The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 21 - 30 September 2012
Numbers
11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Psalm
19:7-14
James
5:13-20
St.
Mark 9:38-50
Background: Ecstatic Prophecy
In the first reading for today we have an
instance that may reflect the time in which it was actually composed, or we may
have an early memory of first instances in Yahwism in which there is ecstatic
prophetic utterance. Certainly at the
time of the Isaiahs, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others there were plenteous
examples of prophetic ecstasy in which the prophet goes into a type of trance
and offers visions of what God was saying.
This is not like divination, which uses some other object to “divine”
what the god was saying. Here it is
language or even movement (cf. II Samuel 6:14) that mediates the message. Oddly enough, the prophets that grace one of
the scenes in Monty Python’s Life of
Brian probably fairly represent their behaviors. This office and the ecstasies that
accompanied it were not peculiar to Israel, and may indeed have been either
borrowed from the surrounding Canaanite culture, or brought from Mesopotamia.
Numbers 11:4-6,10-16,24-29
The rabble among them
had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, "If
only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for
nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but
now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to
look at."
Moses heard the people
weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then
the LORD became very angry, and Moses was displeased. So Moses said to the
LORD, "Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found
favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I
conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me,
'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child,' to the land
that you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where am I to get meat to give to
all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, 'Give us meat to eat!' I
am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. If
this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once--if I have
found favor in your sight--and do not let me see my misery."
So the LORD said to
Moses, "Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be
the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of
meeting, and have them take their place there with you."
So Moses went out and
told the people the words of the LORD; and he gathered seventy elders of the
people, and placed them all around the tent. Then the LORD came down in the
cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it
on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied.
But they did not do so again.
Two men remained in the
camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on
them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent,
and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses,
"Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." And Joshua son of Nun,
the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, "My lord Moses, stop
them!" But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would
that all the LORD's people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his
spirit on them!"
In these passages from Numbers we witness a thread of complaining that
surfaces often in the accounts of the wanderings in the wilderness. Here it is instructive for us to see that it
is not just the tribes of Israel that are wandering in the desert, but that
there are foreign elements as well.
Described as “rabble” or “riffraff (Alter) they bring a different
complexion to the whole. Soon Israel as
well is complaining about the privations of the wilderness. Moses is faced with issues of leadership, and
of nationality as well. It is odd, that hearing the complaints of the people
about food, Moses in turn complains to God that the burden God has given him is
too great.
Once again we hear the story of the manna given by God, along with the
fowl. That however is not the main point
of juxtaposing this reading with the Gospel for today. It is in verses 24-29 that we see the
point. Moses gathers elders and shares
with them some of his “spirit.” These
then begin to prophecy (see the Background above) and their ecstasies are
constrained to the area in the Tent of Meeting.
Such ecstatic behaviors would not have quelled the complaints of the
crowd. The actions of Eldad and Medad,
prophesying in the camp itself is anxiously brought to Moses’ attention by a
young lad, and Joshua urges them to be suppressed. It is here we come to the point. In a spiritualization of the role of
leadership and its burdens, Moses looks forward to a time when all would share
in the spirit with which he was invested.
“Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets.”
Breaking
open Joshua:
- What kind of complaints do you have for God?
- What do you think of the leadership of your Church?
- How do you participate?
How do you prophesy?
Psalm 19:7-14 Caeli enarrant
The law of the LORD is
perfect
and revives the soul; *
the testimony of the
LORD is sure
and gives wisdom to the
innocent.
The statutes of the
LORD are just
and rejoice the heart;
*
the commandment of the
LORD is clear
and gives light to the
eyes.
The fear of the LORD is
clean
and endures for ever; *
the judgments of the
LORD are true
and righteous
altogether.
More to be desired are
they than gold,
more than much fine
gold, *
sweeter far than honey,
than honey in the comb.
By them also is your
servant enlightened, *
and in keeping them
there is great reward.
Who can tell how often
he offends? *
cleanse me from my
secret faults.
Above all, keep your
servant from presumptuous sins;
let them not get
dominion over me; *
then shall I be whole
and sound,
and innocent of a great
offense.
Let the words of my
mouth and the meditation of my
heart be acceptable in
your sight, *
O LORD, my strength and
my redeemer.
The initial verses of this psalm devote themselves to the beauty of the
cosmos, and at verse 7, suddenly shift to comments on the Law of God. It may be that two separate psalms have been
spliced together (a common practice, actually, in the Psalter). The initial verses picture God as a solar
deity, riding the heavens. In the
ancient near east, and indeed in Greece (Apollo) the connection between the sun
and wisdom is frequent, so the splicing my represent a mild monotheistic diatribe
against such pagan deities. There is
both an objective approach to the Law of God (The Lord’s teaching is perfect)
and a sensual approach as well (Sweeter than honey). The poet is clear that in spite of the
attractiveness of God’s intents for humankind, they are not always
accomplished. The psalm ends with a
prayer for forgiveness and amendment of life.
Breaking
open Psalm 19
- How do you perceive God’s law for you?
- What is your reaction to it?
Is it indeed like honey?
- How do you deal with your failures?
James 5:13-20
Are any among you
suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of
praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church
and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.
The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and
anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to
one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of
the righteous is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being like us, and
he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months
it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain
and the earth yielded its harvest.
My brothers and
sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by
another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will
save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
These final verses in James seem to be a catchall of various
instructions for the Christian life.
Addressed are the notions of healing, confession and forgiveness,
prayer, and reconciliation. It is a
wealth of actions that ought to be discussed by any Christian
congregation. In our own time we have
seen the restoration and effective use of prayer, laying on of hands, and
anointing in the reformed liturgical churches, and even in the Roman church it
has moved beyond its extreme cause to a more general opportunity for
healing.
Breaking
open James:
- Do you avail yourself of healing?
- Have you had others pray for you? What was the result?
- Have you ever had a private confession and absolution?
Mark 9:38-50
John said to Jesus,
"Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to
stop him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not
stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon
afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I
tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name
of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
"If any of you put
a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would
be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were
thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is
better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell,
to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off;
it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown
into hell., And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better
for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to
be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never
quenched.
"For
everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its
saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with
one another."
This
reading continues from the Second Passion Prediction that was read last
Sunday. Here the theme moves to
questions of authority. Like the
instance with Moses and the two elders who prophesied in the camp (see the
First Reading) here the disciples (John in particular) are exercised about
someone who was “casting out demons” in Jesus name. Although this authority is “tightened up” in
the later Church, he Jesus takes the same mind as does Moses, and is not
jealous about his gift.
What
follows are a series of sayings that have been appended to the “casting out
demons” saying. What Jesus wants to
maintain is the relationship of the individual to the Kingdom of Heaven, and
hopes that no one in his party will become an obstruction to that
relationship. The salt sayings are
related to the use of salt and fire in sacrifice, and may bring the collection
of sayings full circle, back to the Passion Prediction – for now the disciples
will be “salted with fire” as well. Here
the fire may well be the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Breaking open the Gospel:
- What authority have you taken to do things in Jesus’ name?
- What has been an obstruction to your faith?
- Are you salty? How?
After
breaking open the Word, you might want to pray the Collect for Sunday:
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.
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