Gospel for October 1, 2023

“Les pharisiens questionnent Jésus” (The Pharisees Question Jesus) by James Tissot is part of the Brooklyn Museum’s Euopean Art Collection.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 21:23-32
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This week’s lectionary Gospel passage seems to begin in the middle of things.  Jesus has come to Jerusalem in order to fulfill his ministry.  While he is teaching in the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people approach him. It is clear that they have an agenda.  They ask a direct and pointed question:

By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?

On the one hand, what is unsaid is this — they are implying that they are the authority in the temple.  What business does Jesus have teaching there?  He is no priest, nor a proper rabbi.  He is a carpenter preacher from the sticks in Galilee.

But what are these things which they reference?  Surely it is not merely the teaching that Jesus is doing in the temple.  In the first sixteen verses of chapter 21, Jesus has ridden into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, very consciously fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 concerning the coming of their king.  He has been greeted with a near-riot — the people cut branches from the trees and waved them as though greeting a conqueror, and shouted:

Hosanna  to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! (Matthew 21:9).

This is clearly a Messianic slogan.  Hosanna means Save Us, and as a descendent of David, the crowds expected him to assume the Davidic throne and restore the kingdom to Israel — after expelling the Roman legions, of course!

So when the priests and elders ask their question, they are clearly aware of the political dangers posed to an occupied city and nation.  They have no doubt heard of the healings, miracles, and feeding of the multitude in the wilderness.  Whether they believed any of it or not was irrelevant.  This so-called son of David was now within the gates, and they must exert their own authority over him!

But they do so in a roundabout way — by asking the question.  This introduces a dialogue between Jesus and these leaders. Here we see the brilliant dialectical technique of Jesus, shared by so many brilliant philosophers like Socrates (dialectic is a method of debate that seeks through dialogue to arrive at truth).  Asked a question, Jesus answers with a more incisive question.  This is the method of great teachers.  And Jesus is the greatest.

Brilliantly, Jesus answers a question with a question — much the way some of the great philosophers have done.  Instead of stating the source of his authority as a maxim, Jesus gives them the opportunity to work through their own thoughts:

Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?”

We have seen Jesus use questions in the past to bring out the truth, as when he asks the disciples “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?”  (Matthew 16:12-16).  In this instance, he uses a question to confound the leaders.  He knows exactly how compromised they will be in trying to determine the authority of his cousin John, who preached fearlessly, baptized multitudes as a sign of repentance, and was martyred by King Herod.

The leaders are in a quandary.  They know the crowds are listening, and may turn on them if they answer in an unpopular manner:

They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’  But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.”

Their dilemma is exquisite.  Jesus has painted them into a corner.  These “authorities” had rejected the apocalyptic vision of John when he promised the advent of the Kingdom of God, and had refused to submit to his baptism (actually, there were Pharisees and Sadducees that came to John seeking baptism, but he had greeted them harshly and criticized their pretext for superiority based on their heritage.  He insisted that they too needed to show their repentance by their actions.  See Matthew 3:7-9).

When these chief priests and leaders wrangle with one another about how they should answer Jesus’ question, these “wise” men can’t resolve it.  Their answer is almost comical:

 They answered Jesus, and said, “We don’t know.”

In rhetorical terms, Jesus had trapped them.  Since they can’t even decide whether John was from God or merely a self-anointed prophet, Jesus tells them he is under no obligation to prove himself to them:

He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The authority of Jesus is self-explanatory, based on his fruits — ironically,  John had demanded of the Pharisees and the Sadducees that they produce fruits to prove their repentance!  When John the Baptist, imprisoned by Herod, had sent messengers to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah, Jesus had answered this way:

Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:  the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear,  the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.  Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me (Matthew 11:4-6).

Jesus then turns to one of his favorite teaching methods — the story, or parable.  The parable allows him to engage the imagination of his audience, and forces them to figure out the answer:

 But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’  He answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind, and went. He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he didn’t go.  Which of the two did the will of his father?”

When Jesus asks this question, the leaders feel compelled to answer.  This seems like an easy question:

They said to him, “The first.”

Then Jesus springs his verbal trap.  They are the second son, who pretends to be obedient, making promises and then not keeping them.  Instead, Jesus points out that those whom the ‘religious’ people deem to be unacceptable are truly the first son:

Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into God’s Kingdom before you.”

To be clear, Jesus is not excusing the covetous extortion of most of the tax collectors of that day, nor is he endorsing the sex trade.  Instead, he is pointing out that these people recognized their own sin and need for repentance when John came, and they were the ones who came for baptism:

For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t even repent afterward, that you might believe him.

The contrast between sinners who know they need to repent and the self-righteous who delude themselves and fail to repent is clear.  The former enter the Kingdom of God because they depend on God’s mercy, not their own righteousness.

Incidentally, Jesus himself now answers the question that he asked at the beginning of this passage about John’s authority:

John came to you in the way of righteousness.

John’s authority came from a righteous God.

APPLY:  

Where does authority come from?  Ultimately — in the Kingdom of God — it doesn’t come from titles, or pedigrees, or education, or even political and military might.  Authority comes from righteousness.  Specifically, the righteousness of the Kingdom of God.

By this definition Herod had a title, but John had authority.  The chief priests and the leaders of the people had titles, but Jesus had authority.  True, the naked, raw, violent titles of Herod and the others gave them power over the very lives of John and Jesus — at least temporarily.

But when Pilate asserts in John’s Gospel that he has power over the life and death of Jesus, Jesus refutes him:

You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above (John 19:11).

And the power of God would be vindicated by the resurrection of Jesus.

We are not to be too impressed by the powers and principalities of this world.  Their authority is derivative, and it is temporary.

We are also to remember that none of us is without sin — whether we are the ones society considers to be outcasts (tax collectors and prostitutes) or those whom society honors (clergy and leaders).  All those who truly repent and seek God’s mercy shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

RESPOND: 

My wife is a musician, with a degree in music education.  She has shared with me about a concept called discovery-learning.  This is a method that relies on a student being exposed to concepts and educational objectives, and then processing and interacting with these concepts and objectives and figuring it out for themselves.  This is in contrast to the lecture or the rote-learning method of education.

I’m struck by the fact that Jesus uses such discovery-learning techniques, together with a dialectical method (dialectical means to engage in logical dialogue) quite often in his teaching.  True, he also preaches messages in longer sections, such as the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 to 7).  But he tends to invite people to discover for themselves who he is or what he’s talking about.

We have cited several examples of this kind of technique in the Bible study:

• He asks John the Baptist’s messengers to go back to John and tell him that they’ve seen Jesus heal, cast out demons, and teach the poor, and to draw his own conclusions.
• He asks the disciples, Who do men say that the Son of Man is?
• And he poses a difficult, loaded question about the authority of John, and also an easy question about which son was obedient to his father, and thus makes the chief priests and leaders figure it out on their own.

Together with his plentiful parables, we get the sense that Jesus really is a Master Teacher.  When people engage in discovery learning, they own what they learn.  It isn’t something that some ‘authority’ has dispensed.  They know it from their own experience.

In this case, the chief priests and leaders come face to face with a figure of formidable authority — and find themselves cast in the role of the son who pretends to obey his father, but actually does not.

When confronted with their own shortcomings, they can either repent and follow Jesus — or they can reject him and begin the process that will lead to his cross.  We know which they will choose.  But no one else is responsible except themselves for their choice.

Lord, I pray that I won’t be so impressed by human authority, power and glitziness that I miss the source of real authority.  You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  I seek to listen to you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Les pharisiens questionnent Jésus" by James Tissot is in the Public Domain.

Epistle for October 1, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Philippians 2:1-13
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul writes to a church he knows very well when writing this letter to the Christians at Philippi. This city was a Roman colony in Macedonia on the Via Egnatia, a key Roman road that linked Asia with Europe.  Philippi was the first European city in which Paul established a church, after crossing over the Hellespont from Asia.

So when Paul exhorts the Philippians, he can see them in his mind’s eye.  He is encouraging them to unity and mutual concern for one another:

If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;  doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;  each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

Unlike his epistle to the church at Corinth (a church Paul also knows well), the Philippians don’t seem to be experiencing the deep struggles with the Christian lifestyle.  Nor are the Philippians like the Galatians, who were at risk for capitulating to the Judaizers who wanted them to return to the yoke of the Mosaic law.  Some of those concerns are here, but Paul’s tone in his letter to the Philippians is far more positive and encouraging.

In fact, he gives them an example of how they are to live like Christ himself!  He says to them:

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus…

This translation is a little ambiguous.  What he seems to be saying is “think like Jesus.”  This notion of the Imitatio Christi, the Imitation of Christ, is found elsewhere in his letters.  In Galatians 2:20 he says that he has given himself over to Christ in order that Christ may live through him:

 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.

In 1 Corinthians 11:1, he mentions a concept that will reappear several times in his letters:

Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

But what exactly is the example that Jesus is setting for these Christians?  It is the example of humility, self-emptying, and service.  Paul speaks of Christ Jesus who:

existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

There is keen paradox, as well as profound Christian doctrine here. Many scholars believe that this statement about Christ is a liturgical hymn, in which the church set forth its first credal statements for the community of faith.

First, Paul is explicitly declaring that Christ is equal with God the Father — existing in the form of God.  The word form is the Greek morphe.  This word suggests that Jesus was the perfect image of God in his manifestation on earth.  Paul makes a very similar point in Colossians (which closely parallels Philippians in some aspects), when he more carefully defines the divine nature of Jesus, who is:

the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15).

In Colossians, Paul goes on to declare that Christ created all things (like John’s Gospel in John 1:1-4), Christ precedes all things, is the head of the church, is the firstborn from the dead, and in him all the fullness of God dwells (Colossians 1:16-20).

Although Paul doesn’t explore this exalted view of Christology here in Philippians, we may surmise that he had affirmed Christ’s Godhead when he preached in the Philippian church.

And this is the paradox — that though Paul stresses Christ’s right to Godhead, Christ doesn’t grasp it. Another translation of grasp might be exploit or steal.  In a very interesting twist, Paul seems to suggest that Christ chooses not to steal his glory, but to earn it! This seems a twist because sinners cannot earn anything from God — salvation itself is a gift.  But Christ, it seems, earns salvation on our behalf!

And how does he earn it?  He empties himself and takes on another form (morphe) in complete contrast to the form that already existed as God — he takes on the form of a servant! He is the image of God, and he also is the very image and reality of servanthood!

We can make much of his self-emptying also — this word is from the Greek kenosis.   We know from Paul’s letter to the Colossians that Jesus is the fullness of God:

For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9).

But the humility of Jesus was so complete that he empties himself by becoming a human being, and putting aside all honor and glory and power.  Upon passages like these rest the church’s classic faith that Jesus is both fully God and fully human.

And in his servanthood, Jesus demonstrates his self-denial and self-emptying humility by his obedient death on the cross.  His willingness to die is a perfect illustration of his self-emptying.

Second, we see the sublime paradox as Paul continues with his credal hymn:

Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

As low as Jesus has descended — taking on humanity, taking the form of a servant, even dying on a humiliating and abasing cross — God has answered this descent by highly exalting Jesus.  His name becomes sacred, before which all will bow.  From Exodus 3, we know of the holiness and power of the name of Yahweh.  Now the name of Jesus has that same holiness and power.

We might surmise that when Paul says heaven and earth will kneel, he is likely declaring that supernatural beings such as angels, and mortals on earth will worship Jesus.  And Paul even suggests that those under the earth will bow the knee.  Does he mean the dead who are in Hades?  Does he mean to include also the demons?

Unfortunately, Paul offers no details to these tantalizing possibilities.  What is clear is that Jesus is to be confessed as Lord.  Lord throughout the Scriptures is used as the title for God himself.  Clearly, we have the beginnings of an understanding of the Triune nature of God, as One God in Three Persons.

And we are reminded that the prerequisite of salvation in Paul’s theology is a confession that Jesus is Lord: 

if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).

Following this glorious doxological credal statement, Paul continues to exhort the Philippians.  His interlude describing the dual nature of Christ as in the form of God yet also in the form of a servant is meant to be a prelude to their own lifestyle of servanthood and humility.  And he encourages them:

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

Again, we find a paradox.  He tells the Philippians to work out their salvation.

This seems a contradiction to all that we know of Pauline theology, in which he derides “works righteousness”:

We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law (Romans 3:28).

Yet here, Paul seems to call for working with fear and trembling as though we are so terrified of God’s judgment that we work ourselves to the bone!  How can we resolve this dilemma?

Actually, Paul resolves it himself.  Paul says:

it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

In fact, we might say that God is always the initiator of salvation, and we are the responder.  We are to respond with faith and obedience, but we are able to do so because God empowers us to respond.  Jesus says something that may perhaps provide illumination:

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day (John 6:44).

Paul is reminding the Philippians to live out their faith as he said in his introduction to this passage:

by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

They are able to live out these qualities because God is at work in them:

both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

APPLY:  

This lectionary passage from Philippians tells us two key things —

• First, about the unique and paradoxical nature of Jesus Christ.
• Second, what it means for us to attempt the impossible — to imitate Christ.

We are encouraged to look at Jesus as an example of humility and servanthood.  Jesus empties himself to such an extent that he dies for us!  And yet, this servant is exalted once again to his rightful place, and his name is to evoke our reverence and awe!

Obviously, we see the paradox and the impossibility implied here.  How can we imitate the Second Person of the Trinity, who succumbs to death on the cross for all humanity?  And then is once again exalted, following his self-emptying, to the right hand of God where he is worshipped as Lord and God!  How can we emulate that?

The answer is given by his paradoxical follow-up:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

Following Christ’s example of extreme humility and servanthood sets the bar so high for us that we are justifiably filled with fear and trembling.  But we can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that it is God who is at work in us, enabling us to fulfill his will for us.

God’s grace makes possible what God demands.  Otherwise it is impossible for us.

As St. Augustine says:

O Lord, command what you will and give what you command.

RESPOND: 

There is a line that I love in one of the great hymns of Charles Wesley.  The hymn, And Can It Be, describes the mysterious grace of Christ that makes our salvation possible.  In one verse, Wesley describes the downward movement of Christ from heaven to earth in terms that remind me of Philippians 2:5-11:

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

I love that line — he emptied Himself of all but love.  This suggests that Jesus gave up all of his glory, honor, and power, all motivated by his love for us.

But there’s another thing that really strikes me about the lectionary epistle for this week.  That paradox of our work and God’s work.  There seems a kind of synergism implied here:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

It isn’t so unlike what Paul says a little later in Philippians when he describes his own salvation and life as a disciple.  He makes it clear that his own works and accomplishments in following the law prior to meeting Christ were as worthless as garbage to him.  However, now that he has been found by Christ, he gives his very best effort in following Christ:

 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

Note the vivid image — he knows that he has been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.  That is a great description of grace.  He knows this is not something he has done for himself.  However, he doesn’t presume upon this, or give in to spiritual sloth — having been taken hold of by Christ, he presses on like a runner in a race to take hold of the prize that has been given him.

As one old preacher once said to me — trust as if it’s all up to God; work as if it’s all up to you.

Lord, the example that you set in your self-emptying love is daunting.  You have descended to the lowest depths of death that you might raise me up with you in your resurrection.  And in your humble servanthood I see what you mean for me to be — a servant like you.  Help me to live out my faith in fear and trembling, yet with the assurance that you are at work in me, both to work and will your good pleasure. Amen.

 PHOTOS:
"Imitation of Christ - who to trust in" by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for October 1, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm extols the importance of passing on the sacred stories and the commandments from one generation to the next.

The Psalmist declares that he will bring out into the open the great truths that have been hidden in the past.  This is the process of tradition — he has heard these things from his ancestors, and now relates them to the next generation. This process anticipates nurturing not only the children of this generation, but children yet unborn in this faith:

We will not hide them from their children,
telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh,
his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done.

There is a central goal in this process — to form the faith of each successive generation.  The goal of relating the history of God’s people is to create a faithful relationship with God, remember the great stories of the work of God, and keep God’s commands.

In this week’s excerpt from Psalm 78, the focus on God’s salvation history has a common theme — water.

First, there is the amazing account of God’s parting of the Red Sea:

He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers,
in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
He split the sea, and caused them to pass through.
He made the waters stand as a heap.
In the daytime he also led them with a cloud,
and all night with a light of fire.

Second, the Psalmist references the story of Moses striking the rock at Massah and Meribah (this is the Old Testament lectionary selection for this week from Exodus 17:1-7):

 He split rocks in the wilderness,
and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
 He brought streams also out of the rock,
and caused waters to run down like rivers.

Note that in the Psalm, there is no reference to Moses as God’s agent in striking the rock.  God split the rocks and caused streams to flow for the thirsty people.  God deserves all the credit as the primary cause, even if he works through secondary causes like Moses.

APPLY:  

Martin Luther is supposed to have said that “the church is always just one generation away from extinction.”  I take that to mean that the church must continue the important task of transmitting the faith from one generation to the next.

As others have said, no one is born a Christian.  The faith must be formed in each of us by discipleship.

This is the responsibility of pastors, Sunday School teachers, youth directors, to be sure. Of course, parents are also charged with this awesome duty.  But in my church, every church member also takes a vow when a child is baptized to “proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ… (that these children) may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life.”

Passing on the faith is an act of the entire Christian community.

And in this Psalm, we see that the faith that we pass on includes a trusting relationship with God, knowing God’s mighty deeds and praising him, and living the moral life that is shaped by God’s commands.

RESPOND: 

I am responsible for passing on the faith into which I have been baptized as effectively as I possibly can, not only to my own biological family but in my family of faith — the church.  Therefore I must nurture my own relationship with God; study his Word that I might remember his mighty deeds and praise him for his works; and allow his commands to shape my moral life.  As I do this, I may both show and tell others what my own life of faith is like.

Our Lord, you have revealed yourself to us in such a personal way — not only through your mighty acts as recorded in Scripture, but also through the still, quiet voice of your Spirit.  Draw me closer to you so that I may draw others closer to you as well.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

"Sermon Sketchnote on Psalms 78:1-8" by Wesley Fryer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for October 1, 2023

“Moses Striking the Rock” by Giovacchino Assereto

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Exodus 17:1-7
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Our first reaction upon reading our Old Testament lectionary passage for this week might well be “Oh, no! Not again!”  We have already encountered the murmuring, contentious Israelites, complaining about the lack of water (Exodus 15:23-26), or the lack of meat they were used to in Egypt (Exodus 16:2-3).

And have they already forgotten the water Moses sweetened for them at Marah, and the manna and quail God has provided?  Israel has followed Moses deeper into the wilderness, and find themselves again in a desert area with no oasis and no water — in Rephidim.

And once again, the people pick a fight with Moses, asking for water.  But Moses reframes it — they aren’t quarrelling with him, but with God:

Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?

When the people accuse Moses of bringing them out of Egypt in order to kill all of them, Moses takes his concerns to Yahweh.  He asks plaintively:

 What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.

Yahweh instructs Moses to use this as a teachable moment.  He is to take all the elders with him to a rock on Mount Horeb, and bring with him the same rod used to strike the Nile.  Only this time, the rod will bring forth fresh water instead of blood, life instead of death.  God says:

Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.

But Moses hasn’t forgotten the bitter quarrels with Israel.  And so he gives this place two names to remind them of their quarrelsome nature, and how they have tested God by their doubts:

 He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because the children of Israel quarreled, and because they tested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us, or not?”

Massah means testing, and Meribah means quarreling. These places will be both a reminder — and a reproach to them.

APPLY:  

The journeys of the Israelites recorded in Exodus are a reminder to us of God’s patience with our quarrelsome, doubting nature.  Time and time again, God has provided guidance, gotten his people out of tough situations, and time and time again we grumble and doubt.

We are to remember God’s provision — sometimes by naming our failures for what they are, and confessing them.  But these faults and failures needn’t continue to haunt us.

By grace, that rock of quarreling and testing can be transformed.  Paul reflects on the Exodus experience of Israel in 1 Corinthians:

Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).

However, Paul also has the same warning for the church that Moses had for Israel:

Let us not test Christ, as some of them tested, and perished by the serpents. Don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.  Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.  Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall (1 Corinthians 10:9-12).

RESPOND: 

There are a great many curious names in my state — Bucksnort, Oil Trough, Cotton Plant, Evening Shade.  And I think of names in other parts of the country that suggest a time of peril and risk.  Last Chance, Colorado.  Tombstone, Arizona.

Places become significant to us because of what happens there, and sometimes what doesn’t happen.  Perhaps we are wise to name places, in our own minds at least, according to their impact on our lives, even when that impact may be negative.  Testing (Massah) and Quarreling (Meribah) may be places that remind us not to go there anymore!

Lord, please forgive me for testing you and quarreling with you.  I pray that I may name those times and places where I have resisted you, and resolve not to return to those attitudes any longer. Amen.

PHOTOS:

“Moses Striking the Rock” by Giovacchino Assereto is in the public domain.

Gospel for October 1, 2017

“Les pharisiens questionnent Jésus” (The Pharisees Question Jesus) by James Tissot is part of the Brooklyn Museum’s Euopean Art Collection.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Matthew 21:23-32

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The lectionary Gospel passage seems to begin in the middle of things.  Jesus has come to Jerusalem in order to fulfill his ministry.  While he is teaching in the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people approach him. It is clear that they have an agenda.  They ask a direct and pointed question:

By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?

On the one hand, what is unsaid is this — they are implying that they are the authority in the temple.  What business does Jesus have teaching there?  He is no priest, nor a proper rabbi.  He is a carpenter preacher from the sticks in Galilee.

But what are these things which they reference?  Surely it is not merely the teaching that Jesus is doing in the temple.  In the first sixteen verses of chapter 21, Jesus has ridden into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, very consciously fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 concerning the coming of their king.  He has been greeted with a near-riot — the people cut branches from the trees and waved them as though greeting a conqueror, and shouted:

Hosanna  to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! (Matthew 21:9).

This is clearly a Messianic slogan.  Hosanna means Save Us, and as a descendent of David, the crowds expected him to assume the Davidic throne and restore the kingdom to Israel — after expelling the Roman legions, of course!

So when the priests and elders ask their question, they are clearly aware of the political dangers posed to an occupied city and nation.  They have no doubt heard of the healings, miracles, and feeding of the multitude in the wilderness.  Whether they believed any of it or not was irrelevant.  This so-called son of David was now within the gates, and they must exert their own authority over him!

But they do so in a roundabout way — by asking the question.  This introduces a dialogue between Jesus and these leaders. Here we see the brilliant dialectical technique of Jesus, shared by so many brilliant philosophers like Socrates (dialectic is a method of debate that seeks through dialogue to arrive at truth).  Asked a question, Jesus answers with a more incisive question.  This is the method of great teachers.  And Jesus is the greatest.

Brilliantly, Jesus answers a question with a question — much the way some of the great philosophers have done.  Instead of stating the source of his authority as a maxim, Jesus gives them the opportunity to work through their own thoughts:

Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?”

We have seen Jesus use questions in the past to bring out the truth, as when he asks the disciples “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?”  (Matthew 16:12-16).  In this instance, he uses a question to confound the leaders.  He knows exactly how compromised they will be in trying to determine the authority of his cousin John, who preached fearlessly, baptized multitudes as a sign of repentance, and was martyred by King Herod.

The leaders are in a quandary.  They know the crowds are listening, and may turn on them if they answer in an unpopular manner:

They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’  But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.”

Their dilemma is exquisite.  Jesus has painted them into a corner.  These “authorities” had rejected the apocalyptic vision of John when he promised the advent of the Kingdom of God, and had refused to submit to his baptism (actually, there were Pharisees and Sadducees that came to John seeking baptism, but he had greeted them harshly and criticized their pretext for superiority based on their heritage.  He insisted that they too needed to show their repentance by their actions.  See Matthew 3:7-9).

When these chief priests and leaders wrangle with one another about how they should answer Jesus’ question, these “wise” men can’t resolve it.  Their answer is almost comical:

 They answered Jesus, and said, “We don’t know.”

In rhetorical terms, Jesus had trapped them.  Since they can’t even decide whether John was from God or merely a self-anointed prophet, Jesus tells them he is under no obligation to prove himself to them:

He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The authority of Jesus is self-explanatory, based on his fruits — ironically,  John had demanded of the Pharisees and the Sadducees that they produce fruits to prove their repentance!  When John the Baptist, imprisoned by Herod, had sent messengers to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah, Jesus had answered this way:

Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:  the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear,  the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.  Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me (Matthew 11:4-6).

Jesus then turns to one of his favorite teaching methods — the story, or parable.  The parable allows him to engage the imagination of his audience, and forces them to figure out the answer:

 But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’  He answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind, and went. He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he didn’t go.  Which of the two did the will of his father?”

When Jesus asks this question, the leaders feel compelled to answer.  This seems like an easy question:

They said to him, “The first.”

Then Jesus springs his verbal trap.  They are the second son, who pretends to be obedient, making promises and then not keeping them.  Instead, Jesus points out that those whom the ‘religious’ people deem to be unacceptable are truly the first son:

Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into God’s Kingdom before you.”

To be clear, Jesus is not excusing the covetous extortion of most of the tax collectors of that day, nor is he endorsing the sex trade.  Instead, he is pointing out that these people recognized their own sin and need for repentance when John came, and they were the ones who came for baptism:

For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t even repent afterward, that you might believe him.

The contrast between sinners who know they need to repent and the self-righteous who delude themselves and fail to repent is clear.  The former enter the Kingdom of God because they depend on God’s mercy, not their own righteousness.

Incidentally, Jesus himself now answers the question that he asked at the beginning of this passage about John’s authority:

John came to you in the way of righteousness.

John’s authority came from a righteous God.

APPLY:  

Where does authority come from?  Ultimately — in the Kingdom of God — it doesn’t come from titles, or pedigrees, or education, or even political and military might.  Authority comes from righteousness.  Specifically, the righteousness of the Kingdom of God.

By this definition Herod had a title, but John had authority.  The chief priests and the leaders of the people had titles, but Jesus had authority.  True, the naked, raw, violent titles of Herod and the others gave them power over the very lives of John and Jesus — at least temporarily.

But when Pilate asserts in John’s Gospel that he has power over the life and death of Jesus, Jesus refutes him:

You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above (John 19:11).

And the power of God would be vindicated by the resurrection of Jesus.

We are not to be too impressed by the powers and principalities of this world.  Their authority is derivative, and it is temporary.

We are also to remember that none of us is without sin — whether we are the ones society considers to be outcasts (tax collectors and prostitutes) or those whom society honors (clergy and leaders).  All those who truly repent and seek God’s mercy shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

RESPOND: 

My wife is a musician, with a degree in music education.  She has shared with me about a concept called discovery-learning.  This is a method that relies on a student being exposed to concepts and educational objectives, and then processing and interacting with these concepts and objectives and figuring it out for themselves.  This is in contrast to the lecture or the rote-learning method of education.

I’m struck by the fact that Jesus uses such discovery-learning techniques, together with a dialectal method (dialectical means to engage in logical dialogue) quite often in his teaching.  True, he also preaches messages in longer sections, such as the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 to 7).  But he tends to invite people to discover for themselves who he is or what he’s talking about.

We have cited several examples of this kind of technique in the Bible study:

• He asks John the Baptist’s messengers to go back to John and tell him that they’ve seen Jesus heal, cast out demons, and teach the poor, and to draw his own conclusions.
• He asks the disciples, Who do men say that the Son of Man is?
• And he poses a difficult, loaded question about the authority of John, and also an easy question about which son was obedient to his father, and thus makes the chief priests and leaders figure it out on their own.

Together with his plentiful parables, we get the sense that Jesus really is a Master Teacher.  When people engage in discovery learning, they own what they learn.  It isn’t something that some ‘authority’ has dispensed.  They know it from their own experience.

In this case, the chief priests and leaders come face to face with a figure of formidable authority — and find themselves cast in the role of the son who pretends to obey his father, but actually does not.

When confronted with their own shortcomings, they can either repent and follow Jesus — or they can reject him and begin the process that will lead to his cross.  We know which they will choose.  But no one else is responsible except themselves for their choice.

Lord, I pray that I won’t be so impressed by human authority, power and glitziness that I miss the source of real authority.  You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  I seek to listen to you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Les pharisiens questionnent Jésus" by James Tissot is in the Public Domain.

Epistle for October 1, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Philippians 2:1-13

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OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul writes to a church he knows very well when writing this letter to the Christians at Philippi. This city was a Roman colony in Macedonia on the Via Egnatia, a key Roman road that linked Asia with Europe.  Philippi was the first European city in which Paul established a church, after crossing over the Hellespont from Asia.

So when Paul exhorts the Philippians, he can see them in his mind’s eye.  He is encouraging them to unity and mutual concern for one another:

If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;  doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;  each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

Unlike his epistle to the church at Corinth (a church Paul also knows well), the Philippians don’t seem to be experiencing the deep struggles with the Christian lifestyle.  Nor are the Philippians like the Galatians, who were at risk for capitulating to the Judaizers who wanted them to return to the yoke of the Mosaic law.  Some of those concerns are here, but Paul’s tone in his letter to the Philippians is far more positive and encouraging.

In fact, he gives them an example of how they are to live like Christ himself!  He says to them:

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus…

This translation is a little ambiguous.  What he seems to be saying is “think like Jesus.”  This notion of the Imitatio Christi,  the Imitation of Christ, is found elsewhere in his letters.  In Galatians 2:20 he says that he has given himself over to Christ in order that Christ may live through him:

 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.

In 1 Corinthians 11:1, he mentions a concept that will reappear several times in his letters:

Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

But what exactly is the example that Jesus is setting for these Christians?  It is the example of humility, self-emptying, and service.  Paul speaks of Christ Jesus who:

existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

There is keen paradox, as well as profound Christian doctrine here. Many scholars believe that this statement about Christ is a liturgical hymn, in which the church set forth its first credal statements for the community of faith.

First, Paul is explicitly declaring that Christ is equal with God the Father — existing in the form of God.  The word form is the Greek morphe.  This word suggests that Jesus was the perfect image of God in his manifestation on earth.  Paul makes a very similar point in Colossians (which closely parallels Philippians in some aspects), when he more carefully defines the divine nature of Jesus, who is:

the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15).

In Colossians, Paul goes on to declare that Christ created all things (like John’s Gospel in John 1:1-4),  Christ precedes all things, is the head of the church, is the firstborn from the dead, and in him all the fullness of God dwells (Colossians 1:16-20).

Although Paul doesn’t explore this exalted view of Christology here in Philippians, we may surmise that he had affirmed Christ’s Godhead when he preached in the Philippian church.

And this is the paradox — that though Paul stresses Christ’s right to Godhead, Christ doesn’t grasp it. Another translation of grasp  might be exploit or steal.  In a very interesting twist, Paul seems to suggest that Christ chooses not to steal his glory, but to earn it! This seems a twist because sinners cannot earn anything from God — salvation itself is a gift.  But Christ, it seems, earns salvation on our behalf!

And how does he earn it?  He empties himself and takes on another form (morphe) in complete contrast to the form that already existed as God — he takes on the form of a servant! He is the image of God, and he also is the very image and reality of servanthood!

We can make much of his self-emptying also — this word is from the Greek kenosis.   We know from Paul’s letter to the Colossians that Jesus is the fullness of God:

For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9).

But the humility of Jesus was so complete that he empties himself by becoming a human being, and putting aside all honor and glory and power.  Upon passages like these rest the church’s classic faith that Jesus is both fully God and fully human.

And in his servanthood, Jesus demonstrates his self-denial and self-emptying humility by his obedient death on the cross.  His willingness to die is a perfect illustration of his self-emptying.

Second, we see the sublime paradox as Paul continues with his credal hymn:

Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

As low as Jesus has descended — taking on humanity, taking the form of a servant, even dying on a humiliating and abasing cross — God has answered this descent by highly exalting Jesus.  His name becomes sacred, before which all will bow.  From Exodus 3, we know of the holiness and power of the name of Yahweh.  Now the name of Jesus has that same holiness and power.

We might surmise that when Paul says heaven  and earth will kneel, he is likely  declaring that supernatural beings such as angels, and mortals on earth will worship Jesus.  And Paul even suggests that those under the earth will bow the knee.  Does he mean the dead who are in Hades? Does he mean to include also the demons?

Unfortunately, Paul offers no details to these tantalizing possibilities.  What is clear is that Jesus is to be confessed as Lord.  Lord throughout the Scriptures is used as the title for God himself.  Clearly, we have the beginnings of an understanding of the Triune nature of God, as One God in Three Persons.

And we are reminded that the prerequisite of salvation in Paul’s theology is a confession that Jesus is Lord: 

if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).

Following this glorious doxological credal statement, Paul continues to exhort the Philippians.  His interlude describing the dual nature of Christ as in the form of God yet also in the form of a servant is meant to be a prelude to their own lifestyle of servanthood and humility.  And he encourages them:

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

Again, we find a paradox.  He tells the Philippians to work out their salvation.

This seems a contradiction to all that we know of Pauline theology, in which he derides “works righteousness”:

We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law (Romans 3:28).

Yet here, Paul seems to call for working with fear and trembling as though we are so terrified of God’s judgment that we work ourselves to the bone!  How can we resolve this dilemma?

Actually, Paul resolves it himself.  Paul says:

it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

In fact, we might say that God is always the initiator of salvation, and we are the responder.  We are to respond with faith and obedience, but we are able to do so because God empowers us to respond.  Jesus says something that may perhaps provide illumination:

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day (John 6:44).

Paul is reminding the Philippians to live out their faith as he said in his introduction to this passage:

by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;  doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;  each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

They are able to live out these qualities because God is at work in them:

both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

APPLY:  

This lectionary passage from Philippians tells us two key things —

• First, about the unique and paradoxical nature of Jesus Christ.
• Second, what it means for us to attempt the impossible — to imitate Christ.

We are encouraged to look at Jesus as an example of humility and servanthood.  Jesus empties himself to such an extent that he dies for us!  And yet, this servant is exalted once again to his rightful place, and his name is to evoke our reverence and awe!

Obviously, we see the paradox and the impossibility implied here.  How can we imitate the Second Person of the Trinity, who succumbs to death on the cross for all humanity?  And then is once again exalted, following his self-emptying, to the right hand of God where he is worshipped as Lord and God!  How can we emulate that?

The answer is given by his paradoxical follow-up:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

Following Christ’s example of extreme humility and servanthood sets the bar so high for us that we are justifiably filled with fear and trembling.  But we can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that it is God who is at work in us, enabling us to fulfill his will for us.

God’s grace makes possible what God demands.  Otherwise it is impossible for us.

As St. Augustine says:

O Lord, command what you will and give what you command.

RESPOND: 

There is a line that I love in one of the great hymns of Charles Wesley.  The hymn, And Can It Be, describes the mysterious grace of Christ that makes our salvation possible.  In one verse, Wesley describes the downward movement of Christ from heaven to earth in terms that remind me of Philippians 2:5-11:

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

I love that line — he emptied Himself of all but love.  This suggests that Jesus gave up all of his glory, honor, and power, all motivated by his love for us.

But there’s another thing that really strikes me about the lectionary epistle for this week.  That paradox of our work and God’s work.  There seems a kind of synergism implied here:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

It isn’t so unlike what Paul says a little later in Philippians when he describes his own salvation and life as a disciple.  He makes it clear that his own works and accomplishments  in following the law prior to meeting Christ were as worthless as garbage to him.  However, now that he has been found by Christ, he gives his very best effort in following Christ:

 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

Note the vivid image — he knows that he has been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.  That is a great description of grace.  He knows this is not something he has done for himself.  However, he doesn’t presume upon this, or give in to spiritual sloth — having been taken hold of by Christ, he presses on like a runner in a race to take hold of the prize that has been given him.

As one old preacher once said to me — trust as if it’s all up to God; work as if it’s all up to you.

Lord, the example that you set in your self-emptying love is daunting.  You have descended to the lowest depths of death that you might raise me up with you in your resurrection.  And in your humble servanthood I see what you mean for me to be — a servant like you.  Help me to live out my faith in fear and trembling, yet with the assurance that you are at work in me, both to work and will your good pleasure. Amen.

 PHOTOS:
"Imitation of Christ - who to trust in" by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for October 1, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16

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OBSERVE:

This Psalm extols the importance of passing on the sacred stories and the commandments from one generation to the next.

The Psalmist declares that he will bring out into the open the great truths that have been hidden in the past.  This is the process of tradition – he has heard these things from his ancestors, and now relates them to the next generation. This process anticipates nurturing not only the children of this generation, but children yet unborn in this faith:

We will not hide them from their children,
telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh,
his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done.

There is a central goal in this process — to form the faith of each successive generation.  The goal of relating the history of God’s people is to create a faithful relationship with God, remember the great stories of the work of God, and keep God’s commands.

In this week’s excerpt from Psalm 78, the focus on God’s salvation history has a common theme — water.

First, there is the amazing account of God’s parting of the Red Sea:

He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers,
in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
He split the sea, and caused them to pass through.
He made the waters stand as a heap.
In the daytime he also led them with a cloud,
and all night with a light of fire.

Second, the Psalmist references the story of Moses striking the rock at Massah and Meribah (this is the Old Testament lectionary selection for this week from Exodus 17:1-7):

 He split rocks in the wilderness,
and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
 He brought streams also out of the rock,
and caused waters to run down like rivers.

Note that in the Psalm, there is no reference to Moses as God’s agent in striking the rock.  God split the rocks and caused streams to flow for the thirsty people.  God deserves all the credit as the primary cause, even if he works through secondary causes like Moses.

APPLY:  

Martin Luther is supposed to have said that “the church is always just one generation away from extinction.”  I take that to mean that the church must continue the important task of transmitting the faith from one generation to the next.

As others have said, no one is born a Christian.  The faith must be formed in each of us by discipleship.

This is the responsibility of pastors, Sunday School teachers, youth directors, to be sure. Of course, parents are also charged with this awesome duty.  But in my church,  every church member also takes a vow when a child is baptized to “proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ . . . (that these children) may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life.”

Passing on the faith is an act of the entire Christian community.

And in this Psalm, we see that the faith that we pass on includes a trusting relationship with God, knowing God’s mighty deeds and praising him, and living the moral life that is shaped by God’s commands.

RESPOND: 

I am responsible for passing on the faith into which I have been baptized as effectively as I possibly can, not only to my own biological family but in my family of faith — the church.  Therefore I must nurture my own relationship with God; study his Word that I might remember his mighty deeds and praise him for his works; and allow his commands to shape my moral life.  As I do this, I may both show and tell others what my own life of faith is like.

Our Lord, you have revealed yourself to us in such a personal way – not only through your mighty acts as recorded in Scripture, but also through the still, quiet voice of your Spirit.  Draw me closer to you so that I may draw others closer to you as well.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

"Sermon Sketchnote on Psalms 78:1-8" by Wesley Fryer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for October 1, 2017

Start with Scripture:

Exodus 17:1-7

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Our first reaction upon reading our Old Testament lectionary passage for this week might well be “Oh, no! Not again!”  We have already encountered the murmuring, contentious Israelites, complaining about the lack of water (Exodus 15:23-26), or the lack of meat they were used to in Egypt (Exodus 16:2-3).

And have they already forgotten the water Moses sweetened for them at Marah, and the manna and quail God has provided?  Israel has followed Moses deeper into the wilderness, and find themselves again in a desert area with no oasis and no water — in Rephidim.

And once again, the people pick a fight with Moses, asking for water.  But Moses reframes it — they aren’t quarrelling with him, but with God:

Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?

When the people accuse Moses of bringing them out of Egypt in order to kill all of them, Moses takes his concerns to Yahweh.  He asks plaintively:

 What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.

Yahweh instructs Moses to use this as a teachable moment.  He is to take all the elders with him to a rock on Mount Horeb, and bring with him the same rod used to strike the Nile.  Only this time, the rod will bring forth fresh water instead of blood, life instead of death.  God says:

Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.

But Moses hasn’t forgotten the bitter quarrels with Israel.  And so he gives this place two names to remind them of their quarrelsome nature, and how they have tested God by their doubts:

 He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah,  because the children of Israel quarreled, and because they tested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us, or not?”

Massah means testing, and Meribah means quarreling. These places will be both a reminder — and a reproach to them.

APPLY:  

The journeys of the Israelites recorded in Exodus are a reminder to us of God’s patience with our quarrelsome, doubting nature.  Time and time again, God has provided guidance, gotten his people out of tough situations, and time and time again we grumble and doubt.

We are to remember God’s provision — sometimes by naming our failures for what they are, and confessing them.  But these faults and failures needn’t continue to haunt us.

By grace, that rock of quarreling and testing can be transformed.  Paul reflects on the Exodus experience of Israel in 1 Corinthians:

Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;  and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food;  and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).

However, Paul also has the same warning for the church that Moses had for Israel:

Let us not test Christ,  as some of them tested, and perished by the serpents. Don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.  Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.  Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall (1 Corinthians 10:9-12).

RESPOND: 

There are a great many curious names in my state — Bucksnort, Oil Trough, Cotton Plant, Evening Shade.  And I think of names in other parts of the country that suggest a time of peril and risk.  Last Chance, Colorado.  Tombstone, Arizona.

Places become significant to us because of what happens there, and sometimes what doesn’t happen.  Perhaps we are wise to name places, in our own minds at least, according to their impact on our lives, even when that impact may be negative.  Testing (Massah)and Quarreling (Meribah) may be places that remind us not to go there anymore!

Lord, please forgive me for testing you and quarreling with you.  I pray that I may name those times and places where I have resisted you, and resolve not to return to those attitudes any longer. Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Exodus 17 Verse 6 Write Up” by Steel Wool is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

“Exodus 17 Verse 6” by Steel Wool is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.