The goodness that roared
Commentary
In the study of the martial arts, the student learns the difference between the good, the higher good and the superior good. If one seeks to do something that will benefit another and that very act will also reap a reward for the doer of the deed, then that person is said to perform the good (even though there may be an ulterior motive attached to it). If, however, one desires to assist another person without any personal regard to whether or not such an act will be of personal advantage, then that person is said to perform the higher good.
It is when one can act unconsciously in a way that simply benefits another person, because that is the way one is, that it can be said the individual has performed the superior good. Sang Kee Paik, a master student of the San-Sang system of oriental martial art, writes, "A black belt always carries with him his power capability. He must always carry with him his ethic of superior good ... He must develop his ethic so that his ethic perseveres over any and all circumstances, no matter how difficult his situation may be."
Today, the scriptures exhort us to learn to do good, whether during a time of judgment, persecution or simply waiting for the Lord's return. Beyond even the superior good, one might think of it as the heavenly good, for it is done out of obedience to the command of God and to God's glory.
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Not a whole lot was going right for God's people in the eighth century B.C. By the last quarter of the century, the northern kingdom was absorbed into the Assyrian Empire. The southern kingdom, Judah, with its capital at Jerusalem was under siege. At first, Israel and Syria where nipping at the borders; then, Assyria assumed the rod of God's wrath against a rebellious and ungrateful people (Isaiah 1:2-9). This century was a watershed in the history of God's people, both in the north and in the south. It marked the beginning of the end of their identities as autonomous states (until the period of the Maccabbees, 165 B.C. until the Roman conquest). The north disappeared altogether; the remnant of the south continued to be just that, only a remnant, never to attain again to the ideal of the davidic kingdom, an ideal fulfilled in the coming of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.
Throughout the history of God's people there has been a dual call to worship God rightly and to serve his purposes faithfully. When the worship life of the people became tainted with syncretism from indigenous cults, the prophets rose up to sound the alarm, not just because idolatry had infiltrated the true worship of Yahweh (Isaiah's name means "Yahweh is salvation"), but also because the people had lost sight of the connection between worship of Yahweh and serving his purposes in daily life.
Hence, the definition of what is good, not in terms of proper worship practices, but in terms of proper habits in daily life. To be the people of God is not just to use the correct name of God. It is not simply to worship in the prescribed manner handed down from the time of Moses, and do so only in the places that are dedicated solely to God without any piggybacking from local deities. To be the people of God means to behave according to the will of God in relationship to one's neighbor: "seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow" (1:17). In short, to learn to do good. Not so much sacrifice as sacrificial living is what God desires. Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, understood this also (Micah 6:8).
Concomitant with this call to more heavenly good is the offer of forgiveness for those who will repent and obey the word of the Lord (1:18-19). Like a spectrum analysis, Isaiah describes how completely God will forgive -- as complete as changing the color chart. (Micah 7:18-19 and Psalm 103:11-12 use a dizzying spatial distinction to express the extent of God's forgiveness.)
In addition to forgiveness, when there is compliance to God's will, there are attendant rewards for the righteous. "You shall eat the good of the land" (1:19). These are bold words to speak in the midst of the civil chaos that was occurring at the time. No wonder that the writer to the Hebrews lifts the prophets up as worthy examples of faith, trusting in the promises of God even when events unfolding would decry them (Hebrews 11:32-38).
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
A church under fire needs encouragement. This is what the letter of Hebrews is all about. It was written to a church during a time of persecution. It was not a persecution to the death (Hebrews 12:4), yet it was severe enough (Hebrews 10:32-34) to warrant concern about the strength of faith to endure. To address this, the writer of this missive takes on the task of apologetics. He claims the all-sufficiency of Christ as superior to (fulfillment of) the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8:1--10:18). Based on this affirmation, the Christian community hears an encouraging word -- to persevere (Hebrews 2:1-4).
In Hebrews 11, the writer provides example after example of those who lived by faith, not seeing the promise fulfilled in their day, but still holding on to the hope that it instilled in their hearts. So, the Christian community can hold on through the time of trial, even when they do not hold the fulfillment of the promise in their hands. In the next chapter, the letter develops the example of Jesus, who endured so much suffering and leads the believer forward through it. Then, comes a wonderful exhortation to "buck up" and let the world see just what Christians are capable of doing when hard pressed: "Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees" (Hebrews 12:12).
Our pericope, focused on the example of Abraham and Sarah, defines the nature of faith. It is an assurance (11:1) and a conviction (11:1).
The conviction is that the eyes of faith perceive a reality that is beyond the reason of mind or the immediacy of experience. This is the basis of Paul's comments in Romans 8:18-25, where he is convinced that there is a future glory that contextualizes all current suffering. It is this conviction that gives one wholeness (salvation) in the very midst of brokenness (see Romans 5:3-5 and 1 Corinthians 4:7-10).
The assurance is that what is perceived is indeed real (beyond what reason and experience can attest to with logical or scientific proofs) and can be trusted. The object of faith is foundational for taking any action. Thus, Abram was assured of his inheritance and acted upon that assurance by leaving his home and embarking to a new land -- sight unseen. Though he in fact did see the land eventually, the true fulfillment of the promise was yet beyond him, embodied in the holy city, Jerusalem, in one respect and in Jesus Christ in another.
Luke 12:32-40
Little flock, indeed! What significance in number was the small Christian sect compared to the numerous adherents of Judaism? What insignificance in number were the followers of the Way compared to the population of the Roman Empire! "Little flock" is an appropriate salutation. Because it is a collective noun, the imperative mood of the noun is in the second person singular, giving the reading as if addressed to each individual, thus personalizing the entreaty (12:32). Since the verb is in the middle voice, it emphasizes the subject's participation in the outcome of the action indicated.
"Be not afraid," Jesus says, to each lamb of the flock. The reason is that God's pleasure is to rule in us and over us. We will share the rule of God that ultimately takes in everything. How we can participate in that rule now and live in a state of not being afraid is to "sell your possessions, and give alms" (12:33).
Such actions are not only good for the recipient of the kindness; they are also salutary for the doer of the good. The entreaty invites participation in the very goal sought by acting in a way that manifest confidence rather than fear.
As Jesus goes on to talk about servants waiting for the master, he describes those who live in the present anticipating the future, which shapes their behavior of readiness. So too, living with the confidence of the coming rule of God disarms fear in the present, regardless of how formidable the challenges or crosses appear. Those who do this become the "blessed, happy ones" of God.
The image of girded loins and burning lamps (12:35) is one of preparedness. The servants are to be dressed for work, not donned in leisure clothing, casually waiting for the master to return. The follow-up parable/explanation (Luke 12:41-48) makes this clear. The flame from the lamps will provide the light to see what needs to be done. It just may be that there is plenty of time to tend to the tasks at hand, because the master may not return until the second or third watch. Since not even Jesus knew when he would return (Mark 13:32), how could the servants expect to know? Therefore, constant vigilance is necessary.
Application
There is such a mix of public people in the world's spotlight. There are religious celebrities with feet of clay, strong moralists with no religious leanings, amoral individuals who push the envelope of our culture and justice system, immoral people who wink at God, non-Christian religious folks with profound ethics. Amidst all of these, the average person on the street is looking for a word to guide the community into a better world. Isaiah's call to "cease to do evil, learn to do good" (1:16-17) will resonate with many and can be the basis of a conversation that will focus individuals on the importance of their particular life's opportunities and responsibilities.
Christians can ask of themselves how their personal piety is connected to the practices of daily life. What measure of consistency is there between the hearts and the habits of those who profess allegiance to God? As James reminds us, there is no good worship without good works. It is sobering for anyone at the altar or in the pew to hear these words: "When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you" (Isaiah 1:15).
In what ways are our hands "full of blood" (1:15)? In what ways do our lives bear the stains that God decries? If the prayers of the righteous have great power in their effect (James 5:16), what happens to the prayers of those whose lives are flagrantly out of sync with God's purposes? How much more learning do we need before we can recognize any heavenly good shaping our lives with God-pleasing consistency?
George Forell's timeless little book, Faith Active in Love, makes the necessary connection between a heart that is alive to God in faith and the hands that are then active in loving deeds for God in the world. We could apply the nature of faith in another way today, if one's audience would warrant attention to this direction. In the ongoing debate between creation and evolution, rather than polarizing positions with either/or rhetoric, it would be helpful to acknowledge the different modes of perception with which faith and science operate. These do not need to be exclusive, but rather complementary. This could avoid the errors of religious scientism on the one hand and the errors of scientific religionism on the other hand.
In yet another direction for faith to be explicated in relationship to the necessity of learning to do good, one could delineate how an envisioned future is both gift from God and something that one must work toward. When churches (or communities) go through a revisioning process to discern the preferred future into which God is calling them, they need to understand that this is first and foremost a gift from God. This is not something that can be earned by merit of the congregation. The future is in God's hands and God will give it to his people when they are ready to receive it. Faith waits expectantly for the future to come, as in the closing remarks of the book of Revelation: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:29).
Still, faith is not inert. It does not simply sit around like Estragon and Vladimir waiting for Godot (Samuel Beckett's 1952 tragicomedy Waiting for Godot). It is more like Martin Luther, when asked what he would do if he learned that Jesus would be coming tomorrow. His reply, "I would plant a tree in my garden today." Faith calls forth effort that strives toward what the promise holds forth. Abraham necessarily had to leave Ur and travel beyond the horizon, an effort of no small means. He did not earn what was beyond the horizon in the Promised Land. His faith, however, the assurance and the conviction of it, led him to act upon it.
Jurgen Moltmann in Theology of Hope makes a similar connection between the promises of God and the commandments of God. The promise points to the goal; the commandments point to the way. He writes, "The promise of the covenant and the injunctions of the covenant have an abiding and guiding significance until the fulfillment ... The commandments of the covenant, which point our hopes in the promise to the path of physical obedience, are nothing else but the ethical reverse of the promise itself." One does not earn the promise by observing the law; but, one does observe the law as a way of living in the promise of what is coming. The law, or the learning to do good, is the proleptic embodiment of the future into which God is calling us. The future shapes us in the present through the effort that we put into living in the promise.
There is a definite counter-cultural current in the Christian lifestyle. In today's consumer ethos, where possession and accumulation are measures of wealth and power, Christians are guided by the words of Jesus to "sell ... and give" (Luke 12:33). Because the Christian's true treasure is in the heavenly good, priority consideration is given to what one can live without in order to provide for another's needs. Here is a measure of true wealth that stems from having the right values (see Matthew 6:33 and 13:44-45). Since behavior will follow what is valued (Luke 12:34), it is vital to have right values.
When one's treasure is correct, namely the rule of God in one's life, then there is no fear of loss nor fear of purposelessness nor fear of worthlessness, for the treasures in heaven do not fail.
THE POLITICAL PULPIT
By Mark Ellingsen
Luke 12:32-40
God's kingdom and ours
Today's Gospel reading, especially verse 32, where Jesus tells his followers that it is the Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom, provides an excellent opportunity to contrast God's kingdom with American society.
In The Revolt of the Elites, acclaimed social analyst Christopher Lasch argues that opinion-makers of our society have convinced us that we live in a "meritocracy". Those who reach the top and prosper are those who have "earned" it by their ability and hard work, we are told. (Read the work of Clinton's first secretary of labor Robert Reich, The Work of Nations, for an articulate promulgation of this ideology.) Consequently, those who succeed in our society believe that their success is the result of their own achievement and tend to regard the poor as deserving their plight due to underachievement.
Of course, as Lasch points out, those who achieve in our meritocracy have usually had the benefit of a better education. If you did not get that advantageous headstart, you will probably not "merit" a life of success.
Contrary to what we say about ourselves, however, America is not really a meritocracy. The poor who have no realistic access to the most prestigious educational opportunities don't have the same chance to succeed. But our cultural ideology makes it hard for us who have succeeded to admit advantages. It's too easy to castigate the underclass for their "failures," lest they reveal to us the flaws in our system.
Welfare reform has been proposed as the way to improve the lot of the poor in our meritocracy. If we put welfare recipients to work, insist that they get jobs, we force them to participate in our meritocracy. But without the educational and cultural advantages of those who have succeeded, the poor have little chance. The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act mandates that a person can only be on welfare for a maximum of five years and that the person must work within two years of entering the system in order to receive benefits. Food Stamp recipients need to have a job. How pleased our politicians are to claim the significant reductions of the welfare rolls as a result.
But now as this legislation begins to strip families of the safety net (it went into effect in 1997, so that the newest welfare enrollees must now have a job or lose benefits), shelters all over America are experiencing an explosion of new clients. The sort of jobs many welfare recipients are qualified to land place them well below the poverty line. And what happens to the kids of dead-beat parents who give up looking for work?
It's time for some dialogue among ourselves and with our parishioners about whether the church in America should support cutbacks in government's role in providing welfare for the poor.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Above all else, the biblical, Christian faith has to do with the relation of individuals and communities with God, from whom comes all good. The world of wonder that we see around us and the maintenance of its rhythms and order, joy and contentment, the goodness of human relationships, the proper order of government, guidance and strength for our daily lives, forgiveness and comfort in distress, and indeed life itself -- all of those and many more are gifts given us from the hand of our Creator and Redeemer. The entire work of Jesus Christ is therefore directed toward restoring our relationship with God and directing it in its proper paths.
At the heart of that relationship, then, is our worship of our Lord. In worship we do what the Bible calls our 'avodah', our leiturgia, our "work" toward God. We enter into his presence in praise and thanksgiving, in confession and petition, in intercession and surrender, and receive once more the fullness of his life that he pours out in love and mercy upon us.
The question that our text for the morning raises, however, in verses 10-17, is: "Does God always receive our worship?" (Verses 18-20 actually form a separate oracle, in which God calls the Judeans to go to court to "reason," i.e., go to court with him). We automatically assume that the Lord is pleased when we come to church, but is he? And we have the old stereotypical saying that "God hears every prayer." But does he?
In this first chapter from the prophecies of Isaiah of Jerusalem, whose book encompasses chapters 1-39 in the Isaiah corpus, the prophet confronts the worshiping community of Judah, sometime between 742 and 701 B.C. He addresses not only the leaders of that community, but also the entire people (v. 10). And Isaiah makes it very clear that they are a people who love to attend worship. They offer a "multitude of sacrifices" (v. 11), they burn incense in their temple (v. 13), they celebrate worship feasts and festivals at the time of every new moon (v. 13), and they call "solemn assemblies," which were perhaps fasts of repentance (v. 13). In fact so numerous are their worship practices that they literally trample the courts of the temple -- mobs crowding into its plazas (v. 12) -- a verse that often reminds me of the crowds who come to our churches on Easter and Christmas.
And what is the Lord's reaction to all of that worship? He thunders out that he hates it (v. 14). It is a great burden to God, and far from delighting in the people's worship, he is totally weary of it all (vv. 11, 14). If the people lift up their hands in prayer, God shuts his eyes from seeing them, and does not hear what the people are saying (v. 15). God wants no more of Judah's worship. It has become an abomination to him. So we have to ask the questions, don't we, is that the Lord's reaction to our worship also? Why has he rejected the Judeans' worship-relation with him? Does he reject also ours?
In this prophetic torah or teaching that Isaiah is delivering, the answer is very clear. When the Judeans lift up their hands in prayer to God, God sees that their palms and fingers are covered with blood (v. 15) -- the blood of the innocent poor and of all those whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have treated unjustly. There is no concern in Judean society for unjust court practices, for cheating commercial dealings, for neglect of helpless widows and orphans who have no standing or support in society (1:21-23). The land is filled with Assyrian idols, with horses and chariots of war, with magicians and soothsayers (2:6-8), idle ostentatious women (3:16-17), careless wealthy landowners (5:11-12), and posturing priests and rulers. Indeed, so corrupt has Judean society become, that Isaiah gives it the name of a modern Sodom or Gomorrah (v. 10).
If the Judeans want to approach the holy God in worship, then the Lord admonishes them to cleanse their hearts and to turn from their evil ways, to cease to do evil and learn to do good (vv. 16-17). And the good is not to be defined by human beings from their experiences, but "good" defined by God in his teachings and commandments.
In short, good Christians, what we do in our daily lives in our families, our societies, our nation, and our world have a direct bearing on whether or not God accepts us in our worship. Ethics and worship go together in the Bible, and they cannot be separated. And we cannot automatically assume that God accepts every prayer that we utter or looks in favor upon every worship service in which we participate. God sees our hearts and our daily actions, and let's face it, the corruption of those very often makes us odious and unacceptable in his sight. As another Isaiah wrote many years later, "Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he does not hear" (Isaiah 59:2). When we read the morning headlines, surely far too often we have to ask if our nation too has become another Sodom and Gomorrah.
We could therefore very well ask that desperate question at this point. "Lord, who can be saved?" Lord, who can worthily worship you and receive from your hand the gifts of life and all good? The psalmist asks, "Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?" And the answer comes back, "He who has clean hands and a pure heart" (Psalm 24:3-4), and we know very well that we are neither clean nor pure.
So we need someone who can stand in for us, don't we, someone whose heart was so pure that it never wavered from love and obedience to God, someone who loved his neighbor more than his own life, who was pure goodness incarnate? And we know only One whose righteousness was whole and whose life was pure love for all. And so we utter every prayer through the mediation of Jesus Christ, and we approach our God only through the forgiveness and transformation that his cross and resurrection give us.
Apart from our Lord Christ, we don't have a prayer, dear friends. But trusting in his sacrifice and work for us, we can approach our God here this morning, and offer our worship to him, in confidence (cf. Hebrews 4:14-16), knowing that because of his love poured out upon us in his Son, God accepts our service to him.
Lutheran Option -- Genesis 15:1-6
When the Lord called Abraham and his family out of Mesopotamia in the eighteenth century B.C., he promised Abraham that he would make him a great nation with many descendants, through whom the Lord would bring blessing on all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:1-3). In our text for the morning, God now begins to fulfill that word by promising to give Abraham a son.
So important is this beginning fulfillment that there are three different versions of it in the Old Testament. These verses form the first version. The other two are found in Genesis 17 and 18, and all of them show that Abraham did not deserve God's promise. It was a word of pure grace on the Lord's part, given despite Abraham's disbelief.
In our text, Abraham (or Abram) and his wife Sarah (or Sarai; cf. 17:5, 15) are old and have no children. Abraham is therefore sure that his only heir will be Ishmael, the son of his slave-woman Hagar (cf. Genesis 16), according to the family law in effect at the time. In fact, so convinced of that and so unbelieving of God's promise is Abraham that when God tells him he will have a son by Sarah, Abraham as much as replies, "No, I won't" -- a blasphemous reply. God therefore takes Abraham out into the night to look at the stars and to count their number, if he is able. "So shall your descendants be," says the Lord. And we are told that Abraham then believed the Lord's word, and his belief made him righteous in God's sight.
Two further points are important from this passage. First, notice what faith is here. It consists in believing God's promise and acting as if it were going to be fulfilled. God in Christ has given us lots of promises, for example, "Lo, I am with you always to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). Faith means believing that promise and acting accordingly.
Second, verse 6 of our text is the first instance in the scriptures of justification by faith. It is Abraham's faith which makes him righteous in the eyes of God. And so it is also with us. By our faith in Jesus Christ we are justified, counted right, before God. "We are justified by grace through faith."
It is when one can act unconsciously in a way that simply benefits another person, because that is the way one is, that it can be said the individual has performed the superior good. Sang Kee Paik, a master student of the San-Sang system of oriental martial art, writes, "A black belt always carries with him his power capability. He must always carry with him his ethic of superior good ... He must develop his ethic so that his ethic perseveres over any and all circumstances, no matter how difficult his situation may be."
Today, the scriptures exhort us to learn to do good, whether during a time of judgment, persecution or simply waiting for the Lord's return. Beyond even the superior good, one might think of it as the heavenly good, for it is done out of obedience to the command of God and to God's glory.
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Not a whole lot was going right for God's people in the eighth century B.C. By the last quarter of the century, the northern kingdom was absorbed into the Assyrian Empire. The southern kingdom, Judah, with its capital at Jerusalem was under siege. At first, Israel and Syria where nipping at the borders; then, Assyria assumed the rod of God's wrath against a rebellious and ungrateful people (Isaiah 1:2-9). This century was a watershed in the history of God's people, both in the north and in the south. It marked the beginning of the end of their identities as autonomous states (until the period of the Maccabbees, 165 B.C. until the Roman conquest). The north disappeared altogether; the remnant of the south continued to be just that, only a remnant, never to attain again to the ideal of the davidic kingdom, an ideal fulfilled in the coming of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.
Throughout the history of God's people there has been a dual call to worship God rightly and to serve his purposes faithfully. When the worship life of the people became tainted with syncretism from indigenous cults, the prophets rose up to sound the alarm, not just because idolatry had infiltrated the true worship of Yahweh (Isaiah's name means "Yahweh is salvation"), but also because the people had lost sight of the connection between worship of Yahweh and serving his purposes in daily life.
Hence, the definition of what is good, not in terms of proper worship practices, but in terms of proper habits in daily life. To be the people of God is not just to use the correct name of God. It is not simply to worship in the prescribed manner handed down from the time of Moses, and do so only in the places that are dedicated solely to God without any piggybacking from local deities. To be the people of God means to behave according to the will of God in relationship to one's neighbor: "seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow" (1:17). In short, to learn to do good. Not so much sacrifice as sacrificial living is what God desires. Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, understood this also (Micah 6:8).
Concomitant with this call to more heavenly good is the offer of forgiveness for those who will repent and obey the word of the Lord (1:18-19). Like a spectrum analysis, Isaiah describes how completely God will forgive -- as complete as changing the color chart. (Micah 7:18-19 and Psalm 103:11-12 use a dizzying spatial distinction to express the extent of God's forgiveness.)
In addition to forgiveness, when there is compliance to God's will, there are attendant rewards for the righteous. "You shall eat the good of the land" (1:19). These are bold words to speak in the midst of the civil chaos that was occurring at the time. No wonder that the writer to the Hebrews lifts the prophets up as worthy examples of faith, trusting in the promises of God even when events unfolding would decry them (Hebrews 11:32-38).
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
A church under fire needs encouragement. This is what the letter of Hebrews is all about. It was written to a church during a time of persecution. It was not a persecution to the death (Hebrews 12:4), yet it was severe enough (Hebrews 10:32-34) to warrant concern about the strength of faith to endure. To address this, the writer of this missive takes on the task of apologetics. He claims the all-sufficiency of Christ as superior to (fulfillment of) the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8:1--10:18). Based on this affirmation, the Christian community hears an encouraging word -- to persevere (Hebrews 2:1-4).
In Hebrews 11, the writer provides example after example of those who lived by faith, not seeing the promise fulfilled in their day, but still holding on to the hope that it instilled in their hearts. So, the Christian community can hold on through the time of trial, even when they do not hold the fulfillment of the promise in their hands. In the next chapter, the letter develops the example of Jesus, who endured so much suffering and leads the believer forward through it. Then, comes a wonderful exhortation to "buck up" and let the world see just what Christians are capable of doing when hard pressed: "Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees" (Hebrews 12:12).
Our pericope, focused on the example of Abraham and Sarah, defines the nature of faith. It is an assurance (11:1) and a conviction (11:1).
The conviction is that the eyes of faith perceive a reality that is beyond the reason of mind or the immediacy of experience. This is the basis of Paul's comments in Romans 8:18-25, where he is convinced that there is a future glory that contextualizes all current suffering. It is this conviction that gives one wholeness (salvation) in the very midst of brokenness (see Romans 5:3-5 and 1 Corinthians 4:7-10).
The assurance is that what is perceived is indeed real (beyond what reason and experience can attest to with logical or scientific proofs) and can be trusted. The object of faith is foundational for taking any action. Thus, Abram was assured of his inheritance and acted upon that assurance by leaving his home and embarking to a new land -- sight unseen. Though he in fact did see the land eventually, the true fulfillment of the promise was yet beyond him, embodied in the holy city, Jerusalem, in one respect and in Jesus Christ in another.
Luke 12:32-40
Little flock, indeed! What significance in number was the small Christian sect compared to the numerous adherents of Judaism? What insignificance in number were the followers of the Way compared to the population of the Roman Empire! "Little flock" is an appropriate salutation. Because it is a collective noun, the imperative mood of the noun is in the second person singular, giving the reading as if addressed to each individual, thus personalizing the entreaty (12:32). Since the verb is in the middle voice, it emphasizes the subject's participation in the outcome of the action indicated.
"Be not afraid," Jesus says, to each lamb of the flock. The reason is that God's pleasure is to rule in us and over us. We will share the rule of God that ultimately takes in everything. How we can participate in that rule now and live in a state of not being afraid is to "sell your possessions, and give alms" (12:33).
Such actions are not only good for the recipient of the kindness; they are also salutary for the doer of the good. The entreaty invites participation in the very goal sought by acting in a way that manifest confidence rather than fear.
As Jesus goes on to talk about servants waiting for the master, he describes those who live in the present anticipating the future, which shapes their behavior of readiness. So too, living with the confidence of the coming rule of God disarms fear in the present, regardless of how formidable the challenges or crosses appear. Those who do this become the "blessed, happy ones" of God.
The image of girded loins and burning lamps (12:35) is one of preparedness. The servants are to be dressed for work, not donned in leisure clothing, casually waiting for the master to return. The follow-up parable/explanation (Luke 12:41-48) makes this clear. The flame from the lamps will provide the light to see what needs to be done. It just may be that there is plenty of time to tend to the tasks at hand, because the master may not return until the second or third watch. Since not even Jesus knew when he would return (Mark 13:32), how could the servants expect to know? Therefore, constant vigilance is necessary.
Application
There is such a mix of public people in the world's spotlight. There are religious celebrities with feet of clay, strong moralists with no religious leanings, amoral individuals who push the envelope of our culture and justice system, immoral people who wink at God, non-Christian religious folks with profound ethics. Amidst all of these, the average person on the street is looking for a word to guide the community into a better world. Isaiah's call to "cease to do evil, learn to do good" (1:16-17) will resonate with many and can be the basis of a conversation that will focus individuals on the importance of their particular life's opportunities and responsibilities.
Christians can ask of themselves how their personal piety is connected to the practices of daily life. What measure of consistency is there between the hearts and the habits of those who profess allegiance to God? As James reminds us, there is no good worship without good works. It is sobering for anyone at the altar or in the pew to hear these words: "When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you" (Isaiah 1:15).
In what ways are our hands "full of blood" (1:15)? In what ways do our lives bear the stains that God decries? If the prayers of the righteous have great power in their effect (James 5:16), what happens to the prayers of those whose lives are flagrantly out of sync with God's purposes? How much more learning do we need before we can recognize any heavenly good shaping our lives with God-pleasing consistency?
George Forell's timeless little book, Faith Active in Love, makes the necessary connection between a heart that is alive to God in faith and the hands that are then active in loving deeds for God in the world. We could apply the nature of faith in another way today, if one's audience would warrant attention to this direction. In the ongoing debate between creation and evolution, rather than polarizing positions with either/or rhetoric, it would be helpful to acknowledge the different modes of perception with which faith and science operate. These do not need to be exclusive, but rather complementary. This could avoid the errors of religious scientism on the one hand and the errors of scientific religionism on the other hand.
In yet another direction for faith to be explicated in relationship to the necessity of learning to do good, one could delineate how an envisioned future is both gift from God and something that one must work toward. When churches (or communities) go through a revisioning process to discern the preferred future into which God is calling them, they need to understand that this is first and foremost a gift from God. This is not something that can be earned by merit of the congregation. The future is in God's hands and God will give it to his people when they are ready to receive it. Faith waits expectantly for the future to come, as in the closing remarks of the book of Revelation: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:29).
Still, faith is not inert. It does not simply sit around like Estragon and Vladimir waiting for Godot (Samuel Beckett's 1952 tragicomedy Waiting for Godot). It is more like Martin Luther, when asked what he would do if he learned that Jesus would be coming tomorrow. His reply, "I would plant a tree in my garden today." Faith calls forth effort that strives toward what the promise holds forth. Abraham necessarily had to leave Ur and travel beyond the horizon, an effort of no small means. He did not earn what was beyond the horizon in the Promised Land. His faith, however, the assurance and the conviction of it, led him to act upon it.
Jurgen Moltmann in Theology of Hope makes a similar connection between the promises of God and the commandments of God. The promise points to the goal; the commandments point to the way. He writes, "The promise of the covenant and the injunctions of the covenant have an abiding and guiding significance until the fulfillment ... The commandments of the covenant, which point our hopes in the promise to the path of physical obedience, are nothing else but the ethical reverse of the promise itself." One does not earn the promise by observing the law; but, one does observe the law as a way of living in the promise of what is coming. The law, or the learning to do good, is the proleptic embodiment of the future into which God is calling us. The future shapes us in the present through the effort that we put into living in the promise.
There is a definite counter-cultural current in the Christian lifestyle. In today's consumer ethos, where possession and accumulation are measures of wealth and power, Christians are guided by the words of Jesus to "sell ... and give" (Luke 12:33). Because the Christian's true treasure is in the heavenly good, priority consideration is given to what one can live without in order to provide for another's needs. Here is a measure of true wealth that stems from having the right values (see Matthew 6:33 and 13:44-45). Since behavior will follow what is valued (Luke 12:34), it is vital to have right values.
When one's treasure is correct, namely the rule of God in one's life, then there is no fear of loss nor fear of purposelessness nor fear of worthlessness, for the treasures in heaven do not fail.
THE POLITICAL PULPIT
By Mark Ellingsen
Luke 12:32-40
God's kingdom and ours
Today's Gospel reading, especially verse 32, where Jesus tells his followers that it is the Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom, provides an excellent opportunity to contrast God's kingdom with American society.
In The Revolt of the Elites, acclaimed social analyst Christopher Lasch argues that opinion-makers of our society have convinced us that we live in a "meritocracy". Those who reach the top and prosper are those who have "earned" it by their ability and hard work, we are told. (Read the work of Clinton's first secretary of labor Robert Reich, The Work of Nations, for an articulate promulgation of this ideology.) Consequently, those who succeed in our society believe that their success is the result of their own achievement and tend to regard the poor as deserving their plight due to underachievement.
Of course, as Lasch points out, those who achieve in our meritocracy have usually had the benefit of a better education. If you did not get that advantageous headstart, you will probably not "merit" a life of success.
Contrary to what we say about ourselves, however, America is not really a meritocracy. The poor who have no realistic access to the most prestigious educational opportunities don't have the same chance to succeed. But our cultural ideology makes it hard for us who have succeeded to admit advantages. It's too easy to castigate the underclass for their "failures," lest they reveal to us the flaws in our system.
Welfare reform has been proposed as the way to improve the lot of the poor in our meritocracy. If we put welfare recipients to work, insist that they get jobs, we force them to participate in our meritocracy. But without the educational and cultural advantages of those who have succeeded, the poor have little chance. The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act mandates that a person can only be on welfare for a maximum of five years and that the person must work within two years of entering the system in order to receive benefits. Food Stamp recipients need to have a job. How pleased our politicians are to claim the significant reductions of the welfare rolls as a result.
But now as this legislation begins to strip families of the safety net (it went into effect in 1997, so that the newest welfare enrollees must now have a job or lose benefits), shelters all over America are experiencing an explosion of new clients. The sort of jobs many welfare recipients are qualified to land place them well below the poverty line. And what happens to the kids of dead-beat parents who give up looking for work?
It's time for some dialogue among ourselves and with our parishioners about whether the church in America should support cutbacks in government's role in providing welfare for the poor.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Above all else, the biblical, Christian faith has to do with the relation of individuals and communities with God, from whom comes all good. The world of wonder that we see around us and the maintenance of its rhythms and order, joy and contentment, the goodness of human relationships, the proper order of government, guidance and strength for our daily lives, forgiveness and comfort in distress, and indeed life itself -- all of those and many more are gifts given us from the hand of our Creator and Redeemer. The entire work of Jesus Christ is therefore directed toward restoring our relationship with God and directing it in its proper paths.
At the heart of that relationship, then, is our worship of our Lord. In worship we do what the Bible calls our 'avodah', our leiturgia, our "work" toward God. We enter into his presence in praise and thanksgiving, in confession and petition, in intercession and surrender, and receive once more the fullness of his life that he pours out in love and mercy upon us.
The question that our text for the morning raises, however, in verses 10-17, is: "Does God always receive our worship?" (Verses 18-20 actually form a separate oracle, in which God calls the Judeans to go to court to "reason," i.e., go to court with him). We automatically assume that the Lord is pleased when we come to church, but is he? And we have the old stereotypical saying that "God hears every prayer." But does he?
In this first chapter from the prophecies of Isaiah of Jerusalem, whose book encompasses chapters 1-39 in the Isaiah corpus, the prophet confronts the worshiping community of Judah, sometime between 742 and 701 B.C. He addresses not only the leaders of that community, but also the entire people (v. 10). And Isaiah makes it very clear that they are a people who love to attend worship. They offer a "multitude of sacrifices" (v. 11), they burn incense in their temple (v. 13), they celebrate worship feasts and festivals at the time of every new moon (v. 13), and they call "solemn assemblies," which were perhaps fasts of repentance (v. 13). In fact so numerous are their worship practices that they literally trample the courts of the temple -- mobs crowding into its plazas (v. 12) -- a verse that often reminds me of the crowds who come to our churches on Easter and Christmas.
And what is the Lord's reaction to all of that worship? He thunders out that he hates it (v. 14). It is a great burden to God, and far from delighting in the people's worship, he is totally weary of it all (vv. 11, 14). If the people lift up their hands in prayer, God shuts his eyes from seeing them, and does not hear what the people are saying (v. 15). God wants no more of Judah's worship. It has become an abomination to him. So we have to ask the questions, don't we, is that the Lord's reaction to our worship also? Why has he rejected the Judeans' worship-relation with him? Does he reject also ours?
In this prophetic torah or teaching that Isaiah is delivering, the answer is very clear. When the Judeans lift up their hands in prayer to God, God sees that their palms and fingers are covered with blood (v. 15) -- the blood of the innocent poor and of all those whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have treated unjustly. There is no concern in Judean society for unjust court practices, for cheating commercial dealings, for neglect of helpless widows and orphans who have no standing or support in society (1:21-23). The land is filled with Assyrian idols, with horses and chariots of war, with magicians and soothsayers (2:6-8), idle ostentatious women (3:16-17), careless wealthy landowners (5:11-12), and posturing priests and rulers. Indeed, so corrupt has Judean society become, that Isaiah gives it the name of a modern Sodom or Gomorrah (v. 10).
If the Judeans want to approach the holy God in worship, then the Lord admonishes them to cleanse their hearts and to turn from their evil ways, to cease to do evil and learn to do good (vv. 16-17). And the good is not to be defined by human beings from their experiences, but "good" defined by God in his teachings and commandments.
In short, good Christians, what we do in our daily lives in our families, our societies, our nation, and our world have a direct bearing on whether or not God accepts us in our worship. Ethics and worship go together in the Bible, and they cannot be separated. And we cannot automatically assume that God accepts every prayer that we utter or looks in favor upon every worship service in which we participate. God sees our hearts and our daily actions, and let's face it, the corruption of those very often makes us odious and unacceptable in his sight. As another Isaiah wrote many years later, "Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he does not hear" (Isaiah 59:2). When we read the morning headlines, surely far too often we have to ask if our nation too has become another Sodom and Gomorrah.
We could therefore very well ask that desperate question at this point. "Lord, who can be saved?" Lord, who can worthily worship you and receive from your hand the gifts of life and all good? The psalmist asks, "Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?" And the answer comes back, "He who has clean hands and a pure heart" (Psalm 24:3-4), and we know very well that we are neither clean nor pure.
So we need someone who can stand in for us, don't we, someone whose heart was so pure that it never wavered from love and obedience to God, someone who loved his neighbor more than his own life, who was pure goodness incarnate? And we know only One whose righteousness was whole and whose life was pure love for all. And so we utter every prayer through the mediation of Jesus Christ, and we approach our God only through the forgiveness and transformation that his cross and resurrection give us.
Apart from our Lord Christ, we don't have a prayer, dear friends. But trusting in his sacrifice and work for us, we can approach our God here this morning, and offer our worship to him, in confidence (cf. Hebrews 4:14-16), knowing that because of his love poured out upon us in his Son, God accepts our service to him.
Lutheran Option -- Genesis 15:1-6
When the Lord called Abraham and his family out of Mesopotamia in the eighteenth century B.C., he promised Abraham that he would make him a great nation with many descendants, through whom the Lord would bring blessing on all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:1-3). In our text for the morning, God now begins to fulfill that word by promising to give Abraham a son.
So important is this beginning fulfillment that there are three different versions of it in the Old Testament. These verses form the first version. The other two are found in Genesis 17 and 18, and all of them show that Abraham did not deserve God's promise. It was a word of pure grace on the Lord's part, given despite Abraham's disbelief.
In our text, Abraham (or Abram) and his wife Sarah (or Sarai; cf. 17:5, 15) are old and have no children. Abraham is therefore sure that his only heir will be Ishmael, the son of his slave-woman Hagar (cf. Genesis 16), according to the family law in effect at the time. In fact, so convinced of that and so unbelieving of God's promise is Abraham that when God tells him he will have a son by Sarah, Abraham as much as replies, "No, I won't" -- a blasphemous reply. God therefore takes Abraham out into the night to look at the stars and to count their number, if he is able. "So shall your descendants be," says the Lord. And we are told that Abraham then believed the Lord's word, and his belief made him righteous in God's sight.
Two further points are important from this passage. First, notice what faith is here. It consists in believing God's promise and acting as if it were going to be fulfilled. God in Christ has given us lots of promises, for example, "Lo, I am with you always to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). Faith means believing that promise and acting accordingly.
Second, verse 6 of our text is the first instance in the scriptures of justification by faith. It is Abraham's faith which makes him righteous in the eyes of God. And so it is also with us. By our faith in Jesus Christ we are justified, counted right, before God. "We are justified by grace through faith."
