Always wanting more
Commentary
With Augustine we can affirm that pride is the fundamental sin and concupiscence is its fundamental fruit. Pride manifests itself in America as we glory in the overall dominance displayed by our athletes (check the medal count!) at last summer's Olympic Games in Sydney. Our expectations were expanded as certain athletes excelled and reaped multiple medals for their efforts. Experienced athletes from prior Olympics returned to defend their titles and many of them did just that, as sportscasters talked just as much about it in anticipation as they did following the competition. The phenomenal Alexander "the Great" Kerulin looked shocked and dismayed to tears after losing the gold medal to an American farm boy out of Wyoming. It was not enough for him never to have been defeated in Greco-Roman wrestling in thirteen years and to have already won three gold medals in three successive Olympics. He wanted this one more medal!
As a human race, we are always striving for more and are usually not satisfied unless we achieve it. Sometimes this striving for more leads to some dire circumstances, like using illegal drugs to enhance physical performance in order to outdo the competition. Our decisions have consequences, some of which cannot be recalled or redeemed. This was illustrated by the International Olympic Committee stripping the Romanian gymnast, Andreea Raducan, of her all-around gold medal, even though the drug tested in her system was from an over-the-counter cold remedy advised by her doctor to stave off a cold during the competition. Is this the way it also is in terms of our spiritual journey through life -- striving for more, but always being left wanting something better? How does this affect our relationship with God? How does God respond to this in us?
Joshua 5:9-12
It is fascinating to note in the Bible how names carry such significance. So often they express the essence of an event or the character in a person and serve as a reminder of the judgments and mercies of God. Gilgal and Gibeath-haaraloth are such names that signify something more than just the mere utterance of the word that is haphazardly attached to a particular place.
Joshua had assumed the leadership of the people after Moses died. He led them into Canaan, crossing the Jordan River. This crossing was a mini-version of the Red Sea episode. There they fled out of Egypt; here they marched into the promised land. There the pharaoh was finally impressed; here the kings of the Amorites and the Canaanites were impressed (Joshua 5:1).
A situation had developed that needed redress. During the wanderings in the wilderness after the Exodus, a whole generation had arisen which had not been circumcised. Those that had originally come out of Egypt had been circumcised with the sign of the promise. But, because of their disobedience in the wilderness, they were not allowed to enter into the promised land. However, the generation that was born in the wilderness would be allowed to inherit the promise. But, they had not been circumcised. Now was the time to take care of that, so they would bear on themselves the sign of the covenant between God and the people, a sign that was originally given to Abraham (Genesis 17).
To commemorate this event of mass circumcision, the place became known as Gibeath-haaraloth, "the hill of the foreskins." It is a rather graphic name -- one that pictures in its utterance what was done at this place to keep in step with God as the people prepared to take possession of the land. It was, however, by the name Gilgal that the place would be called. The word Gilgal comes from the Hebrew word meaning "to roll." As God said to Joshua, "This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." God had done a new thing. (Is this, perhaps, a foreshadowing of rolling away the stone of enslavement to death?) Now that the people were poised to inherit the land, they needed to be reminded of what God had done for them. Naming the encampment Gilgal would do just that. The name expressed the meaning of their new status. No longer were they slaves in Egypt. They were a free people, ready to shine among the nations of the world. The reproach of their experience in Egypt was past, rolled away. Newly circumcised, they were ready to march forward into a future that God had prepared for them.
The land held that future. Whereas manna had been provided in the wilderness for their daily needs, it was provisional. Now, they needed to settle on the land and work it and from it produce their daily staples. The psalmist would express years later, "Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you" (Psalm 128:1-2).
What is worth noting in all of this is that God is judging his people and showing mercy on them at the same time. The circumcised were brought out of Egypt in a great act of deliverance. When they disobeyed God, they were judged and kept out of the promised land. Still, their children would enter to fulfill the promise. Circumcision would continue to be the sign of the covenant to which God would be faithful and the people would be called and recalled to be faithful. The new generation and the generations to come would experience the judgment and mercy of God in different ways as they lived on the creases of an unfolding history that would move the promises of God to greater fulfillment. The people would learn that God was serious about his purposes in the world and their role in bringing them about. The sign of the covenant would forever be before them (Gibeath-
haaraloth) and they would roll forward from the place of their encampment (Gilgal), remembering the new chapter that was being written with a new generation.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
"From now on ..." Something has happened to cause Paul to see things very differently. What was it? "From a human point of view ..." no longer works to grasp "the breadth and length and height and depth" (Ephesians 3:18) of anything. The psychology of change tells us that people will accept a new paradigm when they have had a significant emotional experience. What was this for Paul and the early Christians who were willing to put their lives on the line and behave differently "from now on ..."?
The context to understand these words can be found in 1 Corinthians 15 and also the two verses (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) that precede this text for today. Essentially, it was the death and resurrection of Jesus that presented that significant emotional experience for Paul and the church, such that "we regard no one from a human point of view." The originator of a new age theology is Paul, who announces in his gospel that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. Former things do not count the same way anymore. There is a new paradigm that has seized the imagination. That paradigm is the death and resurrection of Jesus, which announces what God has done and is now doing in the affairs of the world.
First, God has reconciled the world to himself. This has been done through the death and resurrection of Jesus. His "act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men" (Romans 5:18). His obedience reforms and makes righteous those who have been disobedient, but now trust in the unfathomable deeds of God rather than their own doings. The Gospel has superceded the Law (Romans 3:20-26) as the foundation on which to stand righteous before God. The writer to the Hebrews (9:26b-28) and 1 John (4:10) express this in terms of atonement theology. In Jesus, a new order has been established in which God has revealed his heart for the salvation of the world, definitively creating a new relationship between heaven and earth -- the cross of Christ being the new logo.
This opens the door to a new way of relating to one another on a human plane. Paul applies the reconciliation achieved between God and humanity to the purpose of his personal ministry as a follower of Christ. "All this is from God, who ... gave us the ministry of reconciliation" (5:18). There has been great dissension in the Corinthian church. Paul has been writing to these folks (probably at least three times!) attempting to iron out the creases that have wrinkled their witness to the gospel. Reconciliation is needed in the church in Corinth. Paul describes himself as an ambassador for Christ, appealing to them on behalf of God to get their act together. Their disagreeableness with one another means that they are at odds with God. As they live in the reconciliation offered by Christ, they will discover a new way to regard one another -- no longer from a human point of view!
Paul understands himself as an ambassador for Christ, speaking on his behalf to those who would claim to be followers. Talk about career confidence! Going right to the heart of the matter -- that what is at stake is not just one's relationship with brothers and sisters in Christ, but also with Christ himself -- Paul beseeches (doemai; to entreat, pray; the earnestness of this word is also expressed in 8:4 and 10:2) his Christian friends to "be reconciled to God." That is to say, return to the only ground on which to stand, the ground of Calvary, where Christ worked out the saving reconciliation that makes us right with God! It is from this ground that we can venture forth in right step with one another, modeling ourselves the reconciliation that Christ continues to work in the world.
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Ever since the wilderness wanderings, the people of God have had a fondness for murmuring. There was no exception in Jesus' day. The religious elite, namely the Pharisees and scribes, had a rather snooty attitude toward the more unseemly characters of society. When the tax collectors and sinners were attracted to Jesus so that they might hear him, these religious snobs took notice and immediately criticized Jesus' choice of company. Contrasting these two social groups, one can hear even more the biting irony of Jesus' words, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear!"
'Amartwlov, which is related to amartia -- the most frequently used word for sin in the New Testament as well as the Septuagint, designates one who has failed to live up to a standard, whether by action or inaction, intentional or unintentional. The tax collectors and thieves and prostitutes were numbered among those. If one wished prestige in the community, it would be a social gaff to be associated with the likes of these. How could Jesus make such a politically incorrect move as actually to eat with them?
Later in his Gospel account, Luke will quote Jesus as saying, "For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10). These are precisely the ones Jesus would want to eat with -- and talk with and laugh with and cry with and die with. So, it is probably with much glee that Luke clusters three "lost" parables in this "lost" chapter of the Bible. There are two, short anecdotal parables about a lost sheep and a lost coin, to which most people could relate. The gravity of being lost, however, is not fully sensed until the hearer enters the parable of the lost son, the prodigal one. Here Jesus is at his story-
telling best.
This story has been worked and re-worked from just about every angle -- the most familiar ones being that of the son, the father, and the elder brother. It might provide an interesting stretch of the imagination to relive the parable from the vantage point of the swine who shared the sty with this foreign species; or the harlots who helped him squander his money only to see him leave them more eager than he approached them, because he longed for more of what he truly needed; or the hired servants who observed all this and learned a great lesson on love from their master; or the friends who failed to go after him but were willing to celebrate his homecoming. What insights can be gained from an imaginative exploration of viewing this familiar story through unfamiliar eyes?
Application
It is rather sad to hear the reports on the state of health in America, notably how overweight we have become as a people, younger and older alike. Our consumption shows, both in our over-
sized garages and our over-sized waists. The manna of which we want more is not the true bread that feeds and nourishes us for life abundant and life eternal. Jesus, as the true bread that comes down from heaven (John 6:32-40), nourishes us in ways that keep us fit for daily life. The love that the father shows the errant son reflects the love of God through Jesus for us erring children; it is this love that fills us full of what we really want more of -- acceptance, forgiveness, belonging, joy!
The manna was provisional for God's people as they wandered in the wilderness until that time when they were able to inhabit the land and work it for the fruit of the fields; so too is the Lord's Supper for God's people as they wander the four corners of the earth until eternity when they will share in the marriage feast of the Lamb, the first fruit of all creation (see 1 Corinthians 15:20-28). There will be no need then for "more," because Christ will be all and in all (Colossians 1:15-21, 3:11).
There is a striking monument for peace in Ottowa, Canada. A solid wall rises out of the rubble of conflict. There are three figures on top, keeping vigilant watch. Etched in the stone is the word "reconciliation." Such a monument should be erected in Northern Ireland, Jerusalem, Yugoslavia, Africa, and Indonesia. With hot spots all over the world reminding us of our need for reconciliation, Paul's words strike a very contemporary note. The church can be present in any troubling situation with a clear word about God's intentions for our relationships: reconciliation. "We are ambassadors for Christ, [entrusted with the message of reconciliation], God making his appeal through us" (2 Corinthians 5:20). The church today has inherited the mantel that Paul wore in his efforts to bring peace to the Corinthian congregation. We need to wear it boldly. That means publicly! Rather than thinking of our congregations as enclaves to shield us from the world, we should understand our congregations as platforms from which to dive into the affairs of the world with a word that can truly satisfy our concupiscence for more which propels us into power and boundary disputes. Because we know that human reconciliation is rooted in God's reconciliation with humanity (2 Corinthians 5:18), we dare not withhold this truth from the world.
This reconciliation can be worked out between nations as well as between people on the streets or within families. Would it be accurate to correlate the prodigal son's plight in the pig sty with the situation of street people in today's urban centers, whether in the United States, Germany, or Brazil? If so, how is the church today like the father waiting with open arms and an open heart when the lost one comes home smelling like a pig and dirtier than dirt? Are we ready with gospel hospitality to receive whoever comes to the door in whatever condition? Or, is the church like the elder brother with an attitude of preference? Do our congregations truly want to be filled with more "lost souls" or with more people "just like us"?
What good news there is for us all, that no one is so lost or so distant to make it impossible to return home to the heavenly Father! How remarkable upon reflection to be able to look back into our lostness and see how God's providential care was able to provide for us even then, like the nameless citizen who hired the prodigal and stood by him quietly until he came to his senses and then let him go from his hire to find the more he had been searching for all along.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Joshua 5:9-12
In our story from Joshua, the Israelites have been delivered from their slavery in Egypt, and they have trekked for forty years through the wilderness until a whole generation has died. All of that time, they have been fed by manna that the Lord has given them from heaven. Constantly he has gone before them and sustained them through all of their trials. But now, under the leadership of Joshua, they have crossed over the Jordan into the promised land -- that land that God swore to Abraham centuries ago to give them (cf. Genesis 12:7; 15:18-19; 17:8). God is faithfully keeping his word.
The first encampment of the Israelites is at Gilgal in the central hill region of Palestine just southeast of Jericho. There, according to the verses that precede our text, all of the males of the new generation are circumcised, in accordance with the ancient commands of God to Abraham, vv. 2-8 (cf. Genesis 17:9-14). And that circumcision is a mark signifying the entrance of the Israelite males and their families into the covenant with God. At Mount Sinai, God made a covenant with the first generation that came out of Egypt (Exodus 24). Now the next generation is brought into that covenant, in which the Lord promises to be their God, and they promise to be his people. At this point, our text for the morning picks up.
"This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you," God tells the people. Heretofore the Israelites had been slaves, despised on the earth, the lowest rank of human beings. Now they are slaves no longer. Now they are God's people, initiated into a new identity and given infinite worth in the eyes of the Lord. As symbol of that, the place of their encampment is named "Gilgal," from the Hebrew verb galal, which means "to roll" and whose noun form usually refers to a circle of stones. God has rolled away the Israelites' identity as slaves and made them a free and chosen people.
We do not practice circumcision as a ritual any more in the Christian Church, but we do have its equivalent -- baptism! That is our sign of entrance into the new covenant through Jesus Christ, and it has the same meaning that the ancient ritual at Gilgal had. It means that we are slaves no longer. Through baptism, we now enter into the new life given us by Jesus Christ (cf. the Epistle Lesson in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21). We now are delivered from our slavery to sin and to death. Like the prodigal son in our Gospel Lesson, we no longer are lowly servants, feeding the swine in a distant country, but through the Father's forgiveness and deliverance of us, we are now loved sons and daughters of our God and heirs of all his promises (cf. Galatians 4:4-7).
As celebration of their new redeemed life, the Israelites at Gilgal celebrate the Passover, just as the first generation had celebrated it after their deliverance from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12). As prescribed in the law (Leviticus 23:5), they hold the feast on the fourteeth day of the first month of the year, in the month of Abib, which would be our March-April (Joshua 5:10). That is the celebration given to those who have been "bought back" (= "redeemed") from slavery to enter into covenant with the Lord. It is the "feast of God for the people of God."
And so it is too with us. As those who have been baptized and who have therefore been given new life by our Lord, we too celebrate our covenant meal, communing with him at his Supper. At the Lord's Supper, we renew our pledge to be God's people, walking in his ways, and we celebrate the fact that the Lord communes with us as our God forever.
As the mark of their new life of freedom from slavery, our text tells us that the Israelites no longer need be fed with manna, as in the wilderness. Now they can eat the produce of the promised land, for God has kept his word to them. It is a new life, as you and I have a new life, in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Lutheran Option -- Annunciation Of
Our Lord -- Isaiah 7:10-14
The setting of our text is the Syro-Ephraimitic War of 735-
734 B.C., in which the northern kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Syria are attacking Judah in order to force King Ahaz of Judah to join with them in a military alliance against the advance of Assyrian armies. The prophet Isaiah has accosted King Ahaz and has tried to assure him that if he will trust in the Lord, the attack of Israel and Syria will come to nothing and the Lord will defend Judah.
To make that assurance even more secure, Isaiah promises Ahaz that the Lord will give him a sign of deliverance. But Ahaz will not trust God's defense, and in feigned piety, he replies that he will not put the Lord to a test by asking a sign. Nevertheless, Isaiah replies, the Lord will give the sign. A young woman will conceive and bear a son and will call his name Immanuel.
It is from this promise that the traditions of the Annunciation to Mary have been formed, combining the stories of Jesus' birth in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In the original Hebrew, the promise is not of a virgin birth, and Matthew's quotation from Isaiah in Matthew 1:23 is taken from the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, which reads "virgin" rather than "young woman." In the Hebrew Old Testament, the "young woman" signified is probably either the wife of the king or more likely of the prophet himself. Nevertheless, we have to do in the Annunciation with the birth of a special child, whose name is "God with us," and that, says Matthew, is the name of Jesus of Nazareth, born to a virgin named Mary.
It is not exactly what we would expect in order to be saved, is it? Certainly it is not what Ahaz expected or wanted. What good would a baby do Ahaz? He needed an army, not an infant. And we are not at all sure that a helpless infant born to a peasant woman and placed in a cattle feeding trough is able to deliver us out of all of the tragedies and difficulties that we experience in this sin-shadowed world.
Of course, an infant couldn't deliver us, could he -- not unless he was "God with us?" But with God, you see, all things are possible -- even a virgin birth, even the forgiveness of our sins, even our redemption from the evil that so binds us and the grave that so threatens us. If God has come into the world in the Person of his Son, then our redemption and a new life are indeed possible. And God has come. His birth has been announced. The virgin has born the promised child. The Savior of the world and of you and me has been sent. And as Isaiah told King Ahaz, if we trust that, deliverance and salvation are at hand.
As a human race, we are always striving for more and are usually not satisfied unless we achieve it. Sometimes this striving for more leads to some dire circumstances, like using illegal drugs to enhance physical performance in order to outdo the competition. Our decisions have consequences, some of which cannot be recalled or redeemed. This was illustrated by the International Olympic Committee stripping the Romanian gymnast, Andreea Raducan, of her all-around gold medal, even though the drug tested in her system was from an over-the-counter cold remedy advised by her doctor to stave off a cold during the competition. Is this the way it also is in terms of our spiritual journey through life -- striving for more, but always being left wanting something better? How does this affect our relationship with God? How does God respond to this in us?
Joshua 5:9-12
It is fascinating to note in the Bible how names carry such significance. So often they express the essence of an event or the character in a person and serve as a reminder of the judgments and mercies of God. Gilgal and Gibeath-haaraloth are such names that signify something more than just the mere utterance of the word that is haphazardly attached to a particular place.
Joshua had assumed the leadership of the people after Moses died. He led them into Canaan, crossing the Jordan River. This crossing was a mini-version of the Red Sea episode. There they fled out of Egypt; here they marched into the promised land. There the pharaoh was finally impressed; here the kings of the Amorites and the Canaanites were impressed (Joshua 5:1).
A situation had developed that needed redress. During the wanderings in the wilderness after the Exodus, a whole generation had arisen which had not been circumcised. Those that had originally come out of Egypt had been circumcised with the sign of the promise. But, because of their disobedience in the wilderness, they were not allowed to enter into the promised land. However, the generation that was born in the wilderness would be allowed to inherit the promise. But, they had not been circumcised. Now was the time to take care of that, so they would bear on themselves the sign of the covenant between God and the people, a sign that was originally given to Abraham (Genesis 17).
To commemorate this event of mass circumcision, the place became known as Gibeath-haaraloth, "the hill of the foreskins." It is a rather graphic name -- one that pictures in its utterance what was done at this place to keep in step with God as the people prepared to take possession of the land. It was, however, by the name Gilgal that the place would be called. The word Gilgal comes from the Hebrew word meaning "to roll." As God said to Joshua, "This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." God had done a new thing. (Is this, perhaps, a foreshadowing of rolling away the stone of enslavement to death?) Now that the people were poised to inherit the land, they needed to be reminded of what God had done for them. Naming the encampment Gilgal would do just that. The name expressed the meaning of their new status. No longer were they slaves in Egypt. They were a free people, ready to shine among the nations of the world. The reproach of their experience in Egypt was past, rolled away. Newly circumcised, they were ready to march forward into a future that God had prepared for them.
The land held that future. Whereas manna had been provided in the wilderness for their daily needs, it was provisional. Now, they needed to settle on the land and work it and from it produce their daily staples. The psalmist would express years later, "Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you" (Psalm 128:1-2).
What is worth noting in all of this is that God is judging his people and showing mercy on them at the same time. The circumcised were brought out of Egypt in a great act of deliverance. When they disobeyed God, they were judged and kept out of the promised land. Still, their children would enter to fulfill the promise. Circumcision would continue to be the sign of the covenant to which God would be faithful and the people would be called and recalled to be faithful. The new generation and the generations to come would experience the judgment and mercy of God in different ways as they lived on the creases of an unfolding history that would move the promises of God to greater fulfillment. The people would learn that God was serious about his purposes in the world and their role in bringing them about. The sign of the covenant would forever be before them (Gibeath-
haaraloth) and they would roll forward from the place of their encampment (Gilgal), remembering the new chapter that was being written with a new generation.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
"From now on ..." Something has happened to cause Paul to see things very differently. What was it? "From a human point of view ..." no longer works to grasp "the breadth and length and height and depth" (Ephesians 3:18) of anything. The psychology of change tells us that people will accept a new paradigm when they have had a significant emotional experience. What was this for Paul and the early Christians who were willing to put their lives on the line and behave differently "from now on ..."?
The context to understand these words can be found in 1 Corinthians 15 and also the two verses (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) that precede this text for today. Essentially, it was the death and resurrection of Jesus that presented that significant emotional experience for Paul and the church, such that "we regard no one from a human point of view." The originator of a new age theology is Paul, who announces in his gospel that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. Former things do not count the same way anymore. There is a new paradigm that has seized the imagination. That paradigm is the death and resurrection of Jesus, which announces what God has done and is now doing in the affairs of the world.
First, God has reconciled the world to himself. This has been done through the death and resurrection of Jesus. His "act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men" (Romans 5:18). His obedience reforms and makes righteous those who have been disobedient, but now trust in the unfathomable deeds of God rather than their own doings. The Gospel has superceded the Law (Romans 3:20-26) as the foundation on which to stand righteous before God. The writer to the Hebrews (9:26b-28) and 1 John (4:10) express this in terms of atonement theology. In Jesus, a new order has been established in which God has revealed his heart for the salvation of the world, definitively creating a new relationship between heaven and earth -- the cross of Christ being the new logo.
This opens the door to a new way of relating to one another on a human plane. Paul applies the reconciliation achieved between God and humanity to the purpose of his personal ministry as a follower of Christ. "All this is from God, who ... gave us the ministry of reconciliation" (5:18). There has been great dissension in the Corinthian church. Paul has been writing to these folks (probably at least three times!) attempting to iron out the creases that have wrinkled their witness to the gospel. Reconciliation is needed in the church in Corinth. Paul describes himself as an ambassador for Christ, appealing to them on behalf of God to get their act together. Their disagreeableness with one another means that they are at odds with God. As they live in the reconciliation offered by Christ, they will discover a new way to regard one another -- no longer from a human point of view!
Paul understands himself as an ambassador for Christ, speaking on his behalf to those who would claim to be followers. Talk about career confidence! Going right to the heart of the matter -- that what is at stake is not just one's relationship with brothers and sisters in Christ, but also with Christ himself -- Paul beseeches (doemai; to entreat, pray; the earnestness of this word is also expressed in 8:4 and 10:2) his Christian friends to "be reconciled to God." That is to say, return to the only ground on which to stand, the ground of Calvary, where Christ worked out the saving reconciliation that makes us right with God! It is from this ground that we can venture forth in right step with one another, modeling ourselves the reconciliation that Christ continues to work in the world.
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Ever since the wilderness wanderings, the people of God have had a fondness for murmuring. There was no exception in Jesus' day. The religious elite, namely the Pharisees and scribes, had a rather snooty attitude toward the more unseemly characters of society. When the tax collectors and sinners were attracted to Jesus so that they might hear him, these religious snobs took notice and immediately criticized Jesus' choice of company. Contrasting these two social groups, one can hear even more the biting irony of Jesus' words, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear!"
'Amartwlov, which is related to amartia -- the most frequently used word for sin in the New Testament as well as the Septuagint, designates one who has failed to live up to a standard, whether by action or inaction, intentional or unintentional. The tax collectors and thieves and prostitutes were numbered among those. If one wished prestige in the community, it would be a social gaff to be associated with the likes of these. How could Jesus make such a politically incorrect move as actually to eat with them?
Later in his Gospel account, Luke will quote Jesus as saying, "For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10). These are precisely the ones Jesus would want to eat with -- and talk with and laugh with and cry with and die with. So, it is probably with much glee that Luke clusters three "lost" parables in this "lost" chapter of the Bible. There are two, short anecdotal parables about a lost sheep and a lost coin, to which most people could relate. The gravity of being lost, however, is not fully sensed until the hearer enters the parable of the lost son, the prodigal one. Here Jesus is at his story-
telling best.
This story has been worked and re-worked from just about every angle -- the most familiar ones being that of the son, the father, and the elder brother. It might provide an interesting stretch of the imagination to relive the parable from the vantage point of the swine who shared the sty with this foreign species; or the harlots who helped him squander his money only to see him leave them more eager than he approached them, because he longed for more of what he truly needed; or the hired servants who observed all this and learned a great lesson on love from their master; or the friends who failed to go after him but were willing to celebrate his homecoming. What insights can be gained from an imaginative exploration of viewing this familiar story through unfamiliar eyes?
Application
It is rather sad to hear the reports on the state of health in America, notably how overweight we have become as a people, younger and older alike. Our consumption shows, both in our over-
sized garages and our over-sized waists. The manna of which we want more is not the true bread that feeds and nourishes us for life abundant and life eternal. Jesus, as the true bread that comes down from heaven (John 6:32-40), nourishes us in ways that keep us fit for daily life. The love that the father shows the errant son reflects the love of God through Jesus for us erring children; it is this love that fills us full of what we really want more of -- acceptance, forgiveness, belonging, joy!
The manna was provisional for God's people as they wandered in the wilderness until that time when they were able to inhabit the land and work it for the fruit of the fields; so too is the Lord's Supper for God's people as they wander the four corners of the earth until eternity when they will share in the marriage feast of the Lamb, the first fruit of all creation (see 1 Corinthians 15:20-28). There will be no need then for "more," because Christ will be all and in all (Colossians 1:15-21, 3:11).
There is a striking monument for peace in Ottowa, Canada. A solid wall rises out of the rubble of conflict. There are three figures on top, keeping vigilant watch. Etched in the stone is the word "reconciliation." Such a monument should be erected in Northern Ireland, Jerusalem, Yugoslavia, Africa, and Indonesia. With hot spots all over the world reminding us of our need for reconciliation, Paul's words strike a very contemporary note. The church can be present in any troubling situation with a clear word about God's intentions for our relationships: reconciliation. "We are ambassadors for Christ, [entrusted with the message of reconciliation], God making his appeal through us" (2 Corinthians 5:20). The church today has inherited the mantel that Paul wore in his efforts to bring peace to the Corinthian congregation. We need to wear it boldly. That means publicly! Rather than thinking of our congregations as enclaves to shield us from the world, we should understand our congregations as platforms from which to dive into the affairs of the world with a word that can truly satisfy our concupiscence for more which propels us into power and boundary disputes. Because we know that human reconciliation is rooted in God's reconciliation with humanity (2 Corinthians 5:18), we dare not withhold this truth from the world.
This reconciliation can be worked out between nations as well as between people on the streets or within families. Would it be accurate to correlate the prodigal son's plight in the pig sty with the situation of street people in today's urban centers, whether in the United States, Germany, or Brazil? If so, how is the church today like the father waiting with open arms and an open heart when the lost one comes home smelling like a pig and dirtier than dirt? Are we ready with gospel hospitality to receive whoever comes to the door in whatever condition? Or, is the church like the elder brother with an attitude of preference? Do our congregations truly want to be filled with more "lost souls" or with more people "just like us"?
What good news there is for us all, that no one is so lost or so distant to make it impossible to return home to the heavenly Father! How remarkable upon reflection to be able to look back into our lostness and see how God's providential care was able to provide for us even then, like the nameless citizen who hired the prodigal and stood by him quietly until he came to his senses and then let him go from his hire to find the more he had been searching for all along.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Joshua 5:9-12
In our story from Joshua, the Israelites have been delivered from their slavery in Egypt, and they have trekked for forty years through the wilderness until a whole generation has died. All of that time, they have been fed by manna that the Lord has given them from heaven. Constantly he has gone before them and sustained them through all of their trials. But now, under the leadership of Joshua, they have crossed over the Jordan into the promised land -- that land that God swore to Abraham centuries ago to give them (cf. Genesis 12:7; 15:18-19; 17:8). God is faithfully keeping his word.
The first encampment of the Israelites is at Gilgal in the central hill region of Palestine just southeast of Jericho. There, according to the verses that precede our text, all of the males of the new generation are circumcised, in accordance with the ancient commands of God to Abraham, vv. 2-8 (cf. Genesis 17:9-14). And that circumcision is a mark signifying the entrance of the Israelite males and their families into the covenant with God. At Mount Sinai, God made a covenant with the first generation that came out of Egypt (Exodus 24). Now the next generation is brought into that covenant, in which the Lord promises to be their God, and they promise to be his people. At this point, our text for the morning picks up.
"This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you," God tells the people. Heretofore the Israelites had been slaves, despised on the earth, the lowest rank of human beings. Now they are slaves no longer. Now they are God's people, initiated into a new identity and given infinite worth in the eyes of the Lord. As symbol of that, the place of their encampment is named "Gilgal," from the Hebrew verb galal, which means "to roll" and whose noun form usually refers to a circle of stones. God has rolled away the Israelites' identity as slaves and made them a free and chosen people.
We do not practice circumcision as a ritual any more in the Christian Church, but we do have its equivalent -- baptism! That is our sign of entrance into the new covenant through Jesus Christ, and it has the same meaning that the ancient ritual at Gilgal had. It means that we are slaves no longer. Through baptism, we now enter into the new life given us by Jesus Christ (cf. the Epistle Lesson in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21). We now are delivered from our slavery to sin and to death. Like the prodigal son in our Gospel Lesson, we no longer are lowly servants, feeding the swine in a distant country, but through the Father's forgiveness and deliverance of us, we are now loved sons and daughters of our God and heirs of all his promises (cf. Galatians 4:4-7).
As celebration of their new redeemed life, the Israelites at Gilgal celebrate the Passover, just as the first generation had celebrated it after their deliverance from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12). As prescribed in the law (Leviticus 23:5), they hold the feast on the fourteeth day of the first month of the year, in the month of Abib, which would be our March-April (Joshua 5:10). That is the celebration given to those who have been "bought back" (= "redeemed") from slavery to enter into covenant with the Lord. It is the "feast of God for the people of God."
And so it is too with us. As those who have been baptized and who have therefore been given new life by our Lord, we too celebrate our covenant meal, communing with him at his Supper. At the Lord's Supper, we renew our pledge to be God's people, walking in his ways, and we celebrate the fact that the Lord communes with us as our God forever.
As the mark of their new life of freedom from slavery, our text tells us that the Israelites no longer need be fed with manna, as in the wilderness. Now they can eat the produce of the promised land, for God has kept his word to them. It is a new life, as you and I have a new life, in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Lutheran Option -- Annunciation Of
Our Lord -- Isaiah 7:10-14
The setting of our text is the Syro-Ephraimitic War of 735-
734 B.C., in which the northern kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Syria are attacking Judah in order to force King Ahaz of Judah to join with them in a military alliance against the advance of Assyrian armies. The prophet Isaiah has accosted King Ahaz and has tried to assure him that if he will trust in the Lord, the attack of Israel and Syria will come to nothing and the Lord will defend Judah.
To make that assurance even more secure, Isaiah promises Ahaz that the Lord will give him a sign of deliverance. But Ahaz will not trust God's defense, and in feigned piety, he replies that he will not put the Lord to a test by asking a sign. Nevertheless, Isaiah replies, the Lord will give the sign. A young woman will conceive and bear a son and will call his name Immanuel.
It is from this promise that the traditions of the Annunciation to Mary have been formed, combining the stories of Jesus' birth in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In the original Hebrew, the promise is not of a virgin birth, and Matthew's quotation from Isaiah in Matthew 1:23 is taken from the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, which reads "virgin" rather than "young woman." In the Hebrew Old Testament, the "young woman" signified is probably either the wife of the king or more likely of the prophet himself. Nevertheless, we have to do in the Annunciation with the birth of a special child, whose name is "God with us," and that, says Matthew, is the name of Jesus of Nazareth, born to a virgin named Mary.
It is not exactly what we would expect in order to be saved, is it? Certainly it is not what Ahaz expected or wanted. What good would a baby do Ahaz? He needed an army, not an infant. And we are not at all sure that a helpless infant born to a peasant woman and placed in a cattle feeding trough is able to deliver us out of all of the tragedies and difficulties that we experience in this sin-shadowed world.
Of course, an infant couldn't deliver us, could he -- not unless he was "God with us?" But with God, you see, all things are possible -- even a virgin birth, even the forgiveness of our sins, even our redemption from the evil that so binds us and the grave that so threatens us. If God has come into the world in the Person of his Son, then our redemption and a new life are indeed possible. And God has come. His birth has been announced. The virgin has born the promised child. The Savior of the world and of you and me has been sent. And as Isaiah told King Ahaz, if we trust that, deliverance and salvation are at hand.
