Today in the Spirit: Proper 11B
This Sunday, in Proper 11B, we continue our liturgical walk with Jesus in Mark’s account of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. This is one of the few pre-Crucifixion incidents in Jesus’ ministry that appears in all four Gospels, and in Year B of the lectionary, it is scheduled so that we hear it twice (here and in John’s version at Lent 4B). Mark 6:30-44 gives the most detail of all the Gospel accounts, including the well-known line that Jesus saw the great throng of people gathered like sheep without a shepherd (34).
Almost the entire section of Isaiah 40-66, with prophecy addressing the return of the exiles to Israel, is covered in the course of the three-year Sunday lectionary. This week’s reading from Isaiah 57:14-21, while containing no explicit connection to the Gospel reading, speaks of YHWH’s desire to revive the exiles of Israel that is like Jesus’ for the crowd gathered in the Mark reading: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite” (15). The appointed Psalm 22:23-31 (the only time we worship with this latter section of the famous psalm) carries a similar comforting message as the Isaiah reading, and with language complementary to the Gospel reading: The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek after the LORD shall praise him (26, BCP New Coverdale).
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In Proper 11B, we move forward to the second in a series of NT readings from Ephesians. The church skips the earlier well-known verses in Eph. 2:1-10 (appointed at Lent 4B) in this series and assigns Ephesians 2:11-22. In this passage, Paul addresses the Gentiles in particular, explaining how they have been given access in one Spirit to the reign of the Father God, not through participation in Jewish legal and ritualistic observances, but through the cross of Christ, which has broken down the middle wall of partition (NET)–a reference probably to the balustrade around the inner court of the temple, always a source of hostility between Jews and Gentiles. The appointed Collect this week is another prayer to God that we may be given the grace to persevere in order to partake of “heavenly treasure.” The description of God as one who reveals himself “chiefly in showing mercy and pity” implies that our “running to obtain” God’s promises will show our own ability to be merciful.
The Collect
O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
To Revive the Heart of the Contrite (Isaiah 57:14-21)
14 And it shall be said,
Isaiah 57:14-15
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
remove every obstruction from my people’s way.”
15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
To be noted in this reading is the humility of the people in response to which YHWH will revive his people. This is fascinating and enlightening given the fact that, in all likelihood, these words were composed by the prophet long before the exile and before there was any hope of the liberation of the people of Israel from Babylon. God foresees not only his own act of returning the exiles but also the people’s attitude of repentance to begin the journey home. When Isaiah first preached these sermons, who could predict how the people of Israel would react in their hearts to the messaging and movements of YHWH? God could.
What is true for the people of God in Isaiah’s day is true for us today. He knows how each will respond to the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ. As Christians who have, through differing courses in life, received the gift of repentance and faith, we come away from this passage with a fuller understanding of just how much our good standing with the Lord of the universe depends so much on him and so little on us. We offer to the Lord but a mustard seed of faith, which he himself has sown into our hearts. God takes it from there, reviving our spirits and carrying us forward to an eternal reward. So at the end of his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul invokes God’s help for their sanctification: Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Th. 5:23).
Today, Holy Spirit, we take note of the language of Isaiah, suggesting just how far you and the Father have foreseen our spiritual renewal through the Son, and we fall in love with our God all the more.
From You Comes My Praise (Psalm 22:23-31)
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him.25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
Psalm 22:23-26
my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord!
May your hearts live forever!
It is not unusual for psalms to begin with lament or complaint and end in praise (see Pss. 27,51). Here, however, the two parts of Psalm 22 (1-22 and 23-31) juxtapose so dramatically severe suffering on one pole and jubilant exultation on the other that we may wonder whether the whole thing was originally one composition. The argument against drawing that conclusion may be found in the psalmist’s declaration concerning the source of his praise: From you comes my praise in the great congregation (25); or, You are the reason I offer praise in the great assembly (NET). Whether or not this individual’s circumstances have, in fact, changed, there has been a transformation of spirit from above that causes him to rejoice and to envision a similar renewal for other believers, even to future generations of people yet unborn.
When we are going through terrible suffering, it is all but impossible to believe we could ever be happy again. That is because we very often fail to calculate God into the situation and calculate ourselves out. Even in the worst of times, our sinful nature will insist on searching out the best means of self-help. Oswald Chambers advises that we fearlessly undertake what he calls “the great probing,” relentlessly questioning ourselves on the matter of total reliance on God: “Have you the slightest reliance on anything other than God? Is there a remnant of reliance left on natural virtue, any set of circumstances?…” Ye cannot serve the Lord God” (Jo. 24:19), but you can put yourself in the place of where God’s almighty power will come through you.”
Today, in the Spirit, burdened by terrible circumstances I find myself passing through now, I ask for the grace to, like the psalmist, probe my dependence on you in all things and find renewal at the end of the story.
Built Together into a Dwelling Place for God (Ephesians 2:11-22)
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
Ephesians 2:11-16
Or, His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace (15a, NIV). This more dynamic translation of the Greek breaks up Paul’s long sentences into bite-sized chunks, allowing the modern reader of English a bit more clarity concerning his teaching for the church. One point we observe is that our God has a purpose for us as a body of believers that extends far beyond the collection of saved individuals into one place. The Apostle would have us see God’s vision of the whole. We are being drawn together into a fellowship in Christ that is for all people, that will win people from every race and nation to God, and that–and here is the main point–cosmically becomes a holy temple in which God will dwell in his glory. The NT commentator George Harpur calls this a divine “process of compaction” in which the image of crowding together gives the impression of a tightly constructed dwelling building rather than individuals with space between them (see also Eph. 4:16). Even the law of Moses spoke of the concept of a people as a dwelling place, but little could the ancient Israelites imagine the Gentiles ever being a part of it (see Lev. 26:11).
Most of us reading this devotion are Gentiles. Not only at the provincial and global levels, but also within our local church communities we can, if we are looking, see God’s purposefully drawing together peoples of different “cultural” backgrounds into one community. Even within congregations that appear to be homogeneous, we find a collection of people with varying worldviews about what is most important and how to behave. We can and will sometimes be frustrated by our differences. However, Paul calls for perseverance around a mutual understanding of the larger, cosmic construction work of God undertaken in our midst.
Today, Lord, through the Spirit who is in us and increasing our understanding of what is true through the Scriptures, help us in our church communities to see the dwelling place for God we are now and will be forever.
You Give Them Something to Eat (Mark 6:30-44)
30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
Mark 6:30-44
Note there are two stated commands of Jesus in this passage that contradict one another: 1) “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while” (31); and 2) “You give them something to eat” (37). It is highly probable that the disciples coming to Jesus with the plea to send [the people] away did so to persuade him to “stop already” as much as to care for their needs. Surely, they thought, “Didn’t we come here to get away? We all need to rest for a while.”
Here is a devotional application to think about in the summer months. We all need time to rest and decompress. It is good for our bodies and souls to do so, and Jesus frequently sought to care for his disciples by taking them on retreat. That being said, the actions of the incarnate Jesus (subject to human frailty) demonstrate to us that our eyes always need to be on the Father God, who is, as Jesus says, “always at his work” (Jn. 4:17). At all times, even in periods we have set aside for vacation, we keep our hearts and eyes open for the unexpected opportunities God is putting before us. Our expectations for a time of getting away from it all must not be so firmly set that we are unresponsive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in the service of the Father and the Son.
Today, in the Spirit, we see that the disciples, though tired, were responsive to their Lord and saw a great work of God, and we take note of it for the opportunities the Father gives us to see our own.
Today in the Spirit
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