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.”
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.
Rev.
Chris Michael, Senior Minister
First Christian Church, Valdosta, GA
http://www.fccvaldosta.org/