June 16 NOTES FOR REFLECTION
Texts: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15; Galatians 2:15-21; Luke 7:36-8:3
Theme: Plenty of choices this week. For those of a distinctly Lutheran bent, we could go for "Saved by Faith", for instance, or if we are inclined to a more catholic theology, perhaps something like "The Power of Confession [and/or Forgiveness]". On balance I'm going for "What Happens Next", without a question mark. It seems to that the real point of confession- forgiveness is not so much a focus on the past as on the future: it frees us up to start again, not where we left off, as it were, but in a new place. It's not so much a case of "life must go on", but that a new life must begin.
Introduction . Once again we have the delight of two great dramatic stories to ponder this week, with another interlude of St Paul's penetrating theology to drive home the point of the stories. We begin with a classic example of the extraordinary honesty of the Hebrew portrayal of their heroes. David, the greatest of all their kings, is shown to be just as human as the rest of us. Power doesn't just corrupt today's political leaders – it always has, and David is not immune to it. As Nathan fearlessly makes clear to him, he has been given so much by God, but his lustful eye has shown him something else he wants, and he stops at nothing – murder included – to get it. [And notice the word "it": Bathsheba is not a person – a she or her – to a man like David, but a mere object to be possessed.] In our gospel reading we are in for another shock – at least if we are prepared to open ourselves to the full impact of the story. We are used to Jesus being the actor - the one who does something for someone else: but here he is the recipient of another's ministry to him. And she is not the sort of woman we would expect a holy man to have anything to do with. She is a "sinner" – which could be code for a prostitute, or, at the very least, a woman living with a man to whom she is not married. But she has the one thing necessary: she has faith (or is it love?), and so she is forgiven. St Paul then draws our attention to the very important question: what happens next? Does David accept his forgiveness, and then go in pursuit of the next pretty woman to attract his attention? Does the woman leave Jesus' presence and resume her sinful ways? Or do they accept that the call to them now is to go forward into a new life?
Introduction. I have been pondering many things this week, including the extraordinary and enduring pulling-power of the Dalai Lama. Over 2,000 people attended a public meeting here in Dunedin this week to see and hear this elderly Tibetan Buddhist holy man with the boyish grin and chuckle, an extraordinary "birth story" that makes the immaculate conception of Jesus seem like a straightforward obstetrical event, and a message that seems to be no more profound than "be nice to people". So what is his appeal to so many people, including many Christians? My wife, Trish, has drawn my attention to a passage in Richard Rohr's book, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer, which may provide a clue. After talking about our sense of fear, our vulnerability, and our feelings of personal inadequacy, he writes this (at pages 145-6):
We are afraid ourselves so we frighten others. But can we live in such a way that people do not need to be afraid of us? I wish we could do that. I wish we caused no fear in others. I wish others could feel the receiving spirit, the universal forgiving in us....We all want to be with people around whom we feel safe and forgiven just by being next to them. You know you can show your darkest part to these people, and they'll still receive you. Some people have the gift in their very person to tell you, "It's okay." If they have outer authority besides, everybody wants to be around them, because their strength is encouraging.
Whether or not that helps to explain at least some of the attraction of the Dalai Lama, it does seem to me to provide a helpful insight to today's gospel story. Looked at purely as a narrative it is not one of Luke's best. Some of the detail is a little muddled. If the woman's expression of love for Jesus is because she already knows that she is forgiven, how does she know that, and why does Jesus have to tell her at the end of the story that her sins have been forgiven? Commentators often try to fill in the gap for us: they suggest that this woman must have already had an encounter with Jesus in which he had assured her of the forgiveness of her sins, or at least had heard him teach on this subject. But perhaps we don't need such creative contributions from the commentators if Richard Rohr is on the right track. When I asked a good (Anglican) friend of mine why she had gone to the Dalai Lama's meeting, and what she got out of the experience, she said, "The man has an aura about him."
There is something about the man; he radiates a sense of goodness, a presence that makes us feel healed and forgiven, or at least uplifted. I think that's something near to what my friend meant by her comment. We can all think of people whose presence we find energising – after we have spent time with them we feel more alive. (And, of course, there are people who have the opposite effect on us.) We might say of the positive people "he/she lifts my spirits somehow". Perhaps this is a smalr example of someone like the Dalai Lama – and someone like Jesus of Nazareth. Perhaps the woman sensed in Jesus "an aura" or (to use Rohr's words) "the receiving spirit, the universal forgiving", and she responded to that.
Compare her encounter with Jesus with Bathsheba's experience of David. What sort of "aura" would she have sensed in him? Surely not one of love, forgiveness, acceptance, respect, or dignity. Take a moment to choose your own adjectives! But David had one saving grace that is usually absent from the make-up of autocratic kings and emperors. When confronted by the prophet Nathan he folded. He could have ordered Nathan's immediate execution for speaking to him like that. Or he could have taken the modern "O come on – we're all men of the world, Nate – lighten up!" approach. Or the even more modern line, "I cannot offer any rational explanation for the things that have happened". But he didn't: his response was simple, straightforward, and entirely appropriate: "I have sinned against the Lord."
And immediately the prophet Nathan pronounced the absolution: "Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die." Is that too easy? After the enormity of the sins that David had committed, that's all there is to it? That may well be our reaction in this instance; but it wasn't mine in the gospel story. Why not? After all, Jesus himself refers to her sins "which were many" – that's the whole point of his teaching, after all. Perhaps both of them (David and this woman) have been let off too easily – that's the problem with mercy, forgiveness and grace – it's all so unmerited.
But that why Paul's teaching is so important today – and that's why my preferred theme for today is "What Happens Next". The key verse in the Galatians reading is v.18: But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. Jesus could have said to this woman what he said to the one caught in adultery, "Go, and sin no more." That would not change the fact that she had been forgiven, but it would make clear that the purpose of forgiveness is to allow for new life – as Paul goes on to make clear in this reading.
And that's what I think is missing from the Dalai Lama's approach. To be forgiven is one thing: to repent – to change mind, heart, lifestyle and outlook – is quite another. That's very challenging, very disturbing – and most unlikely to draw large crowds. It got Jesus killed – despite his aura.
Samuel. It's always interesting when the Lectionary tells us to omit certain verses. Today we are "spared" verses 11 and 12, but not verse 14, which tells us something. Apparently we can cope with the idea of God punishing an infant for the manifolds sins of his father, but not with the idea of God indulging in the trafficking of wives to provide for the public humiliation of David in the future. Of course, all that says much more about the culture of the time than it does about the character of God. The passage also reminds us of the power of story (parable) as a vehicle of truth: David is pierced before he sees the point of Nathan's story aiming his way.
Taking It Personally.
- A day for self-examination and confession. Pay attention to anything that is particularly troubling your conscious. Take a leaf from David's book and keep your confession short, simple and clear.
- Then remind yourself that you are forgiven and can now live – free of that particular matter, habit or temptation.
- If there is something that you are having trouble completely letting go off, fast- forward to verses 20-23. The "child" is dead – now it is time to move on. Does that help?
Galatians. In a sense this whole letter is about "moving on" in a new way: have a quick look at 1:6. Here the problem is letting go of the tried and trusted: putting their faith in words and ritual, rather than in the Risen Christ. Again, notice the order: there is no chuckling assurance that we're okay. Paul leaves us in no doubt that we "have been found to be sinners". Nor is Christ a sort of magic duster – one flick and our slate is wiped clean so we can do it all again. The cure for sin is much more profound and radical than that. We have been taken by Christ onto the cross with him and crucified there with him – we have died to sin with him. For that reason, it is now possible for us to live holy lives – or, more profound still, to let Christ live his life in us. Our separate, individual ego, alienated from God has been put to death, thereby "making room" for Christ to take its place in us. To believe that is to have the faith that saves: otherwise, says St Paul, Christ died for nothing.
Taking It Personally.
- Which part of this don't you believe? Pray that wonderful little prayer, "Lord, help my unbelief".
- Have some mirror time: tell yourself "it's no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me." If you know the catchy little chorus based on this verse, sing it a few times. Repeat several times daily until you begin to grasp the enormity of the truth Paul is revealing to us here.
- Be particularly vigilant that you have not fallen into the belief that your "good works" are stacking up "Brownie points" for you. God does not love you because you go to church – you go to church to praise and thank him for his love. Don't you? So the next time you find yourself tossing up whether or not to go to church, rephrase the issue: do I have any reason to praise and thank God this morning?
Luke. Don't be in too much of a hurry with this text. Notice where it is set: Jesus has accepted an invitation from a Pharisee. This story is not about accepting "sinful" people and rejecting "good" people, but accepting all people. BUT – this story is not about smiling benignly on all people, regardless of their behaviour. Where correction is necessary, Jesus gives it – not to punish or humiliate but to offer them the same chance of new life that he gave to the woman. Notice, too, that our reading doesn't stop at the end of this story: it continues with a brief record of a number of other women who have been healed and forgiven by Jesus and have responded by loving ministry to him
Taking It Personally.
- Another great story for praying with the imagination. Are you an invited guest or an outsider looking in? Content to remain a spectator or anxious to be involved?
- Are you as willing to be ministered to, as to minister to, others? Or do you need to be the strong one, the one who doesn't need help from others?
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