God the Street Vendor

Isaiah 55:1-5, the First Reading appointed for the 9th Sunday in Pentecost in the Year of Matthew, is unusual because God sounds like a marketplace merchant - a street vendor.  "Ho, everyone who thirst," the vendor cries.  Everyone?  It will be the preacher's task to make clear that God means exactly what God says here: everyone who is thirsty is invited.  Perhaps recognizing our thirst is our biggest obstacle.

(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive but have been developed to answer questions which are important for Law and Gospel preachers.  These questions center on how the Word is functioning in the text.  To learn more about this method and Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide to Law and Gospel preaching, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  The Word here is almost completely a gospel word.  God is offering water, wine, and milk to everyone who thirsts, and there is no price.  God is inviting all to listen and eat what is good and delight in abundance.  God is promising to make an everlasting covenant with all who will enter into his embrace.  This is a gospel word.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  The Law is not present except in the form of a question:  "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?"  The Law is clearly present here as God calls into question futile ways of living.  Yet, God is not condemning here, but rather pleading, therefore it is a 'softer' form of the Law.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are the hearers of this text.  God is speaking to us for we are those who so easily spend all we have in futile, senseless pursuits which do not lead to life.  We are the ones whom God is pleading with.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  This text is a call to faith, not a call to obedience.  God is calling to us to trust in the covenant offered to us.  God is pleading with us to believe in the gifts God is offering.  This is a call to faith.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  The two futile pursuits named in verse 2 give us some fodder for couplets:  not bread/bread of life; not satisfied/filled to overflowing.

6.  Exegetical work:  The Hebrew text is illuminating in verse 2.  A rough translation which is more direct could be, "Why are you weighing out a piece of silver for fake bread, and bartering your labor for worthless fillers?"  The Hebrew lifts up the futility and foolishness of such transactions.  Claus Westermann, in his classic commentary, says God is like a water seller here.  "The repetition of 'come' and 'buy" is an imitation of street vendors." (The OT Library series, Isaiah 40-66, p. 282).  It is interesting that God, the merchant, not only invites all to come and partake without price, but God also steers the listeners away from other vendors who are selling worthless items.  Luther is quick to identify the life-giving merchandise as the grace God gives.  Luther says, "They labor for that which is not bread.  Note therefore that all righteousness outside of grace is toilsome and futile... Thus you see that the prophet is calling us away from our own righteousness in highly forceful and dramatic words and is directing us to the free righteousness of God."  (Luther's Works, vol. XVII, p. 251). 

7.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  This text might be a good one to remember Eugene Lowry's advice that the preacher is well-served to conceive the sermon as a plot wherein we move the listener into disequilibrium and then back to equilibrium.  This text seems to lend itself to such an approach.

Blessings on your proclamation!

God's Hidden Work

Matthew 13:31-33,44-52, the gospel reading appointed for the 8th Sunday in Pentecost, is a series of parables, all of which are introduced by the phrase, "The kingdom of heaven is like..."  It will be important for the preacher to spend some considerable time exploring the meaning of the phrase, "kingdom of heaven."  Many scholars are quite clear that the kingdom is not a realm but a reign (Kittel), and knowing this will color our understanding greatly.  How then does one preach a realm?  That is the preacher's riddle to unravel.

(The following questions are taken from a method developed to explore fundamental questions of Law and Gospel preachers around the function of the Word.  These questions are used most effectively when they are used in conjunction with other fine sets of questions available to exegetes. To learn more about 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?  This text functions mostly as Gospel in that the four parables which are told - the mustard seed, leaven, treasure, pearl - are either evidence of what God is up to (mustard seed and leaven) or the joy that comes from discovering what God is up to. (treasure and pearl).  The Law comes to play in the final parable about the dragnet.  Here is a clear warning that someday there will be an accounting, and some will be found lacking.

2.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are certainly those to whom these teachings are addressed.  Do we identify with the farmer who sowed the mustard seed or the woman who hid the leaven?  Probably not, since the actor there we assume is God.  Do we identify with the ones who found the treasure and the fine pearl?  Yes, since it is our joy to catch glimpses of the kingdom amongst us.  Where do we land in the parable of the dragnet?  Perhaps it is best to identify with the 'fish of every kind.'

3.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The call in this text is the call to faith, not the call to obedience, since we become a part of the kingdom only through faith.  It is tempting to see these parables as calls to "sow little seeds" or "hide a little leaven" but that is a misuse of these parables.  It is God's business to do the sowing and the leavening.

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  Since the Law is evident only in the final parable, we shall have to use our imaginations to create couplets that speak to all these parables. Some possibilities:  barren ground/seed planted; lifeless loaf/bread for all.

5.  Exegetical work:  Gerhard Kittel has an extended article in his Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) on the term 'basileia'.  This article is most helpful.  One excerpt:  "[The kingdom of heaven] refers to the lordship which comes down from heaven into the world.  If so, this gives us two important insights.  The first is the plain reassurance that the essential meaning is reign rather than realm. The second is the related indication that this reign cannot be a realm which arises by a natural development of earthly relationships or by human efforts, but it is one which comes down by divine intervention."  (TDNT, Vol. 1, p. 582)  One other passage:  "[The question] is not...whether or how we men may have the kingdom of God as a disposition in our hearts, or whether we may represent it as a fellowship of those thus minded.  The question is whether one belongs to it or not." (TDNT, Vol. 1, p.585)    Douglas Hare, in his commentary, concurs:  "Despite all the ethical injunctions of the Gospels, the central thought is that the kingdom of heaven is something God is doing, that is, it is to be received as a gift.  The kingdom of heaven is not something that can be acquired...it is a sphere into which one enters."  (Interpretation series, Matthew, p. 158)  David Buttrick, in his commentary on the parables says it this way:  "The kingdom is not possessed but lived in!"  (Speaking Parables, p. 102).

6.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  Steve Albertin has several analyses archived for this text.  I like the one entitled "One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure."  In this analysis Albertin argues that we are often blind to the hidden things of God that are all around us.  Because of this blindness, we eventually find ourselves completely adrift from God.  God, however, always sees the treasures which are hidden, and even counts us all as treasures, righteous through Christ's work.  See the entire analysis, and others archived under the text at crossings.org/text - study.org.

Blessings on your proclamation!

Not Under Law but Under Grace

Romans 6:12-23, the Second Reading appointed for the 4th Sunday of Pentecost in the Year of Mark is a passage filled with celebration.  Principally the announcement is that we are no longer slaves of sin, for we are not "under the law but under grace."  What a marvelous announcement this is.  It will be the preacher's task to announce this with all the robustness one can muster.

(The following questions have been developed in order to unearth the answers to simple questions regarding how the Word is functioning, a principal concern of Law and Gospel preachers. For more information on this method, and Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available at wipfandstock.com or amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  In this text, the Word is functioning in all the ways it can.  It opens with a clear call to obedience in verses 12-13:  "Do not let sin exercise dominion...  No longer present your members to sin... present your members to God."  Then vs. 14 goes directly to the announcement of the Gospel:  "..you are not under law but  under grace."  Verses 15-16 are rhetorical questions leading us to the second announcement of the Gospel in verses 17-18: "[you] have become obedient from the heart... having been set free from sin, [you] have become slaves of righteousness." Verse 19 returns to the imperative form where we have another call to obedience.  Verses 20-21 are perhaps the strongest statements of Law in this text:  "The end of those things is death."  The final verses return to a statement of the Gospel, ending with the oft-quoted line, "The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  Even though there is a hint of Law in verses 20-21, this text does not include a call to repentance or a point at which the text functions to point out our need for a Savior.  That need is implicit in all that is said about "the wages of sin," but there is no direct call to flee from sin.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are those to whom this is addressed.  We know all about sin having dominion over us and leading us into a death spiral.  We also know the joy of being freed from sin and given new life in Christ.

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  The text provides all the vocabulary we need for couplets in this case:  death/life; bondage/freedom; law/grace.

5. Exegetical work:  It is interesting how writers, from ancient to modern, note the incompatibility of living in sin with life under the realm of grace.  Note what 4th century theologian, St. Chysostom has to say, "It is absurd for those who are being led toward the kingdom of God to have sin ruling over them or for those who are called to reign with Christ to choose to be captive to sin, as if one should throw down the crown from his head and choose to be the slave of a hysterical woman who comes begging and covered in rags." (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scriptures, NT, vol. VI, p. 163).  The Spanish theologian of the Reformation era, Juan de Valdes wrote this:  "Christians indeed abstain from things prohibited by the law, not because the law prohibits them, but because they are unsuitable to the man or woman who is dead to sin and alive to God."  (Reformation Commentary on Scriptures, NT, vol. VII, p. 341).  Ernst Kasemann, in his classic commentary, put it succinctly:  "With baptism a change of lordship has been effected."  (Commentary on Romans, p. 179).  Finally, Paul Achtemier, writing in the Interpretation series, said, "If, by freeing us from the domination of sin bequethed to us as heirs of Adam... baptism alters our past, it also alters our future."  "We are members of a new race, whose goal for the first time can be something other than rebellion against God and ensuing death." (Romans, p. 105).

6.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  In 2014, Ron Starenko wrote an insightful analysis of this text called "Slaves, One Way or Another."  He talks about the realm under which we live, whether it is the realm of sin leading to death, or the realm of Christ leading to life.  The entire analysis may be seen archived under its reference at crossings.org/text-study.

Blessings on your proclamation!

Freedom not To Sin, but From Sin

Romans 6:1b-11 is the Second Reading for the Third Sunday in Pentecost in the Year of Mark.  This passage is the second in a long line of readings from Romans which will take us through much of the Pentecost season.  To understand these verses it is essential to look back at chapter 5, where in verse 20 we read, "but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."  In other words, the act of obedience by Christ we see on the Cross is such that no matter how great the sin, grace covers it.  This is, of course, good news.  Romans 6 then asks the question, "Now what?"  It will be the preacher's task to take up this question.

(The following questions are part of a method developed for Law and Gospel preachers around one main issue:  how does the Word function in the text?  The contention is that the way the Word functions is the way the sermon built on this Word must function - at least in part.  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?  This text is largely Gospel. We are told we have been baptized into the death of Christ, buried with him, and raised with him to walk in newness of life.  We are also told that we will be united with Christ in a  resurrection like his, that we are no longer enslaved to sin, that death no longer has dominion over Christ or us, and that we shall live with Christ.  Certainly all this is good news.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  In a text that is so full of mention of sin and death, it seems strange to say that the Law is not present, but that seems to be the case.  There is clearly acknowledgement that sin and death are powerful and working to undermine the work of Christ, but there is no word that calls us to repentance.  The Word here is celebrating the end of the Law, which Paul will delve into more deeply later.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are those who ask the rhetorical question that begins this text:  "Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?"  Or, as one young boy said to the preacher on the way out of church one Sunday, "Now I get it:  I like to sin, and God likes to forgive sin, so we're both happy!"  We are the ones Paul addresses here, showing us how we must regard ourselves.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The call to obedience here is in the last verse:  "So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."  This is a classic call to obedience where we are invited to live in a certain way in response to God's work in Christ.  This is a command, an imperative, exhorting us to look upon ourselves anew.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  All of the language for couplets is available right within this text:  dead/alive; enslaved/free; buried/raised.

6.  Exegetical work:  Scholars down through the ages have acknowledged the ongoing struggle we all have with sin, even as baptized people of faith.  St. Chrysostom, 4th century theologian, wrote, "Paul says: Consider yourselves... because complete freedom from sin is not a reality as yet... We are told to live for God in Jesus Christ our Lord and to lay hold of every virtue, having Jesus as our ally in the struggle." (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT, vol. VI, p. 162).  Martin Luther quotes Augustine who said, "Until our body is raised to life, and death is swallowed up in victory, our evil desires will afflict us." (Luther's Works, vol. 25, p. 308f)  In a classic commentary, James G. Dunn, had this to say: "The very real dying of believers is a lifelong process: they do not sever all links and relationships with this world until the death of the body.  How can they?  But in the meantime they must let the death of Christ come to increasing effect in their own lives."  (Word series, Vol. 38A, Romans 1-8, p. 331).  Contemporary theologian, Michael Gorman, makes it clear that the dying and rising we experience in baptism have lifelong implications:  "...the language of dying and rising with Christ in baptism is Paul's way of saying two main things: first, that initiation into Christ is a 'death' to one way of existence and a 'resurrection' to a new way of life; and second, that this initiation is a participation in the story of Christ." (Preaching Romans; Four Perspectives, Scot McKnight and Joseph B. Modica, eds. p 71).  I like that; we now participate in the story of Jesus.

7.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  Peter Keyel, writing an analysis in 2017, summed things up very nicely by showing how we go from thinking we are free to sin because of grace, to realizing we are free from sin because of grace.  It is a very simple, straightforward analysis, which can be found archived under the reference at crossings.org/text-study.

Blessings on your proclamation!

Our Collaborating Creator

On Trinity Sunday in the Year of Matthew we read the creation story found in Genesis 1:1-2:4a.  It is a grand, sweeping account of God's hand in the creation of all things.  Martin Luther, in his extensive commentary on this account, said that it is no mere happenstance that the Hebrew word for God - Elohim - used in this story, is plural; it refers to the Trinity, said Luther.  Indeed, when the account of the making of human beings is noted in vs. 26, God says, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness..." further supporting Luther's claim.  In any case, we have the three Persons present as the Father creates through the Word while the Spirit hovers.  It will be the preacher's task on this Trinity Sunday to lift up this marvelous mystery.

(The following questions are not meant to be sufficient in themselves, but are best used in conjunction with other fine sets of questions which exegetes can use to mine the treasures of a text. These questions are an attempt to understand how the Word is functioning in this text, a particular concern of Law and Gospel preachers.  For more on Law and Gospel preaching and this method, 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 as both Law and Gospel, but in starkly varying amounts.  The Law is present in only one place as the earth before creation is described:  "the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep."  This brief statement describes the earth in its most profound lostness.  There is nothing, but this immense emptiness.  It is beyond imagination, but it conjures up a feeling of abject despair.  The Gospel, however, is everywhere, as God is creating and blessing and declaring good all things.

2.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are those privileged to overhear God speaking at the outset of creation. God is not speaking to us, yet we are recipients of this gospel word because by this word, we understand God as One whose only wish is to bring forth a good creation.

3.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  Although we are only overhearing God's speech, we understand through this word that we are to "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it."  This is a call to all humankind to be good stewards of the good creation which God has made, a form of a call to obedience.

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  We could perhaps think of many couplets but we can start with the language of the text:  darkness/light; formless void/the heavens and earth; evil/very good.

5.  Exegetical work:  Ancient writers had much to say about the plural image of God in this text.  Both Gregory of Nyssa and St. Chrysostom picked up on verse 26 where the cohortative ("let us") is used and insist that this was the Trinity in conversation.  Gregory writes: "He did not say, as he did when creating other things, 'Let there be a human.' Instead, God deliberated about the best way to bring to life a creation worthy of honor."  And so Chrysostom: "'Let us make' suggests deliberation, collaboration, and conferences with another person."  (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, OT, vol. 1, p. 28)  As noted above, Luther also believed that this plural language was significant.  "But here, when He wants to create man, God summons Himself to a council and announces some sort of deliberation."  (Luther's Works, vol. 1, p. 56).  It is important to ponder this notion for when we understand ourselves made in God's image, we often think only that we are gifted with a special wisdom, insight, thoughtfulness, or God-awareness.  What these writers suggest is that being created in God's image means that we are wired for collaboration.  We are beings needing community, needing one another, unable to live fully while living apart from others made in God's image.

6.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  Since this creation account is so full of the Gospel word that God is creating all good, it will be important to follow Henry Mitchell's advice to never short-change celebration in a sermon.  Be the first to ecstasy, said Dr. Mitchell.

Blessings on your proclamation!

A Word of Consolation

This final text from I Peter, assigned for the 7th Sunday of Easter in the Year of Matthew, is all about comforting the afflicted.  These selected verses, 4:12-14 and 5:6-11, are one last word of encouragement before the final greetings and benediction.  Throughout the book, the writer has attempted to lift up God's care for these exiles, emphasizing over and over that they are precious in God's sight even in their exile, therefore they should not lose heart.  It will be the preacher's job to announce this word of consolation.

(The following questions have been developed as a way of answering some fundamental questions for Law and Gospel preachers, i.e. how the Word is functioning in the text.  These questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but are best used in conjunction with other fine sets of questions which have other concerns. For more on this method or 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 opening verses lift up "the fiery ordeal" that these hearers are experiencing, and in so doing hint at their need for a Savior.  These verses are not a word of Law, but remind us what is at stake.  These opening verses also hint at what God is doing on behalf of these hearers, for example, reminding them that "the spirit of glory" rests on them.  This is a hint of Gospel.  The more explicit statement of Gospel is in the final verse, where we hear that God "will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you."

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  As I said above, there is no clear statement of Law here, no Word that explicitly lifts up the hearers need for a Savior.  There is no call to repentance or other clear Word that, as Luther might say, breaks the rock [of our heart] in pieces.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  As per usual, we need to identify with those addressed by the Word.  This may be difficult for some of us in this case, since many of us Christians in the West are hard pressed to call to mind a "fiery ordeal" through which we have lived.  We will need the clear witness of persecuted Christians around the globe to help us hear these words.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  This text, especially the second portion, is primarily a call to obedience.  This is immediately obvious by the frequent use of imperatives in the second portion:  "Humble yourself..., Cast all your anxiety on him..., Discipline yourselves..., Resist [the devil]."  The tone is one of encouragement and consolation, yet it is a clear call to obedience, where the hearers are called to live faithfully in response to the trustworthy God who has claimed them as God's own.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  In this text, couplets will make use of some of the language present in the text, but will rely on our imagination.  Some possibilities:  reviled/blessed; devoured/rescued; weakening/restored and strengthened.

6.  Exegetical work:  Earlier in this book, the writer exhorts the listeners to be ready "to make a defense" of the hope that is in them, but to do it "with gentleness and reverence." (3:15-16).  Pheme Perkins, in her commentary on this passage, highlights how the writer is modeling this gentle and reverent defense even here:  "First Peter does not exploit early Christian apocalyptic convictions to demonize those who are harassing believers.  First Peter has left open the possibility that in some cases persecutors may become believers.  Although those who persist in hostility and disbelief will be condemned in the judgement, I Peter does not use that apocalyptic scenario to encourage a sharp division between an inner-directed Christian community and outsiders." (Interpretation Series, First and Second Peter, James, and Jude, p. 73).  Perkins also notes that even though the writer uses the imagery of the devil prowling about "like a roaring lion", there is no suggestion that this image of Satan is associated with the empire or those in power:  "First Peter has no hostility toward Roman rule.  Its attitude toward the larger society is mixed. The sufferings that Christians endure were caused by random individual attacks against them.  There is no evidence of a single anti-Christian policy." (Ibid., p. 80). 

7.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  In his 2017 analysis, Peter Keyel centers on the image of "the fiery ordeal."  This, for Keyel, is the Law in a nutshell.  He explores this thoroughly in the diagnosis.  In the prognosis, Keyel shows how Christ joins us in the fiery ordeal, himself becoming a sufferer with us and for us.  Go to crossings.org/text-study for the entire analysis.

Blessings on your proclamation!

A Hopeful Apology

I Peter 3:13-22 is the epistle reading for the 6th Sunday of Easter in the Year of Mark.  This continues the reading of this letter which, in many ways, is an exhortation to hope - a worthy task in the season of resurrection.  It shall be the preacher's task to continue to exhort people to a vibrant hope, and in this text, to be prepared to defend one's hope.

(The following questions center on the issue of how the Word is functioning.  This is a central concern of Law and Gospel preachers, since the way the Word functions is the way the sermon, at least in part, must 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?  This text is split up quite cleanly into two sections, verses 13-17 and 18-22, wherein we see the text functioning in the former section as a call to obedience, and in the latter as Gospel.  In other words, the initial five verses invite the listeners to live in a certain way because of what God in Christ has done for them, and the last five verses proclaim all that God has done.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is no clear word of Law here, no word that says explicitly, "You need Christ."  To be sure, the text speaks of enemies of believers, but it does not address the need for a Savior.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  As in all these readings in I Peter, we identify with those to whom these words were first written.  We are those for whom Christ has died, and those who are called to give a defense for the hope that is in us.

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  Although the text lacks examples of Law language, there is plenty of Gospel language, and so we shall simply design couplets using the Gospel terms. For example:  unrighteous/righteous; lost/brought to God; a guilty conscience/free of guilt.

5.  Exegetical work:  The word translated as 'defense' is a word which theologians know well. It is the word apologia, from which we get the words apology, apologist, and apologetics.  While the common use of this word is to express regret, in this case it is far from that. The word means to make a spirited defense.  According to Rienecker and Rogers, "The word was often used of the argument for the defense in a court of law and though the word may have the idea of a judicial interrogation in which one is called to answer for the manner in which he has exercised his responsibilities (Beare), the word can also mean an informal explanation or defense of one's own position...and the word would aptly describe giving an answer to the skeptical, abusive, or derisive inquiries of ill-disposed neighbors. (Kelly)." (Linguistic Key to the Greek NT, p. 758)  Fourth century exegete, Didymus the Blind, has this to say:  "We must be so well instructed in the knowledge of our faith that whenever anyone asks us about it we may be able to give them a proper answer and to do so with meekness and in the fear of God.  For whoever says anything about God must do so as if God himself were present to hear him."  (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT, Vol. XI, p. 104) 

6.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  To have the listener experience the text, that is always the goal of the sermon, said Fred Craddock.  How will we give our listeners an experience of this text?  That is the question.

Blessings on your proclamation!