Lectionary Helps: Epiphany 6

Texts: Deuteronomy 30:15-20, 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, Matthew 5:21-37

Those who would elevate the "red letter" passages of the New Testament, that is, the words of Jesus, to a special status in an effort to blunt some of the moral demands found in other parts of the Bible need to consider carefully the words of Jesus in this little snippet from the Sermon on the Mount.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. (Matthew 5.21-26)

Jesus is not softening anything here. In fact, he is raising the bar higher than any scribe or Pharisee ever would. It is not enough to refrain from murder; you must also harbor no animosity toward your brother. Don't even insult him and be especially mindful of the eternal peril associated with calling him a fool.

It was lingering animosity that finally got the best of Cain when he murdered his brother Abel. But, if we read Jesus' words carefully, we will find that Cain's downfall was a bitterness toward his brother which had taken root long before he committed his heinous act. "So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you," Jesus says, "leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

Had Cain been in a right relationship with his brother when he offered his gift, God would have received it. But because Cain was not in a right relationship with is brother he was, likewise, not in a right relationship with God. Bitterness bred jealousy, and jealousy manifest itself in Cain's murderous rage. He had offered his gift from a divided and unreconciled heart, thus allowing sin to gain a foothold in his life.

Jesus calls us to a life of perfect love toward God and one another. We cannot be in a right relationship with God unless we are in a right relationship with one another. An inward orientation toward anger and bitterness will ultimately manifest itself in outward actions which cause strife, division, and even death. The life of holiness begins with an inward reorientation toward love, unity, and peace.

Lectionary Helps: The last word is a word of hope

24th Sunday after Pentecost: Daniel 12:1-13, Psalm 16:5-11, Hebrews 10:11-25, Mark 13:1-8

When Christians speak of the “eschatological hope,” they mean precisely what the term implies. The “last word” is a word of hope. It speaks of a world to come which is infinitely more glorious than the world that now is. Sickness and sorrow, pain and death will be no more. The incarnate Word himself, Jesus Christ, will reign in all his glory as King of kings and Lord of lords, his royal presence (parousia) being the centerpiece of God’s new creation.

Sensationalism has long been one of the more embarrassing excesses of Christian eschatology. It is easy to paint a very grim picture by taking particular apocalyptic texts from Scripture out of their literary and historical contexts and transposing them across two millennia to be arbitrarily applied to current world events. Jesus did indeed speak of “wars and rumors of wars,” of nation rising against nation “and kingdom against kingdom,” of “earthquakes in various places” and "famines" (cf. Mark 13:7-8). He also said later in the same discourse, “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place" (Mark 13:30). He was speaking specifically about events which were to take place within roughly forty years following his death and resurrection, culminating with the destruction of the Temple and the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans. Moreover, he was drawing a parallel between the ordeal his first disciples would have to endure during that period with his own ordeal of suffering, death, and resurrection which he was about to endure.

Any attempt to read into current events a parallel with the ordeal of the first century church cannot overlook the singular event which gave Jesus’ first followers the hope and the courage to endure in the face of relentless persecution. That singular event was, and is, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For in the crucified and risen Christ is embodied the “end” toward which all of history is moving. God’s “last word” is not destruction and death, but redemption and life. As Christ endured suffering before entering into glory, so must all who would share with him in that glory. Paul even goes so far as to say that “the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8:22).

Earthquakes and famines, wars and rumors of wars, suffering and painful sorrow are not the end of the world. Jesus, in fact, said such things “are but the beginning of the birth pains” (Matthew 24:8). They are reminders that we live in the midst of a creation out of sync with God’s purpose, longing to “be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). Such events do remind us that “the end is near,” but that ought not to inspire fear. Rather, it ought to inspire hope in the midst of all the suffering brought on by such events. For “the end” is Christ himself, and in Christ is embodied not the death of humanity, but humanity raised to the fullness of life; not the destruction of creation, but creation redeemed out of its bondage to reflect once again that glory which was “in the beginning.”

Lectionary Helps: Sealed and unsealed

24th Sunday after Pentecost: Daniel 12:1-13, Psalm 16:5-11, Hebrews 10:11-25, Mark 13:1-8

At the end of the book of Daniel, the prophet is instructed to "shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to an fro, and knowledge shall increase" (Daniel 12:4). Self-appointed prophecy "experts" have come up with some of the most outlandish interpretations of this passage which display a thoroughgoing ignorance of the place of Daniel's prophecy within the grand narrative of Scripture.

As a Jew living in exile in Babylon, Daniel received a vision concerning the events which were to take place from the time of the end of the exile to the coming of the Anointed One, the Messiah. He was instructed to "shut up the words and seal the book" because, at that point in history, this was all God decreed for Daniel and the exiles to know. A time would come, however, when the book would be unsealed and the fullness of God's plan would be made known.

Fast forward about 600 years. An elderly Jewish mystic finds himself in exile "on the island called Patmos on account of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus" (Revelation 1:9). While "in the Spirit on the Lord's Day," he hears "a loud voice like a trumpet saying, 'Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea'" (Revelation 1:10-11).

Note the similarities between Daniel and John. They both receive their vision while in exile. They are both told to write it down in a book. Note, also, the glaring differences in the instructions concerning their respective visions. Daniel is told to "shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end." John is told, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near" (Revelation 22:10).

In the grand narrative of the Bible, Daniel and Revelation are two parts of the same whole. When John begins to "weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it," he is consoled by one of the elders around the throne of God, who says to him, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals" (Revelation 5:4-5).

The book that Daniel had been instructed to seal is now unsealed. The fullness of God's plan for the redemption of the world has been revealed in Jesus Christ. He is "the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David" who "has conquered" the forces of sin, death, and hell through his life, death, and resurrection "so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals."

The instructions given to Daniel are consistent with the nature of prophecy under the Old Covenant. The mystery remained hidden, veiled, sealed until the time of its fulfillment ("the time of the end"). Under the New Covenant, however, the whole plan and purpose of God is an open book, unsealed, made known throughout the whole creation until the final consummation of history. As long as the prophecy was sealed, it was necessary for knowledge to increase, in order that the plan and purpose of God might be better understood as it continued to unfold. Now that all has been revealed in and through Christ, however, there is no excuse for not understanding it. Whereas Daniel is told, "Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase," John is told, "Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy" (Revelation 22:11).

Of equal significance is the warning at the end of Revelation to "everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book" (Revelation 22:19). The book is unsealed because it is complete. There is nothing more to say. God's Word is final. We add to it or subtract from it at our own peril.

Lectionary help for those who dare to go there

Dennis Babish from Breakpoint cites this week's Gospel text in his essay on a Christian response to the "Occupy Wall Street" movement.

How should a Christian respond to all of this? Are the protestors right, and should we support them? Or does God call us in a different direction?

Eric Metaxas points us to how God defines success. He tells us how Bonhoeffer came to realize that "God was not interested in success, but in obedience. If one obeyed God and was willing to suffer defeat and whatever else came one's way, God would show a kind of success that the world couldn't imagine."

God is telling us that success is not based on what car we drive, or size of house we live in, or even how much wealth we have accumulated over our lives. It is based, rather, on our obedience to His Word and the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

He shows us this through Christ's life, death, and resurrection. Jesus was always obedient to His Father's commands. By the world's standards Jesus was a failure and should be ignored, but through His obedience He attained the ultimate success and now sits at the right hand of the Father.

As Christians we should value obedience to Jesus over any worldly success. We should also recognize that every good thing we have comes from God, and not for our sole benefit but so that we can use it all to glorify Him.

Which leads me to my final point. What the protestors are promoting is what the Bible would call covetousness. There really isn't any such thing as "haves" and "have-nots." We all are "haves." If you read the parable of the talents, you will notice two things. First, each servant was given a different amount, not equally divided, and commanded to manage what they were given. God is not showing favorites. He gives us all different amounts of wealth, intelligence, creativity, and so forth, and commands us to manage what He has given us to His glory, not for our worldly success.

We also see that when the master returned and asked for an accounting from each, he didn't take from the two that were successful and give to the one that was lazy. Rather, he condemned the lazy one for not doing anything. He then took away the talents the lazy one had and gave it to the two that had much, and said: "For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 25:29-30)

Let none of us Christians be found, when Jesus returns, to be like the lazy one, not applying what we have been given. Let us not be among those who are demanding that we be given what God has given others. Instead let us be found content with what God has given us, actively obeying His Word and multiplying our talents for His glory.

There is some interesting preaching material for any who would dare to go there. However, as I am a stickler for interpretive accuracy, I don't like to rush into contemporary applications of ancient parables without a little historical background. N.T. Wright (Matthew for Everyone, Part Two, pp. 137-139) gives us some perspective.

The normal way of taking [the parable] is to suggest that Jesus is preparing the disciples for quite a long period during which he will not be present, and will have left them tasks to be getting on with. On his return they will be judged according to how they have performed. That, of course, can easily collapse into the "examination-system" understanding of Christianity once more. It doesn't have to, but it easily could.

But the real problem with it is that a story about a master and slaves, in which the master goes away leaving the slaves tasks to perform and then comes back at last, would certainly be understood, in the Judaism of Jesus' day, as a story about God and Israel. This is certainly how Luke intends us to understand the very similar story in his gospel (19.11-27). And if, as I've suggested all along, both the Sermon on the Mount and this final great discourse in Matthew's gospel are to be seen first and foremost as Jesus' challenge to his own day and the days immediately following, perhaps we should take this parable in the same way.

It then belongs closely with Matthew 23, where Jesus denounces the scribes and Pharisees. They, we may suggest, are represented by the wicked servant who hid his master's money. (A "talent", by the way, was a unit of money, worth roughly what a labourer could earn in 15 years. Our modern word "talent", in the sense of the gifts or skills that an individual possesses, is derived from this, precisely because of this parable.) In what sense had they been given something that corresponds to the gift of the talent?

The scribes and the Pharisees had been given the law of Moses. They had been given the Temple, the sign of God's presence among them. They had been given wonderful promises about how God would bless not only Israel but, through Israel, the whole world. And they had buried them in the ground. They had turned the command to be the light of the world into an encouragement to keep the light for themselves (5.14-16). They had been worthless slaves. And now, when their master was at last coming back, he was going to call them to account. The threatened destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple was to be seen as the master's punishment on the servant who had not done his will.

The emphasis of the parable falls, again and again, on this third slave, the one whose folly fails to respond to the master's generosity. Who then are the other two, those who respond appropriately to the master's trust?

They are, it seems, those who hear the call of Jesus and, on that basis, develop what Israel has already been given so that it now becomes something new. They are like the mustard seed in 13.31-32, which starts small and then grows large. They are the signs that God's kingdom is starting to bud and blossom. And now, when Jesus has come to Jerusalem to force the final confrontation between God's kingdom and the system that had resisted and opposed it -- then those who are loyal to him will be like those who have made wise use of the money that had been entrusted to them.

This setting means that any sense of a "final examination" is placed within a larger context, in which the grace and love of God are overflowing at every point. Yes, God does indeed long for people to use wisely the gifts they have been given. Yes, God did indeed come, in the person of the Emmanuel, Jesus the Messiah, to find out who within his chosen people had used profitably the blessings he had showered upon them. And, yes, once we have said this we can perfectly reasonably say, in line with the whole New Testament, that God will, still through the person of Jesus, sift and weigh everything that Christians do in the present life (see particularly 1 Corinthians 3.10-15; 2 Corinthians 5.10). All this is important and cannot be ignored.

But we must also, and always, insist that this parable and others like it do not give a complete picture of the creator God, the maker and lover of the world, the God who sent Jesus as the personal expression of his love. Remember where this parable occurs. It comes near the end of a story which is about to reach its great climax; and that climax comes when the son of man "gives his life as a ransom for many" (20.28). When Jesus speaks of someone being thrown into the darkness outside, where people weep and grind their teeth, we must never forget that he was himself on the way into the darkness, where even he would sense himself abandoned by God (27.45-46).