Gratitude to God
Commentary
The Gospel Lesson for today strongly urges a theme of thanksgiving, specifically of grateful acknowledgment for all that God through Christ has done for us. The Second Reading enjoins us to "remember Jesus Christ" -- the very thing that the Samaritan leper does in the story from Luke. But we are urged here to be thankful not only for temporal blessings, but above all for the eternal salvation accomplished through the death and resurrection of Christ. Within this context, the First Reading may have the most difficult message: it calls us to acknowledge God even in times of "exile," to admit to the justice of God's judgment and -- in that sense -- be grateful even for the hardship of life.
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
For our First Reading, we have the text of a letter Jeremiah sent to the first set of exiles in Babylon. As you may recall, Jerusalem fell to Babylon twice, in 597 when many leading citizens were carried away, and again ten years later when the Temple was destroyed and more of the rank and file of the populace were sent into exile.
In part, the prophetic word cautions against any idea that the exile will be brief, that the people can just wait it out and then return. Jeremiah tells them to build houses, plant gardens, and raise families -- to put down roots and prepare for the long haul. This is the same prophet who, in our lesson two weeks ago (32:1-3a, 6-15), bought a field in Judah as a testimony that the exile would not be permanent. Two homes, he advises -- a house and garden in Babylon, a field in Judah. Even now, this image expresses the eschatological tension experienced by those who regard life in this world as an exile from the kingdom of heaven (compare 1 Peter 1:17).
What is most incredible, perhaps, is that the prophet advises the exiles to seek and pray for the welfare (literally, shalom) of Babylon, for "in its welfare (shalom) you will find your welfare (shalom)." This is not just a practical strategy for survival. Nor is it primarily an Old Testament example of loving one's enemies. The exiles are to show by such action that they accept God's judgment and trust themselves wholly to the outworking of God's ultimate plan.
2 Timothy 2:8-15
I don't read the pastoral epistles as much as I should, being, professionally, a Gospels scholar (primarily) and, confessionally, a Lutheran (primarily). If it weren't for the lectionary, I might not read them at all. Thank God for the lectionary, then, so we are reminded of some jewels that our exegetical sins of omission would cause us to overlook.
For instance, I'd forgotten all about 2 Timothy 2, verse 14: "Avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening." If you'd quoted that to me, I wouldn't have known it was from the Bible, much less where it could be found. It's a good verse, though, equal at least to many deemed worthy of needlepoint or bumper stickers. I could see it printed on the cover of programs for some churchwide assemblies.
The text begins, however, with a more profound thought: "Remember Jesus Christ." At the same time it summons the recipients to remember the apostle Paul and his suffering for the gospel. This is a continuation of the paradox discussed with regard to the Second Reading last week. Throughout this epistle, readers are urged not to forget the legacy of their ancestors in the faith and yet ultimately to place their hope and faith in the one Lord Jesus Christ. Treasure the contributions of those who have fought the good fight of faith in various contexts; trust finally in the one who transcends all contexts.
At the heart of the passage is another "faithful saying" that was apparently popular in the early church (compare 1 Timothy 1:15; 3:1; 4:9-10). Some scholars think that, although this letter was written pseudonymously long after Paul's death, this "saying" does in fact derive from the teaching of the apostle. Compare it to Romans 6:8; 8:28-29. It begins with a reference to baptism (compare Romans 6:8-11), a "death" that allows one to enter into genuine life, now, in the present. The second line promises that there is still more -- eschatological fullness of life for those who endure. The choice of the latter word implies that the experience of "life with Christ" for the baptized is not all peaches and cream but, to the extent that such life is lived out in a hostile world, something that must be "endured." The final couplet declares that if we do not "endure," but deny Christ, we will miss out on this final salvation. The last line is sometimes misunderstood as ameliorating this by saying that if we are merely faithless without actually denying Christ, then God will remain faithful in offering us gracious salvation anyway. No. The point, rather, is that if we are faithless by denying Christ (as indicated in the previous verse), God will have to be faithful to God's own self in meting out the necessary judgment upon us. It is a warning, as verse 14 indicates. Most of us like biblical promises better than warnings, but, like it or not, the Bible offers a generous supply of both.
Luke 17:11-19
The meaning of this simple story does not have to be any more profound than it at first appears. The main point extolls the virtue of gratitude. A secondary point is scored through the reminder that such virtues deserve to be recognized wherever they appear, even if those who exhibit them are not those who would expect to do so.
Jesus heals ten lepers (compare Luke 5:12-14) but only one of them returns to give thanks. This is clearly the proper response. The theme is a favorite one of Luke's, tied to his interest in worship. Notably neither Matthew nor Mark record a single story in which any person who is healed or blessed by Jesus praises God or gives thanks for what has happened (sometimes, the onlookers glorify God, but never the one who actually benefited). Luke describes this as happening a number of times (5:25; 7:16; 13:13, and, of course, see Acts 3:8) and in this story calls special attention to the importance of such thanksgiving. To say that we ought to thank Jesus and praise God (vv. 15, 16) for the goodness we receive is not controversial -- no one's going to argue that we shouldn't. But so many (nine out of ten?) don't do so out of sheer neglect.
The fact that the healing is not instantaneous really drives this point home. If Jesus had said, "Be clean!" and the leprosy had vanished, perhaps all ten would have been more inclined to thank him. But that's not how it worked this time. They went their way, and over a period of time (hours? days?), their skin cleared up. The connection with Jesus' words may then have seemed less direct. Some distance may have been covered, requiring now a return journey to thank him. The offering of thanks has become mildly inconvenient; it interferes with the direction and flow of current pursuits ("he turned back," v. 15).
Luke waits to reveal the identity of the exemplary leper -- "and he was a Samaritan" (v. 16b). So, he traps the reader into approving of the virtuous person before revealing that he was a person the reader would not normally favor. Specifically, he was a religious heretic. Choose from the following list (or from your own expanded version of it) the group whose views and attitudes you and your congregation generally consider to be the most problematic: Unitarians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, fundamentalists. Now, try to create a sermon illustration in which a representative of that group exemplifies a virtue that you and your congregation greatly apprise.
What's the point? Luke is very generous with regard to humanity. It is only in this Gospel that we encounter Pharisees who, though they oppose Jesus, do the right thing by warning him of danger (13:31). In Acts, we meet noble Roman soldiers who, though they oppose Christianity, insist that Christians be treated with justice (Acts 23:12-35). We even meet pagan natives on the island of Malta who show "unusual kindness" to shipwrecked sailors (Acts 28:2). These writings try to break down the "us and them" mentality that separates Christians from all others in the world. Such distinctions may be valid or even necessary in certain contexts, but all people were made in God's image and even those who do not know or acknowledge this may be "good people." Virtue is virtue, Luke seems to think. Give credit where it's due.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
The prominent people, the "best" people of Judah, were carried into Babylonian exile in the first deportation of 597 B.C., but they really didn't think their captivity would last too long. After all, they had the davidic king, Jehoichin, with them, and God had promised that there would never be lacking a davidic king to sit upon the throne (2 Samuel 7). Their prophets had always prophesied "peace, peace" to them (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11), which meant God held them in favor. And now the same prophets, who also had been deported, were assuring them that they would soon be returned to Palestine.
They all looked to Egypt to break the power of Babylonia. In fact, when there was a rebellion in the Babylonian army in 595 B.C., they were sure that was going to bear fruit. In 594, ambassadors from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon met in Jerusalem to plot how to regain their freedom from the Babylonian yoke. And when Psammetichus II took the throne of Egypt in 593, that seemed the most hopeful sign of all.
What the exiled leaders did not reckon with, however, was the power of God that was far greater than the power of any little nation, and far greater than that of Egypt and of Babylonia. And God had sent the Judean leaders into their exile, because they had trusted everything else but him, giving their allegiance to other gods, other powers, other ways than that of the Lord.
The result was that the puppet king Zedekiah of Judah, whom Babylonia had put on the throne, had to send a deputation to Babylonia in 593 B.C., assuring its Emperor Nebuchadnezzar that Judah was a faithful vassal. And the prophet Jeremiah seized the opportunity to have that deputation carry a letter to the exiles.
Do not believe your false prophets who are telling you that you will soon return to your homeland, Jeremiah told the deportees. Settle down for a long stay. Build houses, plant gardens, intermarry with the Babylonians, and pray for Babylon's welfare, for your life is bound up with hers for the next seventy years (vv. 5-10). At a time when Babylonia was hated and feared throughout the Near East, to a nation that had never countenanced intermarriage with foreigners (cf. Genesis 28:1), and to Judeans who thought that God could be found only in Jerusalem, that was a revolutionary message. Indeed, it was a treasonous message, and one of the priests among the exiles wrote to King Zedekiah to have Jeremiah silenced (vv. 24-28). But unlike the other false prophets who preached only peace and weal, Jeremiah preached the Word of the Lord. He knew that the Lord was in charge of Judah's life, and that only the Lord could give Judah "a future and a hope" (vv. 10-11).
In the affairs of nations, as empires rise and fall, as politicians plot and plan and think to shape our futures, there is One who is finally in charge of our destinies. That is a message to remember in our century when we think everyone but God is in control. And so the final question we always must ask, the question that exiled Judah did not ask, was: How do we stand with our God? And surely our nation, along with Judah, would have to find itself unfaithful.
Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Jeremiah's letter, however, is its destruction of all nationalistic bounds. God was not bound to one nation, to one temple, to one people, Jeremiah proclaimed, any more than he is bound to the United States or our denomination or our western ways. God is the Lord over all nations. He can be found in the midst of the third world as readily as in the midst of our great nation. He is not bound to our ways of worship or our understandings of piety and ethics. He works his will among all peoples and can be found in their midst, if he is sought with all our hearts and minds (vv. 13-14).
Most important, the Lord is to be sought after in whatever situation we find ourselves. And Jeremiah proclaims that we serve the Lord by serving those around us, even if they be our enemies or hated by us or looked down upon. The scriptures have always proclaimed that we love God most sincerely by loving our neighbors, whoever they may be. For the God of the scriptures is always giving away that which belongs to him. If you love me, he teaches us, then give that love to those around you. And in doing that, you will be giving your devotion to me.
Lutheran Option, 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c
There is no doubt about it. Naaman, the commander of the army of the King of Syria, is a very important person. In fact, he is a national hero, noted for his victories and for his courage and daring in times of war. Each time he comes home from battle, he is celebrated and honored by the populace and by his king.
Like all persons of whatever station in life, however, Naaman suffers "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." He has a progressive disease. He is a leper. Nevertheless, contrary to the treatment given to most lepers, Naaman expects to be afforded the respect proper to his high station. He hears from his wife through her little Israelite slave girl that there is a prophet in northern Israel who could cure him. But does Naaman write to the prophet? No. He writes to the king of Israel. And when he arrives in his chariot, with all of his entourage, at the door of Elisha, he expects Elisha to come out to him and through great ceremony to cure him of his disease. Important people need to be treated in an important fashion.
Those who are of God do not pay much attention to human importance, however. How often that was the case with Jesus! And it is also the case with Elisha. He just sends a messenger out to Naaman to tell him to wash in the Jordan three times in order to be cured. Naaman is furious. He has been treated like some peasant, like some scum who has no status whatsoever. His honor, his high station in life, his military victories have been ignored, and he has been treated like anyone else. What a comedown!
But Elisha knows, and his lowly servants know, and above all, God knows, that the path to Naaman's wholeness lies down the way of humility. Naaman not only needs to get rid of his leprosy. He needs to get rid of himself. "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted," our Lord taught us (Matthew 23:12). When we're all wrapped up in ourselves, there is no room left for God. We are the most important person in our lives, when in actuality, God is to be that Person. That is the reason Jesus tells us to "take up our cross" and follow him. In short, we are to let ourselves -- our wills, our desires, our importance -- be crucified, that Christ may live in us and God may be our all in all.
The Lord granted wholeness to Naaman when he found and exercised humility, when he finally realized that he had no health in himself and that his life lay wholly in God's hands. And we too have our wholeness from God, no matter what our condition, when we renounce our own self-importance and let God have his way with our lives.
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
For our First Reading, we have the text of a letter Jeremiah sent to the first set of exiles in Babylon. As you may recall, Jerusalem fell to Babylon twice, in 597 when many leading citizens were carried away, and again ten years later when the Temple was destroyed and more of the rank and file of the populace were sent into exile.
In part, the prophetic word cautions against any idea that the exile will be brief, that the people can just wait it out and then return. Jeremiah tells them to build houses, plant gardens, and raise families -- to put down roots and prepare for the long haul. This is the same prophet who, in our lesson two weeks ago (32:1-3a, 6-15), bought a field in Judah as a testimony that the exile would not be permanent. Two homes, he advises -- a house and garden in Babylon, a field in Judah. Even now, this image expresses the eschatological tension experienced by those who regard life in this world as an exile from the kingdom of heaven (compare 1 Peter 1:17).
What is most incredible, perhaps, is that the prophet advises the exiles to seek and pray for the welfare (literally, shalom) of Babylon, for "in its welfare (shalom) you will find your welfare (shalom)." This is not just a practical strategy for survival. Nor is it primarily an Old Testament example of loving one's enemies. The exiles are to show by such action that they accept God's judgment and trust themselves wholly to the outworking of God's ultimate plan.
2 Timothy 2:8-15
I don't read the pastoral epistles as much as I should, being, professionally, a Gospels scholar (primarily) and, confessionally, a Lutheran (primarily). If it weren't for the lectionary, I might not read them at all. Thank God for the lectionary, then, so we are reminded of some jewels that our exegetical sins of omission would cause us to overlook.
For instance, I'd forgotten all about 2 Timothy 2, verse 14: "Avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening." If you'd quoted that to me, I wouldn't have known it was from the Bible, much less where it could be found. It's a good verse, though, equal at least to many deemed worthy of needlepoint or bumper stickers. I could see it printed on the cover of programs for some churchwide assemblies.
The text begins, however, with a more profound thought: "Remember Jesus Christ." At the same time it summons the recipients to remember the apostle Paul and his suffering for the gospel. This is a continuation of the paradox discussed with regard to the Second Reading last week. Throughout this epistle, readers are urged not to forget the legacy of their ancestors in the faith and yet ultimately to place their hope and faith in the one Lord Jesus Christ. Treasure the contributions of those who have fought the good fight of faith in various contexts; trust finally in the one who transcends all contexts.
At the heart of the passage is another "faithful saying" that was apparently popular in the early church (compare 1 Timothy 1:15; 3:1; 4:9-10). Some scholars think that, although this letter was written pseudonymously long after Paul's death, this "saying" does in fact derive from the teaching of the apostle. Compare it to Romans 6:8; 8:28-29. It begins with a reference to baptism (compare Romans 6:8-11), a "death" that allows one to enter into genuine life, now, in the present. The second line promises that there is still more -- eschatological fullness of life for those who endure. The choice of the latter word implies that the experience of "life with Christ" for the baptized is not all peaches and cream but, to the extent that such life is lived out in a hostile world, something that must be "endured." The final couplet declares that if we do not "endure," but deny Christ, we will miss out on this final salvation. The last line is sometimes misunderstood as ameliorating this by saying that if we are merely faithless without actually denying Christ, then God will remain faithful in offering us gracious salvation anyway. No. The point, rather, is that if we are faithless by denying Christ (as indicated in the previous verse), God will have to be faithful to God's own self in meting out the necessary judgment upon us. It is a warning, as verse 14 indicates. Most of us like biblical promises better than warnings, but, like it or not, the Bible offers a generous supply of both.
Luke 17:11-19
The meaning of this simple story does not have to be any more profound than it at first appears. The main point extolls the virtue of gratitude. A secondary point is scored through the reminder that such virtues deserve to be recognized wherever they appear, even if those who exhibit them are not those who would expect to do so.
Jesus heals ten lepers (compare Luke 5:12-14) but only one of them returns to give thanks. This is clearly the proper response. The theme is a favorite one of Luke's, tied to his interest in worship. Notably neither Matthew nor Mark record a single story in which any person who is healed or blessed by Jesus praises God or gives thanks for what has happened (sometimes, the onlookers glorify God, but never the one who actually benefited). Luke describes this as happening a number of times (5:25; 7:16; 13:13, and, of course, see Acts 3:8) and in this story calls special attention to the importance of such thanksgiving. To say that we ought to thank Jesus and praise God (vv. 15, 16) for the goodness we receive is not controversial -- no one's going to argue that we shouldn't. But so many (nine out of ten?) don't do so out of sheer neglect.
The fact that the healing is not instantaneous really drives this point home. If Jesus had said, "Be clean!" and the leprosy had vanished, perhaps all ten would have been more inclined to thank him. But that's not how it worked this time. They went their way, and over a period of time (hours? days?), their skin cleared up. The connection with Jesus' words may then have seemed less direct. Some distance may have been covered, requiring now a return journey to thank him. The offering of thanks has become mildly inconvenient; it interferes with the direction and flow of current pursuits ("he turned back," v. 15).
Luke waits to reveal the identity of the exemplary leper -- "and he was a Samaritan" (v. 16b). So, he traps the reader into approving of the virtuous person before revealing that he was a person the reader would not normally favor. Specifically, he was a religious heretic. Choose from the following list (or from your own expanded version of it) the group whose views and attitudes you and your congregation generally consider to be the most problematic: Unitarians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, fundamentalists. Now, try to create a sermon illustration in which a representative of that group exemplifies a virtue that you and your congregation greatly apprise.
What's the point? Luke is very generous with regard to humanity. It is only in this Gospel that we encounter Pharisees who, though they oppose Jesus, do the right thing by warning him of danger (13:31). In Acts, we meet noble Roman soldiers who, though they oppose Christianity, insist that Christians be treated with justice (Acts 23:12-35). We even meet pagan natives on the island of Malta who show "unusual kindness" to shipwrecked sailors (Acts 28:2). These writings try to break down the "us and them" mentality that separates Christians from all others in the world. Such distinctions may be valid or even necessary in certain contexts, but all people were made in God's image and even those who do not know or acknowledge this may be "good people." Virtue is virtue, Luke seems to think. Give credit where it's due.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
The prominent people, the "best" people of Judah, were carried into Babylonian exile in the first deportation of 597 B.C., but they really didn't think their captivity would last too long. After all, they had the davidic king, Jehoichin, with them, and God had promised that there would never be lacking a davidic king to sit upon the throne (2 Samuel 7). Their prophets had always prophesied "peace, peace" to them (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11), which meant God held them in favor. And now the same prophets, who also had been deported, were assuring them that they would soon be returned to Palestine.
They all looked to Egypt to break the power of Babylonia. In fact, when there was a rebellion in the Babylonian army in 595 B.C., they were sure that was going to bear fruit. In 594, ambassadors from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon met in Jerusalem to plot how to regain their freedom from the Babylonian yoke. And when Psammetichus II took the throne of Egypt in 593, that seemed the most hopeful sign of all.
What the exiled leaders did not reckon with, however, was the power of God that was far greater than the power of any little nation, and far greater than that of Egypt and of Babylonia. And God had sent the Judean leaders into their exile, because they had trusted everything else but him, giving their allegiance to other gods, other powers, other ways than that of the Lord.
The result was that the puppet king Zedekiah of Judah, whom Babylonia had put on the throne, had to send a deputation to Babylonia in 593 B.C., assuring its Emperor Nebuchadnezzar that Judah was a faithful vassal. And the prophet Jeremiah seized the opportunity to have that deputation carry a letter to the exiles.
Do not believe your false prophets who are telling you that you will soon return to your homeland, Jeremiah told the deportees. Settle down for a long stay. Build houses, plant gardens, intermarry with the Babylonians, and pray for Babylon's welfare, for your life is bound up with hers for the next seventy years (vv. 5-10). At a time when Babylonia was hated and feared throughout the Near East, to a nation that had never countenanced intermarriage with foreigners (cf. Genesis 28:1), and to Judeans who thought that God could be found only in Jerusalem, that was a revolutionary message. Indeed, it was a treasonous message, and one of the priests among the exiles wrote to King Zedekiah to have Jeremiah silenced (vv. 24-28). But unlike the other false prophets who preached only peace and weal, Jeremiah preached the Word of the Lord. He knew that the Lord was in charge of Judah's life, and that only the Lord could give Judah "a future and a hope" (vv. 10-11).
In the affairs of nations, as empires rise and fall, as politicians plot and plan and think to shape our futures, there is One who is finally in charge of our destinies. That is a message to remember in our century when we think everyone but God is in control. And so the final question we always must ask, the question that exiled Judah did not ask, was: How do we stand with our God? And surely our nation, along with Judah, would have to find itself unfaithful.
Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Jeremiah's letter, however, is its destruction of all nationalistic bounds. God was not bound to one nation, to one temple, to one people, Jeremiah proclaimed, any more than he is bound to the United States or our denomination or our western ways. God is the Lord over all nations. He can be found in the midst of the third world as readily as in the midst of our great nation. He is not bound to our ways of worship or our understandings of piety and ethics. He works his will among all peoples and can be found in their midst, if he is sought with all our hearts and minds (vv. 13-14).
Most important, the Lord is to be sought after in whatever situation we find ourselves. And Jeremiah proclaims that we serve the Lord by serving those around us, even if they be our enemies or hated by us or looked down upon. The scriptures have always proclaimed that we love God most sincerely by loving our neighbors, whoever they may be. For the God of the scriptures is always giving away that which belongs to him. If you love me, he teaches us, then give that love to those around you. And in doing that, you will be giving your devotion to me.
Lutheran Option, 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c
There is no doubt about it. Naaman, the commander of the army of the King of Syria, is a very important person. In fact, he is a national hero, noted for his victories and for his courage and daring in times of war. Each time he comes home from battle, he is celebrated and honored by the populace and by his king.
Like all persons of whatever station in life, however, Naaman suffers "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." He has a progressive disease. He is a leper. Nevertheless, contrary to the treatment given to most lepers, Naaman expects to be afforded the respect proper to his high station. He hears from his wife through her little Israelite slave girl that there is a prophet in northern Israel who could cure him. But does Naaman write to the prophet? No. He writes to the king of Israel. And when he arrives in his chariot, with all of his entourage, at the door of Elisha, he expects Elisha to come out to him and through great ceremony to cure him of his disease. Important people need to be treated in an important fashion.
Those who are of God do not pay much attention to human importance, however. How often that was the case with Jesus! And it is also the case with Elisha. He just sends a messenger out to Naaman to tell him to wash in the Jordan three times in order to be cured. Naaman is furious. He has been treated like some peasant, like some scum who has no status whatsoever. His honor, his high station in life, his military victories have been ignored, and he has been treated like anyone else. What a comedown!
But Elisha knows, and his lowly servants know, and above all, God knows, that the path to Naaman's wholeness lies down the way of humility. Naaman not only needs to get rid of his leprosy. He needs to get rid of himself. "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted," our Lord taught us (Matthew 23:12). When we're all wrapped up in ourselves, there is no room left for God. We are the most important person in our lives, when in actuality, God is to be that Person. That is the reason Jesus tells us to "take up our cross" and follow him. In short, we are to let ourselves -- our wills, our desires, our importance -- be crucified, that Christ may live in us and God may be our all in all.
The Lord granted wholeness to Naaman when he found and exercised humility, when he finally realized that he had no health in himself and that his life lay wholly in God's hands. And we too have our wholeness from God, no matter what our condition, when we renounce our own self-importance and let God have his way with our lives.
