God of our future, forgive our foolish lack of preparation for your newness. Let us be prepared for your future that undoes all the present tense. In his name, Amen.
Psalm 50
Zechariah 4:1-14
Revelation 4
Matthew 25:1-13
In these readings, God's future is hidden and unavailable. The oracle in Zechariah reflects a particular moment in the history of ancient Israel in the midst of exile. With the collapse of royal governance in Jerusalem, the small colony of Judah was jointly administered by a governor (Zerubbabel) and a priest (Joshua). It was "the day of small things," when historical possibility was modest indeed for God's people. But the two anointed (governor and priest) were nonetheless the carriers of God's possibility. The governor, moreover, was aliened to the house of David, thus keeping royal expectations alive.
That royal expectation, in Christian tradition, was assigned to Jesus, said to be of "the house of David." The reading in Revelation offers another vision of the divine throne room that is permeated with doxology. The Holy One, in this particular rhetoric, holds a scroll that is the clue to God's future in the world. And the croll can be opened only by "the Lion of the tribe of Judah," that is an heir to David, that is, Jesus. Only Jesus knows the clue to the future that God will surely enact. It is implicit in Christian confession that Jesus, as clue to our future, finds that future in obedience to crucifixion and in surprise in resurrection. That is the access point to the future that only the Lion (become the Lamb) knows.
The Gospel reading concerns readiness for the future that the "bridegroom" (Jesus) will disclose and perform. These lessons remind us that God's future is not a future of wealth, power or security. It is rather a future of costly obedience and inexplicable surprise. Without attentiveness to the "bridegroom" we are likely to be foolish and unprepared.
Walter Brueggemann: Gift and Task
No comments:
Post a Comment