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Perry listens to Bachman

This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news

2 Samuel 17:27-18:8

27 When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim 28brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, meal, parched grain, beans and lentils, 29honey and curds, sheep, and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat; for they said, ‘The troops are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.’

18Then David mustered the men who were with him, and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2And David divided the army into three groups: one-third under the command of Joab, one-third under the command of Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and one-third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the men, ‘I myself will also go out with you.’ 3But the men said, ‘You shall not go out. For if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us; therefore it is better that you send us help from the city.’ 4The king said to them, ‘Whatever seems best to you I will do.’ So the king stood at the side of the gate, while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands. 5The king gave orders to Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.’ And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders concerning Absalom.

6 So the army went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim. 7The men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the slaughter there was great on that day, twenty thousand men. 8The battle spread over the face of all the country; and the forest claimed more victims that day than the sword.

From time the souvenirs are deeds. On some sunny morning 3000 years ago, did Shobi, Machir and Barzillai take supplies to David’s weary army without being told to do so? It could be so. We’re never sure in this account what is history and what is invention, but this detail may transmit the foresight and kindness of these men across the years to us.

President Kirchner in a sombre moment

The shrewdness of David’s men in refusing his presence in is notable, not merely for its military correctness but also for its insight into David’s divided heart: they keep him away from the conflict because they don’t altogether trust his instincts. Indeed David reveals himself in the ridiculous command to “deal gently with the young man Absalom.” How can his men obey? This is not a rash young man but the calculating, ruthless leader of a coup. Nevertheless David’s daft love for his son, even to his own disadvantage, is surely evidence of his human greatness: it has all the over-the-top quality of the father’s love for the prodigal.  As the reader will see, this quality is not politically useful to the king and he is made to leave it behind him. Today, our media are so focused on the lives of politicians that their humanity is lost because it must be concealed. A glimpse of a leader’s real reaction can ruin him forever, as the “bigoted woman” incident did for Gordon Brown.  A political discourse which denies human greatness in leaders is as cynical as one (like North Korea’s) which attributes it automatically without evidence. This ancient account is as frank about the “inside story” as any modern expose, but is capable of noting kindness, courage, magnanimity and fatherly love.

Mark 11:12-26

12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14He said to it, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And his disciples heard it.

15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves; 16and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17He was teaching and saying, ‘Is it not written,

“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”?

But you have made it a den of robbers.’

18And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. 19And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.20 In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21Then Peter remembered and said to him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.’ 22Jesus answered them, ‘Have faith in God. 23Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea”, and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. 24So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 ‘Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.’

After the riots: a peace rally in Birmingham. A house of prayer for all nations?

The fig tree is used by Jesus in an acted parable. It represents the people of God from whom God looks for fruit but they tell him his time has not yet come. It’s not the season to offer him the fruits of justice. The temple also clings to the absence of God’s kingdom in which it will become a house of prayer for all nations. At present it’s only for Jews and the grasping merchants can occupy the “court of the gentiles.” According to Jesus the sterility of his people comes from their lack of faith in the presence, now, in his ministry, of God’s Rule on earth. He offers his disciples three antidotes to this faithlessness:

1. Trust in God, that is, in God’s Rule on earth
2. Confident action and prayer, even against the odds.
3. Readiness to give and receive forgiveness.

I think those qualities remain the public face of any good church and constitute the “open door” of a house of prayer for all religions. Through that door I would hope to be admitted to a mosque, where I’d hope to learn more of Mohammed, just as I’d hope to invite Moslems into a church community where I could tell them more about Jesus. With just a little “tweaking” Jesus’ three qualities could be made suitable for agnostics;

1. Trust in justice on the earth

2. Confident action even against worldly opposition

3. Readiness to give and receive forgiveness.

These are not the source or substance of faith but they are the open door through which we invite others to come, so that what God has planted may not wither