Seasons of the Spirit
The Christian Year in Biblical Perspective
July 5, 2009
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Year B)
Liturgical Color: Green

II Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
The ark of God, aka the Ark of the Covenant, traveled with Israel from Sinai during the years of wilderness wanderings. The ark symbolized God’s presence with Israel through all their trials and turmoil, but this presence was also dangerous. God could not be kept or owned. Occasionally Israel needed reminding of this. The story of the Philistines capturing the ark illustrates that the transcendent God can be imminently present, but is always dangerous, always beyond what we understand, always beyond human control.

The presence of God in the city of Zion, Jerusalem, is celebrated with wonder. Israel, a wandering people set free from slavery, could scarcely imagine inhabiting such a place. The psalmist seeks to remind every new generation of worshipers that God is the source of their home, “the joy of all the earth.”

II Corinthians 12:2-10

Testimony about personal spiritual experiences can be the most powerful of witnesses for the cause of Christ. It can also be among the most damaging. Paul shares his experience of a divine revelation and vision in order to anchor his teaching with personal testimony. His teaching is not merely academic, but personal, he wants to emphasize. The personal can become the triumphant, however, and Paul will not celebrate his so-called success without the counter-weight of failure, his “thorn in the flesh.” Even a threefold appeal to God cannot heal or help him, so he decides to “boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” Would that all of us could share in such power, and humility.

The life of discipleship is a mixture of success and failure. So it was for Jesus, and so it will be for any who follow him. Be wary of those who would sell the Christian faith as the pathway to wealth and success. Jesus himself is amazed at the unbelief and rejection he receives in Nazareth, his hometown. In this context he sends out the twelve in power, but also preparation for rejection and failure. “Shake the dust off your feet” and move on. The Twelve experienced some success on this mission, but would not always. Christian success cannot be measured in numbers or accomplishments, but in faithfulness to the call.