Bon Appetit!

Isaiah 25:6-9, the First Reading appointed for the Festival of All Saints in the Year of Mark, is a marvelous text of comfort.  Not only does it promise us that death will be swallowed up forever, but it also gives us a picture of a compassionate God who wipes tears from all faces.  This is the picture we have:  a God who is able to defeat death, and yet also able to stoop down and wipe the tears from our eyes.  What a marvelous God we have!

(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but only to open up some of the questions which are important for Law and Gospel preachers; specifically we ask, "How is the Word at work?"  To learn more about this unique genre of preaching, see my brief guide to Law and Gospel preaching, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  The Word of the prophet is pure gospel.  God will provide a feast, destroy death, and wipe the tears from our eyes.  The only thing we can do in the face of this amazing God is rejoice.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is really no word of Law here, except, of course, the mention of "the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations", (i.e. death).  If the Law always functions to show us our need for Christ, then the mere mention of death shows us our need for Christ, and thus is a word of Law.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are the people of Israel, God's people, to whom this good word is addressed. We are the ones who experience the shroud and the sheet which is spread over the nations.  We are the ones who rejoice in the salvation of our God.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The last phrase is our call:  "Let us rejoice and be glad in [God's] deliverance."  We are called to point to the deliverance of our God and give God all praise and thanks.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  Some of the most classic couplets are appropriate for this text:  defeat/victory; death/life; mourning/rejoicing.  They are all here.

6.  Exegetical work:  The Lutheran Study Bible does a nice job of pointing out how Isaiah 24:1-27:13 contain a combination of prophecy and apocalyptic literature.  While Biblical prophecy is "generally linked with historical times and places," apocalyptic literature "moves to cosmic themes and often refers to things seemingly impossible in history as we know it."  Such are the verses we encounter in this text.  Clearly announcing the annihilation of death is beyond history as we know it.  So what we have is an apocalyptic text revealing an end to the world as it stands.  A translation of this brief text reveals an ongoing use of the Piel and Pual forms of verbs. These forms are intensifiers.  So a word which could be translated "swallow" could more aptly be translated "devour". And a word which is translated "waiting" could more accurately be translated "looked eagerly."  These verbs reveal the intensity of this passage.

7.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  Paul Jaster uses the language of this text well in offering his analysis.  He works off of the "swallowing" of death by the death of Christ.  He follows that with more swallowing as he witnesses to the great feast "of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines" which is to come.  Bon Appetit!  See crossings.org/text-study for the entire analysis.

Blessings on your proclamation!

New Covenant

Jeremiah 31:31-34 is the Old Testament text appointed for Reformation Sunday every year.  It is a gospel text if there ever was one!  God is announcing all sorts of wonderful things on our behalf.  Perhaps our greatest challenge as preachers will be to discover how to adequately celebrate the amazing grace that this text announces.

(The following questions have been developed as a way of getting at some of the fundamental questions for Law and Gospel preachers.  These questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but work well when combined with other sets of questions that come from a different perspective.  In order to learn more about the genre of Law and Gospel preaching, see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  The opening verse says it all:  "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel."  This promise is then fleshed out in the subsequent verses. In all cases God is the actor, putting the Torah in our hearts, forgiving sins, and remembering our sin no more.  This word  is pure Gospel.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is hardly a suggestion of Law in this text, i.e. any word which shows us our need for Christ.  There is a reference to the former covenant, which God's people broke, but there is no accusation here.  If we are going to preach Law from this text, we shall need to use other resources to accomplish this.  One might readily turn to the Second Reading from Romans 3:19-28 where we hear that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We will want to identify with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, those with whom God is making a new covenant.  We too have broken covenant with God through our sin and long to be restored to God.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  A call to obedience is not present here.  We are not called here, albeit in plenty of other places in the writings of the prophet, to live faithfully in response to God's amazing grace.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  The language in this text gives us plenty of ideas for couplets:  old covenant/new covenant; no knowledge of God/sure knowledge of God; guilty/sin remembered no more; forgiven.

6.  Exegetical work:  Scholars have named Jeremiah 30:1-31:40 The Book of Comfort or, in some cases, the The Book of Consolation.  Scholars differ as to whether someone other than Jeremiah wrote this section using Jeremiah's name, perhaps to balance the prophet's many sermons of doom.  In the 31st chapter there is much talk of a homecoming, God assembling the exiles back in their homeland:  "There is  hope for your future, says the Lord: your children shall come back to their own country." (31:17)  Finally in 31:31 Yahweh speaks of establishing a new covenant (b'reeth).  This term refers to a "binding settlement". (Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, ed. Booterweck and Ringgren, vol. II, p. 255)  There are different kinds of covenants:  "In contradiction to the Mosaic covenants, which are of an obligatory type, the covenants with Abraham and David belong to the promissory type." (Ibid, p. 270)  Jeremiah's covenant seems to fall into the promissory type. "The covenant idea is first given greater importance in Jeremiah.  He rebukes the people who have broken the old covenant, but tells of a new covenant which Yahweh will make." (Ibid, p. 277).  Such covenants were apparently a special feature of Israelite religion, which was the only religion "to demand exclusive loyalty" akin to husband and wife.  No double or multiple loyalties were possible as in other religions. (Ibid., p. 278)

7.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  There is no better time than when dealing with this text to follow Henry Mitchell's advice and pursue a celebration in this sermon.  Mitchell said that the preacher should be the first one to experience the ecstasy of the gospel, and then should pass that on to the listeners. 

Blessings on our proclamation!

Irony Personified

Mark 9:30-37, the gospel lesson appointed for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, contains the second foretelling by Jesus of his betrayal, death and resurrection.  The account ends with these words regarding the disciples:  "But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him."  So it could be said of us.  We, like the disciples, continue to argue about who is the greatest, but have a hard time understanding the death we are called to die in Christ.

(The following questions have been developed as a way of unearthing some of the fundamental concerns of Law and Gospel preachers.  For more on this method and this whole unique genre of preaching see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  The Word is functioning in both law and gospel ways in this text.  The word of gospel is clear as we hear of the betrayal, death and resurrection of Jesus.  This will happen to the Son of Man.  This must happen for the sake of the world.  The word of law is present as well, as the disciples reveal their utter inability to understand either Christ's sacrifice or their own call to sacrifice. Their ambition and selfishness is clear for all to see.

2.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are the disciples.  We are those who do not understand and are afraid to ask.  We are the ones who incessantly argue about who is the greatest, if not aloud, surely in the quiet of our own minds.  We are the ones who are silent when confronted with our secret sins.  We are the ones who need to be taught again about true greatness.

3.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The final scene is a classic call to obedience.  In essence Jesus says, "As my followers, welcome the little ones.  When you do that you welcome me."

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  Taking the evident split between the example of Christ and the behavior of the disciples we can imagine a number of couplets:  living for gain/dying for love; claiming to be first/embracing being last.

5.  Exegetical work:  As pointed out by the Lutheran Study Bible Luther's theology of the cross and theology of glory are on full display in this text.  To quote the Heidelberg Disputation, where we find Luther's most succinct statement regarding these theologies:  "19. That person does not deserve to be called a theologian who looks upon the invisible things of God as though they were clearly perceptible in those things which have actually happened. [Rom.1:20].  20.  He deserves to be called a theologian, however, who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross.  21.  A theology of glory calls evil good and good evil.  A  theology of the cross calls the thing what it actually is." (Luther's Works, Vol. 31, pg. 40)  In the text before us the disciples fail to see the "visible and manifest things of God" in the cross.  They instead  call "evil good and good evil" by pursuing their futile argument about who is the greatest among them.  As Eugene Boring points out in his commentary, "The supreme irony is that their argument about hierarchical order within the group of Jesus' followers had taken place 'on the way' - Mark repeats for emphasis - the self-denying way of the cross which Jesus has chosen and to which he calls his disciples. (8:34)" (The NT Library, Mark, A Commentary, p. 280)

6.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  Peter Keyel, in the most recent analysis of this text by the Crossings Community, picks up on the silence of the disciples as a clue to their own brokenness.  He points out how we so often claim not to understand something, when the truth is we are trying to ignore it. Keyel goes on to point out a similar silence when Jesus asks about their conversation on the way. This analysis can be seen in its entirety by going to crossings.org/text-study.

Blessings on your proclamation!

Christ the Disciple

Isaiah 50:4-9a, the First Reading for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost in the Year of Mark, is often referred to as the Third Servant Song.  This is understandable since it bears resemblance to the first two songs in 42:1-4 and 49:1-6, yet in this passage the writer does not refer to self as servant, but rather as one who is taught.  Another way to think of this term is 'disciple'.  This song, in other words, is the song of one who is being taught, one who is listening and following and learning.  I wonder how many times we have thought about Christ as one who is himself a disciple, one being taught.  I wonder how important that might be for the church, if we identified ourselves as ones who are perpetually listening, being taught, and learning.

(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive.  They are part of a method to help Law and Gospel preachers discern some of the ways the Word functions in the text.  For more on Law and Gospel preaching see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  The Word functions as testimony and witness to God's faithfulness.  As such it is a Gospel word.  This can be seen clearly in the latter verses where the disciple declares "I know that I shall not be put to shame; he who vindicates me is near."  This resembles very much the psalms of trust with which we are familiar.  (e.g. Psa. 27:1-6)

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is no word of rebuke here, or any word which exposes our need for Christ.  There is allusion to the temptations we face, such as refusing to have open ears to God's leading, being rebellious, or turning back from following Christ, but a rebuke is not present.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  There is only one voice in this text, and it is one with whom it is difficult to identify.  Can I be confident that I will be open to God's call, never rebellious, never allowing myself to abandon the task set before me?  I can aspire to this and hope for God's help, but I dare not presume that I shall be the one who sets"my face like flint."

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The call to obedience is always the Word functioning to invite us to live in a certain way in response to God's work.  One way of looking at this text could be to regard it wholly as a call to obedience.  In other words, the speaker here is an example for us to follow.  We are to be those who have a call to speak a word to the weary and we must not veer from that,  no matter the hardship.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  The language in the text is helpful in constructing couplets here:  deaf to God's leading/open to God's leading; rebellious/obedient; turning back/following faithfully.  These, of course, are not so much Law/Gospel couplets as disobedience/obedience couplets.

6.  Exegetical work:  Long before George F. Handel wrote his magnificent Messiah oratorio, the words of this text were assumed to be the words of Christ.  "I gave my back to the smiters" was assumed to be spoken by Christ by writers from Athanasius to St. Jerome to Cyril of Alexandria.  Theodoret, Bishop of Cyr, brings to mind the Passion of Christ most directly:  "This whole recital is taught by the holy Gospels.  For the servant of the high priest gave [Christ] a blow on the cheek; some struck his face, saying, 'Prophecy to us, Christ!  Who is the one who struck you?' Others spat in his face; as for Pilate, he had him scourged and delivered him to be crucified.  so, all this he predicts in the prophecy to teach of his own patience." (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, OT, Vol. XI, p. 132)  It goes without saying that in the modern era scholars have recognized more and more the identity of the servants as speaking corporately of the nation of Israel.  Yet, as the Lutheran Study Bible points out, "in the traditional four servant songs, the servant is given a particular commission or task that sometimes sounds quite individual... Certainly the servant is Israel, but it may also be true that sometimes a particular member of Israel represents the whole people."

7.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  Henry Mitchell was well-known as a preacher who celebrated God's grace in a big way in every preaching event.  Since this text is a witness to God's faithfulness, what better way to preach it than to celebrate God's faithfulness throughout.

Blessings on your proclamation!

Good News in Abundance

There are few passages of scripture that are as full of good news as the First Lesson appointed for the 16th Sunday of Pentecost in the Year of Mark, Isaiah 35:4-7a.  Throughout this passage we hear how circumstances that were hopeless have become hopeful, how places of despair have become places of rejoicing, and how what was thought to be dead has now come alive.  Paired with the gospel reading for this Sunday, Mark 7:24-37, a reader can see where the Syrophoenician woman received her faith: she believed these promises!  It will be our  task as preachers to proclaim these promises to our hearers who need to hear this good news.

(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but work well when paired with other sets of questions which unearth the treasures of a text.  These questions get at some of the fundamental concerns of Law and Gospel preachers, who are particularly interested in how the Word functions.  For more on this unique genre of preaching, see my brief guide to Law and Gospel preaching, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  There is no doubt that this is a Gospel text.  Over and over God is promising to bring life from death.  Nothing could be clearer.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is also no doubt that there is no word of Law here; there is no word which exposes our need for Christ.  We could identify our need for Christ by understanding ourselves as blind, deaf, lame, thirsty, deserted, but the Word does not function to lift this up.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are those who need to hear this good news.  We are "those who are of fearful heart."  We are those who have wondered if God has forgotten us in our exile.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The call to obedience is the call to live in response to God's work on our behalf.  This call is not present here, but the call to rejoice in God's goodness comes later in this passage.

5.   What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  The couplets within the text are our best vehicles.  They are:  fearful/fearless; enslaved/rescued; blind/seeing; deaf/hearing; lame/leaping; speechless/singing.  These couplets will serve well to help us construct a coherent Law/Gospel sermon.

6.  Exegetical work:  The Lutheran Study Bible does a nice job of setting the context of this passage, noting that these chapters are from exilic or post-exilic periods. "They are placed here to begin a transition to the second part of the book of Isaiah.  God's transformation will involve both total judgment of the wicked (Chapter 34) and final redemption for the redeemed (Chapter 35)."  David Payne, in his commentary, notes similar themes and says that "this passage links with later chapters, and its earliest, partial fulfillment will have been the return from Babylonian exile which is the major theme of chapters 40-55). (The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 795).  It is interesting to think of this passage as part of the transition from the themes of judgement in First Isaiah to the themes of redemption in Second Isaiah.

7.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  In Chris Repp's insightful analysis we see the couplets in this text brought to life in a Law/Gospel way.  In his diagnosis of our condition he identifies our blindness, deafness, etc.  In his prognosis he celebrates the rescue of the fearful, by our fearless God.  Go to crossings.org/text-study to see the entire analysis.

8.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  Eugene Lowry thought it important to always move listeners from disequilibrium to equilibrium.  We shall have to call on the couplets in this passage to do this well here.

Blessings on your proclamation!

A Classic Call to Obedience

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9 is the First Lesson appointed for Pentecost 15 in the Year of Mark.  It matches with the gospel lesson from Mark 7 where Jesus is instructing the Pharisees and elders regarding God's commandments. The context of the Deuteronomy text is that the Israelites are at long last about to enter Canaan.  The wilderness wanderings are finally ended and Moses, who will not be allowed to enter with them, preaches his final sermon to the people.  This sermon will encompass nearly 30 chapters of this book; what we have here is merely the introduction.  Even in this small sample we have the main thrust of this sermon.  All preachers would do well to take note of the clarity with which Moses speaks.

(The following questions have been developed in my brief guide to Law and Gospel preaching, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted.  These questions are meant to help unearth some of the fundamental concerns of Law and Gospel preachers.  My book is available through wipfandstock.com or amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  There is no better example of the classic Call to Obedience than this text.  The Call to Obedience is the Word functioning to call us to live in a certain way in response to God's gracious work in our life.  This can be seen clearly here as Moses begins his words with the transitional phrase, "So then, Israel..."  This transitional phrase hearkens back to God's wonders and powers spoken of earlier.  In the NT, the Call to Obedience is usually some version of "So then, followers of the Christ, because of what God has done in Christ, I call you to..."  Here the call begins as the people recall God's faithfulness to the children of Israel.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is little hint of either Law or Gospel in this text.  The Law functions to show us our need for Christ.  One could argue that verse 9 hints at this when Moses  exhorts the people to "take care and watch yourselves closely," but that would be an indirect use of the Law.  A Gospel function, whereby we hear of God's saving work, is also only hinted at when, in verse 1, we hear that observing God's Law brings life to the faithful.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  Moses is speaking to us.  We identify with the listeners.  We are the recipients of God's signs and wonders.  We are the ones called to discipleship.  We are those who gain life through Christ, who is the living Word, the true Torah, if you will.

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  Since neither Law nor Gospel are obvious in this text, we need to expand on what is suggested here.  Some possible couplets:  death/life; forgetting/remembering; foolish/wise.

5.  Exegetical work:  At least one commentator has written that Deuteronomy 4 is equivalent to Romans 12 in the NT. (Cousins, The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 289).  Paul writes in Romans 12:1:  "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."  It is the "therefore" of this opening sentence that equates with the "So, now" of Deuteronomy 4.  We are called to obedience in response to what God has done prior to this call.  Another point to ponder is the place that witnessing plays in this passage.  Moses instructs the people to be diligent in obeying  God's law for the result will be that other nations will regard them as wise and discerning, and as a people who worship an extraordinary God.  In this way, our obedience brings glory to God.  What this obedience also will give witness to is the nearness of God, as other nations say, "For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him?" (vs. 7)

6.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  Cathy Lessmann does a nice job of ferreting out the possibilities for Law and Gospel in her analysis of this text.  She contrasts God's gift of the Law with God's gift of the Giver.  She weaves in the Mark 7 text, also assigned for the day, in pointing out how we often confuse gift and giver.  See her entire analysis at crossings.org/text-study.

Blessings on your proclamation!

Real Food

John 6:51-58, the gospel lesson appointed for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost in the Year of Mark, is a text which has seen no little debate over the centuries.  Is a sacramental interpretation appropriate?  Is the fact that the writer uses a rather coarse word, "munching," for eating the flesh of Christ significant?  Are similar words in other texts regarding eternal life which speak of belief and unbelief helpful?  These questions continue to be debated.  One thing is clear:  Jesus is real food.  Jesus nourishes us.  How will we proclaim that?   That is the preacher's question.

(The following questions have been developed in conjunction with my brief guide to Law and Gospel preaching, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted. These questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but they work well with a host of other exegetical questions which seek to unearth the meaning of a text.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  This text is almost pure promise and as so it functions primarily as Gospel.  Look at all the promises:  "whoever eats me will live forever; those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day;  those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them;  whoever eats me will live because of me; the one who eats this bread will live forever."  There is one word of Law as well:  "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you."  We need food to live!

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is no call to obedience in this text.  The call to obedience is the Word functioning to invite us to live in response to God's work in Christ.  There is no such word here.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are the hearers of this Word.  We are the ones given these promises and assured that we have no life without the nourishing presence of Christ in our life.  We might even try identifying with those who dispute the meaning of Jesus' words.  Warning:  trying to enter into a dispute about meaning might lead to an unhelpful tangent.

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  There are a number of words in this text that naturally fall into couplets:  dead/alive; not eating/eating; no life/life eternal; dying/living forever.

5.  Exegetical work:  Raymond Brown, in his classic commentary, brings to mind an interesting patristic interpretation of this text:  "The Church Fathers recognized this contrast between the bread of life and the forbidden fruit in Genesis; for example, Gregory of Nyssa presented the eucharistic bread as an antidote to the forbidden fruit.  And if the bread of life in vss. 35-50 primarily represents the revelation and knowledge that Jesus brings from above, then it is not unlike the knowledge of good and evil that the first man hungered after." (The Gospel According to John I-XII, p. 279)  Gerard Sloyan offers some wisdom regarding how much we buy into a single interpretation of this text, noting that even Augustine "was found on all sides of the question [of interpretation]: urging eating as belief; assuming a sacramental eating; seeing the food and drink as symbolic members of a church predestined to glory - amongst other interpretations."  Sloyan summarizes his thoughts with this statement:  "Consequently, anyone who maintains publicly that any segment of this chapter bears but a single interpretation blunders through a misplaced certitude." (Interpretation Series, John, p.74)  Craig Koester, in the appendix to his helpful book on Johannine symbolism argues convincingly that "to eat is to believe."  (Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel, p. 103) Particularly helpful is his point that "taking eating as a synonym for faith also makes the passage consistent with the rest of John's gospel, and the NT generally..." (Ibid., p. 304-305)

6.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  In the most recent post on this text, Bruce Modahl does a very fine analysis showing how our penchant to be "picky eaters" ends in our starvation.  See crossings.org/text-study for the entire analysis.

7.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  David Buttrick always cautioned preachers to count the number of 'moves' they made in the sermon.  Our listeners can only absorb so many.  This is always sound advice.

Blessings on your proclamation!