Proper 15/Pentecost 13/Ordinary Time 20
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VII, Cycle C
Object:
Theme For The Day
We receive faith as a gift from witnesses of the past, the heroic believers who have gone before us.
Old Testament Lesson
Isaiah 5:1-7
The Song Of The Vineyard
"Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard" (v. 1). In these verses, the prophet presents a poem about the owner of a vineyard who diligently does everything he can to cultivate the vines, but who, in the end, is left with worthless, sour grapes. "People of Judah," the prophet commands, "judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?" (vv. 3-4). Put yourself in God's place, the prophet is saying. If you had cultivated a nation that failed to bear good fruit, how would you feel? And what will God, the farmer, do to this unproductive vineyard? Isaiah's answer is chilling: "I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste ..." (vv. 5-6).
New Testament Lesson
Hebrews 11:29--12:22
The Cloud Of Witnesses
Continuing his historical saga of the faith of Israel, the author moves on to the events of the Exodus. The people "passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned" (v. 29). The generations that followed after also had their share of faith. Joshua had it when the walls of Jericho fell (v. 30). Rahab had it when she preserved the lives of the spies (v. 31). "Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets" -- they all had faith as well (v. 32). In verses 33-37, the author celebrates the witness of faithful Jews who endured all sorts of suffering, even martyrdom -- again, with faith. Of them "the world was not worthy" (v. 38). Yet as impressive as their contributions were, there was yet something missing -- something those who are reading this letter are privileged to know. That which was missing in days of old is God's revelation concerning Jesus Christ. The letter to the Hebrews' litany of Israel's faith finds its climax in these stirring words: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God" (12:1-2).
The Gospel
Luke 12:49-56
Seeds Of Division, Signs Of The Times
"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" (v. 49). This is probably an allusion to the Greek myth of Prometheus, the titan who brought fire to the earth and was punished for it. In a moment of candor, Jesus acknowledges being under stress, because of the pain his message brings (v. 50). He acknowledges that his teachings are not only challenging, but are likely to bring division. Even members of families may be divided against each other (vv. 51-53). Jesus is unapologetic for this, because the time is short. In light of God's coming judgment, there is an urgency to his message. Everyone knows how to interpret meteorological signs -- clouds on the horizon, a change in the wind's direction -- to predict that the weather is going to change. But why, Jesus ponders, can't people learn to interpret the spiritual signs, to know that the time of God's intervention is near? (vv. 54-56).
Preaching Possibilities
Open the newspaper on any day of the week, and you'll find some obituaries. There they are, in black and white, the life stories of the famous and forgettable alike, all of them united in this universal human experience called death.
Some obituaries affect us more than others. There are stories about people we've known (and even loved); reading these is quite a different experience than reading the death notices of strangers.
Then there are the obituaries of famous people: politicians, movie stars, literary figures, captains of industry. The reaction to these is more of a public matter. We can hear people talking about these deaths, in work or in school or in the supermarket -- "Did you hear so-and-so died? Why, I can remember ..." and then will come an outpouring of reminiscences about the movies the star was in, the home runs the baseball hero hit, the novels the author wrote -- whatever it was that connected this famous person to the general public.
Some deaths seem to affect an entire people. Think back to the tragic death of Princess Diana of Wales, for example. Or of civil rights pioneer, Rosa Parks. Or of a well-known performer like John Lennon. When public figures like this die, perfect strangers show up and leave bouquets of flowers and votive candles. For one reason or another, they have become heroes, at least to some considerable portion of the population.
Today's reading from the letter to the Hebrews is about a different sort of hero: heroes of the faith. "Faith," says the author in those celebrated words, "is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Then he goes on name the people who, for him, occupy a place in faith's hall of fame. There's Abel and Enoch, Noah and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There's Moses, who led the people through the Red Sea to freedom; and even Rahab, a woman of a foreign culture (and of doubtful reputation), who saved the spies of Israel from those who would have taken their lives.
Reading the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, we get the impression that faith's hall of fame contains more members than anyone could number. When we get to the lists at the end of the chapter -- when the author seems to run out of names, and begins simply to recite the deeds of those who were persecuted and beaten, who stood fast despite mocking, torture, or imprisonment -- then we realize that heroes of the faith have been with us in every generation.
"Therefore," declares the author -- when he's finished cataloguing faith's hall of fame -- "since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith...."
There's something of that same sense of eternity in this passage from Hebrews, with its great "cloud of witnesses" that surrounds us on every side -- even in this present age. "I believe in the communion of saints," we confess in the Apostles' Creed. That's very much what's meant by the "cloud of witnesses."
When the going gets tough and life seems to be falling in, all of us can draw strength from the truth that we are not alone. Beside us, even now, are the saints of God who have passed this way before us: faithful ancestors who transmitted the gospel from generation to generation, Sunday-school teachers who taught us, friends who supported us when we feared we couldn't make it on our own.
They have come to us across many waters, those witnesses. Through many waters came the people of Israel, fleeing the Egyptian armies. Across many waters came the missionaries of the early church, braving storms of strong winds and storms of human persecution. Across many waters, also, came our ancestors to this new world; some as settlers, others as slaves, still others as laborers seeking a living wage. The first waters our Christian forbears crossed, of course, were the waters of baptism. It is a sign and a symbol of a faith struggle that is itself a witness to succeeding generations.
The waters of many centuries seem to separate us from those great days of faith. Somehow we must learn to reach back, and discover the secret the writer of the Hebrews knew: that the faith of those days still lives, has been living ever since, as the body of Christ. Although individual Christians may pass away in their time, the faith itself continues, borne up and carried forward by one great, living organism, the church.
"Why do I need to learn history?" asks the naive schoolchild, fed up with so many dates to memorize. "What good will it do me? Will it help me find a job?" Yet, as a wise person has remarked, "those who ignore the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them." Like the short-sighted schoolchild, there are some who imagine they can pursue faith without the church: that they can cultivate a purely individual Christianity, quite apart from any community of fellow-travelers.
The lesson of history is that this can never be so. Faith apart from the church is impossible, a contradiction in terms. We Christians are called to community, but not just any community, the community of those who share a common story.
Across many waters the faith has been brought to us. Across many waters -- waters of suffering, selfishness, greed, and indifference -- we are called to share that faith with our children. Praise God, we are not called to do it alone, but bear that commission in the company of others, the "cloud of witnesses" of those who have gone before, and who even now travel with us on our Christian journey!
Prayer For The Day
God of wisdom and grace,
in every age you have called faithful believers to you,
and in every age you have sent them out
to witness and to serve.
We recall with thanksgiving all your saints
who have lived faithfully,
some even dying martyrs' deaths.
Make us ever mindful of our responsibility
not only to honor their memory,
but to take up the work they have left uncompleted:
that others may come to know
the love of Jesus Christ,
in whose name we pray. Amen.
To Illustrate
Our command tells us that we are to be witnesses. We are not reporters. What is the difference? A reporter and a witness differ in their relationship to their information: A reporter has no personal relationship to the facts he is working with; a witness must have personal experience with them. The reporter knows nothing firsthand, but no witness is called to the stand unless he has personal involvement with the information. (He saw the accident; he knows the defendant or plaintiff, and so forth.) The Christian has experienced the new birth; he or she knows the Savior, and this will inevitably be an important inference in the mind of the receptor. It is a part of the message.
-- T. W. Hunt, Music in Missions: Discipling Through Music (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1987), pp. 48-49
***
We like to make a distinction between our private and public lives and say, "Whatever I do in my private life is nobody else's business." But anyone trying to live a spiritual life will soon discover that the most personal is the most universal, the most hidden is the most public, and the most solitary is the most communal. What we live in the most intimate places of our beings is not just for us but for all people. That is why our inner lives are lives for others. That is why our solitude is a gift to our community, and that is why our most secret thoughts affect our common life.
Jesus says, "No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house" (Matthew 5:14-15). The most inner light is a light for the world. Let's not have "double lives"; let us allow what we live in private to be known in public.
-- Henri J. M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey (New York: Harper Collins, New York, 1997)
***
Christianity entered human history as a new social order or, rather, a new social dimension. From the very beginning, Christianity was not primarily a "doctrine," but exactly a "community." There was not only a "message" to be proclaimed and delivered and "good news" to be declared, but there was, precisely, a new community, distinct and peculiar, in the process of growth and formation, to which members were called and recruited. Indeed, "fellowship" (koinonia) was the basic category of Christian existence.
-- Georges Florovsky, "Empire and Desert: Antinomies of Christian History," The Greek Orthodox Theological Review 4, 1957, pp. 133-159
***
I have never been able to understand where people get the idea that democracy was in some way opposed to tradition. It is obvious that tradition is only democracy extended through time. It is trusting to a consensus of common human voices rather than to some isolated or arbitrary record.... Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death.
-- G. K. Chesterton
***
Holy persons draw to themselves all that is earthly.
-- Hildegarde of Bingen
***
Salt crystals cannot give flavor to food unless they dissolve. If we dissolve the salt in a pot, it disappears but it does not cease to exist. Indeed, it can then give flavor to thousands of grains of rice.
-- Sundar Singh, Wisdom of the Sadhu (Farmington, Pennsylvania: Plough Publishing, 2000)
So, too, with the cloud of witnesses, who are "the salt of the earth."
***
A missionary in China once spoke to a group of people in a town far in the interior. He was the first one to tell them the story of Jesus, and when he had talked a while, someone said: "Oh, yes, we knew him; he used to live here."
The missionary was somewhat surprised, and said: "Oh, no, he lived centuries ago in another land." But the native still insisted that he had seen Jesus, saying: "Not so, he lived in the village, and we knew him."
And then the crowd led the missionary to the village cemetery and showed him the grave of a medical missionary who had lived, served, healed, and died in that community. Just one more member of the great cloud of witnesses....
We receive faith as a gift from witnesses of the past, the heroic believers who have gone before us.
Old Testament Lesson
Isaiah 5:1-7
The Song Of The Vineyard
"Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard" (v. 1). In these verses, the prophet presents a poem about the owner of a vineyard who diligently does everything he can to cultivate the vines, but who, in the end, is left with worthless, sour grapes. "People of Judah," the prophet commands, "judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?" (vv. 3-4). Put yourself in God's place, the prophet is saying. If you had cultivated a nation that failed to bear good fruit, how would you feel? And what will God, the farmer, do to this unproductive vineyard? Isaiah's answer is chilling: "I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste ..." (vv. 5-6).
New Testament Lesson
Hebrews 11:29--12:22
The Cloud Of Witnesses
Continuing his historical saga of the faith of Israel, the author moves on to the events of the Exodus. The people "passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned" (v. 29). The generations that followed after also had their share of faith. Joshua had it when the walls of Jericho fell (v. 30). Rahab had it when she preserved the lives of the spies (v. 31). "Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets" -- they all had faith as well (v. 32). In verses 33-37, the author celebrates the witness of faithful Jews who endured all sorts of suffering, even martyrdom -- again, with faith. Of them "the world was not worthy" (v. 38). Yet as impressive as their contributions were, there was yet something missing -- something those who are reading this letter are privileged to know. That which was missing in days of old is God's revelation concerning Jesus Christ. The letter to the Hebrews' litany of Israel's faith finds its climax in these stirring words: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God" (12:1-2).
The Gospel
Luke 12:49-56
Seeds Of Division, Signs Of The Times
"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" (v. 49). This is probably an allusion to the Greek myth of Prometheus, the titan who brought fire to the earth and was punished for it. In a moment of candor, Jesus acknowledges being under stress, because of the pain his message brings (v. 50). He acknowledges that his teachings are not only challenging, but are likely to bring division. Even members of families may be divided against each other (vv. 51-53). Jesus is unapologetic for this, because the time is short. In light of God's coming judgment, there is an urgency to his message. Everyone knows how to interpret meteorological signs -- clouds on the horizon, a change in the wind's direction -- to predict that the weather is going to change. But why, Jesus ponders, can't people learn to interpret the spiritual signs, to know that the time of God's intervention is near? (vv. 54-56).
Preaching Possibilities
Open the newspaper on any day of the week, and you'll find some obituaries. There they are, in black and white, the life stories of the famous and forgettable alike, all of them united in this universal human experience called death.
Some obituaries affect us more than others. There are stories about people we've known (and even loved); reading these is quite a different experience than reading the death notices of strangers.
Then there are the obituaries of famous people: politicians, movie stars, literary figures, captains of industry. The reaction to these is more of a public matter. We can hear people talking about these deaths, in work or in school or in the supermarket -- "Did you hear so-and-so died? Why, I can remember ..." and then will come an outpouring of reminiscences about the movies the star was in, the home runs the baseball hero hit, the novels the author wrote -- whatever it was that connected this famous person to the general public.
Some deaths seem to affect an entire people. Think back to the tragic death of Princess Diana of Wales, for example. Or of civil rights pioneer, Rosa Parks. Or of a well-known performer like John Lennon. When public figures like this die, perfect strangers show up and leave bouquets of flowers and votive candles. For one reason or another, they have become heroes, at least to some considerable portion of the population.
Today's reading from the letter to the Hebrews is about a different sort of hero: heroes of the faith. "Faith," says the author in those celebrated words, "is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Then he goes on name the people who, for him, occupy a place in faith's hall of fame. There's Abel and Enoch, Noah and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There's Moses, who led the people through the Red Sea to freedom; and even Rahab, a woman of a foreign culture (and of doubtful reputation), who saved the spies of Israel from those who would have taken their lives.
Reading the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, we get the impression that faith's hall of fame contains more members than anyone could number. When we get to the lists at the end of the chapter -- when the author seems to run out of names, and begins simply to recite the deeds of those who were persecuted and beaten, who stood fast despite mocking, torture, or imprisonment -- then we realize that heroes of the faith have been with us in every generation.
"Therefore," declares the author -- when he's finished cataloguing faith's hall of fame -- "since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith...."
There's something of that same sense of eternity in this passage from Hebrews, with its great "cloud of witnesses" that surrounds us on every side -- even in this present age. "I believe in the communion of saints," we confess in the Apostles' Creed. That's very much what's meant by the "cloud of witnesses."
When the going gets tough and life seems to be falling in, all of us can draw strength from the truth that we are not alone. Beside us, even now, are the saints of God who have passed this way before us: faithful ancestors who transmitted the gospel from generation to generation, Sunday-school teachers who taught us, friends who supported us when we feared we couldn't make it on our own.
They have come to us across many waters, those witnesses. Through many waters came the people of Israel, fleeing the Egyptian armies. Across many waters came the missionaries of the early church, braving storms of strong winds and storms of human persecution. Across many waters, also, came our ancestors to this new world; some as settlers, others as slaves, still others as laborers seeking a living wage. The first waters our Christian forbears crossed, of course, were the waters of baptism. It is a sign and a symbol of a faith struggle that is itself a witness to succeeding generations.
The waters of many centuries seem to separate us from those great days of faith. Somehow we must learn to reach back, and discover the secret the writer of the Hebrews knew: that the faith of those days still lives, has been living ever since, as the body of Christ. Although individual Christians may pass away in their time, the faith itself continues, borne up and carried forward by one great, living organism, the church.
"Why do I need to learn history?" asks the naive schoolchild, fed up with so many dates to memorize. "What good will it do me? Will it help me find a job?" Yet, as a wise person has remarked, "those who ignore the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them." Like the short-sighted schoolchild, there are some who imagine they can pursue faith without the church: that they can cultivate a purely individual Christianity, quite apart from any community of fellow-travelers.
The lesson of history is that this can never be so. Faith apart from the church is impossible, a contradiction in terms. We Christians are called to community, but not just any community, the community of those who share a common story.
Across many waters the faith has been brought to us. Across many waters -- waters of suffering, selfishness, greed, and indifference -- we are called to share that faith with our children. Praise God, we are not called to do it alone, but bear that commission in the company of others, the "cloud of witnesses" of those who have gone before, and who even now travel with us on our Christian journey!
Prayer For The Day
God of wisdom and grace,
in every age you have called faithful believers to you,
and in every age you have sent them out
to witness and to serve.
We recall with thanksgiving all your saints
who have lived faithfully,
some even dying martyrs' deaths.
Make us ever mindful of our responsibility
not only to honor their memory,
but to take up the work they have left uncompleted:
that others may come to know
the love of Jesus Christ,
in whose name we pray. Amen.
To Illustrate
Our command tells us that we are to be witnesses. We are not reporters. What is the difference? A reporter and a witness differ in their relationship to their information: A reporter has no personal relationship to the facts he is working with; a witness must have personal experience with them. The reporter knows nothing firsthand, but no witness is called to the stand unless he has personal involvement with the information. (He saw the accident; he knows the defendant or plaintiff, and so forth.) The Christian has experienced the new birth; he or she knows the Savior, and this will inevitably be an important inference in the mind of the receptor. It is a part of the message.
-- T. W. Hunt, Music in Missions: Discipling Through Music (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1987), pp. 48-49
***
We like to make a distinction between our private and public lives and say, "Whatever I do in my private life is nobody else's business." But anyone trying to live a spiritual life will soon discover that the most personal is the most universal, the most hidden is the most public, and the most solitary is the most communal. What we live in the most intimate places of our beings is not just for us but for all people. That is why our inner lives are lives for others. That is why our solitude is a gift to our community, and that is why our most secret thoughts affect our common life.
Jesus says, "No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house" (Matthew 5:14-15). The most inner light is a light for the world. Let's not have "double lives"; let us allow what we live in private to be known in public.
-- Henri J. M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey (New York: Harper Collins, New York, 1997)
***
Christianity entered human history as a new social order or, rather, a new social dimension. From the very beginning, Christianity was not primarily a "doctrine," but exactly a "community." There was not only a "message" to be proclaimed and delivered and "good news" to be declared, but there was, precisely, a new community, distinct and peculiar, in the process of growth and formation, to which members were called and recruited. Indeed, "fellowship" (koinonia) was the basic category of Christian existence.
-- Georges Florovsky, "Empire and Desert: Antinomies of Christian History," The Greek Orthodox Theological Review 4, 1957, pp. 133-159
***
I have never been able to understand where people get the idea that democracy was in some way opposed to tradition. It is obvious that tradition is only democracy extended through time. It is trusting to a consensus of common human voices rather than to some isolated or arbitrary record.... Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death.
-- G. K. Chesterton
***
Holy persons draw to themselves all that is earthly.
-- Hildegarde of Bingen
***
Salt crystals cannot give flavor to food unless they dissolve. If we dissolve the salt in a pot, it disappears but it does not cease to exist. Indeed, it can then give flavor to thousands of grains of rice.
-- Sundar Singh, Wisdom of the Sadhu (Farmington, Pennsylvania: Plough Publishing, 2000)
So, too, with the cloud of witnesses, who are "the salt of the earth."
***
A missionary in China once spoke to a group of people in a town far in the interior. He was the first one to tell them the story of Jesus, and when he had talked a while, someone said: "Oh, yes, we knew him; he used to live here."
The missionary was somewhat surprised, and said: "Oh, no, he lived centuries ago in another land." But the native still insisted that he had seen Jesus, saying: "Not so, he lived in the village, and we knew him."
And then the crowd led the missionary to the village cemetery and showed him the grave of a medical missionary who had lived, served, healed, and died in that community. Just one more member of the great cloud of witnesses....
