[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage 522, Pentecost 16, Sept. 24, 2006

[rmcgregoralbq at aol.com]

Pentecost 16, September 24, 2006

Proverbs 31:10-31
Psalm 1 or 54
James 3:13 4:3, 7-8a
Mark 9:30-37

The Wild Kingdom?

It is a sign of the reign of God that the humble survive and thrive.  
Only in the Kingdom of God can the humble be called the fittest, not in 
Darwin’s wild kingdom.

Proverbs 31 celebrates the success of a woman in a male-dominated 
society.

Psalm 1 proclaims the security of the righteous.

Psalm 54 proclaims the deliverance of a person faithful to God in an 
evil world.

James contrasts the wild kingdom with God’s kingdom and explains that 
our frustrations in life come from assuming the rules of the wild 
kingdom will get us what we want and need.

Jesus sets forth the rule of God with a rule for God’s kingdom,  
"Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all."  
(Mark 9:35)

It is interesting that Jesus chooses something done primarily by women, 
caring for children, as an example of winning behavior in God’s 
kingdom.  This ties back to the passage from Proverbs where women are 
praised for their service in the role of wife, homemaker and 
entrepreneur.  Who is the greatest?  Who is the fittest?  Is it the man 
who sits on the board of directors in the city gate, or the woman who 
keeps their house?  Is it the person who overcomes his enemies at their 
own game, or the one who relies on the righteousness of God?  Is it the 
one who travels with celebrities, with the movers and shakers of 
society, or the person who receives a little child in the name of God? 
It is the task of the one who proclaims the Gospel to help the audience 
answer these questions faithfully and thereby to help the whole society 
answer.  It is the task of the preacher to announce the reign of God, 
and it is the privilege of the preacher to thus participate in its 
coming.  The reign of God is a human potential like clear sky on a 
foggy day.  It is there if people can see it; but if people cannot see 
it, it may as well not be there.  If they can’t see that fittest of all 
is the servant of all, then no one will aspire to be the servant of all.

It was curious that death came to two of the world’s most famous women 
in the same week, Princess Diana and Mother Teresa.  A news commentator 
noted the irony by suggesting that it was an expression of God’s sense 
of humor, demanding the world to hold up the two side by side.  “If you 
believe in God,” he added parenthetically.  Well, no one who believes 
in God revealed in Jesus would attribute to God such a treatment of 
human life.  Without subtracting from the respect Diana deserves, we 
can still point to the contrast of these two lives and note that the 
reign of God is visible in the world or else we would never have heard 
of Mother Teresa.  Here was a woman surrounded by the evil of abysmal 
poverty who relied on God and God’s righteousness to become the servant 
of people as helpless as infants, and she survived.  She didn’t just 
survive.  She led a long and meaningful life.  So who is the fittest?  
Who is the greatest?  I don’t think it is fair to compare two women 
whom we barely know, the Scriptures call us to choose between two 
definitions of fittest and greatest and apply it to ourselves -- that 
of the wild kingdom and that of God’s kingdom?

May these thoughts strengthen you.

An Open Letter to Fellow Pastors
>From Roland McGregor, United Methodist Pastor
 (an e-mail service)

[See Web Page address below for a Children’s Message coordinated with 
these lections.]

http://www.webspawner.com/users/ChildPage/

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      --Copyright 2006, Roland McGregor, all rights reserved—
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