19th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A 13th August 2023
Lectionary Readings:
1 Kings 19 v9-18; Psalm 85 v8-13; Romans 10 v5-15; Matthew 14 v22-33.
Faith and Doubt.
All four lectionary readings challenge us to have faith in God. Faith that God is in control, has a plan that will not be thwarted, a plan that includes everyone, a plan that is based on a loving relationship.
Elijah and Peter are faithful servants and very human beings. Both expect God to show his strength in appointing a mighty warrior type King/Messiah capable of defeating the enemies of Israel.
God is teaching them, and us, that his victory over all forms of oppression and evil is to be won by the power of love and not the love of power.
God reaches out to Elijah in the ‘still, small voice of calm’ and to Peter in the hand of Jesus. Throughout scripture God is saying “Trust in me and in my plan for the well being of all creation. Don’t try to do things in your own strength”.
Paul, (quoting Isaiah 28 v6) says,
‘The Scriptures say that no one who has faith will be disappointed’. ‘No matter if that person is a Jew or a Gentile. There is only one Lord, and he is generous to everyone who asks for his help. All who call out to the Lord will be saved.’ (Romans 10 v11-13)
Paul reaches this conclusion, after recognising that he has been rescued by the risen Christ, and restored to a life enhancing relationship with God. He is conscious that this is entirely God’s initiative, God’s grace, (his undeserved kindness) at work in him, and not by any merit of his own endeavours.
Paul had been travelling along a very different road by trying his best to remain obedient to human understanding of the ancient scriptures. He tried to stay ‘clean’ in his devotion according to the tradition of the Pharisees. He tried to make himself ‘acceptable’ to God.
Paul now realises that the way to God’s kingdom, is by the way of love, revealed to us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Paul urges us to:
- Accept that God truly loves each and everyone of us, despite our faults and failings.
- Be bold enough to say ‘Jesus is Lord’ and to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.
- Share this good news with ‘others’ (those who have yet to hear about God’s love for them.)
Fred Pratt Green wrote these words on the theme of faith and doubt. (Singing the Faith 644).
When our confidence is shaken in beliefs we thought secure;
when the spirit in its sickness seeks but cannot find a cure:
God is active in the tensions of a faith not yet mature.
Solar systems, void of meaning, freeze the spirit into stone;
always our researches lead us to the ultimate Unknown:
faith must die, or come full circle to its source in God alone.
In the discipline of praying, when it’s hardest to believe;
in the drudgery of caring, when it’s not enough to grieve;
faith, maturing, learns acceptance of the insights we receive.
God is love; and he redeems us in the Christ we crucify:
this is God’s eternal answer to the world’s eternal why;
may we in this faith maturing be content to live and die!
Bible quotations taken from the Contemporary English Version.