1404AFC012414 – All Together Now
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1 Corinthians 10:17 – Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
Romans 12:4-5 – For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christand individually parts of one another.
John 14:10-11 – Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The very words I say to you are not my own. It is the Father who lives in me who carries out his work through me. Do you believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? But if you cannot, then believe me because of what you see me do
There is a lovely legend about The Queen of Sheba and her extended visit with King Solomon. You can find out the biblical facts of that visit in 1 Kings 10:1-13. In that account The King of Israel and the Queen of Sheba tried to outdo each other in generosity and wisdom. Solomon won easily on both counts, despite the fact that the Queen of Sheba (no one is sure about what her name was) started off with a token gift of 9,000 pound of gold. Yes! 9,000 pounds! One of several legends about this meeting involves a bouquet of flowers. Here’s condensed version of the legend:
One day King Solomon was in dozing his garden enjoying a pleasant afternoon. As he nodded off, he was suddenly awakened by a sharp pain in his nose. He had been stung by a bee! King Solomon, who could speak every language of all living things, asked the bee why she had stung him. She replied, “This is my first trip into the garden, and I mistook your now for a lily. I landed on your nose to look for nectar. When you breathed in, I started to be drawn into your nose. I was so frightened I accidentally stung you. Please forgive me and I will do whatever I can to help you one day in the future.” King Solomon laughed at this little bee’s confession, and forgave her then and there, though he was quite certain, such a little creature would never be able to help such a great King.
Not long after that, the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon. She traveled a very long way to meet him because she wanted to test her wisdom and generosity against his to see which was greater. She asked him many very difficult riddles, presented him many fabulous gifts, and learned as much as she could about his court, his nation, and his God. She was so overwhelmed by the greatness of this king that she felt completely overwhelmed and lost her spirit of competitiveness. Then she decided to try one last thing. She brought 100 bouquets, all identical, into the King’s throne room. Only one bouquet was made with real flowers; the rest were exact copies made by her finest craftsmen. They all even had a single leaf that looked as though it had withered and turned brown!
The King looked at all of the bouquets, and could not perceive any differences among the hundreds of flowers they all contained, so excellent were the works of the Queen’s artists and craftsmen. He was beginning to feel uncomfortable, and afraid he might actually lose this challenge. He felt a little flush of heat from his frustration, so he asked to have the windows opened. He sat for quite a while looking at all the roses, then he heard a tiny, buzzing voice near his ear. The voice said, “O Great King, follow my flight with your eyes!” It was the little bee who had stung the King. She flew directly to the real flowers and landed on the lovely lily in the center of the bouquet. The King pointed to that bouquet and said, “Behold, friend Queen, there is the Bouquet of True Flowers!”
Ah, Beloved, please look at the bouquets of flowers at the start of this message. You see that in both images, there are several kinds of roses in each bunch. Each bouquet is formed by uniting many varieties of roses together. But still, they are all roses. Some bouquets are made of several types of flowers – like the ones the Queen of Sheba presented to King Solomon. Most bouquets are designed and arranged to look beautiful; one rarely sees bouquets that feature nettles, briars, weeds, and dead twigs. The combinations of flowers are meant to being delight to our senses vision and smell. They are arranged so that the relationships between them are harmonious. And yet, we know they will not last much longer than a week – if even that long.
They are cut off from the roots and earth that give them life. Beautiful as they are together, they are beautiful only for a short while, then they are tossed out in the trash. ON the other hand, if they remain connected to the roots and the earth, they last longer, but the stunning effect of seeing them all together in a vase on the dining room table is not possible. Together, alive, they are all one garden. Together, dying, they are all one bouquet. Either way, their beauty reminds us of the kindness of God who would make such beautiful things just for the sake of enjoying them.
But we enjoy our bread, too! All the staffs of wheat together form one field. All the grains of wheat together form one harvest. Once the grains are threshed, the kernel is separated from the chaff, and the grain is ground together to form one yield of flour. The flour is mixed with other ingredients and baked into one loaf. Everyone who eats of that loaf shares something in common with the fields, the grains, the flour, and the bread because all if that is part of all of us and all of us are therefore part of that. That is why Paul says, we, though many, are one body. Do you believe that? If not, can you believe what Jesus said, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” If Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in him, then when Jesus is in us, we are in him and in the Father, and both of them are in us. How can that be?!? God is so ginormous and we are so finite! I believe it is summed up quite well in Gift of Finest Wheat, a hymn by Robert E. Kreutz:
The mystery of Your presence Lord,
no mortal tongue can tell;
whom all the world cannot contain
comes in our hearts to dwell.
There is only one God, only One Begotten Son, only One Spirit, only One Bread, only One Body, only One Life, One Light, One Truth, and we are all together there! (See Ephesians 4:1-6 and read the following.) There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all.
And here is the astonishing difference between the bouquet, the loaf, and the One. The One is the Living Bread. The One is the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley, The Bright and Morning Star, the Fairest of Ten-Thousand, and everybody ought to know Who Jesus Is. Together we are all-together in him in whom all things come together. (See Colossians 1:15-20) When we are in him and he is in us, we are not cut off, we are not ground down; we are part of his Everlasting Life. O, Beloved! It’s enough to make you shout
Not even Solomon had so such a wealth of reasons to rejoice!
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved
chick
