Reflection by Frances Flatman on next Sunday's Readings (22 Jan):
We modern western people seem to think that crises, difficulties of varying sorts and indeed of different kinds of intensity, are matters which we strive overcome, and then move on. But this was not the way of ancient Israel, nor it would seem of the New Testament writers. They saw these occasions as opportunities, moments of break-through in their relationship with God. So whether it’s about a slow recovery from Covid, or how a nation responds to a brutal invasion and the appalling destruction that brings, or some other disruptive event, surely we can learn from the scriptures and allow their lessons to become operative in our lives.
1st Isaiah (8:23-9:3) was written at a time of national catastrophe for Judah. It was threatened on all sides by an alliance between the minor kings of Syria, Israel (Samaria) and others round about. Its young and inexperienced king was in a quandary. Should he ally with the powerful Assyrians, or form more local treaties to protect his nation? In terror he turned to the pagan Canaanite gods and burned his son alive in a fruitless effort to curry favour, (2 Kings 11) and in the end became a vassal of the all-conquering Assyrians. Things didn’t get any better, as this massive force ultimately conquered Syria in 733 BCE and Israel in 721, ‘The Lord humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; and ultimately Assyria even took control of Egypt. Naturally, as Judah was on the way, it was occupied too. Small wonder then that Isaiah wrote that ‘The people that walked in darkness….’ Most likely the ‘great light’ he speaks of was the palace coup in Assyria which brought about a change of ruler and called home the conquerors. Judah got some breathing space, an opportunity. It was up to them as to how they seized the day and initiated a national make-over to their advantage. In a similar way, we see how the Ukraine has forged alliances with Europe and, turning away from their Russian aggressors, are benefitting from the massive support to be found here.
In a quite different situation, Paul wrote to his Corinthian converts from paganism. (1 Cor 1:10-13.17) What we don’t have in our Reading is his greeting at the start of the Letter, full of hope and certainty of the blessing of God on the community. ‘I give thanks to God always….because of the grace...which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him…’ Only then is he prepared to discuss the terrible and serious factions which threatened to break up the nascent community. In the Jerusalem Bible we simply hear of ‘differences and disagreements’ but the Greek speaks of skismata, schisms which threaten its very life. It is clear that Corinthians were much addicted to toying with varying opinions, and as by this time the philosophical schools of Athens were in decline and many thinkers had shifted to Corinth, we can appreciate just what a hot bed of different opinion the place had become. Paul writes to insist that the issue was not some difference of interpretation in philosophy, but the fact of the crucifixion and then resurrection of Jesus which defined the Christian church. Fundamental to belonging was never baptism – which apparently some break-away Christians espoused as vital - but rather evangelization, preaching the truth about Jesus. So Paul returns to the fundamentals of the saving message of Jesus to restore order in this divided tiny argumentative community in which it appears everyone seemed to think their opinion was as good as the next persons. Paul was making clear that however much they might enjoy forays into philosophy, Christianity was quite different, rooted in the death and resurrection of the Lord. This will be the criterion against which all subsequent belief and behaviour will be measured – and as we know, there would be many such for Corinthian believers. So, knowing what is of fundamental importance and establishing this as THE criteria for judging everything within the community would be critical for its future.
In our Gospel, (Matthew 4:12-23) we see how another crisis triggered Jesus’ own ministry into action. It was the arrest and execution of John the Baptist by Herod Antipas after John’s criticism of his putting aside of his lawfully married wife to seize and marry his sister-in-law. It caused an international scandal, only sorted out by the Romans. Jesus very sensibly avoided the unrest by heading back to Galilee, and as we will find, concentrates his ministry there, teaching and healing as great signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God. Significantly for Matthew, all this follows immediately on the Temptations of Christ in the wilderness, which we should see as his great preparation for his ministry, which is about confronting evil in its various forms. Matthew refers it all back to Isaiah 8 with his message of ‘great light’ in the midst of darkness. Jesus both shares features with the Baptist – avoiding Jerusalem and attacking the Pharisees and the Temple - but will also have a significantly different ministry, focussed as we shall see on healing the infirmities of the people which cut them off as unclean from the body of ‘righteous’ Judaism. But his teaching/healing ministry will be aided not by the elite and educated but by men from the working classes, themselves often outcasts precisely because of their work, uncouth men; as he takes the story of the redemption of Israel out away from the Holy City into the countryside and out to pagans in both Galilee and in the Decapolis, and even to the great pagan cities of Tyre and Sidon. Crises, it appears, present opportunities to think and evangelise in a wholly new way, and we too should be alive to the offer such occasions present in our own lives.
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