Reflection by Frances Flatman on next Sunday's Bible Readings :-
Knowing how to ‘read’ your world can be an important aid to living, especially in an agricultural society, as was so common in the past; so battening down the hatches before a coming storm obviously made sense. Yet the trouble with this back to nature approach is that it can leave you stuck in a world not all that far from superstition and fatalism, the sense that nothing can ever change; and Jesus, as we have come to expect, was someone who was never prepared to become trapped within the status quo. This is not to suggest that he had a ‘hot-line’ to God and could read the future, rather that his practical assessment of the need for change carried with it the clarity that his God-given mission for society might well prove very unpopular, indeed fatal for himself and other practitioners of it. Such a recognition does not make that need for change either a delusion or wrong footed.
Indeed, the work of Old Testament Prophets was often rooted in such an understanding of society, and many as we know met a sticky end; yet we have their work surviving to show precisely how accurately they had summed up the world in which they lived. Malachi (3:19-20) wrote some time after the return from exile after the Babylonian Captivity and when the Second Temple was up and running in the 6th-5th centuries BCE. Much of his brief work was highly critical of the new Temple and especially its priests and as we read, looked forward to their utter destruction with gusto, so hardly one for a restoration movement. But this did not mean that Malachi wished for an end to Jewish religion, far from it, for he appears to have expected faith in the God of Israel to remain long after its corrupt priesthood and Temple were a distant memory; and of course his vision was to prove the correct one.
Some five centuries later we find a similar expectation on the lips of Jesus. Luke (21:5-19). Jesus as an ordinary human being did not have second sight, but along with others who were aware of just how volatile the socio-political situation was in occupied Palestine, lived in the expectation of radical change. But his disciples clearly had not thought about things very much and were perhaps overly rooted in the world they knew. So when he criticised their great admiration for the Temple and its vast wealth, he wanted to prepare them for a time when, carrying out his vision of their renewed relationship with God, their expectations of the way this impacted on the world and not merely Judaism would be very different. But they lived in a Greco-Roman world redolent with ‘signs and portents’ of all kinds of change, and were likely easily to be led into making false judgements about the progression, or lack of it, of their ministry in his name. We too are much the same, depressed by the decline in religious belief in the First World; and led into thinking that the Game is up when in reality it’s probably our racism that gets in the way of our appreciation of the vast growth of Christianity in the Third World and of our need to respond appropriately.
Jesus warned his followers against any tendencies to be dragged into false moves by physical manifestations, either in the natural or the political world of their time, indicating that what his followers then and now need to aim for is solidarity and steadfastness in line with his teaching. Indeed, sometimes one wonders whether some who call themselves Christians have ever read a Gospel from start to finish, as their valuations of what is important can become entirely fixed in arguments on for example the particular liturgy used!
At this point in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is very close to Passover and the start of his Passion and execution, and he warns the disciples of their own likely suffering for the faith so we can well appreciate the importance of not reading the times as a warning against following in his footsteps. Success in ministry will most likely not result in worldly indications of success, popular acclaim or loads of wealth. Indeed, Jesus speaks of extremely challenging times ahead, of rejection even by closest family and friends. What we are called to do is stand up for the faith and endure. Popularity is something he indicates is to be shunned as a false pathway. All this points to a capacity for realism on Jesus’ part, and as his Gospels consistently show him batting for the underdog, the sick, the deprived and the outcast, perhaps it’s time we stepped away from those grand religious occasions we all so enjoy and which bolster our sense of elitism and being in charge, to take on the meaning of living in the shadow of the cross; and focus more on the example of Christian living given by the Third World today.
This was something Paul took very seriously. (2 Thessalonians 3:7-12) We have to remember that the Greco-Roman world was extremely class bound and the vast majority of people lived as clients under the patronage of someone of greater wealth and status who fed them and found them jobs and positions in society which gave them more status. In return the patron expected the client to turn out each morning to his home to accompany him to the basilica/political heart of the city where as a magistrate the patron would be constantly competing for power and position against other patrons of the city. Clients always voted for their man. One of Paul’s most consistent moves throughout his ministry was to try to avoid becoming a prisoner of this patronage system which almost certainly would have hindered his work for the Gospel. So in general he avoids this ‘trap’, preferring instead to labour with his hands, a low-grade task thereby earning money with which he paid his way. Paul never demanded this of others, for it would have been far too revolutionary a move, but left his example of non-compliance with the norm to stand as a marker and a disconcerting one at that for his churches. Any reading of the gem which is the Letter to Philemon demonstrates just how Paul manipulated this system for Christ. What he and Jesus seem to be pointing to is the need for Christians to point believers beyond this everyday world to one where they have the freedom to live as children of God, unhindered by the demands and expectations of the times. This does not mean we deny this world or its needs but rather that we are not held captive by them; for we are called to freedom in Christ and the ability to step out of rank when the need arises, to confront slavery or racism or the consumerism which so deadens the souls of so many. As Christians we are called to challenge the poverty which belittles so many even in our own country, and the wars which maim and prevent the true development of every child regardless of faith. Christians are called to rock the boat, not to lie back and be obedient
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