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Holy Week resources and reflections

6th Sunday after Epiphany — February 17, 2019

Jeremiah 17:5-10; Luke 6:17-26
Ordinary 6C / Proper 1

Blessed or cursed. Blessings and woes. Compare and contrast.

Jill Duffield’s lectionary reflections are sent to the Outlook’s email list every Monday.

Both the reading from Jeremiah and the one from Luke are a study in contrasts. If you like neat categories, clear distinctions in black and white, then this Sunday is for you. If, on the other hand, you prefer a nice shade of gray, room for interpretive wiggle room, well, this week’s texts might present a challenge. I confess, I am in the latter category. I like few things more than nuance, a hermeneutic of ‘perhaps this or maybe that.’ I relish the ability to say, “scholars disagree” or thoughtful people “come to different conclusions.” But I am afraid Jeremiah and Jesus will not let me waffle this week.

Jeremiah breaks it down thusly: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. Alternately, blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. (Jeremiah repeats himself, as if for emphasis, like Jesus’ verily, verily in the King James Version of the Bible or a preacher I knew who said when he wanted to make a point, “Hear me, now.”) The cursed? Those who trust in human beings. Blessed? Those who trust in God. Any questions?

Jeremiah details the result of the stark choice. The cursed wither away like a shrub in the desert. The blessed bear fruit no matter the harshness of the climate or habitat. Further, God knows who chooses which path. Hiding the heart’s choice impossible when it is God doing the searching.

If Jeremiah’s depiction of choosing faithfulness or faithlessness is not enough, Luke gives us Jesus’ sermon on the plain that includes not just the beatitudes but the woes, too.

Blessed are the poor, hungry and weeping. Blessed are hated, reviled and defamed on account of the Son of Man. Woe to those who are rich, full and laughing. Woe to those of whom others speak well. Is there a third way here? I do not want to be poor, hungry, reviled or hated, but being blessed by God would be great. Nor do I want woe to come my way, but laughter and praise feel pretty good, if I am being honest.

Clearly, I am looking for nuance, gray area, the ability to add my own, more comfortable interpretation to these texts. But what if I set that temptation aside and, as those medieval clerics did, start with the literal interpretation of the text, the simple reading, the most straightforward understanding. What would that be?

Put your trust in God. Question your certainty about yourself, your abilities, power, wisdom and strength. Practice a good dose of humility. God provides, sustains, gives the growth.

Do not equate earthly success with divine approval. That means setting aside the prosperity gospel. That means we can’t assume that those who are suffering are a) being punished by God b) deserve their plight c) are in such dire straights because of something they have done. That interpretation would be counter to the Word of God.

In fact, be very wary of becoming full and happy and admired. Be careful of succumbing to the game of seeking affirmation and adulation. False prophets are favorites because they tell others exactly what they want to hear.

Trust in God. Practice humility. Seek to be faithful, forget about being successful. Divine blessing is not tied to earthly accolades. God knows your heart, regardless of what others think of you.

Keeping in mind that the heart is devious above all else; it is perverse and only God can understand it. Even if we try to follow the above admonishments, the simple reading of these texts, we will fail. We will give in to the need for human praise. We will find ourselves trusting our own intuition rather than heeding God’s commands. We will want to be rich and admired. We will justify our actions at the expense of being honest about our motives. We might assume others’ dislike of us proves our faithfulness, when, in fact, it reflects our self-righteousness. Hence, the need to return daily to the words of Jeremiah and of Jesus, and to do so prayerfully, corporately, honestly.

I do not like to hear the “woe to those” part or the “cursed are those who” section of these passages. I’d like to think they apply to others, but not to me. I can always look around and think, “Well, I’m not as rich as those people.” Or, I am not as greedy as or as corrupt or as driven by outward appearance or, or, or … but in so doing I forget the straightforward message of the Lord: Trust God. Practice humility (with a good dose of confession and repentance as a result). Don’t seek earthly accolades. Give thanks for divine blessing. Remember God tests the mind and searches the heart, all others’ opinions do not matter.

This week’s passages offer a simple either/or, but in practice we know there is a lot of “in between” on any given day. I trust God, more or less. More when I can pay the bills, less when I don’t know if the lights will be on next week. I feel blessed in my weakness when I understand and recognize how God is using it to bless others, or deepen my relationship with Jesus, or help me jettison those things that have become a stumbling block to being the person I want to be. I question God’s providence, though, when I feel mired in despair without a sense that my mourning with somehow be transformed for good. Blessed or cursed. Blessings or woes. I often find myself unsure of on which side I belong. But God knows my heart, uses me anyway, offers forgiveness and invites me over and over again to: Trust, practice humility, seek to be faithful and remember that God alone is the judge.

This week:

  1. Are you a person who likes clear, black-and-white instructions, or would you rather have room for interpretation? Do you read these texts as either/or texts? Why or why not?
  2. When have you conflated success with God’s blessing? When have you conflated suffering with God’s judgment?
  3. If you had to summarize these texts in one sentence what would it be?
  4. Compare Luke’s Sermon on the Plain with Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. What differences do you notice in the beatitudes? What do you make of those differences?
  5. When do you find it challenging to trust God? When have you been tempted to take matters into your own hands and trust yourself? What happened?
  6. If God tests the mind and searches the heart, what do you think God discovers in your mind and heart?

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