Disciplines to live by
Commentary
[Rev. Dr. Mark J. Molldrem is Senior Pastor at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Saginaw, Michigan. A parish pastor for 25 years, he has written articles for various religious publications, organized ecumenical and community efforts in the areas of refugee resettlement and securing a shelter home for victims of domestic violence, and has led workshops for youth, single adults, and married couples. CSS has published his book The Victory Of Faith, meditations on Lenten and Easter texts, as well as his numerous sermon illustrations for Emphasis.]
Contemporary American society continues to push the envelope for boundary mores. The ancient words of Judges seem so contemporary: "Every man did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25). The Broadway musical Hair, which acclaimed the hippie generation of the 1960s, closed with nude actors on stage. Cries went up in many quarters, but the discipline of modesty lost more ground by the close of the century. Shock-jock radio (a la Howard Stern in New York with national distribution and local personalities like Dave Barber in Flint, Michigan) thrives today on lascivious conversation. Even television has joined the ranks of the rank with gratuitous nudity on prime-time shows (NYPD Blue, for example); David Letterman was caught with his moral sensor down when Rich, the $1 million winner of the summer hit Survivor, entered nude before his studio and national television audience.
Discipline (viz. sexuality) sounds foreign in a business like entertainment, which is always striving to captivate and excite its audience with a greater titillation than before. It really should not surprise us that other venues follow suit in a nation that is caught up in the glitz and glamor of amusement, on the one hand, and the power and prestige of success, on the other hand. The practical axiom of "any means" is the plumb line, because there is a rampant individualism that drives the endeavor.
For the Church, then, to enter publicly into a season of discipline is rather counter-cultural. Unless, of course, the Church downplays the discipline and makes the venture of faith rather gnostic and esoteric. The Gospel text with which we began the Lenten season on Ash Wednesday offers opportunity to examine the nature of our response to the presence of God in our lives. Three disciplines were set forth, not as exclusive but as exemplary of a life that strives to respond appropriately in "God's eyes," not in one's own. Today's texts relate to these three disciplines.
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Not only are the Ten Commandments given after the Exodus from Egypt, but also the entire law code for the people to follow in their daily routines, as well as their worship life. What is significant about this is that the "good news" (action for you) comes before the "hard news" (action from you). The unconditional love of God claims and redeems a people in need purely out of divine goodness. There is no quid pro quo established at the bargaining table before any definitive action is taken. God acts first to reveal his hand -- actually his mighty arm. This is the premise to the instructions for the first-fruit offering, which is the last order of business to set in place before the Deuteronomic law is complete. After the people hear the instructions, all that remains is a reminder of the covenant and the exhortation to keep it. Moses then dies with a song on his lips and a benediction for the people.
There is an assumption made about the people before they can bring in the first fruits of the ground. That assumption is that they will have to work. There was no state-supported system which would guarantee some provisions for the people. No work? Then, no food, no life. Yes, God had delivered them from bondage, but he was not going to feed them every day as one would a pet. They needed to be responsible for working the land and generating a harvest. This itself was a sign of God's provision: the work, the ability, the seed, the ground. So, given all this, it is natural that there be an offering to the Lord in thankful response. Since God is a "first-rate God," the expectation is that there be a "first-fruit offering." Here is an essential principle of biblical stewardship: God's first-rate blessings deserve a first-
fruit response.
Notice how the respondent is to make the presentation. "Go to the priest who is in office at that time ... and ... declare this day to the Lord" (26:3). There is a visual and audible dynamic to the offering, which makes public the worshiper's intention. The offering finds its proper place within the practices of the worshiping people. Whether this is done individually or as a group is not the point to debate. That it is done in relation to at least one other child of God, in this case the priest, is. One could argue the point about accountability, or one could see it as a measure of witness, like a light that is set on a hill. Either way, the worshiper gets outside of an individualistic perspective of the divine-human relationship and is placed in a communal perspective for this vital relationship. We are not alone, nor should we ever perceive ourselves to be alone in our relationship with God. One Hapiru was not called out of Egypt, but the entire entourage of Jacob's descendants and then some.
Besides this visual dynamic, there is also an audible one. The worshiper is to explain the purpose of the offering. Verses 5-10 read like an litany. It is a catechetical summary of the faith that gives shape to the people's identity. Here, the emphasis is totally on the powerful actions of God taken on behalf of the people in redeeming them from bondage and establishing them in a new land as a new people with a new future. Because of God's mighty hand and outstretched arm, "Behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground" (26:10). Acknowledging that this gift stems from God's original gift, the worshiper makes audible the meaning behind the action of first-fruits giving. This is done as a reminder for the worshiper never to forget the history that created this new life. It is also done as a testimony to the world, like a light set upon a hill. To borrow some words from Isaiah's Servant Song, "I have given you as ... a light to the nations" (Isaiah 42:6).
This testimony to the nations is accented by the inclusion of the sojourner. The sojourner could very well be all the other Hapiru who were herded together in exodus, some of which no doubt had no blood relationship to Jacob, that wandering Aramean whose family was the beneficiary of God's favor. God's deliverance provided for all those who were in need of freedom from bondage. However, the sojourner may also mean anyone who happened to be passing through the land and was within sight and earshot of the worshiper who was making offering to the Lord. These folks also are perceived as within the vision God has for those who will live within the covenant. This sounds like worship hospitality at its finest!
Romans 10:8b-13
In Romans 9-11, Paul struggles to understand the fate of his kinsmen who do not accept Jesus as the Messiah. He begins very personally by stating that he would be willing to be consigned to hell if it meant the salvation of his people. This reveals more the passion of Paul for what he is writing about than it does for any realistic course of action. This having been said, he begins by defending God. It is true that as a race, the Jews are the children of God, chosen and protected throughout history and through whom quite physically the promised Messiah has come. Yet, "not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel" (Romans 9:6). It is the children of promise who are rightly reckoned as descendants. This means, on the one hand, that God can have mercy on whom God chooses to have mercy, and who is there to contend with God (Romans 9:14-19)? On the other hand, and this is where our text for today comes in, the promise is for all who believe, who trust in what God is doing, whether Jew or Gentile (9:9-13).
Paul hearkens back to Joel's day and borrows his words spoken against the backdrop of a locust infestation. "And it shall come to pass that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered" (Joel 2:32). If this is true in the day of the Lord defined by God's wrath manifested through a plague of locusts, then it can certainly be true in the day of the Lord when the promised Messiah appears on the threshold of a new age as promised. To call upon the name of the Lord is to put one's trust in God through Jesus. Paul is saying that by turning to Jesus as God's Messiah and trusting in his work of salvation on behalf of the whole creation, one can "be saved [and not] be put to shame" (9:9, 11). This promise is available for everyone, Jew or Greek; the response of faith is possible for everyone, Jew or Greek.
The status of the Jews, then, turns out for Paul to be a question, not so much of abstract theology (e.g., predestination), but more of practical evangelism. "How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?" (Romans 10:14). Paul admits that the Jews are zealous for God; it is just that they are not enlightened (Romans 10:2). The enlightenment comes through the word of Jesus Christ. The job of the Christian is to give witness to Jesus publicly. It is not just a matter of "believe in your heart," but also "confess with your lips" (10:9).
Paul has to still deal with the reality that many Jews do not accept Jesus whom they have plainly heard preached about and witnessed to. What then? Paul sees this as an occasion for God's grace to extend to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11). So, even the Jews' rejection of Jesus serves God's ultimate purposes of extending the gospel to the nations.
Paul ends his reflections on this troubling question by suggesting that their rejection of Jesus is not final. Using the metaphor of grafting new branches (the Gentiles) onto a rooted plant (the Jewish people), Paul says that even pruned branches (those who do not accept Jesus at this time) can be grafted back on. He then makes a crafty distinction between the role of the Jews in salvation history in terms of election and in terms of spreading the gospel to all nations (Romans 11:28-30). In the end, somehow, there will be the acknowledgment that Jesus deserves from all quarters and that God's mercy will indeed be extended to all (Romans 11:31-32).
In the context of all this, the words of our text stand out like a light of hope for any and all who hear the preaching of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. Anyone who calls on Jesus, in whatever situation, will have the guarantee of God's merciful response. Paul is not describing a faith-safe method of getting what one wants from God -- just believe with the right amount of conviction and say the correct words. He mentions these two tangible signs of the heart's conviction and the public witness as testimony to the saved soul.
Luke 4:1-13
Beyond Mark's mere mention of the temptation, Matthew and Luke go into some detail as to the nature of Jesus' wrestling with the devil. Several decades ago, one would have been hard-
pressed to carry on a conversation with the devil and still be considered sane. Evil, temptation, torment -- these were the fabrication of the human spirit within and were to be dealt with on that basis. Hence the explosion of self-help therapies and groups. Now, in a post-modern and even post-Christian culture, we are not so sure that there is not a devil, a spiritual kingdom of demons against whom we need to be on guard. Witness the plethora of movies whose theme is the supernatural and whose special effects must make even Baalzebub blush with envy.
The temptation of Jesus in the wilderness occurs after his baptism in the River Jordan and before his appearance in Galilee to begin his public ministry. It appears to be his testing as to whether or not he is ready to assume the mantel of Messiah. There are three test questions, as it were, that Jesus must answer before he can proceed with confidence. If the devil could trip him up on at least one of them, it would be enough to distract him from accomplishing what he was sent here to do. The first question is: "Are you sure about yourself?" Are you really who you think you are, Jesus? The fact that Jesus was hungry is only the occasion for the devil to raise a question of doubt as to his true identity. If he were indeed the Messiah, he would be able to turn stone into bread. That would not only satisfy his hunger; it would also satisfy any lingering questions about who he was -- son of Joseph or Son of God. Good Joseph, true to his calling as a devout Jewish father, had his son schooled in the Torah. Joseph knew what any good father should know. The father's words may only last a lifetime; the Father's Word lasts forever. Joseph was concerned that Jesus know his heavenly Father's Word, which he could rely on even when Joseph would not be around to give fatherly advice and counsel. Jesus reached into his boyhood training under the rabbi. He remembered that it is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone" (4:4). Luke does not tell us that the verse Jesus quotes goes on to say, "but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:3). Jesus also remembered what his heavenly Father said about him at his recent baptism, that he was his beloved Son. What son would ever forget his father speaking so lovingly about him? These are words that can carry one through the toughest of trying times.
The second question with which the devil tempted Jesus was this: "Are you sure this is the way?" That is to say, is it really necessary to die for the sins of the world in order to save it? Perhaps there is a less painful way. Like a computer desktop, perhaps there is a shortcut that can click one to the destination without going through an entirely difficult procedure -- crucifixion, no less! All that Jesus would have to do is worship the devil, bow down to him, acknowledge him as "lord of the lofty abode," or "lord of the flies," or "lord of the dung" -- however one wants to spell it. But, simply give the devil his due and Jesus can have the world without the crucifixion. Again, Jesus goes back to where it is written (namely, the book of Deuteronomy 6:13), "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve" (4:8). If God says this is the way it has to be, then that is the way it has to be. God calls the shots. It is not for us, not for Jesus, to argue; simply obey. If it is true that Jesus came not to be served but to serve (Matthew 20:28), then even he must follow the Master's bidding.
The third question with which the devil tempted Jesus was to cause him to doubt God: "Are you sure that God is with you?" A simple test would be to jump off the pinnacle of the temple. God would send his angels to protect Jesus, who would then be assured that God was with him with protective care. Again, reaching into the trustworthy words of Scripture (Deuteronomy 6:16), Jesus reminds the Devil where it is written, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God" (4:12). Is there a double meaning going on in Jesus' final response? Could he be meaning that it is not right to put God to such a test of his promises for his children? Gideon got away with it, but Jesus probably thought the story revealed more about Gideon's lack of faith than it did about God's ability to fulfill his promises on his own terms. Jesus wanted no part of that. But, could these words also indicate that Jesus was so sure that he was the Son of God and that the Cross was the way for salvation, that he seized his coming glory to remind the Devil who he was dealing with after all. "I am the Lord your God and you shall not tempt me."
Is this why the devil departed (beaten) and decided to wait until another appropriate time to perhaps catch Jesus off guard? The Garden of Gethsemane would be one likely spot when the issue of the way of salvation would come up. "Remove this cup from me" (Luke 22:42). The trial before Pilate would provide opportunity for Jesus to play with stones again, this time turning a question into a platform for a sage answer, demonstrating his divine mind (John 18:38). Finally, on the cross, Jesus would be returned to the pinnacle by the jeering of the crowd, taunting him to come down from the cross and prove that indeed God is with him as the Chosen One (Luke 23:35-38).
Jesus resists the devil in the strength of God's Word, giving credence to James' advice, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). As with Jesus, there will be more temptations coming, so one cannot drop one's guard. The devil will return, usually when we least expect it. There are many opportune times to raise questions before us to distract and derail us on our journey with the Lord.
Application
A successful advertisement persuades me to buy something I don't need. Consumerism, the spirit of our age, encourages me to believe this is the way it should be. Credit card companies make it all happen with a smile. Churches have gotten savvy in this milieu and promoted auto-checking for Sunday offerings. It's like taking your credit card to church or your church having your credit card when you go on vacation. Either way, the offering gets conveniently placed into the congregation's treasury. For a growing number of worshipers, this has become a convenient way to offer one's alms to the Lord.
With the growing competition for necessary as well as discretionary money at one's disposal, it becomes very important for the church to know how to help worshipers understand the discipline of thank offerings to the Lord. Spiritually speaking, this is not an optional matter for the believer. It is at the heart of a whole-life response to the goodness of God. From our Old Testament text, there are three valuable perspectives to highlight for twenty-first century people of God. First, the essential motivation for giving is, as it always has been, thanksgiving to God for God's rich blessings. Count them as you like; they are somewhat different for each person. Yet, they can be talked about with the language of belonging, forgiveness, hope of eternal life, and daily blessings. Second, the method of first-fruits giving is, as it always has been, the best way to provide an offering. Since God has given us his best in Christ Jesus, we should return our best to him -- off the top. God does not deserve leftovers. Third, the arena of giving is, as it always has been, public. That is to say, there is a communal nature to the act of giving that allows a visible and audible witness that explains the act, motivating others to respond in kind and making us accountable to one another for the well-being of the faith community.
All the religious conversation that developed in our recent presidential campaign may be a sign that we need to revisit the notion of American civil religion and take it seriously once again. Granted, it will need to be "tweaked" with a more realistic appraisal of evil, a better sense of responsibility/accountability, and a heightened awareness of our communal nature as individuals living together in a social web. (See Defining America: A Christian Critique of the American Dream, Robert Benne and Philip Hefner.) So, the best of our minds and hearts have to be put together so that we can find a way to speak publicly about God and righteous living for the sake of the common good. Christians can help lead this conversation, not only because of our numerical advantage and history of visibility in communal life, but more importantly because of the gospel we hold dear which recognizes that Christ is all and in all (Colossians 3:11). This means that we can affirm public expressions of the human-divine connection that do not necessarily express the name of Jesus, because we recognize Jesus in them to begin with. Thomas Aquinas (thirteenth century) reiterated the words of Ambrose (fourth century) which we would do well to remember in the twenty-first century: "all truth, no matter by whom it is uttered, comes from the Holy Spirit."
Finally, a simple observation from the Gospel text: with all the fitness infomercials inviting us into better health, to-die-for looks and improved self-esteem (whether through diet or exercise), perhaps the door is open to speak to an audience ready to hear once again of the discipline of the spirit to find its fitness not in its own strength, but in the power of the word of God. There is a fasting, a trimming down, of the human spirit that needs to be done, so that God can condition us for the work that we are called to do in the kingdom. The writer of Hebrews invites us to take our cue from Jesus in this regard: "For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted" (Hebrews 2:18).
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
[Dr. Elizabeth Achtemeier, an ordained Presbyterian minister and the Retired Adjunct Professor of Bible and Homiletics at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, is known throughout the United States and Canada as a preacher, lecturer, and writer. She is the author of 25 books and frequently contributes to church publications.]
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
There is a lot of talk these days about "spirituality." Having experienced an emptiness or an incompleteness in their daily living, many people are seeking to deepen their spiritual experiences -- seeking to find some sure ground on which to stand amidst all of the ups and downs of their lives. As a result, we have a whole nation of "seekers." But what so many are doing in their seeking after spirituality is to dabble in all sorts of beliefs and religious exercises. It is not unusual to find persons who have adopted for themselves a totally eclectic faith, a mishmash of beliefs and practices -- a little dab from Christianity, another bit from Buddhism or Islam, perhaps a Taoist exercise, the nature religion of American Indians, or whatever else seems attractive and comforting to the seeking individuals. Were the seekers to delve deeply into those various religions, they would discover all sorts of contradictions among the various beliefs and practices. But these days, many people just adopt whatever religion appeals to them at the moment. Individual taste dictates the choice.
One cannot help but wonder if there is any firm foundation in all of that syncretistic dabbling, however. Most important of all, one cannot help but wonder if any truth has been discovered, any objective fact about the nature of God and human life. Or is the dabbler living simply by fantasy that has no power either to give abundant life or to save eternally?
When we turn to our Gospel and Old Testament Lessons for the morning, we find some interesting facts in this regard. In our Lukan reading, we have the account of Jesus' three temptations set before him by the devil in the wilderness, temptations that would lure him away from his proper role as the messianic Son of God. And in answer to each of those tempting lures, what does Jesus do? He answers from the long tradition of the biblical faith; he answers by quoting the book of Deuteronomy. "Man does not live by bread alone" (Deuteronomy 8:3); "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve" (Deuteronomy 6:13); "You shall not tempt the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 6:16). To take a stand on firm ground, Jesus relies on the faith that Israel has known from the beginning. There our Lord finds his unshakable certainty that turns away all the attacks of evil and that guides all that he will do in the days that follow.
If we turn to our Old Testament reading for the morning from Deuteronomy, we find much the same approach. Our text from Deuteronomy contains the instructions for the autumn presentation of the offering of the first fruits of the harvest at the temple in Jerusalem. The individual worshiper is directed to put the produce in a basket and to go to the priest and there present his offering at the altar. At the same time, the worshiper is asked to confess his faith. And what does the worshiper say in that confession? He tells the story of what God has done for Israel in the past. He recites the age-long religious tradition of the biblical faith in the form of a creed.
That creed enumerates the principal acts that God has wrought in the life of his chosen people. It begins with Jacob: "A wandering Aramean was my father." And then it tells of the saving acts that God has done in fulfillment of his promise to Abraham: the multiplication of the Israelites' forbears in Egypt, their enslavement by the Egyptians, their cry for help, their redemption out of bondage, their guidance through the wilderness, and their receipt of the promised land. All through that credal account, the verbs emphasize God's work: The Lord heard and saw ... brought us out ... brought us into ... gave us.
The events in that history of God's saving acts do not lie just in the past for the Israelite worshiper, however. They are part and parcel of the worshiper's faith and so they are events that God has done for him also. "The Egyptians treated us harshly," he says, "and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. Then we cried to the Lord the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice ..." etc. And the fact that all of that belief belongs to the present worshiper is emphasized by the repeated use of "the Lord your God," a phrase that is found nine times in the eleven verses of our text (vv. 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 10, 11). The Lord is the worshiper's God, and he has acted on behalf of the present one who brings his offering, and the Lord has continued to act, giving the worshiper the first fruits of the ground that he now brings to the altar (vv. 2, 10). That is the worshiper's faith -- not a creed that he has made up for himself to honor a God he has imagined at the moment, not a belief plucked here and there from the foreign peoples around him, but a faith that has sustained him and his people for centuries and a tradition that is sure and solid. It is to that age-old tradition that our Lord Jesus clings in the wilderness of temptation, and it is in that tradition that our worshiper in Deuteronomy takes his stand. He has inherited a story, a history, in which his God has made himself known. And so in utter certainty, the worshiper knows what he believes and who the God is to whom he brings his offering.
Well, dear friends, do you know that you and I have also inherited a history, and we recite the events in it every time we say the Apostles' Creed? "I believe in ... Jesus Christ, who was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty...." We have a tradition, you see, a story of the saving acts God has done, a history that has taken place. And it is because we have that history, and because it has worked not only in the past but also for us here today that we know who God is and can say, "I believe."
More than that, good Christians, we are now entering the season of our Lord's passion, the first Sunday in Lent, and we also have a history of what happened to our Lord Christ all during those days before his crucifixion and resurrection. Those events -- the cross and empty tomb -- form the center of our Christian faith and reveal the height and depth and breadth of the love of God for us. And on that love we can take our stand and in it find the certainty, the comfort, the guidance that so many are desperately seeking today.
Do you want to deepen your spirituality in this season of Lent? Do you want to find a faith that will direct and undergird your life all your days and bring you closer to the God who created you? Do you want some certainty, some solid footing in this chaotic and mixed up, crazy world of ours? Then go back to the tradition, the story of what God has done for you and for me and for all folk. Go back to the wondrous history that is given every one of us through the Scriptures. Read there. Listen there. Pray there. Mark well each word and account. Make it your story, your tradition, because it belongs to you. And inherit the faith that does indeed bring with it abundant life and eternal salvation.
Contemporary American society continues to push the envelope for boundary mores. The ancient words of Judges seem so contemporary: "Every man did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25). The Broadway musical Hair, which acclaimed the hippie generation of the 1960s, closed with nude actors on stage. Cries went up in many quarters, but the discipline of modesty lost more ground by the close of the century. Shock-jock radio (a la Howard Stern in New York with national distribution and local personalities like Dave Barber in Flint, Michigan) thrives today on lascivious conversation. Even television has joined the ranks of the rank with gratuitous nudity on prime-time shows (NYPD Blue, for example); David Letterman was caught with his moral sensor down when Rich, the $1 million winner of the summer hit Survivor, entered nude before his studio and national television audience.
Discipline (viz. sexuality) sounds foreign in a business like entertainment, which is always striving to captivate and excite its audience with a greater titillation than before. It really should not surprise us that other venues follow suit in a nation that is caught up in the glitz and glamor of amusement, on the one hand, and the power and prestige of success, on the other hand. The practical axiom of "any means" is the plumb line, because there is a rampant individualism that drives the endeavor.
For the Church, then, to enter publicly into a season of discipline is rather counter-cultural. Unless, of course, the Church downplays the discipline and makes the venture of faith rather gnostic and esoteric. The Gospel text with which we began the Lenten season on Ash Wednesday offers opportunity to examine the nature of our response to the presence of God in our lives. Three disciplines were set forth, not as exclusive but as exemplary of a life that strives to respond appropriately in "God's eyes," not in one's own. Today's texts relate to these three disciplines.
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Not only are the Ten Commandments given after the Exodus from Egypt, but also the entire law code for the people to follow in their daily routines, as well as their worship life. What is significant about this is that the "good news" (action for you) comes before the "hard news" (action from you). The unconditional love of God claims and redeems a people in need purely out of divine goodness. There is no quid pro quo established at the bargaining table before any definitive action is taken. God acts first to reveal his hand -- actually his mighty arm. This is the premise to the instructions for the first-fruit offering, which is the last order of business to set in place before the Deuteronomic law is complete. After the people hear the instructions, all that remains is a reminder of the covenant and the exhortation to keep it. Moses then dies with a song on his lips and a benediction for the people.
There is an assumption made about the people before they can bring in the first fruits of the ground. That assumption is that they will have to work. There was no state-supported system which would guarantee some provisions for the people. No work? Then, no food, no life. Yes, God had delivered them from bondage, but he was not going to feed them every day as one would a pet. They needed to be responsible for working the land and generating a harvest. This itself was a sign of God's provision: the work, the ability, the seed, the ground. So, given all this, it is natural that there be an offering to the Lord in thankful response. Since God is a "first-rate God," the expectation is that there be a "first-fruit offering." Here is an essential principle of biblical stewardship: God's first-rate blessings deserve a first-
fruit response.
Notice how the respondent is to make the presentation. "Go to the priest who is in office at that time ... and ... declare this day to the Lord" (26:3). There is a visual and audible dynamic to the offering, which makes public the worshiper's intention. The offering finds its proper place within the practices of the worshiping people. Whether this is done individually or as a group is not the point to debate. That it is done in relation to at least one other child of God, in this case the priest, is. One could argue the point about accountability, or one could see it as a measure of witness, like a light that is set on a hill. Either way, the worshiper gets outside of an individualistic perspective of the divine-human relationship and is placed in a communal perspective for this vital relationship. We are not alone, nor should we ever perceive ourselves to be alone in our relationship with God. One Hapiru was not called out of Egypt, but the entire entourage of Jacob's descendants and then some.
Besides this visual dynamic, there is also an audible one. The worshiper is to explain the purpose of the offering. Verses 5-10 read like an litany. It is a catechetical summary of the faith that gives shape to the people's identity. Here, the emphasis is totally on the powerful actions of God taken on behalf of the people in redeeming them from bondage and establishing them in a new land as a new people with a new future. Because of God's mighty hand and outstretched arm, "Behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground" (26:10). Acknowledging that this gift stems from God's original gift, the worshiper makes audible the meaning behind the action of first-fruits giving. This is done as a reminder for the worshiper never to forget the history that created this new life. It is also done as a testimony to the world, like a light set upon a hill. To borrow some words from Isaiah's Servant Song, "I have given you as ... a light to the nations" (Isaiah 42:6).
This testimony to the nations is accented by the inclusion of the sojourner. The sojourner could very well be all the other Hapiru who were herded together in exodus, some of which no doubt had no blood relationship to Jacob, that wandering Aramean whose family was the beneficiary of God's favor. God's deliverance provided for all those who were in need of freedom from bondage. However, the sojourner may also mean anyone who happened to be passing through the land and was within sight and earshot of the worshiper who was making offering to the Lord. These folks also are perceived as within the vision God has for those who will live within the covenant. This sounds like worship hospitality at its finest!
Romans 10:8b-13
In Romans 9-11, Paul struggles to understand the fate of his kinsmen who do not accept Jesus as the Messiah. He begins very personally by stating that he would be willing to be consigned to hell if it meant the salvation of his people. This reveals more the passion of Paul for what he is writing about than it does for any realistic course of action. This having been said, he begins by defending God. It is true that as a race, the Jews are the children of God, chosen and protected throughout history and through whom quite physically the promised Messiah has come. Yet, "not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel" (Romans 9:6). It is the children of promise who are rightly reckoned as descendants. This means, on the one hand, that God can have mercy on whom God chooses to have mercy, and who is there to contend with God (Romans 9:14-19)? On the other hand, and this is where our text for today comes in, the promise is for all who believe, who trust in what God is doing, whether Jew or Gentile (9:9-13).
Paul hearkens back to Joel's day and borrows his words spoken against the backdrop of a locust infestation. "And it shall come to pass that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered" (Joel 2:32). If this is true in the day of the Lord defined by God's wrath manifested through a plague of locusts, then it can certainly be true in the day of the Lord when the promised Messiah appears on the threshold of a new age as promised. To call upon the name of the Lord is to put one's trust in God through Jesus. Paul is saying that by turning to Jesus as God's Messiah and trusting in his work of salvation on behalf of the whole creation, one can "be saved [and not] be put to shame" (9:9, 11). This promise is available for everyone, Jew or Greek; the response of faith is possible for everyone, Jew or Greek.
The status of the Jews, then, turns out for Paul to be a question, not so much of abstract theology (e.g., predestination), but more of practical evangelism. "How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?" (Romans 10:14). Paul admits that the Jews are zealous for God; it is just that they are not enlightened (Romans 10:2). The enlightenment comes through the word of Jesus Christ. The job of the Christian is to give witness to Jesus publicly. It is not just a matter of "believe in your heart," but also "confess with your lips" (10:9).
Paul has to still deal with the reality that many Jews do not accept Jesus whom they have plainly heard preached about and witnessed to. What then? Paul sees this as an occasion for God's grace to extend to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11). So, even the Jews' rejection of Jesus serves God's ultimate purposes of extending the gospel to the nations.
Paul ends his reflections on this troubling question by suggesting that their rejection of Jesus is not final. Using the metaphor of grafting new branches (the Gentiles) onto a rooted plant (the Jewish people), Paul says that even pruned branches (those who do not accept Jesus at this time) can be grafted back on. He then makes a crafty distinction between the role of the Jews in salvation history in terms of election and in terms of spreading the gospel to all nations (Romans 11:28-30). In the end, somehow, there will be the acknowledgment that Jesus deserves from all quarters and that God's mercy will indeed be extended to all (Romans 11:31-32).
In the context of all this, the words of our text stand out like a light of hope for any and all who hear the preaching of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. Anyone who calls on Jesus, in whatever situation, will have the guarantee of God's merciful response. Paul is not describing a faith-safe method of getting what one wants from God -- just believe with the right amount of conviction and say the correct words. He mentions these two tangible signs of the heart's conviction and the public witness as testimony to the saved soul.
Luke 4:1-13
Beyond Mark's mere mention of the temptation, Matthew and Luke go into some detail as to the nature of Jesus' wrestling with the devil. Several decades ago, one would have been hard-
pressed to carry on a conversation with the devil and still be considered sane. Evil, temptation, torment -- these were the fabrication of the human spirit within and were to be dealt with on that basis. Hence the explosion of self-help therapies and groups. Now, in a post-modern and even post-Christian culture, we are not so sure that there is not a devil, a spiritual kingdom of demons against whom we need to be on guard. Witness the plethora of movies whose theme is the supernatural and whose special effects must make even Baalzebub blush with envy.
The temptation of Jesus in the wilderness occurs after his baptism in the River Jordan and before his appearance in Galilee to begin his public ministry. It appears to be his testing as to whether or not he is ready to assume the mantel of Messiah. There are three test questions, as it were, that Jesus must answer before he can proceed with confidence. If the devil could trip him up on at least one of them, it would be enough to distract him from accomplishing what he was sent here to do. The first question is: "Are you sure about yourself?" Are you really who you think you are, Jesus? The fact that Jesus was hungry is only the occasion for the devil to raise a question of doubt as to his true identity. If he were indeed the Messiah, he would be able to turn stone into bread. That would not only satisfy his hunger; it would also satisfy any lingering questions about who he was -- son of Joseph or Son of God. Good Joseph, true to his calling as a devout Jewish father, had his son schooled in the Torah. Joseph knew what any good father should know. The father's words may only last a lifetime; the Father's Word lasts forever. Joseph was concerned that Jesus know his heavenly Father's Word, which he could rely on even when Joseph would not be around to give fatherly advice and counsel. Jesus reached into his boyhood training under the rabbi. He remembered that it is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone" (4:4). Luke does not tell us that the verse Jesus quotes goes on to say, "but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:3). Jesus also remembered what his heavenly Father said about him at his recent baptism, that he was his beloved Son. What son would ever forget his father speaking so lovingly about him? These are words that can carry one through the toughest of trying times.
The second question with which the devil tempted Jesus was this: "Are you sure this is the way?" That is to say, is it really necessary to die for the sins of the world in order to save it? Perhaps there is a less painful way. Like a computer desktop, perhaps there is a shortcut that can click one to the destination without going through an entirely difficult procedure -- crucifixion, no less! All that Jesus would have to do is worship the devil, bow down to him, acknowledge him as "lord of the lofty abode," or "lord of the flies," or "lord of the dung" -- however one wants to spell it. But, simply give the devil his due and Jesus can have the world without the crucifixion. Again, Jesus goes back to where it is written (namely, the book of Deuteronomy 6:13), "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve" (4:8). If God says this is the way it has to be, then that is the way it has to be. God calls the shots. It is not for us, not for Jesus, to argue; simply obey. If it is true that Jesus came not to be served but to serve (Matthew 20:28), then even he must follow the Master's bidding.
The third question with which the devil tempted Jesus was to cause him to doubt God: "Are you sure that God is with you?" A simple test would be to jump off the pinnacle of the temple. God would send his angels to protect Jesus, who would then be assured that God was with him with protective care. Again, reaching into the trustworthy words of Scripture (Deuteronomy 6:16), Jesus reminds the Devil where it is written, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God" (4:12). Is there a double meaning going on in Jesus' final response? Could he be meaning that it is not right to put God to such a test of his promises for his children? Gideon got away with it, but Jesus probably thought the story revealed more about Gideon's lack of faith than it did about God's ability to fulfill his promises on his own terms. Jesus wanted no part of that. But, could these words also indicate that Jesus was so sure that he was the Son of God and that the Cross was the way for salvation, that he seized his coming glory to remind the Devil who he was dealing with after all. "I am the Lord your God and you shall not tempt me."
Is this why the devil departed (beaten) and decided to wait until another appropriate time to perhaps catch Jesus off guard? The Garden of Gethsemane would be one likely spot when the issue of the way of salvation would come up. "Remove this cup from me" (Luke 22:42). The trial before Pilate would provide opportunity for Jesus to play with stones again, this time turning a question into a platform for a sage answer, demonstrating his divine mind (John 18:38). Finally, on the cross, Jesus would be returned to the pinnacle by the jeering of the crowd, taunting him to come down from the cross and prove that indeed God is with him as the Chosen One (Luke 23:35-38).
Jesus resists the devil in the strength of God's Word, giving credence to James' advice, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). As with Jesus, there will be more temptations coming, so one cannot drop one's guard. The devil will return, usually when we least expect it. There are many opportune times to raise questions before us to distract and derail us on our journey with the Lord.
Application
A successful advertisement persuades me to buy something I don't need. Consumerism, the spirit of our age, encourages me to believe this is the way it should be. Credit card companies make it all happen with a smile. Churches have gotten savvy in this milieu and promoted auto-checking for Sunday offerings. It's like taking your credit card to church or your church having your credit card when you go on vacation. Either way, the offering gets conveniently placed into the congregation's treasury. For a growing number of worshipers, this has become a convenient way to offer one's alms to the Lord.
With the growing competition for necessary as well as discretionary money at one's disposal, it becomes very important for the church to know how to help worshipers understand the discipline of thank offerings to the Lord. Spiritually speaking, this is not an optional matter for the believer. It is at the heart of a whole-life response to the goodness of God. From our Old Testament text, there are three valuable perspectives to highlight for twenty-first century people of God. First, the essential motivation for giving is, as it always has been, thanksgiving to God for God's rich blessings. Count them as you like; they are somewhat different for each person. Yet, they can be talked about with the language of belonging, forgiveness, hope of eternal life, and daily blessings. Second, the method of first-fruits giving is, as it always has been, the best way to provide an offering. Since God has given us his best in Christ Jesus, we should return our best to him -- off the top. God does not deserve leftovers. Third, the arena of giving is, as it always has been, public. That is to say, there is a communal nature to the act of giving that allows a visible and audible witness that explains the act, motivating others to respond in kind and making us accountable to one another for the well-being of the faith community.
All the religious conversation that developed in our recent presidential campaign may be a sign that we need to revisit the notion of American civil religion and take it seriously once again. Granted, it will need to be "tweaked" with a more realistic appraisal of evil, a better sense of responsibility/accountability, and a heightened awareness of our communal nature as individuals living together in a social web. (See Defining America: A Christian Critique of the American Dream, Robert Benne and Philip Hefner.) So, the best of our minds and hearts have to be put together so that we can find a way to speak publicly about God and righteous living for the sake of the common good. Christians can help lead this conversation, not only because of our numerical advantage and history of visibility in communal life, but more importantly because of the gospel we hold dear which recognizes that Christ is all and in all (Colossians 3:11). This means that we can affirm public expressions of the human-divine connection that do not necessarily express the name of Jesus, because we recognize Jesus in them to begin with. Thomas Aquinas (thirteenth century) reiterated the words of Ambrose (fourth century) which we would do well to remember in the twenty-first century: "all truth, no matter by whom it is uttered, comes from the Holy Spirit."
Finally, a simple observation from the Gospel text: with all the fitness infomercials inviting us into better health, to-die-for looks and improved self-esteem (whether through diet or exercise), perhaps the door is open to speak to an audience ready to hear once again of the discipline of the spirit to find its fitness not in its own strength, but in the power of the word of God. There is a fasting, a trimming down, of the human spirit that needs to be done, so that God can condition us for the work that we are called to do in the kingdom. The writer of Hebrews invites us to take our cue from Jesus in this regard: "For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted" (Hebrews 2:18).
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
[Dr. Elizabeth Achtemeier, an ordained Presbyterian minister and the Retired Adjunct Professor of Bible and Homiletics at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, is known throughout the United States and Canada as a preacher, lecturer, and writer. She is the author of 25 books and frequently contributes to church publications.]
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
There is a lot of talk these days about "spirituality." Having experienced an emptiness or an incompleteness in their daily living, many people are seeking to deepen their spiritual experiences -- seeking to find some sure ground on which to stand amidst all of the ups and downs of their lives. As a result, we have a whole nation of "seekers." But what so many are doing in their seeking after spirituality is to dabble in all sorts of beliefs and religious exercises. It is not unusual to find persons who have adopted for themselves a totally eclectic faith, a mishmash of beliefs and practices -- a little dab from Christianity, another bit from Buddhism or Islam, perhaps a Taoist exercise, the nature religion of American Indians, or whatever else seems attractive and comforting to the seeking individuals. Were the seekers to delve deeply into those various religions, they would discover all sorts of contradictions among the various beliefs and practices. But these days, many people just adopt whatever religion appeals to them at the moment. Individual taste dictates the choice.
One cannot help but wonder if there is any firm foundation in all of that syncretistic dabbling, however. Most important of all, one cannot help but wonder if any truth has been discovered, any objective fact about the nature of God and human life. Or is the dabbler living simply by fantasy that has no power either to give abundant life or to save eternally?
When we turn to our Gospel and Old Testament Lessons for the morning, we find some interesting facts in this regard. In our Lukan reading, we have the account of Jesus' three temptations set before him by the devil in the wilderness, temptations that would lure him away from his proper role as the messianic Son of God. And in answer to each of those tempting lures, what does Jesus do? He answers from the long tradition of the biblical faith; he answers by quoting the book of Deuteronomy. "Man does not live by bread alone" (Deuteronomy 8:3); "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve" (Deuteronomy 6:13); "You shall not tempt the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 6:16). To take a stand on firm ground, Jesus relies on the faith that Israel has known from the beginning. There our Lord finds his unshakable certainty that turns away all the attacks of evil and that guides all that he will do in the days that follow.
If we turn to our Old Testament reading for the morning from Deuteronomy, we find much the same approach. Our text from Deuteronomy contains the instructions for the autumn presentation of the offering of the first fruits of the harvest at the temple in Jerusalem. The individual worshiper is directed to put the produce in a basket and to go to the priest and there present his offering at the altar. At the same time, the worshiper is asked to confess his faith. And what does the worshiper say in that confession? He tells the story of what God has done for Israel in the past. He recites the age-long religious tradition of the biblical faith in the form of a creed.
That creed enumerates the principal acts that God has wrought in the life of his chosen people. It begins with Jacob: "A wandering Aramean was my father." And then it tells of the saving acts that God has done in fulfillment of his promise to Abraham: the multiplication of the Israelites' forbears in Egypt, their enslavement by the Egyptians, their cry for help, their redemption out of bondage, their guidance through the wilderness, and their receipt of the promised land. All through that credal account, the verbs emphasize God's work: The Lord heard and saw ... brought us out ... brought us into ... gave us.
The events in that history of God's saving acts do not lie just in the past for the Israelite worshiper, however. They are part and parcel of the worshiper's faith and so they are events that God has done for him also. "The Egyptians treated us harshly," he says, "and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. Then we cried to the Lord the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice ..." etc. And the fact that all of that belief belongs to the present worshiper is emphasized by the repeated use of "the Lord your God," a phrase that is found nine times in the eleven verses of our text (vv. 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 10, 11). The Lord is the worshiper's God, and he has acted on behalf of the present one who brings his offering, and the Lord has continued to act, giving the worshiper the first fruits of the ground that he now brings to the altar (vv. 2, 10). That is the worshiper's faith -- not a creed that he has made up for himself to honor a God he has imagined at the moment, not a belief plucked here and there from the foreign peoples around him, but a faith that has sustained him and his people for centuries and a tradition that is sure and solid. It is to that age-old tradition that our Lord Jesus clings in the wilderness of temptation, and it is in that tradition that our worshiper in Deuteronomy takes his stand. He has inherited a story, a history, in which his God has made himself known. And so in utter certainty, the worshiper knows what he believes and who the God is to whom he brings his offering.
Well, dear friends, do you know that you and I have also inherited a history, and we recite the events in it every time we say the Apostles' Creed? "I believe in ... Jesus Christ, who was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty...." We have a tradition, you see, a story of the saving acts God has done, a history that has taken place. And it is because we have that history, and because it has worked not only in the past but also for us here today that we know who God is and can say, "I believe."
More than that, good Christians, we are now entering the season of our Lord's passion, the first Sunday in Lent, and we also have a history of what happened to our Lord Christ all during those days before his crucifixion and resurrection. Those events -- the cross and empty tomb -- form the center of our Christian faith and reveal the height and depth and breadth of the love of God for us. And on that love we can take our stand and in it find the certainty, the comfort, the guidance that so many are desperately seeking today.
Do you want to deepen your spirituality in this season of Lent? Do you want to find a faith that will direct and undergird your life all your days and bring you closer to the God who created you? Do you want some certainty, some solid footing in this chaotic and mixed up, crazy world of ours? Then go back to the tradition, the story of what God has done for you and for me and for all folk. Go back to the wondrous history that is given every one of us through the Scriptures. Read there. Listen there. Pray there. Mark well each word and account. Make it your story, your tradition, because it belongs to you. And inherit the faith that does indeed bring with it abundant life and eternal salvation.
