Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
If you ever want proof that the scriptures are about real-life situations, real people, real emotions, you need look no further than 1 and 2 Kings. Contained in these books are more intrigue, greed, treason, and backstabbing than any princess fairy tale or real life account of monarchs in the UK. What makes today’s Old Testament reading (2 Kings 11:1-4, 9-18, 20) such great reading for us is the way that we see God standing in the very midst of all those real-life situations and emotions.
I find that a cast of characters for today’s Old Testament reading is helpful: Athaliah, mother of the king and greedy for power and fame even to the point of murdering her grandchildren and who is willing to worship Baal (an idol); Jehosheba, another royal, who hides away the son of the dead king, Joash, the son of the dead king, and Jehoiada, one of the chief priests of the temple. The place is also important: this is a story about the kingdom of Judah. The two kingdoms, Judah and Israel, had once been a united kingdom under David and Solomon, but now they are split. Judah is most often seen as the “good” kingdom, and Israel as the lesser and often evil kingdom.
For six years, Athaliah’s greed and power rule over Judah. Even worse, she permits Baal worship and clearly goes against the Jewish laws. But in the seventh year, the priest acts to put Joash on the throne. (Joash is probably not more than seven years old himself at this point.) The high point of this story is the utter joy with which the people greet Joash, and the complete turnaround the people make: they destroy the idolatrous temples and thus show how great God’s power is in their lives. In today’s story, it is the peoples’ witness and faithfulness to God that demonstrates God’s power, rather than anything miraculous God does.
Yet at the same time, today’s psalm (123) reminds us of the promises God made to David, and it bolsters the Old Testament reading because here is physical proof that a descendent can be restored to the throne even after the apparent worst happens. People like those in today’s first lesson give witness to God precisely because God’s promises hold true.
The gospel lesson Jesus offers (Matthew 6:19-23) reiterates the central message of today’s other two readings. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.” Humans always have free will to store up those kinds of treasures, of course, but Jesus is emphasizing that the way to peace, joy and happiness is not by going along with what human society suggests is good (like greed and power, as Athaliah thought). The stuff of human culture often seems so real to us, but Jesus shows how that “reality” is fake: it decays, it dies, just as Athaliah died. Rather, we can be truly happy and truly human when we see that we are God’s and that God offers the things that are eternal.
- Jana M. Bennett