Lent 3
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series IX, Cycle B
Object:
Theme of the Day
Look! God doesn't do things our way.
Collect of the Day
Noting that God has called the faithful to live faithfully and act courageously, petitions are offered to remain steadfast in the covenant of grace and to be taught the wisdom that comes only through Christ. Strong emphasis on Predestination, Justification (by Grace), and Sanctification is evident.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 19
* Hymn to God as creator of nature and Giver of the Law, traditionally attributed to David.
* The sky and succession of days are said to praise God (vv. 1-6). This theme affords an opportunity to express ecological sensitivity. The verses that follow verse 6 may be a later addition, praising the revelation of God's will in the Mosaic Law (esp. vv. 7-10).
* The Psalmist prays to avoid sin (vv. 12-13). Concludes with the reminder that only with God's grace can we keep the Law.
* Concludes with famous prayer that our words and meditation may be acceptable to God (v. 14).
Sermon Text and Title
"You Shall Not Steal: But We Do It All the Time"
Exodus 20:1-17
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the Law and its condemnation of our sin (particularly pertaining to our economy's and our own exploitation of the poor), offering some Social Ethical alternatives and a word of forgiveness (Justification by Grace).
2. Exegesis
* See the source hypothesis for the Pentateuch outlined in Baptism of Our Lord, First Lesson. Exodus incorporates the variety of these once-independent sources.
* Main Sections: (1) Liberation of the Israelites from Egypt, pilgrimage to Mount Sinai, and their preservation in the wilderness (chs. 1-18); and (2) The Lord's covenant-forging revelation to Israel at Mount Sinai and providing of laws of on life and worship (the latter largely the work of P) (chs. 19-40).
* Central Themes: (1) Covenant law; (2) Along with the Exodus, this is the motive for worshiping Yahweh; (3) Observing the Law, especially those precepts protecting the disadvantaged, is related to the empathy of Israel due to its experience of slavery; and (4) The rescue of Israel from Egypt is a paradigm of God's saving power in the Torah. The election of Israel is not conditional, but is based solely on God's mercy.
* The lesson tells the story of the giving of the Ten Commandments (likely the product of a combination of J and E, perhaps by P). The prologue identifying God and what He has done (v. 2) summarizes the previous chapters. In this sense the Law and historical narrative are related. We also find this happening in verse 11b, as the Sabbath observance finds justification in the Lord resting from creation on the seventh day.
* Each Commandment is explicated.
* The name Yahweh in verse 2 may be significant. It means "I am that I am," but could also be translated "He lets be" (i.e., creates). This is a merciful God, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (34:6-7).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The Law is proclaimed (the doctrine of sin), but not without Social Ethical alternatives to exploiting the poor and a reminder that God is a God of love.
* John Wesley nicely explains why God has the authority to issue these commands: "Because God is the Lord, Jehovah, self-existent, independent, eternal, and the fountain of all being and power. Therefore He has an incontestable right to command us" (Commentary on the Bible, p. 77).
* Violation of any of the Commandments is a violation of the First, John Wesley contends:
The sin against this [First] commandment, of which we are most in danger, is giving that glory to any which is due to God only. Pride makes a God of ourselves, covetousness makes a God of money, sensuality makes a God of the belly. Whatever is loved, feared, delighted in, or depended on, more than God, of that we make a god.
(Commentary on the Bible, p. 78)
* Jonathan Edwards contended that the commandment on stealing is violated if we deceive the neighbor by taking advantage of his ignorance, selling him shoddy items. We also steal if we take advantage of his poverty (The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2, p. 222).
* Regarding the commandment against stealing, Wesley wrote:
This commandment forbids us to rob ourselves of what we have, by sinful spending, or of the use and comfort of it by sinful sparing; and to rob others by invading our neighbor's rights, taking his goods, or house, or field, forcibly or clandestinely, over-reaching in bargains, not restoring what is borrowed or found, withholding just debts, rents, or wages.
(Commentary on the Bible, p. 81)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* Google any of the latest social trends pertaining to justice for the poor, the economy, sex and marriage, or homosexuality. Also consider the data for the First Lesson, Advent 3, and all the misadventures of the financial corporations that helped bring about the severe economic downturn that began in 2007-2008.
* Regarding sexual indiscretions, see Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights for Gospel, Lent 2.
* For a detailed summary of the latest image-shattering scientific data and bibliography pertaining to homosexuality, Google my article on homosexuality in Lutheran Forum Online (October, 2009). To get a full picture of the role our brain chemicals play in heterosexual marriage, see both Helen Fisher, The Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray, and Kerstin Uvnas-Moberg, The Oxytocin Factor: Tapping the Harmony of Calm, Love, and Healing.
* Jonathan Edwards reminds us that "smart" business deals readily fall into theft:
When the necessity of poor indigent people is the very thing whence others take occasion to raise the price of provisions, even above the market; this is such an oppression… let us remember, that it is owing only to the distinguishing goodness of God to us, that we are not in their circumstances….
(The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2, p. 222)
* Martin Luther earlier made similar points: "You farmers and townsmen are, almost all of you, thieves and skinflints!... Don't think that God established the market to be a den of thieves. It is a market, not a skin-game" (Luther's Works, Vol. 51, p. 156).
* The Reformer also described what the commandment against theft entails positively for our behavior: "We are to fear and love God, so that we neither take our neighbors' money or property nor acquire them by using shoddy merchandise or crooked deals, but instead help them to improve and protect their property and income" (The Book of Concord, p. 353).
* In a similar spirit, Edwards proposed restitution as a means of practicing true honesty:
Therefore I counsel you who are conscious that you have heretofore wronged your neighbour, either by fraud, or oppression, or unfaithfulness, or stealing, whether lately or formerly, though it may have been a great while ago, speedily to go and make restitution for the wrong your neighbour has suffered at your hands. That it was done long ago, doth not quit you from obligation to restore.
(The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2, p. 226)
* Contrary to popular perception, something like such restitution or redistribution of wealth is even found in the writings of America's Founders. These words of Alexander Hamilton are representative:
Happy it is when the interest which the government has in the preservation of its own power coincides with a proper distribution of the public burdens and trend to guard the least wealthy part of the community from oppression.
(The Federalist Papers, pp. 222-223)
5. Gimmick
Thou shall not steal. One of the easy commandments. None (or very few) of us ever broke it. Not so fast.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Christians like us who believe we have not or never have broken the commandment "Thou shall not steal" need a re-education in the demands of the Ten Commandments. These are not halfway measures. They demand absolute obedience. And we do not give absolute obedience to God, even when we do outwardly good deeds. Martin Luther said it well:
For man cannot but seek his own advantages and love Himself above all things. And this is the sum of all his iniquities. Hence even in good things and virtues men seek themselves, that is, they seek to please themselves and applaud themselves.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 25, p. 222)
* Get the point? In everything we do we sin, because we are always trying to please ourselves first, and God second. That's one of the ways in which we have all broken the commandment, "Thou shall not steal" (as well as all the other ones). Have the congregation reflect on their selfish motives for trying to keep God's Commandments (e.g. that it feels good, gives status, or keeps them out of trouble). We make those reasons for obeying God's commands more important than God Himself, and in so doing we sin. Consider the second quotation by John Wesley cited in Theological Insights.
* But we break the command in other ways, Luther, John Wesley, and other prominent Protestant church leaders teach us. We steal all the time. We do it whenever we try to make a "good deal," to sucker someone by selling a product at a higher price or stealing from the owner and his workers by getting a product at a price where they barely break even. Elaborate on the points raised in the quotes above by Wesley (in the last bullet point in Theological Insights), Jonathan Edwards (in both Theological Insights and Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights), and Martin Luther (in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights).
* Point out how we have all sinned on this score, seeking the best deal to our advantage. And we could turn to every one of the other nine commandments and find ourselves guilty for similar reasons, as all our actions are self-serving. Call it original sin. This is why we need Lent big time, to repent for our sins.
* Where do we go from here? For all the condemnation associated with this First Lesson, there is some good news. Point out how the text portrays God as a loving God who cared for Israel, in liberating them from Egypt and slavery (v. 2). He still cares for us that way. He sent Jesus to die for us (see Second Lesson and the theme of grace in the Prayer of the Day).
* Highlight the last bullet point of Exegesis regarding the name of God used in this lesson -- Yahweh. As the I am that I am, this is a God whom the book of Exodus teaches is "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" (34:6-7). The fact that this identification of God as a merciful, forgiving God emerges at a renewal of the covenant implicit in the Ten Commandments suggests that this is God's view of the ultimate disposition of the Ten Commandments.
* A loving, forgiving God changes lives. This leads to spontaneous expressions of gratitude. Such a love gets us on fire with His love. It creates a desire not to want to steal anymore, or do anything contrary to God's will. Elaborate on various images to make this point found in Theological Insights for the Second Lesson, Epiphany 2; the last Calvin quote in Theological Insights for the Gospel, Ash Wednesday; the first quotation of Luther in Theological Insights for the Second Lesson, Lent 2.
* Of course we can never fully stop sinning on this side of the second coming. But Martin Luther and Jonathan Edwards provide some eye-opening suggestions of how theft could be overcome. Cite the last two bullet points in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Luther implies that we continue to immerse ourselves in the sin of theft as long as there are poor among us whom we have not helped improve their money and property. Get that? We are called to help people in the streets and the welfare moms. If anything, the great American Puritan Jonathan Edwards is even more radical. He went so far as to advocate reparations for the poor (even if their grievances happened long ago)! Also consider the quote by Hamilton to show that this is an American idea, not just a Christian one.
7. Wrap-Up
Pause after these last points to let them sink in. Note that it looks like we have a lot to learn about theft and how to avoid it, a lot to learn about the Ten Commandments and how to keep them. But we will need God's grace and the love of God to teach us. This is what Lent and Easter are all about.
Sermon Text and Title
"We Must All Be Crazy: The Rebellious Absurdity of the Christian Faith"
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the hiddenness of the Christian faith and the lifestyle of rebellion (Sanctification) against evil in all forms (Social Ethics) that faith's hiddenness entails.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Having sought to address the divisions in the Corinthian church (vv. 10-17), Paul continues his appeal for unity with a discourse on the Cross of Christ.
* He notes that the cross is foolishness for those perishing but is the power of God for those saved (v.18).
* Citing Isaiah 29:14 in the Greek translation, reference is made to how the Cross destroys the wisdom of the wise (v. 19). God makes foolish the wisdom of the world (v. 20).
* The world's wisdom could not know the wisdom of God. Thus God decided to save believers through the foolishness of Paul's proclamation (v. 21).
* Jews demand signs and Greeks wisdom, but Paul proclaims Christ crucified, which is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (vv. 22-24).
* God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness stronger than human strength (v. 25).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The lesson is suggestive of Martin Luther's famed Theology of the cross -- the belief that God works in hidden ways, confounding the wisdom of he world. Attention is also given to the implications of these commitments for the Christian life (Sanctification and Social Ethics).
* In his famed Heidelberg Disputation, the Reformer wrote:
4. Although the works of God are always unattractive and appear evil, they are nevertheless really eternal merits.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 39)
20. He deserves to be called a theologian, however, who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross.
(Ibid., p. 40)
* In Luther's view, "Christ helps the world by confounding the world's wisdom…" (Ibid., Vol. 22, p. 342).
* For relevant quotations pertaining to the hiddenness of God, see Theological Insights for the First Lesson, Epiphany 2 and the last bullet point in that section for the Second Lesson, Ash Wednesday.
* Søren Kierkegaard often spoke of the paradoxical character of Christian faith, which is a function of the fact this it is a religion in which "the eternal truth and existence are placed in juxtaposition with one another." It creates objective and uncertainty and throws the believer back to his or her subjectivity (Concluding Unscientific Postscript, pp. 186-187). In fact, the audacious Christian claim that "the eternal truth has come into being in time, that God has come into being, has been born, has grown up, and so forth, precisely like any other human being" is said to be absurd (Ibid., p. 188).
* Karl Barth echoes the great existentialist in speaking of the apparent absurdity of faith: "The Bible may seem absurd to us because it is not about us but about God" (Word of God & Word of Man, p. 43).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* A 2002 Gallup poll showed that 1 in 2 American adults have no affiliation with organized religion. Presumably Christianity is crazy for many, if not most of them.
5. Gimmick
A quotation that appeared early in the 1990s in U.S. News & World Report is still timely:
In previous eras [it may have been different]… [But] Now, when months and years seem clogged with the pursuit of condos, cars and college tuitions [perhaps we should add retirement fund woes, Facebook encounters, and the constant barrage of emails], the presumption that life is a spiritual quest has faded.
We are so hung up on the things of life, just getting all the things we (think we) need and finding time for it, that the search for spiritual things, for a relationship with God, just doesn't count for much, doesn't make sense. It goes against the grain of common sense. It's absurd.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Faith goes against common sense. Faith seems absurd. Note the poll data above in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights that seem to undergird this conclusion.
* Cite verses 22-23 regarding the demand for signs by the Jews and wisdom by the Greeks, while Christians just preach Christ crucified a stumbling block for all. Concede that to believe as Christians do, that God actually lived a human life and died like a criminal, seems absurd.
* Address pious responses in the congregation to such suggestions. Have them step outside themselves to look at our faith as the world does. Many of our beliefs really are absurd. Belief in God cannot be proven. Where is He in view of all the present wars and social turmoil we face?
* Address the congregation like an unbeliever. Dare those Christians again to make sense of this odd claim that God became a man and died.
* Note your efforts in pointing out the absurdity of faith have been intended not to weaken, but to strengthen the congregation's faith. The oddness of our beliefs is a strength. To be a Christian is to be a rebel against the ways of the world.
* Initially some in the congregation may object, seeing themselves as good, God-fearing Americans who help make the system work. But point out in fact Christians are at cross-purposes (like bearing the cross) to the ways of the world and to the system. The first Christians were rebels, and we may begin to take our faith more seriously if we join them in rebellion. Young people find their identity in rebelling against authority, and the more you rebel the more status you have. Being a Christian rebel is even more profound and agreeable.
* Explain what is involved in rebellion. Introduce Albert Camus' idea of being a rebel, one committed to the absurd dialogue between human beings asking "why" and the seemingly uncompromising meaninglessness of the universe (The Rebel, pp. 10-11, 306). Rebellion is a protest against evil and suffering, a confrontation of all that oppresses (Ibid., pp. 101, 13). If all are not saved, he claims, what good is the salvation of one? Rebellion affirms all of humanity. "I rebel; therefore we exist," he claims (Ibid., pp. 104).
* Cite passages showing our rebelliousness -- going against the system and its meaninglessness. See verse 25. The word says go with the flow, but our faith proclaims some values are worth the sacrifice (Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24). The world teaches "grab for all the gusto you can." But our faith rebels against the world's wisdom, reminding us that lifetime commitments and self-denial for the sake of others are the way to true joy, peace, and fulfillment (Matthew 21:34ff; Mark 8:34-38; 10:2-9). Christians spend their lives rebelling against the world's ways.
* It takes courage to live that kind of life. (But you only live it when you first realize how far out on the fringes your faith is.) We see that courage in our Lord in today's Gospel Lesson (John 2:13-22). In cleansing the Temple Jesus took on the Jewish establishment of His day. That Jesus of ours was a real rebel. And of course that is the Father's style too, as He habitually chooses the foolish in the world to shame the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27ff). That's the background for this lesson and its claim that the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and that the weakness of God is stronger than men (v. 25).
* How far on the fringes is our faith? Why is it so paradoxical? Use the reference in Theological Insights to Søren Kierkegaard's and Karl Barth's explanations of the absurdity of faith. Or simply refer again to how a God becoming human (essentially this is Kierkegaard's point) is an absurd claim.
* Why does it matter? Why is it good for us to believe this way? Besides sensitizing our rebelliousness against what is sick in the world (see Luther's claim in Theological Insights about Christ being good for the world in confounding its wisdom), appreciating the absurdity and paradoxical character of what we Christians believe exercises our faith, makes faith more important.
* Søren Kierkegaard offers a penetrating observation about how the paradox (the absurdity of Christianity) relates to our faith in everyday life: "When the believer has faith the absurd is not the absurd… faith transforms it, but in every weak moment it is again more or less absurd to him. The passion of faith is the only thing that masters the absurd." Faith makes what is absurd about Christianity not so absurd.
7. Wrap-Up
Conclude by reflecting on the comfort our absurd belief system offers. It has to do with the foolishness of God and His love. Martin Luther sees in this foolishness a paradoxical God who hides Himself in a wonderful love, which paradoxically does not seek pleasure, but is totally generous and giving:
23. The love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it. [But] The love of man comes into being through that which is pleasing to it.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 41)
This paradoxical, seemingly absurd love of God changes us, makes us attractive:
Rather than seeking its own good, the love of God flows forth and bestows good. Therefore sinners are attractive because they are loved; they are not loved because they are attractive.
(Ibid., p. 57)
Loved in a way that the word does not love, but now loving and attractive, Christians cannot but rebel -- rebel against the meaningless ways of the world. Good to be crazy Christians.
Sermon Text and Title
"Jesus, the Money Changers, and Us: The Church's Misadventures in Commercialism"
John 2:13-22
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
Helping the flock to see that commercialism (the church's buying and selling of goods for profit) contradicts Jesus' expectations and we need to offer alternatives (Sanctification) and insofar as this is a matter of enhancing stewardship commitments, the sermon has implications for the doctrine of the church. The theme of the hiddenness of God's ways is in the background of these commitments.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* The story of the cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem. Unlike the Synoptic Gospel accounts of the event (Matthew 21:12-17; Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48), John locates this story early in Jesus' ministry.
* Jesus has traveled from the wedding at Cana to Capernaum and then to Jerusalem (vv. 12-13).
* Seeing people selling animals and money changers, He drives them out of the Temple by pouring out their coins and overturning their tables (vv. 14-15). He charges them with making His Father's house a marketplace (v. 16). In so doing, He seems to identify Himself as God's Son.
* The disciples recall Psalm 69:9 that "zeal for Your house will consume me" (v. 17). They recall this after Jesus' resurrection (v. 22).
* The Jews ask for a sign and Jesus responds that in three days the Temple will be destroyed and raised up (v. 20). He was referring to His body's death and resurrection (v. 21).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The doctrines of Sanctification (esp. stewardship) and church are addressed by the text. Also surfacing is the hiddenness of God and the gospel.
* A social statement of the Lutheran Church in America (now part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) nicely summarizes the arguments against the church buying and selling goods in order to raise funds for itself (commercialism):
Commercialism… vitiates the clear relationship between the giving of the Christian and the mission of the church. It fails to bear testimony to the mission of the church and creates a false image of the church… (a) It involves the church in other than its true business of giving -- giving the gospel to all men. (b) It is used instead of giving….
(Commercialism)
* In dealing with Jesus' harsh treatment of the money changers, why He did not simply reprimand them, Martin Luther suggests that Jesus was not bound by the Law, though observes many phases of it (Luther's Works, Vol. 22, p. 233).
* About Jesus' identification of His body with the temple (vv. 20-21), Martin Luther also writes:
Whoever wished to call upon God or come before Him, had to come to the Temple in Jerusalem or turn his face toward it… for in Jerusalem was the abode of God. But today, in the New Testament, God has established another temple for His residence: The precious humanity of Lord Jesus Christ. There and nowhere else God wants to be found.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 22, p. 249)
* John Calvin gives good advice based on verse 22 (the disciples' recollection of Jesus' prophecy only after His resurrection): It seems that sometimes though the actions and sayings of Jesus are obscure for a time, we need not despair, for they produce fruit in their own time (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVII/2, p. 99).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* The account indicates that business permeates all aspects of American life, including religion and the church.
* For an account of how business has shaped our values, even our way of doing family, see Richard Sennett, The Corrosion of Character.
* For ways in which the business models have permeated the church, this is evident from the numerous websites devoted to ideas for commercialism.
5. Gimmick
The mantra of the first Clinton campaign for presidency is still appropriate today. "It's the economy, stupid." Everything is all about economics -- even in the church.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Seems like business permeated most every dimension of life in the Roman empire. After all, the Roman empire was the first great multinational capitalist economy. It seems the economic juggernaut was even having its impact in the outer reaches of the empire, in Israel.
* Jesus came to the Temple in Jerusalem and did not like what He saw. He found people there selling cattle, sheep, and doves, with money changers surrounding the grounds (v. 14). Angered, Jesus drove them out of the Temple, overturning their tables (v. 15). No way He would tolerate God His Father's base (the Temple) being made a marketplace (v. 16).
* Note how Jesus was asked for a justification for these actions by some Jewish leaders. He responds that in three days the Temple will be destroyed and be raised up (v. 20). The author of the gospel makes clear that Jesus' reference to the Temple here was to His body (the new dwelling place of God), and so to his resurrection after three days in the tomb (v. 21).
* What does all this have to do with how economics permeates all we do? Surely Jesus would not equate what the Jews were doing with a few innocent fund-raisers here at church. Pause. Then ask, "Are you sure?" The connections have to do with the Easter word of resurrection, how it changes the old order because God's ways are not our ways.
* Depending on whether the congregation to which this sermon is preached engages in commercialism, there are two related strategies. Either way, put the intentions of those who work on such projects in the best light, praising their intentions and investment of time. Just note that such activities are too much hung-up on doing things the world's way, not enough on God's Easter way about which Jesus speaks.
* The world expects an institution to pay its way. The world is governed by principles of the law -- do this and you get what you deserve; pay for it and it's yours. But the Easter and the Resurrection are about forgiveness and love. God doesn't do things our way.
* This is the problem. If the church is involved in God's thing, and God's thing is giving love away, the church blows it when it sells its wares to make a profit. Cite the statement of the Lutheran Church in America noted in Theological Insights. Elaborate further on that idea. Do we really communicate God's unconditional, no-strings-attached love if we only do things for people in the community if they pay? (When you get a financial cushion through such means members may give less.)
* Note that Lent is a season of confessing sin and repentance. Perhaps this is the time for the congregation to repent of its sinfulness of trying to run the church according to the world's ways rather than God's ways, to change our procedures in stewardship.
* But some may ask how we can responsibly make up the difference in the money we lose from not doing commercialism. We could say "God will provide…" (Genesis 22:8). John Calvin offers an interesting thought on the matter. (Cite the Calvin quote in Theological Insights.) What seems an odd way to do business at the time sometimes will produce fruit in due time.
7. Wrap-Up
Urge members to consider this story the next time the congregation plans (or contemplates) a fund-raiser. Keep in mind the church's true business, giving away God's love like it is given freely to us. Time is valuable. (Remember the urgency of faith, the need to use every minute and not procrastinate [Mark 1:15].) Do we use such valuable time to act like a business (selling things) or to act like the church, giving away God's love? Why not give away the things we would have sold? God's forgiving love will keep pestering us. God's forgiving love redirects our misadventures. Invite congregation to give that love away!
Look! God doesn't do things our way.
Collect of the Day
Noting that God has called the faithful to live faithfully and act courageously, petitions are offered to remain steadfast in the covenant of grace and to be taught the wisdom that comes only through Christ. Strong emphasis on Predestination, Justification (by Grace), and Sanctification is evident.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 19
* Hymn to God as creator of nature and Giver of the Law, traditionally attributed to David.
* The sky and succession of days are said to praise God (vv. 1-6). This theme affords an opportunity to express ecological sensitivity. The verses that follow verse 6 may be a later addition, praising the revelation of God's will in the Mosaic Law (esp. vv. 7-10).
* The Psalmist prays to avoid sin (vv. 12-13). Concludes with the reminder that only with God's grace can we keep the Law.
* Concludes with famous prayer that our words and meditation may be acceptable to God (v. 14).
Sermon Text and Title
"You Shall Not Steal: But We Do It All the Time"
Exodus 20:1-17
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the Law and its condemnation of our sin (particularly pertaining to our economy's and our own exploitation of the poor), offering some Social Ethical alternatives and a word of forgiveness (Justification by Grace).
2. Exegesis
* See the source hypothesis for the Pentateuch outlined in Baptism of Our Lord, First Lesson. Exodus incorporates the variety of these once-independent sources.
* Main Sections: (1) Liberation of the Israelites from Egypt, pilgrimage to Mount Sinai, and their preservation in the wilderness (chs. 1-18); and (2) The Lord's covenant-forging revelation to Israel at Mount Sinai and providing of laws of on life and worship (the latter largely the work of P) (chs. 19-40).
* Central Themes: (1) Covenant law; (2) Along with the Exodus, this is the motive for worshiping Yahweh; (3) Observing the Law, especially those precepts protecting the disadvantaged, is related to the empathy of Israel due to its experience of slavery; and (4) The rescue of Israel from Egypt is a paradigm of God's saving power in the Torah. The election of Israel is not conditional, but is based solely on God's mercy.
* The lesson tells the story of the giving of the Ten Commandments (likely the product of a combination of J and E, perhaps by P). The prologue identifying God and what He has done (v. 2) summarizes the previous chapters. In this sense the Law and historical narrative are related. We also find this happening in verse 11b, as the Sabbath observance finds justification in the Lord resting from creation on the seventh day.
* Each Commandment is explicated.
* The name Yahweh in verse 2 may be significant. It means "I am that I am," but could also be translated "He lets be" (i.e., creates). This is a merciful God, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (34:6-7).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The Law is proclaimed (the doctrine of sin), but not without Social Ethical alternatives to exploiting the poor and a reminder that God is a God of love.
* John Wesley nicely explains why God has the authority to issue these commands: "Because God is the Lord, Jehovah, self-existent, independent, eternal, and the fountain of all being and power. Therefore He has an incontestable right to command us" (Commentary on the Bible, p. 77).
* Violation of any of the Commandments is a violation of the First, John Wesley contends:
The sin against this [First] commandment, of which we are most in danger, is giving that glory to any which is due to God only. Pride makes a God of ourselves, covetousness makes a God of money, sensuality makes a God of the belly. Whatever is loved, feared, delighted in, or depended on, more than God, of that we make a god.
(Commentary on the Bible, p. 78)
* Jonathan Edwards contended that the commandment on stealing is violated if we deceive the neighbor by taking advantage of his ignorance, selling him shoddy items. We also steal if we take advantage of his poverty (The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2, p. 222).
* Regarding the commandment against stealing, Wesley wrote:
This commandment forbids us to rob ourselves of what we have, by sinful spending, or of the use and comfort of it by sinful sparing; and to rob others by invading our neighbor's rights, taking his goods, or house, or field, forcibly or clandestinely, over-reaching in bargains, not restoring what is borrowed or found, withholding just debts, rents, or wages.
(Commentary on the Bible, p. 81)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* Google any of the latest social trends pertaining to justice for the poor, the economy, sex and marriage, or homosexuality. Also consider the data for the First Lesson, Advent 3, and all the misadventures of the financial corporations that helped bring about the severe economic downturn that began in 2007-2008.
* Regarding sexual indiscretions, see Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights for Gospel, Lent 2.
* For a detailed summary of the latest image-shattering scientific data and bibliography pertaining to homosexuality, Google my article on homosexuality in Lutheran Forum Online (October, 2009). To get a full picture of the role our brain chemicals play in heterosexual marriage, see both Helen Fisher, The Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray, and Kerstin Uvnas-Moberg, The Oxytocin Factor: Tapping the Harmony of Calm, Love, and Healing.
* Jonathan Edwards reminds us that "smart" business deals readily fall into theft:
When the necessity of poor indigent people is the very thing whence others take occasion to raise the price of provisions, even above the market; this is such an oppression… let us remember, that it is owing only to the distinguishing goodness of God to us, that we are not in their circumstances….
(The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2, p. 222)
* Martin Luther earlier made similar points: "You farmers and townsmen are, almost all of you, thieves and skinflints!... Don't think that God established the market to be a den of thieves. It is a market, not a skin-game" (Luther's Works, Vol. 51, p. 156).
* The Reformer also described what the commandment against theft entails positively for our behavior: "We are to fear and love God, so that we neither take our neighbors' money or property nor acquire them by using shoddy merchandise or crooked deals, but instead help them to improve and protect their property and income" (The Book of Concord, p. 353).
* In a similar spirit, Edwards proposed restitution as a means of practicing true honesty:
Therefore I counsel you who are conscious that you have heretofore wronged your neighbour, either by fraud, or oppression, or unfaithfulness, or stealing, whether lately or formerly, though it may have been a great while ago, speedily to go and make restitution for the wrong your neighbour has suffered at your hands. That it was done long ago, doth not quit you from obligation to restore.
(The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2, p. 226)
* Contrary to popular perception, something like such restitution or redistribution of wealth is even found in the writings of America's Founders. These words of Alexander Hamilton are representative:
Happy it is when the interest which the government has in the preservation of its own power coincides with a proper distribution of the public burdens and trend to guard the least wealthy part of the community from oppression.
(The Federalist Papers, pp. 222-223)
5. Gimmick
Thou shall not steal. One of the easy commandments. None (or very few) of us ever broke it. Not so fast.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Christians like us who believe we have not or never have broken the commandment "Thou shall not steal" need a re-education in the demands of the Ten Commandments. These are not halfway measures. They demand absolute obedience. And we do not give absolute obedience to God, even when we do outwardly good deeds. Martin Luther said it well:
For man cannot but seek his own advantages and love Himself above all things. And this is the sum of all his iniquities. Hence even in good things and virtues men seek themselves, that is, they seek to please themselves and applaud themselves.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 25, p. 222)
* Get the point? In everything we do we sin, because we are always trying to please ourselves first, and God second. That's one of the ways in which we have all broken the commandment, "Thou shall not steal" (as well as all the other ones). Have the congregation reflect on their selfish motives for trying to keep God's Commandments (e.g. that it feels good, gives status, or keeps them out of trouble). We make those reasons for obeying God's commands more important than God Himself, and in so doing we sin. Consider the second quotation by John Wesley cited in Theological Insights.
* But we break the command in other ways, Luther, John Wesley, and other prominent Protestant church leaders teach us. We steal all the time. We do it whenever we try to make a "good deal," to sucker someone by selling a product at a higher price or stealing from the owner and his workers by getting a product at a price where they barely break even. Elaborate on the points raised in the quotes above by Wesley (in the last bullet point in Theological Insights), Jonathan Edwards (in both Theological Insights and Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights), and Martin Luther (in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights).
* Point out how we have all sinned on this score, seeking the best deal to our advantage. And we could turn to every one of the other nine commandments and find ourselves guilty for similar reasons, as all our actions are self-serving. Call it original sin. This is why we need Lent big time, to repent for our sins.
* Where do we go from here? For all the condemnation associated with this First Lesson, there is some good news. Point out how the text portrays God as a loving God who cared for Israel, in liberating them from Egypt and slavery (v. 2). He still cares for us that way. He sent Jesus to die for us (see Second Lesson and the theme of grace in the Prayer of the Day).
* Highlight the last bullet point of Exegesis regarding the name of God used in this lesson -- Yahweh. As the I am that I am, this is a God whom the book of Exodus teaches is "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" (34:6-7). The fact that this identification of God as a merciful, forgiving God emerges at a renewal of the covenant implicit in the Ten Commandments suggests that this is God's view of the ultimate disposition of the Ten Commandments.
* A loving, forgiving God changes lives. This leads to spontaneous expressions of gratitude. Such a love gets us on fire with His love. It creates a desire not to want to steal anymore, or do anything contrary to God's will. Elaborate on various images to make this point found in Theological Insights for the Second Lesson, Epiphany 2; the last Calvin quote in Theological Insights for the Gospel, Ash Wednesday; the first quotation of Luther in Theological Insights for the Second Lesson, Lent 2.
* Of course we can never fully stop sinning on this side of the second coming. But Martin Luther and Jonathan Edwards provide some eye-opening suggestions of how theft could be overcome. Cite the last two bullet points in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Luther implies that we continue to immerse ourselves in the sin of theft as long as there are poor among us whom we have not helped improve their money and property. Get that? We are called to help people in the streets and the welfare moms. If anything, the great American Puritan Jonathan Edwards is even more radical. He went so far as to advocate reparations for the poor (even if their grievances happened long ago)! Also consider the quote by Hamilton to show that this is an American idea, not just a Christian one.
7. Wrap-Up
Pause after these last points to let them sink in. Note that it looks like we have a lot to learn about theft and how to avoid it, a lot to learn about the Ten Commandments and how to keep them. But we will need God's grace and the love of God to teach us. This is what Lent and Easter are all about.
Sermon Text and Title
"We Must All Be Crazy: The Rebellious Absurdity of the Christian Faith"
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the hiddenness of the Christian faith and the lifestyle of rebellion (Sanctification) against evil in all forms (Social Ethics) that faith's hiddenness entails.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Having sought to address the divisions in the Corinthian church (vv. 10-17), Paul continues his appeal for unity with a discourse on the Cross of Christ.
* He notes that the cross is foolishness for those perishing but is the power of God for those saved (v.18).
* Citing Isaiah 29:14 in the Greek translation, reference is made to how the Cross destroys the wisdom of the wise (v. 19). God makes foolish the wisdom of the world (v. 20).
* The world's wisdom could not know the wisdom of God. Thus God decided to save believers through the foolishness of Paul's proclamation (v. 21).
* Jews demand signs and Greeks wisdom, but Paul proclaims Christ crucified, which is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (vv. 22-24).
* God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness stronger than human strength (v. 25).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The lesson is suggestive of Martin Luther's famed Theology of the cross -- the belief that God works in hidden ways, confounding the wisdom of he world. Attention is also given to the implications of these commitments for the Christian life (Sanctification and Social Ethics).
* In his famed Heidelberg Disputation, the Reformer wrote:
4. Although the works of God are always unattractive and appear evil, they are nevertheless really eternal merits.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 39)
20. He deserves to be called a theologian, however, who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross.
(Ibid., p. 40)
* In Luther's view, "Christ helps the world by confounding the world's wisdom…" (Ibid., Vol. 22, p. 342).
* For relevant quotations pertaining to the hiddenness of God, see Theological Insights for the First Lesson, Epiphany 2 and the last bullet point in that section for the Second Lesson, Ash Wednesday.
* Søren Kierkegaard often spoke of the paradoxical character of Christian faith, which is a function of the fact this it is a religion in which "the eternal truth and existence are placed in juxtaposition with one another." It creates objective and uncertainty and throws the believer back to his or her subjectivity (Concluding Unscientific Postscript, pp. 186-187). In fact, the audacious Christian claim that "the eternal truth has come into being in time, that God has come into being, has been born, has grown up, and so forth, precisely like any other human being" is said to be absurd (Ibid., p. 188).
* Karl Barth echoes the great existentialist in speaking of the apparent absurdity of faith: "The Bible may seem absurd to us because it is not about us but about God" (Word of God & Word of Man, p. 43).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* A 2002 Gallup poll showed that 1 in 2 American adults have no affiliation with organized religion. Presumably Christianity is crazy for many, if not most of them.
5. Gimmick
A quotation that appeared early in the 1990s in U.S. News & World Report is still timely:
In previous eras [it may have been different]… [But] Now, when months and years seem clogged with the pursuit of condos, cars and college tuitions [perhaps we should add retirement fund woes, Facebook encounters, and the constant barrage of emails], the presumption that life is a spiritual quest has faded.
We are so hung up on the things of life, just getting all the things we (think we) need and finding time for it, that the search for spiritual things, for a relationship with God, just doesn't count for much, doesn't make sense. It goes against the grain of common sense. It's absurd.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Faith goes against common sense. Faith seems absurd. Note the poll data above in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights that seem to undergird this conclusion.
* Cite verses 22-23 regarding the demand for signs by the Jews and wisdom by the Greeks, while Christians just preach Christ crucified a stumbling block for all. Concede that to believe as Christians do, that God actually lived a human life and died like a criminal, seems absurd.
* Address pious responses in the congregation to such suggestions. Have them step outside themselves to look at our faith as the world does. Many of our beliefs really are absurd. Belief in God cannot be proven. Where is He in view of all the present wars and social turmoil we face?
* Address the congregation like an unbeliever. Dare those Christians again to make sense of this odd claim that God became a man and died.
* Note your efforts in pointing out the absurdity of faith have been intended not to weaken, but to strengthen the congregation's faith. The oddness of our beliefs is a strength. To be a Christian is to be a rebel against the ways of the world.
* Initially some in the congregation may object, seeing themselves as good, God-fearing Americans who help make the system work. But point out in fact Christians are at cross-purposes (like bearing the cross) to the ways of the world and to the system. The first Christians were rebels, and we may begin to take our faith more seriously if we join them in rebellion. Young people find their identity in rebelling against authority, and the more you rebel the more status you have. Being a Christian rebel is even more profound and agreeable.
* Explain what is involved in rebellion. Introduce Albert Camus' idea of being a rebel, one committed to the absurd dialogue between human beings asking "why" and the seemingly uncompromising meaninglessness of the universe (The Rebel, pp. 10-11, 306). Rebellion is a protest against evil and suffering, a confrontation of all that oppresses (Ibid., pp. 101, 13). If all are not saved, he claims, what good is the salvation of one? Rebellion affirms all of humanity. "I rebel; therefore we exist," he claims (Ibid., pp. 104).
* Cite passages showing our rebelliousness -- going against the system and its meaninglessness. See verse 25. The word says go with the flow, but our faith proclaims some values are worth the sacrifice (Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24). The world teaches "grab for all the gusto you can." But our faith rebels against the world's wisdom, reminding us that lifetime commitments and self-denial for the sake of others are the way to true joy, peace, and fulfillment (Matthew 21:34ff; Mark 8:34-38; 10:2-9). Christians spend their lives rebelling against the world's ways.
* It takes courage to live that kind of life. (But you only live it when you first realize how far out on the fringes your faith is.) We see that courage in our Lord in today's Gospel Lesson (John 2:13-22). In cleansing the Temple Jesus took on the Jewish establishment of His day. That Jesus of ours was a real rebel. And of course that is the Father's style too, as He habitually chooses the foolish in the world to shame the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27ff). That's the background for this lesson and its claim that the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and that the weakness of God is stronger than men (v. 25).
* How far on the fringes is our faith? Why is it so paradoxical? Use the reference in Theological Insights to Søren Kierkegaard's and Karl Barth's explanations of the absurdity of faith. Or simply refer again to how a God becoming human (essentially this is Kierkegaard's point) is an absurd claim.
* Why does it matter? Why is it good for us to believe this way? Besides sensitizing our rebelliousness against what is sick in the world (see Luther's claim in Theological Insights about Christ being good for the world in confounding its wisdom), appreciating the absurdity and paradoxical character of what we Christians believe exercises our faith, makes faith more important.
* Søren Kierkegaard offers a penetrating observation about how the paradox (the absurdity of Christianity) relates to our faith in everyday life: "When the believer has faith the absurd is not the absurd… faith transforms it, but in every weak moment it is again more or less absurd to him. The passion of faith is the only thing that masters the absurd." Faith makes what is absurd about Christianity not so absurd.
7. Wrap-Up
Conclude by reflecting on the comfort our absurd belief system offers. It has to do with the foolishness of God and His love. Martin Luther sees in this foolishness a paradoxical God who hides Himself in a wonderful love, which paradoxically does not seek pleasure, but is totally generous and giving:
23. The love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it. [But] The love of man comes into being through that which is pleasing to it.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 41)
This paradoxical, seemingly absurd love of God changes us, makes us attractive:
Rather than seeking its own good, the love of God flows forth and bestows good. Therefore sinners are attractive because they are loved; they are not loved because they are attractive.
(Ibid., p. 57)
Loved in a way that the word does not love, but now loving and attractive, Christians cannot but rebel -- rebel against the meaningless ways of the world. Good to be crazy Christians.
Sermon Text and Title
"Jesus, the Money Changers, and Us: The Church's Misadventures in Commercialism"
John 2:13-22
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
Helping the flock to see that commercialism (the church's buying and selling of goods for profit) contradicts Jesus' expectations and we need to offer alternatives (Sanctification) and insofar as this is a matter of enhancing stewardship commitments, the sermon has implications for the doctrine of the church. The theme of the hiddenness of God's ways is in the background of these commitments.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* The story of the cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem. Unlike the Synoptic Gospel accounts of the event (Matthew 21:12-17; Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48), John locates this story early in Jesus' ministry.
* Jesus has traveled from the wedding at Cana to Capernaum and then to Jerusalem (vv. 12-13).
* Seeing people selling animals and money changers, He drives them out of the Temple by pouring out their coins and overturning their tables (vv. 14-15). He charges them with making His Father's house a marketplace (v. 16). In so doing, He seems to identify Himself as God's Son.
* The disciples recall Psalm 69:9 that "zeal for Your house will consume me" (v. 17). They recall this after Jesus' resurrection (v. 22).
* The Jews ask for a sign and Jesus responds that in three days the Temple will be destroyed and raised up (v. 20). He was referring to His body's death and resurrection (v. 21).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The doctrines of Sanctification (esp. stewardship) and church are addressed by the text. Also surfacing is the hiddenness of God and the gospel.
* A social statement of the Lutheran Church in America (now part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) nicely summarizes the arguments against the church buying and selling goods in order to raise funds for itself (commercialism):
Commercialism… vitiates the clear relationship between the giving of the Christian and the mission of the church. It fails to bear testimony to the mission of the church and creates a false image of the church… (a) It involves the church in other than its true business of giving -- giving the gospel to all men. (b) It is used instead of giving….
(Commercialism)
* In dealing with Jesus' harsh treatment of the money changers, why He did not simply reprimand them, Martin Luther suggests that Jesus was not bound by the Law, though observes many phases of it (Luther's Works, Vol. 22, p. 233).
* About Jesus' identification of His body with the temple (vv. 20-21), Martin Luther also writes:
Whoever wished to call upon God or come before Him, had to come to the Temple in Jerusalem or turn his face toward it… for in Jerusalem was the abode of God. But today, in the New Testament, God has established another temple for His residence: The precious humanity of Lord Jesus Christ. There and nowhere else God wants to be found.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 22, p. 249)
* John Calvin gives good advice based on verse 22 (the disciples' recollection of Jesus' prophecy only after His resurrection): It seems that sometimes though the actions and sayings of Jesus are obscure for a time, we need not despair, for they produce fruit in their own time (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVII/2, p. 99).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* The account indicates that business permeates all aspects of American life, including religion and the church.
* For an account of how business has shaped our values, even our way of doing family, see Richard Sennett, The Corrosion of Character.
* For ways in which the business models have permeated the church, this is evident from the numerous websites devoted to ideas for commercialism.
5. Gimmick
The mantra of the first Clinton campaign for presidency is still appropriate today. "It's the economy, stupid." Everything is all about economics -- even in the church.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Seems like business permeated most every dimension of life in the Roman empire. After all, the Roman empire was the first great multinational capitalist economy. It seems the economic juggernaut was even having its impact in the outer reaches of the empire, in Israel.
* Jesus came to the Temple in Jerusalem and did not like what He saw. He found people there selling cattle, sheep, and doves, with money changers surrounding the grounds (v. 14). Angered, Jesus drove them out of the Temple, overturning their tables (v. 15). No way He would tolerate God His Father's base (the Temple) being made a marketplace (v. 16).
* Note how Jesus was asked for a justification for these actions by some Jewish leaders. He responds that in three days the Temple will be destroyed and be raised up (v. 20). The author of the gospel makes clear that Jesus' reference to the Temple here was to His body (the new dwelling place of God), and so to his resurrection after three days in the tomb (v. 21).
* What does all this have to do with how economics permeates all we do? Surely Jesus would not equate what the Jews were doing with a few innocent fund-raisers here at church. Pause. Then ask, "Are you sure?" The connections have to do with the Easter word of resurrection, how it changes the old order because God's ways are not our ways.
* Depending on whether the congregation to which this sermon is preached engages in commercialism, there are two related strategies. Either way, put the intentions of those who work on such projects in the best light, praising their intentions and investment of time. Just note that such activities are too much hung-up on doing things the world's way, not enough on God's Easter way about which Jesus speaks.
* The world expects an institution to pay its way. The world is governed by principles of the law -- do this and you get what you deserve; pay for it and it's yours. But the Easter and the Resurrection are about forgiveness and love. God doesn't do things our way.
* This is the problem. If the church is involved in God's thing, and God's thing is giving love away, the church blows it when it sells its wares to make a profit. Cite the statement of the Lutheran Church in America noted in Theological Insights. Elaborate further on that idea. Do we really communicate God's unconditional, no-strings-attached love if we only do things for people in the community if they pay? (When you get a financial cushion through such means members may give less.)
* Note that Lent is a season of confessing sin and repentance. Perhaps this is the time for the congregation to repent of its sinfulness of trying to run the church according to the world's ways rather than God's ways, to change our procedures in stewardship.
* But some may ask how we can responsibly make up the difference in the money we lose from not doing commercialism. We could say "God will provide…" (Genesis 22:8). John Calvin offers an interesting thought on the matter. (Cite the Calvin quote in Theological Insights.) What seems an odd way to do business at the time sometimes will produce fruit in due time.
7. Wrap-Up
Urge members to consider this story the next time the congregation plans (or contemplates) a fund-raiser. Keep in mind the church's true business, giving away God's love like it is given freely to us. Time is valuable. (Remember the urgency of faith, the need to use every minute and not procrastinate [Mark 1:15].) Do we use such valuable time to act like a business (selling things) or to act like the church, giving away God's love? Why not give away the things we would have sold? God's forgiving love will keep pestering us. God's forgiving love redirects our misadventures. Invite congregation to give that love away!
