Promises, promises!
Commentary
When we say to another, "Promises, promises," it usually means that we don't trust the other to do what they say they will do. These are cynical words, and ones that probably arise from the disappointment of promises previously broken. Such cynicism is not unusual. Many of us have suffered the pain of another's broken promise, and just as many of us have failed to fulfill all the promises we have made.
Of course, promises have become so abundant today that some of them are bound to be broken. Advertisers are perhaps the best example of this. Wow, what promises the auto manufacturers make for their products! If ever a single car would fulfill all that is claimed of it in television advertisements, the shock would be enormous. Politicians, too, have become notorious for making campaign promises which either they choose not to fulfill or find they cannot fulfill given the legislative system. We are not strangers to broken promises.
We should not be surprised then to learn that many have become cynical about the promises the church makes. Probably every pastor has encountered persons (often young adults) who feel that the church has betrayed them. They are bitter and unwilling ever again to trust the words of the pastor or the church. And sometimes, of course, such a cynicism is to be expected, for we have sometimes been guilty (perhaps unintentionally) of making excessively extravagant promises. Just have enough faith, and everything in your life will be wonderful! Promises, promises!
Our lessons are about promises, why we can trust them, and how difficult it may be to believe promises.
1 Kings 8: (1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43
Solomon believes with all his heart that the construction of the Temple is a result of God's faithfulness to the divine promise. He begins the temple project with a declaration that God had promised David that his son would "build the house for my name" (1 Kings 5:5). (See also 2 Samuel 7:13, which seems to be the basis for Solomon's claim that God promised this.) At long last, the desire that God have a house in which the divine name would dwell is about to be translated into concrete actions, a climax toward which the narrative of 1 Kings has been moving ever since 3:1-2. Now chapters 6 and 7 relate the story of the Temple's construction.
The optional verses that might be read before the two-part lesson from 1 Kings 8 provide us snapshots of the dedication of the Temple, which is the setting for Solomon's prayer (vv. 22-53). Verse 1 describes the assembly and the movement of the ark into the Temple. The temple hill is higher than David's city (which here is called "Zion," even though later on that title will refer to the whole of Jerusalem which includes the Temple). The moving of the ark is the concern of verses 3-6, and the last of those verses identifies the location of the ark as the "inner sanctuary of the house," to be distinguished from the "Holy Place" or sanctuary of the Temple. There follows a depiction of the ark's setting and the "cloud" that encompassed it -- a cloud being one of the standard ways by which God's presence was traditionally indicated (see Exodus 13:21 and 19:16). Verses 12 and 13 are themselves the dedicatory words.
Then Solomon turns to the people and begins his speech (vv. 15-21) which is followed by his prayer, from which verses 22-30 and 41-43 are derived. As a whole, the prayer begins with an introduction in which the king credits God's faithfulness for the Temple's construction (vv. 22-30). The remainder of the prayer includes seven petitions (vv. 31-32, 33-34, 35-36, 37-40, 44-45, and 46-51). Each of the petitions asks that God hear the prayers of those who are in need, especially the guilty.
In verses 22-30, which comprise part of the introduction, Solomon first praises God for God's faithfulness to "the covenant and for steadfast love" (v. 23), and then asks that God will continue to remain faithful to the promise to David (vv. 25-26). In verse 24, Solomon specifically claims that the construction of the Temple is a fulfillment of the Lord's promise to David. In this part of the prayer, Solomon mentions promise three times (vv. 24, 25, and 26). God has kept the divine promise, and the king asks that God do so in the future. In that way, God's word will be "confirmed."
Verses 27-30 are a theological reflection of how God can dwell in the Temple, even though all the universe cannot contain the divine presence. All Solomon can hope for is that God will keep an eye on the Temple and heed the pleas of those who pray there or pray toward the building. God's dwelling continues to be in heaven (v. 30), so the most one can hope for is that God will pay attention to worshipers in the Temple.
The petitions begin at verse 31 and the second segment of the reading (vv. 41-43) is the fifth of those petitions. Throughout the earlier petitions, the king has consistently asked that God forgive the people's sin (e.g., vv. 34-39). Now he requests divine forgiveness for all the foreigners who come into the Temple. He imagines the inhabitants of other nations, who are attracted to the worship of Yahweh, coming into the Temple. Solomon hopes that God's graciousness toward these foreigners will spread word of Israel's God far and wide. The king is remarkably farsighted in his concern for those of other nations, since that appears to have happened after the time of the exile (e.g., Isaiah 56:6) and perhaps before (e.g., Psalm 68:32).
Promises, promises! It all hinges on God's faithfulness to the divine word. Can God be trusted to keep promises? Can we be confident that in the future God will not become unfaithful? Solomon assumes the proper answer to both questions is "yes." Most importantly, the king's prayer indicates that God has kept the divine promise to David and that the building of the Temple is evidence that God can be trusted. All the more, then, are we dependent on those promises for our future.
Ephesians 6:10-20
Oddly, the word "promise" is never used in this passage. However, it takes on new and deeper meaning when read in the context of the promise of God. The author is about to conclude the letter. The earlier part of chapter 6 completes the household duties which begin in 5:21. After the reading for this Sunday, the author mentions a few personal matters and offers a closing benediction. So, this famous passage about the "whole armor of God" plays a strategic role in the letter's climax.
The admonition to be strong and wear armor fitting the situation leads immediately into the author's assessment of the situation in which we Christians live. The mentions of "the whole armor of God" bracket the description of the forces of evil, standing before it in verse 11a and following it in verse 16. Between those verses (11b-12), the author tries to make the readers aware of the nature of their struggle. "The wiles of evil" are not simply evil humans ("flesh and blood" beings). Those humans simply represent the larger cosmic forces set against God. In the letter's beginning (1:21), the author claims that Christ is exalted and is above "all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named ..." Now, the conclusion of the letter draws out the moral implications of Christ's exaltation. We struggle with "rulers," "authorities," "cosmic powers," and "spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places." The first two of these powers are the same ones named in 1:21 (i.e., archa and exousias). So, the Christian struggle is against mighty cosmic forces beyond our world.
If that is the case, then the author uses the metaphor of the warrior's armor to name the gifts that are required to compete against such forces (vv. 14-17). The image of the righteous person needing armor to live faithfully is scattered through the Old Testament (e.g., Isaiah 11:5 and Hosea 6:5) and is mentioned by Paul in at least two places (2 Corinthians 6:7 and 1 Thessalonians 5:8). This author, however, pursues the metaphor most exhaustively. "Truth," "righteousness," "salvation," and "the sword of the Spirit" are all designated as requirements for effective battle against evil.
The final segment of the reading (vv. 18-20) begins with an admonition that the readers "pray in the Spirit at all times." Paul claims that true Christian prayer entails the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:15-16). To pray "in the Spirit" is to allow the Spirit to direct and shape our prayers, which in turn makes them effective. Prayer is linked with alertness, suggesting that the Christian struggle against evil requires watchfulness and sensitivity to what is taking place in our lives as well as in our world. The author then asks readers to pray for him (vv. 19-20) so that he will be able to proclaim with boldness and faithfulness the essence of the gospel message.
Reading this passage in the context of God's promise illumines certain things. Since Christ has essentially won in the cosmic struggle against the forces of evil (1:21), Christians have the promise that God will defeat evil through our efforts as well. Christ's victory promises us victory in our struggles against the forces that threaten our faith! On our own, what hope would we have against these cosmic forces? Our mission to defeat evil, wherever and whenever we encounter it, is premised on the fact that Christ has already won the decisive battle and hence has assured us that we can fulfill our mission.
Equally important is the "word of God," which in the author's metaphorical language is "the sword of the Spirit." The primary offensive weapon the Christian has is none other than the divine message in Christ. This is the final piece of armor the author mentions and thus seems to suggest that it is basic to the struggle. When we try to understand what the word of God is for us today, we soon come to the theme of promise. While there is a sense in which God has already given us salvation in Christ, in the sense of a relationship with the divine, there is another dimension of salvation which is promised and not yet delivered. Our struggle to live obedient lives in this world and to defeat evil wherever we encounter it is empowered by God's promise in the divine word, Christ.
John 6:56-69
Both the struggle against evil and the value of God's promise in Christ are crucial to this last segment of John 6. Like the previous two Gospel Lessons from this chapter, this one also overlaps with last Sunday's reading by repeating verses 56-58.
As was the case before (e.g., v. 35 repeated before v. 41), this repetition allows us to understand the response to Jesus. The responses of the crowd to Jesus' words become increasingly hostile, and now the response implies out-and-out unbelief. Notice, too, the identity of the respondents. In verses 25-34 the respondents are the crowd that followed Jesus, and in verses 41 and 52 they become the "Jews." Now, however, "his disciples" find his words "difficult" (or "hard," sklapos) and unbelievable (v. 60). The Johannine Jesus knows the inner character of others, so he is not surprised by the disciples' reaction. (Notice that here the word "disciple" is a synonym for "believer" and does not refer to the "twelve," as verse 67 indicates.) Jesus discerns the truth -- these believers are "scandalized" ("offended," skandalizei) by his words. If the claim that his flesh and blood are the bread from heaven that gives eternal life has offended them, imagine how they will feel when Jesus "ascends" to his home with God. Again, Jesus suggests that his listeners are trying to comprehend his words at a physical, worldly level, while he is talking about a deeper reality, that is, the level of the Spirit. A fleshly understanding is a misunderstanding, but Jesus knows there are some who will not believe him just as he knows the identity of his betrayer. This knowledge of the unbelievers motivates Jesus to say that belief is more than an act of the human will. Only those to whom it is "granted by the Father" can believe. Faith, in other words, is God's gift, not a human achievement.
Verses 60-69 modify the tragic nature of the unbelieving response to Jesus' words, but only partially. "Many disciples" abandon him, and so he turns to the intimate circle of his followers, "the twelve." Even though the Synoptic Gospels all agree to the fact that there was such an inner circle, this and 20:24 are the only places the Gospel of John refers to the group. In spite of the note in verse 65 that only God grants faith, here Jesus invites the twelve to choose whether or not they too will leave him. Again as in the Synoptics, Peter speaks on behalf of the twelve. His words in verse 68 are somewhat comparable to his confession at Caesarea Philippi (Mark 8:27-29 and parallels). What we humans need most desperately, Peter implies, are "the words of eternal life." Only Jesus and no one else provides them. Peter then summarizes the insight the twelve have gained from their time with Jesus, namely, his true identity. "Holy One of God" is a synonym for messiah, which makes Peter's words sound even more like his confession in the Synoptics, but in terms of Jesus' identity in this Gospel this title is hardy adequate. Notice that Peter uses both the verbs "believe" (pisteuein) and "know" (ginoskein), and these two are closely related in the Gospel of John. There is a sense in which knowing contributes to believing and believing to knowing, so sometimes they are used synonymously.
The passage goes on beyond the conclusion of the assigned reading to have Jesus say that he has chosen the disciples and not they him. Moreover, one of them is "a devil," a reference to Judas (vv. 70-71). So, the divine act of stirring faith and the danger of apostasy are reinforced.
Peter's words, "to whom can we go?" are potent. There is no other source for a promise like that Jesus offers. It is a promise of a kind of life that is like what God intended for humans from the very first. A promise that life can be rich, full, and meaningful. Yet, it is not just a promise. In Christ "eternal life" is a real and immediate option for us. We don't have to die in order to receive this life. To the contrary, this quality of life is a present reality that comes with faith in Christ. Our lives are transformed in the here and now. Most certainly, eternal life means that death loses its power over us, just as Jesus demonstrates in raising Lazarus from the dead. Yet, it is more than a promise; it is a gift of life now.
Promises, promises! Yes, Christ is God's promise to us, but he is more. Our lives are not pure promise in the sense that embracing Christ, or being embraced by him, already transforms life. You might say that believing the promise fulfills the promise, at least in part. God keeps the divine promise for our future by changing us in this life. Much as Solomon saw evidence of God's faithfulness in the construction of the Temple, we find reason for believing God's promises in what is already done for us in Christ. The gift of eternal life here and now is like God's guarantee that Christ's promise will be fulfilled. Yes, the gospel is in a sense pure promise. Yet it is promise already on the way to fulfillment. So, we know that God keeps his promises. Christ is the divine promise faithfully kept.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
1 Kings 8: (1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43
When we dealt with the story of David, we learned that he was not permitted to build a temple to house the ark of the covenant. David was too much a man of blood, of adultery and murder. But God promised at that time that David's son, Solomon, the man of peace (shalom = peace), would build the house for God's "name" (2 Samuel 7:13). At the beginning of his reign in 922 B.C., Solomon sets about to bring to pass the fulfillment of that promise.
The beginning of the project is set firmly in Israel's history of salvation. The cornerstone is laid in the four hundred eightieth year after the exodus from Egypt, we are told (1 Kings 6:1), and the building takes seven years to be completed. Ironically, it is largely built with Phoenician materials, given by King Hiram of Tyre, its construction is done by Israelite slave labor, and it is ornamented with Phoenician symbols. Nevertheless, it becomes a central point in Israel's life for five centuries, before it is destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. and then rebuilt in 515 B.C.
As our text opens, Solomon gathers together his united people to bring the ark of the covenant to the Temple, in great celebration with multitudinous sacrifices to the Lord. Carried by the priests, the ark is placed in the Temple in the innermost sanctuary known as the Holy of Holies.
Briefly, the Temple, which was about 105 feet long, 35 feet wide, and 52 feet high, consisted of three parts. At the front was an open-air porch or vestibule, flanked by two free-standing bronze pillars known as Jacin and Boaz. Behind the vestibule was the Holy Place or nave, where most of the cultic activity took place. It had an incense altar, ten golden lampstands, a table for the "bread of the Presence," a molten bronze "sea," and a huge altar for the sacrifices. At the rear of the Temple, then, was the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary in the form of a perfect cube, unlit by any light, where the ark with its cherubim was placed. The walls and floor of both the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies were overlaid with gold. Chapters 6 and 7 in 1 Kings detail the magnificence and glory of the building.
In order to understand some of the details in our text for the morning, we must realize that it is largely the work of Deuteronomic editors. Thus, it is stated in verse 9 that there was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. In other words, the Deuteronomists no longer understand the ark as the base of the throne of God, with God sitting above the wings of the cherubim, as 1 Samuel 4:4 understood it. Instead, God's dwelling is only in heaven in our text from 1 Kings (vv. 27, 30; cf. Deuteronomy 26:15). Nevertheless, the Lord puts his "name" in the Temple (v. 29), that is, he guarantees his presence there with his people. In the prayer at the dedication of the Temple, Solomon therefore states that the temple building cannot "contain" God, any more than any church building can contain him. The God of the Bible is not contained in anything in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth (cf. Exodus 20:4; Deuteronomy 5:8), not even in a sacred building, and he must not be worshiped as a God bound by or in his creation. The Lord is a transcendent God, qualitatively different and above and beyond anything that he or human beings have made. King Solomon must therefore pray to God in heaven to hear his prayer and to forgive his people (v. 30). The Lord God is captive to no one and no thing and no place.
We pick up a priestly tradition in our text when verse 10 states that God nevertheless causes his "glory" to fill the Temple, just as his glory filled the tabernacle on Mount Sinai (Exodus 40:34). And so overwhelming is that glory that the priests who have carried the ark must absent the Holy of Holies, where only the high priest is allowed to enter on the Day of Atonement. Along with his name, God's "glory" represents his presence with his people. We thus have here a merciful God who though transcendent above all creation graciously makes his presence accessible to his chosen people.
Indeed, God in his mercy has entered into covenant relationship with that people and given them promises and faithfully kept his word. And that too Solomon celebrates in his prayer to the Lord. God promised David that his son would build the house of the Lord. God has now kept that promise, Solomon says (v. 24). But God also promised David that there would never be lacking an heir to sit upon his throne, and in his prayer, Solomon asks God to keep that promise also (vv. 25-26) -- a promise that we know very well will finally be fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the descendant of David.
So what does our text reveal to us about our God? That he is transcendent holiness, above all that we can imagine or construct, free and unfettered Lord of his creation, before whose glory no priest can stand and for whose forgiveness kings must also plead. But he is also merciful and gracious promise-keeper, who wills to be with his faithful folk, and who keeps every word that he has ever spoken.
Lutheran Option -- Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18
Although there is some disagreement among scholars, most hold that this chapter represents the initial formation at the cultic site of Shechem of the twelve tribes of Israel into a loose federation in the land of Palestine. We know that all of the people who were to make up the twelve-tribe federation did not enter Palestine at one time. Some crossed the Jordan in a northern invasion, others in a southern entrance, and some may even have migrated up from the south. The various peoples therefore formed a disparate group of Semites, and it is in this chapter that we see them bound together by a covenant under the leadership of Joshua (v. 25). The covenant is not only among themselves, however. It is a covenant also with God, whom alone the people twice promise to serve (vv. 16, 21). Thus it is much like the covenant which the Israelite forbears made with God at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19, 24). By entering into that covenant these people enter into the same history of salvation that God has been working out with his chosen people from the beginning, and they become participants in it, just as we become participants in the same history of salvation when we partake of the new covenant in Jesus Christ at the Lord's Supper.
By free choice, the Israelites vow that they will be God's people and that he will be their only God. All of us must make that choice. "Choose this day whom you will serve," proclaims Joshua, and when we confess Jesus Christ as Lord and become members of his body, the church, we freely choose to be his covenant people.
But the choice is never made in a vacuum, is it? Before Joshua sets before the Israelites their choice of which God to serve, he recounts to them the history of all of the saving acts that God did on their and their forbears' behalf (vv. 2-13). The main events in the sacred history are remembered -- the call of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the exodus from Egypt under Moses, the long trek through the wilderness, the threat from Balak and Balaam's blessing, the entrance into the promised land. In short, God chose Israel long before Israel chose him. God's choosing is always prevenient, always first. "You did not choose me, but I chose you ..." (John 15:16). "While we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). God lavished on the Israelites and he lavishes on us his saving love and grace long before we decide that we will serve him alone as our God. And it is on that basis -- on the basis of everything that God has so mercifully done for us -- that we decide
I think we make that choice every day, good Christians, in our thoughts and in our actions. Every day Joshua's words confront us. "Choose this day whom you will serve." And when we choose, let us remember the previous grace and mercy that our Lord has always poured out on us. Let us remember his love. And then let us choose. As for me, "love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my love, my all."
Of course, promises have become so abundant today that some of them are bound to be broken. Advertisers are perhaps the best example of this. Wow, what promises the auto manufacturers make for their products! If ever a single car would fulfill all that is claimed of it in television advertisements, the shock would be enormous. Politicians, too, have become notorious for making campaign promises which either they choose not to fulfill or find they cannot fulfill given the legislative system. We are not strangers to broken promises.
We should not be surprised then to learn that many have become cynical about the promises the church makes. Probably every pastor has encountered persons (often young adults) who feel that the church has betrayed them. They are bitter and unwilling ever again to trust the words of the pastor or the church. And sometimes, of course, such a cynicism is to be expected, for we have sometimes been guilty (perhaps unintentionally) of making excessively extravagant promises. Just have enough faith, and everything in your life will be wonderful! Promises, promises!
Our lessons are about promises, why we can trust them, and how difficult it may be to believe promises.
1 Kings 8: (1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43
Solomon believes with all his heart that the construction of the Temple is a result of God's faithfulness to the divine promise. He begins the temple project with a declaration that God had promised David that his son would "build the house for my name" (1 Kings 5:5). (See also 2 Samuel 7:13, which seems to be the basis for Solomon's claim that God promised this.) At long last, the desire that God have a house in which the divine name would dwell is about to be translated into concrete actions, a climax toward which the narrative of 1 Kings has been moving ever since 3:1-2. Now chapters 6 and 7 relate the story of the Temple's construction.
The optional verses that might be read before the two-part lesson from 1 Kings 8 provide us snapshots of the dedication of the Temple, which is the setting for Solomon's prayer (vv. 22-53). Verse 1 describes the assembly and the movement of the ark into the Temple. The temple hill is higher than David's city (which here is called "Zion," even though later on that title will refer to the whole of Jerusalem which includes the Temple). The moving of the ark is the concern of verses 3-6, and the last of those verses identifies the location of the ark as the "inner sanctuary of the house," to be distinguished from the "Holy Place" or sanctuary of the Temple. There follows a depiction of the ark's setting and the "cloud" that encompassed it -- a cloud being one of the standard ways by which God's presence was traditionally indicated (see Exodus 13:21 and 19:16). Verses 12 and 13 are themselves the dedicatory words.
Then Solomon turns to the people and begins his speech (vv. 15-21) which is followed by his prayer, from which verses 22-30 and 41-43 are derived. As a whole, the prayer begins with an introduction in which the king credits God's faithfulness for the Temple's construction (vv. 22-30). The remainder of the prayer includes seven petitions (vv. 31-32, 33-34, 35-36, 37-40, 44-45, and 46-51). Each of the petitions asks that God hear the prayers of those who are in need, especially the guilty.
In verses 22-30, which comprise part of the introduction, Solomon first praises God for God's faithfulness to "the covenant and for steadfast love" (v. 23), and then asks that God will continue to remain faithful to the promise to David (vv. 25-26). In verse 24, Solomon specifically claims that the construction of the Temple is a fulfillment of the Lord's promise to David. In this part of the prayer, Solomon mentions promise three times (vv. 24, 25, and 26). God has kept the divine promise, and the king asks that God do so in the future. In that way, God's word will be "confirmed."
Verses 27-30 are a theological reflection of how God can dwell in the Temple, even though all the universe cannot contain the divine presence. All Solomon can hope for is that God will keep an eye on the Temple and heed the pleas of those who pray there or pray toward the building. God's dwelling continues to be in heaven (v. 30), so the most one can hope for is that God will pay attention to worshipers in the Temple.
The petitions begin at verse 31 and the second segment of the reading (vv. 41-43) is the fifth of those petitions. Throughout the earlier petitions, the king has consistently asked that God forgive the people's sin (e.g., vv. 34-39). Now he requests divine forgiveness for all the foreigners who come into the Temple. He imagines the inhabitants of other nations, who are attracted to the worship of Yahweh, coming into the Temple. Solomon hopes that God's graciousness toward these foreigners will spread word of Israel's God far and wide. The king is remarkably farsighted in his concern for those of other nations, since that appears to have happened after the time of the exile (e.g., Isaiah 56:6) and perhaps before (e.g., Psalm 68:32).
Promises, promises! It all hinges on God's faithfulness to the divine word. Can God be trusted to keep promises? Can we be confident that in the future God will not become unfaithful? Solomon assumes the proper answer to both questions is "yes." Most importantly, the king's prayer indicates that God has kept the divine promise to David and that the building of the Temple is evidence that God can be trusted. All the more, then, are we dependent on those promises for our future.
Ephesians 6:10-20
Oddly, the word "promise" is never used in this passage. However, it takes on new and deeper meaning when read in the context of the promise of God. The author is about to conclude the letter. The earlier part of chapter 6 completes the household duties which begin in 5:21. After the reading for this Sunday, the author mentions a few personal matters and offers a closing benediction. So, this famous passage about the "whole armor of God" plays a strategic role in the letter's climax.
The admonition to be strong and wear armor fitting the situation leads immediately into the author's assessment of the situation in which we Christians live. The mentions of "the whole armor of God" bracket the description of the forces of evil, standing before it in verse 11a and following it in verse 16. Between those verses (11b-12), the author tries to make the readers aware of the nature of their struggle. "The wiles of evil" are not simply evil humans ("flesh and blood" beings). Those humans simply represent the larger cosmic forces set against God. In the letter's beginning (1:21), the author claims that Christ is exalted and is above "all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named ..." Now, the conclusion of the letter draws out the moral implications of Christ's exaltation. We struggle with "rulers," "authorities," "cosmic powers," and "spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places." The first two of these powers are the same ones named in 1:21 (i.e., archa and exousias). So, the Christian struggle is against mighty cosmic forces beyond our world.
If that is the case, then the author uses the metaphor of the warrior's armor to name the gifts that are required to compete against such forces (vv. 14-17). The image of the righteous person needing armor to live faithfully is scattered through the Old Testament (e.g., Isaiah 11:5 and Hosea 6:5) and is mentioned by Paul in at least two places (2 Corinthians 6:7 and 1 Thessalonians 5:8). This author, however, pursues the metaphor most exhaustively. "Truth," "righteousness," "salvation," and "the sword of the Spirit" are all designated as requirements for effective battle against evil.
The final segment of the reading (vv. 18-20) begins with an admonition that the readers "pray in the Spirit at all times." Paul claims that true Christian prayer entails the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:15-16). To pray "in the Spirit" is to allow the Spirit to direct and shape our prayers, which in turn makes them effective. Prayer is linked with alertness, suggesting that the Christian struggle against evil requires watchfulness and sensitivity to what is taking place in our lives as well as in our world. The author then asks readers to pray for him (vv. 19-20) so that he will be able to proclaim with boldness and faithfulness the essence of the gospel message.
Reading this passage in the context of God's promise illumines certain things. Since Christ has essentially won in the cosmic struggle against the forces of evil (1:21), Christians have the promise that God will defeat evil through our efforts as well. Christ's victory promises us victory in our struggles against the forces that threaten our faith! On our own, what hope would we have against these cosmic forces? Our mission to defeat evil, wherever and whenever we encounter it, is premised on the fact that Christ has already won the decisive battle and hence has assured us that we can fulfill our mission.
Equally important is the "word of God," which in the author's metaphorical language is "the sword of the Spirit." The primary offensive weapon the Christian has is none other than the divine message in Christ. This is the final piece of armor the author mentions and thus seems to suggest that it is basic to the struggle. When we try to understand what the word of God is for us today, we soon come to the theme of promise. While there is a sense in which God has already given us salvation in Christ, in the sense of a relationship with the divine, there is another dimension of salvation which is promised and not yet delivered. Our struggle to live obedient lives in this world and to defeat evil wherever we encounter it is empowered by God's promise in the divine word, Christ.
John 6:56-69
Both the struggle against evil and the value of God's promise in Christ are crucial to this last segment of John 6. Like the previous two Gospel Lessons from this chapter, this one also overlaps with last Sunday's reading by repeating verses 56-58.
As was the case before (e.g., v. 35 repeated before v. 41), this repetition allows us to understand the response to Jesus. The responses of the crowd to Jesus' words become increasingly hostile, and now the response implies out-and-out unbelief. Notice, too, the identity of the respondents. In verses 25-34 the respondents are the crowd that followed Jesus, and in verses 41 and 52 they become the "Jews." Now, however, "his disciples" find his words "difficult" (or "hard," sklapos) and unbelievable (v. 60). The Johannine Jesus knows the inner character of others, so he is not surprised by the disciples' reaction. (Notice that here the word "disciple" is a synonym for "believer" and does not refer to the "twelve," as verse 67 indicates.) Jesus discerns the truth -- these believers are "scandalized" ("offended," skandalizei) by his words. If the claim that his flesh and blood are the bread from heaven that gives eternal life has offended them, imagine how they will feel when Jesus "ascends" to his home with God. Again, Jesus suggests that his listeners are trying to comprehend his words at a physical, worldly level, while he is talking about a deeper reality, that is, the level of the Spirit. A fleshly understanding is a misunderstanding, but Jesus knows there are some who will not believe him just as he knows the identity of his betrayer. This knowledge of the unbelievers motivates Jesus to say that belief is more than an act of the human will. Only those to whom it is "granted by the Father" can believe. Faith, in other words, is God's gift, not a human achievement.
Verses 60-69 modify the tragic nature of the unbelieving response to Jesus' words, but only partially. "Many disciples" abandon him, and so he turns to the intimate circle of his followers, "the twelve." Even though the Synoptic Gospels all agree to the fact that there was such an inner circle, this and 20:24 are the only places the Gospel of John refers to the group. In spite of the note in verse 65 that only God grants faith, here Jesus invites the twelve to choose whether or not they too will leave him. Again as in the Synoptics, Peter speaks on behalf of the twelve. His words in verse 68 are somewhat comparable to his confession at Caesarea Philippi (Mark 8:27-29 and parallels). What we humans need most desperately, Peter implies, are "the words of eternal life." Only Jesus and no one else provides them. Peter then summarizes the insight the twelve have gained from their time with Jesus, namely, his true identity. "Holy One of God" is a synonym for messiah, which makes Peter's words sound even more like his confession in the Synoptics, but in terms of Jesus' identity in this Gospel this title is hardy adequate. Notice that Peter uses both the verbs "believe" (pisteuein) and "know" (ginoskein), and these two are closely related in the Gospel of John. There is a sense in which knowing contributes to believing and believing to knowing, so sometimes they are used synonymously.
The passage goes on beyond the conclusion of the assigned reading to have Jesus say that he has chosen the disciples and not they him. Moreover, one of them is "a devil," a reference to Judas (vv. 70-71). So, the divine act of stirring faith and the danger of apostasy are reinforced.
Peter's words, "to whom can we go?" are potent. There is no other source for a promise like that Jesus offers. It is a promise of a kind of life that is like what God intended for humans from the very first. A promise that life can be rich, full, and meaningful. Yet, it is not just a promise. In Christ "eternal life" is a real and immediate option for us. We don't have to die in order to receive this life. To the contrary, this quality of life is a present reality that comes with faith in Christ. Our lives are transformed in the here and now. Most certainly, eternal life means that death loses its power over us, just as Jesus demonstrates in raising Lazarus from the dead. Yet, it is more than a promise; it is a gift of life now.
Promises, promises! Yes, Christ is God's promise to us, but he is more. Our lives are not pure promise in the sense that embracing Christ, or being embraced by him, already transforms life. You might say that believing the promise fulfills the promise, at least in part. God keeps the divine promise for our future by changing us in this life. Much as Solomon saw evidence of God's faithfulness in the construction of the Temple, we find reason for believing God's promises in what is already done for us in Christ. The gift of eternal life here and now is like God's guarantee that Christ's promise will be fulfilled. Yes, the gospel is in a sense pure promise. Yet it is promise already on the way to fulfillment. So, we know that God keeps his promises. Christ is the divine promise faithfully kept.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
1 Kings 8: (1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43
When we dealt with the story of David, we learned that he was not permitted to build a temple to house the ark of the covenant. David was too much a man of blood, of adultery and murder. But God promised at that time that David's son, Solomon, the man of peace (shalom = peace), would build the house for God's "name" (2 Samuel 7:13). At the beginning of his reign in 922 B.C., Solomon sets about to bring to pass the fulfillment of that promise.
The beginning of the project is set firmly in Israel's history of salvation. The cornerstone is laid in the four hundred eightieth year after the exodus from Egypt, we are told (1 Kings 6:1), and the building takes seven years to be completed. Ironically, it is largely built with Phoenician materials, given by King Hiram of Tyre, its construction is done by Israelite slave labor, and it is ornamented with Phoenician symbols. Nevertheless, it becomes a central point in Israel's life for five centuries, before it is destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. and then rebuilt in 515 B.C.
As our text opens, Solomon gathers together his united people to bring the ark of the covenant to the Temple, in great celebration with multitudinous sacrifices to the Lord. Carried by the priests, the ark is placed in the Temple in the innermost sanctuary known as the Holy of Holies.
Briefly, the Temple, which was about 105 feet long, 35 feet wide, and 52 feet high, consisted of three parts. At the front was an open-air porch or vestibule, flanked by two free-standing bronze pillars known as Jacin and Boaz. Behind the vestibule was the Holy Place or nave, where most of the cultic activity took place. It had an incense altar, ten golden lampstands, a table for the "bread of the Presence," a molten bronze "sea," and a huge altar for the sacrifices. At the rear of the Temple, then, was the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary in the form of a perfect cube, unlit by any light, where the ark with its cherubim was placed. The walls and floor of both the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies were overlaid with gold. Chapters 6 and 7 in 1 Kings detail the magnificence and glory of the building.
In order to understand some of the details in our text for the morning, we must realize that it is largely the work of Deuteronomic editors. Thus, it is stated in verse 9 that there was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. In other words, the Deuteronomists no longer understand the ark as the base of the throne of God, with God sitting above the wings of the cherubim, as 1 Samuel 4:4 understood it. Instead, God's dwelling is only in heaven in our text from 1 Kings (vv. 27, 30; cf. Deuteronomy 26:15). Nevertheless, the Lord puts his "name" in the Temple (v. 29), that is, he guarantees his presence there with his people. In the prayer at the dedication of the Temple, Solomon therefore states that the temple building cannot "contain" God, any more than any church building can contain him. The God of the Bible is not contained in anything in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth (cf. Exodus 20:4; Deuteronomy 5:8), not even in a sacred building, and he must not be worshiped as a God bound by or in his creation. The Lord is a transcendent God, qualitatively different and above and beyond anything that he or human beings have made. King Solomon must therefore pray to God in heaven to hear his prayer and to forgive his people (v. 30). The Lord God is captive to no one and no thing and no place.
We pick up a priestly tradition in our text when verse 10 states that God nevertheless causes his "glory" to fill the Temple, just as his glory filled the tabernacle on Mount Sinai (Exodus 40:34). And so overwhelming is that glory that the priests who have carried the ark must absent the Holy of Holies, where only the high priest is allowed to enter on the Day of Atonement. Along with his name, God's "glory" represents his presence with his people. We thus have here a merciful God who though transcendent above all creation graciously makes his presence accessible to his chosen people.
Indeed, God in his mercy has entered into covenant relationship with that people and given them promises and faithfully kept his word. And that too Solomon celebrates in his prayer to the Lord. God promised David that his son would build the house of the Lord. God has now kept that promise, Solomon says (v. 24). But God also promised David that there would never be lacking an heir to sit upon his throne, and in his prayer, Solomon asks God to keep that promise also (vv. 25-26) -- a promise that we know very well will finally be fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the descendant of David.
So what does our text reveal to us about our God? That he is transcendent holiness, above all that we can imagine or construct, free and unfettered Lord of his creation, before whose glory no priest can stand and for whose forgiveness kings must also plead. But he is also merciful and gracious promise-keeper, who wills to be with his faithful folk, and who keeps every word that he has ever spoken.
Lutheran Option -- Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18
Although there is some disagreement among scholars, most hold that this chapter represents the initial formation at the cultic site of Shechem of the twelve tribes of Israel into a loose federation in the land of Palestine. We know that all of the people who were to make up the twelve-tribe federation did not enter Palestine at one time. Some crossed the Jordan in a northern invasion, others in a southern entrance, and some may even have migrated up from the south. The various peoples therefore formed a disparate group of Semites, and it is in this chapter that we see them bound together by a covenant under the leadership of Joshua (v. 25). The covenant is not only among themselves, however. It is a covenant also with God, whom alone the people twice promise to serve (vv. 16, 21). Thus it is much like the covenant which the Israelite forbears made with God at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19, 24). By entering into that covenant these people enter into the same history of salvation that God has been working out with his chosen people from the beginning, and they become participants in it, just as we become participants in the same history of salvation when we partake of the new covenant in Jesus Christ at the Lord's Supper.
By free choice, the Israelites vow that they will be God's people and that he will be their only God. All of us must make that choice. "Choose this day whom you will serve," proclaims Joshua, and when we confess Jesus Christ as Lord and become members of his body, the church, we freely choose to be his covenant people.
But the choice is never made in a vacuum, is it? Before Joshua sets before the Israelites their choice of which God to serve, he recounts to them the history of all of the saving acts that God did on their and their forbears' behalf (vv. 2-13). The main events in the sacred history are remembered -- the call of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the exodus from Egypt under Moses, the long trek through the wilderness, the threat from Balak and Balaam's blessing, the entrance into the promised land. In short, God chose Israel long before Israel chose him. God's choosing is always prevenient, always first. "You did not choose me, but I chose you ..." (John 15:16). "While we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). God lavished on the Israelites and he lavishes on us his saving love and grace long before we decide that we will serve him alone as our God. And it is on that basis -- on the basis of everything that God has so mercifully done for us -- that we decide
I think we make that choice every day, good Christians, in our thoughts and in our actions. Every day Joshua's words confront us. "Choose this day whom you will serve." And when we choose, let us remember the previous grace and mercy that our Lord has always poured out on us. Let us remember his love. And then let us choose. As for me, "love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my love, my all."
