Reflection - Solutions

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/021520.cfm
1 Kings 12:26-32, 13:33-34
Mark 8:1-10

Solomon may have been rich and famous, even a celebrity in his time, but, by the time of his death, his people were worn from taxation and forced labor. King David had established the unified Kingdom of Israel; it was composed of all twelve of the tribes of Israel. The union lasted less than a century. Upon Solomon’s death the Northern ten tribes broke the tenuous bonds which had held them all together. Solomon’s oppression was more than they wished to endure, especially after his son, the new King, Rehoboam, said he would be even more demanding. Through the prophet Ahi-jah, God appointed Jeroboam to be king of these northern people. Rehoboam was left with the land and the tribe of Judah which also happened to include Jerusalem.

(For the sake of our modern ears, I will be referring to Jeroboam as “Jerry” and to Rehoboam as “Rob.”)

The newly selected King Jerry had a problem in that Solomon had had forty years to rigidly enforced the rule that all sacrifice was to be offered in Jerusalem — but Jerusalem was in King Rob’s territory. How could he allow his people to go to another Kingdom to worship and sacrifice?

Likewise, King Rob, who had just ascended to the throne of his father, Solomon, also had a problem. The inheritance received from his father, while substantial, required a lot of care and feeding — expensive care and feeding. Compare it to maintaining a palatial estate when your income has suddenly dropped almost to the poverty level. Moreover, in Solomon’s later years, temples and places of worship had been established to please Solomon’s foreign wives. This was obviously contrary to God’s law.

The text tells us that both King Rob and King Jerry dealt with their problems according to their own devices; and their own solutions were quite similar. Each for his own reasons encouraged pagan worship. King Rob did so by allowing Solomon’s pagan worship sights to continue; and the people began to turn away from their God. King Jerry did so by establishing new worship sites to compete with Jerusalem. The new places of worship came complete with golden calves. This contamination of true worship, both in the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom, would eventually lead to the destruction of both.

The Gospel paints an entirely different picture. A crowd had been following Jesus. Among them were people who had been with him for three days. After such a time, many were without anything to eat. Obviously, this was a problem. Nevertheless, they were there, with Jesus and listening to his teaching. Hungry or not, they still thirsted for the word of God. The consequence of allowing themselves to cling to the word of God was not destruction, but rather the sustenance they needed for life.

So, where does that leave us? A poetic version of Psalm 22 recounts the beginning of the Psalm this way:

The King of love my shepherd is,
Whose goodness fails me never.
I nothing lack if I am His,
and He is mine forever.

Jesus promised at the Last Supper that, when he left, he would send the Spirit, the Counselor, to guide us. Now we might be tempted to minimize the Spirit’s work, believing that, sure, the Spirit will guide us in all things spiritual. But, when I stop to consider, there is nothing, absolutely nothing in my life, that is not imbued with the spiritual. It is for this that I was created; and I know that his goodness will never fail to support me in all that is necessary. I nothing lack IF I am his. He is mine forever. So, how often do I seek his wisdom and counsel in all the decisions of life, and not just those the world would categorize as spiritual.

SUMMARY