John Shearman's Lectionary

INTRODUCTION OF THE SCRIPTURE
SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
JANUARY 17, 2010

ISAIAH 62:1-5. The return of the exiles and the rebuilding of Jerusalem is the constant theme of Second-Isaiah, as scholars have named the unknown poet-prophet of Israel’s exile in Babylon. He either composed or inspired his disciples to write the poetry now contained in Isaiah 40-66.

This is part of the last of a trilogy of poems in Isaiah 60-62 emphasizing the promised return and reconstruction resulting from Israel’s special relationship with God. Vss. 4-5 of this passage likens this relationship to a renewed marriage covenant. This special, intimate relationship with God motivates much of the tenacity of many Jews have for the modern state of Israel today.

PSALM 36:5-10. The steadfast love of God for Israel and for the whole of creation brings praise to the lips of the faithful and a prayer that this love with continue for “the upright of heart.”

1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-11. Paul had many difficulties teaching the new converts in Corinth just what it meant to believe in Jesus as Lord and follow his way of life. A major disagreement had arisen as to which of the gifts of the Spirit were the more important. Here Paul points out that all gifts come from the same Spirit of God, serve different purposes in the Christian community, and yet contribute to the common good. The issue still has relevance for our modern congregations. Each member may have a different role to play depending on his or her particular talents.

JOHN 2:1-11. John’s Gospel took its shape from a series of signs revealing Jesus as the Messiah, Son of God, and Saviour of the world. This miracle story described the first of these signs. Some regard it as the moment of Jesus’ revelation of himself to his own family and to those who knew him.

The marriage feast at Cana symbolized that the messianic age had begun. The changing of water for ritual purification to wine for the marriage feast indicated that Jesus would reinterpret Jewish religious tradition for the new age he inaugurated.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS

ISAIAH 62:1-5. The themes of return of the exiles from Babylon and the rebuilding of Jerusalem resound through all the writings of Second-Isaiah, as scholars have named the unknown poet-prophet of Israel’s exile in Babylon. Much of the latter part of the Book of Isaiah (chs. 40-66) are believed to have come either from him or from a coterie of his disciples, sometimes called Third-Isaiah in scholarly circles. This brief passage joyfully reiterates this promise of return and reconstruction.

 The trilogy of poems in Isaiah 60-62, of which this excerpt formed the last part, emphasized the promised return and reconstruction resulting from Israel’s special relationship with God. This stands out in vs. 1 where the prophet, speaking for Yahweh, declares Yahweh’s passion as the initiator of this historic event. This further divine action in Israel’s faith-history occurred so that Israel might fulfill its divinely appointed mission. Vs. 2 clarifies this special role among the nations as ordained by Yahweh. The returning exiles will receive a new name indicative of a renewed relationship with Yahweh in accord with Yahweh’s eternal purpose. Since names in the prophetic tradition had special significance and tended to define the nominee’s character and purpose, the giving of a new name was, in effect, a confirmation of this purpose. (Cf. Gen. 32:28; Is. 7:3; 9:6, etc.)

The mission was to be messianic in the monarchical rather than a salvatory sense, as “the crown of beauty … a royal diadem” in vs. 3 states. The image is that of Israel as the crown in the hand of Yahweh, sovereign of the nation, in much the same way that the image of a protective patron deity of ancient cities crowned the city walls.

Vss. 4-5 introduce a different image, likening the relationship of Yahweh and Israel to a renewed marriage covenant. (cf. Hosea 2 and similar metaphors in Jeremiah and Ezekiel.) Though all the names in Hebrew in this passage ended in ‘AH,’ (or YAH) representing Yahweh, the new relationship was represented by the new names Hephzibah, “My delight is in her,” and Beulah, “Married.” These names revealed Yahweh’s love for Israel above all other nations. There may even have been undertones of the pagan sexual relationship with deity found in other traditions of this period.

The passage has relevance for the current crisis in the Middle East. The special, intimate relationship with God motivates much of the tenacity many Jews have for the modern state of Israel today. Yet it has to be admitted that most people, even in Israel itself where a majority are non-religious Jews, do not share a similar view. History is rarely kind to religious ideologies. Is democratic idealism always the will of God for every nation?

The issue in the Holy Land today has become one of a geopolitical conflict between a strong religious nationalism and the rights of Palestinian Arabs. The Arabs moved aggressively into a vacuum left by the decline of Roman and Byzantine empires. But most Jews had been driven out of the land to become a global diaspora long before that. Twentieth century geopolitics recreated and has sustained Israel as a viable state. Both Arabs and Jews now claim the right to live where their ancestors settled long ago. After more than six decades this conflict still festers as both parties often function as pawns in much larger geopolitical struggles.

Christian churches have not helped by taking one side or the other in this conflict. Most have been motivated by differing theological stances. Even when one believes fervently in God as Lord of history, events in the world are always the result of human interaction, rarely motivated by profound discernment of God’s will and purpose. On the other hand, it is never easy to discern where justice lies or how one position or the other relates to the divine will. The debate regarding the involvement of Christians in political issues between Karl Barth and Reinhold Niebuhr has never been satisfactorily settled. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one who struggled with this issue in a very personal and sacrificial way.

PSALM 36: 5-10. The steadfast love of Yahweh for Israel and for the whole of creation brings praise for the goodness of Yahweh to the lips of the faithful. The psalm concludes with a prayer that this love with continue for “the upright of heart.”

This abbreviated reading provides a fascinating counterpoint to the first four verses of the psalm which have been excluded from the lectionary. Most commentators agree that the two parts probably represent two originally separate compositions which a later editor brought together. Yet they complement each other in such a way that two conflicting ways of life are cast in bold relief. The first (vss. 1-4) is said to belong to the category of Israel’s Wisdom literature, with special affinity with Proverbs. It emphasizes the way in which people of lesser moral character flatter and deceive themselves, and secretly plot mischievous misbehavior. This theme appears to have been picked up in the concluding verses (vss. 11-12). The part included in this reading (vss. 5-10), reflects the sovereignty and universalism of divine providence characteristic of the later prophet-poets like Second Isaiah and Job.

Vss. 10-12 raise a question that still troubles many modern Christians. Does God love only the faithful and morally upright? Is divine love exclusive? The covenant motif of the OT did have a strong ethical component which finds wide expression in the psalms. The opening verses of this psalm exhibit this aspect of the Hebrew tradition. The second part of the psalm reveals a more tolerant view found in the prophecy of Second Isaiah. Vs. 6, for instance, extends Yahweh’s steadfast love to animals as well as humans. Vs. 7 includes all people, not just Israel, within the purview of divine protection and providence.

The New Testament goes much farther. The Gospels in particular show unequivocally that God’s love extends even to those most alienated from God and immoral in their behavior. Is it not possible that the Islamic prayer Sadam Hussein offered on the gallows which seconds later ended his life were sincerely offered? However, God loves sinners like us so that we may respond to that love by changing our ways and seeking to follow Jesus in all we say and do. Jesus came to reconcile us all to God by revealing just how much God does love us and wants us to learn from Jesus how to live in a loving relationship with God, with all other people, and with the planet Earth on which we pass our years.

1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-11. The New Testament has a great many references to the body of Christ and many different meanings to that phrase. In general the phrase connotes the many-faceted relationships between Christ and those who believe in and belong to him, their relations with him as members, and with one another in the wide fellowship that bears his name. It is, perhaps, the most prevalent metaphor in the NT, in the Pauline corpus especially, for what was to become within a few decades of his death and resurrection the institution which has endured for the past two millennia. An examination of the many texts, however, would show how the understanding of the various authors changed from decade to decade. The unique aspect of its usage, however, is that the NT Greek word soma which normally translated the Hebrew basar had no counterpart in classical Hellenistic Greek. Furthermore, contrary to Hellenistic and most modern thinking, in OT and NT usage, there was no distinction between the true self or soul and the flesh or body.

While the word soma does not appear in this passage, that is certainly the metaphor toward which this passage points. It also speaks to our time as forcefully as to the middle of the 1st century AD when it was written. Today, secular paganism challenges us as it did the apostle Paul and his Corinthian converts. Here the apostle almost seems to wring his hands at their obstinacy and obtuseness. He had a great many difficulties teaching them just what it meant to believe in Jesus as Lord and follow his way of life. The chief problem cited in this passage was a disagreement as to which of the gifts of the Spirit were the more important. Paul points out as plainly as possible that all gifts come from the same source, the Spirit of God. They may serve different functions in the Christian fellowship, yet all contribute to the common good.

The issue still has relevance to our modern congregations. Each member may have a different role to play depending on his or her particular talents. It needs to be noted, however, that the use of these gifts in not to be exercised exclusively within the institution. The mission of the church is to the world, not to itself. Perhaps that was the main reason why the Corinthians had so much trouble with the great variety of gifts they brought to the apostolic church. Like so much of our contemporary gifting, it concentrated on themselves and their own fellowship rather than equipping them for the ministry of love for the world. They were in it for themselves and for their own little community, not for what Christ could do for the world through them as part of the wider Christian fellowship.

Another important feature of this lesson is the role the Spirit plays within the community. The word Spirit occurs no less than ten times in these few sentences. This tells us most poignantly that nothing beneficial can happen within the community or in carrying out its mission to the world except by the activation of the Spirit (vs. 11). That was the fundamental issue with which Paul had to deal so forcefully.

What really did control the witness of Christians in Corinth, or, for that matter, in any of our cities, towns and villages today? At the heart of the matter was the lordship of Jesus without whose Spirit none of the gifts of individual believers were of any value. As Paul states so clearly in vs. 3, even confessing that Jesus is Lord is the work of the Spirit. The contemporary leader of the World Community for Christian Meditation, Laurence Freeman OSB, reaffirmed this simple truth in saying that the Holy Spirit runs though every instant of time and every cell of life.

At the same time, it is wise to remember this prayer posted on the Internet on January 1,2010 by Quinn G. Caldwell, Associate Minister of Old South Church, Boston, MA: “Lord, I thank you that you are God and I am not. Help me to trust that you are saving the world even as we speak, and give me the grace and the resolve to play my small part in it. Amen.” (Stillspeaking Daily Devotional.)

JOHN 2:1-11. John’s Gospel takes its shape from a series of signs revealing Jesus as the Messiah, Son of God, and Saviour of the world. This miracle story is the first of these signs. Some regard it as the moment of Jesus’ revelation of himself to his own family and to those who knew him.

In the NT, a sign designated an outward manifestation of a hidden and usually divine purpose. Jesus himself was a sign that, as in the past, Yahweh had again taken redemptive initiative in the Israel’s history. In his prologue in chapter 1, John had made this revelatory statement that would infuse the whole of his narrative.

We meet this concept first in the birth narratives of Luke 2:12, 34. So also the miracles of Jesus were themselves signs that the dynamic reign of divine love was in process of being fulfilled in human affairs. Not only the person of Jesus and all his works, but also his death and resurrection were signs that the prophesied Day of the Lord when all history would be consummated was at hand.

The marriage feast at Cana symbolized that the messianic age had begun. Behind it lay the whole panoply of purification rites so prominently described in the Torah. Wine too had liturgical significance included in the daily sacrifices offered as victuals for the deity, although never offered alone. This custom had undoubtedly been adopted from earlier Canaanite and other non-Israelite traditions. In the Hebrew tradition, it may have substituted for blood sacrifice. Wine had a major place in religious feasts celebrated in every home as well as in the temple cult as a libation. However, it was not used in the Passover feast until Hellenistic times.

The changing of water for ritual purification to wine indicated that Jesus would reinterpret Jewish religious tradition for this new age he had inaugurated. For John, the miracle was nothing less than an open declaration that Jesus is the Messiah. Hence his curious reluctance to follow his mother’s anxiously informing him that the ordinary wine for the wedding feast had run out. She believed in him, so she told the servants standing-by to do whatever he told them. Was she also concerned that she about to lose her control of her son?

This seemingly insignificant aside can be seen as the way for Jesus to differentiate himself from his closest human relationships, even his mother. He appeared to reject his mother’s counsel and yet also as indicated that she did believe in him. The steward supervising the serving of the feast and the bridegroom were quite ignorant of what had happened. This served to establish the pattern so obvious throughout of John’s narrative that there would always be some who believed and would follow Jesus and some who would not.

Our post-Enlightenment Age minds have yet to grasp that biblical miracles cannot be explained in terms that exclude the supernatural. As Tom Harpur pointed out in a column in The Sunday Star (Toronto, January 4, 2004) symbols and metaphors have power. It is what they stand for and the power they represent that is important. John and his contemporaries had no difficulty combining such spiritual and material realities as metaphors of divine initiatives in ordinary human affairs.

This was especially true of the Hebrew minds who authored the Old and New Testaments. Spiritual realities were as obvious to them as the water with which they washed and the wine they drank at their festivals or ordinary meals. The transformation Jesus effected appeared as a perfectly natural, though surprising and pleasing event.

Behind the miracle, however, was the messianic message John sought to convey to a later generation of Jews and Gentiles at the end of the 1st century. This was the spiritual truth that lay beyond the materialism of the event. The Messiah/Christ had come to change everything, to reinterpret for them in their particular time and place, the great traditions which God had initially revealed through the chosen people Israel. For Jewish Christians recently thrust out of their synagogues and for Gentiles eager to find a new, fulfilling life of faith, this was indeed Good News.

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
First Sunday After Epiphany
The Baptism of Jesus

January 10, 2010

 ISAIAH 43:1-7. The passage is the concluding part of a longer poem beginning in 42:5. The unknown prophet of Israel’s Babylonian exile authored this poetic promise of the return of the exiles to their homeland. Like all prophets, he speaks for God, assuring those dwelling in foreign lands that, in spite of their great difficulties, they would be brought home. The basis for this beautifully expressed faith is God’s ancient covenant with Israel as God’s chosen people.

PSALM 29. This psalm begins with evidence of God’s omnipotence in a thunderstorm, which it describes very vividly. It goes on to point out that the God who can work such wonders can guarantee the people of God strength and peace, for the God of the nature is also the God of history.

ACTS 8:14-17. The Philip of the passage immediately preceding this story (8:4-12) is not one of the apostles, but a deacon and evangelist. He was one of several Greek-speaking Christians appointed to help the apostles. (Acts 6:1-6) He had been forced to flee from Jerusalem after the death of his fellow evangelist, Stephen. This brief note points to a subtle development in the early church’s understanding of baptism and the special role of the apostles. For some reason, baptism by Philip “in the name of Jesus” had not been sufficient to bring upon some new converts the blessing of the Spirit.

LUKE 3:15-17, 21-22. Luke gives a much briefer account of Jesus’ baptism than the other gospels. It seems little more than an ending to his narrative about the ministry of John the Baptist. The essential details are the same, however. Luke records the actual baptism, the descent of the Spirit as a dove, and the divine blessing.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS

(NOTE: Understood from the Christian point of view, the theme of all these lessons for the First Sunday after Epiphany can be interpreted as the activities of God who is Spirit as the Creator and Redeemer of Israel, God’s people, and who has come again to recreate the world in Jesus Christ through the action of the Holy Spirit in ordinary men and women.)

ISAIAH 43:1-7. This passage forms the concluding part of a longer poem beginning in 42:5. The unknown prophet of Israel’s Babylonian exile, called Deutero – or Second Isaiah, authored this poetic promise of the return of the exiles to their homeland in Judea. Like all prophets, he spoke for Yahweh, assuring those dwelling in foreign lands that, despite of their great difficulties, they would be brought home. The basis for this beautifully expressed faith was Yahweh’s ancient covenant with Israel as Yahweh’s chosen people. No other theme so dominated the Hebrew understanding of the countless events of their long experience as a much oppressed people.

This part of the poem emphasized the intervention of Yahweh so that Israel could fulfill its divinely ordained redemptive purpose. Revelation, creation and redemption formed the triple intent of Yahweh’s activity in Israel’s history, the one closely following on the other. Redemption was costly, however. Vs. 4 expressed the true measure of Israel’s value. Other nations and peoples would be given in return for Israel, i.e. Yahweh’s people would be ransomed.

The element of ransom had always been present in the Hebrew concept of redemption. In vss. 3-4, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sheba were the price paid for Israel’s freedom. This may well reflect the volatile period during which many Jews did return from exile in Babylon. The dominant Babylonian empire had fallen to Cyrus, king of Persia, in 539 BCE. After the death of Cyrus (c. 530 BCE) his son and successor, Cambyses, invaded Egypt, never to return home. It is now believed that skeleton’s of his army, 30,000 strong, have been re-discovered recently in a sand-swept wasteland in western Egypt where they perished in a sandstorm.

Rival usurpers vied for control of the empire until Darius emerged triumphant is 522 BCE. During this period, the returning Jews lived a very perilous existence as they struggled to reclaim independence and rebuild their temple under the governor, Zerubbabel, a sion of the house of David. The prophet may well have expected such turbulent times as inevitable or the passage may have been adapted after the fact to include these references.

The repeated imperative, “Do not fear,” (vss. 1 & 5) provided encouragement for Israel. In both instances, a reassuring proclamation followed the command. In vss. 1-2, Yahweh claimed Israel as a sacred possession and promised to accompany them through deep waters and consuming fires. These images may be reminiscent of dangers encountered in the Exodus although the long journey from Babylon to Judea did involved crossing great rivers, passing through burning-hot desert, and possibly also settled areas where they would have to fight their way onward. In vss. 5-7, Yahweh promised to be present with them as the exiles made their way home to Judea.

The 18th century hymn, “How firm a foundation,” drew extensively on these same images. The unknown author of that hymn, however, made reference to the grace of God in Jesus Christ as the source of reassurance rather the covenant of Yahweh with Israel as this prophecy had done.

PSALM 29. This psalm begins with evidence of God’s omnipotence in a thunderstorm, which it describes very vividly. Before that, however, there is a description of angelic beings in a heavenly temple robed as ministering priests in a sacred procession summoned to praise Yahweh (vss 1-2). Then the psalmist hears the voice of Yahweh as the roll of approaching thunder.

Such thunderstorms are not common in Palestine. During the autumn and spring, cold fronts do sweep in from the northwest to break over the mountains of Lebanon and bring much needed rain to the whole of Israel, especially Galilee and the coastal plain. With no knowledge of modern meteorology, the psalmist could only see the storm’s effects as lightning flashed and thunder crashed overhead. His vivid description in vss. 5-9 conveys an unsurpassed realism for anyone who has ever been out in a violent storm such as this.

Vs. 10 refers to the traditional cosmology of the Bible where rain came from the heavenly ocean or flood above the clouds (cf. Gen. 7:11; Ps. 104:3). Yahweh’s throne was situated above the ocean from which Yahweh could command the loosing or restraining of its waters.

This vision of Yahweh in command of a mighty storm reminds the psalmist that the One who can work such natural wonders can guarantee Israel strength and peace, for the Yahweh who controls nature is also the One who controls history.

ACTS 8:14-17. The Philip of the passage immediately preceding this story is not one of the apostles, but a deacon and evangelist with particular gifts. He was one of several Greek-speaking Christians appointed to help the apostles. (Acts 6:1-6) He had been forced to flee from Jerusalem after the death of his fellow deacon, Stephen. Like Stephen, he appears to have preached and baptized first in Samaria with some startling results. Despite having received the apostolic laying on of hands, the apostolic community in Jerusalem do not seem to have been so sure of his effectiveness. So they sent Peter and John to investigate and improve upon the baptism Philip had offered those who believed.

There is much that is troubling about this pericope. Why was Philip’s ministry insufficient? Was Philip regarded as little more than a magician, by both the Samaritans and the apostles? Did his miracles (vss. 6-7) attract so much attention that the gospel message did not get through to the Samaritans? Did the conversion of Simon the magician detract too much from Philip’s preaching? If Philip, Stephen and the other deacons had been chosen because they were “full of faith and the Holy Spirit,” how could the Spirit be under the control of the apostles alone? Were these questions about what we call “apostolic succession?”

Does this not reflect an ecclesiology of a later period when apostolic confirmation had become the prerogative of the episcopacy? Some scholars argue that Acts – or portions of it – date from the early 2nd century and that this passage may be one of those excerpts. This reading, along with 9:32-11:18 and 12:1-23, presents Peter as having the same kind of mission to the Gentiles as did Paul. Does this point to a certain rivalry within the community for which Acts was written or redacted from earlier documents?

This brief note points to a subtle development in the early church’s understanding of baptism and the special role of the apostles. In many respects the lectionary misleads the reader from the intent of the whole narrative of Philip’s ministry and the apostle’s confrontation with Simon (8:4-25). “Simony” was known to have been a problem within the church at certain times. Isn’t it still?

The action by the apostles extends the practice of baptism to include the laying on of hands. It may be that this was a unique development by the apostolic church. After all, John the Baptist had practiced baptism for the repentant as had Judaism for proselytes converted from other traditions. But these were acts of moral purification. The unique aspect of Christian baptism was that by this sacramental act the gift of the Holy Spirit came upon the believers; they were en-Christ-ed, i.e. christened. On the other hand, Paul makes no mention at all of the laying on of hands as part of baptism. The practice may well be a later development, although laying on of hands was common in OT blessings and certain sacrificial rites. It was also used for healing in many gospel pericopes.

However, several OT references do relate purification by water to the gift of a new spirit (e.g. Ezek. 36:25-26; Ps. 51). It was not any power inherent in the water, but the action of God’s Spirit which initiated new life. Baptism not only symbolized a new way of life, but admission to a new community, as it did in the Essenes who probably composed the Dead Sea Scrolls. In Acts, the apostolic church acknowledged that by baptism God added new members to its fellowship. But on some occasions the gift of the Spirit preceded the act of baptism (e.g. Acts 2:4, 41; 10:44-48). The only satisfactory conclusion is that the apostolic church learned through practice what baptism is and what it meant. 1 Peter 3:18-22 appears to present a summary of what baptism ultimately came to mean to the early church and how this related to history, worship and mission of Israel.

LUKE 3:15-17, 21-22. Luke gives a much briefer account of Jesus’ baptism than the other gospels. It seems little more than an ending to his narrative about the ministry of John the Baptist. The essential details are the same, however, if perfunctory. Luke records the actual baptism, the descent of the Spirit as a dove, and the divine blessing. There are, however, some significant aspects to this brief narrative.

As noted previously, baptism was common in the Jewish tradition; but not for all people. Ritual bathing had great symbolic meaning for priests, Levites and Pharisees. Considering the shortage of water in Palestine, ritual bathing by the common people must have been regarded as a significantly holy act. However, this was not regarded in the same light as proselytes receiving baptism marking the cleansing of their pagan ways and acceptance into the covenant community. John did preach repentance of sins and baptized those who responded, thereby acknowledging their sinfulness and being immersed in water as a sign of their cleansing. Did Jesus also feel the need to be cleansed, he whom the whole NT testifies as having no sin or ever being alienated from God?

Another possibility exists: Jesus had reached the point in his own spiritual growth where he was acutely aware of his filial relationship to God and of his divinely appointed mission. Consequently, he felt the need to identify himself with all the people whom he intended to bring into a similar intimate fellowship with God. His messianic role had become that of a mediator. Luke captured these filial and mediatorial elements of Jesus’ baptism in the tightly worded sentences of vss. 21-22. Behind this profound experience lay long years of personal development, of growing insight into the scriptures of his Jewish tradition and their application to his own life (cf. Luke 2:41-52).

The moment had come for him commit himself, to move out into a wider community than his carpenter shop in the small village of Nazareth. Henceforth he would make known to whomsoever would listen what was involved in a life lived totally within the reign of God’s love. He would live in such a way that people would see that Israel’s messianic promise could only be fulfilled in such a totally committed life. Jesus’ baptizing kinsman provided the opportunity for taking action to fulfill this commitment. The vision of the dove symbolized the gift of the Holy Spirit, something he alone experienced in Luke’s account.

Did Luke describe it this way to identify Jesus’ absolute divinity in a manner corresponding to the narrative of his conception? The words from heaven gave final, divine approval to the course he had chosen as a human. Was he also aware at this time what the cost would be? Had he yet come to grips with the implications of being the Servant of Yahweh in the mold of Isaiah 53?

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost
Proper 21 Ordinary 26
September 27, 2009

ESTHER 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22. The Book of Esther tells the heroic story of a Jewish woman married the king of Persia, Xerxes (in the Bible, Ahasuerus), who saved her people in the 5th century BC. It is a well-told tale still read in its entirety in synagogues on the Jewish Feast of Purim, said to have originated in this event. It also has relevance for the 20th century history of the Holocaust.

PSALM 124. Yet another of the so-called “Songs of Ascent” believed to have been sung by pilgrims approaching Jerusalem. It thanks God for deliverance from the assaults of some unknown enemy, possibly during a period of political instability and civil strife.

NUMBERS 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29. (Alternate) This confrontation between God, Moses and the Israelites arose because the people hungered for better food than the manna they had been given. Moses complained that he had too much responsibility, so God had him gather seventy elders who were also to share the prophetic spirit Moses had been given. Two others, not among the seventy, also received the same spirit, but Moses rebuked those who would limit the gift to the chosen seventy.

PSALM 19:7-14. (Alternate) This portion of a well-loved psalm rejoices in the sanctity of God’s moral law and asks for divine help in obeying it. The closing verse is often used as a prayer offered before a sermon.

JAMES 5:13-20. In an age when scientific medicine was still very primitive, healing the sick had spiritual as well as physical significance, as it still has for many. Anointing the sick with oil and prayer were seen as valid treatment. Repentance, confession and seeking forgiveness were also a very important part of the healing process. Note that the treatment James prescribed was perceived as God’s action, not that of the church elders.

MARK 9:38-50. The issue in this passage still troubles many: Who really is a follower of Jesus? In response to this dilemma posed by John, the son of Zebedee, Jesus appears to broaden the scope of discipleship: “Whoever is not against us is for us.” At the same time, there is a severity in Jesus’ words spoken in crisp metaphors. Preventing others from following Jesus in even the simplest of ways can be virtually unpardonable sin.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS. The Book of Esther tells the heroic story of a Jewish woman married the king of Persia, Xerxes (in the Bible, Ahasuerus), who saved her people in the 5th century BC. It is a well-told tale still read in its entirety in synagogues on the Jewish Feast of Purim, which is said to have originated in this event. This passage not only gives us the climax to the story of a courageous woman, but of a people’s freedom from fear and from annihilation its enemies.

ESTHER 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22.

Scholars believe that the Book of Esther is one of the latest in the OT to have been written. Dates as far apart as the 5th century BCE soon after the reign of Xerxes (486-465 BCE) and the Maccabean period (c. 165 BCE) have been proposed. No certain historical clues are evident in the text. Its provenance, however, is thought to have been the eastern Diaspora in Persia (modern Iraq and Iran). More than likely it came into the oral tradition through repeated telling from generation to generation. A Greek manuscript in the possession of the Vatican Library (Codex Vaticanus) contains no less than six additions not in the best Hebrew manuscripts. These are all thought to have been created by authors not happy with the original. The name of Yahweh appears nowhere in the Hebrew text, whereas the deity and sacred rites of Judaism appear everywhere in the additions.

The triumph of good over evil, the courage of the heroine and fortuitous circumstances still have relevance for the 20th century history of the Holocaust. Generally speaking, an optimistic view of history permeates the narrative. It is a secular and humanist story rather than a religious one. As Gene M. Tucker, of Emory University, Atlanta, GA, described it in his article in The Oxford Companion to the Bible, the Jews took care of themselves, but they were also very fortunate in making use of their opportunities. In so doing, they controlled their own destiny. This gave them a sense of identity which enabled them to survive in the face of impending catastrophe. This is certainly the way the people of Israel lived through the several conflicts of the 20th century and now are involved in a similar struggle in the 21st century. That is the primary significance of the story of Esther.

PSALM 124. This psalm purports to be yet another of the so-called “Songs of Ascent” possibly sung by pilgrims approaching Jerusalem. It thanks God for deliverance from the assaults of some unknown enemy during a period of political instability and civil strife. Extended periods of Persian and Greek domination in post-exilic times provided many opportunities for conspiracies against overlords. Threats of retaliatory reactions might well have been the occasion for this strife. Or the ever present perils of travel in ancient times may have been the real threats behind this song of deliverance. The psalmist makes the point that without Yahweh’s help, there would have been no escape from destruction.

Several powerful images intensify the message of the psalm. Every line manifests fear. These could well be vignettes from the pilgrims’ journey to Jerusalem. They also render vividness to the poem suggesting that the pilgrims had experienced some very traumatic threats in the recent past. In vs. 3, we catch sight of a fierce attack by angry wild beasts bent on devouring weaker members of the group. In vss. 4-5, a raging flood plunges down a dry wadi through which their path to the holy city lies. The road up from Jericho to Jerusalem has many such dangerous places. The wild beasts again threaten in vs. 6. A bird escaping from a fowlers’ snare in vs. 7 reiterates the peril from which the pilgrims have been delivered.

Nonetheless, there is a larger vision in the mind of the psalmist. The theological concept of God as Lord of History, prevalent throughout the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, has all but vanished from our modern, secular frame of mind. Yet the fear associated with civil strife or international conflicts is ever present. Authorities warn us of the dangers of criminal elements to even the most stable societies. Despite the steadily decreasing incidence of violent crime, political opportunists never cease to cry out hysterically for more severe penalties and longer incarceration for the convicted. More and more armaments flood into every possible war zone to kill and maim the most vulnerable. Diplomats struggle with the difficulties inherent in any intervention in the apparently incessant, vest-pocket wars which have followed the end of colonial exploitation and the ideological confrontations of the Cold War.

In 1945, the noted historian of Christian missions, Kenneth Scott Latourette, published a penchant seventh volume to his History of the Expansion of Christianity. He reviewed the global tragedies of World Wars I and II and the Great Depression when the tide of 19th century liberalism and missionary enthusiasm came to an abrupt end on the battlefields of Europe and Asia. He came to the conclusion that although the Christian church had failed miserably and had been forced to retrench in many parts of the world, it may well have been more potent at mid-century than at the beginning of the period with which he was dealing.

In1992, British mystery writer, P.D. James, set her futurist novel Children of Men in Oxford, England, in 2021. Her parable described how a declining birthrate, tribal, racial and civil conflicts, socially sanctioned violence by security forces, extended imprisonment and capital punishment for criminals brought England to the point of total social, economic and political collapse. Hope lay in the love of God for this confused, conflicted, terrified world, manifested in a baby born to powerless parents in a rude shelter amid the degradation and despair of all but a small, humble, faithful minority committed to reconciliation, freedom and peace. The parallel with the story of the first Christmas is obvious.

This is the same Spirit that motivated the psalmist to proclaim trust in Yahweh, the creator of heaven and earth. However imperfect our witness to faith and obedience to Jesus Christ, we still stumble forward into the 21st century, for God is with us.

NUMBERS 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29. (Alternate) This confrontation between God, Moses and the Israelites arose because the people hungered for better food than the manna they had been given. Moses complained that he had too much responsibility, so God had him gather seventy elders who were also to share the prophetic spirit Moses had been given. Two others, not among the seventy gathered at the tabernacle, also received the same spirit, but Moses rebuked those who would limit the gift to the chosen seventy.

This story has all the signs of being a composite of at least two or more traditions. The complaints about manna has many similarities with the Exodus narrative in which the Israelites wished they had not left the flesh pots of Egypt. They had strong memories of plentiful and delicious food. The people weeping at the doors of their tents (vs. 10a & b) and Yahweh’s angry response mark a transition to another story. The remainder of the selected readings (vss.10c-29) form a coherent narrative of the institution of the seventy elders. There is some debate about the exact way in which the stories have been conflated.

Moses’ lament about having too much responsibility (vss. 11-15) sounds petulant but also realistic. He may have been the first spiritual leader, but certainly not the last, to complain about the burden laid on him by his call to service. Is there a good preaching text in that excerpt, especially for the installation of a new pastor?

The final segment of the reading raises an interesting question: How is spiritual leadership to be shared? Various traditions arrange this in different ways. In the lifetime of this writer, my own denomination has moved from a very exclusive concept of ministry to one that is now the most open of any. The male ordained minister with strict character qualifications was regarded as the special leader of the congregation without equal, despite the existence of lay elders ordained to assist. Spiritual leadership now extends to all members of the church regardless of order, gender and sexual orientation. The only requisites are faith in Jesus Christ and commonly discerned spiritual gifts. As vs. 29 implies prophecy is the gift of God.

PSALM 19:7-14. (Alternate) This portion of a well-loved psalm rejoices in the sanctity of God’s moral law and asks for divine help in obeying it. The closing verse is often used as a prayer offered before a sermon.

This second part of the much moved psalm reflects the Persian period (6th-4th centuries BCE) when the tradition of a renewed commitment to Mosaic law dominated every aspect of life in Israel. The numerous synonyms for the law, five in all, also recall the Wisdom literature such as Psalm 119 and Proverbs. So too do the phrases “making wise the simple” (vs. 7) and “the fear of the Lord” (vs. 9). The poem places great emphasis on separation of the faithful Israelite from his pagan neighbors by maintaining rigid adherence to the law and its provision for ritual purity and personal innocence. He prays to be guarded from even the most inadvertent sin (vs. 13) that might corrupt him. The poet is imbued with the spirit if not the actual influence of the 5th century prophet Ezra.

Meditating on such things played a large part in the religious tradition of Israel in late pre-Christian times. The Pharisees of New Testament, and in particular Saul of Tarsus, represented prime expressions of this legalist tradition. The closing verse is often used as a prayer offered before a sermon, but it has more to do with making a spiritual gift acceptable to God equal to a sacrifice on the altar.

JAMES 5:13-20. In an age when medicine was still very primitive, healing the sick had spiritual as well as physical significance. Prayer and anointing the sick with oil were seen as not only valid treatment, but at times the only treatment available. Note that the treatment James prescribed was perceived as God’s action, not that of the church elders (vss. 14-15). Repentance, confession and forgiveness of sin also played a part in dealing with illness. Furthermore, prayer and helping the wandering disciple return to God’s ways had effective moral and spiritual results.

The sky-rocketing costs of modern medical technology, pharmacology, public and private medical insurance plus the reduction in tax-funded medical services has increased public anxiety about health care to unprecedented levels. Infectious diseases once thought to have been conquered by antibiotics drugs have returned with renewed vigour. Greatly increased international travel has exposed every corner of the globe to diseases once confined to isolated regions. Scientific research has only begun to unravel the mysteries of the human genome or immune systems. Every political party has proclaimed its favoured solutions to the growing global problems of ill health due to overpopulation, environmental degradation and hopeless poverty. Television has brought scenes of unbelievable human suffering into every living room. In such circumstances, what good ever will come from prayer, praise, confession and anointing?

Although now practised only in limited ways, such disciplines as personal prayer, public healing services, anointing with oil and private confessions have never completely disappeared from the church. Nor should they, if we take this passage seriously. James advocated the spiritual approach to ill health in a world that knew little else. Of course this cannot be the only means we take today to respond to a global pandemic. Nor can medical science and technology be isolated from the spiritual foundations on which they were built. Many pioneers of modern medicine were devoted church members first and foremost. Motivated by faith, they began their research careers within the fellowship of the Christian church. They recognized that they were discovering the handiwork of God as they solved some of the riddles of healing, health and wellness.

A nurse with nearly 40 years of experience was stricken with breast cancer and forced into early retirement. Nearly thirty years later, she had lived through three traumatic courses of chemotherapy. Despite poverty and the physical limitations of advancing years, she still maintained active participation with other seniors in her local congregation. Although reluctant to share her deepest feelings or personal faith even with her closest relatives, her attitude received praise from her doctors and inquiries from a scholar researching the relationship between attitude, emotions and wellness in cancer patients. She died just short of her eightieth birthday still contributing to medical science’s search for experimental medications that would help find relief for her particular recurrent form of the disease that took her life.

Our language expresses the spiritual basis of all healing, health and wholeness. These ordinary English words – healing, health, wholeness and holy – have their derivation in their ancient Germanic root word hale.

MARK 9:38-50. The issue in this passage still troubles many: Who really is a follower of Jesus? In response to this dilemma posed by John, the son of Zebedee, Jesus appears to broaden the scope of discipleship: “Whoever is not against us is for us.”

How wide should we open this door? Some Christians would prefer that is be kept firmly guarded against all who do not confess Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and Lord, or express a firm conviction by repetition of the creedal formula of the Holy Trinity. Others would regard all people of good will open to the inspiration of the Spirit and able to participate actively in the mission and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth to the contemporary world. Ambiguity remains.

Dialogue among different religious traditions, said a recent authoritative declaration of the Roman Catholic Church, begins with defining where we stand in relation to others who do not share the same doctrinal position. Yes, replied representatives of other Christian, Jewish and Islamic traditions, but let us charitably work together for the common good of the whole community. A radical and rigid orthodoxy may speak the truth from the perspective of one tradition and may well be necessary for theological debate. However, such a declaration may actually impede ecumenical and interfaith dialogue in the short term. The spiritual reality to be hoped for is that we have not yet heard the last word.

A Buddhist writer quoted a frequently recited approach to living in the modern, pluralistic world: think globally and act locally. We need to contemplate the interdependence of all people and all things. Nothing exists except in relationship with all other things. Even our smallest actions have vastly greater consequences. Is this not what Mark quotes Jesus as saying in this passage?

At the same time, there was a severity in Jesus’ crisp metaphors in this passage. None of these exaggerated metaphors should be taken literally. Acting on any one of them would be disastrous to ourselves and to those with whom we are associated. The warning remains clear nonetheless. Preventing others from following Jesus in even the simplest of ways can be virtually an unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
Proper 17 Ordinary 22
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
August 30, 2009

SONG OF SOLOMON 2:8-13. Biblical scholars still debate what kind of literature this beautiful collection of poems with vividly erotic metaphors really is. Is it dramatic dialogue? Is it a manual for love within the marriage relationship? Is it an allegory of God’s love for Israel or Christ’s love for the church? Or is it a celebration of God’s gift to us of human sexuality? Attributed to Solomon, the text actually comes from Hebrew Wisdom literature of a much later date, but may have had origins in much earlier times.

PSALM 45:1-2, 6-9. This unusual psalm takes the form of an ode by a court poet for a royal marriage. More secular than religious, it appears to refer to a princess of a foreign country wedding the king of Israel.

DEUTERONOMY 4:1-2, 6-9 (Alternate) All of Israel’s former history was measured against the doctrinaire standard set forth here. Attributed to Moses, it was actually composed in the late 7th century BCE. See 2 Kings 22 for the apparent “rediscovery” of the law while the temple was being refurbished during King Josiah’s reign circa 621 BCE. As the whole Old Testament narrative reveals, this standard was an ideal which no former or subsequent generation could meet.

PSALM 15. (Alternate) This psalm teaches the supreme values intended to guide the moral and spiritual life of the truly religious Jew. In many respects it summarizes the highest teachings of the great prophets as well as the laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

JAMES 1:17-27. Because it makes few references to Jesus Christ, the Letter of James was one of the very last to be included in the Christian scriptures. It has more of the flavour of a moral essay attributed to James, the brother of Jesus. It may well be a collection of his sayings compiled after his martyrdom or a formal letter encouraging its recipients to live in a strictly ethical and deliberately spiritual way at a time of threatened persecution.

MARK 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23. In this biting rebuke of the Pharisees for their excessive attention to purification rituals, Jesus defined what true piety is: commitment from the heart totally dedicated to loving service of God and for others Quoting from Isaiah 29:13, he condemns their hypocrisy. We can tell from the explicit details of Jewish purification rites in vss. 3-5 that Mark had a Gentile audience in mind.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

SONG OF SOLOMON 2:8-13. Biblical scholars still debate what kind of literature this beautiful collection of poems with vividly erotic metaphors really is. Is it dramatic dialogue? Is it a manual for love within the marriage relationship? Is it an allegory of God’s love for Israel or Christ’s love for the church? Or is it a celebration of God’s gift to us of human sexuality?

The Oxford Companion to the Bible (Oxford University Press, 1993) identifies five different ways it which it has been interpreted through the centuries: A popular Jewish view regarded it as an allegory of the relationship between Yahweh and Israel. Christians reinterpreted this as the relationship between Christ and the Church. The mediaeval monk, Bernard of Clairvaux, wrote eighty-six sermons most of which were based on the allegorical interpretation of only the first two chapters.

Some early Greek versions copied it as a drama with various sections assigned to specific speakers. This theory was popular in the 19th century. Others saw it merely as a collection of lyrical love poetry for which there was ample precedent in other cultures, especially similar collections in Egyptian and Palestinian literature. Still others believed it had liturgical origins, while a few felt that due to the absence of any mention of God, it could be understood as a parable about theological themes such as Israel’s covenant with Yahweh.

Attributed to Solomon, it actually comes from Hebrew Wisdom literature of a much later date, perhaps from the 5th or 4th centuries BCE. It contains words derived from both Persian and Aramaic, leading to a similar conclusion. Its subject matter and vivid imagery made it a popular teaching tool.

Toward the end of the 1st century CE when the Hebrew canon was being finalized, some rabbis objected to its inclusion. One of the great rabbinical leaders of the time is said to have made a persuasive and memorable speech likening it to the Holy of Holies. Another rabbi was quoted as saying that anyone sang it as a secular piece fit only for banquet halls or taverns, that person had no place in the world to come. It has been used in the celebration of Passover in some Jewish traditions.

The passage selected here contains some of the most imaginative lyrics of the whole book. It depicts youthful, passionate romance in full flower. Two voices lend credibility to the dramatic interpretation. Vss. 8-9 are in the voice of the young woman hearing the approach of her lover. Vss. 10-13 are composed as if she was hearing him plead with her to escape with him to the countryside vibrant with the sounds and smells of spring. Because the poet had such sensitivity to how the young woman in love might feel and respond, one has to wonder if the author was a woman.

PSALM 45:1-2, 6-9. It is a pity that this psalm selection is so truncated. It is unusual in that it takes the form of an ode by a court poet for a royal marriage. Vs. 1 makes it evident that this was the poet’s intent. The superscription indicates that it was created by or for the Korahites, one of the families of Levitical priests from the Hebron area. In post-exilic times, they became one of the two great guilds of temple singers. Pss. 42, 44-49, 84-85 and 87-88 may have come from their hymn book.

Despite frequent references to Yahweh, the content of the psalm are more secular than religious. They refer specifically to a princess of a foreign country wedding the king of Israel. It may even have been the queen or a princess from Ophir, possibly in Arabia or East Africa (vs. 9). The first few verses sing the praises of the king. Then the poet turns attention to the beautiful princess who is leaving her father’s house (vs. 10) for a new lord (vs. 1l). The wedding procession has already begun to make it s way to the king’s palace (vs. 12b-15). For its final paean, the poet returns to the king whose marriage to this princess is for one purpose alone: to beget more heirs so that his dynasty will continue. As we have seen from the Davidic narratives in 2 Samuel, the times required the birthing of many sons.

While we may react rather negatively to the traditional patriarchal attitudes of this psalm, we should not completely disregard its significance to the Hebrew tradition. Its inclusion in the Psalter may well have resulted from an allegorized interpretation. The Targum of this psalm, an Aramaic interpretative paraphrase from late pre-Christian times, treated it as an allegory of the marriage of the Messiah to his bride Israel. Early Christian interpreters also followed this approach as Revelation 22:17 appears to suggest, except that the bride in this latter instance is the Church.

DEUTERONOMY 4:1-2, 6-9 (Alternate) All of Israel’s history was measured against the doctrinaire standard set forth here. Attributed to Moses, various parts of the Book of Deuteronomy were actually composed in the late 7th and 6th century BCE. See 2 Kings 22 for the apparent “rediscovery” of the law while the temple was being refurbished during King Josiah’s reign circa 621 BCE. That reformation followed an extended period of gross idolatry and moral decline during the long reign of Manasseh (697-642 BCE). The Deuteronomists regarded Manasseh as the worst of the Davidic monarchs. But as the whole Old Testament narrative reveals, the standard they set was an ideal which no former or subsequent generation could match.

As Deut.1:5 indicates, these are the supposedly the words of Moses as he prepared the Israelites for entry into the Promised Land. In chs. 1-3 he had recited many of the experiences of the Exodus and the wandering in the wilderness. This gave the historical background against which the rest of the book is set. In 3:23-29 he acknowledged that Joshua, not he, will lead them across the Jordan. The intent of this reading was to introduce the Torah, the moral constitution which is to guide the national life in the Israelites new homeland. The details of that constitution begin at 4:44.

Repeated references to observing the statutes and ordinances in this passage add a certain gravity to Moses’ address. Instructions to make these forthcoming laws known “to your children and your children’s children” add dramatic intensity to the moment. The scribes who created this composite work had great literary skill as well as resolute purpose in performing their task.

Reading this brief excerpt leaves no doubt about the rigorous moral life expected of all Israelites. The passage also contains the two of the three central unities of the whole book: Israel is one people and Yahweh is God alone who can be worshiped beside no other god. The third unity does not appear until later in 12:5-14, i.e. there is only one place of worship where an altar is to be set up and sacrifices offered. This latter element was the purpose of Josiah’s reformation, but lasted only a few decades before the Babylonians razed the temple in Jerusalem and led the priesthood and leading citizens of the nation into captivity (598-586 BCE). Yet it was during that captivity that the Book of Deuteronomy took its final shape.

PSALM 15. (Alternate) Where does a person go when seeking guidance in making a decision or light on some persistent affliction? The ancient custom was to repair to some place of worship and seek instruction from an oracle communicated by a priest. This psalm embodies such a practice within the Jewish tradition. It teaches the supreme values intended to guide the moral and spiritual life of the truly religious Jew. In many respects it summarizes the highest teaching of the great prophets as well as the laws found in the Books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Here is Torah, literally teaching, in the best sense of that word. The psalm probably dates from the post-exilic period when Torah had achieved its final stages of development.

Instruction often proceeded by a traditional question and answer method such as found here. This parallels the prophetic method we have seen in passages as Micah 6:6-8. The psalm also exhibits liturgical characteristics. But it may have been used more at home in preparing for worship than in the temple itself. It sets forth clearly how the believer is to present himself so as to appear righteous before God and receive God’s blessing. As in the Decalogue on which it may depend, there are ten qualifications (vss.2-5). Most of the sins enumerated emphasize primarily antisocial acts rather than religious transgressions.

The whole psalm consists of three parts similar to a catechism: question, answer and reward. It places significant value on moral integrity and truth. The psalmist must have lived in times when such virtues were lacking. Yet he wrote a tract equally applicable to our times.

JAMES 1:17-27. The Letter of James is one of the anomalies of the New Testament. Because it makes few references to Jesus Christ, it was one of the very last to be included in the Christian scriptures. It has more of the flavour of a moral essay attributed to James, the brother of Jesus. Of course, this claim has been disputed almost from the time the church set about the task of defining the NT canon. It may well be a collection of the sayings of James compiled after his martyrdom or a formal letter encouraging its recipients to live in a strictly ethical and deliberately spiritual way at a time of threatened persecution.

Despite certain inconsistencies, its language is fairly good Greek with a few Semitic phrases here and there. It also has the form of a literary letter typical of the 1st century introducing and developing specific themes. In 5:12 it appears to repeat one saying which Matthew 5:34-37 attributes to Jesus himself. However, the letter lacks any knowledge of the teaching of Paul, but does include some references to Palestinian culture. Scholarly estimates of its origin and date place it in Judea in the 60s CE immediately preceding the Jewish revolt against Rome that ended in the fall of Jerusalem.

This passage contains several good but isolated preaching texts or themes: vss. 17-18; 19-21; 22-25; 26-27. As a whole, it presents the view that those who belong to the believing community must avoid adopting the ethics of its oppressors. It reflects a dependence on God and strict adherence to Judaeo-Christian morality. Like so much other counsel of the NT in the gospels and in the Pauline corpus, it encourages the practice of ethical standards which separate Christians from their easy-going cultural milieu. No permissive “everybody does it” attitude can be found throughout the letter. This high moral standard is most clearly defined in the very last clause in vs. 27.

Nor is this strict emphasis on moral behaviour isolated from the ultimate divine purpose. The idea of the Christian community as “the first fruits” of a new creation comes out in vs. 18 and reverberates throughout the passage. Yet this does not inhibit good living. Rather, those who live in obedience to this strict moral standard find that it liberates and blesses (vs. 25). One might well compare this passage with the opening declarations of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 known as the Beatitudes. Was that the “word” and “law” to which James referred in vss. 22-25?

While Luther, immersed as he was in Pauline theology, condemned the Letter of James as “that wretched book,” a thousand years earlier Augustine had given a more balanced view: “That which is called the Christian religion existed among the ancients, and never did not exist. From the beginning of the human race until Christ came in the flesh, at which time the true religion, which already existed, began to be called Christianity.” The letter has been regarded as a collection of isolated sayings and brief homilies which were not originally unified. But it also has the form of a literary letter, which a disciple of James may have preserved from remembered homilies after his death in 61 CE. These few excerpts from the religious environment of Judean Christianity in the 50s and 60s CE reflect its close identity with Judaism. Jesus and his brother had been raised in a similar religious environment. At the time this letter was composed Christianity might well have been regarded as a Jewish sect. The high Christology found in Paul and the later Christian scriptures had not yet filtered down to the birthplace of the new tradition.

MARK 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23. If James represents a Judaic Christian perspective, this confrontation with the Pharisees represents a tradition emanating from a very different milieu. In this biting rebuke of the Pharisees for their excessive attention to purification rituals, Jesus defined what true piety is. Apparently this tradition was sufficiently well known that Matthew also used it in his gospel (Matt. 15:1-20).

We can tell from the explicit details of Jewish purification rites in vss. 3-5 that Mark had a Gentile audience in mind. Most probably, the gospel was written for a Christian community made up primarily of Gentile believers who knew little about the strict Levitical Code which the Pharisees strove so hard to impose on 1st century Judaism. A note in The Complete Gospels (Polebridge Press, 1992) suggests that in this passage the Pharisees are stock characters acting as Jesus’ main antagonists while the disciples act as surrogates for Mark’s audience. In vss. 3-5, he addressed his audience directly on the assumption that they will not comprehend the Jewish rules of food preparation.

The incident took place in Galilee where Jews wrestled with strong Roman and Hellenist cultural influences. Not far from Nazareth in the Galilean hills, Herod Antipas had his capital at Sepphoris until about 20 CE when he constructed a new capital city at Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. The ancient trade and invasion route from Damascus to the Mediterranean passed through the heart of this same region. The Pharisees had reason to fear these foreign threats to Jewish religious traditions. Raised in a more cosmopolitan milieu, Jesus was bound to have more open attitudes than the stricter Judaism that the Pharisees and their Judean followers represented.

Not only that, the Pharisees expertly interpreted the law to suit their own comforts. Quoting from Isaiah 29:13, Jesus condemned their hypocrisy (vss. 6-7). Mark probably knew the Greek version, for that is what he quoted, although not exactly. Isaiah’s prophetic outburst must have been well known in the Christian community because Paul quoted Isa. 13:14 in 1 Cor. 1:19.

Phony piety that is self-serving and corrupting still exists in every religious tradition, Christians not excepted. In the 1950s, every corporate executive on the rise made his religious affiliations as well known as his service and country club associations. One widely used church fund raising method sought out the wealthiest or most prominent person in a community, regardless of his participation in the life of the church, and used him to influence others to give more generously than they might have done without his leadership. In both Canada and the United States in recent years, there has been particularly prominent evidence of pious persons bent on achieving political power.

True piety, Jesus said, means commitment from the heart totally dedicated to loving service of God and for others (vss. 20-23). All of the evil intentions named here as defiling a person result in behaviour that is exactly opposite to the compassionate virtues he identified as the essence of the law. An attitude of loving God and neighbour more accurately represented the sense of communal justice and mutual well-being so characteristic of the great prophets of Israel. Neither they nor Jesus had any desire to abrogate the covenant law. Unlike the Pharisees, however, they did not regard legalistic minutiae as the be all and end all of faithfulness. Theirs was more generous, more compassionate morality which found its strength in a committed relationship to God expressed in thankful worship and service. This should be our moral standard too.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
TENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
PROPER 14 ORDINARY 19
AUGUST 9, 2009.

2 SAMUEL 18:5-9, 15, 31-33. Without doubt this is one of the most moving stories from the whole of David’s reign. Essentially, it told about God’s love for Israel in a very personal parable. A palace revolution set Absolam, one of David’s sons, against his father ending in David’s flight and a bloody battle for power. Absolam suffered an accident and was slain by David’s ambitious general, Joab. When told the tragic news, David wept bitterly for his rebellious son, as God weeps for all whom God loves.

PSALM 130. As a prayer of penitence this psalm has few equals. It reflects of an actual situation evoking a desperate cry for God’s forgiveness. The need to be reconciled to God has universal application in the patient hope with which the psalm ends.

I KINGS 19:4-8. (Alternate) This is only a brief incident in a life-changing experience of the prophet Elijah. Threatened by Jezebel, he ran for his life. He headed out into the wilderness, a dry and barren place where he fell asleep under a broom tree, one of the few that will grow in such arid conditions. Strengthened for a longer journey by food miraculously provided, he trekked all the way to Horeb (Sinai), the mountain where Yahweh and Israel, led by Moses, had made covenant.

PSALM 34:1-8. (Alternate) This psalm presents one of the clearest statements of God’s redemptive purpose to be found in the Old Testament.

EPHESIANS 4:25-5:2. Either Paul himself, or one of his disciples who wrote this letter, exhorted his audience to live in a gentle and kindly way rather than angrily venting their frustrations and injustices. Their model was to be God’s loving forgiveness for them so fully expressed in Jesus Christ who died for them.

JOHN 6:35, 41-51. So different from the other gospels, John adds this discourse to the story of Jesus feeding of the five thousand. It is filled with John’s reflections on who Jesus really is and the meaning of his being the bread of life.

Jesus’ claim to be the complete revelation of God puzzled his Jewish contemporaries. They protested that they knew full well who he was because they knew his parents. Jesus went on to explain that he was not only the successor to the prophets, but the one who makes perfectly plain all that can be known about God and gives eternal, spiritual life to all who believed.

John’s Gospel was written possibly as long as sixty years after the resurrection for the third generation of Christians. He gave the early church’s most profound understanding of what Jesus really means to every generation.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

2 SAMUEL 18:5-9, 15, 31-33. The story of Absolam, David’s third son, forms a subplot to the life of David, in particular as a consequence of his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah. An earlier part of the narrative gave some justification for Absolam’s rebellion. Believing that his father had lost his ability to provide adequate justice, Absolam took matters into his own hands. He arranged the death of Ammon, David’s oldest son, for raping his sister, Tamar (1 Sam. 13:1-29). A palace revolution set Absolam against his father won a considerable following in Israel. No longer sure of the loyalty of his troops, David fled from Jerusalem, raised three battalions, returned to guerilla warfare and engaged Absolam’s forces in a bloody battle for power.

David’s forces won the battle, causing Absolam to flee. But Absolam suffered a silly accident by being caught by the forked branch of a tree as his mule ran through a forest. David’s ambitious general, Joab, found and slew Absolam as he hung there totally vulnerable. When told the tragic news, David wept bitterly for his rebellious son, as God weeps for all whom God loves.

Without doubt this is one of the most moving stories from the whole cycle of narratives about David’s reign. It expresses profoundly human sentiments and contains genuine theological relevance. In a very personal parable it told of David’s love and grief for his both his sons, Ammon and Absolam, both of whom had repulsed him. The story may also be seen as a metaphor of God’s love for recalcitrant Israel. Because of this double intent, it became sacred scripture. Read in an extremely dramatic way, it can bring a deep sense of its pathos to an attentive audience.

PSALM 130. As a prayer of penitence this psalm has few equals. It reflects of an actual situation evoking a desperate cry for God’s forgiveness. The need to be reconciled to God has universal application in the patient hope with which the psalm ends.
Yet at the same time this deep sense of trust in God’s mercy and forgiveness rested on the assurance of Yahweh’s steadfast love. After all, the whole of Israel faith-history of Yahweh’s redemptive love lay behind this fervent prayer.

The psalm was included in a collection known as the “Songs of Ascent,” believed to have been sung by pilgrims as they approached Jerusalem for one of the great festivals. This one appears to fit the mood of those coming for Yom Kippur, the Feast of Atonement. On that holiest of occasions, all individual and national sins were repented and received merciful forgiveness. All the people and the nation received atonement with Yahweh through the designated sacrifices and the entrance of the high priest into the Holy of Holies. The fact that no mention is made of atoning sacrifices in this psalm has caused some scholars to assign it to a late, post-exilic date when Israel’s religious tradition had become more dependent on a spiritual relationship with Yahweh much more like that of the New Testament.

Vs. 6 contains a vivid image of watchmen on the eastern walls of Jerusalem watching for dawn to break over the Mount of Olives. From this, one can surmise that the poem may well have been composed by an individual engaged in a long night vigil contemplating two spiritual realities. Or, if he was a pilgrim, he may even have been close to the city itself as he spent the night too moved by his deep feelings to get any rest. In his wakefulness, he longed for morning to come when he could enter the city for the great festival. At the same time he was deeply conscious of his personal sin and had great hopes for the peace of repentance and forgiveness. Repentant Christians as well as Jews have turned to this psalm for the reassuring hope that it brings tot the troubled conscience.

I KINGS 19:4-8. (Alternate) This is only a brief episode in a life-changing experience of the prophet Elijah. Having won a decisive victory, Elijah had been threatened by Jezebel. So he ran for his life. He headed out into the wilderness, a dry and barren place where he fell asleep under a broom tree, one of the few that will grow in such arid conditions. Hunger and fatigue by an angel’s intervention in his plight he received food miraculously provided for a longer journey. So strengthened he trekked all the way to Horeb (Sinai), the mountain where Yahweh and Israel, led by Moses, had made covenant.

Angels as intermediaries between God and the prophets did not appear in Hebrew religious thought until after the Babylonian exile (639 BCE). The Septuagint (LXX, in Greek from 4th century BCE) translated this phenomenon as “someone,” likely interpreting the incident as a theophany and the “angel” as a manifestation of God in human form.

The passage depicts the prophet as humanly at the end of his own strength but miraculously receiving divine strength to return to the mount of God where Israel’s religious history began. In the northern tradition known as E (for Elohim) and in later Deuteronomic narrative (D), Horeb was the name given to the sacred mountain, the dwelling place of the God of Israel where the covenant was established. The alternative J tradition from the Southern Kingdom of Judea used the name Sinai for the holy mountain.

In the mid-20th century, British historian Arnold J. Toynbee described twenty-one different civilizations which had risen and fallen during the sweep of human history. One of his significant insights was to posit a time of retreat for renewal as a necessary step in the life cycle of any civilization or culture, then to return as a creative minority to establish a whole new approach to challenges to be faced. Out of the ruins of the old, the new was created. One finds a similar experience in the return of Elijah to Horeb. This becomes clear in the subsequent verses (19:9-18) where the prophet’s epiphany is described in detail.

PSALM 34:1-8. (Alternate) This psalm presents one of the clearest statements of God’s redemptive purpose to be found in the Old Testament. In the Hebrew text it has an acrostic form, each line beginning with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The psalm also is in the wisdom style and so dates from the late Persian or early Greek period. Some scholars believe it may also have been associated with the lament of Ps. 25 as a hymn of thanksgiving.

The main purpose of the psalm is to celebrate with gratitude the saving power of Yahweh. It expresses great confidence and trust in Yahweh’s special care for the righteous.

While the superscription mistakenly attributes the psalm to an incident in David’s flight from his rebellious son Abimilech, no direct reference to that or any other event in David’s reign can be found. Such Davidic references were given to about half of the psalms, probably related to a special collection attributed to David. These titles were added during the compilation process somewhere between the fourth and second centuries BCE.

Viewed from a wider perspective, the psalm points to the constant mercy and love with which Yahweh watched over and delivered Israel from innumerable disasters. At the same time it draws more attention to the individual believer who trusts in Yahweh than to the nation as a whole. This too has been the attitude of devout Christians through many generations.

EPHESIANS 4:25-5:2. As this continuing analysis of Ephesians has been saying, either Paul himself, wrote this letter, or more probably one of his disciples composed it from his knowledge of Paul’s teaching, possibly after using it as a baptismal sermon. In this brief excerpt he exhorted his audience to live in a gentle and kindly way rather than angrily venting their frustrations and complaining about injustices they may have suffered. Their model was to be God’s loving forgiveness for them so fully expressed in Jesus Christ who died for them.

We need to keep at the forefront of our minds that the NT, and especially the letters, were written for congregations scattered far and wide across the eastern Roman empire. However obliquely, they referred to real situations within those faith communities. We have few resources to decipher exactly what those circumstances may have been when these letters were composed. It would appear from the context of this passage that there was a considerable amount of bickering and quarreling going on in this congregation. Either that, or the letter was addressed to faith communities in general who were in great conflict over the issue of whether Jews and Gentile could fellowship together. As someone put it in a comment on last week’s lesson, the issue was peace, not unity, although the unity of Christ’s body, the church, is named as one of the main themes of this letter.

Apparently anger and deceit within the fellowship had become serious concerns for “Paul” (vss. 25-27). People also seem to have been taking advantage of one another. Some may have been only partially reformed thieves (vs. 28). When people are riled up about issues, they often criticize and condemn one another mercilessly. That may be what Paul had in mind about “evil talk” in vs. 29. His antidote to that kind of talk is worth noting. An elderly concert musician and teacher once said, “Like good music, life needs to have plenty of grace notes. That’s what gives it colour and flavour.”

Did the anonymous author also have in mind Paul’s “fruits of the Spirit” in vs. 30? He certainly made direct reference to the Spirit as the seal of our future redemption, a phrase that occurs in the Pauline corpus many times. Then he returned to his earlier concern about serious communication issues that had arisen within the church for which there was only one solution: to speak in kindly, gentle words with gracious forgiveness modeled on God’s forgiving grace in Jesus Christ.

That, of course, would require considerable change of heart and perhaps some personal sacrifice of pride, especially for those who had been hurt by harshly spoken words. Could the Corinthians with whom Paul had such difficulty have been in the author’s mind here? As Frederick B. Craddock said in a sermon to one of Canada’s most prestigious congregations and a large radio audience, “Only those who have been hurt can be forgiving because they have been wounded and violated.” That is exactly what God did – and does – continually and consistently.

JOHN 6:35, 41-51. So different from the other gospels, John added this discourse to the story of Jesus feeding of the five thousand as an interpretation of something much more relevant to his own time and audience. The discourse consists of John’s reflections on who Jesus really is and the meaning of his being “the bread of life.”

If as many scholars have concluded, John was writing for the church in Ephesus in the last decade of the 1st century, what was he saying to them in this metaphor and its elaboration in the discourse? Within the decade before John wrote, the final distinction between the Jewish and the Christian faith traditions had become clear. Having been expelled from all Jewish synagogues, Christians no longer could be considered as a sect of Judaism. This expulsion meant that Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah were alienated from Israel and even their own families. At the same time, Christian communities now had a majority of Gentiles in their ranks. The teaching of the apostles defined more and more the limits of this tradition.

This prompted Christian communities to create radically transformed liturgies from their Jewish antecedents to express their peculiar Christian beliefs. Gospels recording Jesus’ sayings and deeds, the story of his passion, death and resurrection, and especially letters attributed to the apostle Paul, circulated more and more widely among churches. Into this milieu John’s Gospel introduced these reflections about the eucharistic celebration which marked every Christian gathering for worship.

In this passage, Jesus’ claim to be the complete revelation of God greatly puzzled his Jewish contemporaries. They protested that they knew full well who he was because they knew his parents. Mistakenly, they had understood him in an entirely literal way. Jesus had spoken in characteristic metaphors.

Bread had been particularly important in the Jewish religious tradition. Not only was it the staff of life, it held the promise of life itself. The Deuteronomists regarded the gift of eating bread without scarcity in the Promised Land as the promise of life in freedom and prosperity (Deut. 8:9). The sacrificial system included an offering of cereal used in the making of bread. Tabernacle and temple both required a permanent display of bread representing the presence of Yahweh (Exod. 25:30; 1 Chron. 28:16). The Passover festival of unleavened bread formed the central religious rite in remembrance of the Exodus.

Like the manna that fed the Israelites in the wilderness, Jesus identified himself with this ancient tradition as the “bread from heaven.” In doing so, he at once acknowledged the significance of this divine gift of bread and reinterpreted its meaning. He explained that he was not only the successor to the prophets, of whom Moses was foremost, but actually represented God in every way. He was the one who makes perfectly plain all that can be known of God and gives God’s eternal, spiritual life to all who believe.

Thus John gave the early church its most profound understanding of what Jesus really meant to his own and still means to every generation. Whenever we participate in the breaking of bread, in the sacred eucharist or in the humblest of meals, we have fellowship with him and with God whom he reveals to us through the working of the Spirit. As the traditional grace at table prays: “Be present at our table, Lord, be here and everywhere adored. These mercies bless and grant that we may feast in Paradise with thee.”

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INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
PROPER 13 ORDINARY 18
AUGUST 2, 2009.

2 SAMUEL 11:26-12:13a. The confrontation between David and Nathan, the prophet, brings to the fore the magnitude of David’s adultery with Bathsheba, another man’s wife. The story is one of the most powerful in the whole sequence of hero-legends about Israel’s greatest king. The story makes the point, however, that even the greatest cannot misuse God-given authority and power for selfish ends.

PSALM 51:1-12. Because of the superscription many assume that this psalm refers directly to David’s sin, but that is highly unlikely. Psalm titles were added much later by scribes seeking to relate as many of them to David’s life on the mistaken assumption that he was author of the psalms. Nonetheless this one is a very beautiful prayer of repentance.

EXODUS 16:2-4, 9-15. (Alternate) After their miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt by crossing of the Red Sea, the Israelites pressed on into the wilderness. When they complained to Moses that they would starve, further evidence of God’s guidance and providence was given in flocks of quails and a flaky substance they called manna (Hebrew for “what is it?”) in plentiful supply for their daily needs.

PSALM 78:23-29. (Alternate) The whole psalm celebrates God’s mighty acts on behalf of the Israelites during their migration toward the promised land. In this segment the psalmist recalls the instance of them being fed with manna and quail at a time of threatened famine.

EPHESIANS 4:1-16. This exhortation to live the Christian life in all its fullness emphasizes the gift of the Spirit to bring unity to the church and the power to equip all members for their common ministry. It presents a clear mandate for the mission of every congregation.

JOHN 6:24-35. This reading shows a special way in which John handled the miracle of feeding of the five thousand. For John, miracles had much more to them than seeing them happen and benefitting from them. This one led to a discourse by Jesus about being the bread of life. Many scholars believe that John used this discourse in place of the narrative of the Last Supper in the other three Gospels. The story also recalls the feeding of the Israelites during their wandering in the wilderness.

The passage makes three significant points: The miracle was another of the signs identifying Jesus as the Messiah/Christ, the Son of God. Somewhat ambiguously, however, it pointed beyond Jesus to God who is the source of all life. Finally, by placing particular emphasis on his statement, “I am the bread of life,” it identifies Jesus completely with God. This is a more spiritual and theological reflection than one finds in the other Gospels.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

2 SAMUEL 11:26-12:13a. The confrontation between David and Nathan, the prophet, brings to the fore the magnitude of David’s sin with Bathsheba, then arranging for her husband’s death in battle to cover up what he had done. The story is one of the most powerful in the whole sequence of hero-legends about Israel’s greatest king. On the surface it makes the point, however, that even the greatest cannot misuse God-given authority and power for selfish ends.

There is some artificiality about the story, however, probably for dramatic effect. David should have seen through Nathan’s device without difficulty. As king he was also the chief judge of the nations, so the incident that Nathan related was a case that might have come before him. Whether it actually happened in David’s reign (circa 1000 BCE) or is a parable with a deeper purpose is moot. The situation was not uncommon when viewed in light of the social justice messages of Amos and Isaiah in the 8th century BCE . As a parable, it ranks with those of Jesus in the NT gospels for its power “to disturb the conscience and produce repentance.” (The Interpreter’s Bible, 2, 1102). That is its primary purpose in the David cycle as redacted by the Deuteronomists of the late 7th century BCE.

The intent of the redactor was not to denigrate or diminish David in the eyes of a later generation. Rather he intended it to show how David’s transgression fitted the overall tendency of Israel to depart from the covenant of Yahweh in much the same way as had Saul and all succeeding monarchs from the founding of the institution to its end in the Babylonian exile (596 BCE). In every instance, as in this case, a continuing moral and spiritual crisis beset the nation and led to its ultimate destruction. Although this is a serious crisis for David and the beginning of his decline, he is to be seen not so much as an individual, but as the representative of the nation. Thus the story has to be read from the perspective of the prophetic mandate to call Israel to repentance so that it may survive the crisis into which the sins of its whole populace were leading, as had the sins of their greatest king.

PSALM 51:1-12. Because of the superscription many assume that this psalm refers directly to David’s sin, but that is highly unlikely. Psalm titles were added much later by scribes seeking to relate as many of them to David’s life on the mistaken assumption that he was author of the psalms. Seventy-three psalms bear titles referring David in one way or another. Some of them related top specific incidents in his life, as does this one. The existence of these titles in the Greek version indicate that they date from pre-Christian times as Jewish traditions derived from the late compilation of the Psalter.

Nonetheless this one is a very beautiful prayer of repentance by an individual who is both deathly ill and very conscious of his personal transgressions. More significant, perhaps, is the fact that there are no attempts to blame anyone but himself for the fate that has befallen him. The whole psalm presents a personal confession as poignant as any in all of scripture.

The psalm begins with a plea for mercy and an expression of faith in Yahweh’s forgiveness. The double parallel of vs.1 emphasizes the way in which the psalmist has cast himself wholly on divine mercy. The phrase “blot out my transgressions” conveys an image of a record from which the sin be completely obliterated. The image of washing in vs. 2 recalls the liturgical ablutions of Leviticus 14:11-20 as an act of atonement. The Seer of Revelation (7:14) adapted the image to refer to the baptismal garments of lst century Christians. Similarly evangelical Christians envisage being “washed in the blood of the Lamb” as a metaphor of their salvation and atonement through the death of Jesus Christ.

The confessor makes no effort to conceal his sin and deny his guilt. Vs. 4 readily acknowledges the justice of whatever penalty is laid to his charge. Various translations of vs. 5, however, have led many to assume that this is a statement of original sin. Rather than placing blame on his parents, it affirms of what Ecclesiasticus 15:11-15 described as an evil inclination resulting from the freedom of our human wills. We are not born sinful, but do sin because of self-motivated willfulness resulting in sinful choices. (Ecclesiasticus is also known as the apocryophal book of Sirach and dates from the 2nd century BCE.)

Vs. 6 posits Yahweh’s choice for humanity: freedom from sin expressed as “truth in the inward being.” (NSRV) The Hebrew text is difficult to translate. The New English Bible has a better translation: “Though thou hast hidden the truth in darkness, through this mystery thou dost teach me wisdom.” This brings forth a further petition for cleansing and a desire to rejoice in the resulting freedom of spirit (vss.7-9).

The final verses of this reading have a depth of spirituality and moral responsibility reminiscent of the great prophets of the exilic period, Jeremiah (31:33-34) and Ezekiel (37:26-27). It is not improbable that the psalmist either knew these scriptures or belonged to the same prophetic company from which those texts came. The psalmist draws upon a concept of spiritual regeneration through the activity of the Spirit close to that expressed by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 and Romans 8.

EXODUS 16:2-15. (Alternate) After their miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt by crossing of the Red Sea, the Israelites pressed on into the wilderness. When they complained to Moses that they would starve, further evidence of God’s guidance and providence was given in flocks of quails and a flaky substance they called manna (Hebrew for “what is it?”) in plentiful supply for their daily needs.

In this ancient story we have an important part of the Passover and Exodus saga told from the point of view of the highly developed faith of later generations. Modern scholars know, as the priests or scribes who committed this story to writing may also have known, that the manna and quails on which the Israelites fed were natural phenomena to be found in the wilderness of Sinai. Recent investigations suggest that manna is produced not by secretion of sap from the tamarisk bush as previously thought, but by insects which ingest the sap and excrete a honeydew rich in sugars and pectin thus creating a scale on the branches of the shrub. Quail are still found migrating along their natural flight path through the Sinai wilderness to and from their nesting grounds in Europe and wintering grounds in Africa.

Natural explanations do not deny what the Israelites saw as miraculous. Not what fed them, but that they were fed by the providence of Yahweh remained the great blessing which generations praised as in the following psalm.

This faith remained strong even in Jesus’ time, as it still may be for our time. Jesus identified himself as “the true bread from heaven” come down to give life to the world. (John 6:30-35) So also now, faith in Jesus means faith in the providence of God, a tradition as old as Abraham and Moses. (Cf. Genesis 22:8) If Israel’s faith extended nearly two millennia into the past through an oral tradition recounting the saga of their ancestors trek though the wilderness, does it not also extend two millennia forward to our time and a place in history when the global economy is suffering such vast imbalances of riches and poverty? It has been estimated that there are at least one billion poverty-stricken people living in urban slums around the world. Each year their number is swelling by many millions more.

But what does that faith mean in an age when the technologically developed nations have the means of producing far more food than needed but have problems marketing their surplus at prices which pay the producers a fair return for the costs of production? What does it mean for the current controversies about government subsidies to agriculture, transportation and genetically altered foods? How do issues such as the migration of unemployed refugees from Asia, Africa, South and Central America fit into this paradigm of divine providence for the needs of God’s people? Are these not the struggles of our generation which must we must think through and share openly with the politically powerful who have responsibility for making decisions that will determine the fate of millions?

PSALM 78:23-29. (Alternate) This whole psalm celebrates God’s mighty acts on behalf of the Israelites despite their obstinate disbelief during their migration toward the Promised Land. In this segment the psalmist recalls the instance of them being fed with manna and quail at a time of threatened famine.

The recitation of such mighty acts as this psalm celebrates always described Yahweh’s goodness and loving kindness toward Israel. Throughout the psalmist defines a stark contrast in the Deuteronomic mould between Yahweh’s faithfulness and Israel’s unfaithfulness. In all likelihood this psalm had a significant place in the liturgy of the Second Temple after the return from the Babylonian exile. The celebration of Passover would have been a suitable festival for this liturgical recitation of the nation’s religious history. However, due to several references to the Davidic dynasty still reigning, it may well date from before the exile when the tradition of the Exodus was taking shape.

This passage omits the concluding two verses (vss. 30-31) which state the basic issue repeated throughout the psalm: Yahweh’s anger at their unfaithfulness.

As noted above the phenomenon interpreted as an act of Yahweh had a very natural origin. Manna is the digestive by-product of an insect which appears as a whitish scale on the branches of the tamarisk tree. Quail still migrate through the Egyptian and Jordanian wilderness from their nesting grounds in Europe to their winter feeding grounds in Africa. But who does not interpret the most ordinary things around us, even a brilliant sunrise or sunset, as gifts of God’s infinite grace?

EPHESIANS 4:1-16. At this point in the letter, the mood changes from one of exultation in the blessings of salvation to exhortation about living the Christian life in all its fullness. The author places emphasis on the gift of the Spirit to bring unity to the church and the power to equip all members for their common ministry.

Memories of Paul’s troubles in Ephesus and in Corinth may well lie behind this passage. The early church did not have an easy transition from being a Jewish sectarian movement to a Gentile community of faith distinct from and yet continuous with its predecessor. Factionalism was its greatest problem. Dependence on the Spirit with the particular gifts of humility, patience and love had to be its primary resource for creating a sense of unity and motivating its evangelical mission. The symbol of this spiritual competence which all could share came from their common baptism, “the outward sign of inward, spiritual grace.”

Particular functions, divisions of labour and specific responsibilities in the evangelical mission may have been under development but had not yet become fixed when this letter was composed. Apostles and prophets are named together with evangelists, pastors and teachers without any recognizable difference in their functions within the community. The offices identified in vs. 11 cannot be regarded as literally applicable to any later period. Rather these are functions of service common to all members of the community. Every member had a responsibility “for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” However, this should still be interpreted as a clear mandate for the mission of every member in every congregation today.

In his Church Order in the New Testament (SCM Press, 1961) Eduard Schweizer makes a strong point that in the Pauline epistles, notably Colossians and Ephesians, the church has the attributes of the kingdom of God. The image of the body serves to describe “not so much the Church’s state as its growth; this is true both for 4:12-16, where the head is both the source and the object of growth, and also for the image of the temple or God’s dwelling, where everything grows from Christ the cornerstone, and from the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets (2:20-22).”

Schweizer also notes that in ancient times, buildings such as temples were regarded as living organisms much like a living body in contrast to our modern view of buildings as manufactured infrastructure. This view finds expression clearly in the metaphor of maturity measured by the “full stature of Christ” (vs. 13) contrasted with the vacillations of immaturity (vs. 14) and the emphasis on love as the crucial element of nurture which “promotes the body’s growth” (vs. 16).

In Schweizer’s analysis, under the influence of the Spirit the church has become both a world wide unity and a cosmic reality. “Its mission is indeed of cosmic range.” As a result, the members of the church as well as the apostle function in a common ministry on a global and even cosmic scale, not merely as part of a particular local congregation. This passage thus forms the scriptural basis for the outreach ministry of every local congregation where, as individual members and as a gathered community, we must think globally and act locally.

JOHN 6:24-35. This reading shows a special way in which John handled the miracle of feeding of the five thousand. For John, miracles had much more to them than seeing unnatural events occur and benefiting personally from them. This one led to a discourse by Jesus about being the bread of life. Many scholars believe that John used this discourse in place of the narrative of the Last Supper in the other three Gospels. John completely omitted that pericope from his version of the Passion. This discourse is a homily on the meaning of the sacrament.

The passage makes three significant points: The miracle was another of the signs identifying Jesus as the Messiah/Christ, the Son of God. In vs. 27, Jesus claims to be the Son of Man, which by this time had acquired a christological connotation which it did not have in the Hebrew scriptures of Ezekiel and Daniel. He also bears the “seal” which the Father has set on him. The Greek verb spragizein used in this instance occurs also in 3:33. In both cases the verb refers to the well-known custom of stamping one’s personal signet on wax sealing a document, product or vessel to validate its ownership and authenticity in much the same way that modern silver is hallmarked. Ephesus, a noted commercial centre and the probable place from which the Fourth Gospel came, the custom would have been well known. Here it symbolized trustworthiness, i.e. Jesus is the one person who can give eternal, spiritual life because God has set his seal upon him.

Somewhat ambiguously, however, the passage points beyond Jesus to God who is the source of all life. The miracles Jesus performs are “the works of God” recalling the “mighty acts” of the Old Testament. Believing in Jesus, the Christ, is the only essential divine work because God alone is the source of all life and power including Jesus’ power to perform the miracle of feeding the multitude. The manna the Israelites ate in the desert came not from Moses but from God. Then John has Jesus’ interlocutors ask reverently for this “bread from heaven” which opens the way for Jesus to launch into his discourse, “I am the bread of life.”

Finally, by placing particular emphasis on this statement, John identifies Jesus completely with God. This is a more spiritual and theological reflection on the both the miracle and the person of Christ than one finds in the other Gospels. It comes close to defining the Trinitarian view of the person and work Christ. Writing from the viewpoint of a Jew in a thoroughly Hellenistic cultural milieu, John had not yet gone as far as his successors the Greek Fathers would go in defining the abstract Trinitarian hypostasis of Christ. He still maintains the Hebrew sense of spiritual life in the context of daily existence in the world where bread is eaten for physical sustenance.

Yet, it also looks beyond the materialistic element of a few loaves and fish to the divine, spiritual source of life itself. The purpose of eating the bread of life (i.e. believing in Jesus Christ) is to live spiritually in the world here and now while waiting for the eschaton yet to come. But that carries us beyond the immediate passage to the remainder of the discourse (vss.35-58).
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INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
Proper 9 Ordinary 14
July 5, 2009

2 SAMUEL 5:1-5, 9-10. The first part of this passage is one version of the tradition of how David became king of Israel. As a successful military leader, he was the people’s choice as well the as divinely anointed sovereign. He first established Hebron as his capital; then he captured the fortress of Jerusalem and made it his capital city. The intervening verses between the two segments of the passage are confusing due to a corrupt Hebrew text.

EZEKIEL 2:1-5. (Alternate) The call of Ezekiel to be prophet among the exiles in Babylon included a strong warning that he would encounter much resistance. In spite of their rebellion against God and their impudent and stubborn nature, he was to deliver an outspoken message directly from God, “Thus says the Lord God.”

PSALM 48. This highly nationalistic psalm praises Jerusalem as the holy city of God. It still retains this designation for three great religious traditions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – all for different reasons.

PSALM 123. (Alternate) Assumed to be for pilgrims approaching the temple this “psalm of ascent” saw it as representing the very presence of the invisible God among God’s people. That brought considerable relief from the contempt and scorn of unbelievers who felt no need for God in their lives.

2 CORINTHIANS 12:2-10. In the midst of a conflict with the Corinthian Christian community, Paul tells about two of his deepest spiritual experiences. In one he had an ecstatic theophany when he received an exceptional revelation. He does not say exactly what the revelation was. In the other, he fervently prayed to have the unidentified cause of great suffering removed, but was given instead the reassurance that God’s grace would be sufficient for his every need.

MARK 6:1-13. Jesus’ hometown folk felt uneasy with him in their midst, especially when he taught in their synagogue on a sabbath. We are not told why they were so offended. Certainly they thought he had far gone beyond what one of his status as a humble carpenter should go. They did not expect him, a mere tradesman, to be skilled in the interpretation of the scriptures.
So Jesus adopted another strategy. He gathered his disciples together and sent them out “with authority over the unclean spirits.” This may have meant that they merely had power to change people’s minds about what they might expect from Jesus. The end of the story tells how successful they were in calling people to repent, casting out demons and curing the sick.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

2 SAMUEL 5:1-5, 9-10. The first part of this passage is one version of the tradition of how David became king of Israel. It comes from the Deuteronomic editors who viewed David as the supreme commander of all Israel’s army. This agrees with 1 Samuel 18:5, but not 1 Samuel 18:13. Traces of an earlier source is found is vs. 3 where it is only representative elders of the tribes rather than “all the tribes” (vs. 1) who gather at Hebron to covenant with David and anoint him king. This narrative makes the point that as a successful military leader, he was the people’s choice as well the as divinely anointed sovereign.

Vss.4-5 also give the standard Deuteronomic formula for successive monarchs of Israel. It tells us the duration of his reign which is now calculated as spanning the year 1000 BCE. David first established Hebron as his capital; then he captured the fortress of Jerusalem and made it his capital city. The intervening verses between the two segments of the reading are confusing due to a corrupt Hebrew text. The narrator obviously knew much more about the lay of the land than we are now able to determine from the most advanced archeological data. Scholars still debate how much we can depend on the geographical and historical validity of much of the biblical narrative.

The intent of the Deuteronomic editors of this passage was to tell their generation of Israelites of the utmost significance of David’s reign and especially his relocation of the capital city to Jerusalem. They wrote during the Babylonian exile about 550 BCE when the holy city had very special significance for the nation’s religious tradition. They sought to justify to the exiles in Babylon why their captivity was the judgment of Yahweh, but also that their hope lay in the greatness of David’s reign as the sign of Yahweh’s eternal covenant with Israel.

The stronghold of Zion (vs. 7) was indeed a fortress situated on the southern ridge between the valleys of Tyropoen and the Kidron brook. It later included the whole of the fortifications of Jerusalem. The name Zion subsequently became associated with the sacred site of the temple built by David’s son, Solomon. In religious parlance, it became known as the dwelling place of Yahweh, as evidenced by the numerous reference in the Psalms. Today, it is occupied by two great mosques of Islam, Al Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock.

The reference to “the Millo” in vs. 9 is obscure, but may indicate a particular element of the fortifications which David built. I Kings 9:15, 24; 11:27 attribute its construction to Solomon. The word suggests a place of stamped earth. It may have been a very secure house or perhaps a military barracks and parade ground for gathering the city’s defensive forces.

EZEKIEL 2:1-5. (Alternate) Being a prophet is never easy. The name of this prophet means “Yahweh strengthens.” And that about says it all about this man of whom very little is known except what is found in 1:3 that he was of priestly heritage and may have deported with the rest of the exiles to Babylon in 598/597 BCE after the surrender of King Jehoiachin. Scholars debate whether he was actually among the exiles in Babylon or remained in Jerusalem. According to 29:17 he was still receiving divine revelations as late as 571 BCE.

The call of Ezekiel to be prophet among the exiles in Babylon included a strong warning that he would encounter much resistance. People in deep mourning would likely react negatively to an encouraging message that intended to transform their ancient traditions as did Ezekiel. In spite of their rebellion against God and their impudent and stubborn nature, he was to deliver an outspoken message directly from God, “Thus says the Lord God.”

Note however that his mandate came directly from Yahweh’s Spirit (vs. 2). This form of revelation is repeated many times in the rest of the book (3:12, 14, 24; 11:1, 5, 24; 37:1; 43:5). In short, Ezekiel was commanded to challenge the faith of the exiles in the God who intended only to move them into an entirely new phase of their religious, social, economic and political history. Doesn’t that sound familiar for times such as these?

PSALM 48. In the century after their return from exile in Babylon in 539 BCE, the Jews sought to recover their national identity by rebuilding their temple and their capital city of Jerusalem. The monarchy had ceased to exist, but the temple priesthood replaced royalty as the most prominent leaders of the people. Out of this restored religious culture arose a fundamentally theocratic system which flowered in the elaboration of the cultus of temple sacrifices, the creation of psalmody and other religious literature which subsequently became the canon of scripture. This highly nationalistic psalm praising Jerusalem as the holy city of Yahweh is part of that renaissance.

Believed to be from a collection of “Songs of Zion,” it may well have been sung by pilgrims who came to Jerusalem for the sacred festivals. Many Jews, especially those of the Diaspora, could only afford to make this pilgrimage once in a lifetime. Every stone and handful of dust from the city would be sacred to them. Pilgrims today still return from Jerusalem with souvenirs of all kinds, the more valuable if they are part of the urban fabric rather than commercial trinkets.

The theme of this psalm is Yahweh’s protection for the city itself. It is “his holy mountain” (vs. 2). The second part of that parallelism likens Mount Zion to a mountain in the far north, possibly Mount Hermon, which reaches to heaven. There follows a rewriting of history in vss. 4-8. Israel had suffered from many foreign invasions. Her enemies had all perished but Jerusalem had remained. With poetic hyperbole, the fear and panic of those enemies is ridiculed “as a woman in travail.”

The psalmist was undoubtedly a male who had little regard for the subject of his simile. He drew another derogatory image from the violent storms that drove ships from the eastern Mediterranean bound for the Phoenician port of Tartessus in Spain (Tarshish), frequently wrecking them with its violent east wind (vs. 7). Amidst all this terror, Jerusalem remained safe, at least in the imagination of the poet.

Worshiping in the temple, strolling through the streets, or marveling at the city’s fortification brings to mind why this Jerusalem is so secure: Yahweh loves Israel. There can be only one response to this insight: praise for Israel’s protector.

Despite having been destroyed and rebuilt several times, Jerusalem still retains the designation of “the holy city” for three great religious traditions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – all for different reasons.

PSALM 123. (Alternate) Assumed to be for pilgrims approaching the temple this “psalm of ascent” saw it as representing the very presence of the invisible God among God’s people. That brought considerable relief from the contempt and scorn of unbelievers who felt no need for God in their lives.

Without doubt, the temple when seen from the Mount of Olives would have been an awesome experience for the weary pilgrim. We should note, however, that the psalm makes no mention whatever of the temple. The prayer could have been uttered in any place where the supplicant looked toward the sky and imagined God seated on a throne as the master of a household with a company of servants gathered around him.

The strong emotions of the latter verses suggest the time of the exile when the Jews were treated contemptuously by their neighbours who felt superior to them. This gives us some insight into the personal feelings of Jews subjected to anti-Semitism. Powerless to fight back as in recent times when Israel withstood every assault from hostile neighbours, they could only turn to prayer to avert the pain such attacks inevitably imposed. One hears the same note of despondency in those survivors of the Holocaust remembering the time when six million Jews were left to suffer at the hands of the Nazis.

2 CORINTHIANS 12:2-10. In the midst of a conflict with the Corinthian Christian community, Paul tells about two of his deepest spiritual experiences. In one he had an ecstatic theophany when he received an exceptional revelation. He does not say exactly what the revelation was. Perhaps it was beyond words, as such experiences often are.

Such religious ecstasy brings forth negative attitudes and criticisms in our intellectually sophisticated age. We should neither spurn them nor invent opportunities to create moments such as Paul describes. They can be very real, however or to whom they occur. It may well be that certain people, like Paul and innumerable other saints in the history of the church, have a special gift for or are particularly susceptible to such experiences. There is some recent psycho-neurological research that certain neurological structures of the brain make intense religious experiences not only possible but likely. (See The Global Spiral, monthly online publication of the Metanexus Institute.)
Bruce Chilton adds to the scholarly uncertainty about these experiences in his Rabbi Paul: An Intellectual Biography. (Doubleday, 2000) He believes that Paul, like Jesus and Peter before him, shared in what later became known as the Merkabah tradition. Jey J.Kanagaraj (Mysticism’ in the Gospel of John: An Inquiry into its Background. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998) discussed the Merkabah tradition in positing the theory that “the Gospel John is a “mystical” document, written, at least as one of its purposes, to address with the Gospel those who were preoccupied with Merkabah mystical practice and with cosmological speculations.” It is known that from the 2nd to the 7th centuries CE, Jewish mystics were inspired and guided by the mystical visions of Ezekiel and the divine chariot (Ezekiel 1) to experience direct, personal communion with God.

Modern psychology, psychiatry and neurology have attempted to describe how these mystical experience do happen. One of the best analyses was written nearly fifty years ago by a British psychiatrist, William Sargent, in his book Battle For The Mind. Sargent showed that physiological similarities exist between religious ecstasy and conversion, healing for shell-shocked and battle-fatigued war veterans, forced criminal confessions, and politically motivated brain-washing. He might also add the behavioral compulsions of teenagers in response to their favorite rock stars.

In the other spiritual experience described in this passage, Paul tells how he fervently prayed to have the unidentified cause of great suffering removed. Instead he was given the reassurance that God’s grace would be sufficient for his every need. Much speculation has been expended as to the exact nature of Paul’s problem. These vary from a painful and incurable disease, a physical disability due to paralysis, a facial disfigurement or poor eyesight, all the way to a tendency to homosexuality. Chilton adds to the speculation by proposing that because he was under such constant stress from the time of his conversion onward, he was subject to frequent attacks of shingles (herpes zoster) that left him disfigured. The fact is that we can never know for sure. More important, however, is the way he deals with his “thorn in the flesh.” It became a source of power in that it made possible a deeper spiritual experience enabling him to withstand ever greater hardship in pursuing his mission as an evangelist.

Many ministers can attest to the reality that when they feel most incapable of making an effective witness to faith, others have greatly benefited from their perceived failures. One minister invited to preach in a prominent New York church felt he had utterly ruined the opportunity. Retiring to the vestry after the service, his eye fell on a wall plague bearing the words, “Hallelujah anyway! God is with us.”

MARK 6:1-13. To say the least, Jesus’ hometown folk felt uneasy with him in their midst, especially when he taught in their synagogue on a sabbath. We are not told why they were so offended. Perhaps it was just their jealousy that one whom they knew so well had become so famous. Certainly they thought he had far gone beyond what one of his status as a humble carpenter should go. They would have had respect for him as one skilled in such trades as carpentry that contributed to the general welfare of the community. But they would not have expected him to be skilled in the interpretation of the scriptures or a radical social reformer. One of the contemporary group of Jesus scholars has speculated that although verbally gifted in a predominately oral culture, Jesus may have been illiterate.

Rejected at home, Jesus adopted another strategy. He gathered his disciples together and sent them out “with authority over the unclean spirits.” This may have meant that they merely had power to change people’s minds about what they might expect from Jesus. The gospel authors like Mark who wrote down the tradition for subsequent generations also believed that the disciples possessed the same authority over unclean spirits that Jesus himself had demonstrated. Apparently that is what Mark intended. But was this “authority” (Greek = exousia) a moral and spiritual authority of a pastoral nature or was it something more of a power to effect physical cures? Without question then as now, anyone suffering from an illness, however caused, would seriously affect everyone in the extended family or the immediate community of the sick person. In such circumstances, even death has a healing effect over time.

There is an interesting analysis by John Dominic Crossan of the differentiation between the actual events in Galilee when Jesus lived there during the late third decade of the lst century and the way the story was told by Mark in the seventh decade. Crossan believes that the Markan account described a difference of approach between those who were itinerant apostles and those who were resident followers of the Way. This occurred in the later period when the apostolic church was spreading out into the Gentile world. He elaborates this thesis in his essay “Jesus And The Kingdom” in the volume edited by Marcus Borg, Jesus At 2000. (Westview Press, 1998). He concludes that this passage is Mark’s own description of the kingdom as “companionship of empowerment” rather than the actual historical events of Jesus’ ministry. This is in keeping, Crossan claims, with Jesus’ inauguration of the kingdom as an “interactive social radicalism” consisting of two distinct elements: those who were itinerant preachers of a radical gospel and those who were resident householders who witnessed to it less radically in their normal community living.

The end of the story as we now have it in this passage revealed how successful they were in calling people to repent, casting out demons and curing the sick. This appears to have been a trial run for the post-Pentecost period when Mark was an active itinerant with Paul and Barnabas, at least for while before accompanying Peter to Rome.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
Proper 8 Ordinary 13
June 28, 2009


2 SAMUEL 1:1, 17-27. David’s lament at the death of his king, Saul, and his close friend, Jonathan, has the majesty of beautiful poetry. Many scholars have attributed it to David himself. If so, it may be one of the earliest pieces of Hebrew literature dating from before 1000 BC. While it mourns the king and his son who were killed in battle, it lacks all religious feeling. It is more of a dirge similar to what one hears when a British monarch or American president dies.

WISDOM OF SOLOMON: 1:13-15, 2:23-24. (Alternate) Most Protestant Christians are unfamiliar with the Wisdom of Solomon. Although attributed to King Solomon it was the work of a well-educated Hellenized Jew written scarcely a century before the birth of Christ. The first segment appeals to the faithful person to live a godly life while the second points to belief in life beyond death despite satanic influences in life now.

PSALM 130: This lovely lament also has a permanent place in world literature. It is one series of psalms identified with the approach of pilgrims to Jerusalem for one of the great religious festivals, possibly the Day of Atonement for the sins of the nation. It ends with a deep expression of hope in God’s steadfast love.

PSALM 30. (Alternate) The psalmist praises God for saving him from death in a critical illness. After at first expressing a certain overconfidence about God’s favor, he realizes how much he owes to God for answering his prayer of distress. In the 2nd century BC, the psalm came into liturgical use for the rededication of the temple by Judas Maccabaeus now celebrated at the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

2 CORINTHIANS 8:7-15. Paul delicately proposes that the Corinthians complete their collection for the famine-stricken Christians in Jerusalem. He has as much concern that the Corinthians learn how to be generous as he is that they make a large contribution. Gracious giving to help those in need is based on Christ’s own sacrifice for them – and for us.

MARK 5:21-43. Another crossing of Lake Galilee brought Jesus another opportunity for healing. Supposedly the daughter of Jairus, the head of a synagogue was dying. While on his way to heal her, Jesus was pressed by the crowd, but still felt another woman in need seek healing by touching the hem of his robe. The two miracles provide a sharp contrast between the healing of someone who exhibited faith and another who did not. To Jesus human need and God’s willingness and power, not the demonstration of good faith, makes the difference.

This could have a singularly important application for our time. Many political and economic leaders want our national social security and health systems to be transformed from a basis of need in which all share through public taxation to expensive insurance schemes that place limits on many pre-existing illnesses.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

2 SAMUEL 1:1, 17-27. David’s lament at the death of his king, Saul, and his close friend, Jonathan, has the majesty of beautiful poetry. Many scholars have attributed it to David himself. If so it may be one of the earliest pieces of Hebrew literature dating from before 1000 BC. While it mourns the king and his son who were killed in battle, it lacks all religious feeling. It is more of a dirge similar to what one hears when a British monarch or American president dies. It might well be read against the background of The Dead March from ‘Saul’ or a highland lament played on bagpipes so often heard at military funerals.

The site where this battle was fought has become a famous Israeli tourist attraction. Mount Gilboa is a limestone ridge thrusting some 1700 feet above the Plain of Jezreel. The more enterprising may climb the ridge by means of a footpath, but from the valley below even the naked eye can see a bare tree marking the place where, as 1 Samuel 31:8-10 has it, the Philistines hung the beheaded bodies of Saul and Jonathan on the walls of the fortress of Beth-shan. Today, at the base of the mountain in Bet-She’an National Park, one can tour the splendid ruins of a Roman and Byzantine city destroyed by a devastating earthquake in 749 CE. It gives the visitor a vivid impression of what a death-place this was from ancient times.

Vs. 21 of this passage is a curse on the place where Saul fell. The previous two verses recall the celebration in the Philistine cities along the Mediterranean coast cited in 1 Sam 31:9.

Those who remember as I do the celebrations of V-E and V-J Days in 1945, understand how poignant is David’s horror at the thought of the Philistines rejoicing. Several years later I heard a Japanese woman who lost all her family in the bombing of Hiroshima utter a similar curse and lament for her people at a church conference on group dynamics at Green Lake, WI. Are not the scenes we see televised from the Viet Nam Memorial on Memorial Day or the Canadian War Memorial on Remembrance Day reminiscent of David’s lament? Will we recall the more recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the same way? Surely it is from whatever perspective we experience such moments that we can share the deep sense of catastrophic grief this lament expresses.

WISDOM OF SOLOMON: 1:13-15, 2:23-24. (Alternate) Most Protestant Christians are unfamiliar with the Wisdom of Solomon. Although attributed to King Solomon it was the work of a well-educated Hellenized Jew written scarcely a century before the birth of Christ. The first segment appeals to the faithful person to live a godly life while the second scoffs points to belief in life beyond death despite satanic influences in life now.

Coming late in the history of Hebrew literature, Wisdom of Solomon was not included in the Hebrew Bible, but was part of Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation. So the Roman Catholic tradition considers it Holy Scripture whereas Protestants generally defer it to the apocryphal writings. It is generally thought to have originated in Alexandria where Jewish and Greek thought were considered compatible.

In the Jerusalem Bible, a Roman Catholic translation originating in France and first published in English in 1966, chapter 1 has the headline, “On seeking God and rejecting evil.” Chapter 2 is headed, “Life as the godless sees it.” These two excerpts elaborate these headings very well.

PSALM 130: Some regard this loveliest of psalms as a penitential prayer rather than a true lament. Yet it has a permanent place in the religious literature of the world. It is one series of psalms (Pss. 120-134) identified with either the New Year’s festival or the approach of pilgrims to Jerusalem for one of the great religious festivals. This one may well have been used on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. The fact that it omits any reference to atoning sacrifices suggests that it may be a late composition when such rituals had already lost their significance for the most devout.

Although the context reveals nothing about its actual circumstances, it does express a sense of deep devotion as well as a forthright confession of the sin. One might speculate whether it was a prayer of a pious individual or for use by the assembled representatives of the whole nation. It could also have been used antiphonally quite effectively.

In vs. 1, the reference to the depths brings forth the image of the engulfing waters of Sheol into which the dead sink (cf. Isa. 51:10; Jonah 2:3). It also reflects the poet’s deep sense of alienation from Yahweh. So he throws himself on Yahweh’s mercy and forgiveness (vss. 3-4) and realizes that on this alone rests his ultimate security (vss. 5-6).

Even if this prayer originated from the heart of a singularly pious soul, it ends with a plea for all Israel to put its hope in Yahweh’s steadfast love, trusting in Yahweh’s power to redeem the sinful nation from all its iniquities. Many generations in both the Jewish and Christian traditions have found in it solace for the sin-sick soul. John Wesley’s Journal records one of its more significant uses. In Wesley’s time, this prayer entitled De Profundis was sung at evensong on the 27th day of each month. The paragraph in his journal began: “In the afternoon I was asked to go to St. Paul’s.” The psalm in the version from the Book of Common Order follows. He would have known it by heart. This record is found in the paragraph immediately previous to the one in which he tells of his Aldersgate experience when his heart was “strangely warmed.”

PSALM 30. (Alternate) The psalmist praises God for saving him from death in a critical illness. After at first expressing a certain overconfidence about God’s favor (vss. 6-7), he realizes how much he owes to God for answering his prayer of distress.

It is natural for a person to be exuberant about being restored suddenly to good health. Even with modern medicine capable of curing or alleviating many of the most severe illnesses once regarded as fatal less than a century ago, the fear of death persists. The psalmist’s fear of death was expressed in vs. 2. The Pit was another common Old Testament term, among several others, for the abode of the dead. But Sheol was by far the most common, occurring sixty six times. Unlike the others, however, it was unique to the Hebrew language, and does not occur in any other Semitic language. Generally, the various terms for the abode of the dead conveyed the idea of a permanent, shadowy, chaotic but silent place. No Old Testament reference contains any concept of punishment or torment. The concept of an infernal hell came into existence only during the Hellenistic period probably influenced by Persian (i.e. Zoroastrian) ideas.

The traditional concept of illness resulting from divine anger still lingers as the philosophical matrix of the poem (vs.5). Despite the shadowed background to the psalm and the loss of prosperity, the poet had unmitigated praise for God’s beneficence. His pride had been restored to the extent that he could question divine justice in the death he had so recently escaped (vs. 9). His mourning had been transformed into joy (vs. 11).

In the 2nd century BC, the psalm came into liturgical use for the rededication of the temple by Judas Maccabaeus now celebrated at the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

2 CORINTHIANS 8:7-15. Toward the end of his letter seeking reconciliation with the Corinthians (2 Cor. 1-9), Paul delicately proposes that they complete their collection for the famine-stricken Christians in Jerusalem. This project had been very close to Paul’s heart. He sincerely believed that as the offspring of the original congregation of believers, the Gentile congregations had a duty to help the Mother of all Churches in its time of need. Titus had made this appeal first to the Corinthians (vs. 6). For some reason they had withheld their contribution, probably due to their disagreement with Paul which caused the earlier, painful correspondence.

A personal aside: O my! How we Christians still try to control each other by withholding our stewardship gifts! The very day I first wrote this, I received a series of e-mail messages expressing the fear that if the issue of the blessing of gay and lesbian marriages is raised at the General Council of The United Church of Canada, many more will withhold their gifts to the Mission and Service Fund of our church or withdraw from our fellowship. Possibly 10,000 of more than 700,000 members and ordered ministers withdrew in the 1990s after the General Council adopted a policy accepting gay and lesbian persons who believe in Jesus Christ as full members and eligible for consideration as candidates for ordered ministry.

After first challenging the Corinthians to follow the example of the Macedonian churches in Philippi, Thessalonica and Beroea, Paul sets before them the example of Jesus Christ himself. For Paul, the sacrifice of Jesus did not begin on the cross, nor at this birth. It began when he set aside his godhead and became incarnate as a humble servant of God in the human context of a 1st century Jewish carpenter. (cf. Phil 2:6-8). Gracious giving to help those in need is based on Christ’s own sacrifice for them – and for us.

Paul has as much concern that the Corinthians learn how to be generous as he is that they make a large contribution. He cites their previous eagerness to contribute and asks them to finish what they had begun so well (vss. 10-11). Many a stewardship sermon has been preached on the text of vs. 12-14: One’s readiness to give has to be matched by one’s ability to give. What one has, not what one lacks, is the only balanced measure of our stewardship.

The quotation from Exodus 16:18 in vs. 15 emphasizes Paul’s vision of equality among Christians which requires those who have to share with those who have not. Such an economic policy is anathema in our crazed profit-oriented society, yet it also motivates many to contribute generously to food banks and to send relief to famine- or flood-stricken countries.

In Canada, a modest undertaking by Rt. Rev. Bill Phipps, former Moderator of The United Church of Canada, attracted considerable attention to his Consultation on Faith and the Economy from those outside the church fellowship. For instance, he was invited to be the theme speaker at the annual general meeting of the Halton Social Planning Council, on Oakville, Ontario, on June 26th, 2000. He spoke on A Moral Crisis: God and the Marketplace.

Nearly a decade later, with the whole world in the grips of a devastating recession, there is even greater need for a deep sense of caring and sharing to bridge the gap between those who have something to spare and those who have little or nothing.

MARK 5:21-43. Mark must have had some special purpose for saying many times that Jesus and his disciples crossed and recrossed Lake Galilee. Considering the local geography, these crossings provided no more than easy shortcuts from one town to another along the western and northwestern coast of the lake. Only in the instance of the previous pericope about driving the demon from the man living among the tombs (5:1-20) did he actually cross into foreign territory. Going by boat also provided the means of avoiding crowds.

In this passage, yet another crossing brought Jesus two other opportunities for healing. Supposedly the daughter of Jairus, the head of a synagogue was dying. While on his way to heal her, Jesus was pressed by the crowd, but still felt another woman in need seek healing by touching the hem of his robe.

Jairus was not a rabbi, but the lay president of the synagogue in his community. Mark does not identify exactly in which town or village it was located. The man was desperate about his daughter and pleaded that Jesus come to his house and lay hands on her. In response to this plea Jesus went with him and the crowd followed, probably more curious to see another miracle than to hear what Jesus might say. In small communities, anything unusual draws a crowd.

One of the people in the crowd was a woman who had suffered from a menstrual malady for twelve years. Every attempt she had made to get help from other healers had failed. She was now both desperate and destitute. Hearing about Jesus, she sought to get close enough to touch his garment hoping that it might have the magic that would heal her. When she did touch him, she was instantly healed. Jesus realized that something unusual had happened to him too. Looking around at the crowd, he asked who had touched him, the woman identified herself, but did so in great fear. Jesus had only compassion for her and sent her on her way with the assurance that her faith had been rewarded.

Meanwhile, Jairus’ daughter had already died, or so her caregivers thought. Jesus had to reassure Jairus that this was not so and urge him to let faith deal with his fear. Arriving at the house, he rebuked the mourners who had already begun their funereal wailing. They derided him, so he sent them all out of the house, took the parents into the room where the girl lay, and raised her with a tender word.

The two miracles provide a sharp contrast between the healing of someone who exhibited faith and another who did not. To Jesus, human need and God’s willingness and power, not the demonstration of good faith, makes the difference. The details of these two pericopes should not distract us from the essential point Mark is making: through Jesus the shalom of God has arrived revitalizing the lives of old and young. Wherever and whenever that happens, divine compassion for those in need overcomes fear and restores wholeness to the humblest of human lives.

This could have a singularly important application for our time. Many political and economic leaders want our social security and health systems to be transformed from a basis of need in which all share through public taxation to expensive insurance schemes that place limits on many pre-existing illnesses, thereby leaving many without needed medical care.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
Second Sunday After Pentecost
Proper 6 Ordinary 11
June 14, 2009

1 SAMUEL 15:34-16:13. The story of how Samuel was led by God to anoint David as king of Israel instead of Saul may sound strange to our modern ears. Yet it fits well with the theological viewpoint found throughout the Old Testament that God is very much involved in the working out of human history.

EZEKIEL 17:22-24. (Alternate) In a metaphor of God planting a tree on a high mountain this poetic prophecy again expresses the view of God as Lord of Israel’s history. The metaphor refers to Israel’s return from exile in Babylon to rebuild their capital city, Jerusalem.

PSALM 20. Like a number of psalms, this one offers prayers for an anointed king. It pleads for God’s help at a time when the monarch is menaced by foes from within and without his country.

PSALM 92:1-4, 12-15. (Alternate) The psalmist has occasion to offer thanks to God. His gratitude arises out of long experience of God’s goodness during a long life.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:6-17. Paul confidently celebrates faith in the love of Christ that has motivated and sustained him through years of difficult ministry to the Gentiles. He fervently proclaimed that anyone who believed and followed Christ had become a new creation and could see the whole of life in this world from a spiritual point of view.

MARK 4:26-34. Because we do not think in spiritual terms, Jesus’ parables of the kingdom of heaven often seem to defy interpretation for modern readers. In these two brief vignettes drawn from the rural life of Galilee, Jesus spoke about the way faith can provide those who believed in and followed him with a full and abundant life.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

1 SAMUEL 15:34-16:13. In these times when governments are change by democratic vote or by violent revolution, this passage may seem to have no message for us. The story of how Samuel was led by God to anoint David as king of Israel instead of Saul may sound particularly strange to our modern ears. Yet it fits well with the view found throughout the Old Testament that God is very much involved in the working out of human history, especially that of God’s chosen people, Israel.

The concept of God as Lord of history is not easy to understand in today’s global political situation. We tend to think either in terms of God being on our side or favouring the most militarily powerful empire, especially in times of war. The story of Samuel anointing David reveals that God is not interested in either prestige or power. As 16:7 declares, “the Lord does not see as mortals see.” It was the youngest of Jesse’s son, the shepherd boy, David, whom God chose to succeed Israel’s first king Saul after he had departed from God’s purpose.

Another aspect of this story is the reality of Samuel’s fear. At first he was loath to do as God had directed him. The aging prophet knew that Saul would kill him if he found out that God had rejected him as Israel’s leader. God saw things differently and gave Samuel an alternative way to do God’s bidding. When Samuel arrived in Bethlehem, the elders of that city were similarly fearful of Saul until the prophet advised them of the ruse to conceal his real intention.

More often than not fear is a significant factor in human relations, be it among individuals or nations. Fear of hostile neighbours led Israel to aggressive wars on many occasions. Fear of losing the competition for imperial power led to the two costly global wars of the 20th century. As the 21st century began, a pre-emptive war against terror became a further reason for more futile bloodshed to the Middle East.

Surely God has another purpose and plan for the nations and the religious traditions that motivate them to take up arms against one another. The working out of God’s purpose to create a universal reign of love in this world is the task to which all peoples of faith must now turn. But will we ever find the courage to do so?

EZEKIEL 17:22-24. (Alternate) In a metaphor of God planting a tree on a high mountain this poetic prophecy again expressed the view of God as Lord of Israel’s history. The metaphor referred to Israel’s return from exile in Babylon to rebuild their capital city, Jerusalem, in the latter part of the 6th century BCE.

The poet Ogden Nash once wrote, “How odd of God to choose the Jews.” Yet the biblical narrative assures us that God chose Israel to be a light among the nations that the whole world might learn God’s way to live in neighbourly peace. This divine purpose lies behind Ezekiel’s metaphor of a small sprig of a lofty cedar tree planted on a high mountain to grow and give shade for the birds to nest in.

In vs. 24, speaking for God, the prophet depicted as trees that either flourish or fail to declare how God uses the rise and fall of nations and empires to bring about the end to which history moves.

PSALM 20. Like a number of psalms, this one offers prayers for an anointed king. It pleads for God’s help at a time when the monarch is menaced by foes from within and without his country.

It is never wrong to pray for our government and our country. On the other hand, we should beware the blatant nationalism of the false patriot who declares, “My country right or wrong; but right our wrong, my country.” In fact, that bit of bravado is a misquotation of statements with quite different meaning made by several British and American authors including Charles Churchill (1731-1764); Stephen Decatur (1779-1820); John Quincy Adams (1767-1848); Carl Schurz (1829-1906); and G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936).

This prayer for a king probably dates from the period prior to the Babylonian exile (586-539 BCE) when Judea, the southern part of the original kingdom, still had a ruling monarch. The performance of religious rites seeking God’s favour comes through the early verses. A sense of trepidation lies behind the latter verses. As God’s anointed, the monarch’s safety and victory were of paramount importance to the nation and its security. Whoever the enemy was, they were presumed to have more powerful armaments (vss. 7-8). Therefore the appeal for God’s help in gaining victory was far from assured.

Offering prayers for victory in battle may be as old as human religious traditions. How God is to deal with the fervent prayers for victory offered by both combatants is a theological puzzle that no one can satisfactorily solve.

PSALM 92:1-4, 12-15. (Alternate) The psalmist has occasion to offer thanks to God. His gratitude arises out of long experience of God’s goodness during a long life. His joy in praising God comes through vividly in the opening verses.

The mood changes in vss. 5-8 to a traditional contrast of those who are faithful and those who are not. The right to make such judgments still belongs to God. Victory over enemies is also seen as the victory of God (vss. 9-11). Finally, vss. 12-15 lift up the benefits of living righteously. Such benefits rest on God’s righteousness and justice, not on human behaviour.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:6-17. In this excerpt Paul confidently celebrated faith in the love of Christ that had motivated and sustained him through years of difficult ministry to the Gentiles. He fervently proclaimed that anyone who believed and followed Christ had become a new creation. This gave him a whole new perspective on life in this world and life eternal from a spiritual point of view.

Paul had a very troubled relationship with the Corinthians, but he constantly strove to bring them to a new life of faith. The early part of this passage (vss. 6-10) deals with the subject of our unavoidable mortality which he had begun to discuss in the previous chapter, 4:7 – 5:5. Facing death was nothing new for him. Many times he had been threatened with imminent demise, yet he had never been afraid of it. Early in his life as a Pharisee and much more so after his conversion, he had devoutly believed in resurrection and life beyond death. This faith gave him the confidence to say what for any other person might be regarded as death wish (vs.8). His one desire was to serve Christ as long as he had breath, knowing full well that judgment awaited him as it did for every other human being. Beyond that too lay the glorious experience of the eternal presence of God and Jesus Christ.

The expression “the fear of the Lord” occurs many times in the Old Testament. In many respects it was the familiar way of describing the religious tradition of post-exilic Judaism. Its central meaning can be understood best as mysterium tremendum. Much more than reverent piety, it meant a sense of supreme awe in the presence of Yawheh. It was the essence of wisdom in approaching everyday life and the ethical motivation for an absolute moral monotheism determining the behaviour of every believer. Even the Messiah would sense the spirit of the fear of the Lord (Isa. 11:2).

Paul shared this classical theological and psychological point of view. At the same time, his approach to life and to his mission had been filtered through his conversion experience. He had come to see that above all else the life, death and resurrection of Jesus conveyed the love of God for sinful, selfish humanity. “He died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.” Nothing else mattered. This became the fundamental motivation for his ministry to the Gentiles and his continual conflict with both Peter and James about that mission.

Verse 16 contains a profound retrospective of his conversion experience. He certainly had seen Jesus “from a human point of view.” The apostolic claim that Jesus was the Messiah/Christ had so threatened Paul’s rabbinical ambitions that he had become a violent persecutor of the Christian community in Jerusalem. He had obtained permission from the high priest to extend his campaign against those messianic heretics to Damascus. Whatever that experience may have been in modern psychological terms, his meeting with the risen Christ on the Damascus Road had totally transformed his life. He became, as vs. 17 avers, “a new creation.”

Perhaps the most significant element of this compact passage is the simple word “anyone” in vs. 17. Paul did not regard the conversion experience as exclusive to himself. It was for everyone who believed that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. It was the power of the Spirit of God available to Jew and Gentile alike.

In his Rabbi Paul: An Intellectual Biography (Image Books, 2004), Bruce Chilton has described Paul in this passage as “thinking on so cosmic a scale, linking God’s Spirit to humanity’s and both to the transformation of the world.” Chilton elaborates: “The same Spirit that made the world, hovering over the face of the primeval waters and descending upon each believer at baptism, infused the meetings of every congregation, joining Paul’s spirit and Jesus’ power in the judgment that would free the world of its old shape and give it new form. That transformation was doubly powerful because at the same time it occurred at the intimate level of each believer’s own body. The transformation of body, self and world were all happening at once, ‘in Christ.’”

Is it too much to believe that even the least noticed transformation of any person that leads to deeper and more faithful discipleship is a step toward remaking this sin-sick old world?

MARK 4:26-34. Because we do not think in spiritual terms, Jesus’ parables of the kingdom of heaven often seem to defy interpretation for modern readers. In these two brief vignettes drawn from the rural life of Galilee, Jesus spoke about the way faith can provide those who believed in and followed him a full and abundant life.

As a young carpenter of Nazareth Jesus would have met and chatted with innumerable peasant farmers of Galilee. Seedtime and harvest would have been natural topics of conversation then as they are today among farm folk. In that region, especially in the Plain of Esdraelon nearby, there was abundant good soil for raising abundant grain crops. Because of the mountains of Lebanon to the north, rainfall was plentiful. He might well have turned his own hand to the sickle to aid his neighbours at harvest time. This set of parables reflects that rural scene with sharp realism.

The time between seedtime and harvest also come through almost as clearly in the words of vs. 27. It takes approximately ninety days for the farmer to sleep and rise before a field crop can ripen to maturity. Much can happen in the interim to prevent a fruitful harvest. That requires both faith and patience from the farmer.

The second parable is less illustrative of rural Galilee. Once cultivated for the oil of its very small seeds, the mustard plant (brassica nigra) is now a common weed. It does exceed most other weeds in height, projecting above the level of the grain it contaminates. With large leaves, bright yellow flowers and small seeds in pods, it can be easily distinguished from crop surrounding it. However, it is not as large as a small tree or shrub and certainly could not hold up even a small bird’s nest. At most, a tiny bird might settle on its branches for a few seconds rest. It is even possible that the parable drew on a well-known image found in Daniel 4:10-12 and 20-22.

So Jesus must have been exaggerating to make his point. But why the hyperbole? To emphasize the significance of faith. “The kingdom of heaven” is no earthly nation with exact geographic location on this planet or elsewhere in the vast universe. It is spiritual in nature and can only be accessed by those who are spiritual. It is located wherever God’s love reigns. In these parables Jesus was saying that only those with a deep, abiding and patient faith in him and his way will find themselves citizens of that sacred, spiritual realm.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
First Sunday After Pentecost – June 7, 2009
[Also known as Trinity Sunday]

ISAIAH 6:1-8. These few verses describe the call of Isaiah to his ministry of speaking for God to Israel during a critical period of its history in the late 8th century BC. Amid the smoke from the sacrifice on the altar in the temple, Isaiah had a vision of God attended by heavenly creatures. One of the heavenly beings touched his lips with a live coal symbolizing his freedom from sin and worthiness to proclaim God’s message to Israel. Then Isaiah heard the voice of God calling for someone to speak for God to God’s sinful people; and he responds.

PSALM 29. Although beginning with praise to God, the emphasis in this psalm is on the voice of God as if heard in the violence of a thunderstorm.

ROMANS 8:12-17. Paul claims that having the Spirit of the risen Christ is the key to Christian discipleship. The Spirit dwelling within us enables us to live as the people of God rather than as slaves to the value system of the world around us.

JOHN 3:1-17. Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, learns from Jesus how the Spirit makes us new spiritual persons through faith in the crucified and risen Christ. This comes about because God loves the world so much that God sent Jesus into the world to save us with this faith.

This majestic passage is one of many in the New Testament witnessing to what subsequently became the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. It describes the ministry Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit as God at work in the world.

Some people look at verse 16 as the secret for obtaining eternal life beyond death. In this passage, however, John makes the point that God is as much concerned about how we live in this life now as with what happens to us afterward. As the subsequent verses 18 to 21 explain, God’s judgment occurs and eternal life begins when we believe who Jesus is and what his coming into the world really means.

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A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS

ISAIAH 6:1-8. These few verses describe the call of Isaiah to his ministry of speaking for God to Israel during a critical period of its history in the late 8th century BC. The late Dr. R.B.Y. Scott, my professor of Old Testament at McGill University, Montreal, later of Princeton University, wrote an exceptional exegesis of this passage in The Interpreter’s Bible (6: 204ff) which is well worth reading in full. Scott described this as an ecstatic vision, “one of the outstanding passages of the Bible which justify a doctrine of revelation in and through recorded spiritual experience…. We can participate imaginatively in Isaiah’s vision and feel the same pang of conscience in the presence of the unutterable and sovereign glory of the goodness of God.”

Amid the smoke from the sacrifice on the altar in the temple, Isaiah had a vision of God attended by heavenly creatures. One of the heavenly beings touched his lips with a live coal symbolizing his freedom from sin and worthiness to proclaim God’s message to Israel. Then Isaiah heard the voice of God calling for someone to speak for God to God’s sinful people; and he responds.

The event has a specific historical context: “the year that King Uzziah died.” The year 742 BCE was the approximate date, although biblical historians cannot be altogether sure. II Kings 15:1ff gave the king another name, Azariah (cf.14:21; 15:13). Isaiah may have been one of the courtiers or a member of the priesthood. He had contact with several kings of Judah, the southern kingdom, through perilous times until at least 701 BCE. His oracles often met with royal displeasure because they counseled actions which, however spiritually motivated, were politically unpalatable (chs. 36-39).

The passage emphasizes the holiness of Yahweh in that in the intensity of his vision when Isaiah “sees” Yahweh and hears the divine summons, Yahweh’s face and feet are hidden from him. It is the six winged seraphim, the heavenly attendants of Yahweh, of which Isaiah catches sight. In other words, spiritual being can only be spiritually encountered. The experience can only be expressed in humanly relevant terms. As Scott said, “Holiness is the essential quality of deity, glory is the manifestation of deity in the natural world.”

Isaiah’s familiarity with the cult of Yahweh underlies the ritual act of mouth-purification (vss. 6-7) symbolizing divine forgiveness enabling the prophet to speak in Yahweh’s name, “Thus saith the Lord ….” Contact with the holiness of Yahweh sanctified Isaiah for his prophetic mission. His humble response, “Here am I! Send me,” represents total commitment that countless others have made in similar circumstances. Vocation remains our best human response to a divine summons.

Not all prophets or pastors, from ancient times to the present day, have been called in such dramatic fashion. This brief narrative gives scriptural credibility to the ecstatic nature of some calls to ministry. It may be easy for modern secular minds the cast doubt on the validity of such calls. For those to whom it has happened, it has been a life-changing experience, not the hallucinations of religious fanatics. For me, the compelling power of the experience has lasted for sixty-five years.

PSALM 29. Praise for the glory of God in a thunderstorm? That is an imaginative interpretation of a very natural occurrence in almost any part of the world. Yet that is the chief emphasis in this psalm.

The power of a storm attracted the poet’s attention. In ancient times, nature’s mighty elements had the status of demi-gods. It was they who are addressed in vss. 1-2 as “heavenly beings” and summoned to ascribe glory to Yahweh, their “holy array” in the heavens worshiping as if in the temple.

Storms of great violence still occur in Palestine. Sweeping down from the heights of Mount Lebanon, strong cold fronts collide with warm air from the deserts of the Arabian and Sinai peninsulas. This results in furious storms which can do great damage to the unwary, especially those poor enough or foolish enough to build their fragile shelters in the wadis of the wilderness or the valleys of spring-fed mountain streams. Such disasters still happen in even the most modern urban communities of California and in the barrios of Central and South America. Those who live in “Tornado Alley” on the plains of the American midwest can also attest to the violence of such storms. Insurance policies still include a clause defining some destructive events as “acts of God.”

The psalmist heard the majestic voice of God in the sound of thunder as the storm rolls closer (vs. 3-4). The cedars of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon (Sirion) bent before the wind, skipping like a calf or a young wild ox. The psalmist may have referred to wild aurochs, from which cattle were domesticated, that may not have been entirely extinct in the more remote foothills of the Bekah Valley in Lebanon (vss. 5-6). Lightning appeared as flames from the same mouth from which the voice of Yahweh thunders (vs. 7). The references to Lebanon in the north and the wilderness of Kadesh in the southern desert on the borders of Sinai (vs. 8) represent the expanse of the whole nation over which the storm spreads its fury.

Due to the absence of vowels in Hebrew, some versions translate vs. 9 differently. The KJV has it, “The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve.” The Hebrew word chuwl or chiyl has many meanings, but essentially means “to twist or whirl.” Another meaning is “to writhe in pain as in giving birth.” The KJV sense might be possible in a heavy storm if the deer were as terrified as some humans were at such times. The more exact translation in the NRSV and several other modern versions better serve the intended poetic parallelism. A tornado whistling through a forest has the power to strip leaves from trees or uproot great oaks and whirl them to the ground. That would appear to be the image the poet has in mind.

As the storm passed, reflection on its meaning calmed the poet. The One who is sovereign over all the most powerful forces of nature was also able to give strength and peace to Israel, Yahweh’s chosen people.

ROMANS 8:12-17. Here Paul claims that having the Spirit of the risen Christ is the key to Christian discipleship. The Spirit enables us to live as the people of God rather than as slaves to the value system of the world around us.

A good deal of scholarly effort has concentrated on what Paul meant by “the flesh.” Most probably, his concept of the term arose from his early life in Tarsus famous for its Stoic philosophers as well as his long, intense association and training with the Pharisees. In contrast to the Hebrew concept of a unified human nature, the Greeks believed that the spiritual and the physical aspects of human beings were totally separate and impossible to unite in the same person.

In a word, “the flesh” (Gk. = sarx) meant sin, anything that separates us from God and spiritual life. To quote William Barclay in his The Mind of Paul (Harper, 1958. 190): “Sin is not simply an influence or a force; it is a kind of personal demonic power which invades a man and takes up residence in him. It is in fact there that Paul’s whole conception of the body and the flesh comes in. Any invading enemy requires a bridgehead; it is the flesh which gives sin a bridgehead. The flesh is not simply the body; and the sins of the flesh are not simply fleshly sins. Idolatry, hatred, strife, wrath, heresy are all sins of the flesh (Gal. 5:20). The flesh is the human nature apart from God. And it is just there that sin obtains the bridgehead for the invasion whose end is the occupation of the human personality.”

Putting that in terms of contemporary thought, “the flesh” represents the value system of the dominate culture to which everyone is attracted and subjected, consciously or unconsciously. The moral and spiritual power that enables us to live free of the dominating influence of the culture in which we live is the Holy Spirit (vss. 12-13). But as the whole body of his correspondence with the apostolic churches makes abundantly clear, Paul had no illusions about the challenge of living by the Spirit and not the flesh in that era and in this.

E.P Sanders carried Paul’s understanding of “the flesh” even farther: “His penetrating observations have to do with how it is that the man who does not have faith in Christ is not only lost in a formal and external sense – handed over to destruction – but even lost to himself, being unable to achieve the goal which he so ardently desires. For that which is desired – life – can only be received as a gift, so that the effort to attain it is self-defeating.” (Paul and Palestinian Judaism. SCM Press, 1977. 509)

The antidote to this universal human predicament is found in vs. 14 of this passage. Those who through faith in Christ receive the gift of the Holy Spirit “are the children of God.” In vs. 15, Paul uses the metaphor of adoption into the family of God in contrast to slavery as the means by which the gift is given to us. Anyone, parent or child, who has experienced adoption senses immediately the difference. The adopted child in regarded as a member of the family as much as if born into the family naturally. However intimately a slave or servant may be regarded, or how long he or she may serve in a household, that person never becomes a member of the family with all the incumbent rights and privileges of an adopted child. The adopted child can never be removed from the family circle. As Paul described this intimately spiritual experience in vs. 17: “if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.”

Paul ends this segment of his message with the startling affirmation of the implications of being a member of the family of God with Christ: “If, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” We receive everything that accrues to the family, whether great riches and honour, or as the Romans may well have been about to experience when Paul wrote to them, persecution, privation and unjust punishment for crimes they did not commit. Tradition holds that not long after Paul wrote this letter, he arrived in Rome and suffered martyrdom there during Nero’s persecution of the Christian community for the great fire instigated by the mad emperor himself.

There is one more brief reference in vs. 15b-16 which bears investigation. At one time or another, every Christian feels frustrated by his or her feeble efforts to pray. When crises come upon on us, many feel especially bereft of the spiritual connections that make prayer meaningful and helpful. Like terrified children we can only cry out, “Daddy, help me!” It is then, in our moments of terror, we most need the Spirit to interpret our cries for help and to reassure us that we are indeed the children of the living, loving God who knows our plight and will not desert us in our need.

Had Paul heard what was happening to the Christian community in Rome under the mad emperor Nero? Had he determined to appeal to the emperor himself so that he might join them in their time of danger? Nero was fiercely anti-Semitic as had been his adoptive father, Claudius, whom he succeeded as emperor. Paul met two of his closest co-workers in Corinth, Priscilla and Aquila, after Claudius had banished them from Rome with other Jews in 49/50 CE. The postscript to the Letter to the Romans (16:3) includes a warm greeting to Priscilla and Aquila which indicates that there were once again back in the capital of the empire. We can only speculate how Paul may have intended his reference to Spirit-assisted prayer to be understood by his audience. Our own interpretation of it, however, may yield a fruitful homily for the early summer.

JOHN 3:1-17. Reading this fourth and last gospel in New Testament nearly two millennia after it was composed, we need to remember that those who wrote the gospels knew about, believed in and assumed they were inspired by the Holy Spirit of God as they created these texts from the oral traditions to which they had access. And who is to say that they were not? This majestic passage is one of many in the New Testament witnessing to what subsequently became the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. It describes the ministry Jesus and the activity of the Holy Spirit as God engaged in God’s redeeming work in and for the world.

The story is a simple one: Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, learns from Jesus how the Spirit makes us new spiritual persons through faith in the crucified and risen Christ. This comes about because God loves the world so much that God sent Jesus into the world to save us humans and this planet through this faith.

Some people look at John 3:16 as the secret for obtaining eternal life beyond death. In this passage, however, John makes the point that God is as much concerned about how we live in this life now as with what happens to us afterward. As the subsequent verses 18 to 21 explain, God’s judgment occurs and eternal life begins when we believe who Jesus is and what his coming into the world really means.

In the theological struggles of the 20th and 21st centuries, “born again” has become the rallying cry of conservatively minded Christians, the magical open sesame to salvation. In many respects it has the same force as the synoptic gospel proclamation, “repent and believe the gospel.” The phrase is not a magic ticket to enter “that better life in the great beyond.” It is a metaphor for a new moral and spiritual beginning which comes about for those who have faith that Jesus is the one to whom the early Christian community witnessed: the Messiah/Christ, Son of God. As Messiah, Jesus came to show us the way of life God requires of us all. Was it not out of such a context that Jesus chided the doubting Nicodemus, “Are you a teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things? (vs. 10)

In all of the discourses of Jesus which John includes in his gospel, it is difficult to distinguish how much are remembrances of what Jesus may have actually said or the commentary of John himself. Obviously is vss. 11-17, Jesus, or more probably John, was thinking about the whole story of incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of God’s sovereign love made manifest in Jesus. Another metaphor of universal salvation comes in the comparison of the crucifixion to Moses’ elevation of the serpent which prevented the Israelites from dying of a plague of poisonous snakes (vss. 14-15 cf. Numbers 21:4-9). John reiterates that this is God’s intention in the classic statement about salvation in vs. 16.

If that were not enough to convince the unbelieving, and especially the Jewish element of his audience, John drives his point home in vs. 17-21 by introducing the constant Old Testament theme of divine judgment on sin. Yet here John differentiates Christian from Jewish theology. God’s judgment does not come for the purpose of condemning the wicked who transgress a moral law or ritual code, as so often stated in the Old Testament. The purpose of divine judgment is to bring the whole world to faith and spiritual fellowship with God. This reaffirms in a remarkable way that Jesus is the full expression of divine love in human form as stated so exquisitely in vs. 16.

What, then, is the Holy Trinity but God who is love coming to us in whatever way we humans can receive the gift of God’s own spiritual life and thereby be recreated as new persons who express love in all our relationships?

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