Obeying God or What?

During the Easter season the lectionary appoints texts from the Book of Acts rather than from the Old Testament.  The First Reading for the Second Sunday of Easter in the Year of Luke is Acts 5:27-32, the story of the apostles' inquisition before the Sanhedrin.  It is a story filled with drama.  It will be the preacher's task to bring this drama to the listener.

(The following questions have been developed to lift up the function of the Word in the text.  These questions are best used in conjunction with other fine sets of questions with other concerns.  For more on this method and 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?  This text is almost completely accusatory and therefore the Word functions as Law.  The apostles' succinct statement says it all, "We must obey God rather than human authority." This is not only a statement of their loyalty to God, but for the members of the Sanhedrin, it is a revealing of their disobedience.  Not surprisingly, their reaction (in verse 33, not in our text) is that "they were enraged and wanted to kill [the apostles]."

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  The Gospel is only barely present in this text, where the apostles announce that God appointed Jesus in order "that [God] might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."  It is clear, however, that the members of the council do not hear this as Gospel.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  It is tempting to want to identify with the apostles here, but we are always well-advised to identify with those to whom the Word is spoken. In this text the Word comes to the members of the council.  We do well to ask ourselves when we have behaved as they are.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  Since this text is mostly accusatory and not instructive, a call to obedience isn't present here.  If there is a call, it is the call to faith.

5. What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  We will need to manufacture some couplets in this story, using the details we are given.  Some ideas:  opposing God/blessed by God; accusing/forgiving.

6.  Exegetical work:  William Willimon, in his commentary, summarizes the irony in this story:  "These religious leaders whose lives are supposed to epitomize complete obedience to the will of God have exchanged that sacred duty for the role of official power brokers and Roman quislings, whose job it is to keep their people from causing too much trouble for the Roman occupation forces.  Peter's speech has touched a nerve in their compromised hearts, for 'When they heard this they were enraged and wanted to kill them' (5:33)." (Interpretation Series, Acts, p. 57).  Matthew Skinner makes the case that this scene sets up the whole conflict scenario which will play out in the Book of Acts:  "...Acts uses this occasion to characterize the council, the same body to deliver Jesus to Pontius Pilate in Luke 22:66, as opponents of both the apostles and God.  Acts never reconsiders this; the rest of the story carries the indictment forward."  (Acts; Catching Up with the Spirit, p. 84).

7.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  Matthew DeLoera does an excellent job of bringing this text into the present day through his recent analysis entitled "Obeying God, or Obeying Ourselves?"  He addresses our delusions about our own motives and clearly shows how the Law is brought to bear in this text.  Go to crossings.org/text-study to read the entire analysis.

8:  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  The advice of Charles Rice was always to help listeners recognize their shared story in a text.  This text would be ripe for attempting to do just that.

Blessings on your proclamation!

Empty Graves

First Corinthians 15:19-26, the Second Reading for the Festival of the Resurrection of our Lord in the Year of Luke, is a piece of St. Paul's great treatise on resurrection.  He "places all his [Easter]eggs in one basket," if you will, saying that "if for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied."  In a phrase, all depends on resurrection. It will be the preacher's challenge to proclaim this provocative good news.

(The following questions have been developed to highlight the function of the Word in the text, a fundamental concern of Law and Gospel preachers.  The way the Word functions is what authorizes the way a sermon may function.   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?  The apostle's insistence that all depends on the reality of the resurrection, which indeed will happen, makes this primarily a Gospel text. This text is about what Christ will do:  destroy every ruler, authority, and power, and finally Death itself.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  The Law is only barely visible in this text.  The verses which remind us of our hopeless state without resurrection, and the presence of death, remind us of our need for a risen Savior, but they do not explicitly call us to repentance.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We might very well identify with those whom Paul calls out earlier in the chapter, i.e. those who say there is no resurrection of the dead. (vs. 12)  Undoubtedly this great mystery causes more than a few doubts to arise in our hearts and so we might be well served to admit to those.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The Word functioning to invite us to live in a certain way in response to the Gospel is not present here.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  We might take some terms right out of these verses to construct several couplets that could serve us well:  pitied/hopeful; died/raised; dead/alive, hoping in this world only/hoping in Christ.

6.  Exegetical work:  Kittel's discussion of the term katargeo, translated as "destroyed" in verses 24 and 26 is helpful.  "In the religious sense, which is almost exclusive to Paul, it means 1. 'to make completely inoperative' or 'to put out of use.'  As applied to God and Christ (a.), it signifies a religious benefit or liberation; as applied to men (b.) it denotes offence against a religious order or ordinance." (Theological Dictionary of the NT, vol. 1, p. 453).  Sixth century philosopher, Oecumenius says it this way:  "The principalities and powers will be abolished and will be left powerless."  (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT, vol. VII, p. 161). All of these voices capture the good news that is being proclaimed here:  the powers of the world, and finally death itself are rendered impotent, inoperative, and of no threat because of the resurrection of Christ.  This is the good news.

7.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  Steven Kuhl, in his 2014 analysis, does a nice job of lifting up the difference between hoping in this life only, and hoping in the life which Christ offers.  This analysis gets at the heart of our need for a Savior: we naturally hope only in this life where we live under the illusion that some control is in our hands.  What hope in Christ does is free us from the need for this illusion. See the complete analysis, archived under its reference at crossings.org/text-study.

Blessings on your proclamation!