Epiphany 5A
Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 112: 1-10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; Matthew 5:13-20
If we were to give our children advice about money, what would it be? Make enough money so you don’t have to worry about it? Make enough so that you donate to worthy causes, build hospitals, fund research? Make enough to free your children to use their talents for humanity and not spend all their time in non-creative employment that leaves them tired and unable to invent, initiate and discover?
There is a so-called theology of prosperity out there—a belief that Scripture promises wealth and prosperity to all those who keep the commandments and are judged to be righteous. Psalm 112 in today’s readings may be partially responsible for this theology. “Happy the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commands…Wealth and riches shall be in his house…” (Psalm 112:1,3).
And the passage from Isaiah contains a similar promise, but only to those who take care of the poor, the hungry, the naked: “Then the Lord will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land” (Isaiah 58:11).
What a joy it would be to win the lottery! Would prayer help? Would some sort of sacrifice to God help? Just tell me what to do in order that I may be freed from worries about employment and mortgages and medications and retirement?
Accumulate money! Is this the sole wisdom we want to impart to our children?
If we turn to the author of 1 Corinthians for an answer, it will be quite different from what we might expect. If we are asking Paul for answers in our quest for comfort and happiness, he will point us toward wisdom, all right, but a “mysterious, hidden wisdom” (1 Cor. 2: 7). It seems as if counting money and stacking gold coins is NOT what the Spirit of God is leading us to appreciate. Paul suggests that only those who have the mind of Christ have true wisdom.
Matthew describes that mind in the Sermon on the Mount. The words reflect a wisdom that comes from being connected to God and His presence. Then everything looks different. Once we have this vision, we become “lights to the world,” fit to be put on a lampstand so that others can see (Matthew 5:15). The words are delivered by a man who is able to look at fishermen and say: “Follow me,” and they drop their careers and their livelihood to do so. The man is sufficient. He fills up emptiness, dampens fears, and makes money much less important. Wealth, it turns out, is for helping those who don’t have any.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Commentary on Lectionary for January 30, 2011
Epiphany 4A
Micah 6:1-8; Psalm 15; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Matthew 5:1-12
A week after our President’s State of the Union address, opening Micah’s book to chapter six is like reading God’s State of the World address. Through Micah, God reminds the people of all He has done for them and asks: “What have I done unto thee? And wherein have I wearied thee?”
In our contemporary world, it is enlightening to review the scriptural passage from Numbers 22 to 24 that Micah references. Balak, king of Moab, asks Balaam to come and curse the burgeoning population of Israelites who are encroaching on Moabite territory. But Balaam’s first allegiance is to God, and there is no way he is going to curse a people whom God is blessing. In our world where business as usual often includes bribes and “incentives,” Balaam stands as one who refuses wealth and honor from Balak rather than go against his internal values of loyalty and honesty. He was lucky he didn’t get killed.
Jesus DID get killed. His values were not those of the power structure around him, nor could he find a place for himself in the cozy relationship the Jewish and Roman authorities had with each other. On the contrary, he elevated the values of meekness, poverty of spirit, thirst for justice, peacemaking, and so on in what we have come to call the “beatitudes.”
And so Paul, Jesus’s follower, talks about a whole different idea of wisdom. It is NOT the kind of wisdom you can get from a power retreat led by a motivational speaker. Paul readily admits that the wisdom aspired to by followers of Jesus is going to look at lot like foolishness. What could be more foolish than—in the words of Psalm 15—NOT to lend out money for usurious interest? –NOT to slander others with your tongue on, say, radio and TV talk shows? --NOT to accept any bribes against the innocent? (Ps. 15:5).
It is easy to read these passages and cast further blame on those who are today before judges or are already in prison. It is more difficult to ask what we ourselves have contributed to a culture that makes these crimes possible or even desirable (if you don’t get caught). Or we might ask for lessons in practicing the beatitudes and applying them in our lives, which could complicate our lives tremendously, and open us up to ridicule as people who are really foolish.
Or we could seek to practice every day and have as our mantra those most famous and oft-quoted words of Micah pertaining to what the Lord requires of us: “..Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
Micah 6:1-8; Psalm 15; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Matthew 5:1-12
A week after our President’s State of the Union address, opening Micah’s book to chapter six is like reading God’s State of the World address. Through Micah, God reminds the people of all He has done for them and asks: “What have I done unto thee? And wherein have I wearied thee?”
In our contemporary world, it is enlightening to review the scriptural passage from Numbers 22 to 24 that Micah references. Balak, king of Moab, asks Balaam to come and curse the burgeoning population of Israelites who are encroaching on Moabite territory. But Balaam’s first allegiance is to God, and there is no way he is going to curse a people whom God is blessing. In our world where business as usual often includes bribes and “incentives,” Balaam stands as one who refuses wealth and honor from Balak rather than go against his internal values of loyalty and honesty. He was lucky he didn’t get killed.
Jesus DID get killed. His values were not those of the power structure around him, nor could he find a place for himself in the cozy relationship the Jewish and Roman authorities had with each other. On the contrary, he elevated the values of meekness, poverty of spirit, thirst for justice, peacemaking, and so on in what we have come to call the “beatitudes.”
And so Paul, Jesus’s follower, talks about a whole different idea of wisdom. It is NOT the kind of wisdom you can get from a power retreat led by a motivational speaker. Paul readily admits that the wisdom aspired to by followers of Jesus is going to look at lot like foolishness. What could be more foolish than—in the words of Psalm 15—NOT to lend out money for usurious interest? –NOT to slander others with your tongue on, say, radio and TV talk shows? --NOT to accept any bribes against the innocent? (Ps. 15:5).
It is easy to read these passages and cast further blame on those who are today before judges or are already in prison. It is more difficult to ask what we ourselves have contributed to a culture that makes these crimes possible or even desirable (if you don’t get caught). Or we might ask for lessons in practicing the beatitudes and applying them in our lives, which could complicate our lives tremendously, and open us up to ridicule as people who are really foolish.
Or we could seek to practice every day and have as our mantra those most famous and oft-quoted words of Micah pertaining to what the Lord requires of us: “..Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
Monday, January 17, 2011
Commentary on Lectionary for January 23, 2011
Epiphany 3A
Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27:1, 4-9; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23
I still vividly remember, some months after our family had moved to another city, that our 8-year old son said balefully one day: “I want to go home!” His friends, his school, his comfort level were in a different place. The Psalmist reminded me of him when he, too, cried pitifully: “One thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life…and contemplate his Temple” (Psalm 27:4.
I suppose it wasn’t the place so much as the people. We get so attached. Jesus had such magnetism that he only had to say “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men,” and Andrew and Peter left their nets. In the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul talks of people who were attached to him, or to Apollos or to Cephas or even to Christ.
Isaiah envisioned a time when Zebulon and Naphtali would be taken back from the grasp of Tiglath-Pileser who had conquered these lands, and the people could feel once again they were home and the North and South—the land of the twelve tribes of Jacob--could be one nation again. For Isaiah, the new King Hezekiah might have been the one to bring this about. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus went down from the high country of Nazareth to the lands of Zebulon and Naphtali, to Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee which is north of Nazareth. And Matthew in hindsight knows that in doing so he fulfilled the dream of Isaiah that these two territories would “see a great light.”
The light was there, in the message: “the kingdom of heaven has come near.” The hard part was to understand that this was NOT the kingdom everyone had in mind, that as our life’s days gallop toward their end, we can never go home again, but we can BE at home; we can contemplate his Temple—because we have learned it is not a brick and mortar edifice.
We always make a big thing out of the first apostles leaving everything and following Jesus. But we forget what they gained—that fellowship, that friendship, that sense of purpose and of meaning for their lives. I keep remembering that touching passage in Matthew 17, after Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James and John, Peter said: “Lord it is good for us to be here,” and wanted to make three tents so they could stay for a long time. Home at last!
Some say that in Jewish tradition, Zebulon had a “symbiotic relationship” with Issachar, perhaps providing for them financially so they could study the Torah. They certainly had tribal allegiance; they fought side by side on the battlefield, and in that vivid passage from Judges 4, Deborah had Barak call an army together to pursue Sisera, they were willing to give their lives.
As we look at our own roles, we see how tribal we still are; pillars of our community, citizens of our country, strong advocates for our parties, willing to work hard and even die for our families, staunch members of our professional associations and unions, willing to go to bat for fellow employees, serving our church in its numerous initiatives to care for the needy. We may be feminists, club members, card-carrying associates, hobbyists, belongers to internet groups and fierce Face book friends.
But, again, the hard part is to hear Paul in 1 Corinthians cautioning against division because of these tribal belongings and affiliations. Think wider and bigger, he seems to be saying. [In Christ],”there can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one” (Galatians3:28). Our attachment is to the God of Jesus Christ. Our home is in Him.
Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27:1, 4-9; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23
I still vividly remember, some months after our family had moved to another city, that our 8-year old son said balefully one day: “I want to go home!” His friends, his school, his comfort level were in a different place. The Psalmist reminded me of him when he, too, cried pitifully: “One thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life…and contemplate his Temple” (Psalm 27:4.
I suppose it wasn’t the place so much as the people. We get so attached. Jesus had such magnetism that he only had to say “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men,” and Andrew and Peter left their nets. In the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul talks of people who were attached to him, or to Apollos or to Cephas or even to Christ.
Isaiah envisioned a time when Zebulon and Naphtali would be taken back from the grasp of Tiglath-Pileser who had conquered these lands, and the people could feel once again they were home and the North and South—the land of the twelve tribes of Jacob--could be one nation again. For Isaiah, the new King Hezekiah might have been the one to bring this about. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus went down from the high country of Nazareth to the lands of Zebulon and Naphtali, to Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee which is north of Nazareth. And Matthew in hindsight knows that in doing so he fulfilled the dream of Isaiah that these two territories would “see a great light.”
The light was there, in the message: “the kingdom of heaven has come near.” The hard part was to understand that this was NOT the kingdom everyone had in mind, that as our life’s days gallop toward their end, we can never go home again, but we can BE at home; we can contemplate his Temple—because we have learned it is not a brick and mortar edifice.
We always make a big thing out of the first apostles leaving everything and following Jesus. But we forget what they gained—that fellowship, that friendship, that sense of purpose and of meaning for their lives. I keep remembering that touching passage in Matthew 17, after Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James and John, Peter said: “Lord it is good for us to be here,” and wanted to make three tents so they could stay for a long time. Home at last!
Some say that in Jewish tradition, Zebulon had a “symbiotic relationship” with Issachar, perhaps providing for them financially so they could study the Torah. They certainly had tribal allegiance; they fought side by side on the battlefield, and in that vivid passage from Judges 4, Deborah had Barak call an army together to pursue Sisera, they were willing to give their lives.
As we look at our own roles, we see how tribal we still are; pillars of our community, citizens of our country, strong advocates for our parties, willing to work hard and even die for our families, staunch members of our professional associations and unions, willing to go to bat for fellow employees, serving our church in its numerous initiatives to care for the needy. We may be feminists, club members, card-carrying associates, hobbyists, belongers to internet groups and fierce Face book friends.
But, again, the hard part is to hear Paul in 1 Corinthians cautioning against division because of these tribal belongings and affiliations. Think wider and bigger, he seems to be saying. [In Christ],”there can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one” (Galatians3:28). Our attachment is to the God of Jesus Christ. Our home is in Him.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Commentary on Lectionary for January 16, 2011
Epiphany 2A
Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-11; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-34
The New Interpreter’s Study Bible says that 1 Cor. 1:9 indicates that “the trustworthiness of God guarantees that God is on the believers’ side” (p. 2039). As I watched the Rose Bowl this year, until I found out that Texas Christian University was a Disciples of Christ University, I was playfully and sarcastically wondering if the players were told in the locker room that God was on their side and the other team was evil to be vanquished. After I looked up TCU and found out they were a Disciples of Christ University, my prejudice and assumption shifted: Disciples would never hold that opinion of their opponents! Note that in both cases, I really had NO idea of what was said in the locker room to motivate the players.
With all of the college bowl games, the playoffs and the upcoming Super Bowl, many people must be praying for God to be on their side. Very little blood will be shed, although injuries are common. In ancient days and modern wars, football teams are and were analogs for armies and on battlefields blood flows freely and people (mostly young as those kids on the gridiron) die. Each army hopes that God is on their side.
Second Isaiah knew that God was on his side. He believed that God had called him from the womb; that God nominated him as His servant. So He was going to lead Israel to victory. Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel) would win. Moreover, the Lord says this is “too light a thing...to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles…” (Is. 49: 6). And so the task gets bumped up from saving a nation to saving the world!
The Psalmist knew that God was on HIS side. If he could be patient, he would come out on top. In fact, God would set his feet upon a rock; he would draw him “up from the desolate pit.”
John’s Gospel has Jesus being silent and John pointing to him as the Son of God: “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” John takes a back seat, builds up his cousin, acknowledges his better, and knows from listening to the Sprit who will lead to victory.
It turns out that God is on EVERYONE’S side. Isaiah, the Servant to Come, John the Baptist, the Psalmist, Jesus all worked to bring about the peaceable kingdom. It turns out we are all chosen, you and me, too, to “set the captives free” and to exit whatever captivity we are in to resettle our kingdom, which has been devastated by wars and greed and neglect. If we are disciples of this God en-fleshed in Jesus and follow His way, then we are called to victory in this battle to transform our world into His peaceable kingdom.
Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-11; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-34
The New Interpreter’s Study Bible says that 1 Cor. 1:9 indicates that “the trustworthiness of God guarantees that God is on the believers’ side” (p. 2039). As I watched the Rose Bowl this year, until I found out that Texas Christian University was a Disciples of Christ University, I was playfully and sarcastically wondering if the players were told in the locker room that God was on their side and the other team was evil to be vanquished. After I looked up TCU and found out they were a Disciples of Christ University, my prejudice and assumption shifted: Disciples would never hold that opinion of their opponents! Note that in both cases, I really had NO idea of what was said in the locker room to motivate the players.
With all of the college bowl games, the playoffs and the upcoming Super Bowl, many people must be praying for God to be on their side. Very little blood will be shed, although injuries are common. In ancient days and modern wars, football teams are and were analogs for armies and on battlefields blood flows freely and people (mostly young as those kids on the gridiron) die. Each army hopes that God is on their side.
Second Isaiah knew that God was on his side. He believed that God had called him from the womb; that God nominated him as His servant. So He was going to lead Israel to victory. Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel) would win. Moreover, the Lord says this is “too light a thing...to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles…” (Is. 49: 6). And so the task gets bumped up from saving a nation to saving the world!
The Psalmist knew that God was on HIS side. If he could be patient, he would come out on top. In fact, God would set his feet upon a rock; he would draw him “up from the desolate pit.”
John’s Gospel has Jesus being silent and John pointing to him as the Son of God: “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” John takes a back seat, builds up his cousin, acknowledges his better, and knows from listening to the Sprit who will lead to victory.
It turns out that God is on EVERYONE’S side. Isaiah, the Servant to Come, John the Baptist, the Psalmist, Jesus all worked to bring about the peaceable kingdom. It turns out we are all chosen, you and me, too, to “set the captives free” and to exit whatever captivity we are in to resettle our kingdom, which has been devastated by wars and greed and neglect. If we are disciples of this God en-fleshed in Jesus and follow His way, then we are called to victory in this battle to transform our world into His peaceable kingdom.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Commentary on Lectionary for January 9, 2011
Third Sunday after Christmas: Baptism of Jesus
Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17
Some churches will celebrate the Epiphany today, although the traditional date for its celebration is on January 6th. And there is much magic to the idea of these three wise men from the east following a star, bringing their symbolic gifts and evading the machinations of the paranoid king. Some families have waited until January 6 to place the three wise men and their camels in their crèches under the Christmas tree. As the tradition developed, the wise men became kings, depicted with crowns and adding to the manger story by offering homage to this new little king of kings.
These readings for the Baptism of Jesus continue to make it very clear that when we use the word “King” in connection with Jesus, we are talking about quite a different concept from what our reading about kings in history would lead us to expect.
A sardonic indication about what a different kind of king Jesus will be, is immediately apparent in Matthew 12:1 in that Jesus doesn’t want anyone to broadcast who he is. Long before Jesus lived, in the first of the servant songs in Isaiah, the prophet tells of a person upheld by God who will “bring forth justice to the nations,” but who “will not cry or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street” (Is. 42:1-2). Matthew, in chapter 12, paraphrases this very passage from Isaiah and applies it to Jesus. Now what kind of a king does not want his voice heard? Does not want his power acknowledged? Does not want obeisance and obedience?
It has to be someone who is totally comfortable with who he is, who doesn’t need the trappings of wealth or power to shore up his identity. It has to be someone who is in touch with the Spirit of God, is inebriated with God’s breath, and is confident that he can breathe this same life into others, causing them to live, to be free like prisoners walking out of jail, to see like blind people who have recovered their sight (Is. 42:5-7.
Psalm 29 celebrates this kind of kingship. The voice of the Lord thunders. The psalm is full of storm imagery. If we can imagine what it would be like to see a tornado twist trees and tear off their tops or uproot them outright; If we know how lightening can light a forest fire that will clear acres. If we can read about tsunamis taller than buildings; then we can understand that all we have done to make ourselves feel at home on this earth and to be comfortable, can be taken away in an instant. Our theories and explanations of how things work are like heavenly beings that we create to serve our security needs. But only one being is worthy of our whole trust. Only one will be there for us when all else fails, and it is the Lord. And THAT’S kingship!
In his last speech in Acts, Peter speaks of the power of Jesus. It was, he says, the power to do good and to heal “all who were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38). God was sending a message through Jesus: it was a message of peace (Acts 10:36). And Peter has come to understand that this message was for everyone, not just Jews.
In his baptism as related by Matthew, Jesus accepts his role as someone the Spirit was going to work through to be a reconciler and a peacemaker. He let himself be used for this purpose, God’s purpose, and so can we.
Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17
Some churches will celebrate the Epiphany today, although the traditional date for its celebration is on January 6th. And there is much magic to the idea of these three wise men from the east following a star, bringing their symbolic gifts and evading the machinations of the paranoid king. Some families have waited until January 6 to place the three wise men and their camels in their crèches under the Christmas tree. As the tradition developed, the wise men became kings, depicted with crowns and adding to the manger story by offering homage to this new little king of kings.
These readings for the Baptism of Jesus continue to make it very clear that when we use the word “King” in connection with Jesus, we are talking about quite a different concept from what our reading about kings in history would lead us to expect.
A sardonic indication about what a different kind of king Jesus will be, is immediately apparent in Matthew 12:1 in that Jesus doesn’t want anyone to broadcast who he is. Long before Jesus lived, in the first of the servant songs in Isaiah, the prophet tells of a person upheld by God who will “bring forth justice to the nations,” but who “will not cry or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street” (Is. 42:1-2). Matthew, in chapter 12, paraphrases this very passage from Isaiah and applies it to Jesus. Now what kind of a king does not want his voice heard? Does not want his power acknowledged? Does not want obeisance and obedience?
It has to be someone who is totally comfortable with who he is, who doesn’t need the trappings of wealth or power to shore up his identity. It has to be someone who is in touch with the Spirit of God, is inebriated with God’s breath, and is confident that he can breathe this same life into others, causing them to live, to be free like prisoners walking out of jail, to see like blind people who have recovered their sight (Is. 42:5-7.
Psalm 29 celebrates this kind of kingship. The voice of the Lord thunders. The psalm is full of storm imagery. If we can imagine what it would be like to see a tornado twist trees and tear off their tops or uproot them outright; If we know how lightening can light a forest fire that will clear acres. If we can read about tsunamis taller than buildings; then we can understand that all we have done to make ourselves feel at home on this earth and to be comfortable, can be taken away in an instant. Our theories and explanations of how things work are like heavenly beings that we create to serve our security needs. But only one being is worthy of our whole trust. Only one will be there for us when all else fails, and it is the Lord. And THAT’S kingship!
In his last speech in Acts, Peter speaks of the power of Jesus. It was, he says, the power to do good and to heal “all who were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38). God was sending a message through Jesus: it was a message of peace (Acts 10:36). And Peter has come to understand that this message was for everyone, not just Jews.
In his baptism as related by Matthew, Jesus accepts his role as someone the Spirit was going to work through to be a reconciler and a peacemaker. He let himself be used for this purpose, God’s purpose, and so can we.
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