Wednesday, September 22, 2010

From the men's bible study, Sept.22


Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15.
Jeremiah buys land in Jerusalem during the siege while he was imprisoned as a pledge and prophetic sign that "Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land."

1 Timothy 6:6-19.
Paul calls on Timothy not to pursue riches but to be content with the abundant grace and supply of God, whatever that may be. What he should pursue is "righteouness, godliness, endurance, faith, love and gentleness," and to teach the rich in the Christian communities around Ephesus to do likewise.

Luke 16:19-31.
The rich man and Lazarus.

Jeremiah has taken us all over the map emotionally: Two weeks ago, winds of destruction. Last week, tears of grief and pain. This week, we watch him make a property transaction in an already besieged land doomed to conquest as a sign of hope for a resettlement some day. He hears about a property transaction that is available to him. He hears about it first from God. Then his cousin shows up offering the transaction, exactly as the voice of God had said. What else can he do but purchase the title? After he purchases it, he seems to understand the meaning of it. This was no random act, no simple bizarre investment in a market about to bottom out completely. Jeremiah was not being conned by God or his cousin. This purchase was a sign of something else: That this land would be inhabited by descendents of its current inhabitants some day.

We've reached the end of the first of the two letters addressed to Timothy with this week's reading. Mission in the world requires that we deal with money. Mission in the world but not of it requires that our disciplines with money reflect the priorities of the kingdom of God rather than the kingdoms of the world. Paul reminds Timothy and through him the Christians living around Ephesus. We have a charge to keep, a calling to fulfill regarding money. That others do not know this charge or follow this calling doesn't excuse us from doing so ourselves. Having wealth for Paul was not a moral problem, per se. In the culture he inhabited, wealth most generally simply happened, either through inheritance or luck. That is very different than in much of the current scene and capitalist economics, where the vast majority of wealth is obtained and built through individuals and the companies pursuing it. So Paul has nothing bad to say about wealthy people per se in his time. Instead, Paul admonishes Timothy to guide wealthy disciples of Jesus to "do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share."

Today's story from Luke, "Lazarus and the Rich Man," is probably a familiar one, even to persons with only marginal associations with the Christian faith or the Bible. The rich man (who goes unnamed!) tries to tell Abraham to tell Lazarus (a poor man who HAS a name!) to get him some water. Some folks think they run the world! The voice of Abraham is also ironic when he responds to the rich man with perhaps the very same kinds of justifications for not helping him that the rich man used to justify not helping Lazarus. The finale isn't a blow simply to the rich, however. It strikes against any who read Scripture to privilege themselves above others. In God's kingdom, as even Moses and the prophets were saying to those who had ears to hear, the poor are blessed, the hungry are fed, the naked are clothed, the sick are cared for and healed. If you're not doing that, and thinking you can justify yourself by your social standing or theological knowledge, you must be in some other kingdom. Even someone rising from the dead might not be able to convince you otherwise.
submitted by Dick Nelson

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