Jesus is the sign of the times
Commentary
In our consumer culture, advertising plays an extremely vital role. The product manufacturer or the service provider must inform and persuade the public about what they have available. The public reads or views or listens to the ads in a continuing search for new and better, yet less expensive products and services. In our increasing visual world, signs are the signs of our times. It is not strange to see two similar ads placed side by side. There are even entire fence lines plastered with identical billboards, hoping to catch the eye of passers-by and make them want what is advertised.
As we move deeper into the Lenten season, Christians have the extremely vital role of proclaiming Jesus as the sign of God's presence with us and all creation. As Christians proclaim this good news and live it out in their daily lives, each one becomes like a mini-ad for God's love that calls all people into a living relationship of acceptance, forgiveness, shaping, strengthening, and service.
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
This is the second of three similar accounts recorded in Genesis (12:1-3; 15:1-20; 17:1-8) in which God makes covenant with Abraham. The covenant is that God will bless Abraham with an heir, who shall be the sign of a great nation to come, which nation will be a blessing to the entire world. This three-fold promise Abraham believed before he saw any of it come to pass. This trust in God's promise is Abraham's righteousness.
It is interesting to note how God comes to Abram in this vision, recorded in chapter 15. The first word necessary to speak is one of comfort and assurance: "Fear not." It is an awesome thing to be in the present of the Holy, even in a dream. Then, God speaks a word of definition: "I am your shield." The emphasis here is not on Abram's need for a shield; that is assumed. The highlight is that God presents himself as the very one who protects Abram in his pilgrimage on earth. The psalmist would pick up this theme under various images, applying it to God's relationship with the people generated from Abram: defender, protector, rock, fortress. Then, comes the promise that Abram will receive a reward, which is further explained by the personal heir, successor nation, and world blessing.
This promise is sealed with a covenant ritual not uncommon in ancient days. In those days before animal rights activists, sacrifices became a sign of a relationship, sealed in blood. A death became the harbinger of new life. (One modern consolation is that this is a step away from human sacrifice. In this season of Lent, Christians are very mindful that Jesus became the sacrifice -- human, even! -- that sealed God's new covenant relationship with his people and with the whole world.) A variety of precious animals (heifer, goat, and ram), representing survival and wealth in the nomadic life, were dissected. Perhaps the significance of the number three is that it represents a complete sacrifice, the number three symbolizing completeness. The birds included could represent the distance of flight, beyond as far as the eye can see, for this was the geographical extent of the promise ("from the river Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates" 15:18). Although gory, the ritual expresses the personal investment the believer is making in the promise. A commitment of trust is called for in order to sacrifice such wealth represented by the animals. With a bit of apocalyptic dash, the Lord appears as "a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch" (15:17), passing between the severed halves of the animal carcasses. They are not miraculously reassembled and given back to the worshiper. There is a real, abiding death that occurs, so that a real, abiding life in relationship with God Almighty can take shape.
The portion that is edited out of this lectionary selection (15:13-16) contains a significant theological redaction by the compilers of the Torah: the covenant is not without risks, but God will continue to be with his people. Life does not become "hunky-dory" just because God is at the center. The comfort of having God at the center is that the believer need not fear anything that may arise, for God is as a shield, ultimately providing a guaranteed future in which his promises will indeed be fulfilled. Faith accepts the wholeness of this truth. The righteousness of this faith is that it relies on God to fulfill his promises; it does not rely on human progeny. Paul was later to reflect on this (vis-a-vis the law) and apply it to the righteousness of the believer in Jesus as the Messiah of God (Romans 3:21f).
Philippians 3:17--4:1
Paul is waiting. The Christian community is waiting. Jesus had promised to come again (John 14:3, Revelation 22:20; also, Acts 1:11). The believers were awaiting his return. But, unlike some modern cults which disassociate themselves from the community and retire to a remote area to be taken up (or who commit group suicide to ascend to the next level of consciousness), the Christian community finds itself fully alive and engaged in the world while they wait. Paul, therefore, sets himself forward as an example of how to live in the "in between time" of the first and second coming. His essential message is not so much to imitate him per se. Rather, Christians are to live their lives "worthy of the gospel" (Philippians 1:27). Paul offers himself as a worthy example of how to do this. This is not an act of hubris, but of practical pastoral role-modeling, since Paul understands that human beings are social creatures who take their cues from one another.
Paul's role-modeling is really based on imitation of Christ. He makes this explicitly clear in 1 Corinthians 11:1, where he writes, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." (See also 1 Corinthians 4:16-17.) In Ephesians 5:1-2, he further clarifies his point by pointing out that Jesus the Christ provides a visible role-model that purely reflects God's way for us to live. "As Christ loved us and gave himself up for us," so too are we to walk in such love. Then, as each of us do that (not in any Pelagian sense, however), we provide for one another positive role-models to emulate. For example, whenever I am in a situation with a stranger and have opportunity to witness to Jesus, I think of Anna Lundeberg. She was an elderly member of my childhood congregation, who would go door to door in the neighborhood inviting people to church. She showed no fear, but rather a real passion for others to enter into a living relationship with Jesus. I observed her in action, especially one particular summer afternoon when she invited me to accompany her "on her rounds." Now, there are many situations in which I find myself, when I see her example before me, which inspires me to do what God is calling me to do at that moment.
Although Paul does not clarify with details to whom he is referring to when he writes about "enemies of the cross of Christ," who have "their minds set on earthly things" (3:18-19), it is clear that there are a significant number of people whose lives are not exemplary of the Christian faith. He most likely is referring to the likes of some of the Corinthians, who flaunt their freedom in the gospel to do unspeakable things. Perhaps he is also thinking of the Judaizers, who were tempting the Galatians to focus on circumcision ("earthly things"), rather than the gospel of Jesus. In no uncertain terms, Paul castigates such pretenders, because they do not take seriously the cross of Jesus.
Paul reminds his readers that their commonwealth, i.e., their citizenship, is in heaven. This is not to say that Christians are to be so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good; it is to say that Christians are to be so heavenly minded that they may be good on earth. That is why it is important to "stand firm thus in the Lord." What we do during this "in between time" is important. God is glorified not only in eternity, but also in history. There are many who do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior, who have not come to the knowledge of the truth. For the sake of these, we must live our lives so as to reflect the love of God through Jesus upon their lives, as we have opportunity. This will not only be to their benefit, but it will also lend itself to our integrity, as Christians live consistent with the gospel which has claimed them.
What does it mean to have citizenship elsewhere than on this earth? Does this negate what was just said above? Does it finally mean that nothing on this earth really matters in the long run? No! It does mean that our affection, our allegiance, is to Jesus, not to the matters of this earth. The affairs of our earthly life are sanctified through him and elevated to a greater importance insofar as they provide material opportunity for us to grow in our relationship with God and share the joy of God's saving grace with others.
Luke 13:31-35
Earlier in this Gospel (Luke 11:53--12:1f), Luke reports that there was a rift between the Pharisees, as religious leaders, and Jesus, the Galilean rabbi who aroused the masses. Jesus spoke a word of warning to his disciples about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He expressed the need for there to be a transparency of a pure heart, where the inner shines outward with a true light, rather than attempting to cover an unrighteous self with righteous deeds.
In a very strange contrast to how the Pharisees are normally portrayed in the Gospels, Luke reports on some Pharisees who approach Jesus with assumed protective motives. (Granted, this gives them the benefit of the doubt, for they could have been sent to set Jesus up as one who flees controversy and danger.) They have heard through their connections that Herod is seeking to kill Jesus, like he had already dispatched cousin John (Luke 9:7-9). They warn Jesus and advise him to save himself. Jesus responds in a near-cryptic way, which is discernible in retrospect. His ministry must continue for a while, for it is not complete -- which it will be on the third day. The number three in Scripture indicates a sense of completeness. Not until Jesus' mission is accomplished, according to God's design, can Herod have his way. Although king of the Jews, he is not ruler of the universe. God will ordain these matters and Herod will play his part and no more.
Jerusalem, as the spiritual seat of God's people and God's activity (heilsgeschichte), will have to welcome Jesus with acclaim before the fateful meeting of Jesus with the rulers of this world. The Palm Sunday cheers, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" will be a sign of the coming to completion of Jesus' mission. Mentioning the death of God's messengers, probably referring most specifically and recently to John the Baptist, is a foreshadowing of his own death that was shortly down the road. This road would lead to Jerusalem, symbol of God's love for his people and symbol of the people's rejection of his Messiah. Jesus already predicted this rejection earlier in Luke's Gospel (see Luke 9:22). This rejection would lead to his death and resurrection; but that would be the very act that could save the world. Jesus was far more focused on his saving the world from the rulers of sin and death, than saving himself from ruler Herod.
Although weeping is not mentioned in this text, as one reads Jesus' words, it is not hard to imagine him shedding tears over Jerusalem, the holy city of God which acts in such unholy ways. The tone is surely one of lament. Jerusalem has not lived up to what she was designed to be -- a city set upon a hill, a light to the Gentiles. Instead, the people of God reject the care and succor that God wills to give. How heartbreaking for any parent when the children reject the love that is offered. The result of this response will not only lead to Jesus' crucifixion, but also the people's state of being forsaken. It appears that the grand inheritance of land from Egypt to the Euphrates promised to Abraham will have different dimension now, namely, global, comprising all those who will accept Jesus as the Messiah of God and who will live as God's people wherever they may be.
Application
It is a human proclivity to look for signs. "Inquiring minds want to know!" The people of Jesus' day "sought from him a sign from heaven" (Luke 11:16). Today, some of the fastest sales are for the year-end/new year tabloids which always include psychic predictions about what the future has in store for us. Often these predictions swirl around signs of the end times. When God gave a son to Abram and Sara, it was a sign that God always has more in store for his people. The future is an open book for God, in which God has plans to work out more blessings for those he loves and for the world he created. One of the interesting statements that is not overly commented on is the reference to Israel extending from the Nile to the Euphrates. One could ask if this promise has indeed been fulfilled with Jews (descendants of Isaac) and Arabs (descendants of Ishmael) inhabiting this region of the world. One could also ask, if this promise refers specifically to the children of Isaac, how and when this promise will yet be fulfilled. Or, one could understand the promise having been fulfilled well beyond the rivers, because the true children of Abraham (the generations of the righteous faithful who place their trust in the Lord Jesus) extend the world over!
Christians perceive that the ultimate sign of God's promises is the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection from the grave. Here is God passing between the parts of our broken lives, like "a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch" (Genesis 15:17). The future can always be fuller and richer because the living Lord strides through history and throughout the cosmos, reigning over sin and death to work out his abiding and abundant will of love for his beloved people and beloved creation. We can trust that there is always more God will do for us in bringing to fulfillment his grand purposes established at the foundations of the world.
In 1996 the Broadway production Rent received the Tony Award for the Best Musical and also the Pulitzer Prize. The story line is about a group of struggling young adults in the heart of the city. There are best friends and roommates Mark and Roger, a junkie Mimi, bawdy Maureen who has a lesbian lover Joanne, Angel the transvestite who has a relationship with Tom, and Benny who owned the building and adjacent lot where the homeless were threatened with displacement. More than one of the characters is taking AIDS medication. The spirit of the musical is hard-driving and flirts with the threshold of despair. Its theme could be summed up this way: "There is no past, no tomorrow; we only have today. But, at least we have each other, so don't you want to stay?" Rent is filled with broken people who find meaning in their little band of self-determined family and an "in your face" attitude towards life. Boomers will reflectively look back on the '60s and hear sympathetic tones, while Gen-Xers today will stand and cheer and join the song.
Paul stands outside the ticket booth and exhorts Christians to "stand firm" in the Lord. While we bear our brokenness and wait for the Lord's return, let us live in godly ways that give honor to the gospel which has claimed us with God's grace. Our commonwealth (our citizenship, our family) is of a heavenly nature, characterized by our hope, not our despair. Our life together is not to have the stamp of debased humanity, but the stamp of Christ-likeness. The gospel indeed calls us where we are, but it calls us forward and upward beyond the belly of self-
absorption into a self-sacrificing courage of living our lives for others, as Christ lived his life for us. This is the imitation of Christ with which Paul exhorts us.
In Rent, there are genuine moments of acceptance, love, and reaching beyond oneself that will only and ultimately find their fulfillment in the light of Christ. During the season of Lent, we are invited to examine ourselves in the light of Jesus Christ. Do we protect him selfishly from the real world, keeping him and ourselves safe and detached from the hurts that surround us? Do we reject him because his call to radical discipleship is too threatening or strange? Do we praise him blithely, thinking that simply because we have faith everything will be just fine now? All three responses described here would be considered "enemies of the cross" by Paul. The cross of Jesus challenges our perceptions of where we can find God and where God wants to find us!
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
I intend to deal only with Genesis 15:1-6 in this article, because those are the verses that are pertinent to the other two stated lessons.
When looking at the three stated lectionary texts for this Sunday in Lent, we can be very puzzled as to why on earth the lectionary committee would put even Genesis 15:1-6 together with the New Testament and Gospel readings, however. They seem to have no common theme and to bear no relation to one another. The Old Testament reading is the first account, from the Elohist, of God's promise of a son to Abram. (The other two Old Testament accounts of that promise are found in Genesis 17 and 18). The New Testament Lesson concerns our Lord's determination to go to his death in Jerusalem. The epistle text contains Paul's admonition to the church at Philippi not to imitate the enemies of Christ, but to stand firm in the faith and to await the resurrection at Christ's second coming. Yet all three texts have to do with those whose minds are set on earthly things, to use Paul's words in Philippians 3:19.
In the Gospel Lesson from Luke, we hear of the Pharisees who warn Jesus not to go to Jerusalem, because Herod wants to kill him. The Pharisees see only the earthly, political situation, and they think Jesus should therefore be fearful of death. In the Epistle Lesson from Philippians, Paul speaks of those whose minds are set only on material comfort and who therefore scorn the sacrificial way of the cross of Christ. And in our Old Testament text for the morning, Abram understands his situation solely in terms of what is possible in earthly terms. In all three texts, God's presence and work are ignored, and the persons involved think solely in terms of this world and its limitations. But the purpose and working of God far transcend the boundaries of earthly reality, and God does far more wonderfully than we can ever ask or think.
In our Genesis text, the Lord appears and speaks to Abram in a vision. God's first word is, "Fear not," because fear is always the initial reaction of mortals to an appearance of Almighty God. Human beings, when they are confronted by the aweful presence of the Lord, are afraid they are going to die (cf. Isaiah 6:5; Luke 5:8). But God is Abram's protector in our text, and the patriarch need have no fear. Indeed, God comes to Abram bearing the words of a promise. "Your reward," that is, your progeny, "shall be very great." God promised Abram, when he first called him out of Mesopotamia, that he would make of Abram's descendants a great nation (Genesis 12:2). Now God sets about to bring to pass the first step in the fulfillment of that promise -- the birth of a son to Abram.
Abram, however, has his mind set on earthly things and this world's possibilities. And so when God tells Abram that he will have many descendants, Abram's blasphemous reply is, "No, I won't." Indeed, Abram takes it upon himself to explain matters to the Lord who creates all life. "You see, Lord God," he says in so many words, "my wife Sarai and I continue childless, and so the only heir that I can possibly have is my servant Eliezer." That slave will inherit all of Abram's goods after his death, according to a law that we know was in force in the ancient Near East. (Cf. the fifteenth century B.C. Nuzi texts.) There is no thought here of a prior promise by God to Abram, no consideration of the fact that God's ways are not human ways, no realization that the Lord is able to do far more abundantly than this world ever imagined. Abram's mind is captive to his earthbound situation, and God's activity is not included in Abram's thoughts.
How typical that is of our vision and understanding. There is the story of a painting that portrayed the devil playing chess with Faust. In the painting, it looked as if Faust was checkmated and doomed to the devil's victory over him. But one man who studied the painting, suddenly cried out exultantly, "The King has another move!" And that is true. The King, the Lord, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ always has another move to win the victory over earthly despair and defeat. And God, in our Old Testament text too has another move -- a move that will set his eternal promise on the way toward its fulfillment. Abram will have a son, because God will give the son to him. In fact, God will furnish Abram with a multitude of descendants.
To bring home that fact, in a second encounter, the Lord takes Abram outside and tells the patriarch to look at the night sky and to number the stars if he is able. Well, we human beings cannot count the stars, can we? Our astronomers keep discovering more and more galaxies, and the reaches of the universe are far beyond our grasp. But as Second Isaiah says, God not only can number the stars, but he is the one who brings out every one of them and gives them each a name, and "because (God) is strong in power, not one is missing" (Isaiah 40:26). So the Lord who creates that multitude of stars tells Abram, "So shall your descendants be," because the Lord of the universe and of every human life is never bound by earthly realities.
By that revelation, however, Abram's mind is set free from the bonds of earth's limitations, and our text records that Abram "believed the Lord" and the Lord "reckoned" Abram's faith as righteousness (v. 6). That is, Abram was counted righteous in God's eyes, despite his earlier unbelief and blasphemy, because he believed the promise that God made to him.
That is the first instance of justification by faith that we find in the Scriptures, and it is instructive about the nature of faith. Faith, in this text, consists in believing God's promise and then acting accordingly, knowing that God will fulfill his word. Faith is clinging to the Word of God and trusting the Lord to bring his word to pass and so acting on the word with assurance. Such faith counts as righteousness, as wholeness, goodness in the sight of God, and it is to such trusting faith that you and I are called.
There is much more to human life than this world ever dreams of. Many persons around us believe that what they see and what they feel, what they get and what occurs on the human scene is all there is to be taken into consideration. But our text for the morning and all the Scriptures know differently. They know that beyond the boundaries and limited possibilities of this earthly realm is the God of infinite power and loving purpose, and they tell us that power and purpose will prevail when everything seems hopeless and where there seem to us to be only dead ends, just as they prevailed in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If we believe that, good Christians, and cling to it, and live our lives according to that faith, then that shall be counted to us also as our righteousness in the sight of our God.
As we move deeper into the Lenten season, Christians have the extremely vital role of proclaiming Jesus as the sign of God's presence with us and all creation. As Christians proclaim this good news and live it out in their daily lives, each one becomes like a mini-ad for God's love that calls all people into a living relationship of acceptance, forgiveness, shaping, strengthening, and service.
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
This is the second of three similar accounts recorded in Genesis (12:1-3; 15:1-20; 17:1-8) in which God makes covenant with Abraham. The covenant is that God will bless Abraham with an heir, who shall be the sign of a great nation to come, which nation will be a blessing to the entire world. This three-fold promise Abraham believed before he saw any of it come to pass. This trust in God's promise is Abraham's righteousness.
It is interesting to note how God comes to Abram in this vision, recorded in chapter 15. The first word necessary to speak is one of comfort and assurance: "Fear not." It is an awesome thing to be in the present of the Holy, even in a dream. Then, God speaks a word of definition: "I am your shield." The emphasis here is not on Abram's need for a shield; that is assumed. The highlight is that God presents himself as the very one who protects Abram in his pilgrimage on earth. The psalmist would pick up this theme under various images, applying it to God's relationship with the people generated from Abram: defender, protector, rock, fortress. Then, comes the promise that Abram will receive a reward, which is further explained by the personal heir, successor nation, and world blessing.
This promise is sealed with a covenant ritual not uncommon in ancient days. In those days before animal rights activists, sacrifices became a sign of a relationship, sealed in blood. A death became the harbinger of new life. (One modern consolation is that this is a step away from human sacrifice. In this season of Lent, Christians are very mindful that Jesus became the sacrifice -- human, even! -- that sealed God's new covenant relationship with his people and with the whole world.) A variety of precious animals (heifer, goat, and ram), representing survival and wealth in the nomadic life, were dissected. Perhaps the significance of the number three is that it represents a complete sacrifice, the number three symbolizing completeness. The birds included could represent the distance of flight, beyond as far as the eye can see, for this was the geographical extent of the promise ("from the river Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates" 15:18). Although gory, the ritual expresses the personal investment the believer is making in the promise. A commitment of trust is called for in order to sacrifice such wealth represented by the animals. With a bit of apocalyptic dash, the Lord appears as "a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch" (15:17), passing between the severed halves of the animal carcasses. They are not miraculously reassembled and given back to the worshiper. There is a real, abiding death that occurs, so that a real, abiding life in relationship with God Almighty can take shape.
The portion that is edited out of this lectionary selection (15:13-16) contains a significant theological redaction by the compilers of the Torah: the covenant is not without risks, but God will continue to be with his people. Life does not become "hunky-dory" just because God is at the center. The comfort of having God at the center is that the believer need not fear anything that may arise, for God is as a shield, ultimately providing a guaranteed future in which his promises will indeed be fulfilled. Faith accepts the wholeness of this truth. The righteousness of this faith is that it relies on God to fulfill his promises; it does not rely on human progeny. Paul was later to reflect on this (vis-a-vis the law) and apply it to the righteousness of the believer in Jesus as the Messiah of God (Romans 3:21f).
Philippians 3:17--4:1
Paul is waiting. The Christian community is waiting. Jesus had promised to come again (John 14:3, Revelation 22:20; also, Acts 1:11). The believers were awaiting his return. But, unlike some modern cults which disassociate themselves from the community and retire to a remote area to be taken up (or who commit group suicide to ascend to the next level of consciousness), the Christian community finds itself fully alive and engaged in the world while they wait. Paul, therefore, sets himself forward as an example of how to live in the "in between time" of the first and second coming. His essential message is not so much to imitate him per se. Rather, Christians are to live their lives "worthy of the gospel" (Philippians 1:27). Paul offers himself as a worthy example of how to do this. This is not an act of hubris, but of practical pastoral role-modeling, since Paul understands that human beings are social creatures who take their cues from one another.
Paul's role-modeling is really based on imitation of Christ. He makes this explicitly clear in 1 Corinthians 11:1, where he writes, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." (See also 1 Corinthians 4:16-17.) In Ephesians 5:1-2, he further clarifies his point by pointing out that Jesus the Christ provides a visible role-model that purely reflects God's way for us to live. "As Christ loved us and gave himself up for us," so too are we to walk in such love. Then, as each of us do that (not in any Pelagian sense, however), we provide for one another positive role-models to emulate. For example, whenever I am in a situation with a stranger and have opportunity to witness to Jesus, I think of Anna Lundeberg. She was an elderly member of my childhood congregation, who would go door to door in the neighborhood inviting people to church. She showed no fear, but rather a real passion for others to enter into a living relationship with Jesus. I observed her in action, especially one particular summer afternoon when she invited me to accompany her "on her rounds." Now, there are many situations in which I find myself, when I see her example before me, which inspires me to do what God is calling me to do at that moment.
Although Paul does not clarify with details to whom he is referring to when he writes about "enemies of the cross of Christ," who have "their minds set on earthly things" (3:18-19), it is clear that there are a significant number of people whose lives are not exemplary of the Christian faith. He most likely is referring to the likes of some of the Corinthians, who flaunt their freedom in the gospel to do unspeakable things. Perhaps he is also thinking of the Judaizers, who were tempting the Galatians to focus on circumcision ("earthly things"), rather than the gospel of Jesus. In no uncertain terms, Paul castigates such pretenders, because they do not take seriously the cross of Jesus.
Paul reminds his readers that their commonwealth, i.e., their citizenship, is in heaven. This is not to say that Christians are to be so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good; it is to say that Christians are to be so heavenly minded that they may be good on earth. That is why it is important to "stand firm thus in the Lord." What we do during this "in between time" is important. God is glorified not only in eternity, but also in history. There are many who do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior, who have not come to the knowledge of the truth. For the sake of these, we must live our lives so as to reflect the love of God through Jesus upon their lives, as we have opportunity. This will not only be to their benefit, but it will also lend itself to our integrity, as Christians live consistent with the gospel which has claimed them.
What does it mean to have citizenship elsewhere than on this earth? Does this negate what was just said above? Does it finally mean that nothing on this earth really matters in the long run? No! It does mean that our affection, our allegiance, is to Jesus, not to the matters of this earth. The affairs of our earthly life are sanctified through him and elevated to a greater importance insofar as they provide material opportunity for us to grow in our relationship with God and share the joy of God's saving grace with others.
Luke 13:31-35
Earlier in this Gospel (Luke 11:53--12:1f), Luke reports that there was a rift between the Pharisees, as religious leaders, and Jesus, the Galilean rabbi who aroused the masses. Jesus spoke a word of warning to his disciples about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He expressed the need for there to be a transparency of a pure heart, where the inner shines outward with a true light, rather than attempting to cover an unrighteous self with righteous deeds.
In a very strange contrast to how the Pharisees are normally portrayed in the Gospels, Luke reports on some Pharisees who approach Jesus with assumed protective motives. (Granted, this gives them the benefit of the doubt, for they could have been sent to set Jesus up as one who flees controversy and danger.) They have heard through their connections that Herod is seeking to kill Jesus, like he had already dispatched cousin John (Luke 9:7-9). They warn Jesus and advise him to save himself. Jesus responds in a near-cryptic way, which is discernible in retrospect. His ministry must continue for a while, for it is not complete -- which it will be on the third day. The number three in Scripture indicates a sense of completeness. Not until Jesus' mission is accomplished, according to God's design, can Herod have his way. Although king of the Jews, he is not ruler of the universe. God will ordain these matters and Herod will play his part and no more.
Jerusalem, as the spiritual seat of God's people and God's activity (heilsgeschichte), will have to welcome Jesus with acclaim before the fateful meeting of Jesus with the rulers of this world. The Palm Sunday cheers, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" will be a sign of the coming to completion of Jesus' mission. Mentioning the death of God's messengers, probably referring most specifically and recently to John the Baptist, is a foreshadowing of his own death that was shortly down the road. This road would lead to Jerusalem, symbol of God's love for his people and symbol of the people's rejection of his Messiah. Jesus already predicted this rejection earlier in Luke's Gospel (see Luke 9:22). This rejection would lead to his death and resurrection; but that would be the very act that could save the world. Jesus was far more focused on his saving the world from the rulers of sin and death, than saving himself from ruler Herod.
Although weeping is not mentioned in this text, as one reads Jesus' words, it is not hard to imagine him shedding tears over Jerusalem, the holy city of God which acts in such unholy ways. The tone is surely one of lament. Jerusalem has not lived up to what she was designed to be -- a city set upon a hill, a light to the Gentiles. Instead, the people of God reject the care and succor that God wills to give. How heartbreaking for any parent when the children reject the love that is offered. The result of this response will not only lead to Jesus' crucifixion, but also the people's state of being forsaken. It appears that the grand inheritance of land from Egypt to the Euphrates promised to Abraham will have different dimension now, namely, global, comprising all those who will accept Jesus as the Messiah of God and who will live as God's people wherever they may be.
Application
It is a human proclivity to look for signs. "Inquiring minds want to know!" The people of Jesus' day "sought from him a sign from heaven" (Luke 11:16). Today, some of the fastest sales are for the year-end/new year tabloids which always include psychic predictions about what the future has in store for us. Often these predictions swirl around signs of the end times. When God gave a son to Abram and Sara, it was a sign that God always has more in store for his people. The future is an open book for God, in which God has plans to work out more blessings for those he loves and for the world he created. One of the interesting statements that is not overly commented on is the reference to Israel extending from the Nile to the Euphrates. One could ask if this promise has indeed been fulfilled with Jews (descendants of Isaac) and Arabs (descendants of Ishmael) inhabiting this region of the world. One could also ask, if this promise refers specifically to the children of Isaac, how and when this promise will yet be fulfilled. Or, one could understand the promise having been fulfilled well beyond the rivers, because the true children of Abraham (the generations of the righteous faithful who place their trust in the Lord Jesus) extend the world over!
Christians perceive that the ultimate sign of God's promises is the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection from the grave. Here is God passing between the parts of our broken lives, like "a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch" (Genesis 15:17). The future can always be fuller and richer because the living Lord strides through history and throughout the cosmos, reigning over sin and death to work out his abiding and abundant will of love for his beloved people and beloved creation. We can trust that there is always more God will do for us in bringing to fulfillment his grand purposes established at the foundations of the world.
In 1996 the Broadway production Rent received the Tony Award for the Best Musical and also the Pulitzer Prize. The story line is about a group of struggling young adults in the heart of the city. There are best friends and roommates Mark and Roger, a junkie Mimi, bawdy Maureen who has a lesbian lover Joanne, Angel the transvestite who has a relationship with Tom, and Benny who owned the building and adjacent lot where the homeless were threatened with displacement. More than one of the characters is taking AIDS medication. The spirit of the musical is hard-driving and flirts with the threshold of despair. Its theme could be summed up this way: "There is no past, no tomorrow; we only have today. But, at least we have each other, so don't you want to stay?" Rent is filled with broken people who find meaning in their little band of self-determined family and an "in your face" attitude towards life. Boomers will reflectively look back on the '60s and hear sympathetic tones, while Gen-Xers today will stand and cheer and join the song.
Paul stands outside the ticket booth and exhorts Christians to "stand firm" in the Lord. While we bear our brokenness and wait for the Lord's return, let us live in godly ways that give honor to the gospel which has claimed us with God's grace. Our commonwealth (our citizenship, our family) is of a heavenly nature, characterized by our hope, not our despair. Our life together is not to have the stamp of debased humanity, but the stamp of Christ-likeness. The gospel indeed calls us where we are, but it calls us forward and upward beyond the belly of self-
absorption into a self-sacrificing courage of living our lives for others, as Christ lived his life for us. This is the imitation of Christ with which Paul exhorts us.
In Rent, there are genuine moments of acceptance, love, and reaching beyond oneself that will only and ultimately find their fulfillment in the light of Christ. During the season of Lent, we are invited to examine ourselves in the light of Jesus Christ. Do we protect him selfishly from the real world, keeping him and ourselves safe and detached from the hurts that surround us? Do we reject him because his call to radical discipleship is too threatening or strange? Do we praise him blithely, thinking that simply because we have faith everything will be just fine now? All three responses described here would be considered "enemies of the cross" by Paul. The cross of Jesus challenges our perceptions of where we can find God and where God wants to find us!
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
I intend to deal only with Genesis 15:1-6 in this article, because those are the verses that are pertinent to the other two stated lessons.
When looking at the three stated lectionary texts for this Sunday in Lent, we can be very puzzled as to why on earth the lectionary committee would put even Genesis 15:1-6 together with the New Testament and Gospel readings, however. They seem to have no common theme and to bear no relation to one another. The Old Testament reading is the first account, from the Elohist, of God's promise of a son to Abram. (The other two Old Testament accounts of that promise are found in Genesis 17 and 18). The New Testament Lesson concerns our Lord's determination to go to his death in Jerusalem. The epistle text contains Paul's admonition to the church at Philippi not to imitate the enemies of Christ, but to stand firm in the faith and to await the resurrection at Christ's second coming. Yet all three texts have to do with those whose minds are set on earthly things, to use Paul's words in Philippians 3:19.
In the Gospel Lesson from Luke, we hear of the Pharisees who warn Jesus not to go to Jerusalem, because Herod wants to kill him. The Pharisees see only the earthly, political situation, and they think Jesus should therefore be fearful of death. In the Epistle Lesson from Philippians, Paul speaks of those whose minds are set only on material comfort and who therefore scorn the sacrificial way of the cross of Christ. And in our Old Testament text for the morning, Abram understands his situation solely in terms of what is possible in earthly terms. In all three texts, God's presence and work are ignored, and the persons involved think solely in terms of this world and its limitations. But the purpose and working of God far transcend the boundaries of earthly reality, and God does far more wonderfully than we can ever ask or think.
In our Genesis text, the Lord appears and speaks to Abram in a vision. God's first word is, "Fear not," because fear is always the initial reaction of mortals to an appearance of Almighty God. Human beings, when they are confronted by the aweful presence of the Lord, are afraid they are going to die (cf. Isaiah 6:5; Luke 5:8). But God is Abram's protector in our text, and the patriarch need have no fear. Indeed, God comes to Abram bearing the words of a promise. "Your reward," that is, your progeny, "shall be very great." God promised Abram, when he first called him out of Mesopotamia, that he would make of Abram's descendants a great nation (Genesis 12:2). Now God sets about to bring to pass the first step in the fulfillment of that promise -- the birth of a son to Abram.
Abram, however, has his mind set on earthly things and this world's possibilities. And so when God tells Abram that he will have many descendants, Abram's blasphemous reply is, "No, I won't." Indeed, Abram takes it upon himself to explain matters to the Lord who creates all life. "You see, Lord God," he says in so many words, "my wife Sarai and I continue childless, and so the only heir that I can possibly have is my servant Eliezer." That slave will inherit all of Abram's goods after his death, according to a law that we know was in force in the ancient Near East. (Cf. the fifteenth century B.C. Nuzi texts.) There is no thought here of a prior promise by God to Abram, no consideration of the fact that God's ways are not human ways, no realization that the Lord is able to do far more abundantly than this world ever imagined. Abram's mind is captive to his earthbound situation, and God's activity is not included in Abram's thoughts.
How typical that is of our vision and understanding. There is the story of a painting that portrayed the devil playing chess with Faust. In the painting, it looked as if Faust was checkmated and doomed to the devil's victory over him. But one man who studied the painting, suddenly cried out exultantly, "The King has another move!" And that is true. The King, the Lord, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ always has another move to win the victory over earthly despair and defeat. And God, in our Old Testament text too has another move -- a move that will set his eternal promise on the way toward its fulfillment. Abram will have a son, because God will give the son to him. In fact, God will furnish Abram with a multitude of descendants.
To bring home that fact, in a second encounter, the Lord takes Abram outside and tells the patriarch to look at the night sky and to number the stars if he is able. Well, we human beings cannot count the stars, can we? Our astronomers keep discovering more and more galaxies, and the reaches of the universe are far beyond our grasp. But as Second Isaiah says, God not only can number the stars, but he is the one who brings out every one of them and gives them each a name, and "because (God) is strong in power, not one is missing" (Isaiah 40:26). So the Lord who creates that multitude of stars tells Abram, "So shall your descendants be," because the Lord of the universe and of every human life is never bound by earthly realities.
By that revelation, however, Abram's mind is set free from the bonds of earth's limitations, and our text records that Abram "believed the Lord" and the Lord "reckoned" Abram's faith as righteousness (v. 6). That is, Abram was counted righteous in God's eyes, despite his earlier unbelief and blasphemy, because he believed the promise that God made to him.
That is the first instance of justification by faith that we find in the Scriptures, and it is instructive about the nature of faith. Faith, in this text, consists in believing God's promise and then acting accordingly, knowing that God will fulfill his word. Faith is clinging to the Word of God and trusting the Lord to bring his word to pass and so acting on the word with assurance. Such faith counts as righteousness, as wholeness, goodness in the sight of God, and it is to such trusting faith that you and I are called.
There is much more to human life than this world ever dreams of. Many persons around us believe that what they see and what they feel, what they get and what occurs on the human scene is all there is to be taken into consideration. But our text for the morning and all the Scriptures know differently. They know that beyond the boundaries and limited possibilities of this earthly realm is the God of infinite power and loving purpose, and they tell us that power and purpose will prevail when everything seems hopeless and where there seem to us to be only dead ends, just as they prevailed in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If we believe that, good Christians, and cling to it, and live our lives according to that faith, then that shall be counted to us also as our righteousness in the sight of our God.
