August 14

Gospel for August 14, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 12:49-56
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

How different is this Jesus from the Sunday School version that we gravitate toward! True, he has taught and modeled love and forgiveness and healing and hope. But the teaching of Jesus in our Gospel reading for this week reveals the prophetic side of Jesus — the realist who is warning his disciples about the inevitable divisions that will occur because of his ministry.

His warnings are dire, and they seem to hearken back to his cousin John the Baptist’s denunciations early in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus says:

I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!

John had forecast this prior to his arrest and execution, when he held forth at the Jordan River:

I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:16-17).

It doesn’t seem much of a stretch to imagine that Jesus is remembering John’s prophecy, and is calling attention to it. What is this fire? According to John’s proclamation, it is associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit.

If John is a transitional character from the Old Testament to the New Testament, the prophet Malachi probably is one of the several voices that forecasts John. In Malachi 3, he speaks of the Messenger who will come to prepare the way of the Lord. And then he says this of the day of the Lord’s coming:

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness (Malachi 3:2-3).

Clearly, from a prophetic perspective the fire comes as a source of purification — and that is one thing that Jesus will accomplish through his death. His baptism is not a mere ritual — it is nothing less than crucifixion.

But even more troubling than his desire that the fire may be kindled is his prediction of conflict. He hasn’t come to bring peace, but division. His gospel is not a “do-it-yourself” improvement project. His teachings, and his life death and resurrection require a radical choice to follow him. And that means a break with the status quo.

Even families will be divided:

From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.

To some extent, Jesus has faced this division even in his own household. On one occasion, his own family was seeking “face time” with him:

Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:19-21).

To be sure, his mother was with him in the end when he was nailed to the cross, and after the resurrection; and his brother James became not only a believer but the first leader of the church in Jerusalem. But his message is quite clear — his true family consists of those who are radically committed to fulfilling the gospel message. And as we see throughout the Gospels, the disciples who truly follow Jesus are willing to give up land, careers and family.

Jesus also warns the crowds that they must be astute about discerning the events that are unfolding around them. While we might be tempted to interpret his statement along apocalyptic lines, the truth may be more immediate. Tensions are rising between himself and the authorities in Jerusalem that he knows will end in his own crucifixion. He is telling them that if they can forecast the weather, they should be able to see what is about to happen to him:

He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

It seems clear from the context that he is advising the crowds to interpret the present time in which they are living. What they will witness when he arrives in Jerusalem will kindle a fire that will purify the world!

APPLY:

It is okay to admit that there are some things that Jesus says that trouble us. He meant to trouble us, in order to bring us to repentance and discipleship.

But Jesus isn’t necessarily gentle and meek — at least not in the modern interpretation of those words. He yearns for the fire to be kindled. Even if we believe that this fire represents the work of the Holy Spirit, we cannot escape the fact that the work of the Holy Spirit will only be commenced through his own death and resurrection.

Besides, fire does purify. But it also destroys. We remember what Paul says to the Corinthian church. He tells them that the only foundation on which he builds the church is Jesus Christ. But then he goes on:

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw — the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

What the fire doesn’t destroy will be tempered and purified.

So, we are called upon to decide — will we follow him, or will we turn away?

RESPOND:

[Note from Celeste: Tom wrote this post in August, 2016. 2022 is not an election year, but our denomination is still facing the possibility of schism.]

We are in an election year. And my own denomination is facing the possibility of schism. Someone has said, “you can’t be a centrist anymore. You can’t stay on the fence. You will have to decide. ”

I believe that the Scriptures are clear concerning the way of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, and the call to discipleship and holiness. I don’t believe that there is any equivocation about right and wrong.

Still, it is up to each generation to read and apply the Scriptures to our lives and our circumstances in our present time.

Karl Barth, the great Swiss theologian from the 20th century, was once quoted in Time magazine:

“[Barth] recalls that 40 years ago he advised young theologians ‘to take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.'” (Time, May 31, 1963).

Granted, fewer and fewer people read newspapers anymore, but the meaning is still the same — be aware of the world around you and current events as well as the Scriptures.

Let me be clear — I don’t interpret this to mean that current events and the Bible are equal. The Bible is the timeless Word of God. But I do believe that the Bible intersects every era of history, and challenges each generation to discipleship.

I also don’t believe that it is healthy or helpful to try to read the signs of the times concerning the Second Coming of Christ. While I believe with all my heart in the return of Christ at the end of the age, I think there is ample evidence in Scripture that we are not to waste our time and energy with speculation and apocalypticism.

Instead, we are to be ready and faithful in our own time by applying the teachings of Scripture to our own lives and to the world around us, as we seek to evangelize the world, make disciples, feed the hungry, care for the poor, visit the sick.

Lord, sometimes your words comfort me — and sometimes your words trouble me. I know it is not up to you to accommodate me — it is up to me to conform to your Word. Help me to understand your Word, and then to follow it. Amen.

PHOTOS:
"Luke 12 verse 49" uses this photo:
"Fire" by Al Bee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license./pre>

Epistle for August 14, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Our lectionary reading for this week’s epistle picks up the thread of last week’s epistle and continues the survey of salvation history.

Last week’s epistle reading began with creation (Hebrews 11:1) and continued with the prime example of the “man of faith,” Abraham (Hebrews 11:8-12). As we will see, this salvation history leads us to the ultimate object of faith in the person and work of Jesus.

This week, Hebrews 11:29 picks up the litany that punctuates each Old Testament hero or saving event — by faith:

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned.By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

Here we see the heart of the salvation history of Israel — their liberation and deliverance from slavery; their conquest of Canaan represented in the conquest of Jericho. Both of these events required the faithful response of the people, and led to supernatural intervention on their behalf.

What might seem astonishing is that even a prostitute, Rahab, is incorporated into the litany of the salvation history! She has no ritual or moral purity of her own. She is not an Israelite. It is her faith alone that saves her.

Hebrews then seeks to sum up the salvation history recorded throughout the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), admitting that the scope of the story of faith is overwhelming:

And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

There are stories of prophets and others whose names are unmentioned here, but whose exploits illustrate the principle of faith that Hebrews is teaching — names like Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah.

Tales of torture and persecution are included in the Apocryphal and Deuterocanonical books, and the writer of Hebrews may be referring to some of those atrocities as a way of celebrating the faith of Jewish martyrs in the time before Christ. [The Apocryphal and Deuterocanonical books are not accepted as part of the official canon in Protestant churches, but still regarded as helpful to faith.]

And yet Hebrews tells us that though all of these men and women were people of faith, their faith wasn’t to be fully consummated quite yet. Faith is by nature oriented toward the future:

Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

Here we come to the concept of mystery that is introduced by the Apostle Paul. This mystery is at the heart of the salvation history, i.e., it is the disclosure of:

the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:26-27).

In other words, the entire salvation history is fulfilled in the coming of Christ, and the faithful response of Jews and Gentiles alike who come to faith in Christ.

Hebrews then exhorts his audience, who are believers in Christ, to follow the example of those faithful Hebrews in the past:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

There is a metaphor here that illuminates the scene. The Christians are running a race, as though they are in the Olympics. Athletic games of that kind were a common occurrence in that day, especially in those regions influenced by Greece.

The cloud of witnesses refers to all of the Old Testament saints that the writer has mentioned in the previous chapter. But the picture he paints is of a great crowd, perhaps sitting in the stadium watching and cheering for the new athletes of faith.

As with runners in a race, these spiritual athletes are encouraged to lay aside weight and sin which might encumber them and prevent them from running well.

But the real object is to follow Jesus who sprints on ahead of these spiritual athletes as the pioneer and perfecter of their faith. These two words are significant. The word translated pioneer is the Greek word archegon; the word perfecter is from the Greek teleioten. Literally, these words also mean first and last, and beginning and end.

Faith begins in Jesus and ends in him. And life begins and ends in him. In the metaphor here in Hebrews, Jesus is the pioneer who leads the way in this spiritual race, and he is the perfecter — or as one translation has it, the finisher — who leads the runners across the finish line to victory.

Finally, we have the means whereby Jesus completes this race — the cross is the ordeal through which he must pass before he is seated as a champion at God’s right hand. Note that there is a sharp contrast between the joy that is the ultimate goal of the victor and the shame of the cross. The believers who run behind Jesus have previously been exhorted to persevere in their race, however difficult it might seem, and are following Jesus who endured the cross.

We have the beginnings of credal statements here:

he suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead and buried.
On the third day he rose from the dead
And is seated at the right hand of the Father (excerpt from the Apostles’ Creed).

APPLY:

Those who follow Christ by faith are by definition spiritual athletes. The word used in Hebrews for race is agon — which is a technical term often used for athletic contests. We note that agon is the root of agony.

We are running a race. And we can take comfort that those who have gone before us are in some way cheering us on as the cloud of witnesses. Witness is of course the Greek word martyrion, where we get the word, martyr. Those who have themselves paid a price for their faith are surrounding us.

But even more comforting is the author and finisher of our faith — Jesus. He has paved the way for us through his own agony. But there is the sense that following Jesus does involve sacrifice. We are told to shed every weight and sin that slows us down. The imagery makes us think of the pounds that we pick up by self-indulgence, but also those habits that take our focus away from Jesus who runs ahead of us.

If we are to follow him across the finish line, we must keep the focus of our faith on him, and like him despise the shame for the sake of the joy set before us.

RESPOND:

I like to think of myself as an athlete, although the truth is that the last time I was heavily involved in competitive athletics was in high school more than 42 years ago.

But some of those habits are still there. I know that competing in games of any kind requires discipline, focus on the essentials, and the willingness to set aside those things that might distract us.

I practice spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study every day; and worship and/or preach every Sunday. I also know that there are weights and sins that can distract me from following Jesus. I try to cultivate a sense of detachment from the world so that possessions and things and temptations don’t distract me from running the race set before me.

What really comforts me, though, is the awareness that Jesus has already borne my sin upon the cross, and crossed the finish line, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. It is not my agony that enables me to cross the finish line, it is his! And I follow in faith knowing that he has already completed the race on my behalf!

Lord, I thank you for despising the shame of the cross for my sake, that I might experience the joy of victory through you. Give me the willingness to cast off the weights of this world and the sins that slow me down, so that I may follow you without encumbrance. Amen.

 PHOTOS:
"Andrew Murray consecration Hebrews 12 1" by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for August 14, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm appeals to the Lord for intervention in a time of adversity. It is difficult to tell from the context alone if the Psalm was written before or after the exile of Israel. It doesn’t really matter to the reader, because it is clearly a cry for help in any event. One clue, though, might be the mention of the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, which would suggest that the Psalm was written before the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed and scattered by the Assyrians in 721 B.C.

The imagery of the Lord as Shepherd is familiar to us, and comforting; but then there is the imagery of the Lord sitting enthroned between the cherubim — those terrifying angelic figures who are depicted as the guardians of Eden with a sword of flame, and the close companions of the Lord who bear him up with wings of the wind. This is much more intimidating. There may also be a reference to the winged cherubim made of gold who flank the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem.

Our current lectionary reading jumps from verses 1-2 to verses 8-19.

In verses 8-19, the Psalmist introduces a familiar metaphor — Israel is compared to a vine that the Lord has brought from Egypt. The Psalmist recounts a part of the salvation history of Israel. In language reminiscent of Isaiah 5:1-7, he addresses his prayer to the Lord:

You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
it sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the River.

[For more information on the vine and the vineyard as a Biblical metaphor, CLICK HERE to read the Old Testament SOAR for August 14, 2022]

In these few verses we see the sweep of Israel’s history — exodus from Egypt, the conquest of Canaan, flourishing in this new land, and the spread of the nation under the leadership of the Davidic kings. At its height under David and Solomon, Israel’s influence had spread north to Lebanon (the mighty cedars), and from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Euphrates River.

But now circumstances have changed. The Psalmist asks God plaintively:

Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.

The Psalmist is writing from the perspective of one who sees his nation besieged and harassed, likely by the Assyrians in the late 8th century. Given the references to Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh the Psalmist particularly has the Northern Kingdom in mind, not Judah.

His appeal is for the God of hosts to protect and care for his vine that has been burned and cut down by the invaders.

And what is the source of that salvation?

But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.

Is the Psalmist speaking of a king? If so, is he speaking of a king from the Davidic dynasty that rules in Judah following the separation of the Northern from the Southern Kingdoms? Or is this, as the Christian reader might interpret, a messianic prophecy that will be fulfilled by Jesus, the Son of David?

In any event, the Psalmist vows that when deliverance comes:

Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.

Finally, the Psalmist closes with a litany that appears three times in this Psalm:

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.

This hearkens back to the priestly blessing that Aaron was instructed to give as High Priest:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26).

There may also be a reference intended to the shekinah, the glory of God that accompanies his presence, and that made the face of Moses to shine after he’d been in the presence of the Lord.

APPLY:

At some point we all know how it feels to be defeated, demoralized, in despair — as a nation, a family, an individual. The cry of the Psalmist isn’t far from the experience of any of us.

When we have experienced the grace of God, we know how it is to feel that we are like a vine that has been planted and watered by God, and flourished under his care. And when life gets hard, when the “vine” in our lives is uprooted by circumstances beyond our control, we cry out just as the Psalmist does.

What we cry out for, in our nation, our church, our family, our own lives — is revival, restoration. If we have experienced the presence of God in our lives, if we have known the “shine” of his face, and it has faded for us, we earnestly yearn for it again.

We will find it, if the Scriptures are true, in the life and the light of Christ, who brings not only salvation from our sins, but healing to our hearts, and the power to live the holy lives to which he calls us.

RESPOND:

I find myself from time to time dealing with my own drift away from God. I have to cry out again for renewal and revival. As with the Psalmist this happens when I begin to call out his name and seek to live according to the claims of that name.

Our Lord, our nation experiences victories, but also sees defeats — the disabled veteran who wonders ‘was it worth it?’ The ambiguity of race relations in our nation today. The specter of terrorism. And our own personal struggles with grief or depression. We don’t have the wisdom to provide all the answers. But you have provided a Person who is wisdom incarnate, and salvation, and new life! May we find our source of healing and salvation in Christ! Amen.

PHOTO:
“Psalm 80_14” by Baptist Union of Great Britain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for August 14, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 5:1-7
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Isaiah uses a technique that will be very familiar to readers of the Gospels — he tells a story. His parable of the vineyard does two things at once. First, it initially conceals his message. Isaiah uses his story-telling technique much the way Jesus uses parables — he “hooks” his audience. Second, he “sets the hook” with lovely descriptions, and then “reels” them in, making a rather disturbing application through his metaphor of the vineyard.

Vineyards were an important symbol of prosperity and abundance to the people of Israel. Micah (a contemporary of Isaiah’s) describes the time of God’s future reign with this image:

…they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
and no one shall make them afraid (Micah 4:4).

Psalm 80 uses language very similar to that of Isaiah when it describes Israel. The Psalmist addresses God and says:

You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land (Psalm 80:8-9).

In Isaiah’s vivid metaphor, he offers a similar description of Israel:

Let me sing for my beloved
my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;

So far, so good. Everybody loves a well-planted and well-tended vineyard. The audience in Jerusalem, hearing this lyrical love-song, is surely drawn in, congratulating themselves on all that God has done for them and for their prosperity. This is a very positive image.

And then comes the twist. Isaiah is singing the song on behalf of his beloved — the Lord. But the Lord is surprised that despite all of his efforts on behalf of his vineyard, the yield is unacceptable:

he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.

Then, the Lord himself speaks directly through Isaiah to the people, and challenges them to a debate. This seems to be a pattern. We saw in Isaiah 1:18, that the Lord challenges his people to:

Come now, let us argue it out…

Here, he demands that the citizens of Jerusalem and Judah arbitrate his case with the vineyard that yielded wild grapes:

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?

And now God begins to reveal what he plans to do, and this is very very bad news for them:

And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.

Just in case there is any confusion, Isaiah finally reveals the “punch-line” when he makes it clear just who the vineyard represents:

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
but heard a cry!

Given the historical context of Isaiah’s time, the people of Judah would do well to heed the warning. The Assyrians were already beginning to uproot the vineyard in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and would complete their destruction by 721 B.C.

Isaiah is warning the Southern Kingdom of Judah that they will be next unless they practice justice and righteousness.

APPLY:

What happens when people are given every opportunity to succeed, and they squander that opportunity? This is one application of this Song of the Vineyard.

Is it not true that God has given human beings every opportunity to succeed, to prosper, to thrive? He has given us a world with oxygen, plentiful food and resources — ample enough to share with everyone.

What has been our response? Where God expected justice, he saw bloodshed; and where he expected righteousness, he heard a cry!

This has been the human situation throughout history, when the resources that are available to all have been greedily acquired by the few — usually through warfare or financial manipulation.

Isaiah has already made it crystal clear what his definition of justice includes:

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow (Isaiah 1:16-17).

These are the good grapes that the vineyard was meant to yield. Isaiah warns us that the consequences of injustice will be judgment.

RESPOND:

I have had so many wonderful opportunities in my own life. I had a good, solid family. I was given a good foundation that prepared me for college and seminary.

However, I am also aware of the many opportunities that I’ve squandered. My family lived in Spain when I was young, and I didn’t learn to speak Spanish. My family later lived in Japan, and I didn’t learn to speak Japanese. I’ve thought many times over the years how useful it might have been to be reasonably fluent in those languages today.

That scarcely scratches the surface of all the other “gifts” I’ve been given by God — talents untapped, or breaks that I didn’t take advantage of. And even more than that, the grace and mercy and spiritual gifts that God has lavished on me — I become ashamed that I have been so ungrateful and un-enterprising.

Thus I am all the more grateful for God’s abundant grace that continually “replants” me where I have borne wild grapes. But I dare not continue to presume on that grace. When I repent, I must also heed the warning of another prophetic figure, John the Baptist:

Bear fruits worthy of repentance…Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Luke 3:8,9).

Lord, you have planted a fruitful vineyard in our lives. Please continue to supervise and guide us so that we may bear abundant fruit for you. Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Isaiah 5 verse 1” uses the following photo:
“Flying over vineyards #fromwhereidrone” by Dirk Dallas is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for August 21, 2016

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God! [photo by Holly Hayes]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 71:1-6

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Psalmist is lifting up a prayer of supplication, asking God for deliverance and protection. He bases his present hopes on the deliverance he has experienced in the past.

It is the righteousness of the Lord that provides the source of deliverance and rescue. This is in contrast to the shame that the Psalmist fears.

The Psalmist uses a common Biblical metaphor of the Lord as a

rock of refuge,
a strong fortress.

If the Lord is his refuge and fortress, God provides a place of rescue from the wicked, unjust and cruel. They are his besiegers, but God is his strong wall.

More proactively, the Psalmist affirms that the Lord has been with him from the very beginning of his life:

For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.

The Psalmist’s present faith in God’s protection is grounded in God’s past faithfulness.

APPLY:

This Psalm illustrates the vital need to teach our children about the faithfulness of God.

A child first learns about the reality and the faithfulness of God by the example of parents, then by the reinforcement of precept and experience. And this comes from a strong, caring, nurturing community of faith.

RESPOND:

Martin Luther, the great German reformer, penned one of the great hymns of the faith that is reminiscent of this Psalm:

A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing . . .

There is another quote that has been attributed to Martin Luther that seems appropriate to this Psalm:

The church is always just one generation away from extinction.

Every generation of Christian parents is responsible for teaching and modeling the Christian faith to their children.

Lord, I thank you that you have been with me since the very beginning of my life. Because you have always been my rock and my fortress, I don’t fear the future. Amen.

PHOTO:

“a mighty fortress is our god” by Holly Hayes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for August 14, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Luke 12:49-56

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

How different is this Jesus from the Sunday School version that we gravitate toward! True, he has taught and modeled love and forgiveness and healing and hope. But the teaching of Jesus in our Gospel reading for the week reveals the prophetic side of Jesus; the realist who is warning his disciples about the inevitable divisions that will occur because of his ministry.

His warnings are dire, and they seem to hearken back to his cousin John the Baptist’s denunciations early in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus says

“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!

John had forecast this prior to his arrest and execution, when he held forth at the Jordan River:

I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:16-17).

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness (Malachi 3:2-3).

Even families will be divided:

From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.

To some extent, Jesus has faced this division even in his own household. On one occasion, his own family was seeking “face time” with him:

Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:19-21).

He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

APPLY:

It is ok to admit that there are some things that Jesus says that trouble us. He meant to trouble us, in order to bring us to repentance and discipleship.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

What the fire doesn’t destroy will be tempered and purified.

So, we are called upon to decide — will we follow him, or will we turn away?

RESPOND:

Still, it is up to each generation to read and apply the Scriptures to our lives and our circumstances in our present time.

Karl Barth, the great Swiss theologian from the 20th century, was once quoted in Time magazine:

“[Barth] recalls that 40 years ago he advised young theologians ‘to take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.'” (Time, May 31, 1963).

Granted, fewer and fewer people read newspapers anymore, but the meaning is still the same — be aware of the world around you and current events as well as the Scriptures.

Let me be clear: I don’t interpret this to mean that current events and the Bible are equal. The Bible is the timeless Word of God. But I do believe that the Bible intersects every era of history, and challenges each generation to discipleship.

PHOTOS:
"Luke 12 verse 49" uses this photo:
"Fire" by Al Bee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license./pre>

Epistle for August 14, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Hebrews 11:29-12:2

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Our lectionary reading for this week’s epistle picks up the thread of last week’s epistle, and continues the survey of salvation history that began with creation (Hebrews 11:1), and continued with the prime example of the “man of faith,” Abraham (Hebrews 11:8-12). As we will see, this salvation history leads us to the ultimate object of faith in the person and work of Jesus.

Hebrews picks up the litany that punctuates each Old Testament hero or saving event — by faith:

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned.By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

What might seem astonishing is that even a prostitute, Rahab, is incorporated into the litany of the salvation history! She has no ritual or moral purity of her own. She is not an Israelite. It is her faith alone that saves her.

Hebrews then seeks to sum up the salvation history recorded throughout the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), admitting that the scope of the story of faith is overwhelming:

And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

And yet Hebrews tells us that though all of these men and women were people of faith, their faith wasn’t to be fully consummated quite yet. Faith is by nature oriented toward the future:

Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

Here we come to the concept of mystery that is introduced by the Apostle Paul. This mystery is at the heart of the salvation history, i.e., it is the disclosure of:

the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory(Colossians 1:26-27).

In other words, the entire salvation history is fulfilled in the coming of Christ, and the faithful response of Jews and Gentiles alike who come to faith in Christ.

Hebrews then exhorts his audience, who are believers in Christ, to follow the example of those faithful Hebrews in the past:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

As with runners in a race, these spiritual athletes are encouraged to lay aside weight and sin which might encumber them and prevent them from running well.

We have the beginnings of credal statements here:

he suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead and buried.
On the third day he rose from the dead
And is seated at the right hand of the Father (excerpt from the Apostles’ Creed).

APPLY:

If we are to follow him across the finish line, we must keep the focus of our faith on him, and like him despise the shame for the sake of the joy set before us.

RESPOND:

I like to think of myself as an athlete, although the truth is that the last time I was heavily involved in competitive athletics was in high school more than 42 years ago.

 PHOTOS:
"Andrew Murray consecration Hebrews 12 1" by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for August 14, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The imagery of the Lord as Shepherd is familiar to us, and comforting; but then there is the imagery of the Lord sitting enthroned between the cherubim – those terrifying angelic figures who are depicted as the guardians of Eden with a sword of flame, and the close companions of the Lord who bear him up with wings of the wind. This is much more intimidating. There may also be a reference to the winged cherubim made of gold who flank the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem.

Our current lectionary reading jumps from verses 1-2 to verses 8-19.

You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
it sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the River.

[For more information on the vine and the vineyard as a Biblical metaphor, CLICK HERE to read the Old Testament SOAR for August 14, 2016]

In these few verses we see the sweep of Israel’s history: exodus from Egypt, the conquest of Canaan, flourishing in this new land, and the spread of the nation under the leadership of the Davidic kings. At its height under David and Solomon, Israel’s influence had spread north to Lebanon (the mighty cedars), and from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Euphrates River.

But now circumstances have changed. The Psalmist asks God plaintively:

Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.

His appeal is for the God of hosts to protect and care for his vine that has been burned and cut down by the invaders.

And what is the source of that salvation?

But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.

In any event, the Psalmist vows that when deliverance comes:

Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.

Finally, the Psalmist closes with a litany that appears three times in this Psalm:

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.

This hearkens back to the priestly blessing that Aaron was instructed to give as High Priest:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26).

There may also be a reference intended to the shekinah, the glory of God that accompanies his presence, and that made the face of Moses to shine after he’d been in the presence of the Lord.

APPLY:

At some point we all know how it feels to be defeated, demoralized, in despair – as a nation, a family, an individual. The cry of the Psalmist isn’t far from the experience of any of us.

RESPOND:

Our Lord, our nation experiences victories, but also sees defeats – the disabled veteran who wonders ‘was it worth it?’ The ambiguity of race relations in our nation today. The specter of terrorism. And our own personal struggles with grief or depression. We don’t have the wisdom to provide all the answers. But you have provided a Person who is wisdom incarnate, and salvation, and new life! May we find our source of healing and salvation in Christ! Amen.

PHOTO:
“Psalm 80-7” by tea4judy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for August 14, 2016

Start with Scripture:

Isaiah 5:1-7

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Vineyards were an important symbol of prosperity and abundance to the people of Israel. Micah (a contemporary of Isaiah’s) describes the time of God’s future reign with this image:

…they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
and no one shall make them afraid (Micah 4:4).

Psalm 80 uses language very similar to that of Isaiah when it describes Israel. The Psalmist addresses God and says:

You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land (Psalm 80:8-9).

In Isaiah’s vivid metaphor, he offers a similar description of Israel:

Let me sing for my beloved
my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;

he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.

Then, the Lord himself speaks directly through Isaiah to the people, and challenges them to a debate. This seems to be a pattern. We saw in Isaiah 1:18, that the Lord challenges his people to

Come now, let us argue it out…

Here, he demands that the citizens of Jerusalem and Judah arbitrate his case with the vineyard that yielded wild grapes:

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?

And now God begins to reveal what he plans to do, and this is very very bad news for them:

And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.

Just in case there is any confusion, Isaiah finally reveals the “punch-line” when he makes it clear just who the vineyard represents:

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
but heard a cry!

Isaiah is warning the Southern Kingdom of Judah that they will be next unless they practice justice and righteousness.

APPLY:

What happens when people are given every opportunity to succeed, and they squander that opportunity? This is one application of this Song of the Vineyard.

What has been our response? Where God expected justice, he saw bloodshed; and where he expected righteousness he heard a cry!

This has been the human situation throughout history, when the resources that are available to all have been greedily acquired by the few — usually through warfare or financial manipulation.

Isaiah has already made it crystal clear what his definition of justice includes:

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow (Isaiah 1:16-17).

These are the good grapes that the vineyard was meant to yield. Isaiah warns us that the consequences of injustice will be judgment.

RESPOND:

I have had so many wonderful opportunities in my own life. I had a good, solid family. I was given a good foundation that prepared me for college and seminary.

Bear fruits worthy of repentance…Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Luke 3:8,9).

Lord, you have planted a fruitful vineyard in our lives. Please continue to supervise and guide us so that we may bear abundant fruit for you. Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Isaiah 5 verse 1” uses the following photo:
“Flying over vineyards #fromwhereidrone” by Dirk Dallas is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.