[Propertalk] Proper 24 c 2016 - Part 2

[Robert P Morrison]

draft - part 2

	 THAT’S news we can take to the bank! If Rabbi Wolpe is correct in
his assessment about our lack of any sense that tomorrow will be any
better – or even four weeks from now will be any better – if this
assessment is correct, then Jeremiah has a word for us. Something
completely new, something quite revolutionary will come about. God
will make a presentation and all we need to do is to open our hearts,
our minds, our hands and reach out to take in what God says so that
our lives and the lives of everyone around us can be transformed and
the storms subside.

	 Spoiler alert! If you haven’t read ahead in the story, the people
of Judah DO make it back from Babylon! Fantastic news! They come back,
they find devastation. Very little is as they remembered it, but they
were home. And then they blew it, again. And again. And again.

	 But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

	 The point is, wrote Jeremiah, knocking pays off. You and I HAVE to
keep asking. And we have to keep mulling over in our minds whether or
not God is knocking on our doors. Or whether we’re knocking on
God’s door. O whether we’re knocking on others’ doors.

	 Life is SO complicated! There’s so much to remember, so much to
consider, so much that we have to do to examine ourselves and our
motivations. There’s SO much work that we have to do to reverse that
pessimism which Rabbi Wolpe feels is at the heart of our
dysfunctionality, both as human beings and as children of God.

	 One of the problems, I feel, is that we’ve pre-conditioned our
ears, our eyes, our hearts, our minds to expect knocking to sound and
look in one particular way. We forget that God operates in an
infinitely unending number and manner of ways – and God’s people
must operate likewise. In addition, we think that only certain people
should be allowed to knock, and only certain people’s knocks should
be recognised and given any attention, never mind a response.
 That parable told by Jesus: most scholars agree that only part of it
came from Jesus, but that it was radical enough they ARE His words.
It’s so incredibly radical. 3

	 Think about that characters. There’s a judge. All we know about
the judge is that he isn’t afraid of anything. That’s good,
actually. He’s an authority who makes up his judgement based on the
merits of the case. Nothing is said about whether or not he takes
bribes. Nothing is said about whether or not he plays favourites in
the community. He’s simply “The Judge”.

	 There’s a widow. Now, our mind may leap, immediately, in sympathy
for her. Widows didn’t have any claim on their late husband’s
property. Probably widows would be flung out on the street.

	 Not so, especially in this case. Nothing is said about her standing
in the community. Nothing is said about her economic status. Nothing
is said about her needs and desires. She’s just “A Widow”.

	 Then there’s the “opponent”. He or she is someone against whom
the widow has brought a claim. Nothing is said about whether that
person lives in the same community. Nothing is said about the age of
the opponent. Nothing is said about whether the widow and her opponent
know each other. Nothing is said about what the cause of disagreement
is.

	 However – and it’s a colossal however – however, translators
from the get-go have laundered the language of the story. The word
used in our versions for “justice” actually is “vengeance”.

	 The widow yells and screams at the judge that she wants her opponent
to be squished into the ground, humiliated publically. Sounds just
like the people of Judah when they reached Babylon.

	 And a final non-fact about the story is that we have no idea whether
or not any of the players in the action were justified in what they
were doing. Each person COULD have been a royal pain, a nightmare
neighbor, the citizen from hell! And we wouldn’t know whether or not
this was true, based on Jesus’ story. The point is that God will
hear everything. God will answer everything. God will respond to
everyone, no matter whom, no matter what’s been said and done. The
real point of this, as the evangelist presents it, is whether or not
the three characters, and all the rest of us, will have faith in God
and God’s love. That’s all. And, incidentally, if we have faith in
God and faith in God’s love, then there are ways that we have to
behave.

	 The writer of that article in _“Christianity Today” said that
“_we inadvertently imply that God loves only those who believe and
obey the truth—namely, us. Consequently, we come across as smug and
self-righteous, embracing an ugly orthodoxy.” At the same time, he
wrote, we forget also that every last one of us DOES have
responsibility, for ourselves and for others, to live the life of the
Good News as Jesus told it – loving, respecting, affirming,
listening to people, starting with those whom society neglects and
ignores. Our first task is to ensure that we can hear whoever may
knocking, from whichever side of the door it comes.

	 Let me tell you more about Bekah. She wrote:

	 “Dear barista,

	 “You didn’t know me and you didn’t know my story. Most
importantly, you probably didn’t know writing the simple word
“smile” on my order would change my day for the better. When you
look at me, you might assume I’m happy, bubbly, outgoing and full of
life. But you don’t really see the complete me. You wouldn’t know
that behind this plastered smile is a girl who has broken and fallen
to pieces. You wouldn’t know this girl had so much self-hate, she
starved herself for over half her young life. Or that she’s tried to
end her own life five times. I’m guessing you didn’t know these
past few weeks, and that day particularly, had been extremely hard.
You were just going about your job, unaware that writing a minuscule
word on my drink would change my day and possibly my life.

	 “Maybe you wrote ‘smile’ on my drink because you saw the
feeding tube. Or maybe you could see past my fake smile because
you’ve been where I am. Either way, I’m grateful. You didn’t
have to make my order special. You could have treated me like another
annoying customer. But you took that extra second to add [1] some
positivity to a life that’s been filled with so much negatively
lately.

	 “You see, my day consisted of a horrible doctor’s appointment
and a horrible therapy session. I was filled with hopelessness, and my
suicidal thoughts were getting worse. When my anorexia is bad
sometimes coffee is the only thing I can drink. But I was afraid to
consume even coffee that day. If I hadn’t encountered that cup, I
could have done more damage to myself that night. When I read that
word, I couldn’t help but smile, literally.

	 “A simple act of kindness can mean the world to someone. It can
provide hope for the hopeless. Now I plan to pass this hope along. So
barista, thank you. Thank you for turning my day around.” 4

	 There ARE people knocking, every day, everywhere, hoping that you
and I will hear them.

	NOTES:

[1] _“DRIVER: HER FACE WAS 'PRICELESS' WHEN MAN HAS PIZZA DELIVERED
TO CHECK ON GRANDMA AFTER HURRICANE” _BY: WFTV  UPDATED: OCT 11,
2016 - 2:37 PM
HTTP://WWW.KIRO7.COM/NEWS/TRENDING-NOW/DRIVER-HER-FACE-WAS-PRICELESS-WHEN-MAN-HAS-PIZZA-DELIVERED-TO-CHECK-ON-GRANDMA-AFTER-HURRICANE/456177345
[2]

	2 _“The World Is Yearning for Beautiful Orthodoxy: __Goodness,
truth, and beauty all come from the same Person.” _Mark Galli.
Christianity Today SEPTEMBER 23, 2016
http://lists.christianitytoday.com/t/469400855/7738212/610976/0/?c73c8e04=Y3R3ZWVrbHktaHRtbA%3d%3d&4f415564=NzczODIxMg%3d%3d&e5e2987d=NDY5NDAwODU1&x=2a85e3d9
[3]

	3 Based on _“The Widow and the Judge_” in _“short stories by
jesus” _by Amy-Jill Levine. HarperOne. New York © 2014. Pages
239-65.

	4 _“__What the Starbucks Barista Didn't Know When She Wrote
‘Smile’ on My Coffee” _By Bekah Georgy  [4] 10/20/15 Starbucks
Barista Pens Smile on Coffee Cup of Girl With Anorexia ... [5]
https://themighty.com/.../starbucks-barista-pens-smile-on-coffee-cup-of-girl-with-anor
[6]...

Links:
------
[1] https://themighty.com/category/disorder/add/
[2]
http://mail2.charter.net/HTTP://WWW.KIRO7.COM/NEWS/TRENDING-NOW/DRIVER-HER-FACE-WAS-PRICELESS-WHEN-MAN-HAS-PIZZA-DELIVERED-TO-CHECK-ON-GRANDMA-AFTER-HURRICANE/456177345
[3]
http://lists.christianitytoday.com/t/469400855/7738212/610976/0/?c73c8e04=Y3R3ZWVrbHktaHRtbA%3d%3d&4f415564=NzczODIxMg%3d%3d&e5e2987d=NDY5NDAwODU1&x=2a85e3d9
[4] https://themighty.com/author/bekah-georgy/
[5]
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiM9e7uldPPAhUUXGMKHdgdCH0QFggvMAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fthemighty.com%2F2015%2F10%2Fstarbucks-barista-pens-smile-on-coffee-cup-of-girl-with-anorexia%2F&usg=AFQjCNEVyPkmoSE6J0EUu7a8vlCwRcjh8A
[6]
https://themighty.com/.../starbucks-barista-pens-smile-on-coffee-cup-of-girl-with-anor

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