[Propertalk] Proper 5 b 2018 - part 2

[Robert P Morrison]

	 Part 2 for tomorrow

	Bob

	 The prophets were the group on whom God could depend and, if they
took the time to think about it, the people could depend on their
impartiality and justice also, even when calling out all the false
prophets who claimed to make life easy. 

	 And, of course, that’s why the family of Jesus, and the scribes
and the synagogue congregation were so antsy. Not even Jesus’ mother
could get Him to stop pointing out all the failures, and the false
prophets, and the people whom just about everyone else was ignoring. 

	 But Jesus’ time was no different from Samuel’s, or from ours.
Jesus warned the people. As Samuel said, the point to be made was that
human beings feel that developing an easy life, taking all moral
responsibilities away, forgetting about God, brought us, and every
generation, to the place in which each finds itself – Jesus said all
of this is tied in with centring our lives on God and not allowing
ourselves to be distracted by difficulties, or strangeness, or pain. 

	 These were the words that Samuel – and God – said to the people
when they asked for a human on whom they could focus. A human being,
the prophet said, will let you down. A human being will be driven to
satisfy himself or herself, no matter how idealistic or full of
promises that being is at first. A human being, because of human
nature, even a religious and apparently churchy human being; a human
will fail because it is seldom possible to think apart from one’s
self. All the quirks, all the faults, will be magnified when given
half a chance, and some power to go along with it. 

	 It must have been heart-wrenching for Jesus to see and hear
everyone, especially those closest to Him, saying that He was
embarrassing them, and that He should give up talking; He should give
up trying to bring physical, emotional and spiritual healing; He
should give up trying to effect reconciliation among all people. 

	 Jesus’ family, just like the crowd surrounding Samuel, just like
many around us, WANTED Jesus, want US, to dissociate ourselves from
those who have great needs and are looking for renewal. The human
thing – might we label it part of our original waywardness? – is
to back away from caring for those who may seem to be different, in
our eyes We might label them the unlovable and intolerable. Why bother
with them? Why not reply in kind? Because they make us uncomfortable? 

	 Samuel spoke God’s words so presciently. The king you want instead
of God who has no need to stand on selfish rights; this king that you
want will rip families apart. Children will disappear to serve at the
king’s whim, or not. You think that having a king will make you
safe? It’s the opposite. The king will take the best of you – your
fields, your vineyards, your olive groves, everything you value, and
give them to his cronies. 

	 And Jesus turned to the neediest people around Him, and said THESE
are family. Don’t talk to Me about trying to isolate Me for your own
purposes. God’s Love simply isn’t stingy, or hurtful, or scared.
God’s lips do not cut people with scathing and pejorative comments.
God’s lips draw people in, to welcome, to encourage, to soothe any
and all who feel threatened, and abused, and neglected. 

	 Samuel did his best with his family. He tried to get them to
understand what God’s ways were, and all the things for which God
looked in human beings. Try as hard as he might, though, Samuel was
unable to bring his sons to see the problems they were creating, not
just for themselves; not just for their own family; but for the entire
nation. A few were bound and determined to go their own way, no matter
what it did to others. At least some of the people had some little
sense to recognise that. But they wanted a quick fix. They wanted not
what God had given them. They didn’t trust God to provide quickly
enough for them, so they turned away. 

	 Similarly in Jesus’ life, His family wanted to turn Him away from
the mission that was burning in His heart. They had their problems,
just like everybody else,  

	 So what of us? 

	 How do we respond to what the Spirit is saying to God’s people? 

	 What does this do to our lives? To our behaviour? To our interaction
with others? 

	 About six hundred years ago, Thomas a Kempis wrote, “Do not place
much confidence in weak and mortal man, helpful and friendly though he
be; and do not grieve too much if he sometimes opposes and contradicts
you. Those who are with us today may be against us tomorrow, and vice
versa, for men change with the wind. Place all your trust in God; let
Him be your fear and your love. He will answer for you; He will do
what is best for you.” 1 

	NOTE: 

	1 _“The Imitation of Christ”_ by Thomas à Kempis, Book Two, _The
Interior Life_, The First Chapter, _Meditation_. See –  Book 2 of
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis - Cyber Library
www.leaderu.com/cyber/books/imitation/imb2.html  [1] 

	 

Links:
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[1]
http://book%202%20of%20the%20imitation%20of%20christ%20by%20thomas%20a%20kempis%20-%20cyber%20library%20%20www.leaderu.com/cyber/books/imitation/imb2.html%20

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