Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD, burning incense before the LORD along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations. – 1 Kings 9:25

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 9, 2019): 1 Kings 9

Macedonian author Ljupka Cvetanova in “The New Land” writes that “No Saint has ever thrown away his halo!” Maybe not purposefully, but I am pretty sure that it has happened. Actually, I am not really sure where I stand on the idea of Sainthood. Saints seem too easily tarnished and too fragile for this life. The Catholic tradition is to promote good people to Sainthood after a lengthy process once they have died, which at times seems very political, but wise because the record of their human actions are already in the book. From the point of view of the tradition that I grew up in, we are all saints. And, likely, we are all demons. My problem with Sainthood is that I am not sure that any of us measure up. Even the holiest of the Roman Catholic Saints have something dark hiding somewhere in their lives. It seems easier to realize that what all we really are is sinners saved by grace, or beggars telling other starving people where to find bread. Every day we get up and do the absolute best that we can for the God that we serve. If that makes us a Saint, okay. But I think it just makes us another person on a journey towards and with God.

But the moment that we consider ourselves to be saintly, I am afraid that the temptation is to turn on our autopilot and relax just a little from all that we are doing. It becomes a little easier to do the least that we can do. And yet our spiritual call is not to the least. Jesus himself called us to do the most. The demands of grace always exceed the requirements of the law. The law, our obligations, represents the minimum that we must do. And consistently aiming for the minimum is often a formula for failure. The author of Kings clearly states that Solomon fulfilled his thrice-yearly obligations at the Temple. Some have wondered if this was part of Solomon’s downfall; that he performed the duties literally himself in the Temple in violation of the division of responsibilities stated in the law which would require that those obligations be channeled through a priest, even if you happen to be the king. But that does not seem to necessarily be the case. The statement from the author of Kings could easily have included Solomon fulfilling his obligations through a priest mediator.

And yet Solomon fell into sin. And it might have been that Solomon reached no higher than the minimum that was required of him by God. Solomon had all the advantages that any king could want to possess; he ruled in a time of relative peace, he was rich in his earthly possessions, and he was honored by his people and by the leaders of the neighboring nations. Solomon was a king and a living Saint of God. In the end, he threw away his halo and sowed the seeds for the end of the united Kingdom of Israel. Solomon fell headlong into sin, and all the advantages of his birth could not save him.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 2