Remembering God as Father and Potter

 

Isaiah 64:1-9, the First Reading appointed for the First Sunday in Advent in the Year of Mark, is matched very well with the Gospel reading from The Little Apocalypse in Mark 13:24-37.  "O that you would tear open the heavens and come down," declares the prophet. The boldness that begins this reading gives way, however, to a confession of sin which tempers this confident beginning.  In the end, we see that our relationship with God is key.  The balance between Law and Gospel is evident in this text; it will be the preacher's task to bring this forth.

(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but are best used in conjunction with other fine sets of questions available to exegetes. These questions have been formulated to get at a fundamental concern of Law and Gospel preachers, i.e.  What is the Word doing?  For more on this method and on 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?  Both Law and Gospel are evident in this text, partly as a result of the tone of the speaker.  In verses 1-5a, we hear much confidence in God's power and love.  The writer glories in the idea that mountains quake at God's presence, and nations tremble.  The transition seems to come, when in verse 5a the speaker realizes that doing right and remembering God's ways are a requirement of the people of God.  As a result, verses 5b-7 are a confession of sins and a recognition that apart from God we wither like a leaf cut off from its water source.  But then in verses 8-9 the speaker turns once again, saying, "Yet, O Lord, you are our Father," and later, "Consider, we are all your people."  So the Word functions first as Gospel (vs. 1-5a), then as Law (vs. 5b-7), and then returns to Gospel (vs. 8-9).

2.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We could take the place of the speaker throughout, if we please.  After all, it is common for us to express confidence in God on one occasion, and then on another to despair of our sins and recognize our dependence on God.  Another possibility is to choose to explore the confidence we have in God and the idea that we are the clay in God the potter's hands.

3.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The call to repentance which we see in vs. 5b-7 is not a call to obedience. Calls to obedience are always characterized by an invitation to live in a certain way in response to God's grace.  That is not what we have here.

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  From the two different tones in this text we might be able to imagine several couplets that would work here:  despair/confidence; guilty/forgiven; dried up/flourishing.

5.  Exegetical work:  The Lutheran Study Bible has some excellent notes on this particular passage.  It notes that this passage is part of a larger structure of Lament-Warrior-Promises-Warrior-Lament which encompasses all of Isa 59:1 - 64:12.  The text before us here, then, is part of the final lament.  (LSB, p. 1195).  Another item noted in these notes is that this section of Third Isaiah is "the only time this title [of Father] is applied directly to God in Isaiah."  "...The assumption is that a father...will recognize and help his children, no matter what might try to separate them." (Ibid., p. 1202).  Claus Westermann, in his classic commentary, also provides many helpful insights into this text.  He reminds us that the context for this passage is found in 63:19, where the speaker laments that "we have long been like those whom you do not rule, like those not called by your name."  Westermann translates this verse: "We are as thou hadst not been our lord from of old, like those who are not called by thy name."  (The OT Library series, Isaiah 40-66, p. 391).  It almost sounds like the speaker is saying that the people of God had been living like those whose god was not their Heavenly Father. Westermann also has much to say about the confession of sin in vs. 5b-7:  "What kindled God's wrath which vented itself so terribly on Israel was her unfaithfulness and transgression.  Now after the downfall of the state, this is admitted, and the admission is brought before God." "Its transgression made the entire nation unclean and polluted."  "It cut the connection with the fountain of living water, so that the nation withered like leaves." (Ibid., p. 396).  Westermann concludes, "...the entire psalm is designed as a question put to God by men (sic) who waited anxiously for him.  It also shows that men (sic) who spoke in this way looked to God and to his turning again towards them as the sole source of a change in their lot." (Ibid. p. 398).  

6.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  Eugene Lowry was keen on the idea that preachers must move their listeners from equilibrium to disequilibrium and back again if one was to preach the whole of Law and Gospel to them. This would be an excellent text to work that out.

Blessings on your proclamation!

A Flock Both Saved and Judged

 Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, the First Reading appointed for Christ the King Sunday in the Year of Mark, is an interesting text in that the first part is reacting to the situation described earlier in the chapter (i.e. Israel's false shepherds have been absent and/or worse in their shepherding), but as the chapter goes on, the good news that has started the section is no longer such goods news.  In an unexpected course of events, the good shepherd who announces his presence with the sheep also turns out to be their judge, judging "between sheep and sheep".  It will be the preacher's task to decide the balance between the good news which begins the passage, and the Law that inserts itself.

(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but are best used with other fine sets of questions available to exegetes. These questions have been developed to explore the function of the Word in the text, a central 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 and amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  There is lots of Gospel in this text, particularly in the first section.  Over and over we hear God say what God will do for the sheep.  God will search, seek out, rescue, (i.e. save), bring into their own land, feed, and shepherd.  Most amazingly, in verse 16 we are told that God's concern will include the lost, the strayed, the injured, and the weak.  What good news this is!  In the second section, which takes its context from verses 17-19, the good shepherd turns to judge for it turns out that some members of the flock are bullying other weaker members.  Finally, in the last two verses, a Gospel word returns, assuring us of God's plan to appoint a shepherd like the faithful King David.

2.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  It is always important to identify with the one being addressed by the Word, and in this text that means hearing both Law and Gospel.  In the early verses, we are the ones who have been scattered "on a day of clouds and thick darkness" (i.e. sent into despair and misery).    We are those who are lost, stray, injured, and weak, and we hear the promise of God coming as Good Shepherd as the announcement of a Savior.  But then, we must also identify with those who are judged.  We might ask, "Who do we push away and banish to the margins?  Who do we treat as plunder or booty, as something to be "ravaged"?

3.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The call to obedience is implicit in verses 20-22.  We are those who have been rescued and fed and protected. We cannot, then, fail to rescue, feed, and protect those who need our care.  Are we stronger than some others in God's flock?  Fine.  It then becomes our  call to care for the weak.

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  There are a number of possibilities in this text, given the colorful language used here:  lost/found; injured/healed; sick/well; stray/rescued.

5.  Exegetical work:  One cannot but help note in translating this text the emphasis on the very self of God doing the shepherding.  Notice in the opening verse that God says, "I myself will search for my sheep."  This emphasis continues.  Over and over God says, "I will do this."  In verse 15 the emphasis is heightened.  The NRSV translates it again as "I  myself," but the literal translation is, "I, I will pasture my sheep, and I, I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God."  In Augustine's sermon on this text, he notes this emphasis:  "The Lord did not say, 'I will provide other good shepherds to do these things,' but 'I myself,' he said, 'will do them.  I will commit my sheep to nobody else.'  (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, OT, Vol. XIII, p. 110).  Augustine also includes in his sermon an insightful view of those sheep who push and butt the weak.  He says, "If we lament the many sheep that are straying outside, woe to those whose shoulders and sides and horns have brought it about.  It is only the strong sheep who would do this. Who are the strong?  Those who rely on their own righteousness.  None but those who called themselves just divided the sheep and drove them outside." (Ibid., p. 112).  In this day and age when we are asking ourselves why so many are outside of the Church, these are words we might well take to heart.

6.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  Cathy Lessmann, in her analysis, does a nice job of separating Law and Gospel .  She borrows a bit from the sheep and goats in Matthew 25, the gospel lesson appointed for the day, and uses that vehicle to suggest a way forward.  See the entire analysis archived under its reference at crossings.org/text-study.

Blessings on your proclamation!

Peace and Security

 

The fifth chapter of First Thessalonians begins in the middle of St. Paul's glorious vision of the coming of the Lord. We have just been told how "the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven" and gather all the beloved to be with him forever. (4:16).  Now in 5:1-11, the 2nd reading appointed for the 24th Sunday after Pentecost, also aptly known as The Third Sunday of End Time, Saints Triumphant, in the Year of Mark, we have an admonition to stay awake.  "Let us live as people of the day and of the light," declares Paul.  This word is timely whenever it comes to us.

(The following questions have been formulated to get at a fundamental concern for Law and Gospel preachers:  i.e. How the Word is functioning. This is crucial since the sermon, in large part, will need to reflect this function.  For more on this method, 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?  This Word has lots of Gospel in it. That is to say, there are multiple places where what God has already accomplished in Christ is announced.  Note that again and again the apostle is reminding his readers that they have already been claimed by God.  They are beloved; they belong to the day; they are destined to obtain salvation.  Also in verse 10, Paul says that Christ died for us "so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him." This is pure gospel.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is little evidence of the Law here, although there are certainly references to God's judgment. The ones who say, "Peace and security" are assured of destruction, and some are apparently destined for wrath, but there is no evidence that Paul is calling his listeners to repentance.  Rather he is expressing confidence that they will be found in Christ.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  The Word addresses us as people of God.  We identify with those to whom Paul writes.  We too have been claimed by this generous God, and are no longer destined for wrath, but for salvation through Christ.  We are the ones called to remember these things and remind our siblings in Christ of them.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  This entire text is a call to obedience.  We have been claimed by God through faith in Christ.  We are people of the day and of the light.  This text is a call to lean into that identity.  Stay awake and be sober.  Be true to your identity as children of salvation.  This is the main thrust of this text.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  Using the language found in the text we can suggest several couplets:  asleep/awake; destined for wrath/destined for salvation; children of the night/children of the day.

6.  Exegetical work:  Beverly Roberts Gaventa, in her commentary, highlights Paul's claim that "the crisis of the day of the Lord does  not threaten believers, for they are 'children of the day'." (Interpretation series, First and Second Thessalonians, p. 69).  At the same time, she notes that the language of "a thief in the night" is not exactly comforting.  She writes:  "Believers may be 'children of light,' those who know that Jesus will ultimately return in triumph, but that does not mean that the present is anything less than a struggle." (Ibid., p. 71). Finally, Roberts Gaventa argues that the 'question behind the question' of times and seasons is the issue of security.  (Ibid., p. 75).  Our listeners might well have many questions about security.  This text, then, gives the preacher plenty of opportunities to address these concerns, assuring listeners that salvation is in God's hands, not ours, and we need not fear, for "whether we are awake or asleep we [will] live with him."  This echoes Paul's words to that effect in Romans 14:7: "...whether we live or whether we die we are the Lord's."  As said earlier, this text is primarily a call to obedience with a reminder of our identity as children of the day.  The day of the Lord, therefore, is not a threat to be feared, but a promise to be celebrated.

7.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  Steven Kuhl, in his 2014 analysis, rightly picks up on the places in the text where the Law is present, i.e. where some say, "Peace and security" and sudden destruction comes upon them, from which there is no escape.  In identifying this verse as the place of the Law, he agrees with Roberts Gaventa in that security seems to be the main issue.  For Kuhl, the crucial question in regards to security is not "When will He come?", but "Who will save me from the wrath to come?" The gospel is found in verse 9:  "...salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us." The complete analysis can be found archived under its reference at crossings.org/text-study.

Blessings on your proclamation!