Law and life
Commentary
Object:
God gives the law to the Israelites as a blessing and guidance for new life after generations of promise, care, and saving grace. And yet so often we get caught up in the law and forget the God who made it. In the life of faith, God comes first, and the law follows. When we put the law first, trouble eventually ensues.
Joshua 3:7-17
At long last, the Israelites enter the Promised Land. In our lectionary we have been reading since June through the stories of the Patriarchs in Genesis, then Moses' leadership of the people through the Exodus experience, culminating in his death on Mount Nebo, overlooking the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 34. Finally in our reading today, under Joshua's leadership the people of Israel cross the Jordan River in a scene reminiscent of their crossing of the Red Sea upon their escape from Egypt a generation before. The story of God's fulfillment of his promise to Abraham is almost complete as we near the end of Year A in the lectionary cycle. The closing chapter of Joshua comes next Sunday, revisiting this long story of salvation history and renewing the covenant between God and the people. But much has been skipped over along the way, including all but one chapter of Deuteronomy, all of Numbers and Leviticus, and the stories of the conquest of Canaan in Joshua. Though we may have learned the story of the fall of Jericho in Sunday school as children, as adults we will not hear it read in church in our present lectionary cycle. The only other reading from Joshua in all of the lectionary cycle comes on Lent 4C -- a very brief description of the first Passover observed after crossing the Jordan.
And so today of any day is one to wrestle with the militarism of Israel's entry into the Promised Land as recounted in the Hebrew scriptures and to consider the fates of those people listed in Joshua 3:10 who will be driven out by the Israelites: the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. As I write this in the summer of 2014, this morning's paper announces that John Kerry has arrived in the Mideast in an attempt to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas given escalating violence in the Gaza strip. Thousands of years later, battles connected to God's promise to Abraham are still being fought. Some preachers may wish to focus on contemporary crises in the Promised Land, though this can be a delicate task in parish ministry. In some contexts, it may be more suited to the conversational setting of an adult forum where many voices may be heard, compared with the solo voice of a preacher in the pulpit. With sufficient planning time, both a forum and sermon on historic and contemporary conflict in the Middle East could be offered this Sunday.
For those who wish to explore the biblical story and its implications more deeply, there are several points to consider. The first (which may work better in some congregations than others) is to wonder whether Joshua recounts actual history versus the stories Israel came to tell itself about its origins. Most scholars and archaeologists find little or no evidence for the conquest battles recounted in Joshua, and it is notable that in each battle, divine intervention is a driving force for victory. The book of Joshua is very much a book about the power of the Israelites' God; not about the might of armies.
This brings us back to today's reading and the central role of the Ark of the Covenant in the people's crossing of the Jordan. Without it, the crossing into the Promised Land would not have been accomplished. Indeed, this crossing is very much a religious procession, which is followed in chapters 4 and 5 by the religious rituals of placing of the twelve stones at Gilgal, the circumcision of the new generation (to honor the Abrahamic covenant -- Genesis 17:11), and the observance of the Passover -- all this before marching on Jericho in chapter 6. The Ark of the Covenant, containing the tablets of the law, symbolically contains all that the lectionary has passed over in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy -- that is, the incredibly detailed explication of the law that was the foundation for the new society the Israelites were to create in the Promised Land. Throughout the rest of the Hebrew scriptures, when Israel honors God and keeps the law they live peaceably in the land God has given them. When they forget the covenant and God, things fall apart, and they lose the land. Walter Brueggemann in his biblical study The Land notes that when Israel accepts the land as the gift from God, they are blessed. When Israel grasps the land to itself and does not honor it as a gift, they lose it. This may be the insight we need to move from events in Israel, both ancient and modern, to reflecting on our own lives of faith. How do we receive and honor the gifts God has given us? What, to us, is our own "Promised Land"? Are we still on the way there, have we already entered it, have we been there and lost it again? We can consider this question as individuals, as families, as communities, as a nation. In the law, God provides Israel with the guidance it needs to accept the gift of the Promised Land and live graciously in it. Broadly writ, the law asks us to honor God and our forebears, to refrain from actions that harm others in body or spirit, to keep the Sabbath, and to live justly with one another and all creation. Does this describe our own lives right now? Where are we lacking in keeping the covenant, and how is God calling us to renew our faith and commitment so that we may live graciously in the land God has given us or is preparing us to receive? While it may be tempting to polemicize about violence and injustices in the Holy Land, it may be that we are better served by examining our own lives and sending our heartfelt prayers for peace.
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
Propers 24 through 28 in Year A represent the greatest attention 1 Thessalonians receives in the three-year lectionary cycle -- the only other times it is read are Advent 1B and Advent 3C. In this, the oldest book of the New Testament, Paul reassures the Thessalonians of his devotion to them in his forced absence, commends them for their faith, and offers guidance for living in what he and his readers perceived to be the end times.
Acts 17:1-10 describes the brief time Paul and Silas spent in Thessalonica before a mob organized by the Jews of the synagogue drove them out of town. Even as they moved on to Beroea, they were persecuted and driven out by the same Thessalonian Jews, and Paul escaped to Athens, asking that Silas and Timothy join him there (Acts 17:10-15). Once they were reunited in Athens, Paul was able to send Timothy back to Thessalonica to check on the new church, but he was unable himself to return -- "Satan blocked our way" (1 Thessalonians 2:18). First Thessalonians is Paul's response to Timothy's positive report from this visit, and in chapter 2:1-13 he reminds the Thessalonians of his faithful ministry among them as a precursor to assuring them of his continued care for them. From his words in today's reading we may imagine some of the charges laid against him by his opponents in Thessalonica, but Paul reminds his hearers that he earned his own keep, not asking them for any payment, and that he used persuasion, not demands, to convince his hearers of the truth of his message.
Matthew 23:1-12
After his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and cleansing the temple (Matthew 21:1-17), Jesus returned the next day to the temple to teach. First he told parables that condemned the Pharisees (Matthew 21:28--22:14). Then when they challenged him, he bested both the Sadducees and the Pharisees in rabbinic debates (Matthew 22:15-46). After Jesus' rhetorical triumph ("nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions" -- Matthew 22:46), he launched into the condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees we encounter in today's reading. We actually get only the first part of it, for it goes on for the rest of chapter 23 and represents Jesus' parting words at the Jerusalem Temple before he left with his disciples, telling them as they departed that the temple itself would be destroyed: "not one stone will be left here upon another" (Matthew 24:2). We have already been told that the chief priests and Pharisees wanted to arrest Jesus (Matthew 21:46); surely his parting diatribe did much to seal his fate.
Jesus upheld the Mosaic Law while challenging the scribes and Pharisees. This is consistent with his attitude throughout the gospel of Matthew ("Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill" -- Matthew 5:17). When it is given appropriate weight, Jesus sees the law as a gift from God that brings life. But when one's focus becomes the minutiae of the law such that one no longer sees the loving God who created us and gifted it to us to help us live peaceably together, problems ensue. The law which was meant as gift becomes a burden. The Pharisees were an especially observant sect of Judaism and at the time were arbiters of questions about the law for many Jews. They also were politically and socially powerful within the constraints of Roman rule. Jesus' continued message of reversal -- the last shall become first and the first last, the humbled exalted and exalted humbled -- makes them obvious targets for his teaching. The term "rabbi" literally means "great one"; thus, an obvious title to avoid in Jesus' teaching, and a title used often by the Pharisees.
Application
Leadership is not for the faint of heart. Jesus lambastes the Pharisees for being so wrapped up in interpreting the details of the law that they forget its true spirit. Paul may on first glance sound like he is bragging, but in fact he is defending himself and his message after attacks on his character. And we know what happened to Jesus. All of these men were in their own way doing their best to lead their people in a difficult time full of violence. They did not have absolute power -- the Romans did -- but they had some power, by virtue of their calling and character, and people looked to them for insight and guidance on how to live in a perilous age.
There is such a temptation to believe that if we just do things right, things will turn out okay. The Pharisees fed into this temptation as they spent their days interpreting the law for the people who came to them. Follow the rules and God will love you and protect you! Or at least not punish you… For so many people, their experience of religion is of a set of rules to follow and fear of what will happen if they transgress. As I watch my daughter and her friends grow and as I ponder how pervasive this law/fear sense of religion is among adults, it really seems to me as if it is a developmental stage that many of us need some help passing through. How many young adults these days discard religion because they no longer believe in the law/fear understanding of God? And yet, in discarding religion and God at this stage they miss out on all the glories of a more mature faith and understanding. Yes, God is love. And the law is God's gift to help us love one another.
It is interesting that we look to science now for laws, and with God removed from the equation the fear, shame, and guilt associated with divine law seem to be removed. We all generally accept the law of gravity, and understand that if we try to do something incongruent with gravity, we will fall and possibly be hurt. That's just the way the world is. No judgment, no shame, no guilt. Yet we can get tied up in knots over transgressing divine law, which also describes how to live safely and generously in the world. If we do something against divine law, we or others will quite possibly be hurt -- that's just the way the world is. Dishonor hurts. Theft hurts. Adultery hurts. Jealousy hurts. Forgetting God hurts. Working without pause hurts.
It is worth noting that in the long story of salvation history we have been reading through the summer and fall that God comes first, as a promising, guiding, rescuing, feeding protector, and it is a very long way into the story before God gives the law, which the Israelites then revere because it comes from the God who saved, fed, and guided them. Time and again through human history, people have put the law before personal encounters with God and each time this happens, things get out of whack. When we are out of touch with God, the law brings fear and legalism, not life. Jesus chastised the Pharisees; Martin Luther rebelled against the church leaders of his day; countless prophets, saints, and ordinary people found their way past overly scrupulous religious upbringings to genuine and generous love of God and neighbor. When the laws of our age serve love, they are congruent with God's will. When they do not, it is the Christian's call to bring them into alignment with the generous and gracious community God wills for all humanity. Ask Martin Luther. And Martin Luther King Jr. Ask everyone you know who has stood up for love of God and neighbor in fearful times. God comes first; the law follows.
Joshua 3:7-17
At long last, the Israelites enter the Promised Land. In our lectionary we have been reading since June through the stories of the Patriarchs in Genesis, then Moses' leadership of the people through the Exodus experience, culminating in his death on Mount Nebo, overlooking the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 34. Finally in our reading today, under Joshua's leadership the people of Israel cross the Jordan River in a scene reminiscent of their crossing of the Red Sea upon their escape from Egypt a generation before. The story of God's fulfillment of his promise to Abraham is almost complete as we near the end of Year A in the lectionary cycle. The closing chapter of Joshua comes next Sunday, revisiting this long story of salvation history and renewing the covenant between God and the people. But much has been skipped over along the way, including all but one chapter of Deuteronomy, all of Numbers and Leviticus, and the stories of the conquest of Canaan in Joshua. Though we may have learned the story of the fall of Jericho in Sunday school as children, as adults we will not hear it read in church in our present lectionary cycle. The only other reading from Joshua in all of the lectionary cycle comes on Lent 4C -- a very brief description of the first Passover observed after crossing the Jordan.
And so today of any day is one to wrestle with the militarism of Israel's entry into the Promised Land as recounted in the Hebrew scriptures and to consider the fates of those people listed in Joshua 3:10 who will be driven out by the Israelites: the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. As I write this in the summer of 2014, this morning's paper announces that John Kerry has arrived in the Mideast in an attempt to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas given escalating violence in the Gaza strip. Thousands of years later, battles connected to God's promise to Abraham are still being fought. Some preachers may wish to focus on contemporary crises in the Promised Land, though this can be a delicate task in parish ministry. In some contexts, it may be more suited to the conversational setting of an adult forum where many voices may be heard, compared with the solo voice of a preacher in the pulpit. With sufficient planning time, both a forum and sermon on historic and contemporary conflict in the Middle East could be offered this Sunday.
For those who wish to explore the biblical story and its implications more deeply, there are several points to consider. The first (which may work better in some congregations than others) is to wonder whether Joshua recounts actual history versus the stories Israel came to tell itself about its origins. Most scholars and archaeologists find little or no evidence for the conquest battles recounted in Joshua, and it is notable that in each battle, divine intervention is a driving force for victory. The book of Joshua is very much a book about the power of the Israelites' God; not about the might of armies.
This brings us back to today's reading and the central role of the Ark of the Covenant in the people's crossing of the Jordan. Without it, the crossing into the Promised Land would not have been accomplished. Indeed, this crossing is very much a religious procession, which is followed in chapters 4 and 5 by the religious rituals of placing of the twelve stones at Gilgal, the circumcision of the new generation (to honor the Abrahamic covenant -- Genesis 17:11), and the observance of the Passover -- all this before marching on Jericho in chapter 6. The Ark of the Covenant, containing the tablets of the law, symbolically contains all that the lectionary has passed over in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy -- that is, the incredibly detailed explication of the law that was the foundation for the new society the Israelites were to create in the Promised Land. Throughout the rest of the Hebrew scriptures, when Israel honors God and keeps the law they live peaceably in the land God has given them. When they forget the covenant and God, things fall apart, and they lose the land. Walter Brueggemann in his biblical study The Land notes that when Israel accepts the land as the gift from God, they are blessed. When Israel grasps the land to itself and does not honor it as a gift, they lose it. This may be the insight we need to move from events in Israel, both ancient and modern, to reflecting on our own lives of faith. How do we receive and honor the gifts God has given us? What, to us, is our own "Promised Land"? Are we still on the way there, have we already entered it, have we been there and lost it again? We can consider this question as individuals, as families, as communities, as a nation. In the law, God provides Israel with the guidance it needs to accept the gift of the Promised Land and live graciously in it. Broadly writ, the law asks us to honor God and our forebears, to refrain from actions that harm others in body or spirit, to keep the Sabbath, and to live justly with one another and all creation. Does this describe our own lives right now? Where are we lacking in keeping the covenant, and how is God calling us to renew our faith and commitment so that we may live graciously in the land God has given us or is preparing us to receive? While it may be tempting to polemicize about violence and injustices in the Holy Land, it may be that we are better served by examining our own lives and sending our heartfelt prayers for peace.
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
Propers 24 through 28 in Year A represent the greatest attention 1 Thessalonians receives in the three-year lectionary cycle -- the only other times it is read are Advent 1B and Advent 3C. In this, the oldest book of the New Testament, Paul reassures the Thessalonians of his devotion to them in his forced absence, commends them for their faith, and offers guidance for living in what he and his readers perceived to be the end times.
Acts 17:1-10 describes the brief time Paul and Silas spent in Thessalonica before a mob organized by the Jews of the synagogue drove them out of town. Even as they moved on to Beroea, they were persecuted and driven out by the same Thessalonian Jews, and Paul escaped to Athens, asking that Silas and Timothy join him there (Acts 17:10-15). Once they were reunited in Athens, Paul was able to send Timothy back to Thessalonica to check on the new church, but he was unable himself to return -- "Satan blocked our way" (1 Thessalonians 2:18). First Thessalonians is Paul's response to Timothy's positive report from this visit, and in chapter 2:1-13 he reminds the Thessalonians of his faithful ministry among them as a precursor to assuring them of his continued care for them. From his words in today's reading we may imagine some of the charges laid against him by his opponents in Thessalonica, but Paul reminds his hearers that he earned his own keep, not asking them for any payment, and that he used persuasion, not demands, to convince his hearers of the truth of his message.
Matthew 23:1-12
After his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and cleansing the temple (Matthew 21:1-17), Jesus returned the next day to the temple to teach. First he told parables that condemned the Pharisees (Matthew 21:28--22:14). Then when they challenged him, he bested both the Sadducees and the Pharisees in rabbinic debates (Matthew 22:15-46). After Jesus' rhetorical triumph ("nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions" -- Matthew 22:46), he launched into the condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees we encounter in today's reading. We actually get only the first part of it, for it goes on for the rest of chapter 23 and represents Jesus' parting words at the Jerusalem Temple before he left with his disciples, telling them as they departed that the temple itself would be destroyed: "not one stone will be left here upon another" (Matthew 24:2). We have already been told that the chief priests and Pharisees wanted to arrest Jesus (Matthew 21:46); surely his parting diatribe did much to seal his fate.
Jesus upheld the Mosaic Law while challenging the scribes and Pharisees. This is consistent with his attitude throughout the gospel of Matthew ("Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill" -- Matthew 5:17). When it is given appropriate weight, Jesus sees the law as a gift from God that brings life. But when one's focus becomes the minutiae of the law such that one no longer sees the loving God who created us and gifted it to us to help us live peaceably together, problems ensue. The law which was meant as gift becomes a burden. The Pharisees were an especially observant sect of Judaism and at the time were arbiters of questions about the law for many Jews. They also were politically and socially powerful within the constraints of Roman rule. Jesus' continued message of reversal -- the last shall become first and the first last, the humbled exalted and exalted humbled -- makes them obvious targets for his teaching. The term "rabbi" literally means "great one"; thus, an obvious title to avoid in Jesus' teaching, and a title used often by the Pharisees.
Application
Leadership is not for the faint of heart. Jesus lambastes the Pharisees for being so wrapped up in interpreting the details of the law that they forget its true spirit. Paul may on first glance sound like he is bragging, but in fact he is defending himself and his message after attacks on his character. And we know what happened to Jesus. All of these men were in their own way doing their best to lead their people in a difficult time full of violence. They did not have absolute power -- the Romans did -- but they had some power, by virtue of their calling and character, and people looked to them for insight and guidance on how to live in a perilous age.
There is such a temptation to believe that if we just do things right, things will turn out okay. The Pharisees fed into this temptation as they spent their days interpreting the law for the people who came to them. Follow the rules and God will love you and protect you! Or at least not punish you… For so many people, their experience of religion is of a set of rules to follow and fear of what will happen if they transgress. As I watch my daughter and her friends grow and as I ponder how pervasive this law/fear sense of religion is among adults, it really seems to me as if it is a developmental stage that many of us need some help passing through. How many young adults these days discard religion because they no longer believe in the law/fear understanding of God? And yet, in discarding religion and God at this stage they miss out on all the glories of a more mature faith and understanding. Yes, God is love. And the law is God's gift to help us love one another.
It is interesting that we look to science now for laws, and with God removed from the equation the fear, shame, and guilt associated with divine law seem to be removed. We all generally accept the law of gravity, and understand that if we try to do something incongruent with gravity, we will fall and possibly be hurt. That's just the way the world is. No judgment, no shame, no guilt. Yet we can get tied up in knots over transgressing divine law, which also describes how to live safely and generously in the world. If we do something against divine law, we or others will quite possibly be hurt -- that's just the way the world is. Dishonor hurts. Theft hurts. Adultery hurts. Jealousy hurts. Forgetting God hurts. Working without pause hurts.
It is worth noting that in the long story of salvation history we have been reading through the summer and fall that God comes first, as a promising, guiding, rescuing, feeding protector, and it is a very long way into the story before God gives the law, which the Israelites then revere because it comes from the God who saved, fed, and guided them. Time and again through human history, people have put the law before personal encounters with God and each time this happens, things get out of whack. When we are out of touch with God, the law brings fear and legalism, not life. Jesus chastised the Pharisees; Martin Luther rebelled against the church leaders of his day; countless prophets, saints, and ordinary people found their way past overly scrupulous religious upbringings to genuine and generous love of God and neighbor. When the laws of our age serve love, they are congruent with God's will. When they do not, it is the Christian's call to bring them into alignment with the generous and gracious community God wills for all humanity. Ask Martin Luther. And Martin Luther King Jr. Ask everyone you know who has stood up for love of God and neighbor in fearful times. God comes first; the law follows.
