Prayer
Pour forth into our hearts, strong and faithful God, the wisdom and daring of your Spirit, that we may take up the cross and follow Christ, willing to lose our lives for his sake and to manifest to the world the hope of your kingdom. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts on Matthew 10:40-42
"What would happen if we stopped expecting people to come on their own initiative through our church doors, and instead took seriously our calling to bring the gospel to them?"
Commentary, Matthew 10:40-42, Elisabeth Johnson, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.
"Who knows how the awareness of God's love first hits people. Every person has his own tale to tell, including the person who wouldn't believe in God if you paid him."
"Salvation," Frederick Buechner, Buechner Blog.
"What would happen if we stopped expecting people to come on their own initiative through our church doors, and instead took seriously our calling to bring the gospel to them?"
Commentary, Matthew 10:40-42, Elisabeth Johnson, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.
"Who knows how the awareness of God's love first hits people. Every person has his own tale to tell, including the person who wouldn't believe in God if you paid him."
"Salvation," Frederick Buechner, Buechner Blog.
Resources for Sunday's Gospel
It is important when reading this text that we read the word which comes just before as they are intimately tied together, the one giving way to the other.
34“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.In the Jewish tradition of the day, there was an understanding that in the last days of "tribulation," households would be divided. This is the reality of the time. Allison & Davies write, "The absence of peace and the presence of the sword is a sign of the great tribulation. And it is in this great tribulation that the Matthean church must carry on its mission." (Allison & Davies, Matthew 219ff)
Our text for Sunday expands upon this theme, bridging and fully quoting Micah 7.6.
4The day of their sentinels, of their punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand. 5Put no trust in a friend, have no confidence in a loved one; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your embrace; 6for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; your enemies are members of your own household.Here too it is important to read what comes next in Micah's prophecy to understand the fullness of the words that Jesus is speaking to his followers. Micah proclaims
7But as for me, I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. 8Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.Just as Micah looks to the Lord for guidance in the time of trial, the disciples must look upon the Lord and his example and come after him. In a time of division, one can not look for allies in the field but rather to be allied with Christ. "For Matthew, the cross is, as 10.39 makes plain, the outstanding symbol of self-denial." (Allison & Davies, 221) Central throughout the Gospel, the cross is this profound moniker of discipleship. This text is universally attributed to Jesus. Irenaeus in Adv. Haer. 4.5.4 wrote: Righteously also do we, possessing the same faith as Abraham and taking up the cross as Isaac did the wood, follow Him (The Word)."
The purpose of this challenge and call is linked not to violence but rather to service. The disciples are to engage selflessly in Christian service. This may include death, as it certainly did for many martyrs. But it is also about justice, food, clothing, and all of human life. When one orients one's life to Jesus, one chooses something more profound than a utilitarian manner of life which serves ego and bodily desires and hungers as the primary source of direction. It is a profoundly different way of thinking about life. Rather than making a life based upon one's doubts, fears, or suspicions, one is choosing to affirm the life of Jesus and to choose intentionally to try and live out a life which reflects the glory of God and immolates Jesus and his compassion and blessings for others.
To choose to live life as a follower of Jesus means to give meaning to one's existence. It is to live the life we were created to live: loving, caring, and creating community one with another.
Our mission is the mission of Jesus, as so clearly stated in the Gospel of Matthew and exemplified by Jesus in Chapter 9. We are to go about all the cities and villages. We are to gather people and teach. We are to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God out in the world. We are to be about the work of healing people's lives, their hearts, and their bodies. We are to have compassion for all we find out there or who walk through our doors. Jesus says to all those who would do this work and come after him, taking up their cross and denying themselves: "The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore, ask teh Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest." (9.35-38 and 10.5-15)
We are given authority by God to do this work. (10.1)
We are sent out in the midst of a crisis and a time of fear and injustice. (10.16ff)
We are to be like the teacher and have no fear and to live our Christian lives out in the open (10.26f)
This is our work.
Now that the missionary message is clear, Jesus turns his attention to teaching about welcoming missionaries. Returning again to Allison & Davies:
Those who welcome the eschatological messengers of Jesus in effect welcome Jesus himself and gain for themselves reward. With this thought, which makes the decision for or against the missionaries equivalent to the decision for or against Jesus..." (225)With these words, Matthew closes Jesus' discourse on the life of discipleship and what it means to place one's mind on heavenly things even in the midst of living in this world. The kingdom and reign of God is possible in this place. We are able to fulfil our purpose if we are courageous and deny that which "draws us from the love of God." In some way, we are challenged to decide what the earth's purpose and our place upon it hold within the schema of God's action.
Joshua chooses to follow the Lord, as we do as Christians decide that the purpose of creation is to fulfil God's will and that we are to join in that work proactively and intentionally. Our work is not a utility that serves me or to make life smooth and easy, but it is to serve the utility of God. Jesus reminds us, "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other." (Mtt 6.24)
Take up your cross and follow me.
Some Thoughts on Romans 6:12-23
"The passage reminds us that we are still vulnerable to sin and death, post-baptism. And so the issue becomes: which slavery do we want--slavery to sin that leads to death or slavery to Christ that leads to life?"
Commentary, Romans 6:12-23, Walter F. Taylor, Jr., Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.
"Christ followers in Africa, Asia and Latin America have no problem with the Christian metanarrative. The way they read the Bible leads to the marriage of word and deed, faith and action. Why do their churches look and act so different from churches in the West?"
"Slave Wages," Bill O'Brien, The Christian Century, 2005.
But, while they have this new life and sin/death are forever beaten by Christ and his cross - we are still subject to sin. We are still going to be tempted, and we will even fall into our passions. But we must focus on the life in us - this righteousness. Sin will not win the day - rather - Jesus' death and our baptism will prevail.
He then returns to this idea of lawlessness. Can we do whatever we like? Nope.
He uses then the image of ancient slavery to explain the ways in which we make our course through the world. You cannot serve two masters, he says...you can only serve the one or the other - life or death. Through your baptisms, you are now servants or slaves (people bound to) God. This boundedness to God is unbreakable, and our hearts seek to respond in thanksgiving for salvation.
Paul says...look you was focused on the wrong things that didn't bring you life or liberty. Your payment for serving these things and these other masters was death. Now God frees you. God frees you to a new life without death. God invites you to respond and to serve a different master.
We must be very careful as we work through this passage given our Western history with slavery. But like our brothers and sisters in other cultures, we should not shy away from speaking about how God frees us, and we have an opportunity to respond. We should proclaim the reality that God's grace and love have forever linked us to the divine life and that there is nothing we can do to escape it. And, should we wish to speak on how the meta-narrative offers an ethical life - then engage by all means. But be clear that the narrative is not one that invites new slavery to a new law that empowers men and women and society. Instead, our ethical work is the just and proper use of creation, the freedom of captives, the visitation of the sick, and the clothing and sheltering of the poor. We have a new life of response to God's grace, which is to BE God's grace in the world.
The story of the Akedah makes a claim on us: All that we have, even our own lives and those of the ones most dear to us, belong ultimately to God, who gave them to us in the first place. The story of the akedah assures us that God will provide, that God will be present.
Track I, Genesis 22:1-14
The story of the Akedah makes a claim on us: All that we have, even our own lives and those of the ones most dear to us, belong ultimately to God, who gave them to us in the first place. The story of the akedah assures us that God will provide, that God will be present.
Stanley Hauerwas, a seminary professor, theologian, says: “Christ bids a person to come and die,” and even if he meant that metaphorically, it is still not easy. Are we willing to engage in that struggle, are we willing to make that sacrifice, are we willing to take that journey with Abraham and Isaac? God is waiting to find out, and God is patient and will wait as long as it takes.
Dan Bryant, First Christian Church, "An Uncalled For Sacrifice"
Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament
In the generations of religious following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, there was a direct connection between the Temple mount as the site of the binding of Isaac. (Levenson, Zion, 94-95) It is that on this mount, God comes near and is seen. In this way, the tradition dating back to the time of the Judges was that this mountain site, like other shrines in Israel, was a place where in God could be seen. The Temple itself became the chief place where God was present among God's people.
What takes place over the centuries is captured well in the writing of Jon D. Levenson in his book Sinai and Zion. He writes, "The Sinai tradition [that associated with the covenant of Moses and the shrines of Israel]...represents the possibility of meaningful history, of history that leads toward an affirmation, Zion [the tradition of David and the Temple] represents the possibility of meaning above history, out of history, through an opening into the realm of the ideal. (Ibid, 141-142)
Here then, is the meaning for the early Christians of the story of Isaac. For the early Christian, the idea that a beloved son of the family would be brought into violence was, in fact, a thematic reality - an "archetypal" account, if you will. (Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 43) In this way, it is not that Jesus was the required sacrifice as the latter centuries would propose but that it was natural for the beloved son to come to a violent end. In fact, in the rabbinic tradition, it is the very act of this violence to the sons of Israel that over and over again plays a redemptive role in the great Sinai story of historical affirmation.
We want to be careful, though. The religious theologian and philosopher are quick to remind us that while there are particular traditions that place God as the actor requiring Jesus' death, this is an offensive theology. Perhaps rooted in the story of Isaac, we know that Isaac's story itself is about how God wishes not to have a child sacrifice.
René Girard writes:
Today we will spend a good measure of time in our pulpits speaking of the near sacrifice of Isaac and questioning how faithful are we willing to be? Are we willing to journey to Mount Moriah or the mountain top of our choosing and lay down our life? Meanwhile, the true question of faith remains for us. As followers of Jesus, are we willing to lay down our violence and willingness to sacrifice our brothers and sisters on the altar of social wars, global un-mandated wars, and doctrines of our supposed protection when the Christ we worship dies as a peacemaker and invites those who would come after to take up their cross and lay down the crosses intended for others.
Girard challenges us:
In the generations of religious following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, there was a direct connection between the Temple mount as the site of the binding of Isaac. (Levenson, Zion, 94-95) It is that on this mount, God comes near and is seen. In this way, the tradition dating back to the time of the Judges was that this mountain site, like other shrines in Israel, was a place where in God could be seen. The Temple itself became the chief place where God was present among God's people.
What takes place over the centuries is captured well in the writing of Jon D. Levenson in his book Sinai and Zion. He writes, "The Sinai tradition [that associated with the covenant of Moses and the shrines of Israel]...represents the possibility of meaningful history, of history that leads toward an affirmation, Zion [the tradition of David and the Temple] represents the possibility of meaning above history, out of history, through an opening into the realm of the ideal. (Ibid, 141-142)
Here then, is the meaning for the early Christians of the story of Isaac. For the early Christian, the idea that a beloved son of the family would be brought into violence was, in fact, a thematic reality - an "archetypal" account, if you will. (Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 43) In this way, it is not that Jesus was the required sacrifice as the latter centuries would propose but that it was natural for the beloved son to come to a violent end. In fact, in the rabbinic tradition, it is the very act of this violence to the sons of Israel that over and over again plays a redemptive role in the great Sinai story of historical affirmation.
We want to be careful, though. The religious theologian and philosopher are quick to remind us that while there are particular traditions that place God as the actor requiring Jesus' death, this is an offensive theology. Perhaps rooted in the story of Isaac, we know that Isaac's story itself is about how God wishes not to have a child sacrifice.
René Girard writes:
Far more than we moderns generally realize, human sacrifice was a fact of life among the peoples of the ancient Near East in tension with whom Israel first achieved cultural self-definition. Israel's renunciation of the practice of human sacrifice took place over a long period of time, during which intermittent reversions to it occurred. No biblical story better depicts how the Bible is at cross-purposes with itself on the subject of sacrifice than does the story of Abraham and Isaac. ... We are told that God bestowed the blessing and promise on Abraham after the "test" on Mount Moriah because Abraham had been willing to do what God had intervened to keep him from doing -- sacrificing his son. This understanding may have had a certain coherence in the dark world of human sacrifice to which it hearkens back, and it may have some psychological pertinence, but the true biblical spirit has little nostalgia for the sacrificial past and almost no interest in psychology. What we must try to see in the story of Abraham's non-sacrifice of Isaac is that Abraham's faith consisted, not of almost doing what he didn't do, but of not doing what he almost did, and not doing it in fidelity to the God in whose name his contemporaries thought it should be done. (Violence Unveiled, p. 140)So what are we left with? Jesus, the son, falls victim to worldly sacrifice, as did so many sons and daughters during the time of child sacrifice before God said, "Stop." This is complete victimhood to the memetic, the repeating, sacrificial offerings of humanity to the lesser gods. The God we worship desires not child sacrifice and instead redeems Isaac and stops it...just as God puts an end to death in the resurrection of Jesus.
Today we will spend a good measure of time in our pulpits speaking of the near sacrifice of Isaac and questioning how faithful are we willing to be? Are we willing to journey to Mount Moriah or the mountain top of our choosing and lay down our life? Meanwhile, the true question of faith remains for us. As followers of Jesus, are we willing to lay down our violence and willingness to sacrifice our brothers and sisters on the altar of social wars, global un-mandated wars, and doctrines of our supposed protection when the Christ we worship dies as a peacemaker and invites those who would come after to take up their cross and lay down the crosses intended for others.
Girard challenges us:
Nearly four thousand years ago, Abraham passed this test. He heard the voice of the true God telling him to stop, don’t kill. And now almost two thousand years after the voice of our risen Savior forgiving us for our numerous slaughters, all those brought together on his cross, are we ready to pass the test, too? Are we ready to stop the killing? What could happen in our world if two billion people who claim Abraham as their father could finally recognize what this test of faith is really all about?
Track II, Jeremiah 28:5-9
WorkingPreacher.org, 2014."Which way is up? The answer to that question would appear obvious, but not so if one is underwater inside a capsized vessel."
Commentary, Jeremiah 28:5-9, Bo Lim, Preaching This Week,
Are there false prophets around today? The preacher will have to reflect on that question, in his or her own context and in the light of the words of Jeremiah."
Commentary, Jeremiah 28:5-9, James Limburg, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009."
Let us dive deep into the problems between Jeremiah and Hananiah. Now some of you will have read the whole account recently (wise if you are going to preach on it), but here is the 'cliff notes' version. Remember that the whole tale includes chapters 26-29, though we have not brought this to your attention yet.
The debate is this: what does it mean to be the people of the Lord, and who do we trust as prophets? This is a great text for our contexts across the globe.
The debate is this: what does it mean to be the people of the Lord, and who do we trust as prophets? This is a great text for our contexts across the globe.
You may remember that Micah and Hezekiah have all been preaching the destruction of the Temple and there was a lot of trouble brewing. This is not the truly powerful part of the prophecy of Jeremiah, who echoes both these other two, but more of an awareness of what was happening in the world around them. Babylon was coming. Like in our own time, we can see what is happening, but sometimes it takes someone to tell us and interpret the signs. Jesus even says something about knowing the weather and season without knowing the moment of opportunity in which we live.
Jeremiah even warns Zedekiah and others not to believe those who offer a merely optimistic view of the prophetic future, promising that it will all be ok in the end. Nebuchadnezzar will return your stuff - they are saying.
This really isn't what gets folks so up in arms, and it isn't what upsets prophet Hananiah. What pricks at their conscience is this: the king is weak. That was a line in the sand for Hananiah. So Hananiah claims Jeremiah is wrong and a puppet of Babylon - something many even question today. Moreover, Jeremiah should be killed. The king will rise and break the power of Babylon. Jeremiah withdraws.
God tells Jeremiah, 'Nope.' And we see that Jeremiah is told by God this is going to get worse before it gets better.
Unfortunately, as we come to our passage today, we are discovering the folks didn't listen to Jeremiah but chose Hananiah, and so - boom! We are off to the Babylonian gardens.
What we are seeing transpire in the text is the great wrestling match of history. How do we understand our part in the past? Remember last week's work of the prophet of hope? It is to help people see what their part in the past is. So, here is Jeremiah helping the people understand there were other choices that could be made, but that, in part, their lack of listening and repentance from pride has led them into a long sojourn in Babylon.
I am giving a little bit of the story away here, but it is important to the context for today.
Now, many will choose to understand our prophecy to teach us that the other - Babylon - is being used by God to teach the people a lesson. That is a historic way of reading the passage. It makes this a stark reading, to be sure. It helps in clarifying the evil from the good.
Yet, two things happen when we read and preach from this perspective. The first is that we see God's problematic use of human evil. This is deeply debated, and there is a particular way of reading this text for those who deny free will. The second way of reading makes it permissible to see the others as nemesis or opponents. This plays into the memetic notion that our brother/sister or a sibling is in competition with us. In this preaching style, we set up differences intentionally, and more so - that difference is evil.
We might go back to our last post about the prophets of hope to regain some ground on the approach to the text.
The Methodists and Episcopalians both have good theological hermeneutical principles. Yet, we are left without a lens sometimes to read the text. Both hermeneutics take into consideration scripture, the reasoned approach over years of tradition (with a particular view of the first 300 years of interpretation), and the communal discernment of the present time with reason.
In the vain of other theologians over the many years, from Augustine of Hippo to Malcolm Guite, our lens is the body of Jesus. Where does Jesus go, who does Jesus visit with, and what does Jesus do there? These three questions suggest not a Jesus-centric view of the scripture or supersessionism. Instead, it takes into consideration that Jesus continues the tradition of the prophets and the mission of God. Here we might suggest that the scripture of Jeremiah is, in fact, the work of hope and the mission of God for the people to multiply God's peace and blessing in the world and to be a blessing.
Returning then to our passage, we might see Jeremiah suggesting first that indeed we all have an optimistic hope that all will be returned to us, he says to Hananiah. And, AND, says Jeremiah, God is concerned with the least. God is concerned for the people. We must return to our work of being a blessing of shalom as we have not been at our best. And that we must believe in being a blessing of peace here in this land or whatever land. So, Jeremiah says peace be to this land and suggests that those who find themselves in line with the most-high God will be found true. I quote Jeremiah's last phrase, 'As for the prophet who prophesies peace when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.'
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