Mending and Reweaving the Creation

Devotional Reflection, Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Proper 2, The Week of Pentecost Sunday

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:

12From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 13For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came; 14and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15Let anyone with ears* listen!

You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 967)

AM Psalm 5, 6; PM Psalm 10, 11

Prov. 4:1-27; 1 John 4:7-21; Matt. 11:7-15

Today we celebrate the Feast of John Eliot. (See below.)

David’s Reflections

In verses 11-12 of today’s Gospel, Jesus refers to the kingdom of heaven.  Because we live in a democracy, we do not experience the immediacy and unqualified power of a king or emperor, as did the society in which Jesus lived.  How does this image communicate with us and what does it communicate?  Lutheran bishop and New Testament scholar Krister Stendahl offers a rich description.  He says:

And my guess is that this very term expressed the continuity with God's old and eternal dream for a mended creation with people and things--a social, economic, ecological reality.  Thus Jesus' miracles were not primarily signs of his power but acts of mending the creation, pushing back the frontier of Satan, healing minds and bodies, feeding, even counteracting the devastation of the premature death of the young and needy.  The kingdom with its justice is for the wronged and the oppressed;  the little people who hunger and thirst for bread and for justice;  the peacemakers who are so easily liquidated. *

Jesus says that no one is greater than John but that he is least in the kingdom.  That may be a time reference.  John would not live to see and experience the fulfillment of God’s kingly rule in Jesus.  His ministry happened on the threshold between the old age of prophetic promise and the new age of fulfillment in Jesus.

Jesus also says that the kingdom “suffers violence.”  In the original language one finds an ambiguity.  The verb translated thus could also be rendered in a reflexive sense, “the kingdom makes its way with triumphant force.”  That translation would have Jesus referring to his ministry of teaching, preaching, and healing.  If “suffers violence” is the better rendering, Jesus would be referring to how he and John are being treated with rejection.

Of course, both can be seen as true.  Jesus then, and Jesus’ Spirit now, push forward forcefully with the ministries of preaching, teaching, healing, serving.  And, God’s kingly activity in the world does suffer violence from people who reject,  resist, abuse, and persecute God’s people.

It is exactly the loving, serving way in which the kingdom forces its way ahead that creates the violent resistance.  Jesus’ message and ministry always represent a threat to those  enforcing their will on others by manipulation, exploitation, political sleuth, and military might.   Moses’ exodus from Egypt with Hebrew slaves alerts  us to that.  Jesus’ delivering of the outcast and the demonized, those marginalized by the power structures, reminds us of that.

In our community, God’s kingly rule pushes forward forcefully.  Healings, forgiveness, deliverance, reconciliation, and transformations happen daily all around us.  And,  God’s kingly rule suffers violence in the form of resistance and persecution.  In our culture those are less obvious than in a place like the Sudan, where Christians die for their faith.

Our allegiance by faith with the God and Jesus and their mission in the world make us part of a movement that forces  its way forward triumphantly through the Spirit. That we can celebrate.  That we can be part of by finding our own peculiar place of service in the church and in the world.  We must be prepared for the emotional violence  of those who feel threatened by a mission of love  and caring that reaches out to  all, even the least valued in our culture. We must not be deterred, no matter what, from sharing in God’s mission of salvation.

* Krister Stendahl, "Christ's Lordship and Religious Pluralism," in Meanings:  The Bible as Document and as Guide, (Philadelphia:  Fortress, 1984), p. 235.

Collect of the Day, The First Sunday after Pentecost: Trinity Sunday

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP,  228)

Today we celebrate the Feast of John Eliot, missionary to native Americans (died 21 May 1690 CE).

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/John Eliot.htm

Collect of the Feast of John Eliot

Almighty God, by the proclamation of your Word all nations are drawn to you: Make us desire, like John Eliot, to share your Good News with those whom we encounter, so that all people may come to a saving knowledge of you; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

A Collect for Peace

Most holy God, the source of all good desires, all right judgments, and all just works: Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through the mercies of Christ Jesus our Savior. Amen. (BCP, 123)

For the Nation

Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP,258)

A Prayer for Light

O Lord God Almighty, as you have taught us to call the evening, the morning, and the noonday one day; and have made the sun to know its going down: Dispel the darkness of our hearts, that by your brightness we may know you to be the true God and eternal light, living and reigning for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 110)

A Collect for Mission

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified:  Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.  (BCP, 100)

Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 11:7-15

7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? 8What then did you go out to see? Someone* dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. 9What then did you go out to see? A prophet?* Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10This is the one about whom it is written,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

   who will prepare your way before you.”

11Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 13For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came; 14and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15Let anyone with ears* listen!

Daily Offices in the Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer