Gospel for July 19, 2020

Gathering Tares from Wheat, in the stony Fields of Bethel, Palestine (looking south).
“In the harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.’” [Matthew 13:30, WEB]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jesus tells another parable of the Kingdom of Heaven using an agricultural metaphor.  The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a farmer who sows good seed in his field.

But, as with most good stories, a conflict is introduced, as well as an antagonist — a bad guy:

while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away.  But when the blade sprang up and produced fruit, then the darnel weeds appeared also.

Darnel is a weed that looks uncannily like wheat until it is fully grown.  Only then can it be clearly differentiated by sight.

In the days before cropdusters and herbicides and farm machinery, the servants offered to go through the field and pull all the weeds by hand.  But the farmer says no, because of the risk of pulling up the wheat as well.  His plan counsels patience — let the wheat and weeds grow up together until harvest, then they will be sorted, with the weeds bundled and burned, and the wheat gathered into the barn.

In the following verses, (31-35, which are not included in today’s lectionary Gospel reading), Jesus tells two parables, and then explains why he tells parables for his instruction.  The two parables compare the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven to a tiny grain of mustard seed and a small bit of yeast. These are both slow-growing and yet have a great impact when they grow to maturity. The grain of mustard seed becomes a larger tree, and the little bit of yeast permeates and leavens up to three measures of meal (about 3.9 liters or a little more than a bushel).

And Matthew, the narrator of this account, reminds us that Jesus tells all these things in parables in part to fulfill the Scripture from Psalm 78:2:

I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.

When Jesus has finished speaking, he returns to the house where he’s staying in Capernaum.  Now, the advantage of a disciple becomes apparent.  Those who stay close to him can ask questions:

His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”

So Jesus interprets the parable to them. Again, it does seem to have allegorical qualities in that the different figures represent specific spiritual applications.

• He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, i.e., Jesus himself.
• The field is the world.
• The good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom.
• The darnel weeds are the children of the evil one. Are these the demons, or humans who reject the Son of Man?
• The enemy who sowed them is the devil.
• The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

Ultimately, what Jesus is describing is the difference between the present time and the eschatological end of the age. Jesus is saying that the farmer/Son of Man doesn’t bring judgment prematurely.  The good and the evil are permitted to coexist until the end of this age.

At that time the angels will go out into the world and will:

gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity,  and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

This is a stark description of Judgment, and part of the source for our impression of hell as a fiery furnace, where the damned wail eternally. In contrast:

the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.

Jesus concludes this teaching to his disciples by exhorting them:

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

In other words, Jesus has explained his teaching as carefully and clearly to his disciples as he possibly can.  Now, it is up to his disciples to hear and apply his words to their own lives.

APPLY:  

On its surface, the scene that Jesus describes of judgment is worthy of Jonathan Edwards.  Jesus describes the time of harvest as the end of the age, when the angels:

will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

Rev. Edward’s sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (published July 8, 1741), uses far more lurid language:

The God that holds you over the Pit of Hell, much as one holds a Spider, or some loathsome Insect, over the Fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his Wrath towards you burns like Fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the Fire; he is of purer Eyes than to bear to have you in his Sight; you are ten thousand Times so abominable in his Eyes as the most hateful venomous Serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn Rebel did his Prince: and yet ‘tis nothing but his Hand that holds you from falling into the Fire every Moment.
[from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.]

However, Edward’s depiction leaves out several important details.  He neglects to mention the patience that Jesus’ parable suggests.  The Son of Man is in no rush to separate the wheat from the weeds.  Part of that patience is because he is aware that attempting to separate wheat from weeds would likely result in doing more harm than good to the wheat itself.

But there is another reason for this patience.  Jesus began his ministry by calling for repentance (Matthew 4:17).  And when Jesus is criticized by the “righteous” of his day — the scribes and Pharisees — for his tendency to fellowship with “sinners,” Jesus says this:

Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.  But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:12-13).

It seems that in his parable of the wheat and the weeds, the purpose of Jesus isn’t so much to terrify as to warn the sinners, and describe God’s patient love.  He doesn’t burn the field, or tear it up, but waits until the end of the age.  Is this in order to give the weeds time and opportunity to repent?  I hope so.

RESPOND: 

Years ago I read a novel called The Damnation of Theron Ware. It is the story of a young, promising 19th century Methodist preacher who finds that his own understanding of the faith is somewhat shallow — but when he begins to discover a wider world of culture and intellect, it shakes his spiritual and moral foundations.

When he finds his faith wandering, and even his marriage in trouble, he flails helplessly and yet finds it difficult to admit his own mistakes. In one scene, though, he confides to a more experienced travelling evangelist, a woman named Sister Soulsby, who is far wiser than the young Theron Ware.  He tells her that he is considering something dramatic — leaving the ministry.  At this time, she believes that there is still hope for him, and she tells him not to breathe a word of that thought to anyone.  She counsels him to be aware of those around him, fulfill his obligations, and keep his more dangerous thoughts to himself — in a word, be wiser than he has been hitherto.  And then she says this when he casts doubt on the Christian doctrine that he has been charged with preaching:

“See here!” she exclaimed, with renewed animation, patting his shoulder in a brisk, automatic way, to point the beginning of her confidences: “I’ll tell you something. It’s about myself. I’ve got a religion of my own, and it’s got just one plank in it, and that is that the time to separate the sheep from the goats is on Judgment Day, and that it can’t be done a minute before.”

What she seems to believe is that Theron Ware is still developing, and it is premature to make a pronouncement of judgment until the end.

This is an important lesson to us.  It explains why good and evil coexist.  Because of God’s infinite patience, he delays judgment.  This is certainly the view of the Apostle Peter. When he speaks of the inevitability of the coming of the end of the age, he says this:

The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

The delay of the end of the age is for our benefit, and the benefit of those we love and those with whom we share the Gospel.  We are all to repent while there is still time.

Lord, sometimes it is difficult to understand why good and evil coexist in your world.  The devil and his minions seem to be robustly at work in our world.  But then you help me realize that you are infinitely patient, and that some of those who are now weeds might well become wheat before the Harvest at the end of time.  Help me to do what I can to bring in the good harvest.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Gathering Tares from Wheat, in the stony Fields of Bethel, Palestine (looking south)" by Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, UofT is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for July 19, 2020

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 8:12-25
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul continues his line of thinking concerning the new life of those who are in Christ Jesus and walk according to the Spirit.

He returns to language he has used earlier, contrasting the life of the flesh to the life of the Spirit.  He declares that those who live according to the Spirit are not indebted to the flesh, nor required to live according to its demands.  This is a financial metaphor that suggests the cancellation of any obligation to the flesh.  We are reminded that Paul’s definition of the flesh includes those affections, attachments and cravings that lead one away from God and toward sin and death:

For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;  because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.  Those who are in the flesh can’t please God (Romans 8:6-8).

He then articulates a rhetorical paradox :

For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

To ‘live’ after the flesh is to die; to die to the flesh (which means repudiating a lifestyle of moral corruption and decay that leads to death) brings life!  The paradox couldn’t be more radical — living after the flesh brings death; dying through the Spirit brings life.  This has been foreshadowed in Romans 6 when Paul speaks of being baptized into Jesus’ death:

We were buried therefore with him through baptism to death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).

Having established this principle, that dying to the flesh through Christ and being raised with him through the power of the Spirit brings new life, Paul introduces another mind-blowing concept — that those who belong to the Spirit are no longer in bondage, but are children of God!

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.  For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba!  Father!”

Note the important statement Paul makes.  The Christian is no longer in bondage, but is adopted as a child of God.  We must be quite clear — though we were all created by God and loved by God, even while we were yet sinners (cf. Romans 5:8), it is through the witness of the Spirit that we become God’s adopted children.  It might be said that God has only one begotten Son, who is Jesus (cf. John 1:14, 18; 3:16); all the rest who are his children are adopted for the sake of Jesus and his sacrificial fulfillment of the law, and claimed as family through the testimony of the Spirit.

This new family relationship is strongly emphasized by the permission granted to these new children that they may call God “Abba!  Father!”

Modern scholars debate the Aramaic title Abba — whether it means Daddy or more formally, Father. In any case, it does seem to denote an intimate, even affectionate, relationship between a father and child.  Jesus uses this term one time that we are aware of — when he is praying to his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane (the night of his arrest, which leads to his death).  Mark’s Gospel describes the scene:

He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him.  He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Please remove this cup from me. However, not what I desire, but what you desire.” (Mark 14:35-36)

Paul uses the term Abba again in a passage from his letter to the Galatians that closely parallels Romans 8:14-17:

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children. And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ (Galatians 4:4-7).

The point is, those who are now in Christ are adopted as children of God in a new and intimate relationship. In fact, this last claim is what Paul says in the next few verses:

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;  and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

The Christian knows that he or she belongs to God because the Spirit has told them so in their own spirit.  And as joint heirs with Christ, the Christian inherits whatever Christ inherits as the only Son of God — the believer is made brother and sister with Christ himself!

Paul does have one caveat, however.  There is an if involved with this adoption:

if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

Paul’s understanding of baptism and faith is not that baptism is a mere “symbol” and faith merely “belief” that certain facts are true. To become a Christian through baptism and faith is to be identified  with Christ and his sufferings.  Paul says this very clearly earlier in this letter:

For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin (Romans 6:5-6).

We must bear in mind that there is the symbolic identification with the death of Christ in baptism — but suffering with Christ in order to be glorified with him may in Paul’s mind be quite literal.  He writes to a persecuted church, which knew what it was to experience discrimination, insult, and even violence.  (Those of us in the Western church may not be able to appreciate this in quite the same way as those in the parts of the contemporary church throughout the world where suffering with Christ is no figure of speech).

However, Paul also declares that any suffering experienced in this life is more than transcended by God’s promises to his children:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.

Here is another dramatic contrast — between the sufferings of the present, and the glories of the Kingdom of God that is to come.  There is no comparison.

Still, there is a provisional nature to the Christian’s life in the present — the “not yet” of one’s life in Christ.

Paul expands his focus concerning the present and the future.  He claims that even creation itself is anticipating the eschatological age to come:

 For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

Paul personifies creation as a being with emotions — it is subjected to vanity, the bondage to decay,  and even groans and travails in pain.  Although Paul doesn’t spell it out, he appears to be basing his creation theology on the concept that creation itself has been infected by the same sin and evil with which humans have been infected.  We can’t help but think of the language of Genesis when Adam and Eve experience the consequences of their disobedience — even the earth is cursed!

….the ground is cursed for your sake.
You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life.
It will yield thorns and thistles to you (Genesis 3:17-18).

Creation is not to blame for this curse — humanity is.  Nevertheless, God will use this curse in order to bring good out of evil:

For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

Therefore, the wonderful promise of the coming age is that not only will the children of God be delivered from the bondage to sin and death, creation itself will be delivered from decay and liberated to become what God intended at the beginning!

Creation groans because of its bondage to decay as it leans hopefully toward the coming age, and so do those who belong to Christ:

Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.

Note that Paul is decidedly speaking of the “not yet” aspect of the coming of the end.

There are the first fruits of the Spirit that have already been given “now” to the believer.  Paul doesn’t spell out exactly what those first fruits are in this passage.  Sometimes he uses this phrase to describe Christ’s own resurrection, that has already taken place:

But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep (1 Corinthians 15:20).

The concept of first fruits is grounded in the Mosaic law governing gifts offered to God (cf. Exodus 23:16, 19) from the agricultural yields of the fields and the flocks.  These were the first tokens, symbolizing the giving of the best to God. And secondly, the first fruits  were offered as a reminder that all things ultimately belong to God.

But the first fruits in our passage no doubt are related to the foretaste given to the believer through the Spirit, as suggested elsewhere:

Now he who establishes us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God; who also sealed us, and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

And Paul may also have in mind those qualities of character that are bestowed by the Spirit even now:

the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,  gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

However, they are still awaiting the fullness of salvation that comes at the end of the age. In fact, as he has said, believers have been adopted as children of God ­— and yet that adoption is not yet fully complete until the end of the age. And though believers have been redeemed by Christ’s blood, the full redemption of their bodies from the decay of this life isn’t completed until the end of the age either.

So Paul is obliged to speak of hope, not as something which has been completely fulfilled, but what is yet to be:

For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?  But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.

APPLY:  

This excerpt from Romans 8 has far-reaching implications — some might even say cosmic implications!

First, though, the impact of this passage is deeply personal and intimate.  Those who have been in bondage to the flesh and to fear are set free through the Spirit of God.

But wait (as they say in the advertising world), there’s more!  The unimaginable has been made possible — through the Spirit of God, we are adopted as children of God.  This is made possible by what Christ has done for us, as Paul explains in Galatians:

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children (Galatians 4:4-5).

Our adoption as children of God is clearly grounded in the incarnation event of Christ and fulfilled in his death and resurrection.

And it is the Holy Spirit who completes this “contract” of adoption by witnessing inwardly to our spirits that we are children of God.  To be adopted into this family is to have all that Jesus has in his relationship with the Father!  We are on such intimate terms with God that we can talk to him as Abba  — Daddy. 

And if Jesus inherits a new, resurrection body, so do we!  If Jesus inherits eternal life, so do we! If Jesus inherits the right to sit in the heavenly places with the Father, so do we (cf. Ephesians 2:6).  According to Paul’s words, that we are joint heirs with Christ, we receive what Christ receives!

However, there is also the sense that, as the old cliche said, “If you can’t bear the cross, then you can’t wear the crown.”  We also are to suffer with him.  Obviously, Jesus has borne the cross on our behalf — we aren’t crucified for our own sins.  Jesus has paid that penalty for us.  Still, we are to identify with Jesus through our baptism, self-denial, and service.  As Paul writes in Galatians:

 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me (Galatians 2:20).

And there is a second, cosmic implication of this passage.  Paul begins with comforting words about suffering.  I have thought and said these words many times in dealing with faithful Christians who are facing intense suffering and sorrow:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.

However, Paul also addresses the bigger picture.  Salvation is not merely about personal, individual salvation — salvation also applies to all creation!  Creation suffered because of the fall of humanity — nature itself was subjected to the bondage of decay.  And, like a woman groaning in childbirth, nature itself groans and travails in pain.

When Jesus speaks of the tribulations and travails that prepare the way for the coming of the end of the age, he speaks of  wars and rumors of wars and famines, plagues, and earthquakes (cf. Matthew 24:6-7) — and he cautions that these are not the signs of the end. And he says:

But all these things are the beginning of birth pains (Matthew 24:8).

In many ways, the argument that all creation has been subjected to the bondage to decay is a helpful understanding of theodicy, which addresses the theological problems of God’s omnipotence and goodness in the face of the existence of evil.  This view provides a possible explanation of the existence of evil in creation — natural catastrophes, diseases, etc.  They are not “permanent” aspects of creation — rather, like the birth pangs of a mother, they are temporary and transient and will be forgotten when the birth of the Kingdom of God is completed.

This also has implications for our Christian understanding of the natural environment and ecology.  Creation is suffering, and also causes suffering — but creation itself is eager to see the fulfillment of God’s plan for all things:

For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

God’s salvation is systemic.  God saves and restores not only individuals but all creation as well.

RESPOND: 

When we sing the old hymn “Blessed Assurance” by the blind composer Fanny Crosby (1801-1900), we are singing the theology of Romans 8:14-17 and Galatians 4:4-7 — the witness of the Spirit with our spirits that we are children of God:

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

This experience is common to those who have made a decision to follow Jesus — people like John Wesley, who testified to a “heart strangely warmed” at a religious meeting on Aldersgate Street on April 24, 1738.

And people like Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher and mathematician whose heart was flooded with the light of Christ after a traumatic event in his life, on November  23, 1654.  He sewed a piece of parchment into the lining of his coat from that time on with these words:

God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and scholars…Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy…’This is life eternal that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.’ Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ…May I not fall from him forever…I will not forget your word. Amen.

That we can be adopted as children of God for the sake of Jesus Christ is amazing.  That the Spirit of God whispers to our spirits that we are his children, and that we are entitled to call God Abba, Father is incredibly comforting.  The entire Godhead of the Trinity is involved in bringing us into relationship with God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Lord, thank  you that we are adopted as your children, and that you have made us your heirs.  And most of all that we are able to cry out to you “Abba! Father!”  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

"Hold me Daddy" by Matthew Miller is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for July 19, 2020

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm, attributed to David, celebrates the omniscience of God concerning the conception, consciousness, and inner being of the Psalmist, and the intimate relationship that exists between David and God:

Yahweh, you have searched me,
    and you know me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up.
    You perceive my thoughts from afar.

This is a first-person poem/prayer in which David marvels at the intimacy of God’s knowledge of an individual — every movement, thought, and word is known even before they are enacted, thought, or spoken.

David is amazed and humbled by the capacity of God to search and know him, and is deeply aware of God’s transcendent knowledge of all things — even David himself!

One can’t help but wonder if this Psalm doesn’t inform St. Paul’s understanding of the Spirit of God, described in The Epistle to the Romans as communicating directly with our own spirits:

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children (Romans 8:16);

and in Romans 8:27:

he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

While some Psalms marvel at the created order of the stars and the mountains, and the revelation of the Law (Psalm 8, 19, 119 and so many others), this Psalm revels in the deeply personal nature of the relationship between God and a human being.

David’s meditation takes him to the logical extreme — no matter where he goes, he cannot escape God’s presence:

Where could I go from your Spirit?
Or where could I flee from your presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!
If I take the wings of the dawn,
and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there your hand will lead me,
and your right hand will hold me.

Fortunately for David, God’s attention to him is benevolent — this Divine Presence leads and holds him, even in Sheol, the place of the Dead.

And wherever God is present — which is everywhere — God penetrates the darkness:

The darkness is like light to you.

Therefore, no matter how dark David may feel, or how he might seek to hide, God seeks and finds him.

David closes this Psalm by remembering his claim at the beginning — that God searches and knows him, even his thoughts from afar, whether he walks or rests.  Only now he is asking God to put his thoughts to the test and purify him so that he may follow closely after God:

Search me, God, and know my heart.
Try me, and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the everlasting way.

APPLY:  

Consideration of the omnipotence and omniscience of God can often leave us feeling insignificant.  But this Psalm reminds us that the omniscience of God is really quite intimate.  God knows us from our conception to our death. God is with us everywhere we go — at work or rest. And God knows our thoughts, and even those aspects of ourselves unknown to us.

Although God is transcendent and “wholly other” as the theologians are wont to say, God is also deeply immanent and personal in his knowledge of us.  We puny, finite human beings are capable of knowing and being known by the Creator of all the universe!

St. Anselm of Canterbury once wrote that “God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.”  The Psalmist illustrates that this God, above whom there is nothing greater, knows us each intimately and personally.  Although our knowledge of him is limited by our finite nature, the great blessing is that because he knows us we can know him.

RESPOND: 

Like many people, I have suffered at times from low self-esteem — what we used to call an “inferiority complex.”  Feelings of insignificance and unimportance can be debilitating and discouraging.

But if I apply the words of Psalm 139 to my own life, I have a new and encouraging picture.  God not only knows me, he knows my thoughts even before I do.  He knows where I go, what I do — and he cares!

I love the quote attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo:

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.

Our Lord, how can my words begin to match the prayer of the Psalmist? That you know me intimately and care for me exceeds my capacity to understand.  All my life is lived in your omniscient omnipresence.  Amen.   

PHOTOS:

"Psalm 139-23" by New Life Church Collingwood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for July 19, 2020

Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. photographed the west front of Bath Abbey, which depicts angels climbing a ladder toward heaven.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Genesis 28:10-19a
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jacob is a fugitive.  He is fleeing from his brother Esau who has threatened to kill Jacob when Esau sees him again.  We know from last week’s Old Testament lectionary reading that Jacob has snookered Esau, persuading Esau to trade his birthright for a bowl of stew.

This transaction was serious enough, with Esau trading away his rights as the firstborn.  But the second offense in the relationship between the two brothers is actually instigated by their mother, Rebekah!

Rebekah has made no secret of her preference for Jacob; and Isaac, their father, has favored Esau.  Rebekah  overhears a conversation between her husband (Isaac) and their oldest twin, Esau.  Isaac, now old and blind, knows his time is limited.  He has asked Esau, the hunter, to kill and prepare the savory game that Isaac loves.  His intention is to give his blessing to Esau before he dies.  It is important to remember that words in the Hebraic mind were a powerful force in themselves, and blessings and curses were a kind of incantation — and in this case, a kind of last will and testament from Isaac (Genesis 27:1-4).

Rebekah snaps into action. While Esau is out hunting, she persuades Jacob to participate in a ruse.  She cooks a dish for Isaac, and dresses Jacob in woolly garments that simulate Esau’s hairy arms.  Jacob, posing as Esau, offers Isaac the dish that his mother has made. But when Isaac eats the meal, he grows suspicious.  The voice he hears sounds like Jacob, but when Isaac feels his arms, they feel like Esau’s.

Rebekah and Jacob have colluded in a deception — Isaac gives his blessing to Jacob, when he had intended to give it to Esau! He says to Jacob:

God give you of the dew of the sky,
of the fatness of the earth,
and plenty of grain and new wine.
Let peoples serve you,
and nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers.
Let your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you.
Blessed be everyone who blesses you (Genesis 27:28-29).

However, when Esau returns with his  savory game, cooked just the way Isaac likes it, it’s too late.  The blessing, like the birthright, is irrevocable.  Esau’s reaction is — understandably — outraged.  Esau himself makes a vow, which as we’ve learned is not to be taken lightly:

 Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob” (Genesis 27:41).

Jacob has been warned by Rebekah that he needs to run away.  He’s on the lam.

This background information brings us to today’s lectionary passage.  Jacob has left his family’s encampment near Beersheba, and he’s heading toward the place of origin for the family — Haran in Mesopotamia.  This is where Abraham his grandfather started out so long ago.

On the way, he stays overnight on a hillside after sunset, with only a stone for a pillow.  That night he has a remarkable dream:

Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.  

This is the first spiritual encounter recorded between Jacob and Yahweh, but it is not the last.  This dream is filled with the powerful imagery of a stairway from heaven to earth.  The stairway is filled with angels of God travelling between heaven and earth.

Even more significantly, Yahweh reaffirms the covenant which he initiated with Abraham and Isaac, in very similar terms with those earlier promises:

Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, “I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your offspring.  Your offspring will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your offspring will all the families of the earth be blessed.  Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.”

Not only has Jacob bargained for the birthright of his older brother, and stolen the blessing  from under Esau’s nose, now he is to be the vessel through whom Yahweh will fulfill the Abrahamic covenant — the promise of land, multitudes of offspring, the blessing of all the families of the earth. And even more than that, Jacob receives the promise that Yahweh will be his constant companion in the years ahead!

Though Jacob is a fugitive, hiding from his brother’s wrath, he has just been given a divine affirmation despite his shady character.

When Jacob awakens, he realizes that he has had an epiphany.  This place is “sacred space” where God has been made manifest to him.

“Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I didn’t know it.” He was afraid, and said, “How dreadful is this place! This is none other than God’s house, and this is the gate of heaven.”

Like his grandfather before him, and like many who will come after him, Jacob responds with worship.  He takes the very stone that he has used as a pillow, and sets it up as a pillar, anointing it with oil.  The symbolic significance of the stone, where he has rested during this divine dream, is powerful to him.

As we know from Scripture, names and words have deep meaning.  This place near the city of Luz is renamed by Jacob — Bethel.  Bethel means House of God. For in this very place Jacob became aware that God was with him, in this particular place and in this specific time.

APPLY:  

It is a little difficult to defend the character of Jacob.  As his brother Esau insists, Jacob’s very name means Supplanter (Genesis 27:36).  Jacob has chiseled Esau out of his birthright in one of the most one-sided bargains in history.  Jacob has colluded with his mother to deceive Isaac, and cheat Esau out of his blessing from their father as well.

And this is the man to whom God has reaffirmed the promises made to Abraham?  This is the man whom God has chosen to carry forward the salvation history of the people of God?

Yes.  This is a reminder that God’s grace exceeds our bad character; and that God can use us even though we are flawed, fallible people.  This isn’t an excuse to continue bad behavior. That would not be consistent with the transformational message of Scripture.

After all, Jacob does experience transformation, as we may witness when we look ahead to his return from Haran many years later. He will return home with two wives and eleven children, prosperous with flocks of goats and sheep. But before he can cross the Jabbok river, he wrestles with someone all night long — who turns out to be God himself!  That event will certainly be life-changing for Jacob. He will become known then as Israel ­— one who wrestles with God, and prevails (Genesis 32).

God meets us where we are; but he doesn’t leave us where we are.

RESPOND: 

We used to sing a song in Sunday School:

We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
Soldiers of the cross.

The song’s verses suggest a progression:

Every round goes higher, higher…
Sinner, do you love my Jesus?
If you love Him, why not serve Him?

I  like this imagery.  It reminds me that there is a kind of stairway to heaven — certainly not a stairway that can be bought, like the stairway Led Zeppelin once sang about.

No, what Jacob’s stairway suggests is that the spiritual life is a process, a journey.  Walter Hinton (1340-1396), an Augustinian monk in England, wrote a famous mystical work called The Ladder of Perfection.  In his work he describes that the first steps up the stairway toward God involve destroying the image of sin and forming the image of Christ through virtue; and then continuing the climb toward God through asceticism and contemplation.

This is not an unqualified endorsement of Hilton’s particular views — but it is helpful to me to realize that the Christian life is not a static experience.  The Christian life that draws us closer to God is a dynamic process.  God meets us while we are still sinners, pardons us for the sake of Jesus, and begins to transform us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And all of this is of grace — it is God who takes the initiative in the life of the deceiver and cheat named Jacob.  And it is God who takes the initiative in our lives to turn us back toward him.

Our Lord, I confess that there is a bit of Jacob in me — perhaps more manipulative than I care to admit, perhaps a little deceptive at times; perhaps too competitive.  I pray that, as you did with Jacob, you can overrule my sinful nature and still find me useful in your work. Please transform me from what I was to what you mean for me to become. Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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Gospel for July 19, 2015

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

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OBSERVE:

In this passage under consideration, the lectionary editors have made some curious decisions.  They have the reader leap from Mark  6:34 to verse 53 — hopscotching completely over two very  impressive miracles.

In verses 35-44, Jesus feeds five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish; and in verses 45-52, after Jesus has sent the disciples on across the Sea of Galilee so that he can pray in solitude, Mark describes the incident in which Jesus walks on water to their boat in the midst of a storm!

So, I ask, why skip these two HUGE miracles?  I can only assume that the editors choose to compensate for it by focusing, as they do in the lectionary readings ahead, on these two miracles as depicted and developed theologically in the Gospel of John, Chapter six.

Here, the focus is on the relational dynamics between Jesus, the disciples, and the crowds of people who are beginning to follow him.

First, the disciples have returned from their first “missionary” expeditions, and they are beside themselves with excitement! The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.  Jesus draws them apart from the crowds so that they may rest and eat after their adventures. They leave by boat and sail across the lake.

But the crowds anticipate their movements, perhaps watching the course of the boat,  and arrive at this solitary place on foot even before Jesus and his disciples.  Jesus isn’t annoyed or impatient, but recognizes their desperate needs: When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

Then, after the interlude with the feeding of the multitude, Jesus sends the disciples back across the lake — alone, until he joins them on the water.  So we pick up with verse 53, when they arrive at Gennesarat.  And the cycle continues — word  spreads that the miracle worker has come, and people bring their sick to be healed.  Jesus has become a rock star in this region, followed by the masses!

APPLY:  

Ministry can be extremely exhilarating.  But it can also be exhausting.  Jesus recognizes the need of even the most dedicated disciples to be physically and spiritually replenished. He takes the disciples aside to a quiet, solitary retreat so they may eat and rest.

This passage reveals how difficult it may be to find these times of “Sabbath rest” for those who are deeply committed to ministry.  He certainly is committed: he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He allows his schedule to be suspended because of the great need.

What the lectionary passage doesn’t reveal is that Jesus still finds time to get away.  The reason he sends the disciples on across the lake is that he himself must find solitude to pray: Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.  After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray (Mark 6:45-46).

There must be cycles in ministry: times to work hard and diligently, but also times of solitude for prayer and rest.  Only then do we have the spiritual resources to minister effectively.

RESPOND: 

I admire Jesus’ availability to the crowds who were like sheep without a shepherd.  Unlike me, he never loses his patience or whines that he needs some time off!

On the other hand, he is differentiated enough to realize that he must find time for solitude and prayer if he is to accomplish the great tasks ahead.

I believe that this is a good pattern for anyone who attempts to offer ministry in Jesus’ name.  Work hard, pray earnestly, and also rest, so that we may be equipped for every good work.

Lord, your example of compassion and rest are both important to me.  Help me to see people the way you see them, with compassion for sheep who need a shepherd — namely, you the Good Shepherd. But help me also to find the time to rest and reflect and be restored so that I can minister according to your will, not my own impulses.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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Epistle for July 19, 2015

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Ephesians 2:11-22

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OBSERVE:

Paul is tackling one of the toughest issues of his time — the division between Jews and Gentiles.  He does not deny the unique place that the Jews had in the “salvation history.”  They were “the circumcision,” and according to the holy scriptures they were the heirs to the covenants of the promise.

Paul never denies the validity of the promises to Israel, or the Law. In fact, in this passage he begins with “bad news” for the Gentiles, rather than good news: they were once without hope and without God in the world.

But the twist in this plot is that Jesus is the ‘game-changer.’   But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Paul uses a brilliant image to illustrate what Jesus has done.  Gentiles were separated from the presence of God, and from the people of God, by a dividing wall.  Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth, has broken down this dividing wall, and united Jews and Gentiles! He has done this by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations.  His very death on the cross fulfills and sets aside the law so that the provision of grace mentioned earlier has been fulfilled: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

It isn’t necessary here to explore the vital doctrine of justification by grace through faith.  Suffice it to say that this passage presupposes that the Ephesians are familiar with the notion that their salvation rests not on what they do but on what Christ has done for them.

Paul’s main concern in this passage is to tell his own people — the we he has been referring to , i.e., the Jewish Christians — and the Gentiles — the you he’s also been referring to, i.e., the Gentile Christian — that they are no longer two distinct races.  They are one because Christ has united them by reconciling all of them to God through his cross.  Both Jews and Gentiles have access to God through the same means — the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Paul’s understanding is uniquely Trinitarian: He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.  Access to the Father is through the Son by the One Spirit.  And those who were far away were the Gentiles; those who were near were the Jews.  And now they are both in the same place — in the presence of God!

One quick note — when Paul says Jesus preached peace, I wonder if he doesn’t have in mind that wonderful Hebrew concept of shalom, which implies more than just quiet and absence of conflict.  It implies fulfillment, abundance, prosperity, and reconciliation.

Then Paul returns in verses 19-22 to a wonderful image.  If Jesus has destroyed the dividing wall of separation in his own flesh, he is also the carpenter and builder who will build a whole new holy temple.

He begins this section by announcing that the Gentiles are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.   This is a new “nationality,” if you will; no longer Jew or Gentile, they are God’s people.

And they themselves are the building of God, the temple in which God dwells — Jesus himself is the cornerstone,  and the  foundation is the apostles and prophets .  And Jesus is building this new temple out of  these new believers!

The temple is not the building built by Solomon in the tenth century B.C., or the temple rebuilt by the returning exiles in the sixth century B.C., or the temple under renovation by Herod in Jesus’ time.  No, the true temple is the people of God, assembled and constructed by Jesus:   And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The temple is not a place;  it is the Presence of God!

APPLY:  

There are two very significant applications of this passage to us.

First, we are reminded that in modern America, as it has been said, “Eleven o’clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated time of the week.”  Christians of different races worship the same God, read from the same Bible, and yet worship in our separate church buildings.

The controversies about divisions between Jew and Gentile from the early church are just as relevant today as they were nearly two thousand years ago!  Jesus’ work of breaking down the dividing wall that separates believers and reconciling us with one another continues even today.

The second application of this passage is for us to be reminded that we are the temple of God.  Just as David discovered when he wanted to build a temple for God, we must also realize — we  don’t build the temple, Jesus does.

And as one of the modern affirmations declares, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is the one true Church, apostolic and universal.”  And this temple only rises when it is firmly established on Jesus as the cornerstone, with the teaching of the apostles and the prophets as the foundation.

RESPOND: 

We keep on building barriers and dividing walls that partition ourselves into denominations:  liberals or conservatives;  traditionalists or progressives.  I am guilty of this.

What if we step aside and let Jesus take a sledge hammer to the dividing wall, and we let him build us back up through his grace into the church that he wants us to be, a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit?

Our Lord, break down the walls that divide us, and unite us in Christ.  May we be a dwelling in which you live by your Spirit.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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Psalm Reading for July 19, 2015

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 89:20-37

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OBSERVE:

This Psalm is a perfect  companion-piece to 2 Samuel 7:1-14a.  The voice is first person, as the Lord affirms his choice of David as his anointed king.  He has been anointed with the sacred oil reserved for priests, prophets and kings.

The Lord promises victory over his enemies, and the extension of his kingdom:  I will set his hand over the sea, his right hand over the rivers.

Using an ancient symbol that connects Israel to its agricultural past, the Lord asserts that through my name his horn will be exalted. The horn in Biblical lore is a symbol of strength —  but the true strength comes from the identity of the Lord, as revealed in his name.

The relationship that the Lord establishes with David is unique and intimate:

He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.’ And I will appoint him to be my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth.

David is “adopted” as the firstborn of God, with all of the benefits of power and royalty that involves; but more importantly he will be able to call out to God in God’s name.

Then the Lord reiterates the same pledge he has made in 2 Samuel 7:11-14:

I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail.
I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure.

However, there is also the threat of consequences if David’s descendents forsake God’s law or fail to keep the commandments — they will be scourged! However, God has made an inviolable promise to David, to love him and his house forever, and to keep his side of the covenant. Punishment is not correlated with utter abandonment: his line will continue forever
and his throne endure before me like the sun;
 it will be established forever like the moon,
the faithful witness in the sky.”

APPLY:  

David obviously has a unique place in God’s heart, and in the hearts of the Israelites as the model, ideal king.  But what has that to do with us nearly 3,000 years later?

Quite a lot, actually!  We know from the history of the monarchy in Israel and Judah that the united kingdoms consolidated by David didn’t last but one generation after his reign.  And we know that some of his successors who ruled Judah in Jerusalem were really good, and some were really bad.  And we know that the threat included in verses 31-32 did come to pass:

“If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands,  I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging.

Eventually, the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C., and the Southern Kingdom of Judah fell to the Babylonians in 587 B.C.  It would almost seem that the promise made to David  by God for an unfailing covenant, an unending dynasty, and an eternal throne was broken.

Almost —  but not from a New Testament perspective.  Jesus, as the descendant of David, fulfils the Messianic destiny of the Son of David and rules also as the Son of God, as Lord of lords and King of kings (Revelation 17:14).

We also hear something that might be a comfort to us: that though we break God’s commandments and laws, and receive the due punishment for our sins, God doesn’t stop loving us.  In fact, it is through the life, death and resurrection of King Jesus that all of God’s promises are fulfilled. And all who turn to the Son of David in repentance and faith may become his subjects.

As Jesus says in the Epilogue of Revelation: “ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End… I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star”(Revelation 22:13,16).

RESPOND: 

I have learned to be cautious about idealizing princes, politicians, celebrities, athletes and actors.  They have a tendency to disappoint, sometimes devastatingly. But the promises made about the One descendant of David that I really care about have been, are being, and will be fulfilled.

Though times of austerity and even scourging may come, God will not forget his love for us for the sake of his Son.  Promises may seem deferred  in my short-term field of vision; but in God’s long-range vision, his promises are always fulfilled.

Our Lord, your promises sometimes seem to be delayed, and even broken, in my limited scope of vision.  But as it has been said in different ways, your promises may come slowly but they bend toward eternal fulfillment.  Amen.   

PHOTOS:
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Old Testament for July 19, 2015

Start with Scripture:

2 Samuel 7:1-14a

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OBSERVE:

David’s first impulse after consolidating his reign over the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah in Jerusalem, and bringing the ark of the Covenant into his capital, is to build a suitable shrine for the ark.  His motivation is good: he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” Nathan obviously agrees with David and confirms his decision.

But David’s plans are not to be.  Not yet.  Nathan’s dream that very night is a powerful deterrent from the erection of a temple to the Lord.

The reasons given are three-fold:

• The Lord makes clear that this idea has not originated with him. He has never asked David to build him a permanent shrine.  Rather, he reiterates his own “itinerant” nature: I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling.  Like the Israelites themselves, the Lord has been a pilgrim with them.
• The Lord also makes clear through Nathan to David that it is his own divine purpose to provide for David and his people, not for David to provide anything for him! The Lord has exalted David from his humble job as a shepherd and made him the great king over God’s own people.  Moreover, God has provided a place of safety for the people of Israel.  God is to be their refuge in the land.
• And, in an ironic twist, the Lord declares that David won’t make him a house; rather, the Lord will make a house for David. This play on words implies that the Davidic dynasty that will arise from David will reign in Jerusalem for centuries to come.  And it is David’s offspring who will build a temple in Jerusalem — whom of course we know to be Solomon, who is yet unborn.  God promises to guide this heir of David as would a  father — but also to discipline him the way a father disciplines a son when he strays.

But there is another, more serious explanation for the Lord’s refusal to allow David to build the temple: King David rose to his feet and said: “Listen to me, my fellow Israelites, my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it.  But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood'” (1 Chronicles 28:2-3).   

This suggests that the Lord will not allow his holy place to be tainted in any way.

APPLY:  

There is a big picture application here, as well as a smaller picture.

The big picture is what these promises mean to David and the Davidic dynasty.  David, who has been exalted by God to greatness, is assured that his legacy will also be great.  He doesn’t build God a house; God will make David a great house!

Of course, we know the rest of the story.  When David receives the promise on behalf of his heir — I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever —  we know what will happen.  Solomon will be great, the wisest man in the world; and yet he will stray to false gods through the temptation and appeasement of his many wives.  The kingdom of Israel will secede from Judah when  David’s grandson Rehoboam reigns because of Rehoboam’s tyrannical attitude toward Israel.  And after a succession of good and bad kings in Jerusalem, the reign of David’s descendents in the holy city of Jerusalem will end in disaster with the reign of Zedekiah in 587 B.C.  This will come nearly 400 years after the glorious reign of David, when the Babylonians conquer Judah and Jerusalem.

So, Nathan’s prophecy was wrong, right?  No.  Because the eternal reign of the house of Judah is fulfilled in the greatest Son of David of them all: Jesus of Nazareth.  This is the fulfilled promise revealed by the Angel Gabriel to Mary: “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:31-33). 

This reign will indeed be an eternal reign.

On a smaller scale, we also learn something about our  own dependence on God.  In our religious zeal we want to do something great for God.  But the fact is God is the one who does something great for us!

Grace is God’s loving initiative on our behalf.  All we do is respond to what he has done, is doing, and will do in our lives.  We don’t need to offer to God what he has not asked for.  What we must do is obey that which he commands us to do.

RESPOND: 

Henry Blackaby has said something like this: real spiritual leadership is finding out what God is up to and where he is going, and following him.  I couldn’t agree more.

Usually when I’ve attempted to take initiative with good intentions, and “help God out” by my own efforts, it has been less than blessed!  Oh, God has intervened in such circumstances to bring good out of my tattered purposes, but that’s his gracious nature at work.

But when I’ve sought his will through prayer and fasting, and confirmed it with Godly counsel, I’ve found myself to be at peace no matter what happens.  Then I know that God is in it, and not my own will.

Lord, we want to do something great for you. But we must begin with the simple realization that you’ve already done something great for us through the saving death and resurrection of your Son, and through the power of your Holy Spirit.  Empower us to do your will instead of seeking your approval for what is clearly only our will.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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