God's Good Gift

What view do the Scriptures take of the everyday things of life? Sunday's readings (30th Sunday after Pentecost, an ordinary* Sunday) give an answer to that question: Song of Songs (2:8-13, intimate love), Psalm (45, marriage), James (1:17-27, God's good gifts) and Mark 7:1-8;14-23 (all foods are clean). Each of these passages either declares a particular thing good (Song of Songs, Psalm) or generalises about the goodness of creation's gifts (James and Mark).

However, Song of Songs and the Psalm go further. Both are passages have more than one apparent level of meaning.

If we examine Psalm 45 at first glance the psalm is a song about the King's marriage to his Queen. But the New Testament in Hebrews 1 takes the words of Psalm 45:6-7 and applies them to Jesus. So this Psalm is a Messianic Psalm. One writer has made the excellent point that all the kings were "messiahs". They were all anointed to rule for God, which is the essence of what Messiahship is. In any case, Psalm 45, since the advent of Christ into the world, has now taken on a completely new meaning, a meaning found only in Jesus the Anointed One.

The Song of Songs passage also has two meanings because at one level it celebrates committed young love but at another, the OT saints and the church have always extended its meaning beyond human love to that of the love between God and humankind. However, I rather incline to the view of James Hamilton who argued that all the OT is pervaded by a messianic motif and that Song of Songs is the music of that motif.

So while the good gifts of creation abound for the enjoyment of humankind, they are also gifts that cannot be divorced from the Giver, Who has given us His greatest gift, Messiah Himself.

*Note: Ordinary Sundays are not "ordinary" as opposed to special or extraordinary ones but Sundays in terms of their order, 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. See here.

Sundays After Pentecost

The Church's year begins with Advent leading to Christmas to Epiphany. Then Lent prepares the Church to mark Easter, which leads on to Pentecost. All the Sundays following Pentecost are Ordinary Sundays. However, ordinary in this context means 'in order' or 'counted'. The Sundays after Easter are counted in order to the end of the Church's year.

During this period after Pentecost, the liturgical colour is green, which denotes newness and growth. "The Sundays after Pentecost link the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to the celebration of the final Advent . . . when Christ will come in glory. This leads into a celebration of the first coming of Christ at Christmas and the cycle returns to its beginning. It is in these Sundays after Pentecost that we actually live - that is, in the period between the incarnation of God in Christ and our future life with God in heaven" (http://www.pauanglican.org.nz/churchseasons.php).