11th Sunday after Trinity – Sunday 16th August 2015 – 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14

11th Sunday after Trinity – Sunday 16th August 2015 – 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14

Where are the surprises?

Whose voices do we not hear?

What challenges us?

Surprises – do you agree with what I find surprising in the text?

1. That the lectionary misses out the incongruity of the opening of this chapter. We hear Solomon ‘he took Pharaoh’s daughter’ (as wife) yet also we read ‘Solomon loved the Lord’. We know what’s coming and its seeds are here.
2. That Solomon’s response to the question ‘Ask what should I give you’ is so formulaic, especially vs 6-8. Almost what he’d been taught to say.
3. 1000 burnt offerings? What’s he trying to prove here? Jesus highlights the widow’s coin and the importance of children and the least important, all these being important to God.

The voices we don’t hear – What might they say?

1. (see 2 above) What Solomon really wants? Is this why God grants him ‘riches and honour all your life’ v11? Has God seen his heart?
2. Wisdom’s voice – Solomon, don’t accept the riches and honour. You know where it will lead you.
3. The poor – Solomon, don’t accept the riches. You will enslave us to give you these riches.

What challenges us in 2015?

1. ‘An understanding mind’ v9 – Jesus understands us because of his life here on earth and those he mixed with. BBC Radio 4 has ‘The Listening Project’. A good title for how to gain understanding?
2. Discerning between good and evil. The obvious is easy. The good and evil inherent in our families, in the structure of our society and church seems more challenging to gauge. We have prophets for this. Who’s yours?
3. ‘Ask what should I give you’ – what is our response? Would we say ‘no’ to the riches and honour being offered? Why might ‘no’ be a good answer?