[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage 517, Pentecost 11, August 20, 2006

[rmcgregoralbq at aol.com]

IS THIS TRANSMISSION CLEAR OF EXTRANEOUS CHARACTERS? I'M TRYING YET ANOTHER TIME TO CLEAN THE TRANSMISSION UP.
 
Pentecost 11, August 20, 2006
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
Psalm 111
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58
 
"Whence Wisdom"
 
 “Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David; only...”  (1 Kings 3:3)  With these words the kingdom entered its golden era.  Only what?  Only a tragic flaw of some sort.   “... he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places.”  (But didn’t inhale.)  Never mind.  Even tragic flaws are covered while  prosperity endures.  Let the golden era play out and then reflect on the meaning of sacrificing and offering incense at the high places.  For now, give him credit for seeking wisdom.  Wisdom is the simple business of not making the same mistake twice; that is, not repeating the mistake someone else made either.  The wisdom of Solomon was to provide maxims that guide people away from humanity’s perennial mistakes.  Not bad.  Our society would be a lot more stable if this kind of wisdom prevailed in the home and school.  There is talk now of a new class of people among us, the feral youth, a person who can kill another person without remorse, yea without a reason.  In our rush to educate, we have left wisdom behind and with wisdom its extension -- morality.   
“Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise,  making the most of the time, because the days are evil.”  (Eph. 5:15-16) A Roman citizen in 70 A.D. (or so) says the days are evil.  Just wait.  This is still the golden era.  But, the days were evil by the standard of the Kingdom of God, and so is today.  It is not just an evil that results from our failure to learn from the mistakes of the past, nor an evil that proceeds from our lack of insight.  Rather, it is an evil that resides in us, an evil that can only be avoided if it is displaced by the Spirit of God.  Wisdom in this case is not our own but God’s.  It displaces our wisdom, but more importantly, it displaces our sin. Jesus talks about our internalizing his very body.   “So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.’”  (John 6:53)
Ugh.  Every time I hear Jesus say that, I go into exegetical shock.  Help me, Bultman!  John, surely you didn’t hear Jesus say that.  You are just adapting what he said to a later theological need, right?  I have heard people say, “Whenever I am not sure of the morality of a situation, I just ask myself, ‘What would Jesus do?’”  And, I wonder, “How do you know what Jesus would do?”
-- unless, of course, you eat his flesh and drink is blood, so to speak; unless you have somehow internalized his very being.  Then you would indeed know what he would do.  You would be truly wise and, as Jesus promises, truly alive.
May these thoughts strengthen you.
An Open Letter to Fellow Pastors 
>From Roland McGregor, United Methodist Pastor
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      --Copyright 2006, Roland McGregor, all rights reserved—
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