Monday, July 13, 2020                      (today’s lectionary)
Cold water on a hot day
During Advent and Lent the lectionary passages from Isaiah predict the birth of Jesus and then his crucifixion. They offer hope. The language is beautiful and poetic.
Now in the lectionary passages of these next few days Isaiah crashes down on his people with accusations from God that scream, sting, scald.
Princes of Sodom, people of Gomorrah
I don’t notice your sacrifices, I’ve had enough of burnt flesh and blood
Who asks these things of you!
Your incense is loathsome to me because
You are caught up in octaves of wickedness.
God closes his eyes and ignores the outstretched hands of these worshippers.
Your hands are full of blood, wash yourselves clean!
Come again, Lord?
No, YOU come again.
Hear the orphan’s plea. Defend the widow.
You are not worshipping me, you are worshipping yourselves.
The psalmist carries on from there:
You hate discipline and cast my words behind you!
I am not deaf
And I am certainly not like you!
Come and bring praise, offer joy and gratitude in song
Then, to you I will show my salvation.
Jesus insists on the Good Suffering for us, that we would be persecuted for the sake of righteousness. He brings the scalding word of God back into the air of Israel. His voice flies against the everyday way we take everything for granted, he shouts and his eyes are wide with anger. He speaks as Isaiah did, on behalf of our Creator, who is not pleased.
I have come to bring not peace upon the earth, but the sword.
The blood of family does not matter more –
I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother.
Just now I think of families in Germany who split down the middle supporting the Nazis or being disgusted by them. Closer to home, whole mid-nineteenth century American families in Maryland and Delaware and Tennessee and Kentucky who loved each other, were ripped apart to stand on opposite battle lines, shooting to kill, even their brothers and their fathers.
Jesus speaks beyond political persuasions and the fevered emotions that accompany them. Jesus’ division carries its import into eternity.
Whoever finds his life will lose it
And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
He is finishing his talk to his friends before they leave in pairs to do the kingdom work they’ve been watching. That work is not complicated, but it must be definite.
Whoever gives only a cup of cold water to another disciple in God’s kingdom, he will not lose his reward.
Of course politics and religious fervor prevent many from becoming “disciples in God’s kingdom.” What of them then? Does Jesus divide us with these words?
Can I extend my cup of cold water to anyone? Or must they think like me, believe like me, look like me? St. Benedict told his monks they must receive everyone as if they themselves were Jesus. Jesus told us to love our enemies. Does that also mean offering cold water?
I want to hear more. But Jesus left then, though, to teach and preach in other towns, while the disciples went off on their own. They were going to find out a lot about themselves in the next few days. Their questions will be far more penetrating.
Mine should be too. Letting Jesus “prove” what I already think is cowardice. Jesus wants me to face him, ask my question, sit down, listen and learn. Likely he will teach me with a question of his own. Job led the way in perhaps the earliest book of the Bible:
Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you
And YOU shall answer ME.
This dialogue will go on for the rest of my life. It doesn’t get any better than that.
           (Isaiah 1, Psalm 50, Matthew 5, Matthew 10)
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