A New Wardrobe

 

In Romans 13:8-14, the Second Reading appointed for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost in the Year of Matthew, the Apostle Paul continues his exhortation to believers.  Using a variety of metaphors he reminds the Christian community that his appeal is urgent in that "salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers."  Seeing that modern day Christians no longer have an expectation of the imminent return of Christ, it will be the preacher's challenge to convince listeners of the urgency of this appeal.

(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but they simply attempt to answer some of the fundamental concerns of Law and Gospel preachers around the function of the Word.  This is a central concern since Law and Gospel preachers understand that the way the Word functions in the text is, at least in some fashion, the way the sermon must function. For more on Law and Gospel preaching, see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com and amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  The grammar tells us clearly how the Word functions in the text.  The verbs are all either imperatives (i.e. do this!) or hortative subjunctives (let us do this!).  Given this, we know that the Word is functioning as a call to obedience.  Faith is assumed in the hearers of this text.  What is needed from them now is a life lived in response to God's gift in Christ.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is little hint of Law, and Gospel is entirely absent.  The Law is hinted at in the verse describing "the works of darkness," but even there we do not have a sense that Paul is describing our need of a Savior.  We will need to go to other texts to find explicit words of Law and Gospel.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We identify with the original listeners since we too are believers, and we too need to be reminded of the urgency of "putting on Christ."

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  Couplets must be created afresh from the vocabulary in the text when a text is solely a call to obedience.  Some  suggestions: darkness/light; night/day; living in the flesh/living in Christ.

5.   Exegetical work:  Anders Nygren, in a classic commentary, makes much of the metaphor regarding the proper 'attire' for Christians:  "According to Paul, the entire Christian life can be described as a constant putting off and putting on.  That begins with baptism. 'As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.' (Gal. 3:27)." (Commentary on Romans, p. 437).  Nygren also speaks of attire befitting "the new aeon." (Ibid., p. 431).  Ernst Kasemann would seem to agree with Nygren in his commentary: "Every Christian represents his Lord on earth as a member of his body, and his whole life is a constant return to baptism.  As Luther rightly says, standing on God's way is moving back and forth; it is always beginning afresh." (Commentary on Romans, p. 363).    It is instructive to recall that this metaphor of 'being clothed' is a favorite of Paul and the Pauline school.  In addition to this text and the Galatians text noted above, we see this metaphor in Ephesians 4:24 and Colossians 3:10, "...clothe yourselves with the new self," and in I Thessalonians 5:8, "put on the breastplate of faith and love."  It is clear that putting on Christ and living in love are equivalent.  Paul Achtemeier reminds us what love entails:  "Jesus, the incarnation of God's love, thus acts out that love in all he says and does.  He is a love that warns as well as comforts, that promises as well as fulfills.  But above all he is a love that gives itself freely for the good of others, even if that means death on a cross."  (Interpretation series, Romans, p. 210.)

6.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  Steve Albertin, in his 2014 analysis, does a fine job of highlighting the light and darkness theme that is present in the second half of this text.  He shows how the darkness of the Law results in our estrangement from God, while the light of the Gospel brings all things to light for our salvation.  See Albertin's complete analysis archived under its reference at crossings.org/text-study.

Blessing on your proclamation!

The Power of Grace

 

Romans 12:9-21, the Second Reading appointed for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost in the Year of Matthew, is entitled in the Lutheran Study Bible, "Marks of the True Christian."  I suppose that is accurate enough, however, that title sets up the idea that there are true and false Christians.  We know better.  We are all, as Luther said, simultaneously saint and sinner, that is to say, true and false Christians at the same time.  Perhaps this passage might better be understood as "Evidence of the Power of Grace."  Something to ponder.

(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but are best used with other fine sets of questions available to exegetes.  The intent of these questions is to examine the function of the Word in the text, something fundamental to Law and Gospel preachers.  To understand more about the method behind these questions and Law and Gospel preaching in general, 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?  All these verses build on what has been stated prior, which is to say, "You have been flooded with God's love; now pour out that love to others."  The Word here is functioning as a call to obedience.  Calls to obedience are always an invitation to live in response to God's love.  Nothing could be more clear.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  Neither the Law nor the Gospel are much present in this text.  As stated above, the Gospel, so clearly laid out in earlier chapters, is the basis for the response into which one is invited here.  Also, any notion that these verses are given to prove to us just how far we all fall short of God's expectations must be rejected.  These verses are not the Law, meant to show us our sins and how much we need a Savior.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  These verses can be assumed to have been written to us, the readers.  Paul is addressing Christians.  We are Christians, those who have been saved by grace.  God's power comes to us by this grace.

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  Since neither Law nor Gospel is present here, we will have to use some of the language to create our own couplets.  Some ideas:  Cursed/blessed; hungry/filled; overcome by evil/overcome by grace.

5.  Exegetical work:  Paul Achtemeier has an excellent way of understanding how this text functions.  He writes:  "Paul is not giving an inclusive law, complete with casuistic differentiations depending on changing circumstances.  Rather Paul is giving examples of the way grace is to provide the structures for the activities of Christians in their common life with one another within their Christian community. This is the way we are to respond to the grace that now orders our lives (vv.2,21)." (Interpretation series, Romans, p. 198).  He goes on to say that "Paul is not smuggling in the law through the back door, as it were, in his ethical admonitions.  The admonitions are not contrary to grace, they are the response to a grace taken seriously enough to shape one's life accordingly." (Ibid., p. 200). Michael Gorman, in his essay on this text, notes the communal context of these injunctions. He asks the question, "What specifically does ...a Spirit-infused... community look like?"  His answer:  "Fundamentally, it will be Christlike, and specifically cruciform, for each individual and the church as a whole has been co-crucified with Christ and co-raised with him to new life in the Spirit, a life marked by the pattern of cross and resurrection." (Preaching Romans, McKnight and Modica, eds., p.77).  Anders Nygren, in a classic commentary, suggests that this whole passage can be understood as life "in Christ," which, according to Nygren is equivalent to life lived "in love."  He notes the similarity to First Corinthians 13, suggesting a paraphrase as follows:  "Love hates what is evil, but holds fast to what is good.  It loves the brethren, and seeks to outdo them in showing honor.  Love never flags in zeal; it is aglow in the Spirit; it serves the Lord.  It rejoices in hope, is patient in tribulation, is constant in prayer," etc. (Commentary on Romans, p. 425).  Ernst Kasemann agrees:  "Verse 21 takes up again the heading in v. 17a and rounds off the section.  Only love overcomes evil by the doing of good.  This raises again the question whether love is not the guiding idea of the verses." (Commentary on Romans, p. 349).

6.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  David Buttrick was a champion for the listener.  He insisted that a sermon contain only so many 'moves', that is to say, sections of meaning, lest the listener be left behind.  In a sermon on the way of love, this will be important advice to heed.

Blessings on your proclamation!

Appealing Transformation

 

Romans 12:1-8, the Second Reading appointed for the 12th Sunday in Pentecost in the Year of Matthew, is a classic call to obedience.  All that has proceeded this chapter regarding the immense mercy and grace of God is now assumed, and the Apostle Paul is ready to offer ethical guidelines for believers.  It will be important for the preacher to be very clear that this is a word for disciples - for those who already identify as followers of Jesus.  This word is not meant to highlight sin, but to offer guidance.

(The following questions have been developed in order to lift up a fundamental concern of Law and Gospel preachers, i.e. How does the  Word function in the text?  This is crucial because the way the Word functions will be the guide, in large measure, to how the sermon must function.  For more on this method and on Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide to Law and Gospel preaching, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available at wipfandstock.com or amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  As can be seen by the presence of the imperative form in the first three verses, the Word functions here as a call to obedience.  A call to obedience is not a call to faith, but rather one that assumes faith and invites a person to live in response to God's work in Christ.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is little of either Law or Gospel in this text.  There is mention of "the grace given" to us in Christ, which is certainly a gospel word, yet it is simply assumed.  As to the Law, a word which lifts up our need of Christ, that is absent as well.  That said, it is clear that "conforming to this world" and "thinking more highly than [one] ought to think" are sure paths to disaster.  Yet, there is no judgement here on us when we fall into these patterns.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are the recipients of this word.  We are the ones who need to be exhorted to allow God to transform us into what is "good, acceptable, and perfect."  We are the ones who need to be reminded to think of ourselves "according to the measure of faith that God has assigned."  We are the ones that need reminding that we are members, one of another.

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  Couplets in the case of an exclusively call-to-obedience text must be fashioned using the available language.  Some possibilities:  conforming to this world/transformed into the likeness of Christ; will of this world/will of God.

5.  Exegetical work:  Lenski, in his classic commentary, notes the fundamental assumption of this text, seen in the Greek word oun , translated 'therefore' in verse one:  "Oun reaches back much farther.  The phrase about God's compassions removes all vagueness by fixing our attention on all that Paul has said about the mercy of God as the source of our justification."  He goes on to quote Luther:  "He does not say, 'I command you!' for he is preaching to those who are already Christians and godly through the faith in the new man..." (Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, p. 746).  Luther has much to say about the resistance of the Christian to these exhortations:  "For whenever God gives us a new degree of grace, He gives in such a way that it conflicts with all our thinking and understanding.  Thus he who then will not yield or change his thinking or wait, but repels God's grace and is impatient, never acquires this grace." Luther goes on: "Therefore every Christian ought to rejoice most heartily when something is done which is diametrically contrary to his own thinking, and he ought to be in the greatest fear when it goes according to his own thinking."  (LW, XXV, Lectures on Romans, pp. 438-439).  Ernst Kasemann is a bit more generous in his understanding of the human condition, offering this perspective:  "To ask what pleases God may concretely agree again and again with what mankind and the world regard as necessary and desirable.  But it may also deviate from this, since it stands dialectically opposed both to the idolizing of the world and to its despising, both to seeking the world and fleeing it."  (Commentary on Romans, p. 331).  Finally, I like Paul Achetemeir's suggestion that saving grace brings with it reforming grace:  "Grace brings with itself specific structures.  It brings with itself the power to reshape and restructure our lives in a way appropriate for life under the lordship of God rather than under the lordship of sin."  (Interpretation series, Romans, p. 194).  

6.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  In 2017, Michael Hoy offered an elegant analysis of this text by contrasting "Unacceptable Sacrifice" with Christ's "Acceptable Sacrifice."  Hoy shows how sacrifice is often part of our life, but in the final analysis, only the sacrifice of Christ is sufficient.  The entire analysis can be seen archived under its reference by going to crossings.org/text-study.

Blessings on your proclamation!

All Are Welcome? That's Radical!

 

Isaiah 56:1, 6-8, the First Reading appointed for the 11th Sunday in Pentecost in the Year of Mark, is a text that announces God's radical welcome.   "My house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples," says Yahweh in this text.  This is both bad news and good news for us whose view of grace is infinitely smaller than God's.  It will be the preacher's challenge to bring both the Law and Gospel to bear in this sermon.

(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive; they are meant to be used in conjunction with other fine sets of questions available to exegetes.  These questions have been developed to lift up a particular concern:  how is the Word functioning in this text?  This is a fundamental concern of Law and Gospel preachers.  For  more on this method and Law and Gospel preaching in general 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 first half of verse one is a command, otherwise this entire text is an announcement about what God will do.  How does God's announcement sound to us? That is the question.  If we are the foreigners, this announcement sounds like Gospel; if we are accustomed to being insiders amongst God's people this might not sound like Gospel at all.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  The text itself is not literally a Law text, but it can function as that because of our hard-heartedness.  We might hear this announcement and say, "What dya mean, all people?  Have we no standards?!"

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  It is important to identify with those to whom the Word is spoken, and this Word is spoken to God's people, announcing to them God's radical welcome.  It is important to note that in the last verse of the text God reminds them that the same God who welcomes all, has welcomed the outcasts of Israel.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The clear call to obedience is in the opening line:  "Maintain justice and do what is right."  This is the command to God's people who have lived under the grace and mercy of God.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  We can imagine a number of couplets simply based on the situation presented here:  excluded/welcomed; repelled/drawn towards; unacceptable/acceptable; outcasts/favorites.

6.  Exegetical work:  It is sometimes instructive to note the stem form of a Hebrew verb in a text.  In verse 7 there are several times that the causal form is used.  We could then literally translate verse 7 as God saying, "These I will cause to come to my holy mountain, and I will cause them to rejoice in my house of prayer."  This form of the verb lifts up God's direct agency in the drawing of these people to Zion.  Clearly God is the active one in this welcome event.  Luther, in his lectures on this text, understood God to be saying, "I will not stop gathering, because they do not stop being scattered.  Satan does not stop scattering, and so I will not stop gathering." (LW, vol. 17, p.264)  Claus Westermann notes an interesting incentive to this text.  He noted that this text is post-exilic and it comes to "a small band of people living in a time of disillusionment after the end of the exile and the return."  He surmises that this struggling remnant now realized that their survival meant welcoming those whom previously had been unwelcome. "[There is] a radical change in the idea of the chosen people.  Membership ceases to be based on birth and now depends on resolution, the resolve to take one's god the God of Israel."  He even suggests that this change actually produced a change in identity:  "The acceptance of foreigners' sacrifice means that, properly speaking, they cease to be foreigners." (The OT Library series, Isaiah 40-66, p. 305-315).

7.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  Charles Rice considered the primary task of the preacher to help listeners recognize their shared story in a text.  Tapping into experiences of being excluded and then included could be a great strategy for preaching here.

Blessings on your proclamation!

A Word for Troubled Trouble-Makers

The historical books of the Hebrew Scriptures contain some of the most colorful characters in the Bible.  In the First Reading appointed for the 10th Sunday in Pentecost in the Year of Matthew, I Kings 19:9-18 we meet one of these colorful characters; a prophet named Elijah.  When we enter the story Elijah has just learned that because of his victory over the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, Queen Jezebel has vowed to kill him before the day's end.  Elijah has fled into the wilderness, hoping to die.  God, however, has other ideas and sends angels to minister to him.  We encounter Elijah in his despair.  This story will touch any who hear it.  The preacher does well to let the story do its work.

(The following questions have been developed to explore some of the fundamental concerns of Law and Gospel preachers around the function of the Word.  This is crucial since the way the Word functions is precisely the way the sermon must function, at least in part.  For more on the method behind these questions and Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com and amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  This text is full of encouragement to a weary soul, and as such it functions as Gospel.  Already, prior to this text we know of God's care for Elijah through the angels.  Now we hear God speaking to Elijah and assuring him that spectacular powers - wind and earthquakes and fire - such as seem available to King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, his enemies, are not God's ways.  Rather the small voice that inspires a person to faith and service, that is where God's power resides.  Finally, God assures Elijah that he is not the only faithful one left in Israel.  This too is a gospel word.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is little Law in this text, little suggestion of our need for God.  Having said that, Elijah's despair is certainly evidence of our need for God, yet there is no Word of judgment here, no Word that suggests Elijah lacks faith or trust in God, even in his despair.

3.   With whom are you identifying in the text?  It is always important to identify with the one to whom the Word is addressed, and in this case, it is Elijah.  We too are fed by the hand of God on a daily basis.  Inspite of God's faithfulness, we too can slip into despair, living in a world like Elijah's, full of corruption, injustice, greed, violence, and wickedness.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  Near the end of the encounter, God says to Elijah, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus."  This is a call to obedience.  God has made clear to Elijah his love for him and now he calls Elijah to get up and get back at the work that he has been called to do.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  The state of Elijah is the clue to any couplets we could imagine for this text.  Here are some ideas:  despairing/rejoicing; hungry/fed; wanting to die/passionate to live.

6.  Exegetical work:  There is an interesting inclusio in verses 9 and 13 and verses 10 and 14.  The question which God asks Elijah is exactly the same in both, and the answer Elijah gives is also exactly the same.  What happens in verses 11 and 12 doesn't seem to effect Elijah - the wind, earthquake, fire and small voice.  Elijah is still in his funk.  But then God seems to say to Elijah, "Enough of this moping around; get on with your work."  In verse 15 God says to go back to the wilderness from whence he came.  It seems to be God saying, "The work that you are called to, get back to it.  Do not fear Ahab and Jezebel."  This notion, that the wind, quake, and fire are metaphors for the power of Elijah's enemies is picked up by the 16th century Puritan preacher, Thomas Adams, in his commentary.  He likens the wind to King Henry VIII, the quake to King Edward, and the fire to Queen Mary, all whom Adams claimed to have been exceedingly wicked.  Interestingly Adams said that the still small voice was heard during the reign of Queen Elizabeth.  Adams writes:  "And God came with this voice. This sweet and blessed voice is still continued by our gracious Sovereign:  God long preserved him with it, and it with him, and us all with them both." (Reformation Commentary on Scriptures, OT, vol. 5, p. 365)  Martin Luther referred regularly to this text in his talk about the church, "the holy remnant." In his commentary on Selected Psalms he says this:  "The church was, therefore so hidden at that time that it was nowhere except in the eyes of God." (Luther's Works, vol. 13, p. 89).  Again in his treatise on the Bondage of the Will, Luther refers to this text:  "For it is a characteristic of God to lay low the picked men of Israel and slay the strong ones." (Luther's Works, vol. 33, p. 86)  There are numerous other places in Luther's writings where it is clear that Luther, who is leading a small band of adherents, takes much comfort from this story of Elijah and God's assurance that there are yet "seven thousand who have not bowed a knee to Baal."

7.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  The experience of the text, bringing that to the listener, was the central concern of Fred Craddock.  This text is full of experience.  It will be the preacher's joy to bring this to life.

Blessings on your proclamation!