Confidence in God

 Isaiah 50:4-9a is the First Reading appointed for Palm Sunday.  It is, in the Book of Isaiah, the third of the Servant Songs.  We will hear the fourth of these songs on Good Friday as the Suffering Servant is no longer merely one who is struck and spit upon, but one who is "wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities."(53:5).  In this servant song we see hints of the suffering to come but a supreme confidence in God as Helper and Ultimate Merciful Judge.  It will be the preacher's task to preach this confidence.

(The following questions have been developed to explore the way the Word functions in the text, a fundamental concern of Law and Gospel preachers. These questions are not meant to be exhaustive but are  best used in conjunction with forms of exegesis common to students of scripture. 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 Word is functioning as a witness to God's unfailing faithfulness despite all evidence to the contrary.  It is a statement of faith in God, and as such it is performing a Gospel function. (i.e. God's faithfulness is good news).

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is little hint of the Law here.  Mention is made of the beatings, hardship, insults and spitting that have come to the servant of God, but there is no hint that this servant has been unfaithful.  Condemnations are absent from this text.

3. With whom are you identifying in the text?  While Christians hear Christ being described in this text, it is also fair to say that any of God's people who have suffered for being steadfast in their faith could be described here.  We can then, in this case, identify with the sufferer herein described.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  In a sense, this whole text is a call to obedience.  If we can understand the servant as a disciple of the Teacher, then this disciple is being lifted up as an example for us all.  Have confidence in God, we are told.  Do not shy away from your call!

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  The opposite of what this servant is experiencing will give us our couplets:  unbelief/trust in God; doubt/confidence in God; turning back/going forward in faith.

6.  Exegetical work:  Claus Westermann, that brilliant Isaiah scholar, calls this passage "an individual psalm of confidence."  He compares this passage to a lament, noting several similarities, but also noting that this passage is not the lament of one who is suffering for being righteous, but one who is suffering "in consequence of the office of being a mediator."  "Both [Jeremiah and Isaiah here] tell of a commissioning with the Word of God which involves its recipients in loneliness and suffering."  "50:4-9 represent the confession of confidence spoken by a  mediator of the Word."  (The OT Library series, Isaiah 40-66, pp. 226-228).  Abraham Heschel, quoting H.H. Rowley, says that "the servant is at once Israel and an individual... The servant is Israel today and tomorrow; but Israel may be all or a few or one of its members." (The Prophets, p.149n).  Ancient Christian commentators have, in unison, seen Christ in this passage.  Fifth century bishop, Theodoret of Cyr, will suffice for a typical view:  "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." (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scriptures, OT, vol. XI, p. 132).  Interestingly, Luther did not point, in his teachings, so much to Christ, as to the Church.  In his lectures on this text he said, "The rule of the church is not located in pomp and appearance but in the Word, even in the spoken Word, on which we may stand firm against all insults. For 'if God is for us, who is against us?'" (LW, vol. 17, "Lectures on Isaiah:  Chapters 40-66", p. 195).

7.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  It might be very important to heed the advice of Henry Mitchell and seek places to celebrate in a sermon on this text. After all, this text is mainly a witness to God's faithfulness. If we get bogged down in the insults and spitting of verse 6, we may well end up forgetting the confidence which concludes the text:  "It is God who helps me; who will declare me guilty?"

Blessings on your proclamation!

Children of the Light

 

The theme of light and darkness pervades the readings for the Fourth Sunday in Lent in the Year of Matthew.  The Second Reading is Ephesians 5:8-14.  In this reading, Paul is tapping into the First century Qumran community's understanding of God's people, who are "children of light."  It will be important for the preacher to distinguish that ancient understanding from any modern misuses of this text that suggest that darkness is, in itself, evil, and lightness (i.e. whiteness) good.  God's people are rightly described as children of light, regardless of race or ethnicity.

(The following questions have been formulated to bring out the function of the Word in the text, a primary concern of Law and Gospel preachers.  Other sets of questions are also helpful and can be used fruitfully in conjunction with these questions.  For more on this particular 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?  There is an unmistakable Gospel function here as the apostle declares, "Now in the Lord you are light."  This is an established state.  As Paul makes clear earlier in the letter,  we were dead in our trespasses, but now God has "made us alive together with Christ." (2:5).

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  Our former state (i.e. "in darkness") is noted, but that is our former state.  Therefore, the Word is not functioning here as Law, showing us our sin.  This is not a text which shows us our need for Christ, but acknowledges that that work has already been done.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are the ones who have been gifted by God with this new state, this new status as "children of light."  We are the ones being exhorted here to live in ways that make evident this status.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  There is much in this text which invites us to live the new life in Christ.  First, there is the general call to "live as children of light."  Verse10, beginning with a participle, reminds us that doing so means trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.  We are also exhorted to expose the "unfruitful works of darkness" wherever we find them.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  The darkness/light couplet is, of course, the most prominent.  Another couplet appropriate to Ephesians is dead in sin/alive in Christ.

6.  Exegetical work:  Kittel's extensive discussions around the terms skotos (darkness) and phos (light) are most helpful in understanding this text.  What Kittel makes clear is that Paul's use of these terms comes directly out of the Qumran community's dualistic use of the same.  "Two spheres in which we walk (1 QM 11:10), and which have their controlling powers, confront one another and determine the being of man."  "A good work is a priori impossible in darkness, 1 QM 15:9.  But this very principle is a summons to decision."  "From the standpoint of the covenant [the convert] views the whole of his new life as a constant movement away from the 'children of darkness' in the demanding of hatred for them 1 QS 1:9f.  The present battle in the world is a foretaste of the eschatological conflict, 1 QM; darkness will be done away." (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. VII, p.432).  "Darkness characterizes paganism as evil both as a sphere and as a state." "Darkness has its exousia (realm of authority)." (Ibid., p.442).  Ralph Martin, a contemporary theologian, picks up on this tie between the Qumran community and the wider Christian community:  "This title [children of light] is interesting not only for its association with the community of the Dead Sea Scrolls who also used this description to set off their group from the surrounding 'children of darkness', but for the example in verse 14 of a baptismal reminder.  At the commencement of their new life as believers these men and women have been brought in to the full light of Christ."  Addressing directly the quote in verse 14, Martin says, "The life situation of this snatch of early hymnody is evidently baptism, which was frequently known in the church as a person's 'enlightenment' and depicted as the rising of the new convert from the death of sin into union with the living Lord." (Interpretation series, Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, p. 63). 

7.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  The clear outlines between the state of "darkness" and the light of Christ are brought out by the concise analysis of Chris Repp in his 2017 analysis.  He uses a term of "spiritual Alzheimer's" leading to death to describe our state apart from Christ.  The Gospel word that we are children of light hearkens back to the beginning of the epistle where we hear that "Christ loved us and gave himself for us."  See this entire analysis at crossings.org/text-study, archived under its reference.

Blessings on your proclamation!

The Good News of the Cross

 

Romans 5:1-11, the Second Reading for the Third Sunday in Lent in the Year of Matthew, is one of the most complete passages in Scripture regarding the salvific work of God in Christ. The opening announcement that we have "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" is just the start from which Paul builds and builds.  It is therefore, a purely gospel text, and as such, it will be the preacher's joyful duty to announce its good news.

(The following questions have been formulated to help the preacher consider the function of the Word in the text, a fundamental concern of Law and Gospel preachers.  These questions are best used in conjunction with other fine sets of questions which have other concerns, thus adding richness to one's understanding.  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?  One can see quite readily that the subject of almost all the sentences in this text is God, and God is doing marvelous things.  God is justifying, pouring out love, proving love, and reconciling, all gospel actions.  The Word is announcing God's grace to us in Christ.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  While our state apart from Christ is lifted up in different ways:  weak, ungodly, sinners, enemies of God, there is no call to repentance here, no word of Law.  The Word does not function to accuse in this text.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are those described as weak, ungodly, sinners, and enemies of God.  We are also those who have peace with God because God's love has been poured into our hearts in Christ.  We are, in short, those who stand in need of Christ and have received Christ.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  If we can define the call to obedience as the invitation to live in response to God's work in Christ, then we can see that there is no such call here.  This will come later in Paul's letter.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  The vocabulary here is filled with couplets that might be useful in forming a sermon:  weak/strong in Christ; ungodly/made righteous; sinners/justified; enemies of God/reconciled to God.

6.  Exegetical work:  Commentators galore have explored this central text of the Christian faith, lifting up the many marvelous ways God is active on behalf of the world God loves.  Pelagius, a 4th century British monk, marveled in the love of God shown in the Cross:  "Why did Christ die for us when he had no obligation to do so, if it was not to manifest his love at a time when we were still weighed down with the burden of sin and vice?"  And again, Pelagius marvels in the result of this love made manifest:  "God becomes the object of love when he conveys how much he loves us.  For when someone does something without obligation, one demonstrates love in a special way."  (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT, vol. VI, pp. 131-132).  R.C.H. Lenski, in his classic commentary, notes the figure of "pouring out" that Paul uses in describing God's action:  "The figure used in 'pour out' is that of water.  Our dry, arid, lifeless hearts have poured out into them the love of God for us.  This may come upon us like a stream or like a rain of living water and change our hearts into fruitful, delightful soil. Again the means is the Word."  Lenski also suggests that our receptiveness to God's love is dependent on the Holy Spirit:  "How much of his love embodied in his gifts is poured out in our hearts depends on the receptivity which the Spirit is able to produce in us.  Let your heart not remain a thimble or a tin cup; let it be a vast lake."  (Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, p. 341).  Anders Nygren talks about our state as the justified: "When we believe in Christ, we thereby have, in a purely objective sense, a new status before God." (Commentary on Romans, p. 205).  Ernest Kasemann concurs:  "When God's love has seized us so totally and centrally, we no longer belong to ourselves; a change in existence has taken place." (Commentary on Romans, p.135).  And again: "The new creature stands, not on our morality, but on 'God for us and with us'." (Ibid., p.136).

7.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  Lori Cornell, in her 2017 analysis, picks up on the theme of weakness in verse 6 of the text.  She uses this theme to illustrate our tendency to trust in our own strength, pitiful as it is, instead of the strength of Christ Crucified.  See the entire analysis at crossings.org/text-study, archived under its reference.

Blessings on your proclamation!