Passion for God
Commentary
It would not be difficult to look around in our world and identify passionate people. Some are passionate in self-absorption and self-destruction. Others in the destruction of their enemies. Some are passionate about good causes, but their flame burns out quickly. Others are passionate about good causes, but have rather insipid reasons energizing them (notoriety, occasion, resources without sacrifice, for example).
It was almost seven months ago this month, that little Elian Gonzalez returned home with his father to Cuba. He had been rescued in the Straits of Florida on Thanksgiving Day after the boat which his mother and several others had been using to escape Cuba sank, taking them with it -- except for Elian. Relatives in Miami sought to have him kept in the U.S., since that was his mother's obvious dying wish. His father, Juan (divorced from Elian's mother for several years), came over from Cuba to bring him home. What ensued was an "international custody battle that stirred Cold War passions" (AP, Anita Snow).
Our passions can certainly drive us to do heroic, even desperate acts, demonstrated by Elian's mother. Our passions can encourage us to confront the power and procedures of government, as was shown by Elian's Miami relatives as well as his father, even though they were on opposite sides. Our passions can throw us into each other's arms, as a couple of beloveds, who solemnize their relationship in marriage.
Passion can run wild -- in a good direction or in a bad one. Passion can also run sporadically, unpredictable in its energy. More than emotional fuel is needed for passion to be productive. A moral direction and a sense of commitment can guide passion to constructive ends. Where is there a word that can give substance and guidance for the well of passion that exists in every person to be tapped for the glory of God and for the common good? Today's texts give us occasion to look at the passion of the people of God. What excites them? What directs them? What gives them tenacity? What keeps them faithful to God's purposes in their lives?
Isaiah 62:1-5
These verses are a wonderful example of Hebrew poetry, utilizing duplets to emphasize the text and give it a delightful aesthetic read. Verses 1, 2, 4a and b, and 5 are set up in a double rhythm, which could be represented "aabb." The first part of the verse makes its point twice; then, the second part of the verse makes its point twice. (Verses 3 and 4c have a single double rhythm.) It is not only fun to read, but it is also fun to let the words carry the imagination off into different directions, arriving at the same destination. How gratifying to the listener that God cares both for the medium and the message, so as to express divine truth in tantalizing human language.
The message itself arises in the post-exilic history of the people of God. They have been through the fire, and now it is time for them to shine once again. Israel, formerly exiled under Babylon but now restored under Persia, will be "a crown of beauty ... a royal diadem" (62:3) for the Lord to treasure. This did not happen overnight. It was a century-long process that began with the first siege of Jerusalem in 606 B.C. and climaxed with the resettlement of Palestine after 537 B.C. and continuing into the fifth century B.C. Just as jewelry takes time to craft from raw metal, through the purifying process, into the shaping and inlay and polishing details, so too God took time in history with his people to create them anew. The transition was dramatic, so as to deserve a new name. Formerly, she who was Forsaken and Desolate in judgment will now be heralded as My Delight and Married. Once again, God has proven himself faithful to the covenant made centuries ago with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
The nations themselves will have to acknowledge this. God's work is not for a private audience. The people of God were relocated and encouraged to rebuild the cities and to restore the walls of Jerusalem. This they did under Nehemiah. True, the Seleucids would occupy the land in their turn; only to be overthrown by the Maccabees, who would establish an independent state for a while until the Romans came with their legions. Yet, even in this aftermath, the stage was well set for the nations to see God's vindication of his people, when kingly personages will bow before the glory of God, manifested in a stable in a small Palestinian village. Truly, Bethlehem is "a city not forsaken," but Sought Out (62:12).
Isaiah (Second or Third) has a far more uplifting word to share than his predecessor, Jeremiah. This prophet of lamentation had the heavy duty to speak at a time of judgment (end of the seventh century B.C. and beginning of the sixth century B.C.). He recalled the declaration of divorce that was pronounced upon the Northern Kingdom and feared that such would be the case against Judah, if she did not repent (Jeremiah 3:6-14). Isaiah (Second or Third) has the privilege of looking back upon this time and seeing how God was faithful through judgment to bring about restoration to his people, as an act of pure grace. There is the faithful witness of Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; but other than this, there is not much biblical testimony of a great revival amongst the exiled people of God that would garner God's attention for a favorable response. As with Adam and Eve, Abraham and Jacob, God's response comes entirely undeserved and merciful. Can you picture the prophet unable to keep silent or get any rest, just like God (62:1), so consumed is he with passion for this word that will breathe life back into the people who seemed to be in such a hopeless situation?
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
It appears that passions were running high in Corinth. There were divisive matters in the church, relating to marriage, chastity, lawsuits, eating habits, worship hospitality, and elitism. Paul seeks to address them in his correspondence. In today's text, he specifically takes on the matter of spiritual girts. There are many he identifies, which must have been known among the members of the Corinthian church, many of them notably lacking in today's churches. There are wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment between spirits, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. Paul says that this variety is a manifestation of one and the same Spirit of God. His argument goes like this: All these gifts come from the same source, God. So, none are of higher origin than any other. They are gifts, given by God to his beloved. Gifts are to be appreciated, not exploited. It is God's choice who gets what gift; the gifted should simply humbly receive the gift. Each particular gift has its important role in the whole body of Christ and should be valued as such. There is none more precious or vital than another.
That's very direct, but he says it with such style. Verse 4 is a tri-part piece of poetic prose that sets the reader in place to "listen up and pay attention" to something more important here than what has been perceived to date. Paul introduces this alert by reminding the Corinthian church that previously they had been led by blind passion ("however you may have been moved" 12:2). Their human passions had a religious bent, but it led them into idolatry. Just as they needed to be informed about the truth of the gospel, now they need to be informed about the character of gospel life together. The Greek word used in the middle of this text sets the tone for the whole of it: gnwrizw ("I want you to understand," 12:3) carries with it the character of revelation, that is, knowledge that comes from outside of oneself. Paul is not saying, "If you just think about it for a minute, you'll see I'm right." He is declaring, "I am making this known to you; here is a revelatory insight." This knowledge, imparted by Paul, will set straight the believers in their faith and in their life together.
In the spirit of 1 John 4:1, anyone claiming the spirit of God in their expressions of religious passion needs to be tested; they will be known by their confessions. If they curse Jesus (ANAQEMA IHSOUS) in an admitted state of possession, there is no way that would be of God. There must be the bold confession, KURIOS IHSOUS, which would be consistent with both public and private expressions of Christian devotion, worthy of the gospel as well as exemplary of faithful witness. (It should be noted in relation to this, that it was not part of emperor worship to have to curse one's god; only to offer a gift of prayer and incense in the name of Caesar. The Christians, however, considered even his gesture idolatry. There are stories in the ancient world as well as the contemporary one about persecutors of Christians forcing them to declare "Jesus be cursed" in order to save their lives or the lives of loved ones.)
Apart from faith, which is mentioned in this listing of gifts, the rest of the gifts are not the basics of the Way. Paul will identify the three abiding essentials of this Christian way in the next chapter; they are faith, hope, and love. In another letter, Paul speaks of the fruits of the Spirit, the natural outgrowth of God working in the life of every believer (Galatians 5:22-23). Yet, these fruits are not what Paul is talking about here as the gifts of the Spirit. It is not that these gifts are to be thereby devalued. It is, rather, to identify them as additional blessings to the community of faith, which is already established by the abiding essentials and truly characterized by the fruits.
This having been said, it is worth saying that these spiritual gifts can indeed be a blessing to the Christian community. There is enough evidence around that God does bless the church today with such gifts. Every Christian community should pray for an openness to receive whatever gifts God would instill in his people "as he wills" (12:11).
John 2:1-11
"On the third day!" What in the world is that all about? What does keeping track of the calendar have to do with the gospel? Does John have a thing about time? After John's opening parry with philosophy, he gets down to some historical nitty-
gritty matters. First, he makes a clear distinction between Jesus as the Messiah and the role of the Baptist as the forerunner to announce the coming of the Lord. Then, the countdown begins. The next day Jesus is identified as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (2:29). The next day, Jesus is seen attracting disciples unto himself -- two disciples of the Baptist, one of them Andrew by name, who in turn brings his brother Peter. Jesus does not call them overtly. They come to him, like bears seeking honey. The next day after that Jesus does call Philip explicitly, who in turn draws in Nathanael. What great days of one-on-one evangelism these are!
So, then, we come to the third day after the next day which followed John the Baptist's initial clarifying witness to the Messiah, who would come after him. So what? Perhaps nothing more dramatic than simply to say "right off the bat, out of the starting blocks" Jesus begins his public ministry with a sign to manifest his glory (2:11). The miracle (shmeion) points to Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. Believing in him will bring life (zwh) to the believer (20:30-31). This life will have the quality of eternity already in it now (3:16f). The fruit of the vine is a foretaste of the fullness of life that belongs to the believer. Remember, the Baptist did not perform any sign, any miracle (10:41). So, this act by Jesus quickly confirms him as the one about whom John came to prepare the way (1:23).
At the same time these signs manifest the glory of Jesus as the Son of God, the Beloved, they draw people to him in faith. This faith is not in his power to effect the miracle. Neither is it in the sign itself. Nor in the disciples' ability to imitate Jesus and perform miracles themselves (which occurs later). No, their faith is eix auton, in him. This is what keeps Christianity from degenerating into a philosophical religion or a religious morality. Christians put their trust, not in a dogma or a deed, but in the Doer!
Matthew uses the gift of myrrh and the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem to foreshadow from the earliest point in the gospel story the cross of Christ. John uses this miracle of the wine. Mary comes to her son and asks him to turn the water into wine. Jesus says, "My hour has not yet come" (2:4). His deed is not to satisfy thirsty revelers, but to quench the thirst of those whose God-relationship is parched. Only the cross will do that. That hour is a few years off. Not red wine poured for the worldly, but his red blood shed for the world will be the sign of signs that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, beloved of his heavenly Father. That time on the cross is the hour for which he came. This is what will finally manifest his glory, of which the miracle at this wedding is but a foretaste.
Application
In government and the military there is a phrase that distinguishes the players in a particular operation: "on a need-
to-know basis." Some operatives are engaged in an activity with limited, if any, knowledge of the larger picture. When it comes to our relationship with God, we cannot afford such ignorance. When Paul writes, "I do not want you to be uninformed" (1 Corinthians 12:1; agnoein, from which we get the word "agnostic"), he follows that with a passionate explanation of the role of spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12) and the essence of the Christian life (1 Corinthians 13). Reading Paul's other letters, one becomes convinced of his passion to explain the Christian faith in persuasive terms. Romans 5 and Galatians 3 are excellent examples of this. We can be thankful for the passion of the early church to convey the gospel experience faithfully to the world.
With Isaiah, we should delight in not keeping silent, not resting, until God's Word is shared publicly, that all may see the glory of the Lord in Jesus Christ. The gifts that are given to us are for this purpose. As the people of God are nurtured in faith, they are encouraged and enabled to share that faith with others for the common good, which goes beyond the doorsteps of the church into the community. After all, Jesus did provide wine at the wedding feast. It really was not the specific reason for why he came on earth, but it became engaged with the entire community, it creates signs along the way, as the people of God point the world to the Son of God, in whom there is life and salvation.
A word of patience is needed to be head at this point. Patience is a virtue that is in danger of being lost in our culture. Express lanes, fast food franchises, instant messaging create an environment where immediate results become the norm and patience becomes a declining virtue. It is not that patience becomes unnecessary in today's speedy world. It's just that we can become deluded into thinking that it should no longer be necessary. Road rage is a perfect example of this. We constantly need to be reminded that life takes time. Especially, relationships take time -- relationships with one another and our relationship with God. The ebb and flow of the history of God's people proves this, as well as the ebb and flow of married life.
The miracle at the wedding in Cana is not only a good opportunity to talk about who Jesus is, it is also a good opportunity to talk about the marriage relationship. Just as Jesus was invited to the wedding, so too is Jesus to be invited into the marriage of the beloveds. He is to be present in their home and their hearts, because the Preacher is right when writing, "A threefold cord is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12). In Christian marriage, each individual learns from Jesus the sacrificial and serving nature of love. This fuels and strengthens the passion each has for their life together. Passion in Christian marriage rises above sexual desire and the drive for personal fulfillment to lift up the beloved and together hold up the community. Each seeks the common good of the household before individual satisfaction. The couple learns the higher joy of life together, which is possible when they demonstrate mutual surrender to one another (Ephesians 5:21). Then, together in their home they serve as a mission outpost into the community for the glory of God and for the common good. This is a better wine with which to satiate the dry palate created by the myth of rugged individualism in our American culture.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 62:1-5
Our text forms the first part of the longer poem in 62:1-9, and that poem, along with 62:10-12, forms the conclusion to the proclamations of salvation that are given in Isaiah chapters 60-
62. Originally, the authors of Third Isaiah (chs. 56-66) addressed this proclamation to the struggling inhabitants of Jerusalem in the years following their return from Babylonian exile in 538 B.C. The city of Zion, which still lay in ruins, was beset in those years by poverty, crop failure, inflation, and bitter disputes among its priests and prophets. This text forecasts a brighter future from the hand of God.
The prophet who utters this oracle declares that he and his group of prophets will intercede in prayer continually to the Lord until God delivers Jerusalem from her desperate plight and makes her life glorious and whole. One of the principal functions of prophets in the Old Testament was to intercede before the Lord for their people (cf. Deuteronomy 9:25-29; Amos 7:1-6; Jeremiah 7:16) and Third Isaiah and his prophetic group (for there are multiple authors of Third Isaiah) declare that their intercession for Jerusalem will be continuous, banging on the Lord's door in prayer, as it were, until the Lord makes Jerusalem once again a delight. The same thought is found under the figure of the prophets as watchmen in 62:6, who will give the Lord no rest until he returns to bring salvation to his people. Then the young men of Jerusalem will once again "marry," that is, farm their land that has been so unproductive, and God will rejoice over his people (62:5).
I wonder if the thought of this text is not applicable to the church in our day. We have always had the tradition of referring to the church as the Zion of God. "O Zion haste," we sing, "thy mission high fulfilling," and the language of Zion has become synonymous with language for the church. Certainly too, much of the life of the Christian community is in ruins in our society. Many of the mainline churches, far from drawing persons into their fellowship, are rapidly losing members. Every major denomination is wracked by controversy over the authority of the Bible and how it applies to the ethics of everyday living. Ignorance of scripture and doctrine are rampant among even regular church-goers. And much preaching has degenerated into therapeutic comfort that could be had from any decent psychologist or into sermons that are filled with superficial moralisms worthy only of a Reader's Digest religion.
Could it be possible, then, that the role of faithful Christians in the church is that prophetic role of intercession, of giving the Lord no rest from their prayers until he renews his church? There is a lot of amorphous "spirituality" abroad in the land and certainly a deep hunger for some divine presence, but those take forms very often quite at odds with the Christian gospel. Could it be that what we need most, therefore, in our Zion are those who will never keep silent, those who will pray and pray continually for God's salvation of his covenant community? It's a fact that only the Lord can bring true renewal to his people, and so it is to the Lord that Christians must turn in intercession.
What will be the effect, then, of a genuine "salvation" of the church? Third Isaiah portrays the effect in the life of a saved and restored Zion. "You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord," he writes, "and a royal diadem in the hand of your God" (v. 3). The figure of speech is taken from ancient oriental iconography, in which the tutelary deity of a city was represented as a king, crowned by the city walls of his realm. But in our text, God holds Zion, which has become like a beautiful jeweled crown, in his hand -- tenderly, lovingly protecting it. Could the church become, do you think, a jewel in the hand of the Lord -- beautiful, treasured, shining?
Further, our text says that a saved Zion will have a new name (v. 4). No longer will she be called "Forsaken" and "Desolate" but rather the "Delight" of God and his Bride -- the old words "Hephzibah" and "Beulah" (that latter word is the one from which we get the term Beulah land). Those metaphors fit the New Testament, for often we read there that Jesus describes himself as the bridegroom of the church (cf. Matthew 25:1; Mark 2:19; Revelation 21:2). So a renewed church, good Christians, will be as delightful and as loved by the Lord as a bride is by her bridegroom. In short, God in Christ wants with us the deepest and most tender of relationships. He wants love like that of a happily married couple -- faithful, lasting, committed, selfless, joyful -- and the Christian Church will not be whole until it has that love.
Finally our text says that a saved Zion will be a witness to all nations. "The nations shall see your vindication," reads our text, "and all the kings your glory" (v. 2). And certainly it is no fable that peoples are drawn to a church in which they witness the saving activity of God -- in lives changed, in truth upheld, in ethics reformed, in sacrifices and service freely given. As the prophet Zechariah later proclaimed, people will stream to the church when they can say, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" (Zechariah 8:23). If our living and our church community truly reflect the fact that God is present and at work within them, persons will be drawn to the gospel like those in darkness are drawn to the light (cf. Isaiah 60:1-3).
So we have much for which to pray, don't we? A renewed church, a saved church, a beautiful church that delights God, a treasured church held in the hand of its Lord, a witnessing church reflecting the work and presence of God within its life. But above all else, a loving church committed forever to Jesus Christ. Let that be our continual prayer to our Lord, good Christians, who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.
It was almost seven months ago this month, that little Elian Gonzalez returned home with his father to Cuba. He had been rescued in the Straits of Florida on Thanksgiving Day after the boat which his mother and several others had been using to escape Cuba sank, taking them with it -- except for Elian. Relatives in Miami sought to have him kept in the U.S., since that was his mother's obvious dying wish. His father, Juan (divorced from Elian's mother for several years), came over from Cuba to bring him home. What ensued was an "international custody battle that stirred Cold War passions" (AP, Anita Snow).
Our passions can certainly drive us to do heroic, even desperate acts, demonstrated by Elian's mother. Our passions can encourage us to confront the power and procedures of government, as was shown by Elian's Miami relatives as well as his father, even though they were on opposite sides. Our passions can throw us into each other's arms, as a couple of beloveds, who solemnize their relationship in marriage.
Passion can run wild -- in a good direction or in a bad one. Passion can also run sporadically, unpredictable in its energy. More than emotional fuel is needed for passion to be productive. A moral direction and a sense of commitment can guide passion to constructive ends. Where is there a word that can give substance and guidance for the well of passion that exists in every person to be tapped for the glory of God and for the common good? Today's texts give us occasion to look at the passion of the people of God. What excites them? What directs them? What gives them tenacity? What keeps them faithful to God's purposes in their lives?
Isaiah 62:1-5
These verses are a wonderful example of Hebrew poetry, utilizing duplets to emphasize the text and give it a delightful aesthetic read. Verses 1, 2, 4a and b, and 5 are set up in a double rhythm, which could be represented "aabb." The first part of the verse makes its point twice; then, the second part of the verse makes its point twice. (Verses 3 and 4c have a single double rhythm.) It is not only fun to read, but it is also fun to let the words carry the imagination off into different directions, arriving at the same destination. How gratifying to the listener that God cares both for the medium and the message, so as to express divine truth in tantalizing human language.
The message itself arises in the post-exilic history of the people of God. They have been through the fire, and now it is time for them to shine once again. Israel, formerly exiled under Babylon but now restored under Persia, will be "a crown of beauty ... a royal diadem" (62:3) for the Lord to treasure. This did not happen overnight. It was a century-long process that began with the first siege of Jerusalem in 606 B.C. and climaxed with the resettlement of Palestine after 537 B.C. and continuing into the fifth century B.C. Just as jewelry takes time to craft from raw metal, through the purifying process, into the shaping and inlay and polishing details, so too God took time in history with his people to create them anew. The transition was dramatic, so as to deserve a new name. Formerly, she who was Forsaken and Desolate in judgment will now be heralded as My Delight and Married. Once again, God has proven himself faithful to the covenant made centuries ago with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
The nations themselves will have to acknowledge this. God's work is not for a private audience. The people of God were relocated and encouraged to rebuild the cities and to restore the walls of Jerusalem. This they did under Nehemiah. True, the Seleucids would occupy the land in their turn; only to be overthrown by the Maccabees, who would establish an independent state for a while until the Romans came with their legions. Yet, even in this aftermath, the stage was well set for the nations to see God's vindication of his people, when kingly personages will bow before the glory of God, manifested in a stable in a small Palestinian village. Truly, Bethlehem is "a city not forsaken," but Sought Out (62:12).
Isaiah (Second or Third) has a far more uplifting word to share than his predecessor, Jeremiah. This prophet of lamentation had the heavy duty to speak at a time of judgment (end of the seventh century B.C. and beginning of the sixth century B.C.). He recalled the declaration of divorce that was pronounced upon the Northern Kingdom and feared that such would be the case against Judah, if she did not repent (Jeremiah 3:6-14). Isaiah (Second or Third) has the privilege of looking back upon this time and seeing how God was faithful through judgment to bring about restoration to his people, as an act of pure grace. There is the faithful witness of Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; but other than this, there is not much biblical testimony of a great revival amongst the exiled people of God that would garner God's attention for a favorable response. As with Adam and Eve, Abraham and Jacob, God's response comes entirely undeserved and merciful. Can you picture the prophet unable to keep silent or get any rest, just like God (62:1), so consumed is he with passion for this word that will breathe life back into the people who seemed to be in such a hopeless situation?
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
It appears that passions were running high in Corinth. There were divisive matters in the church, relating to marriage, chastity, lawsuits, eating habits, worship hospitality, and elitism. Paul seeks to address them in his correspondence. In today's text, he specifically takes on the matter of spiritual girts. There are many he identifies, which must have been known among the members of the Corinthian church, many of them notably lacking in today's churches. There are wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment between spirits, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. Paul says that this variety is a manifestation of one and the same Spirit of God. His argument goes like this: All these gifts come from the same source, God. So, none are of higher origin than any other. They are gifts, given by God to his beloved. Gifts are to be appreciated, not exploited. It is God's choice who gets what gift; the gifted should simply humbly receive the gift. Each particular gift has its important role in the whole body of Christ and should be valued as such. There is none more precious or vital than another.
That's very direct, but he says it with such style. Verse 4 is a tri-part piece of poetic prose that sets the reader in place to "listen up and pay attention" to something more important here than what has been perceived to date. Paul introduces this alert by reminding the Corinthian church that previously they had been led by blind passion ("however you may have been moved" 12:2). Their human passions had a religious bent, but it led them into idolatry. Just as they needed to be informed about the truth of the gospel, now they need to be informed about the character of gospel life together. The Greek word used in the middle of this text sets the tone for the whole of it: gnwrizw ("I want you to understand," 12:3) carries with it the character of revelation, that is, knowledge that comes from outside of oneself. Paul is not saying, "If you just think about it for a minute, you'll see I'm right." He is declaring, "I am making this known to you; here is a revelatory insight." This knowledge, imparted by Paul, will set straight the believers in their faith and in their life together.
In the spirit of 1 John 4:1, anyone claiming the spirit of God in their expressions of religious passion needs to be tested; they will be known by their confessions. If they curse Jesus (ANAQEMA IHSOUS) in an admitted state of possession, there is no way that would be of God. There must be the bold confession, KURIOS IHSOUS, which would be consistent with both public and private expressions of Christian devotion, worthy of the gospel as well as exemplary of faithful witness. (It should be noted in relation to this, that it was not part of emperor worship to have to curse one's god; only to offer a gift of prayer and incense in the name of Caesar. The Christians, however, considered even his gesture idolatry. There are stories in the ancient world as well as the contemporary one about persecutors of Christians forcing them to declare "Jesus be cursed" in order to save their lives or the lives of loved ones.)
Apart from faith, which is mentioned in this listing of gifts, the rest of the gifts are not the basics of the Way. Paul will identify the three abiding essentials of this Christian way in the next chapter; they are faith, hope, and love. In another letter, Paul speaks of the fruits of the Spirit, the natural outgrowth of God working in the life of every believer (Galatians 5:22-23). Yet, these fruits are not what Paul is talking about here as the gifts of the Spirit. It is not that these gifts are to be thereby devalued. It is, rather, to identify them as additional blessings to the community of faith, which is already established by the abiding essentials and truly characterized by the fruits.
This having been said, it is worth saying that these spiritual gifts can indeed be a blessing to the Christian community. There is enough evidence around that God does bless the church today with such gifts. Every Christian community should pray for an openness to receive whatever gifts God would instill in his people "as he wills" (12:11).
John 2:1-11
"On the third day!" What in the world is that all about? What does keeping track of the calendar have to do with the gospel? Does John have a thing about time? After John's opening parry with philosophy, he gets down to some historical nitty-
gritty matters. First, he makes a clear distinction between Jesus as the Messiah and the role of the Baptist as the forerunner to announce the coming of the Lord. Then, the countdown begins. The next day Jesus is identified as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (2:29). The next day, Jesus is seen attracting disciples unto himself -- two disciples of the Baptist, one of them Andrew by name, who in turn brings his brother Peter. Jesus does not call them overtly. They come to him, like bears seeking honey. The next day after that Jesus does call Philip explicitly, who in turn draws in Nathanael. What great days of one-on-one evangelism these are!
So, then, we come to the third day after the next day which followed John the Baptist's initial clarifying witness to the Messiah, who would come after him. So what? Perhaps nothing more dramatic than simply to say "right off the bat, out of the starting blocks" Jesus begins his public ministry with a sign to manifest his glory (2:11). The miracle (shmeion) points to Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. Believing in him will bring life (zwh) to the believer (20:30-31). This life will have the quality of eternity already in it now (3:16f). The fruit of the vine is a foretaste of the fullness of life that belongs to the believer. Remember, the Baptist did not perform any sign, any miracle (10:41). So, this act by Jesus quickly confirms him as the one about whom John came to prepare the way (1:23).
At the same time these signs manifest the glory of Jesus as the Son of God, the Beloved, they draw people to him in faith. This faith is not in his power to effect the miracle. Neither is it in the sign itself. Nor in the disciples' ability to imitate Jesus and perform miracles themselves (which occurs later). No, their faith is eix auton, in him. This is what keeps Christianity from degenerating into a philosophical religion or a religious morality. Christians put their trust, not in a dogma or a deed, but in the Doer!
Matthew uses the gift of myrrh and the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem to foreshadow from the earliest point in the gospel story the cross of Christ. John uses this miracle of the wine. Mary comes to her son and asks him to turn the water into wine. Jesus says, "My hour has not yet come" (2:4). His deed is not to satisfy thirsty revelers, but to quench the thirst of those whose God-relationship is parched. Only the cross will do that. That hour is a few years off. Not red wine poured for the worldly, but his red blood shed for the world will be the sign of signs that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, beloved of his heavenly Father. That time on the cross is the hour for which he came. This is what will finally manifest his glory, of which the miracle at this wedding is but a foretaste.
Application
In government and the military there is a phrase that distinguishes the players in a particular operation: "on a need-
to-know basis." Some operatives are engaged in an activity with limited, if any, knowledge of the larger picture. When it comes to our relationship with God, we cannot afford such ignorance. When Paul writes, "I do not want you to be uninformed" (1 Corinthians 12:1; agnoein, from which we get the word "agnostic"), he follows that with a passionate explanation of the role of spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12) and the essence of the Christian life (1 Corinthians 13). Reading Paul's other letters, one becomes convinced of his passion to explain the Christian faith in persuasive terms. Romans 5 and Galatians 3 are excellent examples of this. We can be thankful for the passion of the early church to convey the gospel experience faithfully to the world.
With Isaiah, we should delight in not keeping silent, not resting, until God's Word is shared publicly, that all may see the glory of the Lord in Jesus Christ. The gifts that are given to us are for this purpose. As the people of God are nurtured in faith, they are encouraged and enabled to share that faith with others for the common good, which goes beyond the doorsteps of the church into the community. After all, Jesus did provide wine at the wedding feast. It really was not the specific reason for why he came on earth, but it became engaged with the entire community, it creates signs along the way, as the people of God point the world to the Son of God, in whom there is life and salvation.
A word of patience is needed to be head at this point. Patience is a virtue that is in danger of being lost in our culture. Express lanes, fast food franchises, instant messaging create an environment where immediate results become the norm and patience becomes a declining virtue. It is not that patience becomes unnecessary in today's speedy world. It's just that we can become deluded into thinking that it should no longer be necessary. Road rage is a perfect example of this. We constantly need to be reminded that life takes time. Especially, relationships take time -- relationships with one another and our relationship with God. The ebb and flow of the history of God's people proves this, as well as the ebb and flow of married life.
The miracle at the wedding in Cana is not only a good opportunity to talk about who Jesus is, it is also a good opportunity to talk about the marriage relationship. Just as Jesus was invited to the wedding, so too is Jesus to be invited into the marriage of the beloveds. He is to be present in their home and their hearts, because the Preacher is right when writing, "A threefold cord is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12). In Christian marriage, each individual learns from Jesus the sacrificial and serving nature of love. This fuels and strengthens the passion each has for their life together. Passion in Christian marriage rises above sexual desire and the drive for personal fulfillment to lift up the beloved and together hold up the community. Each seeks the common good of the household before individual satisfaction. The couple learns the higher joy of life together, which is possible when they demonstrate mutual surrender to one another (Ephesians 5:21). Then, together in their home they serve as a mission outpost into the community for the glory of God and for the common good. This is a better wine with which to satiate the dry palate created by the myth of rugged individualism in our American culture.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 62:1-5
Our text forms the first part of the longer poem in 62:1-9, and that poem, along with 62:10-12, forms the conclusion to the proclamations of salvation that are given in Isaiah chapters 60-
62. Originally, the authors of Third Isaiah (chs. 56-66) addressed this proclamation to the struggling inhabitants of Jerusalem in the years following their return from Babylonian exile in 538 B.C. The city of Zion, which still lay in ruins, was beset in those years by poverty, crop failure, inflation, and bitter disputes among its priests and prophets. This text forecasts a brighter future from the hand of God.
The prophet who utters this oracle declares that he and his group of prophets will intercede in prayer continually to the Lord until God delivers Jerusalem from her desperate plight and makes her life glorious and whole. One of the principal functions of prophets in the Old Testament was to intercede before the Lord for their people (cf. Deuteronomy 9:25-29; Amos 7:1-6; Jeremiah 7:16) and Third Isaiah and his prophetic group (for there are multiple authors of Third Isaiah) declare that their intercession for Jerusalem will be continuous, banging on the Lord's door in prayer, as it were, until the Lord makes Jerusalem once again a delight. The same thought is found under the figure of the prophets as watchmen in 62:6, who will give the Lord no rest until he returns to bring salvation to his people. Then the young men of Jerusalem will once again "marry," that is, farm their land that has been so unproductive, and God will rejoice over his people (62:5).
I wonder if the thought of this text is not applicable to the church in our day. We have always had the tradition of referring to the church as the Zion of God. "O Zion haste," we sing, "thy mission high fulfilling," and the language of Zion has become synonymous with language for the church. Certainly too, much of the life of the Christian community is in ruins in our society. Many of the mainline churches, far from drawing persons into their fellowship, are rapidly losing members. Every major denomination is wracked by controversy over the authority of the Bible and how it applies to the ethics of everyday living. Ignorance of scripture and doctrine are rampant among even regular church-goers. And much preaching has degenerated into therapeutic comfort that could be had from any decent psychologist or into sermons that are filled with superficial moralisms worthy only of a Reader's Digest religion.
Could it be possible, then, that the role of faithful Christians in the church is that prophetic role of intercession, of giving the Lord no rest from their prayers until he renews his church? There is a lot of amorphous "spirituality" abroad in the land and certainly a deep hunger for some divine presence, but those take forms very often quite at odds with the Christian gospel. Could it be that what we need most, therefore, in our Zion are those who will never keep silent, those who will pray and pray continually for God's salvation of his covenant community? It's a fact that only the Lord can bring true renewal to his people, and so it is to the Lord that Christians must turn in intercession.
What will be the effect, then, of a genuine "salvation" of the church? Third Isaiah portrays the effect in the life of a saved and restored Zion. "You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord," he writes, "and a royal diadem in the hand of your God" (v. 3). The figure of speech is taken from ancient oriental iconography, in which the tutelary deity of a city was represented as a king, crowned by the city walls of his realm. But in our text, God holds Zion, which has become like a beautiful jeweled crown, in his hand -- tenderly, lovingly protecting it. Could the church become, do you think, a jewel in the hand of the Lord -- beautiful, treasured, shining?
Further, our text says that a saved Zion will have a new name (v. 4). No longer will she be called "Forsaken" and "Desolate" but rather the "Delight" of God and his Bride -- the old words "Hephzibah" and "Beulah" (that latter word is the one from which we get the term Beulah land). Those metaphors fit the New Testament, for often we read there that Jesus describes himself as the bridegroom of the church (cf. Matthew 25:1; Mark 2:19; Revelation 21:2). So a renewed church, good Christians, will be as delightful and as loved by the Lord as a bride is by her bridegroom. In short, God in Christ wants with us the deepest and most tender of relationships. He wants love like that of a happily married couple -- faithful, lasting, committed, selfless, joyful -- and the Christian Church will not be whole until it has that love.
Finally our text says that a saved Zion will be a witness to all nations. "The nations shall see your vindication," reads our text, "and all the kings your glory" (v. 2). And certainly it is no fable that peoples are drawn to a church in which they witness the saving activity of God -- in lives changed, in truth upheld, in ethics reformed, in sacrifices and service freely given. As the prophet Zechariah later proclaimed, people will stream to the church when they can say, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" (Zechariah 8:23). If our living and our church community truly reflect the fact that God is present and at work within them, persons will be drawn to the gospel like those in darkness are drawn to the light (cf. Isaiah 60:1-3).
So we have much for which to pray, don't we? A renewed church, a saved church, a beautiful church that delights God, a treasured church held in the hand of its Lord, a witnessing church reflecting the work and presence of God within its life. But above all else, a loving church committed forever to Jesus Christ. Let that be our continual prayer to our Lord, good Christians, who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.
