach. As I have mentioned before, even atheists are somewhat dumbfounded to discover that the real life issues that the Hebrew-Christian Faiths uphold are not limited to religious (how I hate that word!) people. They are applicable to all and every human life. Where would we be without truth and justice, integrity and compassion, and all that both our Lord and the OT prophets propounded. And God does not punish the living daylights out of people, here or in eternity, but longs for them to leave behind selfish and destructive patterns and live life as it has always been designed to be lived.