From much love comes much love
Commentary
About this time of year, the seeds that were planted in the spring are sprouting up through the ground and beginning to show the stuff they are made of. The plant is in the seed, marvelously encoded in ways we are still discovering. It is fitting that the season of Pentecost claims among its symbols a stalk of wheat, a vine, and a tree of fruit. The Holy Spirit nurtures the life of the church that there may be a harvest of righteousness.
On the liturgical church calendar, the period between Advent and Easter celebrates the Righteous One, who reveals the heart of God for the world. The period between Pentecost Sunday and Christ the King Sunday celebrates the righteous life of those who follow the Righteous One, Jesus -- Lord and Savior of the world. What his followers learn throughout this season is that the righteous life is rooted in the soil of his work for us; whatever good produce is yielded in our lives thrives because of all the gardening he has done on our behalf -- planting us in his love, nurturing us with his blessings, pruning us with his good judgment, and eventually picking us for the heavenly feast he will host throughout eternity.
1 Kings 21:1-21a
It started out as a good business proposition. It turned sour, not because of any mis-doings, but because of one man's sense of honor and heritage. If Naboth had only been a bit more materialistic, he could have retired on Easy Street; Ahab could have had credited to him a fair deal. As it was, Ahab could certainly see the foolishness of Naboth's ways, turning down such a generous offer. Ahab, perhaps understanding his wife all too well, let his kingly advantage simply sink into vexation and sullenness. Not having his own PR staff to spin his actions for public approval, Ahab, in passive-aggressive manipulation, pushed the right buttons on the psyche of his wife's machinations. Jezebel did the rest. Naboth was disposed of and Ahab took possession of the garden.
Power put Ahab in a position to exercise his greed with impunity -- or so he thought. Throughout his 22 years on the throne, Ahab provoked God in many ways, assuming the mantel of king of Israel without acknowledging the King of Israel. For this he would have to pay! God summoned the prophet Elijah to bring one of those "Thus says the Lord" messages that no one really wants to hear. Having already had a run-in with Elijah at Mount Carmel, Ahab was attuned to the power of his prophetic word, such that when Elijah spoke of God's judgment, Ahab repented (1 Kings 21:27f).
The worship planner for this Sunday should consider editing the lectionary, so that a fuller reading of the story can be conveyed. It would probably be too much to ask that 1 Kings 21 be read in its entirety. Therefore, this pericope is proposed: 1 Kings 21:1-10, 15-19, 27-29. The value of doing this is to bring into the story the aspect of Ahab's repentance. We never read of it elsewhere, so we dare not miss it when it is before us.
The story of Naboth's vineyard opens conversation on power and greed, vulnerability from a human perspective (Naboth) and from a divine perspective (Ahab), the power of the Law to accuse and convict, the power of repentance to turn the heart of God, the power of decisions to have consequences beyond what we initially intend or can imagine (God's verdict upon the children).
How characteristic of God, that when there is repentance, reprieve is offered. Jonah discovered this with Nineveh. Abraham would have discovered this with Sodom, if only ten righteous could have been found therein. That Ahab was the recipient of God's mercy is almost beyond understanding, let alone appreciation. Such a scoundrel is capable of repentance? If such is the case, where will God's mercy end? Eberhard Arnold, founder of the German Bruderhof in the early twentieth century, was aware of this capacity in God, so much so that he asked more than once (from his hospital bed shortly before his death), "Does anyone here know whether Hitler and Goebbels have repented?" That such scoundrels could be cared for by God Almighty, the Holy and True One? Indeed...
Galatians 2:15-21
The Law, in its original context of the first covenant with the descendants of Abraham who were freed from Egyptian bondage, was never designed to provide a way for the redeemed to earn God's favor. It was a way of life in which to live thankfully as the already favored ones of the Lord. But, by the time of Paul, the Law had become a ladder to heaven, misconstrued by the faithful as the only viable means to please God and earn the right to stand before the Holy One in righteousness. Hence, the tell-tale phrase "by works of the law," 2:16 three times. One cannot live "from out of" or "by means of" the law's requirements in such a way so as to garner the favor of God, meet the standards of the Holy One.
This is the supposition behind the conversation between Jesus and the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-22). He discovered that keeping the commandments was not adequate to have eternal life. Life itself is more than living according to a checklist of do's and don'ts. Jesus took on the rich young ruler on the turf of his own self-understanding and helped him realize (apparently to his own chagrin!) how far short he indeed fell from his lofty goal of heaven. His possessions had become too precious for him. The answer to the question of eternal life is to be found in Jesus ("Follow me!") and not in ourselves or our own efforts.
Paul helped the Galatians understand that the Law, in this current context of misapprehension, in fact had the effect of accusing and condemning the very one who sought to use its rungs to achieve heaven's glory. We all fall short of the glory of God, Paul wrote to another congregation (Romans 3:23). The one who can acknowledge this is in the perfect position to perceive Jesus as the one who makes right what has gone so wrong in the relationship between heaven and earth. The one who can acknowledge this is in the perfect position to receive Jesus as the Christ of history and the Lord in one's life. What is terribly exciting about all of this is that the work Jesus does for the world and the faith that draws the believer to him are gifts from God, graciously given freely due to no merit on the believer's part.
At issue is the righteousness of God, which is manifest through Jesus and imparted to the one who has faith in him. This righteousness of God effects justification for the sinner. This was Paul's experience. He had tried through the Law to please God; he used the Law to rationalize his persecution of the sect called the Way. But his zeal only hastened him on the road of transgression. The Law on which he relied revealed himself to be the foremost of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15; see also 1 Corinthians 15:8-10). He admits this when he writes, "If I build up again those things which I tore down, then I prove myself a transgressor" (2:18). This is an autobiographical reference to his days as persecutor of the church (Acts 22:3-5). It is to this Law that Paul died, so that he might be alive to God (2:19). His new life is best described as "Christ who lives in me" (2:20). To the Philippian congregation he would continue to write in this vein, saying that to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21) -- all because of the power of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus within him.
Luke 7:36--8:3
How full of misunderstandings so many characters in the Bible are! Eve misunderstood the serpent's twisted tale and neglected to read between the lines. Saul could not see the loyalty of David because of his own jealousy. Judas missed the point of Jesus' way to be the Messiah. Nicodemus had a hard time grasping Jesus' metaphor of rebirth. And now, one of the Pharisees construed prophetic abilities the wrong way, ironically judging Jesus, who himself in a short period of time would be remembered in art as the pantocrator, sitting over the earth on the arch of the rainbow, judging both heaven and earth for all eternity.
"If this man were a prophet...," the Pharisee thought to himself. Apparently this religious leader had a very narrow view of the duties of the prophets of God. An all-knowing seer? Jesus never set himself up as that? He even admitted what he did not know (Mark 13:32)! A judge of sinners? Well, yes, but not in the way humans are wont to have it. As John states in his Gospel account, "The judgment of God has come into the world, indeed, but not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Jesus" (see John 3:16-21). Remember how God dealt with the ignoble Ahab! If God can forgive the king of Israel whose public tricks of evil can have such a sweeping, profound effect due to his office, can he not also forgive a back alley hooker who brings down the morality of the world one trick at a time? Is not this the very reason for his presence in the world with people, neither above them nor against them?
This is a touching scene on many levels. The Pharisee's lack of touch with Jesus (no foot washing, no kiss, no anointing) presage his being out of touch with Jesus' mission. The woman's touch of Jesus (washing his feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, kissing them with her lips, anointing them with her hands) reveals her deep devotion for his having touched her life by what he had already given her -- the hospitality of God, welcoming her into his forgiving heart despite the multitude of her sins. She had "loved" much in all the wrong ways and she knew how much she needed to be forgiven. She was able to love Jesus much in all the right ways because so much had been forgiven.
When Jesus says that her many sins are forgiven, "for she loved much" (7:47), he is not describing the cause for his willingness to forgive, namely, that she loved Jesus so much and demonstrated it by caring for his needs upon being invited out to supper. What else could Jesus do but forgive such a nice person? No, her loves (misplaced as they were) were many and these needed to be forgiven by much love from Jesus. Her outpouring of affection was a genuine response of thanksgiving that indeed much had been forgiven!
In Luke's account (7:49), the question of forgiveness is raised. "Who is this, who even forgives sins?" It is a rhetorical question placed within the story. The answer is unveiled in the entire life of the Lord Jesus, who came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10; see also Luke 15, the lost chapter of the Bible). He is the one who forgives by the authority given him as the eschatological Son of man (Luke 5:24; Matthew 28:18).
Application
How amazingly powerful and resourceful humanity is! We can land a man on the moon and bring him back. We can build platforms in space which will be a springboard into further exploration of the universe. We can decode the human genome and splice together life-altering combinations of matter. Yet, how vulnerable we are. There is no cure for the common cold. There is a cure for sleeping sickness, but, since it is not profitable to make for third-world victims, thousands die while pharmaceutical companies sit idle on production. Prejudices infect the human heart; when prejudice is combined with power, racism can be created that can define the character of a society capable of enslaving the majority (South Africa) or the minority (America).
When Paul asks the question, "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?" (Romans 8:33), the answer is a resounding, "Anyone!" from a purely human point of view. Perhaps that is why there are so many pathetic people scattered throughout the pages of the Bible, from Adam and Eve tricked into sin, to Esau manipulated by his twin, to the 'Apiru in Egypt enslaved by Pharaoh, to Elijah cowering in a cave, to Naboth or Stephen being stoned simply for standing their ground, to Peter scared into denial or John Mark who blinked in the missionary enterprise (Acts 13:13, 15:36-39).
The pity of our fragility is that we slink into a false sense of security, whenever we seek to shore up for ourselves measures of strength that we gauge by our own standards or even by God's standards, though we misunderstand even these. This self-measuring we do too often. It is the seduction of the Law, that the Galatians knew all too well. The scripture is the herald of God to call us out of this seduction into the only way of being our true selves, namely, to live "by faith in the Son of God, who loved [us] and gave himself for [us]" (Galatians 2:20).
No matter how modern or post-modern we think we have become, we struggle with the same ageless enemy of true selfhood -- the Law. The Law puts demands upon our lives: You must do this or that! It's up to you to make it right! It's in your hands to make it or break it! Never let up for a moment! Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all! Yet, striving to live according to these principles of self-determination, self-reliance, self-actualization is an endless, restless task. We can never be satisfied that we have done enough. Truth be told, we can never be assured that enough good has been done to offset the indiscretions and foibles we keep displaying on our journey through life.
How important it is for us to pray the Holy Spirit to guide us in how we relate to one another and how we react to changing circumstances in life! We can dare to hope for such a favor from God, when we live in the reality of God's answer to Paul's question above. "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?" Ultimately, it is only God who can bring any charge. The good news is that the Holy One of Israel is merciful, even to the likes of Ahab. God can be merciful to us also. The joy of life is that in our own very real vulnerability, we are held in the gracious hand of God in time and for eternity. Because we are so humanly at risk, this is indeed good news.
Christians hear and herald the good news that God's love for us has been revealed apart from works of the Law. God's love for us has been revealed freely through Jesus Christ. He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He obeys the Torah of God perfectly in our stead and as the spotless Lamb of God lays down his life as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. The wages of sin is still death (Romans 6:23). Grounded in this grace (which gives us what we do not deserve), we have solid footing to venture out into life with a bold joy that offers thanksgiving to God through all that we say and do.
The woman in the Gospel text exhibits this point very well. She was so full of love for Jesus because she was keenly aware of how much love he gave her to cover her multitude of sins. From loving much inappropriately, she grew to love Jesus much, which was most appropriate. So, too we will see in our own lives a reflection of our gratitude to Jesus for the many sins he has forgiven in our life. The more we see clearly the extent of our waywardness and need for a Savior, the more we will appreciate Jesus and his love; plus, the more we can celebrate with joy this love in worship and service through our participation in the church.
Søren Kierkegaard expressed this well in one of his personal prayers: "Father in Heaven! Hold not our sins up against us..., so that the thought of Thee when it wakens in our soul... should not remind us of what we have committed but of what Thou didst forgive, not of how we went astray but of how Thou didst save us!"
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
1 Kings 21:1-21a
According to the scriptures, there are two different world views which you and I may hold and by which we may live our lives. The first sees everything in terms of this world. There are no other powers operating in human life except those established by human beings and by the indifferent forces of nature. Everything is limited to our time-and space-bound realm. Nature proceeds by its automatic natural laws. Human beings act according to their instincts and reason and psychological drives. And the goal in life really is to master a knowledge of how everything and everyone works, and then to turn such knowledge to one's own advantage. Those with know-how, with willingness to work, with insight and imagination and skill can prosper. Others just go along with whatever happens to them, the helpless pawns of an indifferent world. Sometimes someone is lucky; he wins the lottery, for example. But the mastery of the forces and ways of an uncaring universe usually determine how a person will fare in his seventy or eighty years of existence.
The other world view shown to us in the scriptures, however, maintains that this world and its powers are not all there are. Indeed, the powers and ways of this world are subject to an infinitely greater power and a qualitatively different way than those that we see and know. They are subject to the power of an invisible God, the Lord of nature and human history, who has broken into human life to reveal his love, his might, and his mercy -- a God who wishes abundant and eternal life for all of us, and who is ruling over the ups and downs of human history to guide it to his final goal of his kingdom come on earth.
We find these two world views clashing in our text for the morning. The setting is the ninth century B.C. in the northern kingdom of Israel. A man named Ahab, the son of the great northern ruler Omri, is king of that northern state (ca. 869-850 B.C.), and one of his royal residences is located in the town of Jezreel, which commands the northern valley of Jezreel, just south Mount Carmel. Ahab is married to a woman named Jezebel, who is the daughter of the king of Tyre, and she is an active proponent of the worship of the fertility gods of Baal. That is, she fosters the worship in Israel of pagan gods, who were thought to bring fertility to both land and human beings. Her paganism, however, has been consistently opposed and her prophets decisively defeated by the prophet Elijah, as we read in the Elijah cycle of stories in 1 Kings 17 and 18. But Jezebel isn't through yet.
According to our text, an unimportant peasant farmer named Naboth has a little vineyard next to the palace of Ahab in Jezreel, and Ahab, like all men of power, would like to increase his land holdings. So Ahab makes a very fair offer to Naboth. Either he will give Naboth full value for his vineyard, or he will give Naboth a vineyard equal in size and worth but located some place else. In terms of this world, that certainly seems just. But Naboth doesn't live just by the standards of this world. He has another world view. He has inherited his vineyard from his family line, who were given that vineyard from the hand of God, when the Lord gave to Israel the land of Canaan in fulfillment of his ancient promise to Abraham. In other words, Naboth is an heir of the gracious gift of the Lord, and Naboth is not about to relinquish his share in that gift. Naboth shares a small part of God's work, and Naboth values that beyond any compensation from this world.
Ahab, the man who understands only this world and its ways, and who cannot have his way, therefore sulks like a child and refuses to eat. But Jezebel, who also understands only this world and knows how to manipulate its powers, couldn't care less about the Lord God and his gifts. She tells Ahab, "Grow up, you sniveling king. Act like a ruler. I'll get the vineyard for you." She pays two thugs to bring false charges in the town court against Naboth, for two witnesses are required by Israelite law (Deuteronomy 19:15). Naboth is condemned for cursing both God and king, and is therefore stoned to death (cf. Leviticus 24:16).
But you see, human beings do not finally rule this world. The Lord, the God of justice and mercy, rules it. And so the prophet of the Lord, Elijah, is summoned by his God to confront Ahab with his crime and to pronounce sentence upon him. "In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood" (v. 19). Indeed, in the stories that follow, the whole house of Ahab, Jezebel, and the dynasty of Omri come crashing down.
"And though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet." My friends, there are two world views by which we may conduct our lives. We may believe that what we see is all there is and that the powers of this world are in charge. Don't believe it. There is a greater realm than ours, the realm of the Lord God of hosts. And yes, he is a God of incredible mercy and love. Later, when Ahab repents, he is forgiven and does not immediately die (1 Kings 21:27-29). But the Lord is also a God of justice and righteousness who will not put up forever with the power-plays, the injustices, the oppressions, the paganism of the supposed rulers of this world. God will be God, good Christians. That is a warning to us. But above all, that is the basis of our hope. For God will have the last word. And the evil in our world will be defeated.
Lutheran Option -- 2 Samuel 11:26--12:10, 13-15
The Bible is a totally honest book. Despite the fact that the later editors of the Old Testament leave in accounts of King David that whitewash his character, those editors also leave in the eyewitness account of David's behavior that we find in 2 Samuel 6--1 Kings 2. And here in our text we find the depths of David's sinfulness illumined.
Because of his lust for beautiful Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, David has apparently forced her to come to the palace and has lain with her. When Bathsheba informs the king that she is pregnant, David orders Uriah to be purposely slain in battle, in order to cover up his crime of adultery. David then orders Bathsheba to become his wife.
No one knows of David's sinful crime except God, for you see, nothing is hid from the Lord. What we do is what God sees. The wicked say in their hearts, "How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?" (Psalm 73:11). But there is indeed knowledge, and so the Lord confronts David with his sin through the agency of the prophet Nathan.
Reinhold Niebuhr once described Nathan's words to David, saying, "Now that's real preaching!" Nathan's little parable about the rich man who stole the poor man's beloved little lamb leads David, who has some conscience left, to condemn himself. "That rich man should die!" is David's indignant sentence. Whereupon Nathan whirls on David with the words, "You are the man!" Nathan summarizes all of the grace that the Lord has poured out on David (12:7-8) and points out that in total ingratitude for the gifts of God to him, David has violated the basic commandments of the Lord found in the Decalogue. "You shall not covet. You shall not steal. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery." Because of David's lust and wish to satisfy his immediate sexual desire, the King of Judah, the Lord's anointed Messiah, has broken every one of those commandments. David repents of his sin (v. 13) and in mercy, the Lord says that David will not die. But from this time on, David's fortunes go down, down, down, especially in relation to his sons, whom he cannot control because he could not control himself. Similarly, David's sin works out its consequences on the child that Bathsheba bears to him. That child dies for David's wrong, as others are always affected by our wrong.
Our society and age take sin very lightly. In fact, there are very few things these days that many cannot bring themselves to do. But God sees and God knows. God weeps and God judges. And finally the Son of God has to die because of what we have done and what we continually do, despite all of the grace that the Lord has poured out on us through the years. Surely repentance is called for, and a transformation of our lives, which God in his mercy will also grant us, if we ask, through the working of his Holy Spirit.
On the liturgical church calendar, the period between Advent and Easter celebrates the Righteous One, who reveals the heart of God for the world. The period between Pentecost Sunday and Christ the King Sunday celebrates the righteous life of those who follow the Righteous One, Jesus -- Lord and Savior of the world. What his followers learn throughout this season is that the righteous life is rooted in the soil of his work for us; whatever good produce is yielded in our lives thrives because of all the gardening he has done on our behalf -- planting us in his love, nurturing us with his blessings, pruning us with his good judgment, and eventually picking us for the heavenly feast he will host throughout eternity.
1 Kings 21:1-21a
It started out as a good business proposition. It turned sour, not because of any mis-doings, but because of one man's sense of honor and heritage. If Naboth had only been a bit more materialistic, he could have retired on Easy Street; Ahab could have had credited to him a fair deal. As it was, Ahab could certainly see the foolishness of Naboth's ways, turning down such a generous offer. Ahab, perhaps understanding his wife all too well, let his kingly advantage simply sink into vexation and sullenness. Not having his own PR staff to spin his actions for public approval, Ahab, in passive-aggressive manipulation, pushed the right buttons on the psyche of his wife's machinations. Jezebel did the rest. Naboth was disposed of and Ahab took possession of the garden.
Power put Ahab in a position to exercise his greed with impunity -- or so he thought. Throughout his 22 years on the throne, Ahab provoked God in many ways, assuming the mantel of king of Israel without acknowledging the King of Israel. For this he would have to pay! God summoned the prophet Elijah to bring one of those "Thus says the Lord" messages that no one really wants to hear. Having already had a run-in with Elijah at Mount Carmel, Ahab was attuned to the power of his prophetic word, such that when Elijah spoke of God's judgment, Ahab repented (1 Kings 21:27f).
The worship planner for this Sunday should consider editing the lectionary, so that a fuller reading of the story can be conveyed. It would probably be too much to ask that 1 Kings 21 be read in its entirety. Therefore, this pericope is proposed: 1 Kings 21:1-10, 15-19, 27-29. The value of doing this is to bring into the story the aspect of Ahab's repentance. We never read of it elsewhere, so we dare not miss it when it is before us.
The story of Naboth's vineyard opens conversation on power and greed, vulnerability from a human perspective (Naboth) and from a divine perspective (Ahab), the power of the Law to accuse and convict, the power of repentance to turn the heart of God, the power of decisions to have consequences beyond what we initially intend or can imagine (God's verdict upon the children).
How characteristic of God, that when there is repentance, reprieve is offered. Jonah discovered this with Nineveh. Abraham would have discovered this with Sodom, if only ten righteous could have been found therein. That Ahab was the recipient of God's mercy is almost beyond understanding, let alone appreciation. Such a scoundrel is capable of repentance? If such is the case, where will God's mercy end? Eberhard Arnold, founder of the German Bruderhof in the early twentieth century, was aware of this capacity in God, so much so that he asked more than once (from his hospital bed shortly before his death), "Does anyone here know whether Hitler and Goebbels have repented?" That such scoundrels could be cared for by God Almighty, the Holy and True One? Indeed...
Galatians 2:15-21
The Law, in its original context of the first covenant with the descendants of Abraham who were freed from Egyptian bondage, was never designed to provide a way for the redeemed to earn God's favor. It was a way of life in which to live thankfully as the already favored ones of the Lord. But, by the time of Paul, the Law had become a ladder to heaven, misconstrued by the faithful as the only viable means to please God and earn the right to stand before the Holy One in righteousness. Hence, the tell-tale phrase "by works of the law," 2:16 three times. One cannot live "from out of" or "by means of" the law's requirements in such a way so as to garner the favor of God, meet the standards of the Holy One.
This is the supposition behind the conversation between Jesus and the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-22). He discovered that keeping the commandments was not adequate to have eternal life. Life itself is more than living according to a checklist of do's and don'ts. Jesus took on the rich young ruler on the turf of his own self-understanding and helped him realize (apparently to his own chagrin!) how far short he indeed fell from his lofty goal of heaven. His possessions had become too precious for him. The answer to the question of eternal life is to be found in Jesus ("Follow me!") and not in ourselves or our own efforts.
Paul helped the Galatians understand that the Law, in this current context of misapprehension, in fact had the effect of accusing and condemning the very one who sought to use its rungs to achieve heaven's glory. We all fall short of the glory of God, Paul wrote to another congregation (Romans 3:23). The one who can acknowledge this is in the perfect position to perceive Jesus as the one who makes right what has gone so wrong in the relationship between heaven and earth. The one who can acknowledge this is in the perfect position to receive Jesus as the Christ of history and the Lord in one's life. What is terribly exciting about all of this is that the work Jesus does for the world and the faith that draws the believer to him are gifts from God, graciously given freely due to no merit on the believer's part.
At issue is the righteousness of God, which is manifest through Jesus and imparted to the one who has faith in him. This righteousness of God effects justification for the sinner. This was Paul's experience. He had tried through the Law to please God; he used the Law to rationalize his persecution of the sect called the Way. But his zeal only hastened him on the road of transgression. The Law on which he relied revealed himself to be the foremost of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15; see also 1 Corinthians 15:8-10). He admits this when he writes, "If I build up again those things which I tore down, then I prove myself a transgressor" (2:18). This is an autobiographical reference to his days as persecutor of the church (Acts 22:3-5). It is to this Law that Paul died, so that he might be alive to God (2:19). His new life is best described as "Christ who lives in me" (2:20). To the Philippian congregation he would continue to write in this vein, saying that to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21) -- all because of the power of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus within him.
Luke 7:36--8:3
How full of misunderstandings so many characters in the Bible are! Eve misunderstood the serpent's twisted tale and neglected to read between the lines. Saul could not see the loyalty of David because of his own jealousy. Judas missed the point of Jesus' way to be the Messiah. Nicodemus had a hard time grasping Jesus' metaphor of rebirth. And now, one of the Pharisees construed prophetic abilities the wrong way, ironically judging Jesus, who himself in a short period of time would be remembered in art as the pantocrator, sitting over the earth on the arch of the rainbow, judging both heaven and earth for all eternity.
"If this man were a prophet...," the Pharisee thought to himself. Apparently this religious leader had a very narrow view of the duties of the prophets of God. An all-knowing seer? Jesus never set himself up as that? He even admitted what he did not know (Mark 13:32)! A judge of sinners? Well, yes, but not in the way humans are wont to have it. As John states in his Gospel account, "The judgment of God has come into the world, indeed, but not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Jesus" (see John 3:16-21). Remember how God dealt with the ignoble Ahab! If God can forgive the king of Israel whose public tricks of evil can have such a sweeping, profound effect due to his office, can he not also forgive a back alley hooker who brings down the morality of the world one trick at a time? Is not this the very reason for his presence in the world with people, neither above them nor against them?
This is a touching scene on many levels. The Pharisee's lack of touch with Jesus (no foot washing, no kiss, no anointing) presage his being out of touch with Jesus' mission. The woman's touch of Jesus (washing his feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, kissing them with her lips, anointing them with her hands) reveals her deep devotion for his having touched her life by what he had already given her -- the hospitality of God, welcoming her into his forgiving heart despite the multitude of her sins. She had "loved" much in all the wrong ways and she knew how much she needed to be forgiven. She was able to love Jesus much in all the right ways because so much had been forgiven.
When Jesus says that her many sins are forgiven, "for she loved much" (7:47), he is not describing the cause for his willingness to forgive, namely, that she loved Jesus so much and demonstrated it by caring for his needs upon being invited out to supper. What else could Jesus do but forgive such a nice person? No, her loves (misplaced as they were) were many and these needed to be forgiven by much love from Jesus. Her outpouring of affection was a genuine response of thanksgiving that indeed much had been forgiven!
In Luke's account (7:49), the question of forgiveness is raised. "Who is this, who even forgives sins?" It is a rhetorical question placed within the story. The answer is unveiled in the entire life of the Lord Jesus, who came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10; see also Luke 15, the lost chapter of the Bible). He is the one who forgives by the authority given him as the eschatological Son of man (Luke 5:24; Matthew 28:18).
Application
How amazingly powerful and resourceful humanity is! We can land a man on the moon and bring him back. We can build platforms in space which will be a springboard into further exploration of the universe. We can decode the human genome and splice together life-altering combinations of matter. Yet, how vulnerable we are. There is no cure for the common cold. There is a cure for sleeping sickness, but, since it is not profitable to make for third-world victims, thousands die while pharmaceutical companies sit idle on production. Prejudices infect the human heart; when prejudice is combined with power, racism can be created that can define the character of a society capable of enslaving the majority (South Africa) or the minority (America).
When Paul asks the question, "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?" (Romans 8:33), the answer is a resounding, "Anyone!" from a purely human point of view. Perhaps that is why there are so many pathetic people scattered throughout the pages of the Bible, from Adam and Eve tricked into sin, to Esau manipulated by his twin, to the 'Apiru in Egypt enslaved by Pharaoh, to Elijah cowering in a cave, to Naboth or Stephen being stoned simply for standing their ground, to Peter scared into denial or John Mark who blinked in the missionary enterprise (Acts 13:13, 15:36-39).
The pity of our fragility is that we slink into a false sense of security, whenever we seek to shore up for ourselves measures of strength that we gauge by our own standards or even by God's standards, though we misunderstand even these. This self-measuring we do too often. It is the seduction of the Law, that the Galatians knew all too well. The scripture is the herald of God to call us out of this seduction into the only way of being our true selves, namely, to live "by faith in the Son of God, who loved [us] and gave himself for [us]" (Galatians 2:20).
No matter how modern or post-modern we think we have become, we struggle with the same ageless enemy of true selfhood -- the Law. The Law puts demands upon our lives: You must do this or that! It's up to you to make it right! It's in your hands to make it or break it! Never let up for a moment! Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all! Yet, striving to live according to these principles of self-determination, self-reliance, self-actualization is an endless, restless task. We can never be satisfied that we have done enough. Truth be told, we can never be assured that enough good has been done to offset the indiscretions and foibles we keep displaying on our journey through life.
How important it is for us to pray the Holy Spirit to guide us in how we relate to one another and how we react to changing circumstances in life! We can dare to hope for such a favor from God, when we live in the reality of God's answer to Paul's question above. "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?" Ultimately, it is only God who can bring any charge. The good news is that the Holy One of Israel is merciful, even to the likes of Ahab. God can be merciful to us also. The joy of life is that in our own very real vulnerability, we are held in the gracious hand of God in time and for eternity. Because we are so humanly at risk, this is indeed good news.
Christians hear and herald the good news that God's love for us has been revealed apart from works of the Law. God's love for us has been revealed freely through Jesus Christ. He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He obeys the Torah of God perfectly in our stead and as the spotless Lamb of God lays down his life as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. The wages of sin is still death (Romans 6:23). Grounded in this grace (which gives us what we do not deserve), we have solid footing to venture out into life with a bold joy that offers thanksgiving to God through all that we say and do.
The woman in the Gospel text exhibits this point very well. She was so full of love for Jesus because she was keenly aware of how much love he gave her to cover her multitude of sins. From loving much inappropriately, she grew to love Jesus much, which was most appropriate. So, too we will see in our own lives a reflection of our gratitude to Jesus for the many sins he has forgiven in our life. The more we see clearly the extent of our waywardness and need for a Savior, the more we will appreciate Jesus and his love; plus, the more we can celebrate with joy this love in worship and service through our participation in the church.
Søren Kierkegaard expressed this well in one of his personal prayers: "Father in Heaven! Hold not our sins up against us..., so that the thought of Thee when it wakens in our soul... should not remind us of what we have committed but of what Thou didst forgive, not of how we went astray but of how Thou didst save us!"
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
1 Kings 21:1-21a
According to the scriptures, there are two different world views which you and I may hold and by which we may live our lives. The first sees everything in terms of this world. There are no other powers operating in human life except those established by human beings and by the indifferent forces of nature. Everything is limited to our time-and space-bound realm. Nature proceeds by its automatic natural laws. Human beings act according to their instincts and reason and psychological drives. And the goal in life really is to master a knowledge of how everything and everyone works, and then to turn such knowledge to one's own advantage. Those with know-how, with willingness to work, with insight and imagination and skill can prosper. Others just go along with whatever happens to them, the helpless pawns of an indifferent world. Sometimes someone is lucky; he wins the lottery, for example. But the mastery of the forces and ways of an uncaring universe usually determine how a person will fare in his seventy or eighty years of existence.
The other world view shown to us in the scriptures, however, maintains that this world and its powers are not all there are. Indeed, the powers and ways of this world are subject to an infinitely greater power and a qualitatively different way than those that we see and know. They are subject to the power of an invisible God, the Lord of nature and human history, who has broken into human life to reveal his love, his might, and his mercy -- a God who wishes abundant and eternal life for all of us, and who is ruling over the ups and downs of human history to guide it to his final goal of his kingdom come on earth.
We find these two world views clashing in our text for the morning. The setting is the ninth century B.C. in the northern kingdom of Israel. A man named Ahab, the son of the great northern ruler Omri, is king of that northern state (ca. 869-850 B.C.), and one of his royal residences is located in the town of Jezreel, which commands the northern valley of Jezreel, just south Mount Carmel. Ahab is married to a woman named Jezebel, who is the daughter of the king of Tyre, and she is an active proponent of the worship of the fertility gods of Baal. That is, she fosters the worship in Israel of pagan gods, who were thought to bring fertility to both land and human beings. Her paganism, however, has been consistently opposed and her prophets decisively defeated by the prophet Elijah, as we read in the Elijah cycle of stories in 1 Kings 17 and 18. But Jezebel isn't through yet.
According to our text, an unimportant peasant farmer named Naboth has a little vineyard next to the palace of Ahab in Jezreel, and Ahab, like all men of power, would like to increase his land holdings. So Ahab makes a very fair offer to Naboth. Either he will give Naboth full value for his vineyard, or he will give Naboth a vineyard equal in size and worth but located some place else. In terms of this world, that certainly seems just. But Naboth doesn't live just by the standards of this world. He has another world view. He has inherited his vineyard from his family line, who were given that vineyard from the hand of God, when the Lord gave to Israel the land of Canaan in fulfillment of his ancient promise to Abraham. In other words, Naboth is an heir of the gracious gift of the Lord, and Naboth is not about to relinquish his share in that gift. Naboth shares a small part of God's work, and Naboth values that beyond any compensation from this world.
Ahab, the man who understands only this world and its ways, and who cannot have his way, therefore sulks like a child and refuses to eat. But Jezebel, who also understands only this world and knows how to manipulate its powers, couldn't care less about the Lord God and his gifts. She tells Ahab, "Grow up, you sniveling king. Act like a ruler. I'll get the vineyard for you." She pays two thugs to bring false charges in the town court against Naboth, for two witnesses are required by Israelite law (Deuteronomy 19:15). Naboth is condemned for cursing both God and king, and is therefore stoned to death (cf. Leviticus 24:16).
But you see, human beings do not finally rule this world. The Lord, the God of justice and mercy, rules it. And so the prophet of the Lord, Elijah, is summoned by his God to confront Ahab with his crime and to pronounce sentence upon him. "In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood" (v. 19). Indeed, in the stories that follow, the whole house of Ahab, Jezebel, and the dynasty of Omri come crashing down.
"And though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet." My friends, there are two world views by which we may conduct our lives. We may believe that what we see is all there is and that the powers of this world are in charge. Don't believe it. There is a greater realm than ours, the realm of the Lord God of hosts. And yes, he is a God of incredible mercy and love. Later, when Ahab repents, he is forgiven and does not immediately die (1 Kings 21:27-29). But the Lord is also a God of justice and righteousness who will not put up forever with the power-plays, the injustices, the oppressions, the paganism of the supposed rulers of this world. God will be God, good Christians. That is a warning to us. But above all, that is the basis of our hope. For God will have the last word. And the evil in our world will be defeated.
Lutheran Option -- 2 Samuel 11:26--12:10, 13-15
The Bible is a totally honest book. Despite the fact that the later editors of the Old Testament leave in accounts of King David that whitewash his character, those editors also leave in the eyewitness account of David's behavior that we find in 2 Samuel 6--1 Kings 2. And here in our text we find the depths of David's sinfulness illumined.
Because of his lust for beautiful Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, David has apparently forced her to come to the palace and has lain with her. When Bathsheba informs the king that she is pregnant, David orders Uriah to be purposely slain in battle, in order to cover up his crime of adultery. David then orders Bathsheba to become his wife.
No one knows of David's sinful crime except God, for you see, nothing is hid from the Lord. What we do is what God sees. The wicked say in their hearts, "How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?" (Psalm 73:11). But there is indeed knowledge, and so the Lord confronts David with his sin through the agency of the prophet Nathan.
Reinhold Niebuhr once described Nathan's words to David, saying, "Now that's real preaching!" Nathan's little parable about the rich man who stole the poor man's beloved little lamb leads David, who has some conscience left, to condemn himself. "That rich man should die!" is David's indignant sentence. Whereupon Nathan whirls on David with the words, "You are the man!" Nathan summarizes all of the grace that the Lord has poured out on David (12:7-8) and points out that in total ingratitude for the gifts of God to him, David has violated the basic commandments of the Lord found in the Decalogue. "You shall not covet. You shall not steal. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery." Because of David's lust and wish to satisfy his immediate sexual desire, the King of Judah, the Lord's anointed Messiah, has broken every one of those commandments. David repents of his sin (v. 13) and in mercy, the Lord says that David will not die. But from this time on, David's fortunes go down, down, down, especially in relation to his sons, whom he cannot control because he could not control himself. Similarly, David's sin works out its consequences on the child that Bathsheba bears to him. That child dies for David's wrong, as others are always affected by our wrong.
Our society and age take sin very lightly. In fact, there are very few things these days that many cannot bring themselves to do. But God sees and God knows. God weeps and God judges. And finally the Son of God has to die because of what we have done and what we continually do, despite all of the grace that the Lord has poured out on us through the years. Surely repentance is called for, and a transformation of our lives, which God in his mercy will also grant us, if we ask, through the working of his Holy Spirit.
