Of servants and lambs
Commentary
While some pericopes assigned for the season of Epiphany throughout the three-year cycle show the Son of God to be powerful, this Sunday demonstrates the vulnerability of Jesus, especially as it applies to him the images of "servant" and "lamb." These images, whether or not they were meant originally to prophesy the Christ, prove to be powerful testimonies in light of the suffering and rejection of Jesus, especially as he died for the sake of all humanity.
The focus on vulnerability is always necessary in our proclamation because it is not a value in the world of business, politics, athletics, or anything else. Even theories of evolution are based upon the survival of the fittest, that is, the strong. Yet our pericopes will help us focus on the power of God through weakness and submission and the calling of people to buck the powerful and popular tide.
Isaiah 49:1-7
This second of the four servant songs in Second Isaiah, like the third, appears in the first person with the servant as speaker. The reader will recall that the first, discussed in connection with the Baptism of our Lord, featured God as the speaker introducing the servant to an audience, probably a heavenly one (42:1-4). The fourth song again begins with the Lord speaking of "my servant," although the Lord appears several times in the third person (52:13--53:12).
The audience of this song is quite earthly: the "coastlands," "you peoples from far away." How appropriate that the servant should address the very ones for whom the servant is called to be "a light" (v. 6). The function of the servant in the first song was to "bring forth justice to the nations" (42:1, 3, 4). Since the nations know nothing of his origin, his purpose, and the scope of his mission, the servant in this song starts from the beginning and moves toward his function.
The beginning in fact occurred even prior to his birth. The servant's claim to have been called by the Lord and named in his mother's womb is unusual in the Old Testament. It does appear again, however, in the call of Jeremiah, known by the Lord "before I formed you in the womb," consecrated "before you were born" (Jeremiah 1:5). Especially striking in comparison to our passage is the commissioning of Jeremiah as "a prophet to the nations." Interestingly the same combination of images will appear again in the New Testament when the Apostle Paul will allude to this passage in defending his call to be an apostle to the Gentiles, that is, the "peoples from far away" (Galatians 1:15).
Verse 2 moves from the call itself to the equipping of the servant for the task. The Lord, says the servant, made his "mouth like a sharp sword." His first task would therefore seem to be that of a speaker, even more specifically, that of a prophet. Jeremiah uses similar imagery when in his call report he writes that "the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth" (Jeremiah 1:9), and one prophet after another speaks of the call as a command to "go and say." The equipment goes further to include the protection of the Lord from enemies, for the "hiding" here is probably to be understood in terms of being hidden "under the shadow of his wings" (see Psalm 17:8; cf. 31:20). The same kind of protection was promised to Jeremiah when the Lord called him to be a prophet (Jeremiah 1:8, 19).
Then in words that sound almost like the coronation of a king (cf. Psalm 2:7), the servant reports his installation: "And he said to me, 'You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified' " (v. 3). We will not labor the question about the identity of the servant, except to say that the Hebrew manuscript, supported by the Isaiah Scroll from the Dead Sea, does contain the name Israel while the Septuagint manuscripts do not. More interesting is the profound statement that in and through the servant God "will be glorified." While the purpose of God's salvation, especially in the sermons of Second Isaiah, is the glorification of God, here that glory comes through the identity and task of the servant.
The servant's complaint in verse 4 that he has accomplished nothing thus far is not the typical objection of a call formula like that of Moses in Exodus 3:11 or that of Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:6. It is rather like the laments which arise from having worked so hard at trying to accomplish the tasks of a divinely appointed office. The verse sounds, therefore, more like Moses' experience as leader of the people (Numbers 11:10-15) or like that of Jeremiah after years of preaching (Jeremiah 15:15-18; 20:7-18). Serving as the instrument for the glorification of God does not necessarily add to the popularity of the instrument.
Yet this servant's goals have been set too small. God tells him that his task of restoring the survivors of Israel was not sufficiently significant. (It is difficult to imagine how, if the servant is Israel, the servant has the task of restoring Israel, unless the servant is the Israel which is in exile in Babylon, and the Israel to be revived is the rest of the people of God, either back in Jerusalem or scattered throughout the Middle East.) God's new role for the servant is to serve as "a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (v. 6). That image of light had already appeared at the extension to the first servant song (Isaiah 42:6). The exile was, after all, Israel's public exposure to the world. She was now thrown into the midst of "the nations," and her role would expand accordingly.
How extraordinary that a nation in exile or an individual exile (whoever the servant is) should have such a universal task! One could imagine a role of that magnitude when Israel is running at full strength. The commission to be "a blessing for all the nations of the earth" which runs throughout the Book of Genesis makes sense when Israel itself was a blessed nation. The old "blessed to be a blessing" makes perfect sense. But now in this servant song the one who is to be a light to the nations is not having a mountaintop experience. The servant is in the pits -- yet still expected to be the instrument of God in reaching out to the world.
Verse 7 is an addition to the servant song. The beginning of a new section, verses 7-12, its present context suggests it is the Lord's response to the servant's lament. In spite of the servant's failure to measure the success of the mission thus far, God lifts the servant's eyes to the vision that the leaders of the nations, kings and princes, will recognize the work of the Lord and come to worship.
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Far from the logical presentation of doctrine which marks Paul's Letter to the Romans, this First Letter to the Corinthians moves from topic to topic precisely because Paul wrote the letter in response to a variety of concerns which had come to him from and about the congregation. About A.D. 54-55, while Paul was in Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:8), disturbing reports about moral laxity and specific questions on a variety of matters caused this letter to take shape.
Our pericope contains the typical greeting (vv. 1-3) and a thanksgiving for the grace of God in establishing the community (vv. 4-9). Far more than mere formulas, the two parts set the stage for the appeals, exhortations, and admonitions which follow.
The first verse tells us that the writer of the epistle is Paul and that somehow a certain Sosthenes is with him in Ephesus. The record of Paul's visit to Corinth at Acts 18:1-17 concludes with the note that the Jewish leaders in town seized a man named Sosthenes who is identified as "the ruler of the synagogue" and beat him in front of the tribunal. If that man and the one named here are indeed the same, then the name and the person would have been known and perhaps beloved by the Christians in Corinth. In any case, following this mention of Sosthenes in the opening verse, he appears to play no more role at all, except perhaps as a secretary to Paul.
More important is how Paul identifies himself. He is "called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." The assertion of his apostleship as the direct result of a divine calling is the way he opens his letters to the Romans, to the Galatians, to the Colossians, to the Ephesians, and to Timothy. It appears that when dealing with difficult issues and depending on his relationship with the congregation, Paul needs to establish his authority as an apostle prior to his addressing the needs of the community. That authority is especially relevant here as he seeks to unite a dysfunctional congregation, extol community over individualism, and direct the community in matters involving individuals and their lifestyles. Having established his identity as an apostle, he does not need to preface his treatment of each issue with the prophetic formula "Thus says the Lord."
Now that Paul has identified himself, he addresses the audience not simply in terms of their zip code "in Corinth" but in terms of who they are: "the church of God." They are not a social club among many in the sophisticated seaport town where ideas and goods from all over the world come and go. They are a congregation of God's people called out (ekklesia) from the rest of society. They are "sanctified in Christ Jesus," apparently an indication of their baptism when they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, as Paul was "called to be an apostle," they are "called to be saints" in the midst of the world. Now comes an important expression. Their calling as saints makes them part of a community which is larger than their own congregation: "together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours." On the one hand, the lengthy phrase throws out the provincialism which characterizes many congregations -- then and now. On the other hand, the notion of the universal community called the church will serve Paul well as he deals with the dissension and factionalism which was running rampant in that particular expression of the church.
The thanksgiving paragraph which follows has virtually nothing to do with the activity of the community. Their identity as the church of God is not in any way dependent on them. They are who they are due to the grace and action of God. And so Paul thanks God on their behalf because God gave them grace in Christ Jesus. God enriched them in Christ in speech and knowledge (Paul will redefine knowledge and wisdom later in this chapter). God endowed then with every spiritual gift (a reality to which Paul will return in chapter 12). Until the revealing of the Lord at the end God will strengthen them to be blameless in judgment (a hope to which Paul will return in chapter 15). Finally, to sum it up, God is faithful, and that faithful God is the one who called them to be the church.
Now on the basis of having established who he is, who they are, and above all, who God is and what God has done and is doing on their behalf, Paul is prepared to deal with the specifics of their life in Corinth.
John 1:29-42
Like the synoptic gospels, John begins his story about Jesus by including at the outset some information about John the Baptist, particularly about some contact between John and Jesus. The introduction to John here began with an insertion into the glorious prologue about the Word. Verses 6-8 identified John as a man from God who, though he himself was not the light, came to bear witness to the light. Following the prologue, attention again turns to John the Baptizer when the question of his identity comes up. Priests and Levites from Jerusalem were pressing him to reveal his identity. In short order he denied being the Christ, Elijah, the prophet, and confessed only to being "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" (1:23). At the end of the first century the disciples of John the Baptist hear in this record their leader vehemently deny certain roles and identities and admit only to preparing the way.
Following that discussion our own pericope reports what John has to say regarding the identity of Jesus. The report itself comes off as a bit odd. In the first place, in the two occasions on which Jesus passes by, John announces, "Behold the Lamb of God!" but in neither case does Jesus even acknowledge John's existence. Second, while John talks about his witnessing the Spirit descend on Jesus as a dove from heaven, an event connected with John's baptizing Jesus in the synoptics, this gospel does not indicate clearly that Jesus was baptized by John or that he was baptized at all. In a sense the issue of John baptizing Jesus is at least as ambiguous here as in Luke's Gospel, although Luke states that "Jesus had been baptized" following his report that John was in jail (Luke 3:20-21).
In any case, the words of John indicate the following about Jesus: (1) He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The image of the lamb draws our attention to two possible backgrounds from the Old Testament. The fourth servant song, the one that expresses vicarious suffering on the part of the servant, includes the simile "like a lamb that is led to the slaughter" to describe the suffering of the servant (Isaiah 53:7). The author of John's Gospel demonstrates his familiarity with that song when he quotes Isaiah 53:1 at John 12:38. The lamb would then be the servant who "bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" (Isaiah 53:12). The other image that comes to mind with the lamb taking away the sin of the world is the Passover. The instructions regarding the Passover rite at Exodus 12:21-27 indicate that the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of the Israelites saves those people from the Destroyer who will move through the land to kill the first-born of Egypt. John's Gospel connects the story of Jesus' crucifixion with the Passover and its rite at 19:14, 36. Jesus as Lamb of God can indicate he is either the servant of the Lord (thus a connection with the first lesson from Isaiah 49) or the Passover Lamb. Perhaps indeed both images are intended in John's Gospel, since both occur later in the story.
(2) Jesus is the Son of God. While this gospel has not yet established the basis for that claim, no other gospel will assert as often and as powerfully that Father-Son relationship which Jesus has with God (see for example chapter 14). In fact, the gospel is written "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name" (20:31). Along the way, others such as Martha recognize and confess that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of God" (11:27).
(3) He is "before" John. In Luke's version of the relationship between Jesus and John, John has priority: he was born first. Mark and Matthew make no issue of the priority issue, but in light of the pre-existence of the word-made-flesh in John's Prologue, the priority clearly belongs to Jesus (1:1-3). The Gospel further confirms the pre-existence at 8:58: "Before Abraham was, I am," and at 17:5: "the glory I had in your presence before the world existed."
All these issues of identity provide the basis for the call of the first disciples. On the basis of what John had said about Jesus, two of John's disciples followed Jesus to where he was staying and spent the day with him. One of those was Andrew. Leaving Jesus, he searched out his brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah." That report led to Simon's call and the change of his name to Cephas, that is, Peter.
It is striking that the words of John led Andrew to know who Jesus was and that the words of Andrew led Simon to know who Jesus was. The testimony of those who know who he is brings others to follow. When they do, more is changed than their names.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 49:1-7
This is the second of the Servant Songs found in the prophecies of Second Isaiah, from the sixth century B.C. (See the discussion for last Sunday.) As such, it represents Israel's reflection on her call to be the Lord's Servant. The Servant speaks in verses 1-5; the Lord's words are given in verses 6 and 7.
This text can be read in several ways. First, it can be taken as a description solely of a new, transformed Israel's role in the service of God. Second, it can mirror the prophet's own ministry, with its call, its failures and discouragements, its source of strength and encouragement in God, and its mission to the nations. From that point of view, probably every clergy person can identify with its words. But third, the text can be applied to every Christian. Every member of the church is called to be a servant and evangel or missionary for the Lord, spreading the gospel both near and far. And it is this latter interpretation that I shall use in this discussion.
"The Lord called me from the womb" (v. 1). The scriptures have the profound understanding that God creates each child in the mother's womb for a purpose. Certainly that was Jeremiah's understanding (Jeremiah 1:5) and the apostle Paul's (Galatians 1:15). But that is true not only of such special prophets and apostles, but also of each one of us. God makes us for a purpose, for a place in his plan, carefully knitting us together with bones and sinews (Job 10:11), shaping each of our individual body forms and DNA and physical and mental capabilities, in order that he may use us to work out his will in the world. We are "called" individuals, intended for a role in God's work.
Then, says our text, God names us (v. 1). And of course that is what happens in our baptisms. We are given our Christian names and declared to be God's children, belonging to him and to no other. He gives us his family name, Christian, and makes us a part of his household, as his beloved son or daughter. From that time on, we belong to God's covenant people, and we live and move and have our being always in relationship with our Lord.
Like Israel and Jesus' disciples and all of the Christians who have gone before us, as we grow in the faith, we are given God's Word. Spoken to us by our parents, our church teachers, in sermon and scripture, in anthem and in hymn, the Word of God is entrusted to us to make our own and to tell to all near and far. And that word is by no means a mean and insignificant gift. No, it is a powerful word. As Hebrews says, "The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit ... and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). The Word of God is so powerful, says the prophet Jeremiah, that it is like a burning fire (Jeremiah 20:9) or like a hammer that breaks rock in pieces (Jeremiah 23:29). In short, this Word of God given to us has a power within it to change the lives of those to whom we speak it, and to make of them new persons in Jesus Christ. Thus, we can have great expectations as we spread the Word of the gospel in our homes or occupations or social circles or through our missions. We can expect the Word of God to have an effect on human lives. And indeed, it often has. We could give many illustrations of that working of God's word.
We could also give illustrations of many times when the Word of God has seemed to have no effect, however, and when all of our efforts to spread the gospel and to enlarge the church have come to naught. Certainly, most preachers could tell you of those times, and we have only to read the morning headlines to feel a sense of failure and discouragement. As our text says, we could mourn that "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity" (v. 4). After all, our society is full of violence and greed, evil deeds and wrong unchecked, and the Word of God that the church has been speaking for years has not seemed to make a dent in society's ways.
Yet, our text tells us three things in the midst of our discouragement. First, God has us "hid" (vv. 2, 3). As Colossians says, our lives are hid in Christ with God (Colossians 3:3). That is, we are protected by our Lord from the forces of evil that would battle against our mission as God's servants. Second, our "right is with the Lord, and (our) recompense is with God" (v. 4). That means that our judgment and the judgment of anyone else concerning our success or failure as servants and disciples of the Lord are meaningless (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:1-4). Society may laugh at our efforts to be the Lord's servants as it laughed at Jesus dying on the cross. But God knew what he was working out by that death on Golgotha, and he knows what he is accomplishing through our work. It may seem futile and without effect to us. But God alone judges its effectiveness, and he brings forth from our labors the fruit that he desires. And so, third, we can say with our text, "My God has become my strength" (v. 5). In him, our work for the gospel is not in vain (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:58).
Indeed, the surprising note in answer to the discouragement that is voiced in our text is that God gives his servant an even greater mission and harder work to do (cf. Jeremiah 12:5) (v. 6). The faithful in Israel are called not only to bring their own society back to God, but they are also commanded to go into all the world and to make disciples of all nations. It is as if God is saying to us in so many words: "You think your attempts to live and spread the gospel are in vain where you are. All right. I'll give you an even bigger job. Spread the gospel throughout the world so that all peoples everywhere may be saved." And you see, that can be said because the work of the Lord and our mission in it depend not on our strength, not on our resources, not on our abilities, but on the strength and unlimited vitality and unconquerable love found in God. God is Lord of this world and all beyond it. He is the Holy One (v. 7), unlike any other. And his might and his life and his love cannot be defeated by any of the ways of this wayward world. So our text says to us, in that light: "Get to work. Trust God. Spread his Word. It will bear fruit in God's good time."
The final stanza of our text (v. 7) gives its affirmation of that final triumph of the Lord. For it pictures all kings and princes, all nations of the earth, bringing their worship and paying their homage to the one Lord of all. And of course, that is the reassurance given to all of us servants too, isn't it? There will come a day when every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11). And to those of us who are faithful servants, our Lord himself will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant ... Enter into the joy of your master" (Matthew 25:21).
The focus on vulnerability is always necessary in our proclamation because it is not a value in the world of business, politics, athletics, or anything else. Even theories of evolution are based upon the survival of the fittest, that is, the strong. Yet our pericopes will help us focus on the power of God through weakness and submission and the calling of people to buck the powerful and popular tide.
Isaiah 49:1-7
This second of the four servant songs in Second Isaiah, like the third, appears in the first person with the servant as speaker. The reader will recall that the first, discussed in connection with the Baptism of our Lord, featured God as the speaker introducing the servant to an audience, probably a heavenly one (42:1-4). The fourth song again begins with the Lord speaking of "my servant," although the Lord appears several times in the third person (52:13--53:12).
The audience of this song is quite earthly: the "coastlands," "you peoples from far away." How appropriate that the servant should address the very ones for whom the servant is called to be "a light" (v. 6). The function of the servant in the first song was to "bring forth justice to the nations" (42:1, 3, 4). Since the nations know nothing of his origin, his purpose, and the scope of his mission, the servant in this song starts from the beginning and moves toward his function.
The beginning in fact occurred even prior to his birth. The servant's claim to have been called by the Lord and named in his mother's womb is unusual in the Old Testament. It does appear again, however, in the call of Jeremiah, known by the Lord "before I formed you in the womb," consecrated "before you were born" (Jeremiah 1:5). Especially striking in comparison to our passage is the commissioning of Jeremiah as "a prophet to the nations." Interestingly the same combination of images will appear again in the New Testament when the Apostle Paul will allude to this passage in defending his call to be an apostle to the Gentiles, that is, the "peoples from far away" (Galatians 1:15).
Verse 2 moves from the call itself to the equipping of the servant for the task. The Lord, says the servant, made his "mouth like a sharp sword." His first task would therefore seem to be that of a speaker, even more specifically, that of a prophet. Jeremiah uses similar imagery when in his call report he writes that "the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth" (Jeremiah 1:9), and one prophet after another speaks of the call as a command to "go and say." The equipment goes further to include the protection of the Lord from enemies, for the "hiding" here is probably to be understood in terms of being hidden "under the shadow of his wings" (see Psalm 17:8; cf. 31:20). The same kind of protection was promised to Jeremiah when the Lord called him to be a prophet (Jeremiah 1:8, 19).
Then in words that sound almost like the coronation of a king (cf. Psalm 2:7), the servant reports his installation: "And he said to me, 'You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified' " (v. 3). We will not labor the question about the identity of the servant, except to say that the Hebrew manuscript, supported by the Isaiah Scroll from the Dead Sea, does contain the name Israel while the Septuagint manuscripts do not. More interesting is the profound statement that in and through the servant God "will be glorified." While the purpose of God's salvation, especially in the sermons of Second Isaiah, is the glorification of God, here that glory comes through the identity and task of the servant.
The servant's complaint in verse 4 that he has accomplished nothing thus far is not the typical objection of a call formula like that of Moses in Exodus 3:11 or that of Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:6. It is rather like the laments which arise from having worked so hard at trying to accomplish the tasks of a divinely appointed office. The verse sounds, therefore, more like Moses' experience as leader of the people (Numbers 11:10-15) or like that of Jeremiah after years of preaching (Jeremiah 15:15-18; 20:7-18). Serving as the instrument for the glorification of God does not necessarily add to the popularity of the instrument.
Yet this servant's goals have been set too small. God tells him that his task of restoring the survivors of Israel was not sufficiently significant. (It is difficult to imagine how, if the servant is Israel, the servant has the task of restoring Israel, unless the servant is the Israel which is in exile in Babylon, and the Israel to be revived is the rest of the people of God, either back in Jerusalem or scattered throughout the Middle East.) God's new role for the servant is to serve as "a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (v. 6). That image of light had already appeared at the extension to the first servant song (Isaiah 42:6). The exile was, after all, Israel's public exposure to the world. She was now thrown into the midst of "the nations," and her role would expand accordingly.
How extraordinary that a nation in exile or an individual exile (whoever the servant is) should have such a universal task! One could imagine a role of that magnitude when Israel is running at full strength. The commission to be "a blessing for all the nations of the earth" which runs throughout the Book of Genesis makes sense when Israel itself was a blessed nation. The old "blessed to be a blessing" makes perfect sense. But now in this servant song the one who is to be a light to the nations is not having a mountaintop experience. The servant is in the pits -- yet still expected to be the instrument of God in reaching out to the world.
Verse 7 is an addition to the servant song. The beginning of a new section, verses 7-12, its present context suggests it is the Lord's response to the servant's lament. In spite of the servant's failure to measure the success of the mission thus far, God lifts the servant's eyes to the vision that the leaders of the nations, kings and princes, will recognize the work of the Lord and come to worship.
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Far from the logical presentation of doctrine which marks Paul's Letter to the Romans, this First Letter to the Corinthians moves from topic to topic precisely because Paul wrote the letter in response to a variety of concerns which had come to him from and about the congregation. About A.D. 54-55, while Paul was in Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:8), disturbing reports about moral laxity and specific questions on a variety of matters caused this letter to take shape.
Our pericope contains the typical greeting (vv. 1-3) and a thanksgiving for the grace of God in establishing the community (vv. 4-9). Far more than mere formulas, the two parts set the stage for the appeals, exhortations, and admonitions which follow.
The first verse tells us that the writer of the epistle is Paul and that somehow a certain Sosthenes is with him in Ephesus. The record of Paul's visit to Corinth at Acts 18:1-17 concludes with the note that the Jewish leaders in town seized a man named Sosthenes who is identified as "the ruler of the synagogue" and beat him in front of the tribunal. If that man and the one named here are indeed the same, then the name and the person would have been known and perhaps beloved by the Christians in Corinth. In any case, following this mention of Sosthenes in the opening verse, he appears to play no more role at all, except perhaps as a secretary to Paul.
More important is how Paul identifies himself. He is "called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." The assertion of his apostleship as the direct result of a divine calling is the way he opens his letters to the Romans, to the Galatians, to the Colossians, to the Ephesians, and to Timothy. It appears that when dealing with difficult issues and depending on his relationship with the congregation, Paul needs to establish his authority as an apostle prior to his addressing the needs of the community. That authority is especially relevant here as he seeks to unite a dysfunctional congregation, extol community over individualism, and direct the community in matters involving individuals and their lifestyles. Having established his identity as an apostle, he does not need to preface his treatment of each issue with the prophetic formula "Thus says the Lord."
Now that Paul has identified himself, he addresses the audience not simply in terms of their zip code "in Corinth" but in terms of who they are: "the church of God." They are not a social club among many in the sophisticated seaport town where ideas and goods from all over the world come and go. They are a congregation of God's people called out (ekklesia) from the rest of society. They are "sanctified in Christ Jesus," apparently an indication of their baptism when they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, as Paul was "called to be an apostle," they are "called to be saints" in the midst of the world. Now comes an important expression. Their calling as saints makes them part of a community which is larger than their own congregation: "together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours." On the one hand, the lengthy phrase throws out the provincialism which characterizes many congregations -- then and now. On the other hand, the notion of the universal community called the church will serve Paul well as he deals with the dissension and factionalism which was running rampant in that particular expression of the church.
The thanksgiving paragraph which follows has virtually nothing to do with the activity of the community. Their identity as the church of God is not in any way dependent on them. They are who they are due to the grace and action of God. And so Paul thanks God on their behalf because God gave them grace in Christ Jesus. God enriched them in Christ in speech and knowledge (Paul will redefine knowledge and wisdom later in this chapter). God endowed then with every spiritual gift (a reality to which Paul will return in chapter 12). Until the revealing of the Lord at the end God will strengthen them to be blameless in judgment (a hope to which Paul will return in chapter 15). Finally, to sum it up, God is faithful, and that faithful God is the one who called them to be the church.
Now on the basis of having established who he is, who they are, and above all, who God is and what God has done and is doing on their behalf, Paul is prepared to deal with the specifics of their life in Corinth.
John 1:29-42
Like the synoptic gospels, John begins his story about Jesus by including at the outset some information about John the Baptist, particularly about some contact between John and Jesus. The introduction to John here began with an insertion into the glorious prologue about the Word. Verses 6-8 identified John as a man from God who, though he himself was not the light, came to bear witness to the light. Following the prologue, attention again turns to John the Baptizer when the question of his identity comes up. Priests and Levites from Jerusalem were pressing him to reveal his identity. In short order he denied being the Christ, Elijah, the prophet, and confessed only to being "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" (1:23). At the end of the first century the disciples of John the Baptist hear in this record their leader vehemently deny certain roles and identities and admit only to preparing the way.
Following that discussion our own pericope reports what John has to say regarding the identity of Jesus. The report itself comes off as a bit odd. In the first place, in the two occasions on which Jesus passes by, John announces, "Behold the Lamb of God!" but in neither case does Jesus even acknowledge John's existence. Second, while John talks about his witnessing the Spirit descend on Jesus as a dove from heaven, an event connected with John's baptizing Jesus in the synoptics, this gospel does not indicate clearly that Jesus was baptized by John or that he was baptized at all. In a sense the issue of John baptizing Jesus is at least as ambiguous here as in Luke's Gospel, although Luke states that "Jesus had been baptized" following his report that John was in jail (Luke 3:20-21).
In any case, the words of John indicate the following about Jesus: (1) He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The image of the lamb draws our attention to two possible backgrounds from the Old Testament. The fourth servant song, the one that expresses vicarious suffering on the part of the servant, includes the simile "like a lamb that is led to the slaughter" to describe the suffering of the servant (Isaiah 53:7). The author of John's Gospel demonstrates his familiarity with that song when he quotes Isaiah 53:1 at John 12:38. The lamb would then be the servant who "bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" (Isaiah 53:12). The other image that comes to mind with the lamb taking away the sin of the world is the Passover. The instructions regarding the Passover rite at Exodus 12:21-27 indicate that the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of the Israelites saves those people from the Destroyer who will move through the land to kill the first-born of Egypt. John's Gospel connects the story of Jesus' crucifixion with the Passover and its rite at 19:14, 36. Jesus as Lamb of God can indicate he is either the servant of the Lord (thus a connection with the first lesson from Isaiah 49) or the Passover Lamb. Perhaps indeed both images are intended in John's Gospel, since both occur later in the story.
(2) Jesus is the Son of God. While this gospel has not yet established the basis for that claim, no other gospel will assert as often and as powerfully that Father-Son relationship which Jesus has with God (see for example chapter 14). In fact, the gospel is written "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name" (20:31). Along the way, others such as Martha recognize and confess that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of God" (11:27).
(3) He is "before" John. In Luke's version of the relationship between Jesus and John, John has priority: he was born first. Mark and Matthew make no issue of the priority issue, but in light of the pre-existence of the word-made-flesh in John's Prologue, the priority clearly belongs to Jesus (1:1-3). The Gospel further confirms the pre-existence at 8:58: "Before Abraham was, I am," and at 17:5: "the glory I had in your presence before the world existed."
All these issues of identity provide the basis for the call of the first disciples. On the basis of what John had said about Jesus, two of John's disciples followed Jesus to where he was staying and spent the day with him. One of those was Andrew. Leaving Jesus, he searched out his brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah." That report led to Simon's call and the change of his name to Cephas, that is, Peter.
It is striking that the words of John led Andrew to know who Jesus was and that the words of Andrew led Simon to know who Jesus was. The testimony of those who know who he is brings others to follow. When they do, more is changed than their names.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 49:1-7
This is the second of the Servant Songs found in the prophecies of Second Isaiah, from the sixth century B.C. (See the discussion for last Sunday.) As such, it represents Israel's reflection on her call to be the Lord's Servant. The Servant speaks in verses 1-5; the Lord's words are given in verses 6 and 7.
This text can be read in several ways. First, it can be taken as a description solely of a new, transformed Israel's role in the service of God. Second, it can mirror the prophet's own ministry, with its call, its failures and discouragements, its source of strength and encouragement in God, and its mission to the nations. From that point of view, probably every clergy person can identify with its words. But third, the text can be applied to every Christian. Every member of the church is called to be a servant and evangel or missionary for the Lord, spreading the gospel both near and far. And it is this latter interpretation that I shall use in this discussion.
"The Lord called me from the womb" (v. 1). The scriptures have the profound understanding that God creates each child in the mother's womb for a purpose. Certainly that was Jeremiah's understanding (Jeremiah 1:5) and the apostle Paul's (Galatians 1:15). But that is true not only of such special prophets and apostles, but also of each one of us. God makes us for a purpose, for a place in his plan, carefully knitting us together with bones and sinews (Job 10:11), shaping each of our individual body forms and DNA and physical and mental capabilities, in order that he may use us to work out his will in the world. We are "called" individuals, intended for a role in God's work.
Then, says our text, God names us (v. 1). And of course that is what happens in our baptisms. We are given our Christian names and declared to be God's children, belonging to him and to no other. He gives us his family name, Christian, and makes us a part of his household, as his beloved son or daughter. From that time on, we belong to God's covenant people, and we live and move and have our being always in relationship with our Lord.
Like Israel and Jesus' disciples and all of the Christians who have gone before us, as we grow in the faith, we are given God's Word. Spoken to us by our parents, our church teachers, in sermon and scripture, in anthem and in hymn, the Word of God is entrusted to us to make our own and to tell to all near and far. And that word is by no means a mean and insignificant gift. No, it is a powerful word. As Hebrews says, "The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit ... and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). The Word of God is so powerful, says the prophet Jeremiah, that it is like a burning fire (Jeremiah 20:9) or like a hammer that breaks rock in pieces (Jeremiah 23:29). In short, this Word of God given to us has a power within it to change the lives of those to whom we speak it, and to make of them new persons in Jesus Christ. Thus, we can have great expectations as we spread the Word of the gospel in our homes or occupations or social circles or through our missions. We can expect the Word of God to have an effect on human lives. And indeed, it often has. We could give many illustrations of that working of God's word.
We could also give illustrations of many times when the Word of God has seemed to have no effect, however, and when all of our efforts to spread the gospel and to enlarge the church have come to naught. Certainly, most preachers could tell you of those times, and we have only to read the morning headlines to feel a sense of failure and discouragement. As our text says, we could mourn that "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity" (v. 4). After all, our society is full of violence and greed, evil deeds and wrong unchecked, and the Word of God that the church has been speaking for years has not seemed to make a dent in society's ways.
Yet, our text tells us three things in the midst of our discouragement. First, God has us "hid" (vv. 2, 3). As Colossians says, our lives are hid in Christ with God (Colossians 3:3). That is, we are protected by our Lord from the forces of evil that would battle against our mission as God's servants. Second, our "right is with the Lord, and (our) recompense is with God" (v. 4). That means that our judgment and the judgment of anyone else concerning our success or failure as servants and disciples of the Lord are meaningless (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:1-4). Society may laugh at our efforts to be the Lord's servants as it laughed at Jesus dying on the cross. But God knew what he was working out by that death on Golgotha, and he knows what he is accomplishing through our work. It may seem futile and without effect to us. But God alone judges its effectiveness, and he brings forth from our labors the fruit that he desires. And so, third, we can say with our text, "My God has become my strength" (v. 5). In him, our work for the gospel is not in vain (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:58).
Indeed, the surprising note in answer to the discouragement that is voiced in our text is that God gives his servant an even greater mission and harder work to do (cf. Jeremiah 12:5) (v. 6). The faithful in Israel are called not only to bring their own society back to God, but they are also commanded to go into all the world and to make disciples of all nations. It is as if God is saying to us in so many words: "You think your attempts to live and spread the gospel are in vain where you are. All right. I'll give you an even bigger job. Spread the gospel throughout the world so that all peoples everywhere may be saved." And you see, that can be said because the work of the Lord and our mission in it depend not on our strength, not on our resources, not on our abilities, but on the strength and unlimited vitality and unconquerable love found in God. God is Lord of this world and all beyond it. He is the Holy One (v. 7), unlike any other. And his might and his life and his love cannot be defeated by any of the ways of this wayward world. So our text says to us, in that light: "Get to work. Trust God. Spread his Word. It will bear fruit in God's good time."
The final stanza of our text (v. 7) gives its affirmation of that final triumph of the Lord. For it pictures all kings and princes, all nations of the earth, bringing their worship and paying their homage to the one Lord of all. And of course, that is the reassurance given to all of us servants too, isn't it? There will come a day when every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11). And to those of us who are faithful servants, our Lord himself will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant ... Enter into the joy of your master" (Matthew 25:21).
