Psalm 45; 1 Kings 16:23-34; Phil. 1:12-30; Mark 16:1-20
Ahab comes to power. The author of the book tells us that Ahab was more wicked even than Jeroboam who had first taught the people to forsake their covenant God. Ahad added to Jeroboam’s sin by adding other false gods for the people to worship, Baal and Asherah. He married Jezebel, the daughter of the Sidonian king. Sidon was a center of Asherah worship. Asherah is typically a “mother goddess”, the consort of the main god of an area. The worship associated with Asherah involved poles set up as shrines where people offered sacrifices but a major aspect of this worship was sexual with cultic prostitutes. Asherah and Baal worship was a perverse affair in itself. Introducing these cults into the worship of the people of God is another way of indicating that no god truly matters, it is all simply entertainment. We can’t worship many gods with true faith, there must be one God who reigns supreme or we must admit that we don’t take any of this truly seriously.
Mark’s story of the resurrection is quite abbreviated. He tells the story in eight verses, at the end of which we are told that they told no one for they were afraid. For a long time, the Gospel ended there and then was appended onto it the final verses, 9-20. Even in the first two sections of that ending, no one believed people who told they had seen Jesus. In the post-resurrection appearance to the disciples we find some details found nowhere else, that there will be signs accompanying the work of those who believe, “in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." Is this passage a prescription for worship? It seems strange that these would become part of the worship of the church but in our day there are indeed churches that practice handling snakes and drinking poison as an act of worship when it seems more likely that these are simply protections provided as needed, as are the other signs. Our main business is to be proclamation to the world through word and deed. Committing to the main thing is important lest our worship also be perverted.
Paul says that his imprisonment has been a good thing for the Gospel, it has allowed him to preach to a different audience, including the Imperial Guard. It has also encouraged the brothers to preach ever more boldly. This boldness in the face of persecution Paul says, is itself a sign to unbelievers that these people have an unearthly hope, that they live for some other purpose. Paul is always clear that the end of this life is not death but life eternal and all that he does communicates to the world that he cares more for that life than this life. To the Philippians he is clear that this life he lives for Jesus Christ, that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is all the sign and assurance he needs to lay down his earthly hopes and dreams to preach the Good News. Can we truly say that living in the flesh means fruitful labor to us? In all we do we are to preach the scandal of particularity, that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father but by Him. Let us not send a mixed message by our lives, that we live for something else or worship something else.
Christ for the world we sing,
The world to Christ we bring, with one accord;
With us the work to share, with us reproach to dare,
With us the cross to bear, for Christ our Lord.
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