PROPER 14
Worship
Scripture Notes
For use with Common, Lutheran and Roman Catholic Lectionaries
Perhaps the unifying factor that all six of these texts have in common is that the human condition is characterized by anxiety and fear. This anxiety and fear is caused by political oppression (Exodus 14:19-31; 1 Kings 19:9-18; and to some extent, Matthew 14:22-33). It is caused by economic depression, dishonesty, injustice, and war (Psalm 106:4-12 and Psalm 85:8-13), concern for one's own people (Romans 9:1-5), and all of the various storms and uncertainties of life (Matthew 14:22-33). In these situations of anxiety and fear, God asserts God's self in a variety of ways, in a show of physical force (a cloud, darkness, and a strong east wind), in a still, small voice commanding Elijah to become even more involved than before in the political situation, in the psalmists' hope for economic prosperity, truth, justice, and peace, in Paul's recollections of the many ways in which God has related to Paul's people in the past, and in God's marvelous power and peace revealed through Jesus.
When we look objectively at the human condition today, we see that today also the human condition is characterized by anxiety and fear and that in these situations we believe that God continues to assert God's self in a variety of ways. Perhaps after we acknowledge briefly the situations within these six texts we could enter most fully into the texts by sharing a few illustrations of how we personally - or we as a community of faith - are anxious and fearful at this time. This should be followed by our proclamation of how we believe that God asserts God's self within our situation. Members of the worshiping congregation should be given the opportunity during the "shared" sermon to participate by describing how they are anxious and fearful and how they believe that God asserts God's self in their lives. These testimonies should ideally cover past, present, and future situations of God's assertion of God's self in our lives. During this process, it should become apparent that what we are doing is basically what the People of God were doing in the situations depicted in these six texts.
Common:
Exodus 14:19-31
The Israelite slaves had good reason in this account of the Exodus to be anxious and afraid of their Egyptian slaveowners. If the Egyptians with their vastly superior military machine could overtake their slaves, the slaves could expect torture and death for their leaders, severe beatings for all of their men, and shameful treatment for their women and children. In every way, their treatment would be much worse than it had been before they had attempted to escape. Only because Yahweh their God intervened in their behalf through massive manipulation of natural phenomena, they believed, was their successful escape possible. As they later told their story, Yahweh had provided for them an angel and a cloud to guide them and to come between them and their pursuers as needed. Even the waters of the sea were used by Yahweh to destroy the military capabilities of their assailants. Because Yahweh asserted Yahweh's self on their behalf, their fears were transferred to their oppressors.
Perhaps it should be noted that what is written in this account is written from the viewpoint of faith; it is the testimony of believers within the community of faith. We should not assume that everyone of the Israelites who escaped from Egyptian bondage attributed their escape to the merciful intervention of Yahweh. Neither would the oppressive Egyptians have seen these events from the standpoint of faith in Yahweh. We, however, join the believing Israelites in seeing the hand of the Lord involved in the Exodus, and consider this to have been the great saving event of the Israelite traditions.
Lutheran: 1 Kings 19:9-18
Roman Catholic: 1 Kings 19:9, 11-13
Since this text is only one small portion of the extensive Elijah and Elisha traditions, it would be helpful for us to read again in preparation the entire section of 1 Kings 17--2 Kings 10 (or at least 1 Kings 17:1--19:8, the segment that precedes this text) and to supply for the worshiping congregation a brief summary of 1 Kings 17:1--19:8 before this text is read. In this explanation it should be noted that it was because of the tyrannical power of the Sidonian Baal-worshiping Queen Jezebel and her secret police that the people of the Northern Kingdom Israel had forsaken their covenant with Yahweh, had thrown down the altars dedicated to Yahweh, had killed the prophets of Yahweh, and had become devotees of Baal. The problem was political. Very few people were willing to risk their lives and the lives of the members of their families by opposing Queen Jezebel. Even Elijah became anxious and fearful and fled from the wrath of the queen. This should be stressed because in our New Testament accounts, especially in Acts (as in Stephen's speech in Acts 7:52) the Jews are viciously accused of killing their own prophets, with no recognition of the political factors involved in the situations depicted in the Old Testament texts. It would be a comparable situation if we would continue to condemn all German people in all times for killing Bonhoeffer in 1945! This 1 Kings 19 text emphasizes that a small group remained, the 7,000 who secretly continued to be faithful to Yahweh in spite of the severe oppression. It is stated in 1 Kings 19 that Elijah should be assured that Yahweh would continue to work among the oppressed. This message should be applied also today. We believe that God continues to work among the oppressed.
Common:
Psalm 106:4-12
The narrative of the Exodus account that is read as the First Lesson on this occasion is expressed here in poetic form. The psalmist reiterates the account of the Exodus as a confession of faith in Yahweh. The psalmist is anxious and fearful. In the context of this anxiety and fear, the psalmist asks that Yahweh assert Yahweh's self by delivering the people of Israel from defeat and famine. As you have done in the past for us, the psalmist prays, do also now. Then future generations will also sing your praise.
Lutheran: Psalm 85:8-13
Roman Catholic: Psalm 85:9-14
The entire psalm should be used. When only these final six verses are read, it is as if we would sing only verses 3 and 4 of a Christian hymn. The message of this psalm is future-directed. It is a message of hope for the future, for the immediate future. Its message of hope can be directed into the distant future also, into our time and beyond our time.
Romans 9:1-5
These few verses introduce the very significant Romans 9-11 section in which Paul most fully writes about his feelings regarding his own people, the Jews. It is unfortunate that only a few bits and pieces of Romans 9-11 are read during this Series A sequence. They in no way do justice to Paul's expression of his feelings about his own people the Jews in Romans 9-11. For our purposes here, we may be able to do little more than to emphasize that Paul was a Christian of Jewish background and that he continued throughout the time that he wrote the letters that were later accepted into the New Testament canon to have strong positive feelings about the Jews. Analysis of his letters indicates that most of Paul's problems were not with Jews who remained Jews but with legalistically minded Christians who opposed him and with "spirit-filled" Christians who opposed him, some of whom were of Jewish background just as Paul was. The Acts of Apostles presents a different scenario, of course, but Paul did not write the Acts of Apostles document.
Matthew 14:22-33
This highly symbolical account has parallels in Mark 6:45-52 and in John 6:16-21, but not in Luke. All three of these accounts demonstrate the power of God in Jesus' walking on the sea. Since the sea is a biblical symbol of anxiety and of fear, when these accounts proclaim that Jesus walked safely and easily over the surface of the sea they proclaim that Jesus can overcome all anxiety and fear that is in us. When Jesus enters the boat of his disciples (the boat being an early Christian symbol for the church, the community of faith), all is calm and well.
We should, of course, put our emphasis on the meaning of the miracle, not on the mechanics of it. It is better for us to visualize this miracle story for ourselves than to rely on TV and movie representations of some actor portraying Jesus and walking on a plank that has been placed just under the surface of the water. Only Matthew within the three accounts of this miracle story has Peter also walking on water, with the symbolism associated with Peter peculiar to Matthew. We should also note that the Matthean text also changes the reaction of the disciples from Markan bewilderment to Matthean worship.
When we look objectively at the human condition today, we see that today also the human condition is characterized by anxiety and fear and that in these situations we believe that God continues to assert God's self in a variety of ways. Perhaps after we acknowledge briefly the situations within these six texts we could enter most fully into the texts by sharing a few illustrations of how we personally - or we as a community of faith - are anxious and fearful at this time. This should be followed by our proclamation of how we believe that God asserts God's self within our situation. Members of the worshiping congregation should be given the opportunity during the "shared" sermon to participate by describing how they are anxious and fearful and how they believe that God asserts God's self in their lives. These testimonies should ideally cover past, present, and future situations of God's assertion of God's self in our lives. During this process, it should become apparent that what we are doing is basically what the People of God were doing in the situations depicted in these six texts.
Common:
Exodus 14:19-31
The Israelite slaves had good reason in this account of the Exodus to be anxious and afraid of their Egyptian slaveowners. If the Egyptians with their vastly superior military machine could overtake their slaves, the slaves could expect torture and death for their leaders, severe beatings for all of their men, and shameful treatment for their women and children. In every way, their treatment would be much worse than it had been before they had attempted to escape. Only because Yahweh their God intervened in their behalf through massive manipulation of natural phenomena, they believed, was their successful escape possible. As they later told their story, Yahweh had provided for them an angel and a cloud to guide them and to come between them and their pursuers as needed. Even the waters of the sea were used by Yahweh to destroy the military capabilities of their assailants. Because Yahweh asserted Yahweh's self on their behalf, their fears were transferred to their oppressors.
Perhaps it should be noted that what is written in this account is written from the viewpoint of faith; it is the testimony of believers within the community of faith. We should not assume that everyone of the Israelites who escaped from Egyptian bondage attributed their escape to the merciful intervention of Yahweh. Neither would the oppressive Egyptians have seen these events from the standpoint of faith in Yahweh. We, however, join the believing Israelites in seeing the hand of the Lord involved in the Exodus, and consider this to have been the great saving event of the Israelite traditions.
Lutheran: 1 Kings 19:9-18
Roman Catholic: 1 Kings 19:9, 11-13
Since this text is only one small portion of the extensive Elijah and Elisha traditions, it would be helpful for us to read again in preparation the entire section of 1 Kings 17--2 Kings 10 (or at least 1 Kings 17:1--19:8, the segment that precedes this text) and to supply for the worshiping congregation a brief summary of 1 Kings 17:1--19:8 before this text is read. In this explanation it should be noted that it was because of the tyrannical power of the Sidonian Baal-worshiping Queen Jezebel and her secret police that the people of the Northern Kingdom Israel had forsaken their covenant with Yahweh, had thrown down the altars dedicated to Yahweh, had killed the prophets of Yahweh, and had become devotees of Baal. The problem was political. Very few people were willing to risk their lives and the lives of the members of their families by opposing Queen Jezebel. Even Elijah became anxious and fearful and fled from the wrath of the queen. This should be stressed because in our New Testament accounts, especially in Acts (as in Stephen's speech in Acts 7:52) the Jews are viciously accused of killing their own prophets, with no recognition of the political factors involved in the situations depicted in the Old Testament texts. It would be a comparable situation if we would continue to condemn all German people in all times for killing Bonhoeffer in 1945! This 1 Kings 19 text emphasizes that a small group remained, the 7,000 who secretly continued to be faithful to Yahweh in spite of the severe oppression. It is stated in 1 Kings 19 that Elijah should be assured that Yahweh would continue to work among the oppressed. This message should be applied also today. We believe that God continues to work among the oppressed.
Common:
Psalm 106:4-12
The narrative of the Exodus account that is read as the First Lesson on this occasion is expressed here in poetic form. The psalmist reiterates the account of the Exodus as a confession of faith in Yahweh. The psalmist is anxious and fearful. In the context of this anxiety and fear, the psalmist asks that Yahweh assert Yahweh's self by delivering the people of Israel from defeat and famine. As you have done in the past for us, the psalmist prays, do also now. Then future generations will also sing your praise.
Lutheran: Psalm 85:8-13
Roman Catholic: Psalm 85:9-14
The entire psalm should be used. When only these final six verses are read, it is as if we would sing only verses 3 and 4 of a Christian hymn. The message of this psalm is future-directed. It is a message of hope for the future, for the immediate future. Its message of hope can be directed into the distant future also, into our time and beyond our time.
Romans 9:1-5
These few verses introduce the very significant Romans 9-11 section in which Paul most fully writes about his feelings regarding his own people, the Jews. It is unfortunate that only a few bits and pieces of Romans 9-11 are read during this Series A sequence. They in no way do justice to Paul's expression of his feelings about his own people the Jews in Romans 9-11. For our purposes here, we may be able to do little more than to emphasize that Paul was a Christian of Jewish background and that he continued throughout the time that he wrote the letters that were later accepted into the New Testament canon to have strong positive feelings about the Jews. Analysis of his letters indicates that most of Paul's problems were not with Jews who remained Jews but with legalistically minded Christians who opposed him and with "spirit-filled" Christians who opposed him, some of whom were of Jewish background just as Paul was. The Acts of Apostles presents a different scenario, of course, but Paul did not write the Acts of Apostles document.
Matthew 14:22-33
This highly symbolical account has parallels in Mark 6:45-52 and in John 6:16-21, but not in Luke. All three of these accounts demonstrate the power of God in Jesus' walking on the sea. Since the sea is a biblical symbol of anxiety and of fear, when these accounts proclaim that Jesus walked safely and easily over the surface of the sea they proclaim that Jesus can overcome all anxiety and fear that is in us. When Jesus enters the boat of his disciples (the boat being an early Christian symbol for the church, the community of faith), all is calm and well.
We should, of course, put our emphasis on the meaning of the miracle, not on the mechanics of it. It is better for us to visualize this miracle story for ourselves than to rely on TV and movie representations of some actor portraying Jesus and walking on a plank that has been placed just under the surface of the water. Only Matthew within the three accounts of this miracle story has Peter also walking on water, with the symbolism associated with Peter peculiar to Matthew. We should also note that the Matthean text also changes the reaction of the disciples from Markan bewilderment to Matthean worship.
