Being Rich in Christ

I Corinthians 1:3-9 is a text easily overlooked.  It is the Second Reading appointed for the First Sunday in Advent in the Year of Mark, and as such, it perhaps often goes unread.  What is clear in this text is that God's faithfulness, not ours, is what gives us confidence and hope as we await the coming of Christ.  As St. Paul declares, "God is faithful."  It is this good word that the preacher will be privileged to announce this Sunday.

(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 developed to highlight the function of the Word in the text, a primary concern of Law and Gospel preachers.  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?  The Word functions here almost completely as Gospel, announcing all that God has done and is doing to ensure our salvation.  This work of God results in spiritual riches of every kind and hope for the end of the age.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is only a hint of Law in this text, this hint coming in verse 8 where we read that God's plan is for us to be "blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."  As more than one scholar has noted, being blameless is evidence of the fact that the day of the Lord is a day of judgment.  This is the word of Law, revealing our need for a Savior.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are those receiving this word.  Important to note is that all the second person pronouns ("you") in the text are plural.  In other words, this is written to a community, not to individuals.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  There is not a call to obedience here.  The subject of all these actions is God.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  There are many Gospel words here, but few Law words, so we shall need to use our imaginations to construct couplets.  Some suggestions:  poor/rich; weak/strong; lacking/without lack; guilty/blameless.

6.  Exegetical work:  The plural pronouns are key here.  Paul is speaking to a community.  He thanks God that the community has been given grace, the community has been enriched, the testimony of Christ has been strengthened in the community, so that the community is not lacking in any spiritual gift.  Also it is the community that will be found blameless on the day of Christ, and it is the community that has been called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ.  It will be important to highlight the communal nature of this word of grace.  Also important to note is God's initiative in all of this grace.  As Richard Hays points out in his commentary, "[Paul] stresses that they are gifts of God; that is, they are not expressions of the Corinthians' own autonomous spiritual capacity or brilliance." "If the Corinthians can consider themselves rich (4:8), it is only because they have been made rich by God (1:5)." (Interpretation series, First Corinthians, p. 18).  Another observation that I am indebted to Hans Conzelmann for, is that this whole passage builds upon itself in such a way that you can almost feel the praise rising.  Conzelmann writes, "[The opening thanksgiving] style is not that of simple communication, but of solemnly formulated prayer of a Jewish type.  The latter is already evidenced in the use of the catchword eucharisto, 'to thank'.  The 'individual' element lies in the way the tone consciously mounts to the climax at the end, vv.8f." (Hermeneia series, 1 Corinthians, p. 25).  

7.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  This will be a great week to heed the advice of Henry Mitchell who always insisted that celebration be part of any sermon.  Given the abundance of grace lifted up here, the preacher should indeed find cause for celebration!

Blessings on your proclamation!

Complacency Called Out

 Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18, the First Reading appointed for the 25th Sunday after Pentecost in the Year of Matthew, is a rare text in that Zephaniah is all but ignored in lectionaries.  This particular text is thought to have been written either during or preceding the reforms of King Josiah, although scholars differ widely in assigning it a place in Israel's history.  Be that as it may, this reading gives us an example of a prophetic warning, a call to repentance.  It will be the preacher's work to also issue such a call.

(The following questions have been developed to help unearth the function of the Word in the text, a fundamental concern of Law and Gospel preachers.  This is a basic concern since the way the Word functions is the way the sermon must function.  For more on this method, see my brief guide to Law and Gospel preaching, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com and amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  Clearly the Word is functioning as Law.  The Day of the Lord is near, repent!  This is the clear message.  Indeed, in the verses immediately following these, we hear, "Gather together, gather, shameless nation, before you are driven away like the drifting chaff."  It must be noted, nonetheless, that this call to repentance is precisely directed at those who "rest complacently on their dregs, those who say in their hearts, 'The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm.'"

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is no good news here, no Gospel word.  That important word will need to come from other sources in this sermon.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  It is always important to identify with those to whom the Word is spoken, so here we identify with the complacent ones, asking ourselves, "How am I complacent?  How do I presume upon the Lord's indifference to my life?"

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The call to live life in a certain manner in response to God's gifts is not present here. This is a call to repentance.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  Since there is much Law here, our couplets will use that language, but imagine a gospel counterpart.  For example:  punishment/forgiveness; wrath/grace, distress/healing.

6.  Exegetical work:  It is very important to identify the intended audience of this diatribe:  In every case it is the complacent, the wealthy, the strong, the "towering" ones. This word of judgement is not directed at all people, but people lulled to sleep by their own wealth and security.  There are strong parallels here with the words of Amos: "Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the stall...who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph." (Amos 6:4-6).  Also, in the New Testament, the parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12 is a warning to the complacent wealthy.  Sir George Adam Smith, in his classic commentary, brings this text into our time by saying this:  "Here is the public temper, which at all periods provokes alike the despair of the reformer and the indignation of the prophet:  the criminal apathy of well-to-do people sunk in ease and religious indifference...The great causes of God and Humanity are not defeated by the hot assaults of the Devil, but by the slow, crushing, glacier-like mass of thousands and thousands of indifferent  nobodies.  God's causes are never destroyed by being blown up, but by being sat upon." (The Book of The Twelve Prophets, vol. II, p. 52).

7.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  Moving people from disequilibrium to equilibrium was thought, by Eugene Lowry, to be essential in any sermon.  In this sermon, producing disequilibrium will be easy; moving the listener back to equilibrium will be the challenge.

Blessings on your proclamation!