Psalm 52
1 Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?
Why do you boast all day long,
you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?
2 You who practice deceit,
your tongue plots destruction;
it is like a sharpened razor.
3 You love evil rather than good,
falsehood rather than speaking the truth.[c]
4 You love every harmful word,
you deceitful tongue!
Why do you boast all day long,
you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?
2 You who practice deceit,
your tongue plots destruction;
it is like a sharpened razor.
3 You love evil rather than good,
falsehood rather than speaking the truth.[c]
4 You love every harmful word,
you deceitful tongue!
5 Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin:
He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living.
6 The righteous will see and fear;
they will laugh at you, saying,
7 “Here now is the man
who did not make God his stronghold
but trusted in his great wealth
and grew strong by destroying others!”
He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living.
6 The righteous will see and fear;
they will laugh at you, saying,
7 “Here now is the man
who did not make God his stronghold
but trusted in his great wealth
and grew strong by destroying others!”
flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God’s unfailing love
for ever and ever.
9 For what you have done I will always praise you
in the presence of your faithful people.
And I will hope in your name,
for your name is good.
Luke 10: 38-42
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Colossians 1: 15-28
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[g] your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.
*****
There
is a Zen Buddhist fable, of a woman who's seeking the meaning of life. So eager
is this woman to find life's meaning that she sells all she has, and sets off
on a worldwide spiritual quest.
In a distant land, she hears rumors of one who knows the answer: an old man who lives in the mountains. Finally, in a small hut in the Himalayas, she finds him. She knocks on the door of his hut. He opens it, and invites her in for tea.
"No, thank you," she says, "I haven't come for tea. I'm seeking the meaning of life."
"You must have tea," the teacher says, and motions her to sit down.
All the time the water is boiling, the woman talks. The words tumble out of her mouth, rapid-fire. Having sought the wise teacher for so long, she now wants him to know everything about her. She tells him all her worries and doubts and anxieties, all the troubling thoughts that have kept her from sleeping at night. All the while, the teacher sits quietly, making the tea.
In a distant land, she hears rumors of one who knows the answer: an old man who lives in the mountains. Finally, in a small hut in the Himalayas, she finds him. She knocks on the door of his hut. He opens it, and invites her in for tea.
"No, thank you," she says, "I haven't come for tea. I'm seeking the meaning of life."
"You must have tea," the teacher says, and motions her to sit down.
All the time the water is boiling, the woman talks. The words tumble out of her mouth, rapid-fire. Having sought the wise teacher for so long, she now wants him to know everything about her. She tells him all her worries and doubts and anxieties, all the troubling thoughts that have kept her from sleeping at night. All the while, the teacher sits quietly, making the tea.
When
it has reached the proper strength, he begins to pour her a cup; but she's
oblivious to what he's doing. He keeps pouring, until the cup is full, then he
pours some more. The woman looks down. She notices her cup is overflowing, that
the tea is running to the edge of the table and dripping onto the floor.
"Stop!" she exclaims. "There's no more room!"
"Just so," says the teacher. "You come here wanting something from me, but what am I to do? There is no more room in your cup. Come back when it is empty, and then we will talk."
"Just so," says the teacher. "You come here wanting something from me, but what am I to do? There is no more room in your cup. Come back when it is empty, and then we will talk."
The
woman never did have to return to the master. For in the simple act of pouring
her a cup of tea, he had taught her all she needed to know.[i]
******
We
live in a time of questioning and searching.
Is what we are doing right? Should I be doing it another way? Why did
they get the attention? Why? Why? Why? How? How? How? When? When? When?
This
morning’s lectionary text echoes this questioning throughout. Here we find a psalmist questioning a “mighty
man’s” response to the actions of the people- what really runs the world, love
or evil? We also find Martha questioning Jesus about the actions of her sister
Mary- why must Martha work alone? One
thing that I have learned this summer, begrudgingly I might add, is that there
is a back story to most questions, whether the person realizes it or not. Today I want to try to find the back story to
these two questions.
This
morning’s Psalm was written in a time when power and riches destroyed social
order and presented a scandal for anyone who loved good and trusted in God[1]. It seems that this scandal is challenging the
Psalmist to a point at which he loses it.
What is it that actually happened? Well, a common approach to this Psalm
is that it describes when Doeg the Edomite told Saul of David’s guidance from
the priest Ahimelek at Nob when David was fleeing from Saul- leading to the
murder of multiple priests. The “mighty
man” is Doeg. Personally? I can’t blame
David for finally losing it and questioning Doeg’s actions! The world has been
split at this point and the good guys are losing- David wants to know why.
Now
we come to the sisters- a relationship that I might understand a little bit
more about seeing as how I have two of my own sisters. Here we find one sister, Martha, hard at work
while the other is sitting as Jesus’ feet.
I can imagine the annoyance and the stress all too well. There is no telling how long Martha has been
at work, but it doesn’t read to me like she only just started. She sounds annoyed enough that maybe this
isn’t the first time either. Martha works,
Mary relaxes- or at least that is how Martha sees it. I would love to know who was older- is Mary
the older sister who shoved her work off on Martha enough times that she is
finally saying something? I know both as
a younger and older sister how that game goes and that once it has started,
there seems to be no end. Finally Martha
find her out- Jesus. HE will put the
game to an end. I can only imagine the
look on Martha’s face when he responds.
In
both of these cases, we find someone searching for an answer- in their mind,
the ultimate answer. They come with
their back story, just like the lady in the Zen Buddhist fable; and just like
that lady, they see an overflowing cup before them. In both cases we find a response, but I am not
convinced that we find comfort just yet.
In the Psalm, we find David encourage himself in verses eight and nine
as he reminds both himself and the reader that he is like a green olive tree in
the house of God… trusts in the steadfast love of God forever… will thank God
forever because of what has been done… and will continue to proclaim God’s
name. This doesn’t quite explain what
runs the world overall, but it reassures David of what runs HIS world. In the case of Mary and Martha, we find Jesus
responding to Martha’s plea by telling her that she has need of only one thing
and it seems to me that the one thing is not the cleaning. Again, we find comfort but quite frankly, I
don’t know about y’all but like the women who went to the old man, I want an
answer! Why continue to proclaim God’s name when the power continues to go to
the opposite? What one thing is needed beyond prepared food and a clean kitchen
to eat in? I am a person who likes to
have an answer… these stories aren’t helping me in that arena. Right now even I feel very much like the
woman who went to the old man likely felt as she left- confused and covered in
tea…
This
is where Paul comes in- good ole’ Paul, he always does a great job of summing
things up. In this morning’s text, Paul
is responding to a plea of the Colossians who are at odds with their neighbors
who are challenging their faith. Which
way is the right way?
Has
that ever happened to you? I know it happens to me almost daily. I am embarrassed to admit it, but almost
every morning before I get out of bed I will grab my phone and check
Facebook. I scroll through my homepage
and see the status updates- a few that I agree with, a few that I could care
less about, and many more that challenge my beliefs politically and religiously. After I get my shower, I go downstairs and
turn on the news while I have breakfast and get ready for the day. It is almost guaranteed that at least one of
the stories will aggravate me and challenge me.
Listening to the radio on the way into work is no different. Things get to be a whole lot of fun once I
arrive at work where I work with six other chaplains of different religious
backgrounds. We spend the day discussing
different situations and how we would respond based on our own beliefs and I
would be lying if I said there weren’t times that I wanted to scream because of
the disagreement that I have with some of what is said. I think I could safely say that I understand,
at least a little bit, where the Colossians are coming from with their concerns. I start the day thinking I have things
straight, and before I get out of bed I am questioning myself and those around
me. Which way is right? Am I wrong? But
this is what I believe! Why are you challenging me?
In
verse 21 of this morning’s text, Paul brings the problem to surface- the Common
English Bible reads like this- “Once you were alienated from God and you were
enemies with him in your minds, which was shown by your evil actions. But now he has reconciled you by his physical
body through death, to present you before God as a people who are holy,
faultless, and without blame.” So there
we have it- the initial problem of feeling as if we are alienated from God, and
the solution- Christ, the one who is the physical incarnation of God and the
one who reconciled not just one group of people, but all people. Christ, the one who is so beautifully
described in the Christological Hymn in verses 15-20.
I
am a big fan of the way Paul works- he doesn’t leave things undone. Just in case there is any question, Paul
continues with an explicit charge to the people of Colossae- “continue
in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the
gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every
creature under heaven”. Ok- so let’s lay
this out real quick to make sure we are all on the same page-
When someone challenges what
you believe (as happened to David when Doeg rewarded evil and to Martha who
thought that she shouldn’t be the only one cleaning), first remember that we
have reconciled to God through Christ despite our actions, and that we should
follow this up by continuing in our faith and hope that we have learned from
the gospel.
So now, if we rewind and go
back to the Psalm we find a very irritated David who doesn’t understand what is
going on with the world but continues to hold onto his own faith despite what
he is seeing around him. David is a
model for many of us- even before Jesus sat with Mary and Martha and before
Paul wrote to the Colossians, David thought to look to the Lord for his
guidance and support in his time of questioning. David recognized that this relationship was
the answer to all questions he could ask and he seems to have the idea that
since it works for him, he will defy social pressure and stick with it.
When we look back at Mary and
Martha, we can listen to Jesus tell the frustrated Martha “only one thing is
needed- Mary has chosen what is better for her and it will not be taken away
from her”. There is much debate about
what this one thing is, however I would venture to say that this one thing is
what Paul spoke of- the recognition of her relationship with Christ and
continuing to strengthen her faith- to sit with her sister at the feet of her
teacher and friend.
It is hard to make it through
the day without questioning why something happens the way it does or to not
have our beliefs questioned and challenged.
And this is clearly nothing new.
Since the beginning of time people have struggled with this. In today’s world we can be questioned on any
number of things- what is important though is not the question, but the
response. When someone challenges us, do
we fall into the temptation to let loose on them and tell them the many reasons
why we are right and they wrong? Or do we look to God, recognizing that through
Jesus Christ we are reconciled and come into relationship with God- praising
God’s name just as David did and just as Jesus alluded to with Martha?
An old Zen Buddhist fable
speaks of a woman who was searching for the answer.
An old psalm speaks of a man
who was searching for the answer.
An old gospel text speaks of a
woman who was searching for the answer.
An old letter speaks of a
community who was searching for the answer.
The woman never did have to return to the master. For in the
simple act of pouring her a cup of tea, he had taught her all she needed to
know.
The man never did have to worry, for in the simple act of pouring
out his love and life for God he learned all he needed to know.
The sister never did have to worry about the work, for in the
simple act of stopping to listen she learned all she needed to know.
The community never did have to fight, for in the simple act of
believing and hoping they learned all they needed to know.
Today’s newsfeed speaks of a world that is searching for the
answer, however we don’t have to worry for all we need to know is that we are
reconciled through Christ in God despite our actions, we
should follow this up by continuing in our faith and hope.
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