John Shearman's Lectionary

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

PROPER 15 – ORDINARY 20

AUGUST 15, 2010

ISAIAH 5:1-7. Israel and Judah, the northern and southern kingdoms resulting from the breakup of the united kingdom of David and Solomon, were being threatened by advancing Assyrian armies circa 722 BC. Isaiah saw this threat as God’s judgment for the injustice and apostasy of God’s people. This lyrical poem described them as a vineyard that failed to produce good fruit and so had to be destroyed.

PSALM 80:1-2, 8-19. This prayer pleads for God to save Israel from destruction as a shepherd protects his sheep. Then Israel is likened to a vine that had been brought from Egypt, prospered in a new land, but now was about to be destroyed.

JEREMIAH 23:23-29. (Alternate) It would have been better to end this reading at the natural end of the oracle and chapter (vs. 40) or at the end of a paragraph (vs. 32) in the NRSV. The whole passage conveys Jeremiah’s fierce tone of divine condemnation against the many false prophets of his time.

The burden of Jeremiah’s message is that these false prophets have completely misunderstood who God really is, and not some neighbourhood deity who reigns over a small hilltop sanctuary or one sends propitious dreams promising good favour. Instead, the word of God to the true prophet is as different as wheat from straw (vs. 28c). The dreams of the false prophets lead people astray, providing no moral or spiritual benefit at all.

PSALM 82. (Alternate) The emphasis on social justice rooted in the prophetic awareness of a just and righteous God manifests itself in this short poem. The psalm ends with a prophetic call for God to judge the earth over which God alone reigns.

HEBREWS 11:29-12:2. This passage recalls more of Israel’s religious heroes and describes how they suffered because of their faith. Then it gives the reason for this recital of their heroic endurance. We too may join them in following the example of the greatest of all, Jesus, who suffered death on the cross and now reigns with God.

LUKE 12:49-56. This apocalyptic vision of conflict about what Jesus means presents us with a picture of what may have actually happened in the community for which Luke was writing his gospel in the second last decade of the 1^st century. Confronted by Jews who had expelled all Christians from their synagogues and threatened with persecution by the Romans, it would have been natural for them to seek a deeper understanding of what was happening to them in the Jewish traditions about the end of time and the teachings of Jesus himself. No one can tell how much of these words were actually spoken by Jesus or created by Luke for his audience.

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A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

ISAIAH 5:1-7. Not long ago I drove through the rich vineyard countryside below the Niagara escarpment on the south side of Lake Ontario. The vineyards were in beautiful condition. The weather has been good. The farmers are expecting a bumper crop to deliver to the wineries. Every mile along the road has its wineries, some large, some small. Many of the larger ones draw bus loads of visitors in season to tour their facilities, taste their products and purchase their winter supply. Niagara ice wine, made from grapes allowed to freeze hard on the vines, is becoming famous around the world for its special flavor.

In The Interpreter’s Bible (vol. 5, 196) the late Professor R.  B. Y.  Scott called this “Song of the Vineyard” unique among prophetic canon. His exegetical comments give rise to an imaginative scene as one might have witnessed in Jerusalem circa 725 BCE:

A huge multitude had gathered in the temple precincts to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This vintage festival of thanksgiving was a time of song when small groups and solo voices filled the air with impromptu singing in the informal environment as people waited for the temple sacrifices to begin. Some may even have been a little inebriated from sampling too much of the early vintage. Tolerance for such frivolity did not dull the expectation of the crowd for a great celebration. This year’s crop from Israel’s vineyards had indeed been good.

The prophet Isaiah seized the opportunity to imitate one of the popular vintage songs with a different message. Perhaps because he was a priest and distinctively dressed, he caused something of a stir as people rushed to hear this new voice. His presence as well as the timbre of his voice beguiled many to listen carefully.

The opening lines of his song (vss.1-2) described the typical undertakings of the vine grower, the preparations he made and the failure he encountered. Many in the audience would have been familiar such an experience. As they listened to his next lines, (vss. 3-4) they empathized with the depth of his tragedy. In a year when so many had reaped an abundant harvest, the vine stock he had planted had yielded only wild grapes.

Suddenly the meter of the song changed. In short abrupt words the vintner’s anger burst forth. His disappointment had turned to fury. He will devastate the vineyard that failed so miserably (vss. 5-6.) Knowingly, many agreed with his decision. It was the only thing to do.

Then suddenly, the prophet uttered the real meaning of his song (vs. 7). The vineyard was a metaphor for Yahweh’s covenant people; and the devastation to come Yahweh’s was judgment against them for their rebellion against the sacred covenant.

One can imagine the shock that swept through the crowd as the prophet stared at them, meeting eye after eye until heads turned away in dismay and shame as he pressed home his powerful condemnation.

PSALM 80:1-2, 8-19. This lament offers a prayer for deliverance using similar imagery from Israel’s vineyards. The metaphor occurs in prophetic oracles other than that of Isaiah and in the Gospels as well. (See Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 17:1-10; Hosea 10:1; Matthew 21:33-42; John 15:1-8) Here it is used as a synonym for the Israelites in general. Or, if the tribal names of vss.1-2 are considered in addition to such geographical features as the cedars and “the River,” probably the Euphrates (vss.10-11), the Northern Kingdom in particular is intended.

These geographical references represent the imagined boundaries of the Davidic kingdom to an extent which the great king never achieved. Vs. 8 refers to the vine being brought out of Egypt, an obvious reference to the Exodus. Thus the poet uses imagery to express the intended glory of Yahweh’s people in the Promised Land.

Vss.12-13 constitute a reality check. The walls have been broken down and wild animals now feed in the vineyard. The threat of invaders was by no means imagined. After Solomon’s death, the Northern Kingdom never enjoyed much security. The specific period referred to from the 10^th to the 8^th centuries BCE cannot be identified, but could well be close to the Assyrian invasion and destruction of Samaria in 721 BCE.

Vs. 17 personifies the nation as a human being. Some older versions, including the KJV and the RSV, retain the phrase “the son of man” which some regard as a messianic interpretation not intended by the psalmist.

The lament ends as usual with a vow in vs.18-19. “Never again!” is a phrase often used by religious devotees when repenting their transgressions. Its sincerity has to be measured by the behavioral change that follows, not the beauty or sanctity of the prayer.

JEREMIAH 23:23-29. (Alternate) It is a mystery why the reading has been terminated at vs. 29 rather than at the natural end of the oracle and chapter (vs. 40) or at the end of a paragraph (vs. 32) in the NRSV. The whole passage conveys Jeremiah’s to fierce condemnation on behalf of Yahweh against the many false prophets of his time.

The burden of Jeremiah’s message is that these false prophets have completely misunderstood who Yahweh really is. Yahweh is not some neighbourhood deity who reigns over a small hilltop sanctuary or sends propitious dreams promising good favour. Instead, the word of Yahweh to the true prophet is as different as wheat from straw (vs. 28c). The dreams of the false prophets lead people astray, providing no benefit for them.

Reading this passage recalls the plethora of television and radio evangelists and prophets one can tune in to almost any day of the week. Their broadcasts outnumber those of more careful and helpful analysts and religious commentators many times over. Their message has more to do with a political agenda or making a profit from their audience than proclaiming the good news of God’s love in Christ.
PSALM 82. (Alternate) The emphasis on social justice rooted in the prophetic awareness of a just and righteous God manifests itself in this short poem. Yet these few verses depict an unusual scene.

Like the introduction to the Book of Job (Job 1:6), vs. 1 portrays a heavenly council over which Yahweh presides. Yahweh addresses the assembled “gods” or “children of the Most High.” This phrase appears only in Job and Genesis 6:2, 4. They seem to be heavenly beings exercising some authority on earth. Yahweh excoriates them for aiding and abetting injustice among the people by favouring the wicked. They have failed to do due diligence in helping the poor and weak who have no knowledge or understanding. Failure to do what is required will bring death to these “children of the Most High.”

The psalm ends with a prophetic call for Yahweh to judge the earth over which Yahweh alone reigns.

HEBREWS 11:29-12:2. Like a prosecutor in a law court, the author presents the case for faith with a powerful list of witnesses in this second half of the Hebrews 11. The roll call of heroes and heroines of faith cover the history of Israel from the Exodus to the tribulations and civil conflicts of the Hasmonean period from circa 142-63 BCE. It points to the historical reality that faith alone enabled Israel to survive through those violent centuries. Surely this is not surprising to us who have experienced similar “end of the century of holocausts.”

The implications of this long citation of faithfulness in the face of unparalleled oppression come to the fore in the conclusion of the passage in 12:1-2, which William Barclay describes as “a well-nigh perfect summary of the Christian life.” He elaborates by showing that this life has a goal, an inspiration, a handicap, a means, an example and a presence. (See Daily Bible Readings: The Letter to the Hebrews. Edinburgh: St. Andrew Press;194-197) The metaphor of a long-distance race carries the message to its conclusion. The goal which brings joy in its achievement, however, is not to win a race, but to have direct access to God through Christ.

An interesting feature of this conclusion is that the author uses only the simple human name of Jesus, not the theological names of Christ or Son of God, or his designation as “the great high priest.” It is the human experience of Jesus, and in particular his endurance of the cross, which fits our need for an example to follow as “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” The Christian life is not a 100-metre dash, but an exhausting marathon. Paul used a similar metaphor in writing to the Philippians from prison in Rome (Phil. 3:12-14).

If, as many commentators believe, The Letter to the Hebrews was addressed to a church facing imminent persecution and possible martyrdom, we need nothing less than faithfulness that endures unto death. This spiritual insight may mean nothing now to Christians in the so-called “First World.” African and Asian Christians have a different story to tell. We may yet need their testimony as militarism, tribalism and terrorism in the aftermath of racist colonialism of earlier times, take their toll in the 21^st century.

LUKE 12:49-56. The question arises immediately as to whether or not Jesus actually spoke in these terms. The ideas resemble much Jewish eschatology of the time.  Luke’s eschatology tended to emphasize a delay in the Parousia, but this passage has a much greater sense of immediacy about it. Is Luke here thinking ahead to Jesus’ Gethsemane experience (22:39-46) and thereby presenting his readers fifty years later with a similar warning of severe trials to come? Furthermore, is it not also true that Christian faith and behavior do at times create conflict such as this passage describes?

Luke has drawn together several sayings from Q which Matthew distributes elsewhere. (Cf. Matthew 10:34-36; 16:1-2) So there must have been a certain collective memory of Jesus’ teaching that the end of the age would involve harsh judgment and division. Were Jesus and Luke not being as realistic as any observant person should have been, given the tenuous state of affairs at the time when they lived?

John Dominic Crossan presents a novel approach in limiting the actual words of Jesus to the aphorism about a divided household. He notes that the division is not dependent on faith in the reign of God or on Jesus himself. He also points to the emphasis on generations rather than gender. He suggests that the reign of God’s love tears families apart along the axis of power, particularly power that is abused as parental power has often done.

Another progressive scholar, Bruce Chilton, frequently presents Jesus as very abrasive in his teaching style. If this is what the anticipated messianic kingdom would be like, this teaching would inevitably raise considerable controversy in his audience. Ever ready for an argument on some fine point of the Torah or its implications for daily life, the Jews were notorious for the fervor with which they debated and re-debated each issue a new rabbi defined.

On the other hand, we have to deal with the incredulity of the modern western mind. Eschatology is as far from our concerns during our August vacation as Middle Eastern terrorism and African tribal conflicts . How do we interpret these strange words for those who meet us in the comfortable pews week by week? Underneath their facade of sophistication do we not all have real anxieties about the future? Perhaps the answer lies in the phrase that ends this passage, “to interpret the present time,” (cf. NEB “this fateful hour”) as Jesus and Luke did in their time. Is God not saying something to us in the events of our own time?

SOME ADDITIONAL PREACHING POINTS.

HEBREWS 11:29-12:2. We do not need to look far from our own time for heroes who pursued the goal of faith to which the author of this letter/essay referred. We have witnessed similar commitment in leaders such Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr. By their words and actions these men eloquently put forth a vision of racial harmony as the only possible perception of God’s intention for our time and paid dearly for their vision. Desmond Tutu caught the vision and led his nation to a deeper commitment to truth and reconciliation in the midst of strong opposition from some of those whose domination had ended. What they saw was “a foretaste of the future in the present,” as Frances Taylor Gench put it. “God’s design for our humanity becomes visible in lives of radical trust and costly obedience.”

Gench continued: “Hebrews maintains that the saints of every generation empowered by faith to endure suffering and even death if need be, because they know that their ultimate destiny is in the hands of the unseen God whose promises are sure. And because they know that he purposes of God will not fail to be achieved despite all appearances to the contrary…. We are one with them waiting for the final realization of God’s saving purposes. And because Jesus Christ and the new covenant established in his death represent the fulfillment of God’s promises, Hebrews maintains that he saints of preceding generations will ‘not, apart from us’ who believe in Christ, ‘be made perfect.’” (Hebrews and James. Westminster Bible Companion Series. Westminster John Knox Press, 1996; 64-66.)

Nearly fifty years ago at a conference in Green Lake, Wisconsin, I met several people who left an indelible mark on me. One was a military chaplain who had landed with the Marines on Iwo Jima for the battle that may well have turned the struggle of the Pacific theatre of World War II in the direction of victory. He had subsequently trained as a psychiatrist and, at the time I met him, filled a unique role in leading a specialized course in group dynamics for clergy. Although it was long after meeting him, I came to realize how much he helped me see how one person can effect change by faithful living in community.

The other person was a young Japanese missionary on the island of Okinawa. She was the only member of her immediate family to have survived the bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945. She had been out of town visiting an aunt on the day of that holocaust. Her experience convinced her to become a minister and offer her services to the Japanese people of Okinawa where the vast American military base was located and seriously affected the lives of the permanent residents there.

Like myself, this young Japanese woman was greatly intrigued by the conflict we witnessed between a brash young Methodist minister and a quiet but strong Mennonite minister. These two men became close friends over the two week course when the Mennonite realized and shared openly that it was the brassy buttons on the Methodist’s jacket that so disturbed him. They reminded him of the way the Prussians had persecuted him Mennonite ancestors in Germany a century or more ago.

LUKE 12:49-56. In 1949 when Mao Ze-Dong had led the Communists in triumph into Beijing, the late Professor J. S. Thomson said to a class discussing what the meaning of that event might be, “Who knows what will happen if the Chinese people decide to move?” More than fifty years later, one in every five persons on this planet is Chinese. Is this what President George W. Bush had in mind when he uses the phrase “some rogue nation” and described the threat for which he wanted the American military to be armed with dazzling new weapons in space? The booming Chinese economy may soon overtake that of the United States. Is divine sovereignty in geopolitical and economic affairs not the essential point of this passage in Luke’s gospel?  “We are not alone. We live in God’s world.” (The New Creed. The United Church of Canada.)

Do any of the so-called experts, analysts and commentators we follow so carefully for their views really know what lies ahead? The best strategic minds of our day can only guess, but cannot penetrate the mists of the future. History holds its secrets until they happen. Did Jesus really know what lay ahead of him as he “set his face toward Jerusalem?” Did he fully realize what the cost would be when he overthrew the tables of the priests’ moneychangers in the temple courts?

In the summary chapter in his 1993 work, This Hebrew Lord, entitled “The Non-Religious Christ,” John Spong stated that the possibility of death was always in Jesus’ mind from the time of his baptism and temptation. As time passed, he also became aware that neither his teaching nor his healing acts had convinced even his closest disciples that he possessed the power of divine love to bring peace, healing and liberty to life in all would accept it. Only at the Last Supper did the full price of his mission finally come to him – and, as he prayed in Gethsemane, he wanted to avoid it. “He would live love out in the face of every human distortion of love.” He died on the cross leaving all in the hands of God, not knowing for sure what God had in mind for himself or for his followers. It was only after his death in the loneliness of a criminal’s crucifixion that those who had known him most intimately came to realize who he was and what he had been trying to say and to do all along.

In his ultimate sacrifice in love he communicated the full, the abundant, the inescapable grace of God’s love and became for all humanity “the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Heb. 12:2) The New Testament is the record of his closest followers themselves and others they convinced coming to believe that he was indeed the Saviour and Messiah/Christ. They rallied to carry on his ministry of sharing God’s love. The history of the Church is the record of those innumerable saints who have stumbled, failed, fallen and risen once more to struggle on in their footsteps. Are we ready to follow?

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INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST -

PROPER 14 – ORDINARY 19

AUGUST 8, 2010.

ISAIAH 1:1, 10-20. Isaiah is without doubt the greatest of Israel’s prophets.  He survived through one of the stormiest periods of Judean history (circa 745-700 BC). He was so highly regarded nearly two centuries later that the work of another group of anonymous prophesies were added to his and now appear in chapters 40-66.

Although believed to belong to the royal court, he vehemently condemned the injustices of his time. In this passage he thundered against the ruling classes, likening them to the rulers of Sodom and Gomorrah. His message presented God’s claim for social justice rather than elaborate rituals and sacrifices.

PSALM 50:1-8, 22-23. This psalm stands in the tradition of the great prophets like Isaiah. It even repeats some of the same phrases as Isaiah’s condemnation of unworthy rituals, but offers an antidote in sincere prayers of thanksgiving.

GENESIS 15:1-6. (Alternate) Abraham receives from God the promise of an heir and countless descendants. This has become the classic claim of all Jews to their eternal existence as a people.

PSALM 33:12-22. (Alternate) Reiterating the promise of God to Abraham,  the closing part of a relatively late psalm celebrates the providence of God for all those who render God due reverence.

HEBREWS 11:1-3, 8-16. This passage celebrates faith and those who have shown themselves to be some of Israel’s greatest faith-heroes. After giving what is for many a somewhat confusing definition of faith, it turns to show how faith had resulted in action by Israel’s great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

LUKE 12:32-40. The early church believed in the return of Christ at some unknown but imminent time. This passage seems to fit into that tradition. We can find similar elements of it in different contexts both Matthew and Mark (vss. 33-34 = Matthew 6:19-21; vss. 35-40 = Mark 13:33-37). This reveals that a common tradition existed about the meaning of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. He came to inaugurate God’s reign of love in human affairs and would soon return to accomplish this for all eternity.

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A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS:

ISAIAH 1:1, 10-20.

In the introduction to his commentary on Isaiah 1-39, in The Interpreter’s Bible (vol 5, 162) the late Professor R. B. Y. Scott described Isaiah as “an aristocrat of the spirit. He moved like a prince among men. He spoke with the dignity and moral authority which he knew befitted an ambassador of the Most High, and it is evident that he was a product of the finest culture of Judah.”

If Scott’s speculations are accurate, he was both in a favored position to observe the society and its cultic practices which he so severely condemned. It is also surprising that he was able to do so for so long against his own class who perpetrated the very evils he condemned. As Scott also wrote: “Like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others, he may have been a priest for his vision of God came as he stood where the priests stood between the porch and the altar.”  This would account for his long prophetic ministry extending through one of the most turbulent times of the nation’s history from about 742 BCE to 701 BCE when Assyria posed a constant threat, the Northern Kingdom of Israel disappeared altogether and Judah narrowly avoided doing so too.

The body of this reading is especially noteworthy for one of Isaiah’s class since it gives a graphic statement about the futility and the disgrace of worship when the lives of worshipers are absorbed in grave injustice. To say that God is more concerned with human relationships expressed through just economic practices than with formal acts of worship in a stately temple would have been as anathema among the religious establishment then as it is now. Not that Isaiah rejected all formal worship. He only sought to point out that worship must be, as Scott stated, “the expression and symbol of reverence for the moral character of God and the corresponding moral standards which should characterize his people.” Human conduct must be a reflection and imitation of God’s justice, goodness, truth, kindness and mercy. In this Isaiah was not alone, but one with all the great prophetic voices of Israel – Amos, Hosea, Micah and Jeremiah.

It is obvious that Isaiah was speaking to the upper classes of Judah in particular. The common people could not have afforded the exorbitantly costly offerings at the frequent festivals cited in vss.11-14. It was the wealthy too who oppressed the defenseless orphans and widows of vs. 17. The implications of refusal by the elite to follow the path of justice and mercy are set forth in vss.18-20. No unconditional forgiveness is offered as some modern interpretations may suggest. The alternative comes through as clearly as in the Deuteronomic Code of Jeremiah’s time a century later: Repent or be destroyed.

PSALM 50:1-8, 22-23. Just exactly how did the prophetic tradition affect the Psalter? Here is one excellent example. As W. Stewart McCullough states in The Interpreter’s Bible (vol. 4, 260): “All the features (of this psalm) stand in the prophetic tradition… (Yet how) the writer handl(ed) the matter of animal sacrifices goes quite beyond the pre-exilic prophets who pronounced the sacrifices of unrighteousness inefficacious, by showing the fundamental unimportance of sacrifice.”

The viewpoint of the psalmist in vss 16-21 (excluded from this lection) stated that at the time he wrote legalistic tendencies were becoming ascendant as the definition of pious living. Yet he warned those fore whom he wrote against undue obsession with the legalisms to the neglect of the sincere worship and social justice.

A theophany, another facet of prophetic experience, begins in vss.5-6, where the psalmist reaffirmed God’s righteousness and judgment as the basis for God’s covenant with Israel. Vs.8 made a brief introduction to a strong admonition concerning sacrifice and the remainder of that segment (vss.9-15, also excluded) lifted up God’s ownership of all the creatures and/or produce used in sacrificial worship.

The nature of divine judgment comes to the fore more extensively in vss.16-21. Lip service to the Torah is no substitute for true spirituality. In true prophetic manner the closing vss. 22-23 reiterated the earlier statement (vs.14) that God prefers thanksgiving rather than sacrifices and wants worship that issues from thankful people who live faithfully.

GENESIS 15:1-6. (Alternate) Does theophany or any deeply spiritual experience spring from an intense inner struggle? This brief story from the J document (attested by the use of JHWH/YHWH, “the Lord”) would seem to suggest so. The passage describes how Abram (aka Abraham) received from Yahweh the promise of an heir and countless descendants.

The first inkling we get is that Abram’s had a vision in which Yahweh took the initiative in response to Abram’s fear (vs. 1). But Abram still doubted, protesting that he had no son to be his direct heir other than   Eliezer of Damascus who had been Abram’s slave (vss. 2-3). Nothing should be made of the locale “Damascus” from which the servant came. The NRSV notes that the Hebrew is uncertain as does Strong’s 1899 Exhaustive Concordance of the KJV.

Yahweh dealt directly with Abram’s angst by promising that he would indeed have a rightful heir of his own issue. The promise went much further. Abram’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars. Unquestionably a hyperbole, this still rings through the millennia as the classic claim of all Jews to their eternal existence as the People of Promise.

Vs. 6 stands out in Christian memory because it became Paul’s great instance of faith rather than righteousness as the catalyst for salvation in Galatians 3:6-9. This interpretation must have become part of the Christian tradition for again in Hebrews 11:8-16 cites Abraham as the great exemplar of faith.

PSALM 33:12-22. (Alternate) Reiterating the promise of God to Abraham, the closing part of this relatively late psalm celebrated the providence of God for all those who render God due reverence. This excerpt has a distinct nationalistic tone to it and could be appropriately applied to almost any nation at a time of great distress. Although it set forth conditions for attaining God’s favour, the initiative as to the choice of which nation shall be God’s People is still God’s alone as the sovereign Lord of history.

The striking image of the “eye of God” reflects the lyric poetry of Deutero-Isaiah (cf. Isa. 40:18-28). The image in vss. 13-15 portrays a powerful sovereign looking over his fiefdom calculating by what means he may command the loyalty of his people. Neither political or military power is  enough. Only a reverent trust that generates love proves sufficient (vss. 18-19).

A church sanctuary no longer in existence had a circular stained glass window high above the central pulpit picturing a human eye looking down on the congregation. It had a distinctively negative effect on some worshipers who saw it as the “eye of God” witnessing all their thoughts and actions. While vs. 15 does lend some force to that interpretation, it is countered by the trusting attitude with which the psalm ends. By putting trust in God’s steadfast love, expressed so totally in Jesus Christ, we have no reason to fear the judgment of our God.

HEBREWS 11:1-3, 8-16. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for….” Oh my! What trouble that Greek word hupostasis (here translated “assurance”) has caused through the centuries! Yet this is its only appearance in the NT. Granted that most arguments about it were linguistic and theological, related almost exclusively to the true nature of the Person of Christ in the 4^th and 5^th centuries CE. Here the word is used to define the “essence” of faith. What follows in this excerpt from one of great passages of the NT is a recitation of the achievements of those who acted on faith.

Vs. 2 states that “by faith” they “received approval”– from God, one presumes, though this is not specifically stated. Vs. 3 goes on to define faith as our attitude, conviction or trust that there is an invisible, spiritual realm or energy which not only influences but actually created and determines what happens in the visible, external environment in which we live from day to day.

Abraham is cited as the exemplar, pursuing God’s promise though he would not see it accomplished in his lifetime (vss. 8-16). Yet using him in this instance has its difficulties, even though he is the great hero of faith for three living religious traditions – Jewish, Christian and Moslem. The skeptic might well ask, “What did it get him?” And answer, “A life of wandering in search of a better homeland he never reached!”

Is it enough to say as vs.16 does that people of faith are sojourners through this life? Is this not a pessimistic escapist approach to living faithfully in the world? Does it not deny the view that God intends to redeem the whole of creation rather than to save only those who are faithful and remove them from the wickedness and destruction of the world? Does God really intend simply to transfer those spiritual ones who have faith from this “vale of tears” to a “sweet and blessed country, the home of God’s elect?” Perhaps we need to rethink what Canadian theologian Douglas John Hall calls “our creaturely destiny” in the framework of Christ’s redemptive work in his life, death, resurrection and ascension.

William Barclay’s study of this passage has a fine opening: “To the writer to the Hebrews faith is a hope that is absolutely certain that what it believes is true, and that what it expects will come. It is not hope which looks forward with wistful longing; it is hope which looks forward with utter certainty. It is not hope which takes refuge in a perhaps; it is hope which is founded on a conviction.” (Daily Bible Study: The Letter to the Hebrews. Edinburgh: St. Andrew Press, 1955; 144-145.)

More recently, Frances Taylor Gench noted that the word faith is found twenty-four times in Hebrews 11 alone, and more than in any other book in the NT. She contends that what the word means for this unknown author “is closer to the meaning of faithfulness. It speaks of faith as active obedience. It is that characteristic of the Christian life that enables one both to persevere even in the midst of difficult circumstances and to step out into the unknown with the courage to live in a risk and vigourous way. … It enables believers to live by a vision of the realities of God and God’s purposes for the earth, a vision that is not yet present or visible to the eye. It empowers believers to move into the future with trust and confidence, knowing that the future belongs to God.” (Hebrews and James. Westminster Bible Companion Series. Westminster John Knox Press, 1996; 63.)

LUKE 12:32-40. So was Jesus talking to his disciples about the here and now or eschatologically? The eschaton in late Hebrew and early Christian thought was that moment when the arrival of the new age was imminent at any moment. It was not some far off future event when history would be wound up and everything set right with the world at the coming of Messiah/Christ? Was this interpretation of Jesus’ words by Luke merely ethical counsel for the contemporary world or eschatological and apocalyptic?  Scholars have been divided about the exact time references of these three pericopes. If they are all teachings of Jesus himself, they obviously come from different periods of his ministry and were gathered into their present context by Luke himself.

Each of the three pericopes uses a different teaching method. Vss. 32-34 contains an assurance peculiar to Luke, a radical but direct ethical instruction and a proverb: “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” What follows is almost a corollary: “(Therefore) sell your possessions, and give alms.” In other words, simplify your life; lighten your burden of material assets so that your spiritual journey will no longer be impaired by their weight. The proverb, “Where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also,” could well be from the ancient treasure of Jewish wisdom, exemplifying the prophetic spirit of justice with which that literature was imbued. One questions whether or not this pericope has a parallel in Matthew 6:19-21 as some have argued. Only the proverb seems to be identical; the context expressed a similar though not identical thought.

Vss. 35-38, however, is an allegory which also contains a warning that the Parousia may be delayed. It has certain elements in common with parables in Mark 13:33-37 and Matthew 25:1-13. Neither Jewish rabbis nor Jesus himself used allegories. Those were primarily Hellenistic teaching methods. The early church quickly adopted this teaching method from its Greek converts and from the writings of Philo, the thoroughly Hellenistic Alexandrian Jew.  Luke himself may well have been one of those converts to Judaism who had embraced the Christian gospel.

The eschatological aspect to this story reverses the ordinary state of human affairs. The servants await the master to come home from a wedding banquet, possibly through all three night watches. When he does come and they respond to his knock at the door, he will sit them down to a feast and serve them himself. That is a total reversal of the ordinary state of affairs. Obviously, it referred to the messianic banquet at the end of the age, a common feature of Jewish eschatology.

The third pericope (vss. 39-40) returns to the typical form of a parable. Matthew 24:43-44 has a parallel, so the source may well have been Q as suggested in The Complete Gospels, edited by Robert J. Miller states. (Sonoma, CA: Poleridge Press, 1992. p.284.)  Both references counsel being prepared for the unknown moment when the Parousia occurs. An almost identical warning occurs in 1 Thessalonians 5:2, one of Paul’s earliest letters, suggesting that this may indeed be a dominical teaching. On the other hand, an almost identical thought can be found in 2 Peter 3:10 and Revelation 3:3 which came at much later dates, indicating that the idea of an imminent Parousia persisted even to the end of the 1^st century or later.

Preaching on any part of this passage encounters expository difficulties; preaching on all three parts could prove virtually impossible. What is more, the Second Coming seems a rather heavy subject for a summer sermon. Congregants are sure to ask about the Rapture, so popular with some television preachers of recent decades.

SOME ADDITIONAL PREACHING POINTS.

ISAIAH 1:1, 10-20. In vs.10 the reference to Sodom and Gomorrah has a different connotation to many ears today because of the mistaken association of those vanished cities with homosexuality. What Lot invited the citizens of Sodom to do to his daughters rather than his sons was more than despicable (Gen. 19:4-8). Isaiah referred to these two fated cities simply as figures of moral destruction. They were set in deliberate contrast to the Torah, the authoritative teaching of the Israel’s tradition of which Isaiah was a staunch defender. The subsequent verses declared unequivocally that God required authenticity in Israel’s worship. His point was that such authenticity should have been based on the ethical demands of the ancient covenant verbalized in the Torah.

PSALM 50:1-8, 22-23. We need to ask ourselves continually whether our liturgies are mere words or actual expressions of the heart, mind and soul. That is how the disciples and the apostolic church remembered the prayers of Jesus. His were no anguished words sent heavenwards or recited from ancient texts.

I recall as a child before I was old enough to go to school my mother and my grandmother taking me to their regular meetings of the Ladies Aid (later known as the Women’s Association). They always began their meetings with prayer and it was always the same – the Lord’s Prayer recited by heart. But it still sounds in my memory as a prayer of the heart, not merely mumbled words. Those women most of them came from local farms and very few of them educated beyond elementary school if that. But they knew their Lord. So his prayer came naturally to their lips when my grandmother, their group leader, began their meetings by saying, “Let us pray.”

HEBREWS 11:1-3, 8-16. What is faith? Where do religious experience and spirituality lie? Is it in our human consciousness deep within the maze of the billions of neural connections that make it possible for us to think, be aware of our mental experiences, and express ourselves in meaningful words?

That would appear to be the case as research into the psycho-neurological aspects of religious experience seems to indicate. This is not yet proven to the satisfaction of rational scientific minds. Yet not even the most rational and agnostic among us, let alone the atheists, can argue that humanity in all its variations through many millennia have had experiences of a religious nature which can only be regarded as of a transcendent reality beyond the mundane physical experiences of everyday life.

In a brief daily devotional, Felix Carrion, coordinator of The Stillspeaking Ministry, United Church of Christ USA, wrote of the interpretation of the parable of the sower and seed in Luke 8:11-15. To him it defined the spiritual experience all of us long for:

“When you are in true possession of your life, this is your life at work (toiling, discerning, understanding, struggling, growing, producing). No one can find your life for you. You alone know it or don’t; you alone find it or don’t. Others will try for you. But Jesus warns us big against this. Only you can know and speak to the meaning of your life. Nature doesn’t play politics. Your true self doesn’t play politics. Neither does God.”

LUKE 12:32-40. In her excellent study of Luke’s Gospel, Sharon H. Ringe places the first of these three pericopes in a section with Luke 12:22-30 with the heading, “Confidence and Anxiety.” The passage concerns the reign of God “where abundance flows out of God’s own sufficiency and generosity.” The counsel to dispose of one’s wealth is “the hallmark of a different economy where alms-giving is not just a doling out of extras, but it is a fundamental reallocation of material and social goods according to the canons of justice.”

Ringe includes the remainder of this reading in another section (vss. 35-48) headed “Warnings About the Urgency of the Times.” Like many other interpreters, she believes that this refers to the church’s expectation of the return of the resurrected Jesus. This is not a frequent theme found in Luke but still a call to continue the church’s “attentive waiting for that day, however delayed it may be in coming.” (Luke. Westminster Bible Companion Series. Westminster John Knox Press, 1995; 180)

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INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

Proper 11 Ordinary 16

8th Sunday After Pentecost

July 18, 2010

AMOS 8:1-12. In another vituperative outburst against social injustices of his time in the 8th century BC, Amos vividly describes the fate that is about to befall his people. In an amazing series of images beginning with a basket of over-ripe summer fruit and ending with a famine, he depicts God=s unrelenting judgment against the economic,  political and religious chicanery of the rich toward the poor.

PSALM 52. Again echoing the words of Amos, this psalm reiterates God=s judgment for social injustice and false piety. The reference to Zion in vs. 6 indicates that these charges may have been directed against the religious leaders.

GENESIS 18:1-10A. (Alternate) This odd little story tells of God appearing to Abraham in the guise of three travellers to promise that they would have a son in their later years. However incredible, its intent was to lead Abraham and his descendants to an ever deeper trust.

PSALM 15. (Alternate) The similarity of this psalm with the teachings of Deuteronomy and Leviticus points to a time after Israel=s return from exile when religious leader sought to instruct the populace in the ancient tradition of the covenant law.

COLOSSIANS 1:15-28. Modern versions of this passage divide it into three paragraphs. The first speaks of the pre-existent, human, crucified and resurrected Christ. The second speaks of the reconciliation God effected through Christ. The third presents the vision of what God is doing in creating this new humanity and the cosmic universe in which we live and serve as did Paul. Few statements of the whole gospel Paul proclaimed have the sweep of this one.

The most puzzling part of the passage is Paul=s claim to be “completing what is lacking in Christ=s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.” Does he really mean that the suffering of Christ on the cross was lacking some way? More likely, the phrase emphasizes that the Passion of Christ was the central focus of Paul’s faith and the church’s reason for being.

LUKE 10:38-42. The lovely story of Jesus visiting Mary and Martha never ceases to raise romantic views of their relationship now featured in a modern novel. Jesus felt welcome in their home in Bethany and made his headquarters there when in Jerusalem. It lay only a short two kilometres east of the city on the Mount of Olives.

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A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

AMOS 8:1-12. Amos in his most vituperative outcry condemns the injustice of his society. The passage contains some vivid metaphors. The basket of summer fruit catches the eye immediately. In Canada, summer fruit is soft because its water content is very high, so it spoils very quickly. Most summer fruit seasons are very short, a couple of weeks at most. In the heat of a summer in Israel, that would take no more than a few hours. Scholars suspect, however, that the metaphor is more of a play on words as footnotes in the NSRV indicate. The Hebrew for a summer fruit is aqayits; but in vs.2 “the end” is aqets.

If that is not enough to attract attention, the image in vs. 3 of the songs of the temple turned into wailing and dead bodies … cast out in every place leaves nothing to the imagination. The most secure place in Jerusalem or any other city was the temple, the site of sanctuary. It usually was the last place of resistance against an invader. In my home town, an armed rebellion by French Canadians against the British colonial government in1837 was fought to its bloody end in the local parish church. Marks of the cannon balls used to flush out les Patriotes are still visible in the church’s stone walls. The end of the battle brought a merciless search of the village by the victorious troops for any would-be escapees. The legend of the rebel patriots heroic defense has grown with time. I clearly recall how it was portrayed in the colorful floats a great parade on the 100^th anniversary of the battle. Histories written for subsequent anniversaries are replete with legends as well as facts.

Amos prophesies an inevitable and immediate catastrophe in response to the corruption he sees everywhere about him. His oracle makes explicit the reasons for this catastrophe in vss. 4-6. It depicts the economic injustices of Amos’ own time and place. Now, his words have become universal as the globalization of business and industry has seized economic advantages everywhere. The wealthy people and the developed industrial nations reap profits and expand their power at the expense of the poor in rest of the world. Many of the most vulnerable people in our own communities are sinking rapidly into poverty as they are forced to the margins of a money-driven society.

A threat of earthquakes, floods, darkness in broad daylight, and public mourning like that for an only son draw a devastating picture of how great the coming catastrophe would be (vss. 7-10). This is followed by a searing description of famine throughout the land (vss. 11-14).  Famine was not uncommon in Israel because water sources are so scarce and rainfall relatively light. If the fall and spring rains did not come as expected, crop failure was all but inevitable. One of the core issues in the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the availability of water.

The prophesy rises to its climax in a brilliant clarification of what has really gone wrong. As severe as they are, it is not the natural disasters which will cause such an incredible catastrophe, but the spiritual vacuum throughout the nation. The real famine is Anot a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of a hearing of the words of the Lord@ (vs. 11b).

How elegantly contemporary is this word of the Lord of History. Are there any prophets like Amos willing to speak such words to our world?

PSALM 52. Echoing the words of Amos, this psalm reiterates God=s judgment against social injustice and false piety. The reference to Zion in vs. 6 indicates that these charges may have been directed against the religious leaders. It also points to a later period than that of King David.

The righteous are like a spreading olive tree, says the psalmist at the end of a most vengeful condemnation of the rich and powerful. A note of self-righteousness has crept into the self-awareness of vss.6-8. But does the grateful devotion of vss.9-10 overcome the viciousness of vss.1-5?

One aspect of the work by the editors of the Psalter was their search for a time in ancient stories of David’s life when such an attitude could be attributed to the hero-king. This editorial practice dates from the post-exilic period long after David=s time (ca. 1000 BCE) when the praises of Israel’s religious tradition were being collected and new psalms written to create a composite set of scrolls for use in the reconstructed temple in Jerusalem, possibly in 5^th century BCE.

In The Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 4, p.273, W. Stewart McCullough wrote that like Ps. 58 this psalm recalled invectives of the great prophets (cf. Isa.22:15-19). Yet the psalmist also wished to express trust and confidence in a time when men were debating the problem of the comparative values of good and evil from a utilitarian standpoint of what was profitable for life in their own time (Cf. Pss. 1; 37; 49)

While having the form of a lament, the psalm denounced wickedness and assured the righteous of vindication. Like other psalms and writings in which the relation of piety to success, happiness, and long life is vehemently discussed, this was an attitude of the reconstruction era. We can find this ideology prevalent in much of the Old Testament, based in large part on the theological concept of Israel as Yahweh=s chosen and covenanted people. The books of Job and Ecclesiastes show that this attitude was not universally accepted. Righteousness and wealth do not necessarily follow each other in human behavior.

GENESIS 18:1-10A. (Alternate) This odd little story tells of God appearing to Abraham in the guise of three travellers to promise that they would have a son in their later years. Since this anecdote came from J, the earliest of the four documents which compose the Pentateuch, it presents a relatively primitive description of a theophany. The motif of deity appearing in the guise of three men has much in common with other ancient religious literature. The legend could well have existed in the pre-Israelite settlement in the region of Hebron.   Abraham=s hospitality also follows the traditional custom of tribal societies. Such hospitality usually resulted in a blessing. For this reason alone, the story would have been remembered with great favour in the long oral tradition preceding its documentation.

Specific clues imbedded in the narrative define the incident as a theophany. It occurred Aby the oaks of Mamre, very near modern Hebron, Israel. Regarded to this day as a holy place, with the Arabic name of Ramet el-Khalil (the height of the friend of the merciful One), it lies not far from the tomb of Abraham and Sarah, sacred for both Moslems and Jews. Archeologists have found a 9^th century BCE pavement marking the spot where once the oak of Mamre may have stood. It also marked the place where Jews captured during the revolt of Bar Kocheba  (135 CE) were sold as slaves. Byzantine Christians partially rebuilt a basilica there after its destruction by Moslems in 614 CE.

Other clues to the sanctity of the location also exist in the narrative: the length of Abraham=s speech and the generosity of the feast he prepared for the guests. Three measures of meal amount to about four pecks, a dry measure equal to 2 imperial gallons, 9.9 litres or 8 US quarts. This would have been used to bake flat breads. A young calf would provide an ample meal for four men with plenty left over for the women, children and servants. Vineyards in the region still yield plentiful grapes, so most likely wine would also have quenched the thirst of the three guests.

However incredible, the intent of the story was to lead Abraham and his descendants to an ever deeper trust in Yahweh.

PSALM 15. (Alternate) The similarity of this didactic psalm with the teachings of Deuteronomy and Leviticus points to a time after Israel’s return from exile when religious leader sought to instruct the populace in the ancient tradition of the covenant law.

Behind it may lie a more ancient tradition: the practice of approaching a place of worship to obtain an oracle from a priest. This would guide the supplicant in making a decision or throw light on the meaning of some calamity. Or the supplicant might ask for an interpretation of a sacred law as to his/her duty in a new situation. It cannot be considered a liturgical psalm, but one used in preparation for worship. Psalm 24 contains a liturgical rendition of a similar religious attitude.

The phrase “your holy hill represents the reality of all ancient Israel’s sacred sites. More than likely it stands as a generic term for the specific name Zion. Not only Israelites, but all ancient people built their simplest sanctuaries and greatest temples on heights so that they could be seen from afar. Archeologists still see the evidence of such Aholy hills@ on every tell or mound they investigate.

The ethical measure of the prospective worshiper leaves little to the imagination. Even in recent times, some Protestant denominations of the Calvinist and Presbyterian tradition, held preparation services during the week before a quarterly celebration of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. The purpose of these services was for the assembled congregation to examine their moral conduct and seek forgiveness in much the same way that the Roman Catholic Church practices the sacrament of Confession, now called Reconciliation.

Of special note too, this moral process banned such financial transactions as lending money at interest and taking bribes. False oaths also had no place in the strict discipline invoked by this psalmist. Steadfast ethical behaviour alone mattered to this understanding of Yahweh=s will.

COLOSSIANS 1:15-28. Christ is the image of the invisible God (vs.15) is only one of many preachable texts in this passage. Perhaps nowhere else in the whole of the Pauline corpus do we find a clearer description of what Paul meant by his metaphor of “the new creation” in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21.

By dividing the passage into three paragraphs as does the NRSV, we can see that the first speaks of the pre-existent, human, crucified and resurrected Christ. The second speaks of the reconciliation God effected through Christ. The third presents the vision of what God is doing in creating this new humanity and the cosmic universe in which we live and serve as did Paul.

If there is a tendency in our preaching to limit reconciliation to the human part of the created universe, this passage should dispel that less than complete understanding of God=s purpose. Just as creation came into being through Christ, Paul claims in vs.16, so also all creation and not just the human race will be recreated through being reconciled to God through Christ=s life, death and resurrection. (vs. 20) That includes all of us who like the Colossians were once estranged from God. (vss. 21-22)

Yet the promise comes with the responsibility of maintaining this new relationship of faith (vs.23). Prevenient grace takes effect when it meets faithful response. The grace that reconciles us to God does not change. Its effectiveness in our lives and through us in the world is inhibited when we no longer respond in faith, hope and love. So Paul goes on to show what this has meant in his own life as an apostle proclaiming this good news (vss. 24-26). He could do no other than link his ministry as an apostle to his experience of conversion and reconciliation.

The most puzzling part of this passage is Paul’s claim to be “completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that, is the church. Does he really mean that the suffering of Christ on the cross was lacking some way? William Barclay says that this is no more than another way of building up and extending the church. “Anyone who serves the Church by widening her borders, establishing her faith, saving her from errors, is doing the work of Christ. And if such service involves suffering and pain and sacrifice, that affliction is filling up and sharing the very suffering of Christ Himself.”  (Daily Bible Readings: Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. Edinburgh: The Church of Scotland, 1957.)

F.W. Beare gives a more extensive exegesis in The Interpreter’s Bible. ( Vol. 11, p.177. Nashville: Abingdon, 1955.). He states that this was the basis for the doctrine of a treasury of merits (formally called supererogation) first authorized in the papal bull by Clement VI in 1343. This doctrine made the sale of indulgences possible and ultimately led to the strong reaction of Protestant theologians and exegetes two centuries later.

Beare points out, however, that Paul in no way suggests that his sufferings he create a store of merits which are available for the account of the church at large. He never regarded his sufferings as an atonement for the sins of other Christians. The issues of atonement for sin did not enter into Paul=s consideration. His sufferings may have been vicarious, but not punishment for sin. He endured them in the interest of others. They were not in any sense a recompense for the sins of others. Paul was saying simply that suffering is part of the Christian vocation. As Jesus had said, “the servant is not greater than his Lord.” The world will treat Christians with hostility as it treated Christ. Nor does the phrase “the deficiencies of Christ’s afflictions” imply that the sufferings of Christ were insufficient in some way to accomplish their purpose of redemption. Paul was not putting the economy of redemption under review. His underlying belief was that the afflictions of the church are also Christ’s afflictions. Thus the sufferings of Christians as Christians would continually supplement the sufferings of their Master. The experience of suffering would become an experience common to Master and servants.

Eduard Schweizer believes that Colossians is a heavily edited, but authentic Pauline letter. He also asserts that Paul or his editor was exaggerating in this statement. It goes further than anything we can find elsewhere in Paul. It would have been alien to him to say anything about suffering being endured for the sake of the church. (The Letter to The Colossians: A Commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1976., p.99ff.) Schweizer concludes that the expression “Christ’s afflictions” is never used in the New Testament for the Passion, nor for Jesus’ experience of suffering in general. Nor does the church take on and continue the sufferings of Christ which in themselves effected redemption of the world.

The death of Christ brought about the redemptive reconciliation with God once and for all. The apostle’s affliction’ or being afflicted can be regarded as that which comes from participating in the anticipating proclaiming the gospel, thus making it effective in such a way as to let faith attain its fullness among the Colossians and among other communities throughout the world. The sufferings of which Paul speaks are those endured in the community for the sake of Christ, or in Christ. What the community experiences, Paul also experiences and vice versa. This allows his message to become more credible. He and they, and we too, represent Christ in the world. We are to live to bring Christ’s work as the redeemer of the Christian community and the whole cosmos to its fulfillment. Our place of ministry is right where we are now, wherever that may be. And that may well involve us in a discomforting degree of suffering.

LUKE 10:38-42. Martha frets; Mary listens. Or is that an over-simplification of the story? Jesus does seem to rebuke Martha for her task-driven anxiety and to praise Mary for sitting as his feet listening to what he said. This has been the traditional interpretation which some people have pushed to the extreme by claiming that faith and contemplative spirituality are better than works and active service. It is unlikely that Jesus meant to draw such a distinction. Life for Jesus had a much greater balance of both prayer and action, worship and work. He spent his days teaching and healing, but also frequently withdrew to a quiet place for prayer and contemplation of the presence of God in stillness and silence.

Contemplative spirituality is certainly an important facet of the Christian life. The modern Protestant tradition has left it mostly to Catholicism – Anglican, Roman and Orthodox – where it is practiced as a significant means of spiritual formation and daily devotion. Wesley eschewed it, especially in its monastic form, though he urged his converts to follow his own daily practice of the presence of God and the reading of devotional classics such as Thomas à Kempis. Wesley also adopted the love feast and established the class meeting as a means of spiritual support for their continued development. In recent years, some Protestants have turned to Roman Catholic spiritual directors in search of a more effective spiritual life.

In this decade the Internet offers open access to a wide variety of contemplative practices in both Western Christian and Oriental traditions of Buddhist, Hindu and other origins. An unusual combination of several of these traditions can also be seen in some of these web sites. Our Protestant tradition has been rightly criticized for being too activist and task-oriented. Yet this does not obviate the need for action as a vital expression of faith and commitment. Spreading the Good News of God’s redeeming love in Christ does require effective action.

The actual text of what Jesus said to Martha may have come down to us in somewhat garbled form, since various readings of vss. 41-42 survive. Whatever may have been Jesus’ original words, it would appear that he may well have urged Martha to seek first the Reign of God and let other things assume their proper place within that spiritual context, as Matthew 6:33 states. That leaves plenty of room for exegetical and homiletical interpretation.

Some Additional Preaching Notes.

COLOSSIANS 1:15-28. Last Sunday at our local church I was surprised to meet one of the policemen who had been on duty all week during the G8/G20 crisis in Toronto. I asked him if he had been on duty that week. I was surprised because that trying challenge for our police forces occurred only hours after the funeral of his wife of more than 30 years. She had died following an eighteen year battle with cancer.

“Oh, yes,” he replied, then added, “It was only a very small minority of really bad guys in the midst of a lot of very peaceful people wanting to be heard.”

I had seen him once before in fully uniform weighed down by his protective vest and armament. He and a partner were patrolling the stands at a major league baseball game. Seeing him at worship made me realize that by doing his duty under what must have been the most difficult circumstances exemplified very clearly what Paul told the Colossians. We are to live in Christ amid the pain and tribulations of this world as it is.

A brief essay: Liturgy happens in many ways and everywhere.

Scholars have long noted the liturgical style of the Letter to the Colossians. There is a distinct sense of poetry and praise in 1:15-20. Conzelmann regards it as a hymn taken from an earlier source for use in this setting. He claims that there are similar concepts in this hymn to be found in the Greek Pythagorean philosophers of the lst century BCE and in Philo, the Alexandrian Jews of the 1^st century CE. Others, like G. B. Caird for instance, believed that its origin is irrelevant and could be Paul’s own composition.

The latest issue of ARC: The Journal of the Faculty of Religious Study (Montreal: McGill University, 2009.) contains several important essays on ritual and ritual practice. The lead article by Steven Engler dealt with the theory derived from some unusual practices of exorcism in a powerful mixture of Christian Catholicism, neo-Pentecostalism and African animism among descendants of former Brazilian slaves. (“Brazilian Spirit Possession and the Theory of Ritual.” 1-28.) Quoting an earlier source by Maurice Bloch (“Ritual and Deference,” 2006) Engler pointed out that in liturgical matters one relies on “the authority of others to guarantee the value of what is said or done.” Hence the use of prayer books, traditional hymns, liturgical clothing, seasonal candles and paraments. In studying the Bible too we often appeal to authorities (as I have done above) in a ritualistic way so as to strengthen our discussion with their superior knowledge.

Many years ago when still a bachelor, I was invited to supper by an Anglican colleague. He wife left his wife in the kitchen to care for two very young children and prepare the meal for the unexpected guest. I was directed to join him at evensong in the small white church next to the rectory. Proudly my host displayed for me the accoutrements of this exquisite little chapel. “We have better paraments than even the cathedral,” he told me with great pride. I wondered how and why such a small parish could spend such large sums of money of what my denomination regarded as superfluous decorations.

Since I was the only other person present I reminded him that his wife would have supper ready and suggested that it wasn’t necessary for him to conduct the service just for me. “It isn’t for you,” he snapped back. “It’s for God. Even if no one is here, we must always have evensong at six o’clock.” He then proceeded to ring the bell in the steeple to call whoever heard to attention that he was doing so. For the next twenty to thirty minutes he conducted the traditional evensong while his wife waited for us to arrive late for supper.

Just a few years ago in Montreal I dropped into the Anglican Cathedral to see some of the stone work put in place by my paternal great-grandfather, a master stonemason, during the building of that historic church 150 years ago. I was again just in time for evensong and again I was the only person present except for the curate who conducted the liturgy.

In contrast, as these paragraphs were being composed, Canada’s Queen Elizabeth was been given a last farewell at the end of a nine day royal visit to three provinces. Everywhere she went in several stops along the tour she was greeted by rousing cheers from large crowds eager to see their Queen. There was also the traditional honour guard in dress uniform to be inspected by their commander in chief with an artillery unit of four guns sounding the royal salute in the background.

In Halifax, Nova Scotia she formally reviewed an international fleet gathered in Halifax harbour. In Winnipeg, Manitoba, she was invited to lay the cornerstone of new National Museum of Human Rights. In Ottawa, she addressed the Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill. In Toronto, Ontario, she unveiled a plaque commemorating the 150th anniversary of the dedication of Queen’s Park by her great-grandfather, before he was crowned King Edward VII. Queen’s Park is the site of the Ontario Legislature. She also visited the Research In Motion factory in Waterloo, Ontario, where Blackberries are manufactured. She was formally presented with the new model of that communications instrument.

At each stop of the tour she was greeted by brief addresses by the Prime Minister or  other official dignitary to which she was invited to reply. On the eve of her departure she was honoured at a state dinner and given several gifts on behalf of the Canadian people marking this occasion of her 22^nd visit to this country. In her brief response she expressed her thanks for the warm welcome given to her and her husband once again. She also referred to the fact that when she spoke at the United Nations on the following afternoon, she would do so as Queen of Canada. She is the formal head of state of this country. The Governor General is the Queen’s representative and acts in her stead when she is not in the country.

These ceremonies can only be regarded as political and secular liturgies. All societies and cultures perform similar secular liturgies on specific national or cultural occasions such as the inauguration of a president or the presentation of a sports championship trophy like the World Cup of Football or the World Series of Baseball. In the introductory Propedia volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica’s 15^th edition, the late Wilfred Cantwell Smith noted the similarity of liturgy and symbolism in Sunday afternoon football games in the United States to the church liturgies of Sunday mornings in American churches.

LUKE 10:38-42. There is another surprising aspect to this pericope. Seen from Luke’s perspective, Martha was criticized for doing exactly what her traditional culture dictated. She was getting the meal for her guest, expending considerable energy in doing so. She is then portrayed as whining because her sister was not helping her. On the other hand, Mary was praised for just sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to him. But was Mary not also quietly criticized too. Unlike the other disciples in other instances or even the lawyer in the previous pericope, she didn’t interact with Jesus. Was she just mooning there in enthralled silence? She was given no commission to act, just her presence acknowledged. Sharon H. Ringe comments in her exposition of this passage: “Whatever may have been Jesus’ relationship with women followers, Luke allots them carefully circumscribed roles. For them, the life of discipleship – at least in Luke’s church – promises few real changes.” (“Luke.” Westminster Bible Companion Series. Westminster John Knox Press, 1994.)

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INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE
Proper 8 Ordinary 13
5th Sunday After Pentecost
June 27, 2010

2 KINGS 2: 1- 2, 6-14. This story tells how the spiritual leadership of Israel changed in the last half of the 9th century BC. Traveling with his mentor from one holy site to another, Elisha saw Elijah taken up in a chariot of fire and picked up the older prophet’s fallen mantle symbolizing that he had become Israel’s leading prophet.

PSALM 77: 1-2, 11-20. This complex psalm has two quite separate parts. The reading includes only the introduction to a personal lament, then skips to the second part which sounds more like a hymn alluding to the mighty acts of God throughout Israel’s history and in the violence of nature. This suggests that the psalmist was more troubled by some unnamed community calamity than by a personal disaster.

1 KINGS 19: 15-16, 19-21. (Alternate)  New orders from God for Elijah directed him to return to Israel to anoint a new king for Israel and for their northern neighbours, the Arameans (aka Syrians) and to anoint a new prophet, Elisha, to take his own place. Having done as directed, he found Elisha ploughing with a yoke of oxen. Slaughtering the oxen, Elisha used their equipment to prepare a sacrificial feast before leaving his family to follow Elijah as his disciple.

PSALM 16. (Alternate) This prayer expresses a simple trust in God. After criticizing the worthless gods of other nations, the psalmist meditates on the benefits of worshiping Israel’s Lord.

GALATIANS 5: 1, 13-25. Here the Christian ethic is writ large so that he/she who runs may read it. It is God the Spirit who gives us the basis for our ethical intentions and actual performance as Christians in the local contexts in which we live and move. Paul describes how this happens according to the choices we make about our everyday behaviour.

LUKE 9:51-62. Already bound for Jerusalem and the cross, Jesus decided to take the mountain route through Samaria rather than usual route to the east down the Jordan valley. As with many political and ethnic rivalries still, this enmity took on religious overtones. By Jesus’ time, this hostility had lasted more than 700 years since Israel’s ten northern tribes had been conquered by the Assyrians. Good Jews that they were, two of Jesus’ more hot-tempered disciples immediately gave full expression to the traditional attitude toward the Samaritans who refused them entrance to their village. James and John wanted to call down punishment on these people who rejected their beloved Master. Does this not sound familiar in our day?

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

2 KINGS 2:1-2, 6-14. What happens when the spiritual leadership of a religious community or a nation changes? That issue rises out of this lesson. Before dealing with it, some other points need to be considered first.

In his introduction to I and II Kings in The Interpreter’s Bible (vol. 3, p.13) Norman Snaith noted the many similarities between the Elijah cycle of stories in I Kings and the Elisha cycle in II Kings. He also noted that the latter group may have been written by a less competent author as an imitation of the Elijah cycle. They lack the same dramatic power in spite of the similarities. Nonetheless, Elisha did play a decisive part in the shaping of the events of his time, and in some respects was more outstanding than Elijah. Perhaps the author had knowledge of Elisha’s political importance and this led his biographer to write up the traditions which had gathered around him. The claim that he was the true successor of Elijah certainly was on the mark.

This insight comes very much to the fore in the determination of Elisha to travel with Elijah from one holy site to another until they crossed the Jordan by a miraculous dividing of the waters. The scene is reminiscent of the crossing of the Red Sea and of Joshua leading the Israelites across the Jordan into the Promised Land of Canaan. It was intended as a symbol of the renewal of Israel’s religious heritage. When finally Elisha saw Elijah taken up in a chariot of fire and retrieved the older prophet’s fallen mantle, he knew that he had come into the spiritual inheritance he had so earnestly sought.

The existence of sizable “companies of prophets” at the various holy sites of Bethel and Jericho (vss. 3, 5, 7) indicated that the prophetic tradition did not rest on haphazard, ecstatic inspiration of certain great individuals. A consistent system for maintaining “the word of the Lord” existed during the period of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In his seminal book, The Relevance of the Prophets (Toronto: The Macmillan Company, 1947)  Professor R. B. Y. Scott described these “prophetic guilds” as “recognized bodies of prophets who appear to be acting in concert at various times in the history of the twin kingdoms…. As a rule they spoke with one voice. But exceptional men among them (in addition to the ‘Master’) acted independently, and it was they and not the ‘madmen of the spirit,’ (i.e. ecstatic prophets) who stood in the line of Moses and were the ancestors of the great prophets of the classical period.” (p. 48) An obvious reference to this Mosaic tradition of prophecy stood out in the dividing of the waters of the Jordan by both Elijah and Elisha.

All of this points to the conclusion that the succession of spiritual leadership can be governed in an orderly fashion in which both human and divine influences can be fully exercised.

PSALM  77:1-2, 11-20. This complex psalm appears to have two quite separate parts. This has caused some scholars to suggest that it originally existed as two separate compositions woven together by a later editor. The reading includes only the introduction to a personal lament, then skips to the second part which sounds more like a hymn alluding to the mighty acts of God throughout Israel’s history. This suggests that the psalmist (or the final editor) was more troubled by some unnamed community calamity than by a personal disaster.

A profound spiritual lesson can be learned from this interpretation. In times of crisis and the fragmentation of communal ethics and social upheaval, a review of our religious history can be a helpful antidote to the fear and despair that tend to overwhelm us. This does not assume that all forms of religious response to social crisis should be regarded as beneficial. In this century as in most previous ages, religious leaders have frequently served those who would preserve the status quo rather than voice the need for radical change in the tradition of the great prophets.

When we call to God for help through our fear and despair, God leads us through mighty floods, though not necessarily into green pastures and quiet pools of fresh water. The double images of vss. 16-20 are of violent thunderstorms and Israel’s experience of crossing of the Red Sea. A cursory reading of the Exodus story reveals how turbulent and distressing was that period of Israel’s religious history, if indeed it was a historical event at all.

1 KINGS 19:15-16, 19-21. (Alternate)  Soundly rebuked by Yahweh for deserting his post under the strain of persecution, Elijah received new orders for his ministry as Israel’s leading prophet. Yahweh directed him to return to Israel to anoint a new king for Israel and for their northern neighbours, the Arameans, (inhabiting modern Syria with its capital at Damascus). As if to underline his failure, Elijah also received orders to anoint a new prophet, Elisha, to take his own place as spiritual leader of the nation.

Unless one regards vss. 17-18 as an interpolation into the narrative, there seems little reason to omit them from the reading. In fact, they provide a reasonable assurance that Israel has not been completely apostate as Elijah had complained in his own pathetic defense (vs. 14).

Having done as directed, Elijah threw his mantle over Elisha who immediately ran after the prophet signifying his acceptance of his new role. Elijah hesitated about what he had done, but then relented when Elisha wished to return to say farewell to his parents. Slaughtering the oxen, Elisha used their equipment to prepare a sacrificial feast before leaving his family to follow as Elijah’s servant.

The story gives us insight into ancient prophetic succession. An oddity in this narrative is the anointing of Elisha when the normal practice was to anoint only monarchs. The cycle of stories about Elijah does not end here as might be expected, but there is an unmistakable break in the narrative between this episode and the next. Scholars believe that the two cycles probably come from different sources at different periods in the 8th century BCE as well as being adapted by the post-exilic Deuteronomist editors ca. 550 BCE.

PSALM 16. (Alternate)  This  prayer expresses a profound trust in God very similar to Ps. 23 and other psalms (e.g. Pss. 4, 11, 62, 131)  The psalmist meditates on the spiritual benefits of fellowship with God whose favour has yielded many blessings. He rejoices in his favoured status and is reassured that his righteousness will be rewarded. He will be received into Yahweh’s presence rather than being cast away into the shadowy existence of Sheol as the Jews regarded life beyond death (vss. 10-11.)

The mood of the psalm reflects the attitudes of the post-exilic period when strict obedience to the covenant law was linked directly to personal well-being.

GALATIANS 5:1, 13-25. Few passages in Paul Letter to the Galatians carries as much weight for the individual Christian and the faith communities to which we belong. Here the Christian ethics is writ large so that he/she who runs may read it. Douglas John Hall and other theologians have called attention to the ontological and intentional realities which must undergird ethical Christian behavior in the world now so confused as it is by secular and competing, but relativist, ethics. It is God the Spirit who gives us the ontological basis for our ethical intentions and actual performance as Christians in the local contexts in which we live and move. Nothing else more effectively defines who we are.  In this passage Paul describes how this happens.

By the grace of God in Jesus Christ, we have been freed from all that prevents us from doing as God desires. In the words of Jesus, (vs.14) “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” We are loved by God, therefore we can love others and ourselves. Any other ethic brings the catastrophic result of destructive conflict (vs.15).

“The works of the flesh” which Paul enumerates in vss. 19-21 are nothing more than the inevitable indulgences of selfish living. Because the reign of God is exclusively the reign of love, none of these acts can ever lead us, individually or communally, to experience, love and serve God in the mundane lives we all live.

Paul then enumerates the gracious gifts which come when the Spirit bears fruit in our lives. Acting from this premise, no law can regulate or deter us from holy living. Indeed, this is the life expected of those who would be followers of the Way. All this comes about because of Jesus Christ has pioneered the way for us. We belong to him; we can do no other than be enlivened by his Spirit whether in moments of spiritual contemplation or in the feverish activities of a busy day.

LUKE 9:51-62. Already bound for Jerusalem and the cross, Jesus decided to take the mountain route through Samaria rather than usual route down the Jordan valley. The hostility between the Samaritans and the Jews had lasted for more than eight centuries since the remnant of Israel’s Northern Kingdom had intermarried with the foreign population the Assyrians had imported into Israel following the fall of Samaria in 722 BCE. (2 Kings 15:13-31; 17) As with many political and ethnic rivalries still, this enmity took on religious overtones which John summarizes in Jesus’ conversation with the woman of Sychar (John 4:1-42.) Good Jews that they were, two of Jesus’ more hot-tempered disciples immediately expressed the traditionally hostility toward the Samaritans who refused them entrance to their village. James and John wanted to call down punishment on these people who rejected their beloved Master.

There is reason to believe that the text is corrupt at this point. Several ancient textual sources including those used in translating the KJV followed a reference first found in Marcion (c. 150 CE) adding the words, “as Elijah did.” (See 2 Kings 1:9-16) Most modern translations include this in a marginal note as they also do with a greater extension of vs. 55: “and he said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of; for the son of man came not to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”

In her study of Luke in the Westminster Bible Companion Series, Sharon H. Ringe (Westminster John Knox Press.1995) makes the point that the reference to Elijah is reminiscent of actions taken by that (2 Kings 1:1-12). Whereas in a previous situation, (Lk. 4:25-27) Jesus referred to Elijah in a positive way, here he rejected “the prophet’s fiercer side.” In both instances, however, Luke used the allusions to introduce major new sections of his narrative. Here had Jesus make clear that “old animosities cannot define life in the new community gathered around Jesus.”

However the actual text may have existed in the original, Luke saw this as a teaching moment for Jesus. When an enthusiastic follower gushed about his loyalty, Jesus rebuked him with a promise of homelessness. This was not the kind of Messiah that prospective disciple was seeking. Jesus called another person to follow him, but the man offered the excuse of having to bury his recently deceased father. And yet another wished to say farewell to his family. Jesus responded to both with challenges that still seem harsh to our ears. Were these Jewish or Samaritans whose discipleship he refused? In either case, does this not contradict the previous reference that Jesus had ruled out “old animosities?”

In an “intimate biography” of Jesus, Rabbi Jesus, (Doubleday, 2000) Bruce Chilton inferred that Jesus himself had been forced to leave his home in Nazareth because of the hostility of the community and of some of his own family. Because of his status as a memzer (literally, “a bastard”) due to his suspect paternity, he had not even been permitted to attend the funeral of his father Joseph. If valid – and that is impossible to prove – such experiences may well have affected his attitudes expressed here.

However we may interpret this apparent harshness, Jesus was saying that the demands of God’s reign of love presents us with a higher loyalty than that of filial duty or family responsibility. He concludes with a metaphor that has little meaning for most people today. He likens this challenge of discipleship to that of a farmer plowing a field behind a single beast or a small team. One can only drive a straight furrow by looking forward to the distant goal, a point at the end of the field. In many respects, this kind of loyalty is characteristic of the eschatological age. As John Knox (the modern American biblical scholar, not the giant of the Scottish Reformation) commented in his expository note in The Interpreter’s Bible, (vol. 8, p. 183): “Only in a miraculously new order where men do not live on bread, and where they neither marry nor are given in marriage, can the Kingdom of God fully come. Whether we agree with such a view or not, a passage like this is bound to disclose the grounds for it.”

SOME ADDITIONAL PREACHING POINTS.

2 KINGS 2: 1- 2, 6-14. In recent years several appointments to the Senate of Canada, such as a Roman Catholic nun and the former Moderator of The United Church of Canada, Very Rev. Lois Wilson, (both now retired) gave a prominent public role to prophetic voices on the Canadian and global scene. However political such appointments may be, a true prophet will not necessarily be co-opted by the political system if she or he maintains her moral and spiritual independence, as did Elijah and Elisha in ancient Israel. The Very Rev. Dr. Wilson only accepted the appointment to the Senate on condition that she would sit as an independent.

On the other hand, the alliance of very conservative religious voices with conservative political parties in both Canada and the United States has introduced a negative element of political opportunism which has serious implications for social cohesion. As time passes, however, this disruptive influence may recede as conservative policies lead both nations away from their heritage as liberal democracies and into generally unpopular wars in Asia. It remains to be seen what long term impact these trends will have on the social fabric of both nations and the future policies of their respective governments.

PSALM  77:1-2, 11-20. Within the next week, both Canada and the United States will celebrate their national holidays. However comfortable many of us whoa re citizens of these two most blessed nations of the world may feel, we can readily see that beneath the surface there is a great deal of social unrest which breaks into the open from time to time. Current crises in the handling of public revenues, education and health services, energy and water supplies, the declining quality of the air we breathe and the imminent threat of climate change are symptoms of how distressed our society may be.

In this year 2010, there is the growing international dilemma of how to address the devastating oil well explosion, the death of thirteen oil rig workers and subsequent spillage of millions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The future of traditional ways of life for many people living along the shoreline of the gulf is in grave doubt. So too is the effect this disaster will have on the worldwide production of petroleum products. Will there be political fallout for President Obama and the US Congress in the forthcoming midterm elections? Are not all these issues are occasions for lament, not self-satisfied congratulations about the wealth and security of our two nations?

1 KINGS 19: 15-16, 19-21. (Alternate) Elijah found his successor ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen. That is an extremely large team to draw a relatively small agricultural instrument. It must have some symbolic meaning beyond the narrative. Could it refer to the twelve tribes of Israel now deeply divided between the Northern and South  Kingdoms? If so, it may have expressed the hope, possibly of a later editor, that the kingdoms would once more be united under a Davidic heir.

GALATIANS 5:1, 13-25. Father Thomas Keating, a spiritual companion to many from diverse denominational backgrounds, once described how the Spirit effects change in our ethical behaviour when we engage in meditative prayer : “We are sitting on the cross of Christ….thus, in a receptive mode of being,….consenting to God’s grace. In emptying, we open ourselves to redemption.”

The late Professor James S. Thomson, then Dean of the Faculty of Religious Studies at McGill University, Montreal, in the middle of the last century, interpreted to his senior class what the person and work of Christ as Saviour and Redeemer implied. He said that we had gone about as far as we can in understanding what this meant for the behavior of individual Christians. That had been achieved through the evangelical movements from the mid-18th to mid-20th century, from the Wesleys to Bonhoeffer and Tillich. What Christians in the next century or two would be required to achieve was the application of this same ethic to social and global issues of all kinds.

Fully sixty years after that prophetic observation was made, we are now in the midst of doing trying to do what that eminent teacher foresaw. What better guide to the missionary enterprise where each one of us lives can we find than what Paul cites in this letter to the Galatians?

A retired military officer joined a Bible study group after retirement from a long military career. As the group worked through the implications of “the fruits of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-23, this officer spoke of his wide experience as  commandant of several military bases. Moral issues had confronted him almost daily. In retirement he accepted a role as a pastoral counselor in his local congregation giving whatever help he could to other men struggling with complex moral issues. Even clergy of his acquaintance turned to him to share their moral dilemmas. The Spirit was working through him in many different ways.

LUKE 9:51-62. Many a modern minister’s family has been greatly distressed when The challenge involving a serious conflict of loyalties and responsibilities has been literally interpreted. Professor Knox put the whole series of challenging incidents in this chapter in a different context. We do not know the concrete situation in which Jesus spoke these words. This series of incidents has the single purpose of setting forth the paramount importance of the reign of God and the supreme loyalty it demands of us. Everything else is irrelevant to that purpose. We must interpret many of the stories and parables of Jesus with this same characteristic economy.

In recent months there has been much discussion among Roman Catholic people as to whether married priests would have prevented much of the child abuse that has done great damage to that church in recent years. One of the arguments offered by the Vatican for a celibate priesthood is that the priest is able to offer himself totally to his ministry without the encumbrance of marital and familial duties. At the same time, numerous married clergy from other churches have been accepted and indeed invited to seek admission as Roman Catholic clergy while still maintaining their marital status.

A Roman Catholic member of the administrative staff of a United Church congregation in my community told me recently in glowing terms of how excellent a pastor her priest had been. “And he is married with children too!” she exclaimed. She was speaking about a former minister of The United Church of Canada. At one time he and I had both been members of the same Presbytery.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

Proper 6  Ordinary 11

Third Sunday After Pentecost

June 13, 2010 .

1 KINGS 21:1- 21a. This simply told tale echoes across the centuries as brilliant example of how the Israelites put their message about God’s justice so even a child could understand. The depressed bumbling of Ahab make for great irony and the deceit of Jezebel clearly describes how the powerful victimize the powerless. The dramatic words of Elijah reveal how God feels about such selfish injustice.

2 SAMUEL 11:26-12:10, 13-15. (Alternate)   This conclusion to the story about David’s lustful adultery with Bathsheba forcefully conveys the moral lessons that God’s justice is meted out equally to kings and commoners alike. The prophet Nathan confronted David about his deceitful arranging for Uriah’s death so that he might marry Bathsheba. Despite David’s confession of sin, Nathan declared God’s judgment against the king: Bathsheba’s child will die.

PSALM 5:1- 8. This lyrical lament may well have been recited by temple singers to the music of flutes. It tells worshipers making their way into the temple that God hears their cries for help because God has only steadfast love for all who follow God’s righteous ways.

PSALM 32. (Alternate) This prayer of confession has nothing to do with King David’s confession. It contains a hopeful expression of God’s forgiveness for any penitent relying on the steadfast love of God. This is something in which we too can truly rejoice.

GALATIANS 2:15- 21. Paul cites the basic difference between Jews and Gentiles as resting on the law given to Moses when he led the Jews out of slavery in Egypt. Then Paul strikes down that distinction because Jesus Christ has established an entirely new relationship with God for Jews and Gentiles alike. It depends on faith in Jesus Christ who was crucified and raised from the dead to live in anyone who believes.

LUKE 7:36- 8:3. In this passage Luke told several things about Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. He had friends among the Pharisees and one invited him to dine. He rebuked his host for neglecting a customary welcome. He also had great compassion for this disreputable women always thought of as a prostitute.

The parable Jesus told to drive home his message must have cut the Pharisee to the quick. The point of the whole incident is that forgiveness depends on our faith in God’s compassionate love, not on how righteous we may strive to be.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

1 KINGS 21:1- 21a. This simply told tale echoes across the centuries as brilliant example of how the Israelites put their message about God’s justice so even a child could understand. Yet its fine points speak to our age as crisply as it formed one of what is known as “the Elijah cycle” of stories about one of Israel’s greatest prophets and his conflict with King Ahab and his Tyrian queen, Jezebel. Two other cycles of stories closely related to this one featured the prophet Elisha and the reign of the weak King Ahab. Scholarly debates have not completely settled how the three have been melded into the whole of the Book of Kings. Several incidental narratives are scattered in different places in I and II Kings.

It is thought that these three sets of stories originated in the Northern Kingdom in late 9^th century BCE. They existed separately and circulated centuries before being included in the Book of Kings by an editor of the Deuteronomic school. Written after Israel’s return from the exile in Babylon in the late 6^th or early 5^th century BCE, the main concern of the Deuteronomic editors of the Book of Kings was the struggle to maintain the worship of Israel centralized in the temple Jerusalem against the incursions of alien gods. They believed that it was Israel’s infidelity to the worship of Yahweh and the Torah which brought the great disaster of the Babylonian exile upon them.

In this particularly dramatic incident, the depressed bumbling of Ahab make for great irony and the deceit of Jezebel clearly describes how the powerful can victimize the powerless. The dramatic words of Elijah reveal how God feels about such selfish unfairness.

Just reading the story to its conclusion at vs. 29 would make a great sermon in itself. If one chose to elaborate and draw parallels to present times, one would find ample illustration in the economic and political injustices rampant in the world as we see these described in our news media.

2 SAMUEL 11:26-12:10, 13-15. (Alternate)  This conclusion of the story about David’s lustful adultery with Bathsheba forcefully conveys the moral lesson that God’s justice is meeted out equally to kings and commoners, to rich and poor alike.

Whether or not this was indeed an historical event from the later years of David’s reign can never be proven. However, the narrative bears the marks of a much later time in the 8^th and 7^th centuries BCE when justice had become an important element of the preaching of Israel’s great prophets Amos, Micah and Isaiah.

The prophet Nathan confronted David about his deceitful arranging for Uriah’s death so that he might marry Bathsheba. But the wily prophet doesn’t do it with a blunt charge of misbehaviour. He skillfully tells a parable about a rich man who coveted his poor neighbour’s lamb. The rich man stole the poor man’s lamb to provide a feast for a visitor. When David challenged the prophet to identify the culprit of this injustice, Nathan pointed his finger directly at the king and in Yahweh’s name condemned the king for what he had done to Uriah and Bathsheba.

Despite David’s confession of sin, Nathan declares God’s judgment against the king: Bathsheba’s child will die. More than that, David’s household would experience nothing but strife, a prophecy that subsequent events proved. Indeed, by the time the story was redacted in the post-exilic period, the Davidic dynasty had disappeared.

PSALM 5:1-8. This lyrical lament may well have been recited by the temple singers to the music of flutes. It may have been used as a prayer during the morning sacrifice (vs. 2). While it is written as if sung as a solo, it tells worshipers making their way into the temple that God hears their cries for help because God has only steadfast love for those who follow God’s righteous ways.

We can only imagine the specific circumstances in which the psalmist had composed this prayer. It would appear that he was beset by a menacing group of fellows Israelites. He had suffered from their boastful arrogance and slanderous lies vividly described in vss. 6 & 9. The psalmist found relief from this unbearable annoyance in the assurance of Yahweh’s steadfast love communicated through worship (vs. 7). This results in his commitment to Yahweh’s righteousness, i.e. the Torah.

Vs. 7 contains what may be an oblique reference to the Babylonian exile. The psalmist may not have  been in the temple precincts at all, but far away in Babylon and turning toward the temple as he uttered his morning prayers (cf. Daniel 6:10). It is logical to assume, therefore, that the psalm comes from the post-exilic period.

The varying readings of vs. 3b suggest that this is so. The KJV has added the words “my prayer” to the Hebrew text, “I direct my prayer to thee, and will look up,” to convey a clearer sense of its assumed meaning. The RSV gives an alternate reading: “I prepare a sacrifice for thee, and watch.”  The NEB tends to agree: “I set out my morning sacrifice and watch for thee, O Lord.” The NRSV, however, stays closer to the Hebrew text conveyed by the KJV: “in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.” The rather obscure Hebrew verb *‘awrak* (= prepare) does have several meanings, but chiefly “to arrange or put in order.” One may choose which one to prefer.

PSALM 32. (Alternate) This prayer of confession has nothing to do with King David’s confession. It is one of series of penitential psalms frequently used in the Lenten season. The others like it are Pss. 6, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143. It belongs to a class of wisdom psalms designed to instruct the faithful in times of sickness and distress. Like all theology in the ancient Middle East, it closely links sickness ands sin.

Although attributed to David in the superscription, it actually comes from the late Persian or early Greek periods (4^th century BCE) when wisdom literature strove to maintain the true faith of Israelites in the moral law of the ancient covenantal tradition.

Whatever its origins, the psalm contains a hopeful expression of God’s forgiveness for any penitent relying on the steadfast love of God. It describes quite effectively the process of being forgiven: sincere penitence, the acceptance of forgiveness, the resolution to guilt. It also includes a didactic moral with a touch of irony about our human resistance to true penitence. The psalm ends with a shout of praise for God’s compassionate grace in which we can truly rejoice.

GALATIANS 2:15-21. Paul’s primary concern in his Letter to the Galatians was to prevent recently converted Jews and Gentiles from falling away from the simple freedom of their new faith under attack from other Jewish Christians. These “Judaizers” had persuaded them that to be Christians they must also follow the strict Jewish laws. This conflict came a consequence of the division between the Jerusalem and Antioch Christian communities within two decades after the resurrection. In this passage Paul cited the basic difference between Jews and Gentiles. It rested on the law of the covenant given to Moses when he led them out of slavery in Egypt.

In Paul’s estimation, his fellow Jews were wrong in assuming that they put themselves in good standing with God (“justified” – vs. 16) by keeping the laws designed to create ritual purity worthy of admission to God’s covenant. Dietary restrictions and circumcision were the particular aspects of the covenant law against which Paul was arguing. Gentiles could not easily accept such rigorous purification as practical expressions of their relationship with God. Realizing this, and pleading freedom from the ritual restraints of the Jewish tradition, Paul worried that his Galatian friends would desert the Christian community altogether. As anyone who has been in conflict situations, in times of crisis it does not take much to create doubt and disaffection in the minds and hearts of Christian believers.

Then, in a series of rhetorical questions, (vss. 16b-17) Paul strikes down the distinction he had drawn between Jews and Gentiles. Jesus Christ has established an entirely new relationship with God for Jews and Gentiles alike. It rested on faith in Jesus Christ who had been crucified and raised from the dead to live in anyone who believes. The English translation of what Paul was saying is by no means easy to grasp.

He used his own experience as the main illustration of his argument. Does he not claim to have invalidated not just certain parts of the Judaic law, but the legalist tradition as a whole? Trying to understand Paul’s impact on both Judaism and Christianity, many scholars have followed this train of thought in the past century and a half. It was not so much Jesus, but Paul who is regarded as the architect of the Christian tradition distinct from its earlier roots in Judaism. We may firmly counter such a view by showing that, according to this passage, Paul himself believed that his faith depended entirely on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Great though it had been, he did not depend on his personal impact on the communities to which he had proclaimed the Gospel.

But what did he mean in vs. 19 that “through the law I died to the law? There may well be some specific act of transgression the memory of which still bothered Paul’s conscience.  We get much the same impression if we compare this passage to Romans 7:7-12 where he identifies a sin but does not specifically state what that sin might have been. It could have been something he coveted, but had to relinquish because it was unattainable or because his changed relationship with Christ prevented its achievement.

Paul had found a new hope, nonetheless. It was in Christ. Whatever his sacrifice had been, he saw it as being personally crucified, yet he was alive as never before. He knew this not because of anything he had done, but because Christ had forgiven him and had given him a much greater commission. He now could live for Christ assured that the risen Christ was with him always. Indeed the Spirit of Christ was alive in him transforming him day by day into a new creation. That was the faith which sustained him. His entirely new relationship with God rested on faith alone. If this were not so, he claimed in his final point to clinch his argument, then Christ had died for nothing.

LUKE 7:36-8:3. In this passage Luke told us several important things about Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. One can easily assume that Jesus’ most ardent opposition came from those who belonged to the party of the Pharisees. On the other hand, he also had many good friends among this ultra-religious party and this one had invited him to dine. Some Jewish rabbis today believe that Jesus himself was a member of the Pharisees.

In his Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography, Bruce Chilton based much of his analysis of Jesus’ ministry on the frequency of his dining out with just about anyone who would invite him. Certainly, some of those who opposed him accused him of being a glutton and an alcoholic. Luke had reported that charge immediately before this passage. Chilton regarded Jesus’ penchant for being a guest at other people’s homes as being particularly significant in marking out his differences with the priestly authorities as well as the Pharisees.

When a sacrifice was offered in the temple, part of the offering was burned on the altar, but most of it was divided between the priests and the worshiper for their own consumption. Jesus may have regarded the temple sacrifices as dining in the presence of God. It culminated, in Chilton’s view, in the intimate fellowship meals of which the Last Supper was only one instance.

According to this pericope, Luke presented Jesus as not being afraid to rebuke his host for neglecting the customary welcome he ought to have received. The normal customs of the time required that on the arrival of his guests, the host would provide water for them to freshen up after walking through dirty and dusty streets. Ritual washing was also required of everyone who ate at home or as invited guests at a feast. In all probability, this stringent practice was frequently ignored, especially far from Jerusalem in Galilee.

The story set up an interesting contrast between Jesus rebuke of his host and his compassion for this interloping woman. Apparently she just came in off the street uninvited, knowing that Jesus was there. Perhaps she had followed him. She has always been thought of as a prostitute or an adulterer, but she could well have had other well-known sins which characterized her demeanor. Her presence quite naturally upset the host. He remonstrated with Jesus for allowing such a person to touch him thus making him impure according to the strict interpretation of the laws governing such behavior.

The parable Jesus told to drive home his message must have cut the Pharisee to the quick. Comparison with Paul’s words to the Galatians reveals that both are very clearly the good news Jesus came to reveal and make effective in reconciling us with God and with one another. The point of both passages is that forgiveness depends on our faith in God’s compassionate love, not on how righteous we may strive to be.

It is important not to ignore 8:1-3, Luke’s brief statement naming certain women who followed Jesus. In subsequent centuries, the unnamed woman who interrupted the feast at the home of the Pharisee has been conflated with Mary Magdalene and/or Mary of Bethany (vs. 2). More recent scholarship has shown this to be completely wrong. Miriam (Mary) was the most common Jewish name for women in those days. Throughout his gospel Luke showed that women held a special place in Jesus’ life and ministry. With regard to Mary Magdalene legend and fiction have made much of this.

So has feminist scholarship of the late 20^th century. In her study of Luke, however, Sharon H. Ringe has shown that the roles women filled in the ministry of Jesus did not differ from the customary roles for women in those times. In this instance, we have relatively little information about these particular women. Some of them had been healed by Jesus of evil spirits and demons, but that does not imply that they were sinful or of disreputable moral character. We are told that some of them were women of means. Apparently they chose to make use of their wealth in supporting Jesus’ ministry and joining him on the road to Jerusalem. Several of them reappeared in Luke’s Passion narrative. It would only amount to fruitless speculation to reconstruct anything more from what Ringe described as “a mere opening and closing of the curtain to indicate a new scene.”

SOME ADDITIONAL PREACHING POINTS.

PSALM 5:1-8. What happens during our liturgies? In 2009 a Conference on Performing Self and Community: Ritual and Ritual Practice was held at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada. Papers from this conference were published in Volume 37:2009 issue of ARC: The Journal of the Faculty of Religious Studies. These papers attempt to respond to the question, “What does scholarship on ritual have to say in the 21^st century?”

The papers range through many religious and secular fields. Some titles seem far away from religious studies, but on closer examination contain to be very appropriate hypotheses and incisive if tentative insights for our time. For instance, among the titles of papers are:  “Etiology, Neurology, and Emergence: Reductionism in Biological Perspective on Religious Rituals;” “ An Examination of Virtual Rituals Found in Online Gaming;” and “Rituals and the Everyday: Performing Food and Sex in Contemporary Visual Arts.” The major world religious traditions and specific pastoral concerns are not neglected: “Ritual is Not Religion: Exploring Balagangadhars’ Proposal for Understanding the ‘East;’” and “Journeys in Grief: Theorizing Mourning Rituals.”

Though not always easy reading, the introduction and thirteen papers may prove quite challenging for a summer of study. ARC is indexed in the Religion Index One: Periodicals published by the American Theological Library Association (http://www.atla.com/) and other well known social science indexes. Individual copies of the journal may be obtained for $15 Cdn within Canada and $15 US outside of Canada from ARC, Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University, 3520 University Street,  Montreal, QC H3A 2A7 Canada. Cheques should be payable to “ARC, FRS, McGill University.” Annual subscriptions are $30 Cdn and $30 US per annum. The Faculty’s webpage is

www.relgstud@mcgill.ca.

GALATIANS 2:15-21. There is an ancient legend that part of the price Paul paid when he met Jesus on the Damascus Road was to give up any hope of marriage to the daughter of Caiaphas, the high priest. Was this an indirect reference to such an experience? It was unusual for a young rabbi not to marry and such a marriage would have been immensely advantageous to any ambitious young rabbi. How he would have coveted that! Dare we speculate that this could have been the reason why the “Judaizers” followed him wherever he went and tried to undo all he had done in the predominately Gentile cities of Galatia? As a servant of the high priest he had deserted his commission and had gone over to the enemy. How could that ever be forgiven by the priestly authorities whom he had betrayed?

Who were the Galatians? Primarily, they were the descendants of a tribe of Celts who had broken away from the main Celtic migration in the 7^th and 6^th centuries BCE. Originally from western Asia, they migrated up the basin of the Danube River in Europe to eventually settle first in Switzerland (known as Helvetians), and France (known as Gauls). Later they had crossed to southern England and Ireland. This break-away migration through Bulgaria and Greece to Asia Minor had taken place in the 3^rd century BCE. A relatively small but rather warlike tribe, they had settled in the central Anatolian plain at the invitation of the king of Bythinia. There they subsequently became known as Galatians.

See these websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galatians; and

http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/history/migration/chapter113.html#1 .

LUKE 7:36-8:3. Do justice and political reconciliation ever meet? During one of Nelson Mandela’s visits to Canada, a member of the Parliament of Canada publicly condemned the South African leader as a communist who had advocated violent revolution in South Africa before and during his imprisonment. However true or false that accusation may have been, the gift Mandela has given to the world in his long struggle against apartheid cannot be denied. His long life has showed how the worst of enemies can be reconciled through the forgiving love of God working through ordinary people of every race and creed. This too is gospel.

Reconciliation can be seen too in current if tragic events. Quite recently a remarkable reconciliation between Poland and Russia has resulted from the death of many Polish political and military leaders in a plane crash near Smolensk. The Polish delegates were on their way to meet with their Russian counterparts and mark the anniversary of the massacre of more than 20,000 Polish military, political and intellectual leaders at Katyn Forest near Smolensk in April and May 1940 on the orders of Joseph Stalin.

On May 24, 2010 Ontario’s educational television station TVO held an hour long debate on the extent and character of this reconciliation featuring a Canadian, two Polish and two Russian political scientists now teaching at different Canadian and American universities. Among the five was Nina  Khrushcheva, the granddaughter of former Soviet president, Nikita Krushchev. At the end of the debate the question arose whether or not the Russians had apologized to the Poles for Stalin’s criminal behaviour. No, they conceded, it was not an apology, but it was an admission that a terrible crime had been committed.

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INTRODUCTIONS TO THE SCRIPTURE

Second Sunday After Pentecost

Proper 5  Ordinary 10

June 6, 2010

(NOTE: During the Season of Pentecost, some traditions follow a different set of readings from the Old Testament and Psalms. These alternate readings will be included in both the brief introductions and the more complete analyses.)

I KINGS 17:8-16. (Alternate 17:17-24) This passage introduces of a series of stories in which Elijah the prophet appears as God’s spokesperson in very difficult times during the 9^th century BCE. Both passages reveal Elijah as a man of God who follows God’s directions. The alternate reading raises the serious question of how we deal with the all too common experience of having good things turn out badly. Does such experiences hinder us from following God’s will to love others with abandon, “wastefully,” as John S. Spong says?

PSALM 146. This brief psalm of praise, one of the five exultant hymns that end the Psalter, celebrates the hopes of Israel in God’s desire for freedom and justice.

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

GALATIANS 1:11-24. To convince the Galatians of his trustworthiness, Paul reviews his past as a  faithful Jew who first persecuted the Christians in Jerusalem, then received his own call to be an apostle to the Gentiles in a direct revelation from Jesus himself.

LUKE 7:11-17. This passage tells of Jesus raising a widow’s only son is reminiscent of a similar miracle performed by Elijah. Undoubtedly that Old Testament story influenced Luke’s narrative, as the people’s astonished reaction shows.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

I KINGS 17:8-16 (Alternate 17:17-24). This passage introduces of a series of stories in which Elijah the prophet appears as God’s spokesperson in very difficult times during the 9^th century BCE. Frequent references to Elijah in the New Testament Gospels indicate how important this cycle of stories was in the Hebrew scriptures.

After the reigns of David and Solomon, a civil war had divided their kingdom in two. The northern ten tribes continued the name of Israel but were ruled by kings not descended from David with Samaria as their capital city. Judah, formed by the southern two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, was smaller and weaker, but maintained the Davidic dynasty and its capital in Jerusalem.

Elijah the Tishbite, came from Gilead, one of ten tribal regions of the northern kingdom Israel. He was a strong leader of Yahwism during a time of serious encroachment by Baalism from the coastal region of Tyre. His dominant opponent was Jezebel, King Ahab’s Tyrian queen. It is manifestly significant that these two incidents took place in Sidon, also on the coast and closely associated with Tyre.

No clear information has ever been found as to the location of Tishbe in Gilead, the name of the town from which Elijah supposedly came. Some maps do show the site of Tishbe near the Wadi Cherith in Gilead, an eastern tributary of the Jordan River. The name may have been related to an occupational name for a tribe of non-native settlers, (“one of the toshab class”) the Kenites, renamed the Rechabites, whom Solomon engaged in the importation of horses and chariots (1 Kings 10:26-29).After following instructions from Yahweh to go to the Wadi Cherith, Elijah was sustained during a severe drought and famine by ravens that brought him food morning and evening (vss. 2-7). A subsequent message from Yahweh sent the prophet to Zarephath, a town near Sidon on the Mediterranean coast. There he asked a widow for food and drink, but she pleaded that she had only enough for herself and her son before suffering from starvation. Elijah promised in Yahweh’s name that her meal and oil would never run out (vss. 8-16) Later, according to the alternate reading (vss. 17-24), the widow’s son became ill and died, but Elijah revived him in a vividly described demonstration of the power of prayer.

Both passages reveal Elijah as a man of God who obeyed divine commands to go wherever he was sent. In doing so, he provided sustenance for a widow whose jars of meal and oil miraculously never failed and subsequently raised the widow’s son from the dead.

PSALM 146. This brief psalm of praise, one of the five exultant Hallel psalms that end the Psalter, celebrates the hopes of Israel in God’s desire for freedom and justice. The prophetic theme of hope of restoration sounds through the latter part of the song. It sings the praise of Yahweh as creator and redeemer, especially of those who are powerless and marginalized.

Vs. 3 points out the sharp contrast between the trustworthiness of Yahweh and the inconsistency of mortal sovereigns. The psalmist knew this from Israel’s long history of monarchs who failed to provide peace and security for their people in violent times much like those of our time in the Middle East.

Vss. 7b-9 repeats the name of Yahweh five times, as always translated “the Lord.” One can imagine those familiar with the words joining their voices to the cantor in a jubilant crescendo as the divine tetragrammaton YHWH was recited in whatever way this sacred name was used. Then in the closing benediction proclaiming the eternal sovereignty of Yahweh, the congregation responds with a final outburst of praise.

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. 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 ideas.

The traditional concept of illness resulting from divine anger still lingers as the philosophical matrix of the poem (vs. 5). Despite this 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 2^nd 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.

GALATIANS 1:11-24. To convince the Galatians of his trustworthiness, Paul reviewed his past as a faithful Jew who first persecuted the Christians in Jerusalem, then received his own call to be an apostle to the Gentiles in a direct revelation from Jesus himself.

Paul often appeared as a person uncertain of his acceptance in the early Christian Church. In several of his letters, notably Corinthians and Galatians, he tried to reinforce his apostleship by frankly acknowledging how he had persecuted the church. At times he revealed a very low self-image, to use a modern psychological term for this personality trait. (Cf. 1 Cor. 15:9; Eph. 3:8)

On the other hand, Paul did not leave the matter there. He quickly asserted that his call to be the apostle to the Gentiles came directly from Jesus whose risen presence he had experienced in a dramatic epiphany on the Damascus Road. Because he was so deeply conscious of and perhaps still felt guilty about his previous life, he put that experience in the context of grace. In vs. 15 of this passage, he also described his vocation as preordained from birth.

Paul’s further elaboration of what he did after his conversion does not correlate with other summaries we have of that period. Except in this passage, no mention is made of his three year Arabian sojourn. He could have been referring to the vast stretch of territory along the major trade route from Damascus to the Red Sea ,formerly known as Edom/Idumea, then in the hands of the Nabateans whose capital was in Petra southeast of the Dead Sea (Cf. Acts 9:26-30; 26:12-20).

None of the sources should be treated as biography. However, in his Rabbi Paul: An Intellectual Biography, Bruce Chilton states that it was during this time that Paul “worked out the implications of his vision for himself during three years of self-imposed exile from all the people he knew, whether in Jerusalem or Tarsus.” Thus we are left with somewhat incoherent details that must remain forever so, despite the adamant claim in Gal. 1:20, “In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!” Even the apostle must be seen as one who looked back on his life, in this passage at least, with some ambivalence.

LUKE 7:11-17. This passage tells of Jesus raising a widow’s only son was reminiscent of a similar miracle performed by Elijah. (1 Kings 17:17-24) Undoubtedly that Old Testament story influenced Luke’s narrative, as the people’s astonished reaction shows (vs. 16).

The emphasis in the story here was on Jesus’ compassion for the widow, not on his power to raise the dead. It exhibited Jesus’ gracious concern for the most vulnerable and helpless. By touching the bier, he exposed himself to contamination according to traditional Jewish holiness code. At the same time, he demonstrated that liturgical purity yields to the higher law of mercy (cf. Numbers 19:11). It is noteworthy that Jesus’ final action of giving the resuscitated man to his mother repeats the exact words of 1 Kings 17:23.

As Prof. George Caird asserted, there is no doubt the early church did have strong convictions that Jesus did return to life those whom others had declared dead. (Caird, George B. St. Luke. Pelican New Testament Commentaries, 1963, 110) Jesus is the source of life, Luke forcefully asserted in this pericope. So also should we be making the same assertion today.

While the story as Luke told it may cause skepticism to modern minds, there are significant values for our time to be found in his brief narrative of the miracle. To see the relevance of this pericope, we need only think of the contrast between governmental spending on weapons of war and that spent on education, health and alleviation of poverty in many nations including our own. There is also the steadily widening gap and lack of compromise between progressive and conservative political economies in Europe and North America regarding the ways to respond to the current financial crisis brought on by ever increasing national and international debt. Jesus did not offer political or economic solutions to modern problems. He did give us insight into God’s way of dealing with human misery and distress with endless compassion and kindness.

SOME ADDITIONAL PREACHING POINTS.

I KINGS 17:8-16. (Alternate 17:17-24). John Shelby Spong wrote the following in his weekly newsletter for May 5, 2010, in which he discussed the tragic death of a 25 year old daughter of close friends:

“Is it not in loving another and in giving ourselves to another that the essence of living and the joy of meaning are found? It is not easy to be human, but does not the joy outweigh the pain? So we have to choose. I choose life and love. I choose life-giving relationships even though this means that I must eventually endure pain and loss….

“If God is experienced as the source of life, then the only way to worship God is by living fully and, the more fully I live, the more this God, this source of life, becomes visible. I now see God as the source of love that is also in every living thing. Love is the power that enhances life and it is present in plants that turn their leaves to the sun, in the birds that feed their young in the nest, in the cat that licks the fur of its kittens, but this instinctual life-giving power comes to self-consciousness only in human beings. If God is experienced as the source of love, then the only way I can worship God is by loving wastefully, and the more wastefully I love, the more I  make God visible. “(Emphasis mine.)

GALATIANS 1:11-24. One historian described the Paul’s Arabian period as “a mysterious pause, a moment of suspense, in the apostle’s history, a breathless calm, which ushers in the tumultuous storm of his active missionary life.” See this website:

http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/paul.html .

Another website elaborates:

(http://www.truthinhistory.org/tracing-the-steps-of-the-apostle-paul.html)

“From the reading of the text in Acts 9:26-28 one would get the impression that Saul went directly from his escape at Damascus to Jerusalem. By his own admission he clarified the fact in his letter to the Galatians (1:16-17) that he “conferred not with flesh and blood” nor consulted with the Apostles in Jerusalem; but the Lord’s choice for him was to go to Arabia to be trained in the school of the Spirit in order that he might receive greater revelations concerning the mysteries of the Gospel of the glorified Christ.

“Nowhere in the Scriptures does it indicate which part of the vast area of Arabia he went to, but we can safely assume it was somewhere east of Damascus. In the writings of Luke in the book of Acts, he omits any mention of Paul’s trip to Arabia. At that time the area known as Arabia included the region governed by Aretas ( II Cor. 11:32) which extended from Damascus and east of the Jordan River south to Edom with Petra as its capital.”

Bruce Chilton added a note to his brief summary of the Arabian hiatus that there was no significant penetration of successful proselytizing among the   Nabateans in Acts. “Not mentioning Arabia would be sensible, however, if an apostle dear to Acts had tried to convert people there and gotten nowhere.” (Chilton, Rabbi Paul: An Intellectual Biography. Image Books, Doubleday, 2004. 276, n.12)

LUKE 7:11-17. Is there some reason to think of Luke’s Gospel as a further extension Mark’s structure of the narrative of Jesus’ life as stories invented by to tie in with the weekly lectionary in the Hellenist Jewish synagogues? In Jesus for the Non-Religious J. S. Spong presents this thesis as the basis for  understanding how the Gospels were composed. The theory was first proposed by Michael Goulder (1974) following Austin Farrer who had discarded the Q theory dating from the early 20^th century (1957, 1966). This highly speculative approach states that Jesus life and death first set forth in Mark can be seen as a interpretive liturgy for Hellenist Jewish Christians of the Diaspora still gathering on the Sabbath in synagogues on the great Jewish festivals from Rosh Hashanah to Passover. Similarly, in Matthew and Luke the scriptures were read and reinterpreted in terms of the period extending from Passover to Rosh Hashanah again.

On May 13, 2010 J. S. Spong summarized the composition of the Gospels In his weekly newsletter published on the Internet:

“What Mark had done was to provide Jesus stories appropriate to the synagogue celebrations from Rosh Hashanah (the John the Baptist story) to Passover (the crucifixion story). Rosh Hashanah, however, comes in the mid fall of the year and Passover comes in the early spring, so the gospel of Mark only covered six and a half months of the twelve month year, leaving out the five and a half months that separate Passover from Rosh Hashanah. There was, therefore, a desire after Mark’s gospel appeared to fill in that blank space with additional Jesus material, which soon became an imperative need. Within about a decade, Matthew wrote the first expansion of Mark and aimed his story at the disciples of Jesus who worshipped in rather traditional Jewish synagogues. Luke wrote the second expansion of Mark and he aimed his story at the community of Jesus’ disciples who worshipped at synagogues that were made up of dispersed Jews and those Gentile proselytes, who were beginning to be drawn into the synagogue community.” (Origins of the New Testament – Part XXIII: Matthew and the Liturgical Year of the Synagogue in An New Christianity For A New World. Subscribe to website at $26 US annually here: http://www.johnshelbyspong.com/publicsite/index.aspx.)

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INTRODUCTIONS TO THE SCRIPTURE

First Sunday After Pentecost – Trinity Sunday

May 30,  2010

PROVERBS  8:1-4, 22-31. The Book of Proverbs comes from a type of creative writing known as Wisdom literature. It gets this name from the way in which it presents religious teachings as ancient, inherited wisdom to guide the morally and spiritually inexperienced. The Books of Job, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes and some Psalms also belong to this class. In this passage, Widsom is personified as God’s first creation who also shared in all other acts of creation. Wisdom is often equated with the Holy Spirit.

PSALM  8. The psalmist first contemplates the glory of God manifested in the wonders of the heavens. This brings to mind a reflection on the place of humanity in creation. Sadly, by taking the text literally, we have excessively exploited our role as God’s vice-regents with “dominion” over nature.

ROMANS  5:1-5. Two of the most important doctrines of our faith had their roots in this passage: justification and sanctification. Justification means putting our trust in the power and goodness of God whose grace gives us peace instead of the sinful conflict between God’s will and our will. This transforms our moral character. We are not only changed, but we also find hopeful assurance that God’s love reigns in this hostile world. Through God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, love becomes the sole motivation for all our behaviour, i.e. we are sanctified, made holy and worthy representatives of God in the world.

JOHN 16:12-15. In Jesus’ final discourse to his disciples, John defines for his own community the purpose of the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost. This is the closest any New Testament author comes to a statement of the doctrine of the Trinity. The role of the Spirit is to guide the church into all truth. The fundamental criterion of truth for the church is that it must always witness to Christ and seek to reveal God’s purpose. This requires much careful reflection before being expressed in life.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS

PROVERBS 8:1-4, 22-31. The Book of Proverbs comes from a type of creative writing called Jewish Wisdom literature. It gets this name from the way in which it presents religious teachings as ancient, inherited wisdom to guide the morally and spiritually inexperienced. The Books of Job, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes and some Psalms also belong to this class. Outside of the standard canon of scripture, however, many other books of Wisdom literature were written to interpret the ancient tradition in different styles. Some are contained in the Old Testament Apocrypha. Two of these, Ecclesiasticus (also called The Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach, or just Sirach) and The Book of Wisdom, are also found in the accepted canon of the Roman Catholic Church.

One of the features of Wisdom literature is the personification of Wisdom. The recasting of this human characteristic as a person with a clearly defined role within the divinely mandated order of the universe is at once a theological and a literary tour de force. Wisdom is often equated with the Holy Spirit.

The late Professor R.B.Y. Scott, formerly of McGill and Princeton Universities, wrote a trenchant paragraph in his book, The Way of Wisdom, (New York: Macmillan, 1971, p. 212). This comment brings together references to Proverbs 8:1-21 and the apocryphal book Sirach 4:11-19 and 24:19-22.

“Wisdom came to every people and nation. Yet it was in Israel alone that she took root and became embodied in the Law of Moses. Thus the idea of Wisdom, on one level is a quality of human life to be attained through training and the gift of God, and on a second level is personified almost as a goddess offering herself to mankind … as an emanation from God himself. She is God’s Word, spoken in the divine assembly in the presence of the heavenly host. Here the streams of gnomic wisdom, prophetic word, covenant faith, and personal religious devotion converge and coalesce in wisdom piety.”

In the latter segment of this reading, vss. 22-31, Wisdom makes the claim of being God’s first creation who subsequently shared in all other acts of creation. This characterization may well owe something to Greek philosophy in which the material and the spiritual were so distinct as to isolate God from God’s creation. On the other hand, it may be no more than a later development of the Hebrew concept of holiness which came to the fore in post-exilic Judaism and also resulted in the separation of God from the created world.

During the last several centuries, we have tended to displace divine wisdom with expanded human knowledge based on scientific experiment and rational analysis by inductive reasoning. Advances made in such fields as neurology, psychology, psychiatry and pharmacology have given us the sense that the spiritual realm or soul really do not exist beyond the neural synapses of the human brain.

Recent experiments in brain scanning with highly sensitive technology have revealed that certain areas of the brain are less active and others more active during religiously motivated meditation. The research appears to show that this occurs particularly when a transcendent state is reached. Some refer to such a state as reaching a higher or deeper level of consciousness. In biblical terms, this might well be related to the angelic visitations,  dreams and visions that occur in many biblical narratives. Joseph in Egypt, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, Mary, mother of Jesus, and John, the author of Revelation come immediately to mind.

PSALM 8. The psalmist first contemplates the glory of God manifested in the wonders of the heavens. One can imagine a devout courtier like Isaiah standing on the flat rooftop of his Jerusalem home or a herdsman like Amos watching over his resting flock on a Judean hillside. As either of them gazed into the heavens they saw the panoply of stars spread out above them and a full moon rising over Jordan. We who have spent summer nights at Canadian camps and cottages or watched the northern lights illuminate a winter sky know well how such a scene gives one first an overwhelming sense of awe and then a deep humility in realizing how infinitely small and insignificant we are.

The psalmist reflects not only on the minute place of humanity in such a vast universe. Even as he brings his faith to bear on his sense of smallness, he knows that we have a special relationship with the Creator of this universe and hence a special relationship with the created world in which we presently live. (vss.5-8).

The environmental issues for us are vastly different than they were when this psalm was composed. Sadly, by taking the text literally, we have excessively exploited our role as God’s vice-regents with “dominion” over nature. That calls for repentance and radical change in our attitudes and our actions, individually, communally, globally. We must think of ourselves as stewards rather than dominators of creation. We can only continue to praise our Sovereign Lord’s majestic name if we accept total responsibility for restoring our right relationship with God’s creation.

That does not mean that we must espouse all the extreme aspects of the environmental cause. Growing a small garden or planting a few trees may contribute more than joining a protest which turns to mob violence in a vain attempt to persuade the politically and economically powerful to cease destroying the planet. Changing our driving habits, using electricity more cautiously or heating our homes more temperately may achieve the same end. Equally foolish, however, are the declarations of politicians and political parties supported by powerful lobbyists and spokespersons for special interests that concern for the environment is only a personal moral issue, not a matter for public debate and democratic decisions.

ROMANS 5:1-5. While two of the most important doctrines of our faith, justification and sanctification, receive full exposure from 3:21-8:39, this passage serves as link between the two. Justification means putting our trust in the power and goodness of God whose grace gives us peace instead of the sinful conflict between God’s will and our will. In 3:21-4:23 Paul had dealt extensively with the means by which we have been given a new status in our relationship with God. In this subsequent section of the letter he tells us why God has done this: it has made our salvation possible. Paul also elaborates the implications for everyone who believes: it transforms our life in the world, i.e. we are sanctified, made holy.

One of the best analyses on the passage is in C.H. Dodd’s commentary in the Moffat’s New Testament Commentary Series. He regarded this passage as a transition from justification to sanctification. The key to the whole segment is vs.9: “Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.” Those words – justification, sanctification and salvation – have tended to become code words for Christian theology and preaching. Our task is to communicate what they mean to people who no longer know the code as did our spiritual ancestors.

In his analysis of the passage, Dodd so clearly points out that “salvation” is not just a new status, like being elected the vice-president of a labor union or graduated with an advanced degree from a particular university. It is a new life. It is a new  in being delivered from death, with the assurance of life beyond death; and it is a new in being forgiven and able to overcome what had previously been wrong in our lives; it is new in given the freedom to do what is right. Salvation not only happens after death when we come into the eternal presence of God. It is ethical and behavioral, effecting what we do and say, and how we live here and now .

Faith as Paul understands it is nothing less than trust in the power and goodness of God to bring this transformation about for each one of us. This trust results in a profound change in our relationship with the spiritual and the material world, a relationship we access not by our own efforts, but through Christ. It also transforms our moral character and our relationships with everyone and everything we meet in everyday life. We not only change our behavior, we also find hopeful assurance that God’s love reigns in what constantly appears to us as a world that is hostile to love and right living. Through God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, i.e. we are made holy – sanctified.

No, we don’t immediately become saintly in the sense of performing a superabundance of good works and causing miracles to happen. “Supererogation,” in the Roman Catholic doctrine of saintly living means doing more than duty required by specially devoted individuals. This no longer applies when God grants the gift of the Spirit with unconditional love for each and for all. We simply find our lives motivated in every way by love. More and more, we become people like Jesus, the one person in whom the Spirit of God dwelt fully.

JOHN 16:12-15. On this particular Sunday we usually concentrate on what traditional creeds have called “the Holy Trinity” – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The authors of the New Testament, rooted primarily in the Hebrew thought and written in Greek, did not give us a clear definition of what the later doctrines and creeds stated in orderly propositions. Those were the product of long reflection by Greek and Latin scholars on what the New Testament had said about the earliest Christian experience.

Not surprisingly, it was the Western Latin Church centred in Rome which espoused most fervently the Trinitarian doctrine thrashed out amid much controversy at the church councils of the 4^th and 5^th centuries. At the time of the Reformation in the 16^th century, the Protestant churches adopted this as the orthodox doctrine. Every time we repeat one of the traditional creeds we give expression to this doctrine. However, the terms and definitions of the Trinity may no longer have much meaning to modern church members no matter how many times we may learn them by rote and to endlessly recite them.

In Jesus’ final discourse to his disciples, John defined for his own community the purpose of the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the closest any New Testament author came to a statement of the doctrine of the Trinity, except perhaps for the Trinitarian baptismal formula of Matthew 28:19. Here John gave a much more functional definition of how the Trinity actually touched the life of the apostolic community.

The role of the Spirit was to guide the community into all truth. Obviously, John did not believe that “truth” consists of what he has written or that it could be found  only in the scriptures. He was speaking of spiritual truth rather than the philosophical, historical or scientific truth which has so enthralled the modern world since the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment three centuries ago. His understanding of truth was much more dynamic. One might go so far as to say that it was inspirational in that it was – and is – always available.

John also gave us a means of determining what is spiritually true and what is not.  The fundamental criterion of truth for the church is that it must always witness to Christ and reveal God’s purpose that love shall reign in all relationships throughout the whole of creation.

This does not provide us with an easy formula for discerning what is required of us as we seek to perform the discipleship of love in the contemporary world. It requires much careful reflection before being expressed in the ordinary affairs of daily life. Those who dream of travel to distant galaxies in search of other inhabitants of the universe will quickly realize that dramatic presentations such as we revel in through television and movies still do not remove us from the moral discipline of love.

Spiritual reflection and meditation, waiting for the Spirit to lead us into truth, are not habitual forms of religious discipline for most of us in the Reformed tradition. As we are pushed more and more to the margins of current events and realize that we are a dwindling minority in an almost entirely secular society, there are signs that the contemplative life may indeed be a special gift of the Spirit for our time. Significant movements toward renewed interest in basing our daily lives on meditation are to be found in most religious traditions. In our own tradition, Roman Catholics seem to have done more of this in an organized way than Protestants. Some of these,  such as the World Community for Christian Meditation (http://www.wccm.org/) have been influenced not only by the Benedictine monastic tradition, but by the Tibetan Buddhist tradition led by the Dalai Lama. The Irish Jesuits have also contributed to this movement through their daily practice of prayer and journaling based on lectionary readings from scripture (http://www.jesuit.ie/prayer). A similar contribution has been made in the Carmelite tradition found on a website sponsored Dr. Phil St. Romain from Great Bend, Kansas. (http://shalomplace.com/index.html)

We should not neglect, however, the long tradition of daily Bible readings, and prayer practiced for many years by countless devoted Christians in several different Protestant traditions. More important than the source of our contemplative practices, however, are the commitment and the daily dedication to pursue whatever method we adopt. Only so can we sense the gradual change in our spiritual life and growth in grace as the Spirit leads us into a greater of the truth that is in Christ Jesus.

SOME ADDITIONAL PREACHING POINTS.

PROVERBS  8:1-4, 22-31. The other side of the debate about divine wisdom argues that heightened and even hyper-religious experiences can occur in people whose brains have been damaged in specific areas. People who are regarded as  mentally ill due to a chemical malfunction of the neural system may also exhibit distinctive, if also somewhat bizarre religious feelings and attitudes. We simply do not yet know why certain brain changes are associated with religious feelings. Nor do we know whether or not the human brain simply invents the religious insights which have filled the scriptures of many different religious traditions. Long before humans learned to write, they communicated such experiences for countless generations in the languages we now read from a page.

God is not contained in any book or in any brain. God is God, transcendent yet immanent in creation. God can only use the consciousness of the divinely created human brain incorporated in a complex system of body and mind to communicate with us. This is Wisdom as the Jewish tradition experienced it. In several NT authors of the Christian canon, of which John’s Gospel and the Letter to the Colossians are noteworthy, Jewish Wisdom and the Logos of Greek philosophy, combined with the OT tradition of the redemptive Messiah to create a new synthesis that subsequently gave rise to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.

JOHN 16:12-15. Nowhere in our Christian scriptures is the doctrine of the Holy Trinity stated as a proposition of belief or statement of faith. Everywhere in our scriptures is the Holy Trinity perceived as present and active as the effective spiritual, creative power in all of life. Through faith in Jesus Christ and participation in his life and faith, as well as inspired, directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we have access to the triune God, the ultimate transcendent Being and Life.

Scripture is not something absolute in and of itself. It points to something transcendent (or Someone) beyond itself. Seen in this light, scripture thus becomes a means of grace by which the Holy Spirit helps us to transcend what is a mundane existence in a brutal, violent and unfriendly world.

Is it also possible that this can said of the writings of other religious traditions that do not come to the same conclusion about Jesus Christ that we do? This is the conclusion toward which Wilfrid Cantwell Smith’s led us in his final work, What Is Scripture? (Fortress Press, 1993)

It took the church four centuries or more of often divisive debate and confrontation with what many called heresy to come to a meaningful and cohesive statement of the synthesis expressed in our traditional Trinitarian creeds. Yet, as we have seen above, there is evidence of the work of what the Church later defined as the Holy Trinity in many parts of the NT. It was a dawning of a new consciousness of the full revelation of God in Jesus Christ.

The words of Professor Alan Richardson, (1905-1975) sometime Professor of Christian Theology in Nottingham University, are appropriate in this instance: “The one true God of the old Jewish faith, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had now acted in a new way: what was involved was not (so to speak) an enlargement of God, but an enlargement of man’s revealed knowledge of God – not the taking of two other ‘persons’ into the divine society, but the revelation of God’s different ways of being God, now understood (but only within the mystery of faith) for the first time.”  (An Introduction to t he Theology of the New Testament. SCM Press, 1958.)

PENTECOST SUNDAY – MAY 23, 2010

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

ACTS 2:1-21. The Jews celebrated Pentecost long before the Christian Church adopted it as the anniversary of the gift the Holy Spirit. John’s Gospel refers to it by its Jewish name, “the Festival of Weeks.” Originally a harvest festival, it also had a connection with the covenant God made with Noah (Genesis 9:8-17). Later it became linked with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. For Christians, this passage tells how the Spirit came unexpectedly upon the apostles giving them a new mandate: to proclaim the sovereignty of God’s love through the resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah/Christ.

 GENESIS 11:1-9. (Alternate) This OT lesson tells the ancient myth of how there came to be so many languages spoken by the human race. It would seem obvious that the writer of the Pentecost story in Acts 2 had this myth in mind in describing the glossolalia of that event.

 PSALM 104:24-35. Someone has said that nature is the language of the Bible. This psalm brings this characteristic to the fore by declaring the dependence of all nature, including humanity, on God.

 ROMANS 8:14-17. Paul points out that the Spirit of God is the power by which Christians live their faith as the children of God. This dependent relationship in no way diminishes our status, but actually gives us a new standing as heirs, in fact, “joint heirs with Christ.” The term “children of God” is the equivalent of Jesus Christ being called “Son of God.” The gift of the Spirit is unconditional, but we must be prepared for its challenges to join Jesus in our holy status.

 JOHN 14:8-17. We do not know how much of this excerpt from Jesus’ farewell discourse to his disciples at the Last Supper contains actual words Jesus uttered. John, or possibly a group of disciples of the apostle John, may have created it from some remembered sayings of Jesus to summarize what he (or they) believed Jesus would have said about his special relationship to God. Here John addresses those who have a problem seeing Jesus as the full revelation of God. This issue which still generates fervent debate in our own denomination.

 A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

 ACTS 2:1-21. The Jews celebrated Pentecost long before the Christian Church adopted it as the anniversary of the gift the Holy Spirit. John’s Gospel refers to it by its Jewish name, “the Festival of Weeks.” Originally a harvest festival, it also had a connection with the covenant God made with Noah (Genesis 9:8-17). About  200 CE the Jewish rabbinical tradition linked with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

What then was the purpose behind the choice of this day to celebrate the gift of the Spirit to the apostolic church?  Surely this was not the first time the disciples had felt the presence of the Spirit. There are at least two different traditions about the time and circumstances of the gift. John 20:22 reports that this occurred on the evening of the day of Jesus’ resurrection when Jesus breathed on the assembled disciples. In 1 Corinthians 15:6, Paul also describes a resurrection appearance of Jesus to “five hundred brethren at one time.” Could this have been his understanding of the Pentecost experience?

This passage tells how the Spirit came unexpectedly upon the apostles fifty days after the resurrection to give them the mandate for a new mission: to proclaim the sovereignty of God’s love through the resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah/Christ. The difference between the traditions is related to the results of the experience. Luke , the presumed author of Acts, makes it clear that on this occasion the disciples received the spiritual power to carry out their newly assigned mission.

Note also that in the ending of the Luke’s Gospel he does speak of the Spirit as a future gift (24:49). He also wrote of the mission of proclaiming the resurrection  and the forgiveness of sins, and promises to empower them. Then, after blessing them, “he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven” as described in a more complete version of the ascension in Acts 1:1-11.

The results of the infusion of the Spirit can be enumerated as follows: (1) Glossolalia: As described here this may have been more a symbol of the universality of the Christian proclamation than the charismaton of 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. Luke’s identification of the Diaspora communities represented in Jerusalem at that time (vss. 6-11) supports this view. (2) The courage to speak publicly of what they had seen and heard despite the dangers of imminent persecution by the same religious leaders who had arranged Jesus’ crucifixion. (3) The earliest Christian apologia contained in Peter’s sermon. C.H. Dodd called this the basic apostolic kerygma or preaching. (4) The immediate expansion of the disciple community as people responded to the preaching of the gospel (vss. 37-42).

The quotation from Joel places the event within the long-standing eschatological tradition of Israel. In the original Hebrew text of Joel, the prophecy carried a message of doom in which “the day of the Lord” meant “the terrible day” filled with threat and fear. The Greek version in the LXX had translated the Hebrew in such a way as to transform the day of judgment into something “notable” (KJV) or “splendid.” Hence “the Lord’s great and glorious day” (vs. 20 NRSV). In short, the Christian eschaton (end time) of Pentecost had completely transformed the “day of the Lord” into something to be celebrated with great rejoicing rather than feared for its dire threat.

There is another possible interpretation of the Pentecost event held by a minority of scholars. It is the Parousia – the second coming of Christ. In the early decades following the resurrection and ascension, the apostolic church held firmly to the belief that Jesus would return in glory at some later and totally unexpected date. This reflected their adoption of the influential Jewish eschatological texts in prophetic literature. Certain eschatological passages of the NT maintained this view and attributed parables and declarations of this kind to Jesus himself. It is quite probable that Jesus did hold such views of the Messiah. But did he continue to hold this view after he recognized his own messianic character? Careful examination of the teachings of Jesus indicate that these eschatological passages can be fairly interpreted as assurances of God’s purpose being accomplished rather than a descriptions of specific future events.

Toward the end of the lst century CE, however, the apostolic church began to realize that the anticipated second coming had been delayed and might never come as originally expected. It then became more important to describe the purpose of Christ’s coming as the proclamation of the sovereignty of divine love for all of creation. Furthermore, creation is being redeemed within the normal context of history. The promise of a second coming is the hope of the fulfillment of God’s continuing redemptive work. In this light, Pentecost becomes the empowerment of all who believe so that they may participate in the redemptive mission initiated by Christ. In this we too are involved right now as each day passes.

GENESIS 11:1-9. (Alternate) This OT lesson tells the ancient myth of how there came to be so many languages spoken by the human race. It would seem obvious that the writer of the Pentecost story in Acts 2 had this myth in mind in describing the glossolalia of that event.

In and of itself, the story bases the multiplicity of languages on human pride. By attempting to build a tower that reached to the heavens, the people sought to take control of their own destiny. The response of Yahweh blocked their efforts by causing them to speak in a confusion of languages and to spread “over the face of the earth.”

People living in the so-called Fertile Crescent stretching from the valley of the Nile in Egypt to the Tigris-Euphrates delta into the Persian Gulf were familiar with two elements of this story:  a confusing number of languages and the ziggurat,  towering temples that reached toward the heavens in cities like Babylon. As the tides of history moved back and forth along this crescent, many different languages and cultures came into almost constant conflict. Problems in communication had significant effects on the clash of cultures, as they still have in our time too. But this interaction also had permanent influence on the development of the Hebrew language. Like the English language today, ancient Hebrew included many words borrowed from several different cultural sources.

About fifty miles from Baghdad in the Tigris-Euphrates valley of modern Iraq, one can still see the ruins of the city of Babylon, named for this myth. The name of the city and the word Babel formed a play on the Hebrew word balel, which meant “confusion or mixing.” In the 5^th century BCE, the Greek historian Herodotus described a ziggurat or six staged tower crowned with a small chapel which served as the temple of the Babylonian deity, Marduk. Jews would have seen this architectural wonder of the ancient world during their exile in Babylon. Built of sun-dried brick and standing near the Euphrates River, the ziggurat would have been subject to erosion by wind, rain and floods. It would also have been a strategic target for invading armies. It has been suggested that the myth may have been inspired by a time when the tower was being reconstructed after suffering some such catastrophe. Does this story convey some biting sarcasm about the impermanence of the foreign deity whose followers had caused the Israelites such pain?

PSALM 104:24-35. “The universe is rationally transparent and God has written two books, the book of nature and the book of Scripture. We are creatures made in the image of the creation, made up, literally, of bits of carbon from far away stars.” So said Rev. Dr. John Polkinghorne, a past president of Queen’s College, Cambridge, former professor of mathematical physics at Cambridge, a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (he’d be Sir John if he weren’t an ordained Anglican priest.) He was speaking at the Discovery Institute, in Seattle, WA where he kicked off a conference called “Cosmos and Creator: God of Physics, God of Astronomy.” Polkinghorn was an avowed enthusiast for the concept of creation by intelligent design.

Someone else has said that nature is the language of the Bible. This psalm brings these two thoughts together by declaring the dependence of all nature on God. The poem shows remarkable similarity of this poem with others in the wider cultural setting of the ancient Middle East. In a recent book, The Pagan Christ: Recovering the Lost Light, Canadian scholar and journalist Tom Harpur, claimed that all Middle Eastern mythology and religious texts, including Israel’s,  should be seen as revisions of the basic religious myths and texts of ancient Egypt.

In The Interpreter’s Bible, (iv. 550) W. Stewart McCullough commented that the psalmist appeared to have been familiar with other creation stories known to Israel. He shares the viewpoint of the P document. However, the theme of creation and control of nature by a supernatural power inspired writers in various cultures, especially the Egyptian “Hymn to the Aton” which dates from the time of Akhenaton (1380-1362 BC), a ruler with distinct monotheistic interests. McCullough believed that the resemblances could be accounted for by a common monotheistic approach to the world of nature. The differences between the poems were notable in that the Egyptian hymn the sun is the creator, whereas in the Hebrew psalm the sun is but a part of the handiwork of the Yahweh.

A parallel to vss. 24-26 may be found in Gen.1:20-23 where Yahweh’s is said to worked on the fifth day of creation. Vss. 27-30 correspond to Gen. 1:29-30. The doxology in vss. 31-35 contains two elements of note. The psalmist called on Yahweh to rejoice in his handiwork while raising his own voice in similar rejoicing. The final verse offers a solution to the problem of evil frequently found in other psalms. This may not satisfy modern minds, but did express the traditional Hebrew faith that good would ultimately triumph. Indeed, it seems so out of character with the rest of the passage that it may have been added by someone with a more intense moralistic intent than that of the original poet.

 ROMANS 8:14-17. One could certainly claim that this is a Spirit-filled passage, perhaps the most Spirit-filled in all of the Pauline corpus. In vss. 1-13 preceding this reading the Spirit is named twelve times and in these four verses, three  more. Paul is saying forcefully as he can that the Spirit of God is the power by which Christians live their faith as the children of God.

The very assertion that we are the children of God is something far beyond anything that Israel’s religious leaders had ever claimed. In the OT the term “sons of God” was limited to supernatural beings. Nonetheless, association of Spirit with the messianic king (Isa. 11:2; 42:1), true prophecy and the expectation of manifestations of the Spirit in the messianic age (Joel 2:28-29) contributed to the intertestamental conviction that the Spirit would be silent until the new age dawned. This was what  Peter said in his sermon at Pentecost, and was evidenced again in the coming of the Spirit to the congregation in the home of the Gentile Cornelius at Caesarea  (Acts 10:44-48).

On the other hand, every male Jew was regarded as a “b’nai b’rith,” a son of the covenant. Israel was “the chosen people” solely by Yahweh’s election. This designated a special relationship, but led to the exclusionary belief in the spiritual superiority of the Jews whether by birth or by choice. In the singular form “the son of God” referred to the royal representative of chosen people.

Paul made no less claim for himself. In this passage, however, he introduced a startling new metaphor – adoption. Christians are the adopted off-spring of God. William Barclay brings forward an even more surprising interpretation of this metaphor. Paul was not only a Jew, but a Roman citizen. He undoubtedly had in the forefront of his mind the Roman practice of legal adoption. In his Daily Bible Study – The Letter to the Romans, Barclay outlines the way in which this took place. (See p.110-111) In summary, a child to be adopted had to pass from the patria potestas (absolute power of the father) of his natural father into that of his adoptive father. The adopted son lost all rights to his former family and gained all the rights of a fully legitimate child of his new family. He could then inherit his adoptive father’s estate, even if other sons were afterwards born as real blood relations. In the eyes of the law, the former life of the adopted person completely disappeared. The adopted person literally and absolutely had a new father.

Barclay adds the ironic twist in citing a very famous adoption: In order that Nero might succeed him on the throne, Emperor Claudius adopted Nero. They had no known blood relationship. Claudius already had a daughter, Octavia. When Nero wished to cement the alliance he chose to marry Octavia. The Roman senate had to pass special legislation to enable Nero to marry her, his sister by adoption.

Nero became emperor in 54 when Paul’s missionary work was at its height. It was during the middle years of Nero’s reign that he wrote The Letter to the Romans. Tradition has it that Paul was executed in Rome 62 when Nero was far advanced in his murderous paranoia. Having already executed his step-brother, Britannicus, whom he displaced as heir of Claudius, and his own mother, Nero divorced and then arranged the execution of Octavia in that same year in which Paul also died.

Is it too far-fetched to imagine that Paul’s execution had some connection with these words in Romans 8? If Paul wrote this in a letter to the Roman Christians before he arrived in Rome, is it not likely that he also preached this same message when he was there, a Roman prisoner? Would this not be evidence used against him when he appeared before Nero? After all, the theme of the passage is the true nature of spiritual inheritance. And Nero believed that he was God, but unlike the implication of moral responsibility that came with the gift of the Spirit of God in Paul’s teaching, Nero’s amoral lifestyle denied everything godlike in his character.

As in legal Roman adoption, the new relationship into which our spiritual adoption brings us in no way diminishes our status. Actually it gives us a new standing as heirs, in fact “joint heirs with Christ.” The term “children of God” is the equivalent of Jesus Christ being called “Son of God.” But in his last sentence of this reading, however, does Paul introduce a conditional qualification?  Not likely, since Paul firmly believed in the unconditional grace of God mediated by Jesus Christ. More probably Paul was saying with these concluding words that as a result of inheriting this holy status, we must also certainly accept its challenges, possibly at times to the point of suffering for it as Christ did.

 JOHN 14:8-17. As much as we love John 13-17 and especially this chapter 14, this excerpt from Jesus’ farewell discourse to his disciples at the Last Supper may contain only a few actual words that Jesus uttered. John, or quite possibly one or more of a group of disciples of the apostle John, created the whole discourse from some of Jesus’ remembered sayings. They gave it this longer form to summarize what he (or they) believed Jesus would have said about on the occasion of his departure.

However we may interpret its origin, this passage has a very theological tone. The issue under discussion is the special relationship of Jesus to God. It addresses those who were having a problem regarding Jesus as the full revelation of God. This issue still generates fervent debate in our own time. So what is John saying in these words attributed to Jesus?

In response to Philip’s longing, “Show us the Father and we will be satisfied,” Jesus gave an indirect, somewhat rhetorical answer designed to elicit Philip’s (and our) faith. Then he unequivocally declared his total identity with God: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” He follows this with a further declaration as to the validity of the words he has spoken and the deeds he has done. Then he makes an absolutely astonishing claim: “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these because I am going to the Father.”

This assertion can only be understood in the light of Pentecost. We must remember too that this passage was written some sixty or more years after that unique event. On that day, that powerless troop of Galileans could no more imagine than we can how God could redeem the world through their witness of words and deeds. It was so at the end of the 1st century when John wrote the Fourth Gospel. It is still so at the beginning  of the 21st century as we sit in our now uncomfortable pews in trembling fear as the cataclysmic upheavals of our own time swirl like  flowing lava around us.

Yet, to change the metaphor, there is a key which will unlock and swing wide the gates of history in every age: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever….He abides with you and will be in you.” (vss. 15-17) With faith in Jesus, the Messiah/Christ, Son of God, comes the gift of the Spirit and the moral responsibility. The Spirit blesses us with the spiritual grace to live in love for God and neighbour as did Jesus himself.

In this passage Pentecost is a promise. In John’s time and in ours, it was and is a reality. As we read our daily newspapers or watch the news reports on our television screens, it may be incredibly difficult to see the hand of God in the turbulent affairs of our time. But as the creed of The United Church of Canada reminds us: “We are not alone. We live in God’s world, who has created and is creating, who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh, to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit…. In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us” – Father, Son and Spirit.

 Additional Preaching Points.

(This essay is intended to supplement the comments on the lessons for The Day of Pentecost  above.)

Pentecost raises the question of the nature of spirit in some minds. This is usually discussed in two  ways: the metaphysical and the metaphorical. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit) In recent years, psychologists, neurologists, philosophers, even economic historians as well as religious leaders have been turning their attention to mutli-disciplinary inquiry  into the nature of the much maligned phenomena and human experience of spiritual realities. The Metanexus Institute is an example of the discussions which have taken place with the intention of bringing about a dialogue if not a rapproachement of religious, social, political, economic and scientific thought.

First, a look at the definition of the English word spirit .

The word comes from the Latin spiritus, which means “breath,” a sense that derived from the Latin of Jerome’s Vulgate translation of the Bible. The OED gives the basic definition as “The animating or vital principle in man (and animals); that which gives life too the physical organism, in contrast to its purely material elements.” The almost identical definition of soul in the OED leads to the conclusion that the two words are synonymous: “The principle of life in man or animals; animate existence.” Thus spirit also can mean “soul, courage, vigor.”  The original root of spirit is thought to be Proto-Indo-European, as opposed to Latin anima and Greek psyché, generally translated as soul in languages derived from Germanic origins.

What then are we to make of the Holy Spirit ? Is it just a biblical name best considered as a metaphor for what the writers of scripture perceived as God at work in creation and human history? In asking these questions we are bound to deal with the human experience of reality and truth that is at one and the same time both transcendent and immanent. Usually a discussion of this subject would be limited to theologians and philosophers of religion. Since we cannot yet reduce such reality to mathematical formulae or accurately measure the nature or extent of such experiences, scientists might tend to limit the boundaries of research in this field.

A former head of the department of psychology at McGill University, Montreal, used to begin each year’s lectures to the freshmen class with the statement, “For the purposes of this course, there is no soul.” In making this assertion he avoided any discussion of spiritual and religious issues which he believed should be limited to the stately confines of the department of religious studies at Divinity Hall across the campus.

Kurt Gödel, (1906-1978) a brilliant mathematician and friend of Albert Einstein, showed that there can exist propositions that by insight must be true but that cannot be proven mathematically. This led him to a theist and personal concept of God and belief in the afterlife while appealing to human reason as his witness. He found that even the most exacting scientist places faith in the cognitive processes of the intellect even though arguing  that science and mathematics are outside the realm of faith. Hector Rosario stated in an article on Gödel’s work that “a closer look at the foundations of physics and mathematics, as well as to the history of these subjects, seems to yield a different conclusion. This closer look reveals a delicate membrane that conjoins these experiences: Faith. This is the greatest common denominator of science, mathematics, and theology.” (“Kurt Gödel’s Mathematical and Scientific Perspective of the Divine: A Rational Theology.” The Metanexus Institute. The Global Spiral. February, 2007.)

This also recalls Anselm’s famous dictum that God is “that thing  which nothing greater can be thought.” At the same time psycho-neurological research as well as intuitive insights – in biblical language regarded as revelations – may well “help in the search for common ground—a search that is crucial given the trajectory of present scientific research, particularly into the nature of sentience,” as Kathleen L. Housley put it in her article in The Global Spiral (January 2010), “Seeing the Thunder: Insight and Intuition in Science, Mathematics and Religion.”

Gödel also thought mathematical intuition to be a kind of “knowing” that defied mathematical formulation. It was similar to a physical sense such as hearing or sight. He went so far as to regard it as a sixth sense. In biblical and theological terms, this is metaphorical thinking. The experience of being inspired by the God, as the prophets of Israel believed they were, or of receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, as the apostles did on the Day of Pentecost, can thus be considered valid forms of knowledge. Housley further reminded us of Gödel’s assertion that something can be known objectively even though its discernment is beyond sensory perception is the equivalent to the insight of Hebrews 11:1,  “Faith is to be certain of what cannot be seen.”

About the same time that Gödel was in his prime, an Anglican professor,  R. H. L. Slater was lecturing in the philosophy of religion at the University of Rangoon, Burma. I had the privilege of studying under him at McGill University, Montreal, from 1948-50. In 1957 he went to Harvard University to found the Center for the Study of World Religions. Slater’s study of human destiny, God of the Living, (Charles Scribner’s, 1939) presented a cogent analysis  of the fundamental Christian belief that God is Love as “the last word of Christian devotion, the climax of Christian faith…. Remove that conviction, and the whole scheme of redemption is lost, the ground of confidence, aye, even the ground of worship, is shaken. Destroy it, and the Christian faith itself is destroyed…. It is the meaning behind the Cross. It is the reason for the Church.” (Slater, 294)

A profoundly Trinitarian, Slater held that humans are neither barbarians or saints. “His (sic) history and his constitution call him to live with his fellows in the bonds of creative charity, not to prey upon them or forsake them…. Man is not a fighting animal. He is spirit in the making. And spirit is love.”

That love is personal and is being experienced every day by ordinary people who seek the reign of God’s love in their own lives and in the unfolding of history. The recent review of economic history by Jeremy Rifkin posits the thesis that the future hope for global peace and security rests in what he called the development of  “empathic civilization.” Reading this study made one immediately think of the  Gospel phrase, “the kingdom of God.” Rifkin’s analysis could be seen as an appeal for the application of the Golden Rule to geopolitics and economics. Are we not  seeing this worked out in the day to day events in Europe in the spring of 2010 as frantic efforts are made to rescue national economies in the face a traumatic and foolhardy fiscal decisions by too compliant governments? Can this not be seen as the Holy Spirit of God at work in much the same way that the inspiration of Moses led to the freeing of the Israelites from the privation of slavery in Egypt?

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

ASCENSION OF THE LORD

Thursday, May 13, 2010.

 [These readings are provided for those who celebrate the Ascension of the Lord on the appointed day or on the following Sunday, the Seventh Sunday of Easter.]

ACTS 1:1-11. The author of the Acts of the Apostles, traditionally believed to have been Luke, intended his work to be the completion of the story he had to tell. The main character, however, was not Jesus but the Holy Spirit. In order for the narrative to continue, the hero of the gospel had to leave the scene.

Not fully understanding the messianic message, the disciples wanted to know what lay ahead. Jesus had to repeat his counsel that the future was known only to God. Their role was to wait for gift of the Spirit and to be witnesses to what they had seen and heard while he had been with them. They stand amazed as the risen Christ ascends to the clouds symbolizing his divine sovereignty.

PSALM 47 or PSALM 93. Both of these psalms came from a small collection celebrating the sovereignty of God. They were probably used at the annual celebration of the enthronement of God as Israel’s true monarch.

EPHESIANS 1:15-23. This is the heart of a typical Hebrew berakah, or celebratory prayer of praise and thanksgiving. Here Paul, or some other author writing in his name, celebrates the sovereignty of God represented by the redemptive work of Christ.

LUKE 24:44-53. Jesus’ final appearance to his disciples included a slightly different account of the ascension. Before leaving, he taught them to interpret his messianic mission, for which he now commissioned them, in relation to the Hebrew scriptures. Before beginning their witness, they were to await the gift of the Spirit.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

ACTS 1:1-11. As the first paragraph points out, the author of the Acts of Apostles intended his work to be the completion of the story he had to tell. The main character, however, was not Jesus of Nazareth, as in the Gospel of Luke, but the Holy Spirit. In order for the narrative to continue, the hero of the gospel had to leave the scene.

It should be noted, however, that the details in this passage differ from those in the concluding paragraph of the gospel. In the latter instance, the departure took place immediately after Jesus’ final appearance. In this instance, there have been many appearances over a period of forty days. According to this narrative, the apostles had to wait several more days before being baptized by the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ instructions to wait in Jerusalem until they received the Spirit provided the necessary linkage between the two versions.

Ever wishing to know what lay ahead and still thinking in earthly terms, the disciples asked if this was the time for the restoration of the Israel’s kingdom. The messianic message had still not fully dawned on them. So Jesus had to repeat his counsel that the future was known only to God. Their role was to receive the Spirit and to be witnesses to what they had seen and heard while he had been with them.

In vss. 7-8, Jesus further stated the inclusive, universal nature of their mission. As Galileans, most of the apostles would have recognized this when he named Samaria. But the hyperbole “to the ends of the earth” would have been stretching their minds to a considerable extent. Are we fully aware even yet of what that commission means? Does it mean merely telling of Jesus and preaching the gospel in distant lands? That was the evangelical goal at the beginning of the 20th century when the slogan (“winning the world for Christ in this century”) was bruited throughout North America. We definitely failed to do that, didn’t we? So what does the mission look like now that our missionary evangelism, widely condemned as religious imperialism, has met a resurgence of other traditions of faith?

As in these opening paragraphs of Acts, this is no time for standing gazing at the clouds. We have work to do between the ascension of Christ and his promised return. Of this we can be certain, this incident is all the assurance we need that Jesus Christ is sovereign Lord over all.

PSALM 47. This psalm is often included with Pss. 93, and 96-98 as Psalms of Yahweh’s Enthronement. Just as in the Babylonian liturgy, the god Marduk was installed to exercise dominion over the nations at the beginning of the new year, so also post-exilic Israel adopted a similar liturgical celebration for the new year’s festival.

The psalmist celebrates the sovereignty of Yahweh over all nations, but supremely over Israel whom Yahweh loves. The opening verse summons all peoples to join Israel in rejoicing. This has been interpreted as a triumphal song of victory over the Canaanite gods whom Yahweh displaced after the conquest of the land by the Israelites. The supreme Canaanite god, Ras Shamra, also received the distinction of being called the Most High. The term quickly became a significant designation for Yahweh in the Israelite ideology.

In vs. 5-7, the image of Yahweh “going up” amid a fanfare of trumpets described a procession of Yahweh as represented by the monarch amid enthusiastic applause of the multitude. The pageantry of the coronation of the British monarchy follows a very similar pattern. The monarchs and heads of state of the world’s many nations gathered when Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953. More recently, we have seen heads of many states gather for the funerals of national figures like King Hussein of Jordan, Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and Presidents of the United States of America.

The last image of vs. 9, the shields of the earth, symbolizes the role of monarchs as the protectors of their people. In like manner, the psalmist claims that those shields for Yahweh, Sovereign above all others.

PSALM 93. (Alternate) This psalm belongs to the same group of enthronement psalms identified by the early 20th century German scholar Mowinckle. The idea of the kingship attributed to the chief god had a long and well established history in other near Eastern traditions. The New Year festival of enthronement provided a necessary reiteration of this myth. Israel adopted this myth early in its religious history, hence the references to creation in vss. 2-4. The concept came to the fore in the post-exilic period when the human monarchy no longer existed. This psalm reflects both periods. In vs. 5, the reconstructed temple of Yahweh and the Torah displaced the human monarch as the symbolic representative of Yahweh(s sovereignty.

EPHESIANS 1:15 23. According to one scholar, John C. Kirby, the first three chapters of the letter take the form of a typical Hebrew berakah, or celebratory prayer of praise and thanksgiving. This passage forms the heart of that prayer.   Here Paul, or some other author writing in his name, celebrates the sovereignty of God represented by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Some of the psalms follow the same pattern and contain the same basic ingredients: God as creator and deliverer of Israel. (Cf. Ps. 105) Similar prayers have also been found in the Dead Sea scrolls from Qumran written in the 1st century CE with which Paul may well have been familiar. (Ephesians: Baptism and Pentecost.McGill University Press,1968)

Primarily, the faith of the apostle and the Ephesians in the absolute sovereignty of Christ finds expression in this prayer. On the other hand, there is a narrative aspect to the passage. It is addressed not to God, but to the recipient community. As Kirby pointed out, what may have begun as a liturgy and a sermon for baptismal candidates at Pentecost was later re-written as a formal letter in somewhat traditional style. This would account for the narrative of vss. 15-16 where the apostle speaks directly to his intended audience. The succeeding verses of the passage give the content of his prayer for them lifting up his essential message of absolute divine sovereignty exercised through Christ.

Many scholars have noted the similarities between this letter and the Letter to the Colossians. In Colossians 1:4 an almost identical phrase to the phrase in vs. 15 appears: “your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints.” Commenting on the meaning but not the correlation of the two passages, Eduard Schweizer wrote that this can only mean that faith must be lived out as love in the same way that Jesus lived and died. This characteristic distinguishes the church community from its secular environment. “Knowledge of Christ is characterized so emphatically as something that must be lived out in an ethical way…. Christ is the place in which the community lives, the atmosphere in which it thrives, and which does indeed permeate it.” (Schweizer, Eduard. The Letter to the Colossians: A Commentary. Augsburg, 1982)

The special gift Paul prayed these Christians would receive through their faith and the love they embody is the wisdom and revelation of God, a knowledge of God, the source of all life and truth. Significantly, the Greek text uses the word sophia rather  than gnosis. This distinguished the true Christian revelation from the Gnostic mysteries that so plagued the church during the 2^nd century CE. Yet the apostle also claimed that an “enlightenment” does occur, but in the heart, not the intellect. The knowledge received comes in the form of a hope and an awareness of the future inheritance to which God’s power destined the believers. This power was evident in the resurrection and ascension of Christ to the right hand of God – i.e. to the place of divine sovereignty.  Being now in Christ, as his body, Christians were assured of sharing in the same inheritance as their Lord and Saviour.

The power of faith is not only oriented to the distant future or even to life beyond death for each one of us. The gift is also for living in the present. It is as if the future had already happened. In Christ, the apostle was saying, it had already happened for those who have been baptized. In a very elaborate way, he reiterated exactly what baptism symbolized for him: to die and be buried with Christ then raised with Christ to live entirely committed in love for God and for others.

LUKE 24:44 – 53. In this passage, Luke tells us that as he took his final leave of the disciples, Jesus did several things. He confirmed what the Hebrew scriptures had prophesied about him. He taught them to interpret those scriptures in reference to his messianic mission of revealing God’s love for all humanity. He then commissioned them to undertake this same mission in his name. He bid them wait in Jerusalem until they had been empowered for their mission. Finally, he gave them his blessing. While waiting, the disciples engaged in their traditional worship in the temple (vs. 53).

It is obvious that as late as the 80s CE when Luke’s Gospel was written, Christians  still regarded themselves as a part of historic Israel. On the other hand, they had no scriptures other than those with which they were familiar. So it was natural that they should look to the sacred literature of Judaism, whether in Hebrew or more probably in Greek, for a foreshadowing of what they had witnessed and were now commissioned to spread throughout the world. Not only the words of Jesus of Nazareth whom they now called the Messiah/Christ , but the wisdom of the ancient writings of the Torah, prophets of Israel, the Psalms and other writings were to guide them in their witness.

The ascension received was not fully described in the brief sentence at the end in this account. Jesus made no more than a quiet exit with a prayer of blessing. Did Luke already have in mind the sequel to his narrative and keep the more dramatic departure for that story? Professor George Caird noted that this quiet leaving has a close resemblance to the account in John 20:19-29. Some manuscripts of Luke were even amplified by interpolations from John. The stress on witness and the command to remain in Jerusalem provide a significant link to the more expanded version in the early chapters of Acts. The apostolic witness remained centred in Jerusalem until the Sanhedrin undertook a severe persecution after the martyrdom of Stephen.

Note also the absence of any mention in this passing of the Spirit to the apostles. For the early church, the Spirit was not a doctrine or a person as the later Trinitarian creeds stated, but to quote Caird “an access to power to be received.” (cf. Acts 19:2, 1 Thess. 1:5,  Heb. 2:4) In effect, Luke’s narrative ended with Jesus having departed and the disciples worshipping daily in the temple, the same place where it began in 1:5.

ADDITIONAL PREACHING POINTS.

(Related to all the above passages.)

In one way or another each of these readings refers to heaven. But what is heaven for us today? We need to remember that Jewish thought was not analytic and rational, as has been Western Christian thought since the Enlightenment. They used imaginative storytelling as their interpretive instrument. We might well call them creative right brain people, not left brain intellectuals. Thus their stories were intuitive and not always as explicit as we might wish, leaving us with numerous questions. For instance, how did they conceived “heaven” in Acts 1:1-11? Or did they conceive it at all, other than to imagine that Jesus “was taken up” (analémphté. from analambanein, repeated twice (vss. 1, 11) and hinted at a third time (vs. 9). The Greek word for heaven, ouranos, is not in the original text although it appears in most English versions.

In the two Psalms, God is perceived as an imperial potentate seated on a high throne. That metaphor was drawn from the most powerful political personage known in ancient times. The metaphor expressed a sense of infinite power, something which Israel lacked during the greater part of its history. Was that why King David was so greatly celebrated in their religious and political history?

Once again in the passage from Ephesians, heaven is alluded in typical Jewish manner. There we also find the same OT metaphor of Jesus enthroned at God’s right hand, but extended almost to infinity: “far above all government and authority, all power and dominion, and any title of authority that can be named, not only in this age but in the age to come.” (Oxford. NEB 1970) In short, hyperbole was used to define what lies beyond human experience and consciousness.

From modern astronomy and space research we know that heaven is not “up there.” The Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, “the first man in space,” is attributed with saying that “he looked and looked but did not see God.” To which someone replied, “If you did not see him on earth, how could you see him in space?” Nor would he have seen heaven, as John envisioned in Revelation 19-20.

If heaven does not have a geographical location or a physical reality, what then is “heaven” for us today? Is it just an imaginative metaphor for the dwelling place of God and now of Christ? Or is it just a pious hope currently being trashed by scripturally ignorant atheists like Dawkins et al?

Heinz Conzelmann in his The Theology of St. Luke (Fortress Press 1960) stated that Acts 1:11 suggests that the present is the time between God’s two advents seen as acts of salvation in Jesus Christ, the Incarnation and the Parousia.. He further claims that “the present is a time for hope, not psychological doubt, for it possesses the Spirit…. The present age is for Luke still a secular one, but it is possible to withstand the world. It is because Christian hope is based in redemptive history that the expectation of the temporal end of the world is not merely a traditional appendage, but an essential part of the hope.”

This insight comes from both Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:2, 4, & 9. In each instance, when Jesus took leave of the disciples he reassured them that they would receive the Spirit. That came on the Day of Pentecost. The Ascension took place ten days earlier marking the exaltation of Jesus following his humiliation on the cross. It was on this story of the Ascension that the Christian concept of transcendence and the hope of experiencing a better future was based. In Luke’s narrative, Pentecost would not have been possible, without the Ascension. Nor would the Christian life and history of the Church in this world, however ambiguous, have been possible. Our transcendent faith that God always has been, is still, and always will be in control of the universe is proclaimed in the Ascension narrative.

But hope, like transcendence, is an aspect of human consciousness. Is heaven, then, no more than the universal consciousness that lifts our muddled meanderings from birth to death to a spiritual state where we really experience eternal life? To put it In the words of Bishop John Shelby Spong: “The goal of all religion is not to prepare us to enter the next life; it is a call to live now, to love now, to be now and in that way to taste what it means to be a part of a life that is eternal, a love that is barrier-free and the being of a fully self-conscious humanity.”

Spong goes on to identify three issues that everyone who thinks about heaven and/or eternal life must face: 1) Does this vision free us to trust the journey through the vicissitudes and tragedies of life? 2) Is it sufficiently personal as to be real as people demand? And 3) will we know our loved ones? He answers the first two very positively , although not in the traditional vocabulary. Regarding the third he is more equivocal: “If any of us is to share in the eternity of God, these lives that are so deeply a part of who we are must also share in that eternity with us. That is quite enough for me.” (Eternal Life: A New Vision. HarperOne, 2009. 204; 207-209)

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

Seventh Sunday of Easter (If Ascension not observed here)
May 16, 2010  

ACTS 16:16-34. With this double miracle story Luke makes the point that in Paul’s ministry, as in that of the other apostles, the divinely empowered ministry of Jesus continued. The miracle of casting out a demon from the girl with the spirit of divination seems to have been a distraction setting up the apostles’ imprisonment. Their release from prison and the conversion of their jailer would serve to convince Luke’s Gentile audience of the authenticity of the Christian message.

PSALM 97. This psalm is one of a group of psalms celebrating the enthronement of God. The others are Pss. 47, 93, 96, 98 and 99.

REVELATION 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21. The passage repeats many earlier references that point beyond the present to the second coming of Christ. That will be a time of judgment (vss. 12, 14-15) when those who are faithful will be admitted to the holy city and those who are impenitent will be excluded. The closing verses have a distinctive liturgical ring to them. They begin with an invitation to communion from Jesus himself (vss. 16-17) and end with a prayer by the expectant church (vss. 20b-21).

JOHN 17:20-26. This prayer almost certainly contains few if any actual words of Jesus. Rather, it is John’s interpretation of what Jesus’ life, death and resurrection meant for the Christian community for which he was writing late in the 1st century. Summarizing the discourse which began in chapter 13, as well as the whole gospel, it attempts to inspire and encourage John’s own community of disciples many years later.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS

ACTS 16:16-34. With this double miracle story Luke makes the point that in Paul’s ministry, as in that of the other apostles, the divinely empowered ministry of Jesus continued. What we perceive in this story, however, may not always be what the author intended. Some particular points need to be drawn from the details.

First, the miracle of casting out a demon from the girl with the spirit of divination appear to have little or nothing to do with Paul’s mission. From his point of view it seems more like inconvenient distraction than an object of compassion. Then it became the basis for the charge laid against Paul and his companions. Those who perpetrated this gross injustice upon both their innocent victim in the first place and the apostle who freed her from them had only one motive: to avenge their monetary loss. (vs.19).

Paul and Silas were charged as Jews, not as Christians. They were accused of “advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.” (vs. 21) Cultural differences had little significance in such a cosmopolitan city as Philippi. Obviously the spurious charge bore no relation to their mission. It served only as an excuse to arouse the hostility of the local community against Jews who had recently been expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius. Anti-Semitism may have been named only in the late 19^th century, but it certainly existed nineteen centuries earlier.

The miraculous liberation of Paul and Silas from prison and the conversion of their jailer would serve to convince Luke’s Gentile audience of the authenticity of the Christian message. Yet there is more to the story than the striking text which has generated so many evangelistic sermons: “What must I do to be saved? …. Believe on the Lord Jesus….”  One might go so far as to say that this exchange was no more than the opening gambit in the jailer’s conversion. Vs. 32 plainly informs us that more instruction followed as Paul and Silas “spoke the word of the Lord to him and all who were in his house.” In spite of the fact that baptism of the whole household followed “that same hour …without delay,” this did not occur without further catechetical instruction. These details leave no room for an anti-intellectual attitude toward conversion.

The story also gives us an opportunity to identify and respond to an important contemporary justice issue. The idea of a mentally sick or intellectually impaired girl being enslaved for profit sounds incredibly abusive to us. But is it so far from what we hear is happening on our own city streets? To save money governments have closed psychiatric wards and permanent care hospitals, then  released patients be cared for or to care for themselves through drug therapy. In allowing this to happen without public protest, are we not also perpetrating no less abuse?

A book by the late renowned urban scholar, Jane Jacobs, The Coming Dark Age, describes the growing number of homeless, helpless mentally ill and addicted people living on Toronto streets as one of the signs of the city’s decline even though the city produces many billions in taxation for federal and provincial governments while having too little to pay for essential public services.

PSALM 97. This psalm is one of a group of psalms celebrating the enthronement of God. The others are Pss. 47, 93, 96, 98 and 99) In many respects, the vocabulary of all these psalms is similar. This enthronement celebration occurred at each Jewish New Year. It acknowledged God’s awesome power, God’s justice and God’s absolute supremacy over all creation.

Jewish theology did not depend on abstractions. Anthropomorphism – defining the nature of God in terms of human characteristics – was featured in much of the Jewish concept of divinity. Perhaps it could not have been otherwise. The human mind abstracts from what it observes in the immediate environment such symbols and metaphors it can use to describe in words what is essentially indescribable.

Does God really reign majestically from a throne enveloped in “clouds and thick darkness?” Of course not, but these images enable this poet to convey the ideas of divine power, sovereignty, righteousness and justice. In fact, vss. 2-5 actually describes a violent thunderstorm raging over the mountains. In vs. 6, the storm has passed and glorious sunlight reflects the divine glory for all to see.

In vss. 7-9, the poet’s vision shifts from nature to religious objects of worship. The Greeks and Romans espoused many religions and absorbed them in a syncretist fashion. Their temples and cities were filled with idols of a wide variety of gods (as Paul saw in Athens in Acts 17). Israel’s prophets fought a continuing battle against such idolatry and false religion, although there is ample evidence that they too did succumb to syncretism. The psalmist shared this prophetic faith. He did not deny the existence of idols, but unequivocally declared their worthlessness (vs. 7) and Yahweh’s sovereignty over all (vs. 9). Hence there could be both hope for deliverance and security for the faithful, righteous believer. (vss.10-12)

REVELATION 22:12-21. The immediately preceding passage (vss. 6-11) indicated clearly that this reading formed part of the epilogue to the book.  This segment breaks into the middle of John’s testimony about his conversation with the angelic messenger whose words John recounted after being warned to worship God and not the messenger, as John had begun to do. That warning brings to the fore a singularly important truth about scripture: It is not the Bible, nor the words of the Bible, nor the one who preaches the Bible message who is to be worshipped; but God alone, for God alone is holy.

The passage repeats many earlier references and points beyond the present to the second coming of Christ. That will be a time of judgment (vss. 12, 14-15) when those who are faithful will be admitted to the holy city and those who are impenitent will be excluded. Professor Caird believed that John expounded a “realized eschatology “in which the final coming of Christ in judgment or reward is constantly anticipated in the crises of individual and corporate life. It exists in the midst of the daily life of Smyrna and Pergamum, Babylon, and the other cities to which John was writing Jerusalem.  So also the eschatological judgment of the Book of Revelation applies in Halifax and Victoria, Ottawa and London, Washington, Canberra and Moscow.

The closing verses have a distinctive liturgical ring to them. They begin with an invitation to communion from Jesus himself (vss.16-17), move on to a hortative warning and end with a prayer by the expectant church (vss. 20b-21). The invitation is open to “whoever hears.” Those who hear will also respond together with the antiphonal voices of the disciple community, “Come!”

The words of warning that nothing should be added or excluded from the book are somewhat curious.  Did John intend that his book should be read in the churches to which it was addressed, then passed on to the next town to be read there? Scrolls like the one for this text were extremely difficult and expensive to compose in those days. At first only a single copy existed. Multiple copies were made only as the decades passed and travelling missionaries moved from place to place created a demand for each church to possess its own copy for closer study.

One of the characteristics of Jewish scripture was that its text should be regarded as inviolate. Everything written must be preserved intact. (Deut. 4:2; 12:32) Few of the New Testament authors, especially those who wrote letters, had such an attitude toward their work. However, they did regard the Hebrew scriptures as authoritative. They had taken over this view from the rabbinic Judaism of the Pharisees. The scriptures had been given by God through revelation to the patriarchs and prophets to be communicated to generations that came after them. 2 Timothy 3:15-17 expressed this view completely.

John did not regard himself as the authority on which his book rested. His testimony was of Jesus, who is coming soon (vs. 20) but who also continually makes himself known to the gathered community in the breaking of bread and prayer. As Caird says, “he is using liturgical language to express what transcends liturgy. No one who has read his book can have any illusions about what the prayer is asking. It is a prayer that Christ will come to win his faithful servant the victory which is both Calvary and Armageddon.”  (G.B. Caird. The Revelation of St. John the Divine. Black’s New Testament Commentary. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1966. p. 288)

JOHN 17:20-26. This prayer almost certainly contains few if any actual words of Jesus. Instead, it consists of John’s interpretation of what Jesus’ life, death and resurrection meant for the Christian community for which he was writing in the last decade of the 1st century CE. It also summarizes the discourse which began in chapter 13 as well as continuing much of same theme found throughout the Gospel as proclaimed from the beginning.

The whole prayer covers familiar themes: Jesus death and resurrection as glorification; eternal life as knowing God through faith in Jesus, the Christ/Messiah; the disciples as those chosen to represent Christ in and to the world; and the disciples’ need to be sustained in their mission through the truth they have received from Jesus and now are to share with the world.

In this excerpt, John attempted to inspire and encourage his own community of disciples as many as 60 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus as revealing the true nature of God as love became  the central message of the apostolic church. Their faithfulness in difficult times would keep them in loving fellowship with each other, with Christ and with God. It would also enable them to accomplish their mission of making the “glory” of Christ, the Son of God, known as well as maintain the elusive spiritual unity the mission requires.

This is still good news for us two thousand years later. Alas, through subsequent generations and probably in John’s own time, the disciple community has never achieved the level of faithfulness to which this prayer summoned us. Yet we must still make it our own prayer for our own community and our own time. For as this prayer bids: We must all be one, so the world may believe.

ADDITIONAL PREACHING POINTS.

ACTS 16:16-34. Do we at times take advantage of those who are disabled? Can this lesson be stretched to be of use for a sermon on the evil of such behaviour?

Some forty or more ago at a county fair in central Pennsylvania, I witnessed and actually filmed the re-enactment of the public execution by hanging of a young woman which had occurred in that community in the late 19^th century. As the narrator of the story told the audience, the young woman was probably “retarded.” (That was the term used then for an intellectually impaired person.) She had given birth to a child out of wedlock. The father of the child had never been identified. But when the child had died soon after birth, the mother had been charged and convicted of murder.

I have not recalled this horrible spectacle in many years. It came to mind as I prepared comment on this passage. The film has long since faded and been destroyed. I was surprised that time has not erased the incident from my memory. Was this any different than the tragic mistreatment of the Philippian girl from whom Paul drove out the demon? Was my filming of the re-enactment any different?

PSALM 97. Even our traditional beliefs and creeds have become idols for many Christians. Escaping from the metaphors of ancient traditions is no less a problem for us in the 21^st century.  Will our Christian traditions survive in the face of popular rejection, universal secularism and rampant atheism?  For a very challenging witness to the necessity of doing so, see such new approaches proposed by Bishop John Shelby Spong in his Eternal Life: A New Vision (HarperOne 2009), Gretta Vosper’s With Or Without God,” (HarperCollins 2009), and Andrew Prior’s “Progressive Christianity” website,

http://churchrewired.org/progressive-christianity.html.

REVELATION 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21. The legacy of the apostolic view of the inviolate character of the Hebrew scriptures hampered interpretation or commentary from the 1^st to the 19^th centuries CE. In the 2^nd century Marcion questioned the authority of the Hebrew texts as did the Alexandrians Clement and Origen in the 3^rd century.  At the same time the traditional view led to restrictive theological attitudes which placed undue sanctity in the inerrant words themselves rather than safeguard the message they communicate. Even Thomas Aquinas in the late Middle Ages and Calvin during the Reformation accepted this view. As late as the turn of the 20^th century, the Methodist Church in Canada charged a theological professor with heresy for adopting and teaching an alternative approach based on the developing theories of historical and literary criticism of NT texts. In some parts of the Christian tradition, the debate still rages unabated as ultra-conservative radio and television preachers reveal every day of the week.

JOHN 17:20-26. In1904, representatives of three Canadian Protestant denominations – the Methodists, the Presbyterians and the Congregationalist – began serious discussions about uniting in a determined effort to meet the challenges of a relatively young country rapidly expanding as immigrants from Central Europe poured into urban areas and across the western prairies. Within a decade, the terms of union had been fully negotiated and agreed upon before being interrupted by the fury of World War I. It took until 1924 for all the needed ecclesiastical and legal ratifications to be completed. On June 10, 1925, the first General Council of the United Church of Canada met in Toronto, Ontario. About one third of the Presbyterians, chiefly in central and eastern Canada, withdrew and formed a continuing Presbyterian Church. The United Church of Canada chose as its defining motto the Latin words of John 17:21a Ut Omnes Unum Sint. (“That all may be one.”)

My own personal experience of church union occurred through an interesting series of events. For at least three generations my family had been members of the Congregational Church. In 1919 my parents and maternal grandparents settled in a Montreal suburb where there was one small Presbyterian church. They were fully accepted and my father served a lay representative to Montreal Presbytery for the three point pastoral charge. He voted in favour of church union that created Montreal Presbytery of The United Church of Canada. He continued as a lay member of Montreal Presbytery until shortly before his death in 1982.   I believe I am one of the first United Church ministers to have been baptized, confirmed and ordained after church union. There are even fewer of us alive today.

A further attempt at union between the United Church of Canada and the Anglican Church in Canada failed in the early 1970s after a twenty-five year search for a mutually acceptable view of the nature of ministry. Before the negotiations reached an impasse, a shared hymn book was published and adopted by both denominations. Today,  a generation later, many Anglican and United Church congregations in outlying regions share facilities and are served by each other’s ordained clergy. A corporate union still remains our hope and the goal toward which we press in a very much more complicated world.

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