Jeremiah 17.5-10; Psalm 1; I Corinthians 15.12-20; Luke 36.17-26
Catherine Gibson
How blessed are those who know their need of God.
At first glance, the common theme in today’s lectionary readings seems to be ‘blessings and warnings’, and the passage from I Corinthians looks like the odd one out. If we’d had the Old Testament reading set for today as well, this would have been even more apparent. There, Jeremiah speaks for God in condemning those whose hearts are turned away from him and put their trust in mere mortals. He likens them to shrubs in the desert, and contrasts their state to the blessedness and resilience of those who do rely on God: they are like trees planted at the water’s edge, whose roots continually draw sustenance from the stream.
Psalm 1 uses very similar language and imagery. Trust in God, and the desire to know and serve him better are as essential to life as water. Those who neglect these things will become desiccated like chaff.
There are many similar passages in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy has long lists of blessings and warnings given through Moses to the people of Israel as they prepare for life in the Promised Land: these form part of God’s Covenant with Israel.
So Jesus is operating within an established tradition when he gives his list of blessings and warnings. In Luke’s Gospel, he has just selected his twelve apostles. The symbolism of this would be easily recognised. The twelve apostles represent the twelve tribes of Israel, descended from Jacob’s sons: Jesus is founding a new Israel. He then gives them his version of the Covenant.
But it’s paradoxical, topsy-turvy, even shocking! Those who will find blessing are the poor, the hungry, those who weep, those who are hated! It’s not that there’s anything particularly virtuous about poverty and hunger in themselves – Jesus isn’t upholding these conditions as necessarily to be sought; but in a world where injustice reigns, those who suffer are at last going to be consoled and vindicated. Just as three weeks ago we heard how Jesus in the synagogue read the passage from Isaiah, “The Lord . . . has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, . . . to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind”, here he’s again announcing the new and radical thing God is doing. The values of the present culture will have to be turned upside down! Inevitably, that’s going to provoke opposition from those who were happy with the status quo!
So where does the reading from Corinthians fit in? It’s about the centrality of the Resurrection. It seems that some members of the church in Corinth found the idea incredible – as do some people who would call themselves ‘Christian’ today. It’s just not the way things happen! – and it’s utterly at odds with the culture around them. But without it, Paul argues, you have no Christianity. Jesus becomes just another religious teacher. It’s through the whole Easter event – the Crucifixion and Resurrection – that God has dealt with sin and death. Sin and death are inextricably linked in the bible: it is sin that has given death its power. In the Crucifixion Jesus has taken our sins upon himself, and in rising from the dead he has conquered death; and it is God himself who has done this! He will give to all Christ’s people a new bodily life which will correspond to the transformed body of Jesus. It’s this that makes Christianity so different from all other religions and philosophies.
All these passages are about where you put your trust. We find our blessings in the things we choose to trust. Those who have nothing else in life to trust in, have to fall back on God, and in doing so, they discover the depth and richness of his companionship. The crucifixion and resurrection together form the supreme example of this reversal of worldly values and expectations. I remember reading with surprise Sheila Cassidy’s account of her incarceration in a Chilean gaol, where torture and mistreatment were daily occurrences: she began sessions of prayer and praise with her fellow-prisoners, and afterwards recalled these times as the most profoundly happy in her life. In much less extreme ways, I have found situations which outwardly would seem likely to be times of grief or anxiety, completely transformed by the sense of God’s nearness; and I’m sure the same is true of many people here.
“How blessed are those who know their need of God!”