Sour Grapes & The Prince of Division
(Free Version): Tenth Sunday After Pentecost- Isaiah 5:1-7; Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56
Find this week’s readings here. This week, in our “Deep Dive,” we have illustrations about sour fruit; quotes from Tolkien and Stephen Colbert; Japanese art; a saint whose faith caused him to break from his family in a dramatic way; and quotes from early church fathers.
Part of the challenge of the season of “Ordinary Time” is the ways in which we are invited to see God in the regular rhythms of our lives, as well as the ways in which he messes with them. Our lives are often full of manicured vineyards which need to be torn down.
What do we do with the everyday things? How do we hold blessings, failure, triumph, comfort and sufferings? A Jesus-centered life has something to say about all of this.
What do we do with our blessings? The important posture is gratitude. We thank God for the gifts that we receive: of provision, health, family, and moments of joy. When we operate in gratitude, these things become for us signposts of God’s new creation. Like the victories experienced by those in Hebrews 11, they are markers, pointers to something larger. When we practice gratitude for what we have, it allows us to hold the blessings more loosely and to share with the world. When we practice gratitude, we realize that these blessings are not from us, and so they are ultimately part of God’s great story.
What do we do with our failures? We all fail to bear good fruit. Like the vines in our Old Testament reading (Isaiah 5:1-7), we produce sour grapes instead of healthy grapes. Yet, in his mercy, God has provided a new vine, one who is always faithful. Our calling is not to “do better,” at fruit-producing, but to attach ourselves to the one who is true goodness.
What do we do with our sufferings? Some of our sufferings are acute, like those who are persecuted for their faith. Our epistle reading (Hebrews 11:29-12:2) reminds us that we are part of a great story of people who had faith, and people who suffered.
Though the author of Hebrews seems to have persecution on behalf of Christ in mind, there are other forms of acute suffering, other ways in which we do not see God’s new world, where we do not “receive what was promised.” Loss of a loved one, physical pain and mental illness are all acute forms of suffering. Suffering can also be chronic, an ongoing issue a constant feeling of loss or distance from God. The first thing that we remember is that we are not alone. Jesus suffered too and He suffers with us. We are not to make sense of it. We are not to try to learn a deep theological lesson. We simply rest in God’s love.
As we walk with God, my prayer is that we will come to a place to see how God takes the broken pottery of our lives and causes even the brokenness to shine; that we will see the gift God gives us in the midst of the pain.
Finally, what do we do with our comfort? The scriptures challenge us in our comfort, shake us up. In our gospel reading, Jesus says that he came to bring fire (Luke 12:49-56). We need his fire to deconstruct our lives in order to bring about true peace.
The Way of Jesus is world altering. It is not an add-on. It means that everything else will change. And it is not merely subtle change. Behavior patterns, habits, and comforts will all be challenged as we move closer to Jesus. Jesus says that even our relationships with family members will come in conflict because of him. Perhaps, when we see our family life through the perspective of the kingdom of God, we may begin to see each other afresh and God at work in and through these relationships.
Christ is our peace, but his kingdom is anything but peaceful! May we pay attention to the discomfort: the places where God is nudging at our hearts, and may we yield towards God’s self-giving love which messes up, but ultimately heals a broken world.