Words
Commentary
The little boy's parents persistently call him stupid, and he drops out of high school his first year. The parents of a teenager are never satisfied with her accomplishments and constantly tell her she could do better. She eventually becomes fearful of trying to accomplish anything, because she feels she could never do it perfectly.
In the last half of the twentieth century, our understanding and use of language has changed in significant ways. We have learned just how important words are, and particularly names. We have realized that what you call another has ramifications far beyond the simple utterance of sounds. While some scholars had been saying it for some time, ethnic groups first brought popular attention to the fact that what we named them influences their personal identity and their place in society. Then women began to awaken us to the same fact. All the while, psychologists and sociologists were pointing out the implications of words used of individuals and groups.
In a sense, the change in our understanding and use of words is a recognition of the power of language. Words are not simply arbitrary symbols by which we communicate. Names are not merely random labels we attach to people, groups, and objects. Words and names have a power beyond that.
Sometimes we hear that all of this is simply a matter of being "politically correct," as if there is no value in a sensitivity to how we speak. To be sure, there is a phoney kind of use of the preferred language -- a use that does not express a sincere motive to enable and respect others. However, there is something far more profound in this new practice than a willingness to conform to contemporary usage. Our lessons for Proper 19 converge around the central theme of words. Speaking, hearing, and naming are all included in the passages before us.
Proverbs 1:20-33
This passage is an example of another and different literary form in the book of Proverbs. Last Sunday we read a series of short, pithy sayings shaped in parallelism with one another. This Sunday we have a longer and more elaborate poem in which Wisdom speaks. (For another such passage, see Proverbs 8:3-36.) The passage, however, is typical Hebraic poetry and hence is comprised of couplets structured in parallelism (e.g., v. 22). Here Wisdom is personified as a female, "Lady Wisdom," in part because the Hebrew word chokma is a feminine noun (although there are also probably far more significant reasons). On the one hand, the feminine portrayal of Lady Wisdom stands in sharp contrast to the description of the Woman Folly (or "foolish woman" in 9:13-18). On the other hand, she shares much with the "Strange Woman" and the capable wife (e.g., 1:24; 9:15; 8:2-3). Moreover, in this passage, she is portrayed as a prophet or "street teacher," standing on a corner trying to get passersby to listen to her.
The poem begins with a narrator's description of Wisdom on the street corner, teaching her message (vv. 20-21). Her locations indicate that she is found at the heart of the community's life where business is transacted and justice is determined ("squares," "busiest corner," and "gates"). After this brief introduction, we hear Wisdom's words. First, she pleads for attention. "How long" is admonition to people to awaken to what they are doing; are they doomed to the life of ignorance? "Simple" in this case means unlearned and lacking concentration on learning wisdom; "scoffers" and "fools" describe the same lifestyle. In verse 23, Wisdom promises such people a resource for living differently through her words.
At verse 24, the poem shifts to the consequences of a life without wisdom (note "because"). The remainder of the poem vividly depicts the dangers of an uninformed life. First, Wisdom says that, since people have ignored her, she will not respond to their cries when they need her. In their times of "panic," "calamity," and "distress and anguish," she will "laugh" at them, and since they have chosen to ignore wise living, she will be deaf to their begging (vv. 24-30). This is probably less of a threat than a matter of common sense. If you have disregarded learning most of your life, you are not going to absorb it instantaneously in a time of crisis, no more than you are going to save your life in an auto accident by vowing to drive more carefully in the future. Those who try to live independent of the wisdom of the past will inevitably have to suffer the consequences -- "eat the fruit of their way" (v. 31).
The final couplet of the poem expresses the principle inherent in what has been said in the poem. Verses 32-33 are antithetical parallelism in which the first (v. 32) and second (v. 33) parts contrast two kinds of life, namely, "waywardness" and listening. Those two are connected with an opposition between two results: death and security. "Waywardness" = death and "complacency" = destruction; but listening = safety, living at ease, and without dread. Actually "secure" (betach) is nearly a synonym in the Old Testament for what we would call salvation or a life in relationship with God and is sometimes translated "safety"(e. g., Psalm 4:8).
Here's an interesting message. What takes us off the "way" -- a detour from a meaningful and faithful life -- is not listening to Lady Wisdom. Listening then becomes a matter of life and death. Clearly, Wisdom is not the source of simple cognitive knowledge but of a way of life that is satisfying and meaningful -- but more significantly is God's desire for us. Listening is the hinge. Those who do not listen are those who think their lives need no guidance; they are content to live without dependence on Wisdom. However, those who listen are given security and contentment in life. Listening to words is not, as we might think, simply polite but is the resource from which true life comes. Listening, however, in today's world is becoming an antique of another time, so intent are we on speaking before we hear. (See James 1:19.)
James 3:1-12
The poem in Proverbs emphasizes the importance of listening, and this passage from James stresses speaking. No other New Testament book features the role and dangers of speech as does the Letter of James. The matters that James selects as topics for the letter are intriguing in a historical sense. Why do you suppose he selected these topics? James follows his discussion of deeds of faith with this consideration of speech. This order of topics suggests that speech is a means of doing either good or evil -- in other words, the way we speak may be a deed of faith. A new section begins at 3:13 and continues through 4:10.
Notice that the reading is a self-contained unit which begins and ends with reference to "my brothers and sisters" (literally, "brothers," adelphoi, vv. 1 and 12). Verses 1 and 2 announce the topic, and 3-4 explore the positive side of speech. Next, the dangers of speech are vividly portrayed in verses 5-8. The matter is put in a theological and ethical context in verses 9-10, followed by an assertion that we cannot tolerate a double use of speech, both "cursing" and "blessing." The most remarkable thing about this passage is the use of analogies or small similes, such as the rudder of ships (v. 4), a forest fire (v. 5b), and a spring pouring out both good and foul water (v. 11). The writer is a skillful teacher who knows how to garb his argument so that it engages readers. The other characteristic of this passage that is discernable in the Greek is that it is filled with alliterations. Examples of such are found in verse 6 where the word translated "nature" is geneseos and the word "hell" is gehenna. Moreover, as in the English, the verb "to set on fire" (phlogizo) is repeated in each of the last two phrases of verse 6. The passage seems to have been written to be heard, not read, and, of course, would have been read before the congregation(s) to which the letter was sent.
James introduces the topic of speech with some generalizations with which it would be hard to disagree. "Teachers" bear an enormous responsibility, but they are as liable to make mistakes as we all are, and here the text introduces the theme of speech (logos, v. 2). To avoid making mistakes, it's necessary to exercise self-control, which the author pictures as guiding the "whole body" (the verb "keep in check" is actually not in the Greek). To make this point, James offers two analogies: using "bits" to guide animals and rudders to guide ships. In verse 5a the author indicates that these two are comparable to the "tongue" in that they are "small" but can "boast" of great accomplishments. By saying the tongue could boast, he personifies it.
The NRSV puts a paragraph break in the middle of verse 5, because a new analogy is introduced at that point, and it is implicitly a negative one, as compared with the previous ones. The tongue is like a lighter that produces a small flame but can start a great forest fire. Verse 6 is rather obscure but seems to say that speech has the power to bring the world's corruption into us. Now speech is pictured as a cosmic power that can affect the whole of "the cycle of nature (or life)" and gains its power from the source of all evil, Gehenna. Again, the analogy changes in verse 7 to the taming of animals, but its conclusion is terribly pessimistic: "no one can tame the tongue." And, again, speech is called "evil" and is now said to be "full of deadly poison." The author is so convinced of the power of speech that he can claim it may be the source of death!
The closing verses deal with the fact that speech is used for both good and evil. "Blessing" and "curse" should be taken in their Hebraic sense. By uttering a wish for another, we bring about that which is spoken. The words of curse can, then, actually bring disaster on the person of which it is spoken. The use of speech for both evil and good, however, can be controlled, according to the statement in verse 10b. The incongruity of speaking both evil and good is compared with three other realities from daily life -- a spring that spews both clean and dirty water, a fig tree that produces another fruit, and "salt water" that generates "fresh" water. With these vivid images, the author concludes his appeal to take speech seriously.
Several points ought to be made. First, speech is powerful; second, it is deadly dangerous; third, however it can be used for good or ill; and, fourth, it can be controlled. In spite of the renaissance of the power of language in our culture, there has also been a proliferation of inauthentic speech. By inauthentic we mean speech that does not necessarily utter the truth and that does not express the speaker's real being. Think of all the speech we hear that seeks to persuade, regardless of whether what it seeks to persuade us of is true, as is often the case with the language of advertising. Think, too, of all the speech we hear that attempts to conceal rather than reveal the truth, for example, the words that put a "spin" on a situation, as political and business language often does. On the one hand, James' appeal may seem oddly out of step with contemporary uses of language; but, on the other hand, it also smacks of a truth we need to hear. Do we take seriously the words we speak? Are they intended to speak truth, to name what really is?
Mark 8:27-38
To approach the famous story of Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi and Jesus' first prediction of his passion from the perspective of the use of language opens some shades of meaning which we may not have thought about before. The second evangelist placed this passage at the pinnacle of the story of Jesus' ministry. Everything in the narrative builds up to these verses, which in turn anticipate all the rest of the Gospel. Peter's confession and Jesus' prediction provide a literary hinge at which the narrative swings a new direction. After this passage, everything moves us step by step to the cross where Jesus is finally confessed to be "Son of God" (15:39). Moreover, in Mark's design, this passage comprises the first of three "cycles" of Jesus' prediction, the disciples' misinterpretation, and Jesus' discourse on discipleship. (See 9:31-37 and 10:33-45.)
The reading (plus 9:1) is a whole unit; however, it has discernible segments. The first is Peter's confession (vv. 27-30); the second, Jesus' prediction and the exchange between him and Peter (vv. 31-33); and third, Jesus' teaching the crowd the implications of his suffering and death (8:34--9:1).
The setting for the story is Caesarea Philippi, which stood on the very edge of Gentile territory. Jesus' first question to the disciples (v. 27) is curious, and his motives for asking it unknown. At any rate, the responses are a list of the some popular messianic characters, along with John the Baptist (whom many had identified as a messianic character). (For "one of the prophets," see Deuteronomy 34:10.) Jesus' second question turns the issue to the disciples themselves. Peter seems to have the answer nailed. "Messiah" is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew for "the anointed one." Unfortunately, our knowledge of Jewish expectations of the Messiah at the time of Jesus' ministry is almost nil, so we can't be certain what Peter might have meant by the title. Nonetheless, he puts his belief into words and utters what he believes to be the truth about Jesus. In this case, as in many others, the Markan Jesus orders the disciples to keep this matter among themselves.
After Peter's great confession of Jesus' identity, Jesus immediately introduces his suffering and death (vv. 31-32a). This gives us the impression that the announcement of his fate qualifies or defines the kind of Messiah he is to be. Whether or not there was a Jewish precedent for a suffering Messiah has long been discussed by scholars and cannot be answered with any certainty. This prediction identifies four related events -- suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection. In doing this, we are told that "he said all this quite openly" (parrasia, which is the opposite of speaking in parables or riddles). There is nothing vague about Jesus' words that would excuse Peter's misunderstanding.
In verses 32b-33 Peter and Jesus each "rebuke" (epitimao) the other. The narrator uses the same word when Jesus reprimands a demon (e.g., 2:5 and 9:25). Peter thinks he is calling the evil out of Jesus, and Jesus calls it out of Peter. Peter's resistance to the idea of Jesus' suffering and death may be no more than an expression of his love for his teacher -- he doesn't want to see Jesus suffer and die. On the other hand, perhaps that idea clashed with what Peter expected of the Messiah. The exorcism of a demon is clear in Jesus' rebuke of Peter, since he actually calls Peter "Satan." According to Mark's report, Jesus thinks Peter's resistance to the idea of Jesus' suffering is a result of his imposition of human values on to Jesus. Peter cannot grasp what God has in mind and is bound by the way humans would design their salvation.
In verse 34 Jesus "called the crowd with his disciples," thus broadening the audience so that readers cannot claim that what Jesus is about to say is intended only for the close circle of the twelve but is for all who would follow him. The address to the crowd includes several important points. First, discipleship entails sharing the same fate as Jesus (i.e., death on a cross, v. 34). Second, true life necessitates our surrender of our lives for Christ (vv. 35-37). Third, God will treat us in a way comparable to the way we have represented Christ to the world (v. 38). Fourth, the coming of the kingdom is promised within the life time of some of the crowd (9:1).
Peter attempts to put his faith into language, for that is essential for the complete apprehension of God's act in Christ. We need to speak our faith, because in so doing we not only communicate it, but also we name what is within us. However, in Peter's case, the word he uses to express his faith in Christ ("Messiah") comes loaded with preconceptions and assumptions, which is always the case with human language. What Jesus does is to substitute other words for Peter's and thereby more accurately represent his identity. Language challenges language in order to produce truth. Then Jesus warns in verse 38 that how we represent Jesus' words (logoi) in the world determines our destinies. Words matter.
Taken together, our lessons suggest that listening is vital to our spiritual well-being, that we become careful about the words we speak because we know both the power and the perils of language, and that we seek to articulate our faith in words that are consistent with God's revelation in Christ. Speech is ultimately the expression of who we are and what we think is real and valuable. So, James is right, words are deeds -- deeds which are either for good or for evil.
Yet there is one Word that stands apart. God chose to express the divine self in a single Word, Jesus Christ. When this Word is spoken, it penetrates our lives and transforms our words. The ultimate Word is God's Word that calls into question all our words and enables us both to listen faithfully and to speak with authenticity. Christ is the Word of words.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Proverbs 1:20-33
In chapters 1-9 of the book of Proverbs, the figure of Wisdom is personified as a woman. Scholars have long debated the origin or source of this personification. Some have maintained, especially on the basis of Proverbs 8:22-36, that the figure is intended as a hypostasis or representation of God, in female form, speaking and acting on behalf of the divine and equal to him. Thus there has grown up in some denominations, especially among some radical feminists, small circles of Sophia worshipers, "Sophia" being the Greek word for "Wisdom." Other scholars have attributed the female figure of Wisdom to an imitation of foreign goddesses, such as the Egyptian Maat or the Sumerian Inanni (Ishtar), and some radical feminists have included the rituals of the worship of such pagan goddesses in their liturgies. Most recently and most likely, the female figure of Wisdom is a personification of the ways of wise women mentioned throughout the Scriptures, combined with the post-exilic view of Wisdom as a mediator between God and the people of Israel. Most certainly in Proverbs, the female figure is intended neither as a divine being nor as a figure equal with God, and the worship of her is blatant idolatry. In Proverbs 8:22 and in the later book of Wisdom, she is the first act of God's creation and can be understood simply as a personification of the "plan" of God whereby he created the universe. As in all of Wisdom theology, personified Wisdom stands for the orders of nature and human life set into his creation by the Lord.
In Proverbs 1-9, Wisdom is portrayed in various roles: as one calling or preaching in the streets in our text; as a guide, guardian, and conversationalist (6:22); as a sister or intimate friend (7:4); as a hostess inviting to her table (9:1-6). In our Scripture lesson, Wisdom therefore raises her voice in the markets and from the walls and gates, chastising those who will not listen to or absorb her knowledge. They are fools; they will not learn the ways of God's creation. It reminds one of our folly in building cities and atomic power plants on the site of earthquake faults, or of constructing houses on flood plains or barrier islands subject to hurricanes. Indeed, it calls into question our whole rape and corruption of the natural world. But it also calls us to answer for our foolishness in human relations: our adultery and easy promiscuity, our greed in commerce, our absorption with ourselves and neglect of our neighbors; our unwillingness to forgive and our prejudice toward those who are different or outside of our social circle. Our Lord Jesus had a good deal to say about such foolish neglect of the ways of Wisdom, and he often included Wisdom sayings in his teaching (cf. Matthew 11:25-26; 24:45 and parallel; 25:2-13).
In our lesson, Wisdom is portrayed as laughing and scorning those who have ignored her teaching and suffered the evil consequences, verses 26-32 -- a rather vindictive note that we often mirror in our saying, "He got what was coming to him." While verse 28 reminds us of Amos 8:11-12, it does not adequately portray the pathos of God, as we find it in Genesis 6:6 or Micah 6:3. The God of the Old Testament, though he judges our wrong-doing, also agonizes and grieves over it (cf. Hosea 11:8-9), and finally his Son suffers for it and forgives it all from his cross.
Our text also makes it clear that the orders that God has set into human life and the natural world do not work automatically. The book of Job, which is a commentary on Wisdom theology, makes that quite evident. It is not the case that those who follow Wisdom teaching are automatically rewarded, and that those who do not automatically run afoul of the consequences. Rather, the orders that God has set into creation are sustained constantly by God's faithfulness. Therefore, throughout Proverbs it is the "fear of the Lord that is the beginning of Wisdom," a thought set forth in verse 29 of our text. The one who is truly wise observes not the mechanistic ways of the world, but the desire and will of God, as those are set forth in the Scriptures. The wise person "fears" God -- obeys him, stands in awe of him, searches out his ways and will, in a constant daily companionship. Thus in the New Testament finally Wisdom is given only through Jesus Christ, who is our wisdom, according to Paul (1 Corinthians 1:24, 30; cf. Colossians 2:2). We are, says Colossians, to "seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth" (Colossians 3:1-2). In our Lord Jesus, by the teaching and guidance of his Spirit, we find true wisdom.
We should also note that Wisdom teaching in the Bible has about it always a sense of humility. In Job 28:12, for example, it is acknowledged that despite all our technological and scientific skill, we cannot ourselves find full wisdom. And the Apostle Paul tells us that "now we see in a mirror dimly" and we know only "in part" (1 Corinthians 13:12). None of us can claim the full knowledge of God's will and ways, no matter how pious we may be, and none of us should ever make such a claim. Always we are dependent creatures -- dependent on our daily communion in the Spirit with our Lord, who alone is "our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, 'Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord' " (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).
Lutheran Option -- Isaiah 50:4-9a
This passage is the stated Old Testament lesson in the Revised Common Lectionary for Palm or Passion Sunday in all three cycles, A, B, and C. Because it has been expounded there, the preacher may want to refer to its treatment in back issues of Emphasis. Nevertheless, we shall deal with it here once more. Certainly the passage forms a companion piece to what was said above about humility in our treatment of Wisdom.
The text is familiarly known as the third Song of the Servant in the sixth century B.C. prophecies of the Second Isaiah (chs. 40-55). It is usually assigned to Passion Sunday because it seems so well to prefigure the suffering of our Lord during his passion and crucifixion, and his subsequent vindication in the resurrection.
Originally, the passage was intended by Second Isaiah as the role assigned by God to an ideal Israel, who was called to suffer on behalf of the nations (cf. Isaiah 52:13--53:12). However, it seems certain that the verses also reflect something of the suffering borne by the prophet -- and indeed, by all true prophets -- during their ministries.
For us, perhaps the most important point on this Sunday morning is to note the humility of the prophet and his dependence on God. Second Isaiah does not make up his words out of his own conscience, nor does he form them on the basis of what he sees happening in the world around him. Prophets do not "read the signs of the time" and come to their own conclusions. No. This prophet is a pupil. He is "taught." And God is his instructor. Each morning God wakens him and opens his ear, so that he may hear the words God gives him to proclaim.
Moreover, this prophet is a faithful messenger. When he preaches, he is scorned, as our Lord Jesus was scorned. His opponents pull his beard and spit in his face and take clubs to him. But that does not deter the prophet. He is God's faithful spokesman, and he proclaims the words that God gives him to speak, knowing that finally his words will be shown to be true as God works in the history of his people. That such trust was vindicated is shown by the fact that Second Isaiah's words, now preserved for us, were fulfilled by Christ.
But the prophet listens. Each morning he listens to God, to hear what God will say to him. And then he acts and speaks accordingly. Surely that is a worthy model for our Christian day-by-day lives: each morning to get out of bed and to listen to God -- to listen to his words as he speaks by his Holy Spirit to us through his Scriptures; to meditate on the Word of God and to pray; to resolve by the help of God to do the Lord's will for the next 24 hours. That exercise of Christian discipline can set each one of us on the right path for the day and lead us in the way of God's life and will, and not in our own.
In the last half of the twentieth century, our understanding and use of language has changed in significant ways. We have learned just how important words are, and particularly names. We have realized that what you call another has ramifications far beyond the simple utterance of sounds. While some scholars had been saying it for some time, ethnic groups first brought popular attention to the fact that what we named them influences their personal identity and their place in society. Then women began to awaken us to the same fact. All the while, psychologists and sociologists were pointing out the implications of words used of individuals and groups.
In a sense, the change in our understanding and use of words is a recognition of the power of language. Words are not simply arbitrary symbols by which we communicate. Names are not merely random labels we attach to people, groups, and objects. Words and names have a power beyond that.
Sometimes we hear that all of this is simply a matter of being "politically correct," as if there is no value in a sensitivity to how we speak. To be sure, there is a phoney kind of use of the preferred language -- a use that does not express a sincere motive to enable and respect others. However, there is something far more profound in this new practice than a willingness to conform to contemporary usage. Our lessons for Proper 19 converge around the central theme of words. Speaking, hearing, and naming are all included in the passages before us.
Proverbs 1:20-33
This passage is an example of another and different literary form in the book of Proverbs. Last Sunday we read a series of short, pithy sayings shaped in parallelism with one another. This Sunday we have a longer and more elaborate poem in which Wisdom speaks. (For another such passage, see Proverbs 8:3-36.) The passage, however, is typical Hebraic poetry and hence is comprised of couplets structured in parallelism (e.g., v. 22). Here Wisdom is personified as a female, "Lady Wisdom," in part because the Hebrew word chokma is a feminine noun (although there are also probably far more significant reasons). On the one hand, the feminine portrayal of Lady Wisdom stands in sharp contrast to the description of the Woman Folly (or "foolish woman" in 9:13-18). On the other hand, she shares much with the "Strange Woman" and the capable wife (e.g., 1:24; 9:15; 8:2-3). Moreover, in this passage, she is portrayed as a prophet or "street teacher," standing on a corner trying to get passersby to listen to her.
The poem begins with a narrator's description of Wisdom on the street corner, teaching her message (vv. 20-21). Her locations indicate that she is found at the heart of the community's life where business is transacted and justice is determined ("squares," "busiest corner," and "gates"). After this brief introduction, we hear Wisdom's words. First, she pleads for attention. "How long" is admonition to people to awaken to what they are doing; are they doomed to the life of ignorance? "Simple" in this case means unlearned and lacking concentration on learning wisdom; "scoffers" and "fools" describe the same lifestyle. In verse 23, Wisdom promises such people a resource for living differently through her words.
At verse 24, the poem shifts to the consequences of a life without wisdom (note "because"). The remainder of the poem vividly depicts the dangers of an uninformed life. First, Wisdom says that, since people have ignored her, she will not respond to their cries when they need her. In their times of "panic," "calamity," and "distress and anguish," she will "laugh" at them, and since they have chosen to ignore wise living, she will be deaf to their begging (vv. 24-30). This is probably less of a threat than a matter of common sense. If you have disregarded learning most of your life, you are not going to absorb it instantaneously in a time of crisis, no more than you are going to save your life in an auto accident by vowing to drive more carefully in the future. Those who try to live independent of the wisdom of the past will inevitably have to suffer the consequences -- "eat the fruit of their way" (v. 31).
The final couplet of the poem expresses the principle inherent in what has been said in the poem. Verses 32-33 are antithetical parallelism in which the first (v. 32) and second (v. 33) parts contrast two kinds of life, namely, "waywardness" and listening. Those two are connected with an opposition between two results: death and security. "Waywardness" = death and "complacency" = destruction; but listening = safety, living at ease, and without dread. Actually "secure" (betach) is nearly a synonym in the Old Testament for what we would call salvation or a life in relationship with God and is sometimes translated "safety"(e. g., Psalm 4:8).
Here's an interesting message. What takes us off the "way" -- a detour from a meaningful and faithful life -- is not listening to Lady Wisdom. Listening then becomes a matter of life and death. Clearly, Wisdom is not the source of simple cognitive knowledge but of a way of life that is satisfying and meaningful -- but more significantly is God's desire for us. Listening is the hinge. Those who do not listen are those who think their lives need no guidance; they are content to live without dependence on Wisdom. However, those who listen are given security and contentment in life. Listening to words is not, as we might think, simply polite but is the resource from which true life comes. Listening, however, in today's world is becoming an antique of another time, so intent are we on speaking before we hear. (See James 1:19.)
James 3:1-12
The poem in Proverbs emphasizes the importance of listening, and this passage from James stresses speaking. No other New Testament book features the role and dangers of speech as does the Letter of James. The matters that James selects as topics for the letter are intriguing in a historical sense. Why do you suppose he selected these topics? James follows his discussion of deeds of faith with this consideration of speech. This order of topics suggests that speech is a means of doing either good or evil -- in other words, the way we speak may be a deed of faith. A new section begins at 3:13 and continues through 4:10.
Notice that the reading is a self-contained unit which begins and ends with reference to "my brothers and sisters" (literally, "brothers," adelphoi, vv. 1 and 12). Verses 1 and 2 announce the topic, and 3-4 explore the positive side of speech. Next, the dangers of speech are vividly portrayed in verses 5-8. The matter is put in a theological and ethical context in verses 9-10, followed by an assertion that we cannot tolerate a double use of speech, both "cursing" and "blessing." The most remarkable thing about this passage is the use of analogies or small similes, such as the rudder of ships (v. 4), a forest fire (v. 5b), and a spring pouring out both good and foul water (v. 11). The writer is a skillful teacher who knows how to garb his argument so that it engages readers. The other characteristic of this passage that is discernable in the Greek is that it is filled with alliterations. Examples of such are found in verse 6 where the word translated "nature" is geneseos and the word "hell" is gehenna. Moreover, as in the English, the verb "to set on fire" (phlogizo) is repeated in each of the last two phrases of verse 6. The passage seems to have been written to be heard, not read, and, of course, would have been read before the congregation(s) to which the letter was sent.
James introduces the topic of speech with some generalizations with which it would be hard to disagree. "Teachers" bear an enormous responsibility, but they are as liable to make mistakes as we all are, and here the text introduces the theme of speech (logos, v. 2). To avoid making mistakes, it's necessary to exercise self-control, which the author pictures as guiding the "whole body" (the verb "keep in check" is actually not in the Greek). To make this point, James offers two analogies: using "bits" to guide animals and rudders to guide ships. In verse 5a the author indicates that these two are comparable to the "tongue" in that they are "small" but can "boast" of great accomplishments. By saying the tongue could boast, he personifies it.
The NRSV puts a paragraph break in the middle of verse 5, because a new analogy is introduced at that point, and it is implicitly a negative one, as compared with the previous ones. The tongue is like a lighter that produces a small flame but can start a great forest fire. Verse 6 is rather obscure but seems to say that speech has the power to bring the world's corruption into us. Now speech is pictured as a cosmic power that can affect the whole of "the cycle of nature (or life)" and gains its power from the source of all evil, Gehenna. Again, the analogy changes in verse 7 to the taming of animals, but its conclusion is terribly pessimistic: "no one can tame the tongue." And, again, speech is called "evil" and is now said to be "full of deadly poison." The author is so convinced of the power of speech that he can claim it may be the source of death!
The closing verses deal with the fact that speech is used for both good and evil. "Blessing" and "curse" should be taken in their Hebraic sense. By uttering a wish for another, we bring about that which is spoken. The words of curse can, then, actually bring disaster on the person of which it is spoken. The use of speech for both evil and good, however, can be controlled, according to the statement in verse 10b. The incongruity of speaking both evil and good is compared with three other realities from daily life -- a spring that spews both clean and dirty water, a fig tree that produces another fruit, and "salt water" that generates "fresh" water. With these vivid images, the author concludes his appeal to take speech seriously.
Several points ought to be made. First, speech is powerful; second, it is deadly dangerous; third, however it can be used for good or ill; and, fourth, it can be controlled. In spite of the renaissance of the power of language in our culture, there has also been a proliferation of inauthentic speech. By inauthentic we mean speech that does not necessarily utter the truth and that does not express the speaker's real being. Think of all the speech we hear that seeks to persuade, regardless of whether what it seeks to persuade us of is true, as is often the case with the language of advertising. Think, too, of all the speech we hear that attempts to conceal rather than reveal the truth, for example, the words that put a "spin" on a situation, as political and business language often does. On the one hand, James' appeal may seem oddly out of step with contemporary uses of language; but, on the other hand, it also smacks of a truth we need to hear. Do we take seriously the words we speak? Are they intended to speak truth, to name what really is?
Mark 8:27-38
To approach the famous story of Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi and Jesus' first prediction of his passion from the perspective of the use of language opens some shades of meaning which we may not have thought about before. The second evangelist placed this passage at the pinnacle of the story of Jesus' ministry. Everything in the narrative builds up to these verses, which in turn anticipate all the rest of the Gospel. Peter's confession and Jesus' prediction provide a literary hinge at which the narrative swings a new direction. After this passage, everything moves us step by step to the cross where Jesus is finally confessed to be "Son of God" (15:39). Moreover, in Mark's design, this passage comprises the first of three "cycles" of Jesus' prediction, the disciples' misinterpretation, and Jesus' discourse on discipleship. (See 9:31-37 and 10:33-45.)
The reading (plus 9:1) is a whole unit; however, it has discernible segments. The first is Peter's confession (vv. 27-30); the second, Jesus' prediction and the exchange between him and Peter (vv. 31-33); and third, Jesus' teaching the crowd the implications of his suffering and death (8:34--9:1).
The setting for the story is Caesarea Philippi, which stood on the very edge of Gentile territory. Jesus' first question to the disciples (v. 27) is curious, and his motives for asking it unknown. At any rate, the responses are a list of the some popular messianic characters, along with John the Baptist (whom many had identified as a messianic character). (For "one of the prophets," see Deuteronomy 34:10.) Jesus' second question turns the issue to the disciples themselves. Peter seems to have the answer nailed. "Messiah" is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew for "the anointed one." Unfortunately, our knowledge of Jewish expectations of the Messiah at the time of Jesus' ministry is almost nil, so we can't be certain what Peter might have meant by the title. Nonetheless, he puts his belief into words and utters what he believes to be the truth about Jesus. In this case, as in many others, the Markan Jesus orders the disciples to keep this matter among themselves.
After Peter's great confession of Jesus' identity, Jesus immediately introduces his suffering and death (vv. 31-32a). This gives us the impression that the announcement of his fate qualifies or defines the kind of Messiah he is to be. Whether or not there was a Jewish precedent for a suffering Messiah has long been discussed by scholars and cannot be answered with any certainty. This prediction identifies four related events -- suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection. In doing this, we are told that "he said all this quite openly" (parrasia, which is the opposite of speaking in parables or riddles). There is nothing vague about Jesus' words that would excuse Peter's misunderstanding.
In verses 32b-33 Peter and Jesus each "rebuke" (epitimao) the other. The narrator uses the same word when Jesus reprimands a demon (e.g., 2:5 and 9:25). Peter thinks he is calling the evil out of Jesus, and Jesus calls it out of Peter. Peter's resistance to the idea of Jesus' suffering and death may be no more than an expression of his love for his teacher -- he doesn't want to see Jesus suffer and die. On the other hand, perhaps that idea clashed with what Peter expected of the Messiah. The exorcism of a demon is clear in Jesus' rebuke of Peter, since he actually calls Peter "Satan." According to Mark's report, Jesus thinks Peter's resistance to the idea of Jesus' suffering is a result of his imposition of human values on to Jesus. Peter cannot grasp what God has in mind and is bound by the way humans would design their salvation.
In verse 34 Jesus "called the crowd with his disciples," thus broadening the audience so that readers cannot claim that what Jesus is about to say is intended only for the close circle of the twelve but is for all who would follow him. The address to the crowd includes several important points. First, discipleship entails sharing the same fate as Jesus (i.e., death on a cross, v. 34). Second, true life necessitates our surrender of our lives for Christ (vv. 35-37). Third, God will treat us in a way comparable to the way we have represented Christ to the world (v. 38). Fourth, the coming of the kingdom is promised within the life time of some of the crowd (9:1).
Peter attempts to put his faith into language, for that is essential for the complete apprehension of God's act in Christ. We need to speak our faith, because in so doing we not only communicate it, but also we name what is within us. However, in Peter's case, the word he uses to express his faith in Christ ("Messiah") comes loaded with preconceptions and assumptions, which is always the case with human language. What Jesus does is to substitute other words for Peter's and thereby more accurately represent his identity. Language challenges language in order to produce truth. Then Jesus warns in verse 38 that how we represent Jesus' words (logoi) in the world determines our destinies. Words matter.
Taken together, our lessons suggest that listening is vital to our spiritual well-being, that we become careful about the words we speak because we know both the power and the perils of language, and that we seek to articulate our faith in words that are consistent with God's revelation in Christ. Speech is ultimately the expression of who we are and what we think is real and valuable. So, James is right, words are deeds -- deeds which are either for good or for evil.
Yet there is one Word that stands apart. God chose to express the divine self in a single Word, Jesus Christ. When this Word is spoken, it penetrates our lives and transforms our words. The ultimate Word is God's Word that calls into question all our words and enables us both to listen faithfully and to speak with authenticity. Christ is the Word of words.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Proverbs 1:20-33
In chapters 1-9 of the book of Proverbs, the figure of Wisdom is personified as a woman. Scholars have long debated the origin or source of this personification. Some have maintained, especially on the basis of Proverbs 8:22-36, that the figure is intended as a hypostasis or representation of God, in female form, speaking and acting on behalf of the divine and equal to him. Thus there has grown up in some denominations, especially among some radical feminists, small circles of Sophia worshipers, "Sophia" being the Greek word for "Wisdom." Other scholars have attributed the female figure of Wisdom to an imitation of foreign goddesses, such as the Egyptian Maat or the Sumerian Inanni (Ishtar), and some radical feminists have included the rituals of the worship of such pagan goddesses in their liturgies. Most recently and most likely, the female figure of Wisdom is a personification of the ways of wise women mentioned throughout the Scriptures, combined with the post-exilic view of Wisdom as a mediator between God and the people of Israel. Most certainly in Proverbs, the female figure is intended neither as a divine being nor as a figure equal with God, and the worship of her is blatant idolatry. In Proverbs 8:22 and in the later book of Wisdom, she is the first act of God's creation and can be understood simply as a personification of the "plan" of God whereby he created the universe. As in all of Wisdom theology, personified Wisdom stands for the orders of nature and human life set into his creation by the Lord.
In Proverbs 1-9, Wisdom is portrayed in various roles: as one calling or preaching in the streets in our text; as a guide, guardian, and conversationalist (6:22); as a sister or intimate friend (7:4); as a hostess inviting to her table (9:1-6). In our Scripture lesson, Wisdom therefore raises her voice in the markets and from the walls and gates, chastising those who will not listen to or absorb her knowledge. They are fools; they will not learn the ways of God's creation. It reminds one of our folly in building cities and atomic power plants on the site of earthquake faults, or of constructing houses on flood plains or barrier islands subject to hurricanes. Indeed, it calls into question our whole rape and corruption of the natural world. But it also calls us to answer for our foolishness in human relations: our adultery and easy promiscuity, our greed in commerce, our absorption with ourselves and neglect of our neighbors; our unwillingness to forgive and our prejudice toward those who are different or outside of our social circle. Our Lord Jesus had a good deal to say about such foolish neglect of the ways of Wisdom, and he often included Wisdom sayings in his teaching (cf. Matthew 11:25-26; 24:45 and parallel; 25:2-13).
In our lesson, Wisdom is portrayed as laughing and scorning those who have ignored her teaching and suffered the evil consequences, verses 26-32 -- a rather vindictive note that we often mirror in our saying, "He got what was coming to him." While verse 28 reminds us of Amos 8:11-12, it does not adequately portray the pathos of God, as we find it in Genesis 6:6 or Micah 6:3. The God of the Old Testament, though he judges our wrong-doing, also agonizes and grieves over it (cf. Hosea 11:8-9), and finally his Son suffers for it and forgives it all from his cross.
Our text also makes it clear that the orders that God has set into human life and the natural world do not work automatically. The book of Job, which is a commentary on Wisdom theology, makes that quite evident. It is not the case that those who follow Wisdom teaching are automatically rewarded, and that those who do not automatically run afoul of the consequences. Rather, the orders that God has set into creation are sustained constantly by God's faithfulness. Therefore, throughout Proverbs it is the "fear of the Lord that is the beginning of Wisdom," a thought set forth in verse 29 of our text. The one who is truly wise observes not the mechanistic ways of the world, but the desire and will of God, as those are set forth in the Scriptures. The wise person "fears" God -- obeys him, stands in awe of him, searches out his ways and will, in a constant daily companionship. Thus in the New Testament finally Wisdom is given only through Jesus Christ, who is our wisdom, according to Paul (1 Corinthians 1:24, 30; cf. Colossians 2:2). We are, says Colossians, to "seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth" (Colossians 3:1-2). In our Lord Jesus, by the teaching and guidance of his Spirit, we find true wisdom.
We should also note that Wisdom teaching in the Bible has about it always a sense of humility. In Job 28:12, for example, it is acknowledged that despite all our technological and scientific skill, we cannot ourselves find full wisdom. And the Apostle Paul tells us that "now we see in a mirror dimly" and we know only "in part" (1 Corinthians 13:12). None of us can claim the full knowledge of God's will and ways, no matter how pious we may be, and none of us should ever make such a claim. Always we are dependent creatures -- dependent on our daily communion in the Spirit with our Lord, who alone is "our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, 'Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord' " (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).
Lutheran Option -- Isaiah 50:4-9a
This passage is the stated Old Testament lesson in the Revised Common Lectionary for Palm or Passion Sunday in all three cycles, A, B, and C. Because it has been expounded there, the preacher may want to refer to its treatment in back issues of Emphasis. Nevertheless, we shall deal with it here once more. Certainly the passage forms a companion piece to what was said above about humility in our treatment of Wisdom.
The text is familiarly known as the third Song of the Servant in the sixth century B.C. prophecies of the Second Isaiah (chs. 40-55). It is usually assigned to Passion Sunday because it seems so well to prefigure the suffering of our Lord during his passion and crucifixion, and his subsequent vindication in the resurrection.
Originally, the passage was intended by Second Isaiah as the role assigned by God to an ideal Israel, who was called to suffer on behalf of the nations (cf. Isaiah 52:13--53:12). However, it seems certain that the verses also reflect something of the suffering borne by the prophet -- and indeed, by all true prophets -- during their ministries.
For us, perhaps the most important point on this Sunday morning is to note the humility of the prophet and his dependence on God. Second Isaiah does not make up his words out of his own conscience, nor does he form them on the basis of what he sees happening in the world around him. Prophets do not "read the signs of the time" and come to their own conclusions. No. This prophet is a pupil. He is "taught." And God is his instructor. Each morning God wakens him and opens his ear, so that he may hear the words God gives him to proclaim.
Moreover, this prophet is a faithful messenger. When he preaches, he is scorned, as our Lord Jesus was scorned. His opponents pull his beard and spit in his face and take clubs to him. But that does not deter the prophet. He is God's faithful spokesman, and he proclaims the words that God gives him to speak, knowing that finally his words will be shown to be true as God works in the history of his people. That such trust was vindicated is shown by the fact that Second Isaiah's words, now preserved for us, were fulfilled by Christ.
But the prophet listens. Each morning he listens to God, to hear what God will say to him. And then he acts and speaks accordingly. Surely that is a worthy model for our Christian day-by-day lives: each morning to get out of bed and to listen to God -- to listen to his words as he speaks by his Holy Spirit to us through his Scriptures; to meditate on the Word of God and to pray; to resolve by the help of God to do the Lord's will for the next 24 hours. That exercise of Christian discipline can set each one of us on the right path for the day and lead us in the way of God's life and will, and not in our own.
