The Garden and the Beloved (Free Version)
Song of Songs 2:8-13, James 1:17-27, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Find this week’s lectionary texts here.
All of our texts show us what happens when Christ shows up. Everything is different. Spring has sprung. They all speak of anticipating what happens when the Beloved, ultimately Christ himself, shows up. Everything is new.
This is the only text from Song of Songs in our entire three-year lectionary cycle. It’s a tough book. The Jewish tradition tended to see the book as an allegory of Israel’s love for God or God’s love for Israel. The Christian tradition tended to see it is an allegory of Christ’s love for the Church. Modern interpreters aren’t so into that, instead seeing the book as simply a collection of love poems, intended perhaps to provide an example of human love. Both may be true!
If we embrace the traditional reading of the Song of Songs (2:8-13), Jesus is the Beloved and everything is sweet when he arrives. Like the song says, “I can see clearly now the rain is gone.” We can think of this as Christ’s first coming and the new life that we have in him because of his resurrection. And yet, we also recognize that we, like the subject of the poem, look for our beloved in the distance, as we await his second coming. Christ’s presence brings a new Eden, the world as it should be; love is the center of this new world.
James reminds us that our God is generous and every good gift comes from Him. He is consistent and faithful. Because of Christ’s presence, we can live differently. We are the first fruits of that Spring that is new creation. We can put away “all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” As we gaze upon the Beloved, we are changed. It’s not a passing thing, but a “perfect law” that transforms us.
This is not an earning of God’s favor by our good works. After all, James begins this section by telling us that every good gift (which includes our good works) comes from our generous God. But as we obey and we live a life of compassion, we become more compassionate, we look more like God.
In the gospel of Mark, the wider conflict between the Pharisees in Jesus was the question: who speaks for God today? Who is truly following the way that God desires for his people to live?
Jesus was not challenging the traditions because they were wrong (just like the temple was not wrong), Jesus was challenging the traditions because something new was happening in him. If the kingdom of God was indeed coming in the work of Jesus—healing, feasting with outcasts, rolling back the kingdom of darkness—than the way of the Pharisees is flawed. Jesus is saying that the time has come to look at the core issues which the purity laws pointed to.
We are reminded that the “perfect law” has come in Jesus. Therefore, we ought not lose the forest for the trees. The purity laws remind us that every part of our life is to be oriented towards the kingdom of God. Yet, this ought never lead us to exclusion because the Beloved’s desire has always been for the whole world to know him.
Looking for more? Check out our subscription options. Our “Deep Dive” this week features more background on Song of Songs, specifically citing Robert Jenson and Ellen Davis. In the James text, we look at some marriage research which illustrates the power of language. In the gospel text, we take a detailed look at the purity laws and the “Tradition of the Elders.”