OBAMA SPEECH BRINGS UNITY

This blog provides a meditation on the Revised Common lectionary radings along with a headline from world news.

Ephesians 3:1-13

3.1 This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— 2for surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words, 4a reading of which will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ. 5In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: 6that is, the Gentiles have become fellow-heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

7 Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power. 8Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, 9and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; 10so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him. 13I pray therefore that you may not lose heart over my sufferings for you; they are your glory.

Mark 2:13-22

13 Jesus went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. 14As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

15 And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax-collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. 16When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with

an excluder

sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ 17When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ 19Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

21 ‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.’

It’s not often the Lectionary gives a perfect match of passages, so we should note with pleasure how well today’s readings go together. The writer of Ephesians, probably a disciple of Paul, rather than Paul himself, speaks of the secret truth revealed to Paul through Christ, that God is uniting the whole world in his new community. Those  who have historically been separated from each other and from God have been brought together, to the one God, by Christ. This is the truth that the gospel proclaims to the “rulers and authorities of the world” who have based their power on division. Now all people have “access to God in boldness and confidence through faith” in Christ.

the one family resists division

This wonderful phrase could also sum up Jesus’ ministry to the outcasts of Jewish society. He has come especially to them to give them this access and this confidence by his friendship. Jesus cut through the religious taboos to create brothers and sisters who trust the one abba, the dear father. Those who experience this liberation know that it must be celebrated: the bridegroom, the husband of humanity, is present! The new wine of liberation demands new wine skins! New customs will be created.

There is a dangerous simplicity about Jesus’ evangelism: the good news of God’s liberating friendship must be taken to those who most need to hear it. As for the others, worry about them later. The poor and the outcast recognise the power of liberating friendship; the comfortable insiders may find it threatening. Paul is right in interpreting Jesus’ gospel as a confrontation with all the mechanisms of exclusion.

Yesterday, President Obama, by eschewing polemics and attending to the wounds of his people, opened up for them a greater unity, of which he, as one of a still-discriminated-against community, is uniquely well-placed to be an advocate