Proper 9 Year B (BCP lectionary) Notes

Ezekiel 2:1-6

The Lord sends Ezekiel knowing that Israel is “a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me.”
- they are “impudent and stubborn”

The Lord knows they may well “refuse to hear”
- even so, Ezekiel is to say “Thus says the Lord”
- they will know that there has been a prophet among them
- Ezekiel must speak whether or not they are expected to listen

Ezekiel must not fear dejection, scorn, mockery, or lack of listening
- do not be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns surround you and you live among scorpions.
- do not be afraid of their words or dismayed at their looks.

**********************************************************************************

Ps. 123

Have mercy upon us, Lord, have mercy,
For we have had more than enough of contempt,

Too much of the scorn of the indolent rich,
And of the derision of proud.

The psalmist looks to the Lord to answer the contempt of the scorners; (s)he does not attempt to “save face” by changing behavior to fit their expectations.
The scorners are “proud”
“indolent”
“rich”
The psalmist is (by implication)
Humble
Active/working
Poor

Rather than training his/her gaze on the mockers, the psalmist trains his/her eyes on God.

**********************************************************************************

2 Cor. 12:2-10

Paul has been accused of being proud, taking advantage of the Corinthians, or preaching the Gospel for personal gain
- he is misunderstood
- he is hurt by this
- what’s more, his message is in jeopardy because he has been misunderstood

At the same time, competing “super-Apostles” have moved in and are fomenting dissent and mistrust of Paul

Rather than boasting of his own worthiness, Paul rather ambiguously refers to the vision of a certain “person in Christ” (himself?).
- Paul emphasizes his own lowliness - contra accusations of his prideful ness

rather than surrender his image to the slander of the “Superapostles” Paul continues to attempt to reach the Corinthian Christians with his message

Paul has an additional reason to be content with insults and persecutions: in Christ, “whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”

**********************************************************************************

The residents of Jesus’ hometown cannot accept that this local boy, whose siblings and mother they know, is now some sort of prophet.
“Where did this man get all this?” they ask, scornfully.

People have certain expectations of Jesus. They expect him to be one way, and they cannot accept that he might be some other way.

Expectations sometimes blind us to what is really happening.

Faith here is contrasted with scornfulness and calcified expectations. When are minds are completely made up about other people, we may miss what God is up to: when we’ve written people off, we miss the chance that God is working through them.

**********************************************************************************

When others are scornful of us as Christians (even when only potentially so), it may seem easier not to attempt to speak to them about our faith or correct their misunderstandings. However, the Gospel-- the Good News-- of Jesus demands to be spoken even where we may reasonably expect an unfavorable reception.

Controlling metaphor: the bumper sticker
“Don’t Pray in My Schools,
And I Won’t Think in Your Church”
(misunderstanding, scorn, slander, writing off Xns as dogmatic, thoughtless, and stupid. Also a baldly contemptuous message-- whose only purpose is to make the like-minded chuckle and mock/anger Christians.)

Illustration: the “too smart for religion” intelligentsia,
- the students at my high school
- (my mostly silent tacit acceptance of such characterization)
- later, my friends in college
- (attempts to explain how one can have faith and be a thinking, intelligent person)

- Be who you are, even in the face of scorn or rejection.
- better to please God than mockers

- How will they ever know any different if we leave them to their misconceptions?

- THE CHURCH NEEDS APOLOGISTS, such as there were in the early centuries of the Church
- those who can interpret what Christians are really all about
- even in the face of a sometimes scornful secular world

**********************************************************************************
**********************************************************************************
**********************************************************************************

BLOCKING...

1. "...AND I WON'T THINK IN YOUR CHURCH."
- story about going to get a shake Friday night, seeing the bumper sticker
- writes off Christians as unthinking, reactionarily conservative, and oppressive

- Lots of people already have their minds made up about Christians
- contemptuous, mocking, dismissive

- Ironically, I think of myself as something of a liberal, and anything but "thoughtless"
- But this driver assumed that I was conservative,
- wished to impose my will on others,
- and unthinking.

2. TOO SMART FOR FAITH?

- My old buddies in H.S: smart, nerdy, intelligent, and liberal...

- Many of my old classmates in H.S. thought they were too smart for faith
- dismissive of Christianity, esp. Catholicism, as conformist, smallminded, and backwards

- Many thought of themselves as too kind of compassionate for a religion they saw as meanspirited

- my (mostly) silent tacit acceptance, reluctance to correct them.

- Many people today are dismissive of Christianity for one reason or another
- they have assumptions about us that may be false
- they apply their experiences with some of us to all of us

- their default stance towards Christians may be hostile, dismissive, or mocking

- It is easier, perhaps, to not talk to those who we either know to be, or expect to be, hostile towards us
- However, if we never even attempt to correct their misperceptions,
how will they ever know any better?

3. "...WHETHER THEY HEAR OR REFUSE TO HEAR"

ALL OF TODAY'S READINGS DEAL, IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, WITH BEING MISUNDERSTOOD OR HAVING ONE'S MESSAGE DISMISSED FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER -- AND BEING SCORNED IN THE ATTEMPT.

- God sends Ezekiel to a people who are "impudent and stubborn, a nation of rebels"
- they may well "refuse to hear"
- But God won't leave them to their mistakes without at least trying:
- they will know that there has been a prophet among them
- Ezekiel, for his part, is not to let their insults or impudence sting him.
- "do not be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns surround you and you live among scorpions
- "do not be afraid of their words, and do not be dismayed at their looks"

**********

Paul has been accused of being proud, taking advantage of the Corinthians, or preaching the Gospel for personal gain
- he is misunderstood
- he is hurt by this
- what’s more, his message is in jeopardy because he has been misunderstood

At the same time, competing “super-Apostles” have moved in and are fomenting dissent and mistrust of Paul

Rather than boasting of his own worthiness, Paul rather ambiguously refers to the vision of a certain “person in Christ” (himself?).
- Paul emphasizes his own lowliness - contra accusations of his prideful ness

rather than surrender his image to the slander of the “Superapostles” Paul continues to attempt to reach the Corinthian Christians with his message

**********

In the Gospel, Jesus faces the expectations of those in his hometown. "THEY TOOK OFFENSE AT HIM." They cannot accept God's wisdom from someone among whom they grew up, whom they have known all their lives.

4. NOT BEING DEFINED BY OTHERS

Ezekiel, the Psalmist, Jesus, and Paul all refuse to be defined by others' scorn of them.
- Since their message is about God, not themselves,
they don't let the mockery of the proud bruise their egos.

They train their eyes on God, and are eager to please God, not the contemptuous who mock them.

They also have the courage to speak to those who may not listen or who won't easily accept them.

5. MODERN-DAY APOLOGISTS

Throughout the history of Christianity, Christians have had to explain their faith, making it intelligible and "make sense" to contemptuous outsiders.

Although many of these "apologists" were saints, clergy, and theologians, the overwhelming majority of them were ordinary, mostly uneducated, and in menial positions.

Today, we need those willing to speak frankly, openly, and courageously to those who might be dismissive or misunderstand Christians

How else will they know any better?

God sends all of us to make the Good News of Christ's love for humankind available to all,

- and we are to sow that news with the liberality of the sower in the parable of the seeds,
- sowing on rocky ground or concrete roads where we may not expect favorable reception as well as on good soil

We know the wondrous truth that God has revealed to us in Jesus Christ.
God give us the courage to open our mouths and say "Thus says the Lord,"
...nevermind the scorpions.