Psalm 56:9-13 The latter half of this psalm is David’s version of “Blessed Assurance,” and is better sung than analyzed. There is David’s assurance that God will be true to His word; “This I know, that God is for me.” And although it’s not here in the psalm, the only possible response to that line must be, “Then, who can be against me?”
And as in the first stanza, we have what we might call the “Grand Triumvirate:” praise, trust and the banishment of fear. The motto found on our coins, “In God we trust” is completed here at verse 11: “I shall not fear.” trust drives out fear completely.
And with fear banished, “What can man do to me?” (11) If we needed an operating definition of what salvation is all about, it is here in the closing verse of this psalm:
For You saved me from death,
yes, my foot from slipping,
to walk in God’s presence
in the light of life.
And for us, that is indeed the salvific power of Jesus Christ.
Leviticus 24:10-25:17 Names are crucial for they establish our identity within the community. In a rare turnabout, where the women are usually anonymous, the editors of Leviticus name the mother of the son “who vilified the Name of God” (24:11) She is “Shelomith, daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan.” So great was the offense of the son in vilifying God’s name that he could not be named but was taken outside the camp and stoned to death.
But no name is greater than the name of God and “he who invokes the LORD’s name shall be doomed to die; and the community shall surely stone him, sojourner and native alike,” (24:16) and just to make sure everyone gets the point, the punishment is repeated immediately: “for his invoking the Name he shall be put to death.” I suppose that the issue is not that God’s name is mentioned aloud, but that it is (in Alter’s words) “vilified,” or to use the common phrase, “taken in vain.”
Would that society paid more attention to this rule, and we could possibly be spared the ubiquitous “OMG” acronym. Also, I suppose this is why even to this day, Jews write “G-d” rather than “God.” And for those of us who spell out God’s name, a good reminder that naming God–and the attitude in which we name God– is serious business in deed.
Chapter 15 lays out God’s rules for the fifty-year jubilee. And another one of those rules we pass right over today, the command, “and call a release in the land to all its inhabitants.” In short, what we might call “God’s bankruptcy law.”
God also defines fair real estate sales here, “The larger the number of years, the more you shall pay for its purchase and the smaller the number of years the less you shall pay for its purchase, since he is selling you the number of yields.” (25:16) Which is completely logical and fair in an agrarian society. (Although given that these laws were theoretically promulgated while Israel was wandering around in the wilderness, all this attention to property seems something of a non-sequitir…
Mark 8:1-13 Having previously fed the 5000, Jesus now feeds the 4000 in much the same way. And once again, and recalling that in the incident in the storm on Galilee, the disciples did not understand what Jesus was doing, they apparently have not yet picked up on this miraculous feeding of the multitude business. Once again they ask, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?” (8:4). And once again, Jesus performs the miracle. And once again, the disciples climb into the boat with Jesus (10). Did they get it this time? Probably not.
It’s easy to be hard on the disciples because we know the whole story. But the disciple’s question at both feedings is exactly our question, and a sure sign that we don’t “get it” either. We claim to have great faith, but when push comes to shove, we’re just as clueless as the disciples as to Jesus’ true intentions and his true abilities.
Which is why I think Mark juxtaposes the Pharisee’s request for “a sign” immediately following this story. “Show us a sign,” we cry along with the Pharisees. We keep asking for signs, but even if lightening were to zap from heaven and build a mansion in front of our eyes, we’d still find reason to doubt. And anyone who claims to “know” is a fool (e.g., Harold Camping predicting the 2nd coming in 2011). Which is why the endless quest for “proof” of God’s existence is such a fool’s errand. Only faith works.
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