Past and future
Commentary
As Holy Week draws near, the lessons carry the struggle between past and present, continuity and disruption, memory and anticipation.
This week, the lesson from the Old Testament and the lesson from the gospel are related by contrast rather than by similarity. In Isaiah 43, the prophet connects the glorious past of God's people with their bright future. In Luke 20, the evangelist reports Jesus' assessment of the ignoble past and an imminent chastening. Although the former envisions a promising continuity, the latter prepares for a disrupting fresh beginning.
In general we might say, "Such is life." Earthly history traces a mingling of glorious attainments and ignoble chauvinism and destruction. Yet, we dare not press this generalization to the point of encouraging irresponsibility. All of the lessons call for accepting God's way and struggling against easy acquiescence to self-satisfaction or easy conformity.
Why would the prophet say, "Do not remember the former things," when his whole argument relied on the earlier tradition to describe the emerging breakthrough? Probably the cause lay in the tendencies to be satisfied with reflecting on the good old days, to hold dogmatically to the traditions at the cost of rejecting promising new possibilities, to compartmentalize religious faith so it did not stir concerns about God's demands in so-called "secular" life.
Although the optimistic view of past and future in Isaiah may not suggest crisis, the demand for meeting the opportunity of the moment shapes a decisive point in the history of God's people. As the approaching overthrow of Babylon offered the hope for restoring former religious institutions in the old homeland over five centuries before the time of Christ, so Christ was warning that adherence to those institutions by one nation was too narrow. Jesus called for changes in the work-force of the vineyard and for a new temple of "living stones" from all peoples. In both cases, the willingness to admit the inadequacies of the present was essential to accepting God's new future. The prophet and Christ had clarified both.
The apostle Paul had experienced the tension between past and present in his personal life. Because Christ had borne such crises in his death and resurrection, Paul could endure and even press forward. The lessons encourage us to follow Paul's example.
OUTLINE I
Bright future
Isaiah 43:16-21
A. vv. 16-17. The glorious past for the ancient people of God included, as its event par excellence, the Exodus (Exodus 14-15). The military force of the great world power, Egypt, had been mired down and awash in the sea, as the fleeing people reached safety. Slavery had given way to freedom. As time went on, the event was memorialized in psalms and liturgies, in prophetic preaching and legal preambles. During six centuries there had been many equivalents of Fourth of July speeches. But now the peopie being addressed were again exiles in a foreign land, Babylon. God was still identified by the great deed of salvation, but people must have asked, "Where is that powerful God now?"
B. vv. 18-20. A bright future is painted by the prophet. He speaks in elegant poetry to assure the discouraged exiles that God will bring salvation as great in the future as in the past. They will no longer need to console themselves by dutiful recitation of their traditions, all the while they have trouble finding any pertinent meaning for the present. Separated though they be from their ancestral homeland by vast sketches of desert, they must believe that God can repeat the wonders experienced by their ancestors who had traveled through the desert from Egypt. God would provide so much water, the wild animals would be too happy to be threatening.
C. v. 21. Salvation has an explanation: The people are God's people. And it has a purpose: a life of praising God.
OUTLINE II
Everything and more
Philippians 3:8-14
A. vv. 8-11. Christ had taken over everything in Paul's life. As a continuation of the argument which he had begun in the preceding verses, he was particularly emphasizing all the religious factors that he had once thought would gain God's favor. Now all that was rubbish, counted worthless because Christ had been experienced as surpassing everything else in value. Since a right relationship with God was his overwhelming concern and Christ enjoyed that relationship perfectly and completely, Paul had found the very righteousness of God by identifying with Christ through faith. The trials of Paul's life were not meritorious in themselves, but as identification with the suffering of Christ he hoped to realize resurrection with that Christ.
B. vv. 12-14. Still more fulfillment lies ahead. Although the right relationship with God is complete in Christ, Paul's perfecting in the resurrection is still a hope. Because Christ has claimed Paul, Paul persists in Christian faith and life. He evidently has felt the temptation to revel in the fulfillment that he has already experienced. Not only might he boast of his noble pre-Christian heritage (vv. 4-6) but of his suffering for Christian ministry (2 Corinthians 11:23-29). He thinks of his Christian life as a race. The ultimate prize of resurrection is so great, that he has at least as much reason to be dedicated in exercising his faith as an athlete has in exercising his muscles. Always, however, it is God in Christ who beckons him onward.
OUTLINE III
Failure rectified
Luke 20:9-19
A. vv. 9-15. The ignoble aspect in the history of the people of God is told with an allegory about unfaithful workers in a vineyard. The vineyard had served the great prophets as a metaphor for the failure of the ancient people (Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 19:10-14). Jesus describes the vineyard as the property of God, with employees who consider the owner too distant to hold them responsible. To convince them otherwise, God had sent his servants, the prophets, who were beaten and driven off. Now God has sent his son, Jesus, who would be killed.
B. vv. 16-18. Setting right such persistent evil would require drastic action. Jesus gets to the point by asking a question, just as the prophet had done in the Song of the Vineyard (Isaiah 5:4). Continuing with the analogy of an earthly employer, Jesus notes that the murderous workforce would be replaced.
A second question uses the metaphor from Psalm 118:22-23. Acknowledging that he will be rejected by many, Jesus sees himself becoming the chief cornerstone of a new construction, the church. Using the metaphor of the stone according to a different prophetic insight, he tells how some will stumble and fall (Isaiah 8:14-15) and other persistent opponents of God will ultimately be crushed (Daniel 2:34, 45).
C. v. 19. Jesus' analogies about a time of decision brought forth evil plotting from some and hope from others.
This week, the lesson from the Old Testament and the lesson from the gospel are related by contrast rather than by similarity. In Isaiah 43, the prophet connects the glorious past of God's people with their bright future. In Luke 20, the evangelist reports Jesus' assessment of the ignoble past and an imminent chastening. Although the former envisions a promising continuity, the latter prepares for a disrupting fresh beginning.
In general we might say, "Such is life." Earthly history traces a mingling of glorious attainments and ignoble chauvinism and destruction. Yet, we dare not press this generalization to the point of encouraging irresponsibility. All of the lessons call for accepting God's way and struggling against easy acquiescence to self-satisfaction or easy conformity.
Why would the prophet say, "Do not remember the former things," when his whole argument relied on the earlier tradition to describe the emerging breakthrough? Probably the cause lay in the tendencies to be satisfied with reflecting on the good old days, to hold dogmatically to the traditions at the cost of rejecting promising new possibilities, to compartmentalize religious faith so it did not stir concerns about God's demands in so-called "secular" life.
Although the optimistic view of past and future in Isaiah may not suggest crisis, the demand for meeting the opportunity of the moment shapes a decisive point in the history of God's people. As the approaching overthrow of Babylon offered the hope for restoring former religious institutions in the old homeland over five centuries before the time of Christ, so Christ was warning that adherence to those institutions by one nation was too narrow. Jesus called for changes in the work-force of the vineyard and for a new temple of "living stones" from all peoples. In both cases, the willingness to admit the inadequacies of the present was essential to accepting God's new future. The prophet and Christ had clarified both.
The apostle Paul had experienced the tension between past and present in his personal life. Because Christ had borne such crises in his death and resurrection, Paul could endure and even press forward. The lessons encourage us to follow Paul's example.
OUTLINE I
Bright future
Isaiah 43:16-21
A. vv. 16-17. The glorious past for the ancient people of God included, as its event par excellence, the Exodus (Exodus 14-15). The military force of the great world power, Egypt, had been mired down and awash in the sea, as the fleeing people reached safety. Slavery had given way to freedom. As time went on, the event was memorialized in psalms and liturgies, in prophetic preaching and legal preambles. During six centuries there had been many equivalents of Fourth of July speeches. But now the peopie being addressed were again exiles in a foreign land, Babylon. God was still identified by the great deed of salvation, but people must have asked, "Where is that powerful God now?"
B. vv. 18-20. A bright future is painted by the prophet. He speaks in elegant poetry to assure the discouraged exiles that God will bring salvation as great in the future as in the past. They will no longer need to console themselves by dutiful recitation of their traditions, all the while they have trouble finding any pertinent meaning for the present. Separated though they be from their ancestral homeland by vast sketches of desert, they must believe that God can repeat the wonders experienced by their ancestors who had traveled through the desert from Egypt. God would provide so much water, the wild animals would be too happy to be threatening.
C. v. 21. Salvation has an explanation: The people are God's people. And it has a purpose: a life of praising God.
OUTLINE II
Everything and more
Philippians 3:8-14
A. vv. 8-11. Christ had taken over everything in Paul's life. As a continuation of the argument which he had begun in the preceding verses, he was particularly emphasizing all the religious factors that he had once thought would gain God's favor. Now all that was rubbish, counted worthless because Christ had been experienced as surpassing everything else in value. Since a right relationship with God was his overwhelming concern and Christ enjoyed that relationship perfectly and completely, Paul had found the very righteousness of God by identifying with Christ through faith. The trials of Paul's life were not meritorious in themselves, but as identification with the suffering of Christ he hoped to realize resurrection with that Christ.
B. vv. 12-14. Still more fulfillment lies ahead. Although the right relationship with God is complete in Christ, Paul's perfecting in the resurrection is still a hope. Because Christ has claimed Paul, Paul persists in Christian faith and life. He evidently has felt the temptation to revel in the fulfillment that he has already experienced. Not only might he boast of his noble pre-Christian heritage (vv. 4-6) but of his suffering for Christian ministry (2 Corinthians 11:23-29). He thinks of his Christian life as a race. The ultimate prize of resurrection is so great, that he has at least as much reason to be dedicated in exercising his faith as an athlete has in exercising his muscles. Always, however, it is God in Christ who beckons him onward.
OUTLINE III
Failure rectified
Luke 20:9-19
A. vv. 9-15. The ignoble aspect in the history of the people of God is told with an allegory about unfaithful workers in a vineyard. The vineyard had served the great prophets as a metaphor for the failure of the ancient people (Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 19:10-14). Jesus describes the vineyard as the property of God, with employees who consider the owner too distant to hold them responsible. To convince them otherwise, God had sent his servants, the prophets, who were beaten and driven off. Now God has sent his son, Jesus, who would be killed.
B. vv. 16-18. Setting right such persistent evil would require drastic action. Jesus gets to the point by asking a question, just as the prophet had done in the Song of the Vineyard (Isaiah 5:4). Continuing with the analogy of an earthly employer, Jesus notes that the murderous workforce would be replaced.
A second question uses the metaphor from Psalm 118:22-23. Acknowledging that he will be rejected by many, Jesus sees himself becoming the chief cornerstone of a new construction, the church. Using the metaphor of the stone according to a different prophetic insight, he tells how some will stumble and fall (Isaiah 8:14-15) and other persistent opponents of God will ultimately be crushed (Daniel 2:34, 45).
C. v. 19. Jesus' analogies about a time of decision brought forth evil plotting from some and hope from others.
