A tale of two people
It was bound to happen. Life got in the way, and I missed a day. Here are the readings for yesterday.
Psalm 126
Isaiah 35:3-7
Luke 7: 18-30
And moving on to today.
Isaiah 12:2-6
Amos 6:1-8
2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Today's readings are sort of a tale of two people. One is complacent and comfortable while the other is struggling and afflicted. Yet in the upside down world of the Gospel, it is made pretty clear that the comfortable people are the ones who are doomed. These three passages taken together are both hopeful and extremely uncomfortable all at the same time, particularly for those of us in affluent societies.
People like comfort. I like comfort. We seek out comfort and cling to verses that promise God's comfort. We even read some of those last week. But sometimes language can be tricky, especially when a word has more than one meaning and connotation. Comfort is one of those slippery words. It acts as both noun and verb, and sometimes we are not terribly exact with making a difference between the two.
Comfort, the noun, is defined as, "a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint." Comfort the verb is defined as, "ease the grief or distress of, console."
I think the key in understanding why comfort is such an issue here in the Amos passage lies in the idea of being free from constraint. Here it is a people who is enjoying the good things of life without having concern for the less fortunate among them. Being free from constraint is being free from any guilt about the situation of others. I don't think the problem Amos is that the people were eating well or living in nice surroundings. I think the problem was they didn't grieve for what was wrong in their society. Once again, pride comes up as something the God absolutely detests. It was their pride that they somehow deserved the good life they were living. It was their pride that they were somehow responsible for that life. It was their pride that told them they were somehow better than those who did not enjoy the same level of ease. And because of their pride, God tells them it is all going to end.
Let's jump far ahead in time to the Macedonians. The Macedonians were the churches in an area north of Greece, near today's Balkans. They were gentile Christians who were mentioned by Paul as having given with extraordinary generosity to the church in Jerusalem even though they themselves were living pretty darn close to the edge. They experienced God's grace and overflowing joy.
That's what we all want, isn't it? God's grace and overflowing joy. It is why we seek comfort in material things. It's why we try to control our circumstances so that they follow the path that we believe will lead to the most ease and comfort. Yet so often this is exactly what we do not have. True joy can only come from God. From knowing Him, from understanding how God has worked out our salvation, from knowing He really is in charge and we don't have to be. Joy comes from finally laying down our pride at thinking we know better or can handle things ourselves and handing that all over to God.
In the upside down world of the Gospel, joy and abundance come in unexpected ways. They come from letting God take over and from looking at the world with different eyes. The Macedonians experienced joy through giving, knowing that God would continue to care for them.
And right there is the take away from these readings today, and it is hard. Do we trust God enough to be truly generous? Or do we hold back because there is always that question in the back of our heads that we need to take care of ourselves because we are not 100% sure that God will take care of us. Are we more like Isaiah's audience or Paul's Macedonians. I find it an uncomfortable question to ponder.
Psalm 126
Isaiah 35:3-7
Luke 7: 18-30
And moving on to today.
Isaiah 12:2-6
Amos 6:1-8
2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Today's readings are sort of a tale of two people. One is complacent and comfortable while the other is struggling and afflicted. Yet in the upside down world of the Gospel, it is made pretty clear that the comfortable people are the ones who are doomed. These three passages taken together are both hopeful and extremely uncomfortable all at the same time, particularly for those of us in affluent societies.
People like comfort. I like comfort. We seek out comfort and cling to verses that promise God's comfort. We even read some of those last week. But sometimes language can be tricky, especially when a word has more than one meaning and connotation. Comfort is one of those slippery words. It acts as both noun and verb, and sometimes we are not terribly exact with making a difference between the two.
Comfort, the noun, is defined as, "a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint." Comfort the verb is defined as, "ease the grief or distress of, console."
I think the key in understanding why comfort is such an issue here in the Amos passage lies in the idea of being free from constraint. Here it is a people who is enjoying the good things of life without having concern for the less fortunate among them. Being free from constraint is being free from any guilt about the situation of others. I don't think the problem Amos is that the people were eating well or living in nice surroundings. I think the problem was they didn't grieve for what was wrong in their society. Once again, pride comes up as something the God absolutely detests. It was their pride that they somehow deserved the good life they were living. It was their pride that they were somehow responsible for that life. It was their pride that told them they were somehow better than those who did not enjoy the same level of ease. And because of their pride, God tells them it is all going to end.
Let's jump far ahead in time to the Macedonians. The Macedonians were the churches in an area north of Greece, near today's Balkans. They were gentile Christians who were mentioned by Paul as having given with extraordinary generosity to the church in Jerusalem even though they themselves were living pretty darn close to the edge. They experienced God's grace and overflowing joy.
That's what we all want, isn't it? God's grace and overflowing joy. It is why we seek comfort in material things. It's why we try to control our circumstances so that they follow the path that we believe will lead to the most ease and comfort. Yet so often this is exactly what we do not have. True joy can only come from God. From knowing Him, from understanding how God has worked out our salvation, from knowing He really is in charge and we don't have to be. Joy comes from finally laying down our pride at thinking we know better or can handle things ourselves and handing that all over to God.
In the upside down world of the Gospel, joy and abundance come in unexpected ways. They come from letting God take over and from looking at the world with different eyes. The Macedonians experienced joy through giving, knowing that God would continue to care for them.
And right there is the take away from these readings today, and it is hard. Do we trust God enough to be truly generous? Or do we hold back because there is always that question in the back of our heads that we need to take care of ourselves because we are not 100% sure that God will take care of us. Are we more like Isaiah's audience or Paul's Macedonians. I find it an uncomfortable question to ponder.
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