Notes for Reflection

August 9                                 NOTES FOR REFLECTION

Texts: 1 Kings 19:4-8*; Ephesians 4:25-5:2; John 6:35, 41-51

[*Note.  I suggest including verse 9a.  It sharpens up the ending of this passage, and brings to mind the famous encounter between Elijah and God.]

Theme:  The word that screams out to me this week is "life", so any variation around that word would give a reasonable theme: "The Bread of Life"; "The Gift of Life";  "Life in Christ"; or "Eternal Life", are obvious possibilities.  For the more adventurous among us, something based specifically on verse 44 in the gospel passage might be worth exploring.  If you want to put more emphasis on the first lesson, perhaps "Strength to Go On", or "Food for the Journey" could serve your purpose.

Introduction.  We begin with Elijah on the run from the murderous Queen Jezebel: when his own strength gives out he receives miraculous succour from an angel of the Lord that enables him to journey on for 40 days and nights to Mount Horeb.  We follow this with an exhortation from St Paul on living a life worthy of our calling, with the emphasis on holding one's tongue in some sort of holy check.  Then we have a third instalment from the wondrous 6^th chapter of St John's Gospel as he continues to explore and develop the central image of Christ as the true bread that came down from heaven.

Background.  It's not often that I spend a lot of time thinking about a broom tree.  In fact, I'm not sure that I have ever before spent any time thinking about a broom tree.  Yet there it was this week in the centre of my mind: from the time I first read the readings on Monday a phrase from our first reading struck me and has stayed with me: Elijah sat down under "a solitary broom tree".  A constant theme in much of my spiritual reading over many years has been the importance of learning to see – to really see.  I have found it a hard practice to learn.  I often set off for a walk along our beach, telling myself that it will do me good to "see the beach again".  Yet very often, as soon as I am on the beach and walking on the sand I am lost in thought.  When I "come to" I realise that I have noticed little if anything that may have been going on around me.  The physical exercise of walking may be doing me some good, but as for refreshing me in mind and spirit – I may just as well have been sitting in our lounge, reading one of those spiritual guides about how to really see, how to be "in the now"!

Part of this is about learning to live in relationship with our surroundings.  One of my study tasks this week has been to read Pope Francis' recent encyclical Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home.  This is an extraordinary document, comprehensive, coherent and compelling.  It is also timely, given the important international conference on climate change coming up in Paris in December.  There is so much in it that I certainly can't do it justice in these notes; but one of the themes that emerges is the human propensity to think of ourselves as separate from the rest of creation.  It's as if we are the cast of actors living out life on a stage made of everything else.  This mindset leads us to the view that everything else is there solely for our benefit, that it is ours, and so we can decide whether we want to keep it or discard it.  Rich Americans showing off their hunting trophies may be extreme illustrations of this attitude but who among us can say we truly see and value every other living creature for its own sake rather than for our own?

On Wednesday night I watched the latest episode of a very good series called This Town.  This one was set in Akaroa and surrounding areas of Banks Peninsula.  Two of the people featured in the programme seemed to me to shed light on my mysterious interest in that "solitary broom tree".  One was a naturopath and herbalist who spoke about the need to spend time with the plants, to get to know them, and to understand that our relationship with them must be two-way.  We need to learn what we can do for them and what they can do for us.  We are responsible for their health and they for ours.  The other person was a man who drew trees and other plants, and explained that this was a very good way of really seeing them and coming to understand them better.

So what about that solitary broom tree?  I think the power of that phrase for me comes from the word "solitary".  Elijah is in the wilderness or desert.  He is exhausted and despairing of life.  Can we not say much the same of that tree?  Life in the desert is tough for most forms of life, including trees.  This is the only one around that is managing to stay alive in that harsh environment.  As the story is written it would be a bit of a stretch to claim that it is all about that tree.  Inevitably we focus our attention on our fellow human being, and on the wonder of God providing him with cake to eat and water to drink through one of his angel servants.  Yet the narrator refers twice to this broom tree: Elijah sat down under it (verse 4), and later lay down under it (verse 5).  That tree also ministered to Elijah's needs – his need for some sort of shelter in the wilderness.    Was that not equally miraculous – and equally a gift from God?

As I continued to reflect on this tree and the service it provided for Elijah, the story of Jonah came into my mind.  Like Elijah in this story, Jonah was not in the best of moods.  He, too, had done a runner, though he was running away from God rather than a vengeful Queen.  But recall the wonderful fourth chapter, when Jonah sat down to watch (he hoped) the destruction of Nineveh.  God provided a bush to give him shelter, then a worm to destroy the bush.  Verse 10 is the one I have in mind: Then the Lord said, "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labour and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night.  This seems to me a perfect illustration of our utilitarian approach to the rest of creation: faced with a glorious example of the creative power and providence of God, Jonah saw the bush only in terms of what it could do for him.

Did Elijah give thanks to or for that solitary broom tree?  Did he recognise it as just as much a gift from God as the cake and water?  Did he empathise with it in its struggle for life in the wilderness?  Did he, in any real sense, SEE that tree? 

1 Kings 19:4-8. The outcry over the American trophy hunters is perhaps a good background to this story from Elijah's prophetic career.  Start reading from verse 1 and see what's been going on.  [In fact, give yourself a treat and read chapter 18 – it's an absolute comedic gem!]  Not feeling safe in the township of Beer-sheba, Elijah drops off his servant and goes into the wilderness, driven by fear and adrenaline.  Eventually his strength runs out and he collapses into a heap under the broom tree.  He is beyond caring, ready to die there and then (Jonah felt much the same, remember.)  Then comes the miraculous visitation of the angel.  At this point our Christian bells should start ringing.  The angel "touched" him; we might say, the angel laid hands on him – the healing touch of God (Christ).  Then the angel tells him to "get up" – as Jesus told the paralytic and others.  To get up is to be raised up to new life – to be resurrected.  The angel ministers to him in the wilderness – according to both Matthew and Mark angels ministered to Jesus at the end of his temptation in the wilderness.  Verse 8 draws on the Exodus journey, of course, but also connects with the temptation of Christ.  Notice the phrase "in the strength of that food" in that verse .  Wonderful!

Taking It Personally.

• A passage for very slow reading, and for praying with your imagination.  Start with the idea of this passage as a microcosm of the spiritual journey.  What insights do you get from that?
• Notice how the story starts with Elijah running away in fear, and ends with him journeying a further 40 days to the mountain of the Lord.  What do you make of that?
• Wilderness and mountaintop often feature as places where God is encountered.  They tend to be places where little else is found.  What do you make of that?
• If you are a gardener, choose a plant to focus on.  First, reflect on what you have done for the plant: you may have planted it, watered it, fed it, weeded it, staked it, pruned it, and so on.  Or you may have neglected it.  Do not judge yourself, simply notice what you have or have not done for that plant.  Then ask yourself, what does the plant do for you?
• Go for a walk.  When you get home write out a full description of everything you saw on that walk.  Make it as detailed as possible.  A week later, walk the same journey.  When you get home write down everything you noticed this time that you hadn't noticed the previous week.  Give thanks to God for everything you saw.

 

Ephesians 4:25-5:2.  St Paul comes down from the lofty heights of the earlier chapters of this wonderful letter, but still manages a few surprises.  This week's passage is one of those personal holiness codes that we find in many of his letters, and is particularly concerned with what comes out of our mouths.  A call to speak truthfully is an obvious starting-point, but this is immediately followed by his first surprise.  It's okay to be angry, so long as we don't sin.  Perhaps what he is really saying is that we need to learn how to deal with our anger: in particular, to avoid brooding on it.  Then comes advice to thieves.  They should give up stealing, and find a legitimate means of earning a living – so far so good – so that they will have the means to give to those in need – which is an interesting new angle.  Instead of taking from others, start giving to others.  The particular then gives way to the general; and is summed up in the exhortation to be imitators of Christ.

 

Taking It Personally.

 

• Use this passage as an opportunity for self-examination and confession.  Looking back over the last week or two, which of the "items" on this list of do's and don'ts gives you the most discomfort?
• Are you aware of any occasion on which you may have grieved the Holy Spirit?
• Now recognise those occasions on which you did or said the right thing.  Self-examination is not only about our failings: it is basically about recognising the whole truth about ourselves, good and bad.
• Are you aware of any occasion when you felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to do or say something and you followed that prompting?  Give thanks for the Spirit's guidance.

 

John 6:35, 41-51.  It's worthwhile to read through the missing verses here (36-40) to see why the mood of the crowd suddenly changes.  Notice, too, the use of the term "Jews", which has caused so much harm to Jewish-Christian relations over the centuries.  Scholars believe that this gospel came out of a community of faith after the split between the Jewish and Christian faiths.  Indeed, this chapter may well have been written to counter dissent over the widespread introduction of Holy Communion, traditionalists finding the whole idea of eating and drinking the Lord's body and blood outrageous.  That would certainly be the position of some Jewish members of the new community; and John seems to have adopted the term "Jews" to name those opponents. Another such divisive issue would have been the increasing claims of Jesus' divinity: hence the issue in this passage around Jesus' claim that he "came down from heaven".  Those who had known him and his family from the time of his birth would necessarily have the most difficulty with such a claim.  Almost buried in this dense passage is the claim that Jesus is the only way to the Father – a claim that is no less problematic today.

 

Taking It Personally.

 

• Another opportunity to reflect on your own understanding of Jesus' identity.
• Do you believe that he is divine – God Incarnate?
• Do you believe that he is the only way to the Father?
• Do you believe that through him you have eternal life?
• Do you believe that he will raise you up on the last day?
• What does it mean to you that Jesus is "the Bread of Heaven"?