Deuteronomy 30:15-20
See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If
you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding
you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing
his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and
become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that
you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not
hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them. I
declare to you today that you shall perish, you shall not live long in the land
that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and
earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death,
blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may
live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that
means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that
the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to
Jacob.
“How Does Your Garden Grow?”
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.
It is thought that this English nursery rhyme which typically portrays
Mary as a contrary, but sweet girl in a lovely garden, was really
about a contrary, not so nice queen of England. People in England in
the time of Henry VIII called her “Bloody Mary.” Mary was a
murderer. In her political agenda of gaining legitimacy as heir to the
English throne and of restoring Catholicism to England, Mary
persecuted and killed countless Protestants in the name of the
Catholic Church. There are a variety of interpretations to this poem.
One interpretation suggests that silver bells were Catholic
cathedral bells, that the cockle shells were the symbol of
pilgrimage to the Catholic Shrine of St. James Spain, and the pretty
maids all in a row were Catholic nuns.
A second interpretation views the cockle shells as a lewd comment
on her relationship with her disinterested husband, Philip II of
Spain. The question, How does your garden grow was a scornful
attack of her inability to produce an heir. And the pretty maids all
in a row was a reference to her miscarriages.
A final interpretation goes to the heart of her persona as “Bloody
Mary” with silver bells and cockle shells referring to instruments of
torture: silver bells being thumbscrews and cockle shells being
instruments of torture attached to the genitals. While the pretty
maids would be a reference to early guillotine-type devices used
to decapitate victims.
Corinth, Corinth, quite contrary
How does your garden grow?
With jealousy and quarreling
And hardened hearts all in a row.
This is the nursery rhyme that I imagined Paul taught to the “infants
in Christ” at the first church of Corinth for their reflection on
Christian love in their community of faith. In his pastoral letter to
them he wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:1-9:
And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual
people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed
you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food.
Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For
as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not
of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For
when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to
Apollos,” are you not merely human? What then is Apollos? What
is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord
assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the
growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is
anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants
and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will
receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God‟s
servants, working together, you are God‟s field, God‟s building.
How did their start-up pastor see this Christian community of faith
growing under the new leadership of Apollos? Was it Corinth,
Corinth, quite contrary? Was it contrary to the spirit of love which,
by Holy definition, is interpersonally life giving, not jealous and egocentrically self seeking? Was it contrary to the life giving purposes of
God which is unitive, not divisive and quarreling in nature? Was it
contrary to the reconciling spirit that locates the responsibility for
personal and spiritual growth in Christian Love in the heart of each
believer, not in the leaders of the congregation?
Just after his Sermon on the Mount pep talk for raising the bar of
excellence for human loving, Jesus taught his famous: You have
heard it said, but I say to you . . . . sayings. In his first teaching, he
addressed murder. From the time of Moses, thou shalt not kill was
one of the big ten social and religious laws that God had inscribed on
the children of Israel‟s soul. Some Jews obeyed the life-giving holy
command. Others did not. Some had waged war, others had
murdered family, friends, and neighbors alike, and the whole
community had starved the poor and oppressed with economic
injustice. Knowing this, Jesus turned to the crowd whom he had just
named as Love‟s salt and light in the kingdom of God and taught
them that they must be reconciling, not contrary agents in God‟s
reign of love. In Matthew 5:21-25, Jesus taught them saying:
“You have heard it said to those of ancient times. „You shall not
murder; and „whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.‟ But I
say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be
liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be
liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool,‟ you will be liable to
the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you
remember that your brother or sister has something against you,
leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to
your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to
terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court
with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the
judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell
you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
Jesus told them that they were accountable for any anger that they
were holding against others. He told them that they were also
responsible for reconciling their relationship with the offender. He
warned that human anger un-reconciled, leads to an attitude of hate
and bullying behavior that would end them up in court.
Most importantly, Jesus warned them of the core spiritual problem of
calling the offender, „fool.‟ But I say to you . . . if you say, “You
fool,‟ you will be liable to the hell of fire. On first hearing, Jesus‟
teaching seems a bit harsh. Until, that is, we remember the Biblical
meaning of „fool.‟ The psalmist wrote that the fool says in his heart
there is no God. Jesus deepened this wisdom saying by teaching that
the fool thinks that there is no light of God, no spark of the Divine in
the offending person. He taught that spiritual death occurs when the
fool ceases to honor the other as a precious child of God and treats
the person as an object. According to Jesus, God‟s Love is I-Thou,
not I-it in holiness.
Carol, Carol, quite contrary
Why doesn’t my garden grow?
Could it be that I call others
And myself, an ignorant fool?
Divine love is a personal love of self, other, and God. It is mutually
life giving, honors equality, and dynamically both giving and
receiving. Holy Love is compassionate, committed to the well being
of the soul, and seeks communion (at-one-ness) with the beloved.
Human relationships in which people are objectified are not
relationships sustained by this life-giving love of God. They are life
diminishing relationships driven by the need to control and are
subject to the self-seeking desires of the human ego. They are
relationships in which people are used and abused, cursed, not
blessed.
Jesus raised the bar of excellence for us, saying: You have heard it
said--- you are O.K. with the Lord if you haven‟t killed anyone, but I
say to you . . . you must come to terms with your anger to make
room in your heart for God. As you so plant and water your
relationships, God will give new life.
Let us pray. Lord, my earthly nature is stood before my eyes like a barren
field which hath few good plants grown in it. Alas, sweetest Jesus and
Christ, now send me the sweet rain of thy humanity and the hot sun of thy
living Godhead and the gentle dew of the holy Spirit that I may wait and
cry out the aches of my heart. Amen.
Mechthild of Magdeburg