Monday September 20 Pentecost 17
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Psalm 80
After rescuing us from slavery in Egypt, God had planted us in new ground like a well-watered vine, and we grew and filled the whole land. But now we are being attacked by a foreign power and God’s vine is being uprooted. God, rescue us so that we may be a healthy vine again.
2 Kings 5: 1-19 What’s Kings about?
Naaman, a foreign military commander who has just defeated Israel in battle, is told by a young Jewish slave girl that Elisha can heal him from his incurable leprosy. Naaman sends immense gifts to the King of Israel who sees this as a a pretext for another disastrous war. But Elijah hears and while refusing to meet the commander, tells him to wash in the Jordan, the holy river through which the Israelites had originally entered the land. Naaman scoffs that Elisha tells him to do something so simple and will not even deign to see him or receive a gift from him. But God cures him anyway. His military power and wealth and his foreign origin and disinterest in the Jewish God are of no interest to the God of justice.
It was commonly thought that gods were connected to the physical land, so Naaman takes some of the local earth back to his country in order that he will be able to pray to the God of Israel there, and be forgiven when he is required to accompany his king into the temple of a foreign god. This foreigner who has just defeated Israel in battle, is more faithful to God than God’s own king and God blesses him with health. How much more, the story implies, will God bless the Israelite king if he returns to following God’s justice.
This story challenges the ancient assumption that foreigners could not be faithful to the Israelite God, and the assumption that God’s healing power is only available through religious ceremonies. The God of justice cares nothing for human status or ethnicity. This is a radical new understanding of the nature of God.
Matthew 5: 21-26 What’s Matthew about?
Jesus says that God requires a higher standard of us in our relationships than the outward forms of justice—reconciliation is primary. This is all part of Jesus saying God wants more than us keeping the minimum demands of the Ten Commandments—in Matthew’s understanding the commandments are being deepened, not superseded, by Jesus’ command for profoundly repaired relationships as the cornerstone of faithfulness to God.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth,
and ourselves in your image.
Teach us to discern your hand in all your works
and to serve you with reverence and thanksgiving;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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