Eucharistic meditation, Fourth Sunday of Lent

2 Kings 15:19-20: Pul, king of Assyria, came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver so that his hand might be with him to strengthen the kingdom under his rule. Then Menahem exacted the money from Israel, even from all the mighty men of wealth, from each man fifty shekels of silver to pay the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned and did not remain there in the land.

When the Assyrians begin to threaten the Northern kingdom, the kings of the North instinctively turn to standard practices of international diplomacy. In order to fend off the threat from Pul of Assyria and to gain his support within his own kingdom, Menahem offers a thousand talents of silver, a huge amount of money (a talent is 73-79 pounds, and Menahem gave 1000 of them).

In sheer political terms, this is not the wisest move in the book. In order to raise the money, he has to exact 50 shekels of silver from all the men of substance in his kingdom. These are the very men he needs to support him in his kingdom, and he will hardly win support by taxing them to pay off a foreign ruler. Instead of relying on Israelites to support his power, he relies on a foreign emperor, paid by the men of substance. Menahem was able to fend off opposition from his own people, but it’s not surprising, given his policies, that his son was overthrown in a coup.

But the worse offense of Menahem was not political but theological. Yahweh is the Helper of His people, the Defender and Savior, but when Menahem faces the Assyrian threat he turns immediately to money and power as the solution to his political problem. By contrast, as we’ll see later in our studies of Kings, Hezekiah turns to the Lord in prayer when the Assyrians threaten Jerusalem. He turned to Yahweh rather than to money and power for deliverance.

Viewed from this theological angle, this apparently mundane bit of political history is actually a sign and type of the gospel. For the thrust of this story, and of many others in Kings, is that redemption for Israel does not come through political maneuvering, financial shrewdness, the exercise of power. Israel’s history demonstrates that redemption does not come from gold or silver. Deliverance does not even come through the law, through wisdom, through the temple. Ultimately, the only thing that will save Israel is the blood of Israel, of the true Israel, the blood of God’s Son who became Israel to save Israel.

And that is the gospel we celebrate and commemorate at the Lord’s table. Here at this table we enact the gospel spoken by Peter: “You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us; let us therefore keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.