Commentary on Lectionary for February 27, 2011

Epiphany 8A

Isaiah 49:8-16a; Psalm 131; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, 16-23; Matthew 6:24-34

You can just imagine someone of wealth, power and position talking to someone who criticizes him or her: “Do you know to WHOM you are talking?” “Do you know who I am?” It seems that the more money some people accumulate, the more years they remain in office, the more power their position offers, the more separated they become and the more arrogant.

This is NOT a law of nature or a necessary progression from weakness to despotism. There are many examples of leaders who are both sensitive to the plight of others and generous with their time, attention and resources.

The readings today, however, seem determined to turn our normal way of looking at things upside down. They present a very different paradigm. Isaiah talks about mountains being turned into roads and the desolate getting heritages. The prisoners are freed, the mountains—now roads—are singing, and the very people who thought God had forsaken them are told their names are inscribed on the palms of His hands! God is pictured as a mother who in no way will forget the child who has only just stopped nursing at her breasts.

Psalm 131 exults in the fact that the singer is not thinking grandiose thoughts (about mountains, perhaps? Or great wealth?), but instead is calm and quiet, “like a weaned child with its mother.” In 1 Corinthians, Paul refuses the positions of judge and even of innocence. He prefers to think of himself as a steward of the mysteries of God. The only commendation He wants is one from God. Prestige is not his issue; he doesn’t NEED people to say they are his followers.

And finally, Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel, puts it baldly: “You cannot serve God and money.” And serving God means to stop worrying about all the things we all worry about: food, drink, clothing, security. In blowing up the first rungs of Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, Jesus seems to be turning mountains into roads (or ladders into sidewalks?) in order to make our journey through life easier. The only way that promises to be effective for staving off worry is to live in the present, the now, and to keep your mind from dwelling on tomorrow, the future.

As every mystical and contemplative writer will tell you, focusing on the present is easier said than done. It takes practice. Moreover, it takes a leap of faith, like diving into a divine pool and hoping it is filled with warm love. Practice usually takes the form of daily meditation, a simple, quieting meditation aimed at intention, listening, turning off our frenzied thinking and opening a way, a door for God.

God knows what we need, what we truly need, because God knows who we truly are.