Today in the Spirit: Proper 20B
At Proper 20B, we continue following Jesus (in Mark) in the last year of his ministry. It is obvious by Mark’s ordering of events and dialogue that Jesus is communicating his hardest teaching to his disciples in preparation for his departure. The Church assigns Mark 9:30-37, the narrative following last week’s Gospel reading. In it, as they travel in Galilee, Jesus tells his disciples a second time that he will be killed and rise. Arriving in Capernaum, he confronts them over a conversation they were having about who was the greatest among them and teaches them to be first in the kingdom of God is to be a servant to others, using his own actions of welcoming a child as a model.
The assigned first reading from Wisdom 1:16-2:1,12-22 in the Apocrypha provides a vivid, poetic illustration of the thinking of those who will betray Jesus in Jerusalem:
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Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected.
Wisdom 2:19-20
After hearing such intense calumny against the righteous in Wisdom, the assigned Psalm 54 will place us as worshipers in the position of those responding to trouble in desperate need: Save me, O God, for your Name’s sake, and avenge me in your strength…Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is he who upholds my life (1,4, BCP New Coverdale).
The third assigned NT reading in the Year B series in the Epistle of James takes us to James 3:16-4:6. Here, the elder contrasts teaching from the Hebrew scriptures and Jesus himself with the covetous, scandalous behavior brought to his attention in the communities he addresses in the letter: And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace (maybe from Prov. 11:18, Isa. 32:7). What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this: that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel (3:18-4:2). In a week in which we focus on such hard teaching from the Scriptures, the assigned Collect causes us to pray humbly for the gift of love, “that most excellent gift of charity” (drawn from 1 Cor. 13:13), through the Holy Spirit, that we might be counted in the end not “dead” as we deserve, but alive in Christ.
The Collect
O Lord, you have taught us that without love, all our deeds are worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, the true bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whoever lives is counted dead before you; grant this for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
He became a Reproof to Our Thoughts (Wisdom 1:16-2:1,12-22)
12 “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man,
Wisdom 2:12-22
because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions;
he reproaches us for sins against the law,
and accuses us of sins against our training.
13 He professes to have knowledge of God,
and calls himself a child of the Lord.
14 He became to us a reproof of our thoughts;
15 the very sight of him is a burden to us,
because his manner of life is unlike that of others,
and his ways are strange.
16 We are considered by him as something base,
and he avoids our ways as unclean;
he calls the last end of the righteous happy,
and boasts that God is his father.
17 Let us see if his words are true,
and let us test what will happen at the end of his life;
18 for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him,
and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.
19 Let us test him with insult and torture,
so that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death,
for, according to what he says, he will be protected.”
21 Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray,
for their wickedness blinded them,
22 and they did not know the secret purposes of God,
nor hoped for the wages of holiness,
nor discerned the prize for blameless souls.
In our worship this Sunday, the reasoning of the ungodly (1:16) in Wisdom to justify killing the righteous man will sound eerily similar to the language of Jesus’ accusers watching him die on the cross, especially: Let us see if his words are true,and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him,and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries (17-18). But consider the earlier surprising admission about how they feel in the presence of the godly person: He became to us a reproof of our thoughts (14). Here is their real motivation to lie in wait and attack–not that he is a stain on free society in the abstract but a stone binding up their own insides, wreaking havoc in their consciences. It is as if the righteous one’s behavior is making an unsolicited and unwelcome call on them personally to change their ways before God.
Devotionally, we need to admit the initial repulsion all of us feel when the righteous living of another convicts us to surrender more to the Lord. Even with the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts, our sinful nature puts up ungodly resistance. Most of us deny ourselves before the Lord more easily in some things than others. The Holy Spirit can be something of a gadfly picking at us in the places where we are most vulnerable because he knows it is in just these places the devil also resides, ever edging us toward greater futility in God’s service. Our Lord’s favorite instrument for calling us further up and further in is the community of saints, especially those who are strong where we are weak. We may spurn their example at first; but soon, in God’s mercy, sorrow sets in, then sorrow produces repentance, and repentance to change.
Surely, such a community dynamic is what the writer of Hebrews envisions when he writes, Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Heb. 10:23-25).
Today, Holy Spirit, as repulsive as the ungodly person is in this passage, I recognize in his expression the outline of who I am in my own resistance to surrender to the life of the Son of God. I repent of any desire to stand in company with the characters in this reading even one moment longer.
For Your Name’s Sake (Psalm 54)
1 Save me, O God, for your Name’s sake, *
Psalm 54, BCP New Coverdale
and avenge me in your strength.
2 Hear my prayer, O God, *
and hearken to the words of my mouth.
3 For the arrogant have risen up against me, *
and tyrants, who do not have God before their eyes, seek after my life.
4 Behold, God is my helper; *
the Lord is he who upholds my life.
5 He shall repay the evil of my enemies. *
O destroy them in your faithfulness.
6 A freewill offering will I give you, *
and praise your Name, O Lord, because it is good.
7 For he has delivered me out of all my trouble, *
and my eye has seen the ruin of my enemies
Or, O God, save me by your name (1, ESV). Consider the rich meaning of the language at the outset of this psalm of petition: For your Name’s sake (BCP) conveys purpose–why “David” believes God should save him, to uphold and extend the reign of the covenant of YHWH established in history through Israel. By your name (the more literal translation) goes more to instrumentality–how God should save, by the unleashing of an active power by the authority of his name given into the world.
Devotionally, this observation does not present an either-or but a both-and compulsion to our prayer lives. We pray in Jesus’ name, calling on God’s power and authority, believing wholeheartedly that he has established his reign, asking for the manifestation of his power, with a hope not simply for the resolution of a small personal crisis but for God’s great glory. We recall how Jesus prayed into the situation with Lazarus. He undertook the ministry not merely out of compassion for Lazarus and his family, but that everyone would see the glory of God (Jn. 11:40). In the prayer, he says, I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me” (42).
Today, in the Spirit, I take this psalm of David as a model of how I must pray in your name, seeking your power in the immediate circumstances and your glory overall.
He Yearns Jealously (James 3:16-4:6)
3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. 4:1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
James 3:16–4:6
The translation of v. 5 is difficult. It doesn’t help that when James writes, the Scripture says, we are not at all sure what text he is referring to (scholars have suggested the Septuigant versions of Gen. 6:3-5 or Isaiah 63:8ff). Does the spirit that he has made to dwell in us refer to the breath of life in all humans or the Holy Spirit dwelling in the hearts of believers? Is God yearning jealously for the spirit of man to turn to the wisdom of God or for the Spirit of God to win the battle for the devotion of men? Though it certainly could be a bit of both, I’m leaning toward the first alternative based on what I believe is a better fit from verse 4’s content. Out of jealous love for his people, the triune God is contending for the hearts of believers against corruption in their human spirit to win their allegiance over that of friendship with the world.
Wow! This is good news. Devotionally, it means our task is to surrender to the battle God is waging against our members rather than taking up the battle for ourselves. So Paul, observing as it were from the outside the battle in his members, does not consider the possibility of jumping into the fray, but asks: Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin (see Romans 7:21-25). We do contend ourselves, of course, yet it is not in direct confrontation against the flesh, but rather in surrendering to his strength to battle on our behalf. There is some pain and sacrifice to be sure, but the cost is in following the Lord not seeking to tame the sinful nature on our own.
Today, in the Spirit, I press into the battle against my own worldliness as James urges me to do, but I will not fight on my own. I stand with you, behind you, as you lead out, jealously guarding my heart.
Taking Him in His Arms (Mark 9:30-37)
30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. 33 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
Mark 9:30-37
Mark wants the story of these two events to go together: Jesus’ second announcement of his death and the disciples’ argument about who is greatest. Among many contrasts to be identified in the narrative, I believe we are meant to see Jesus’ diversity of response to the disciples’ behavior: On the road, Jesus has nothing to say (at least in this instance) about their lack of understanding concerning his death. Yet, in the house, in response to what they thought were secret discussions about who among them was the greatest, Jesus initiates a conversation, speaking out, not with recriminations, but an object lesson (the child) to teach what greatness in service is all about.
As Mark tells the story, the child represents the disciples. He has taken them in his arms and guided them skillfully to new understanding. Like children, they fail to grasp much at the moment, but they are learning, and when the Holy Spirit comes, they will mature into comprehension that transforms them and their behavior.
Lord, I am your disciple and a child you have taken into your arms. Even with the Holy Spirit, I fail to grasp much of what you are teaching me. You know, too, that I frequently wander from the truth with my own cock-and-bull posturing about how I deserve to be served. Holy Spirit, make me more like a child over time, more innocent in my faith today than I was yesterday. Let your affection for me and for your whole Church mold us into adulthood. Keep us as your children until that day we are prepared to be your Bride.y life.
Today in the Spirit
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