Proper 24
Preaching
Preaching and Reading the Old Testament Lessons
With an Eye to the New
Object:
There is no doubt, according to the stories that we find in Exodus, that the unfaithfulness of Israel in substituting worship of the golden calf for worship of the Lord caused a deep rift between God and his chosen people. Up to this time God had always accompanied his people personally in their trek through the wilderness. But God had experienced the fickleness of his people. As a result, the Lord introduces several means of mediating between himself and Israel. "I will not go up among you, lest I consume you in the way, for you are a stiff-necked people" (Exodus 33:3). Instead, God sends his angel to accompany the people (33:2). He establishes the tent of meeting outside the camp, where he can speak with Moses (33:7-11). And he sends a representative of himself (v. 14). That latter is the concern of our text for the morning.
Moses knows that he and his compatriots need God. "If thy presence will not go with me, do not carry us up from here" (v. 15). Perhaps that is the prayer of every one of us -- to beg God's presence with us in every accustomed or new undertaking; for if God be against us, who can be for us? God rules this world and guides our separate and corporate lives. And if he will not go with us, we have no chance of lasting good. We are far too feeble, far too blinded by our own selfishness, far too influenced by the corrupted ways of the society around us to choose the proper paths. God must lead, or our way will end in destruction. Moses knows that, as we know it deep in our souls.
The Lord in his mercy does not desert Moses and his people. "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." God will guide the people to the promised land, which is always described as Israel's "place of rest" in the Old Testament. But the word for "presence" in this passage is panim in the Hebrew, and it means "face." It will be a hypostasis, a representative of the Lord, but it will not be his full person. God will be with Israel, but only through the presence of that mediator, because Israel's sinfulness could not survive before the pure and awesome presence of God in all his glory.
Is that not the case with us also? That there must be a mediator between God and us sinners, lest we be destroyed by the unstained glory of God himself? How could you or I, with all our faults and so very human weaknesses, stand before the God of majesty who hates sin? We cannot, can we? But God does not desert us, despite our sin and indifference and disobedience toward him. Instead he gives us a mediator named Jesus Christ, who is pure, untarnished, obedient love, and Christ represents us to God and represents God in his fullness to us -- not partially but God as he truly is. So every prayer we make is through the mediation or in the name of Jesus Christ. Otherwise we sinners literally do not have a prayer.
The Lord establishes means of mediation of his presence for Israel and thus continues to guide them on their way toward the promised land. And that continuing guidance is what sets Israel apart from every other nation. Israel is a "visited people," visited and guided and protected by God. "Is it not in thy going with us ... that we are distinct, I and thy people, from all other people that are upon the face of the earth?" (v. 16). The Lord God goes with her. Note that the verb is not "is" but "goes." Israel is on a journey. And so are we. Like Israel, the Christian Church is God's holy people, set apart for his purpose and accompanied by him. And it is in that "going with us" by the Lord, by means of his Spirit poured out upon us from the Father and Son, that we too are different from every other people (Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 2-3, et al.).
Moses is assured that God's "presence" will continue to go with them. But perhaps it is a mark of Moses' intimate relation with the Lord that Moses asks to see God in all his glory. Moses hungers to know God fully, as so many saints have hungered to have a "beatific vision" of the Lord. Human beings cannot see God and live (v. 20), however for every human being including Moses is stained by sin. There follows, therefore, the fascinating story in verses 21-23. God will hide Moses in a cleft in the rock and pass by him. But as God passes, he will put his hand over Moses in the cleft, and Moses will glimpse only God's back and not his face. Is that nonsensical anthropomorphism? No, we must reply that the very same God was incarnated in human flesh, and we have seen the glory of God, full of grace and truth, in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). "We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father" (John 1:14).
Lutheran Option: Isaiah 45:1-7
Up until 550 B.C., the people of Judah were captives in exile to the Babylonian Empire. Then there arose Cyrus II of Persia, who captured Media, Lydia, and finally Babylonia in 539 B.C. Exercising a policy of tolerance and understanding toward captive peoples, Cyrus allowed all of the Judean exiles who wished to do so to return to Palestine and to rebuild their temple, even furnishing the funds for the reconstruction (2 Chronicles 36:22--Ezra 1:4). This text is the Lord's address to Cyrus by the mouth of the prophet Second Isaiah.
We often ignorantly believe that international affairs are in the hands of the politicians and military and multinational corporations. This text wants us to learn otherwise. Its predominant emphasis is on the work of the Lord, and everything that Cyrus accomplishes is really the action of God. Thus, all of the verbs are in the first person, with God speaking: "I have grasped," "I will go," "I will break," "I will give," "I call you," "I surname you," "I gird you." Cyrus is raised up and given his military victories by God (cf. 41:2-3, 25; 46:11; 48:14-15). God rules the world of nations, a fact that we need to remember as we contemplate our international scene.
Despite the fact that Cyrus' power and conquests come from the Lord, Cyrus does not know the Lord (vv. 4-5). God works unseen behind the actions of the Persian king. But God's work serves as a witness to all people, including Cyrus himself. God's exercise of his might through the armies of Cyrus is the sign that God is the Lord "and there is no other" (v. 6). Three times that proclamation rings out, "I am the Lord" (vv. 5, 6, 7). No human power can stand before him. God rules, and is the only God.
The biblical witness to God has two emphases, however. One is on the irresistible might of the Lord, before whom all human beings are as nothing (cf. 40:15-17). The other is on the love of God. Why has the Lord raised up Cyrus to defeat the Babylonians and to release the exiles? "For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen" (v. 4). God is still working out his purpose of saving his world, and he uses Cyrus as the instrument to free Israel, that she may continue to be the Lord's people, set apart for his purpose. God loves all humankind and wishes to save us all. And so he releases Israel to continue the history of salvation. God loves, but he also has the power to make his love effective, and neither one of those biblical emphases must ever be forgotten.
Indeed, God not only has power over all nations, but he also has power over all creation. He forms the light and creates the darkness (v. 7). And then follows a statement that has disturbed many people. "I make weal and create woe," God declares. Does God create woe? Does he make the suffering and trouble that we human beings experience?
We must not separate that saying from its context. Yes, God makes a lot of trouble -- for the Egyptians at the time of the exodus, for the Babylonians who have exiled Judah, for Adolf Hitler and every modern tyrant, for every human being who would deter God from his good purpose of saving his creation. God makes lots of woe for those who oppose him, though we must not believe that all suffering and trouble come from the hand of God. Much of it comes from our own blindness and sinfulness. But God does put down his enemies, and he will continue to do so until he brings his salvation to all his world. We can rejoice that such a fact is true, and that God's is finally the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Moses knows that he and his compatriots need God. "If thy presence will not go with me, do not carry us up from here" (v. 15). Perhaps that is the prayer of every one of us -- to beg God's presence with us in every accustomed or new undertaking; for if God be against us, who can be for us? God rules this world and guides our separate and corporate lives. And if he will not go with us, we have no chance of lasting good. We are far too feeble, far too blinded by our own selfishness, far too influenced by the corrupted ways of the society around us to choose the proper paths. God must lead, or our way will end in destruction. Moses knows that, as we know it deep in our souls.
The Lord in his mercy does not desert Moses and his people. "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." God will guide the people to the promised land, which is always described as Israel's "place of rest" in the Old Testament. But the word for "presence" in this passage is panim in the Hebrew, and it means "face." It will be a hypostasis, a representative of the Lord, but it will not be his full person. God will be with Israel, but only through the presence of that mediator, because Israel's sinfulness could not survive before the pure and awesome presence of God in all his glory.
Is that not the case with us also? That there must be a mediator between God and us sinners, lest we be destroyed by the unstained glory of God himself? How could you or I, with all our faults and so very human weaknesses, stand before the God of majesty who hates sin? We cannot, can we? But God does not desert us, despite our sin and indifference and disobedience toward him. Instead he gives us a mediator named Jesus Christ, who is pure, untarnished, obedient love, and Christ represents us to God and represents God in his fullness to us -- not partially but God as he truly is. So every prayer we make is through the mediation or in the name of Jesus Christ. Otherwise we sinners literally do not have a prayer.
The Lord establishes means of mediation of his presence for Israel and thus continues to guide them on their way toward the promised land. And that continuing guidance is what sets Israel apart from every other nation. Israel is a "visited people," visited and guided and protected by God. "Is it not in thy going with us ... that we are distinct, I and thy people, from all other people that are upon the face of the earth?" (v. 16). The Lord God goes with her. Note that the verb is not "is" but "goes." Israel is on a journey. And so are we. Like Israel, the Christian Church is God's holy people, set apart for his purpose and accompanied by him. And it is in that "going with us" by the Lord, by means of his Spirit poured out upon us from the Father and Son, that we too are different from every other people (Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 2-3, et al.).
Moses is assured that God's "presence" will continue to go with them. But perhaps it is a mark of Moses' intimate relation with the Lord that Moses asks to see God in all his glory. Moses hungers to know God fully, as so many saints have hungered to have a "beatific vision" of the Lord. Human beings cannot see God and live (v. 20), however for every human being including Moses is stained by sin. There follows, therefore, the fascinating story in verses 21-23. God will hide Moses in a cleft in the rock and pass by him. But as God passes, he will put his hand over Moses in the cleft, and Moses will glimpse only God's back and not his face. Is that nonsensical anthropomorphism? No, we must reply that the very same God was incarnated in human flesh, and we have seen the glory of God, full of grace and truth, in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). "We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father" (John 1:14).
Lutheran Option: Isaiah 45:1-7
Up until 550 B.C., the people of Judah were captives in exile to the Babylonian Empire. Then there arose Cyrus II of Persia, who captured Media, Lydia, and finally Babylonia in 539 B.C. Exercising a policy of tolerance and understanding toward captive peoples, Cyrus allowed all of the Judean exiles who wished to do so to return to Palestine and to rebuild their temple, even furnishing the funds for the reconstruction (2 Chronicles 36:22--Ezra 1:4). This text is the Lord's address to Cyrus by the mouth of the prophet Second Isaiah.
We often ignorantly believe that international affairs are in the hands of the politicians and military and multinational corporations. This text wants us to learn otherwise. Its predominant emphasis is on the work of the Lord, and everything that Cyrus accomplishes is really the action of God. Thus, all of the verbs are in the first person, with God speaking: "I have grasped," "I will go," "I will break," "I will give," "I call you," "I surname you," "I gird you." Cyrus is raised up and given his military victories by God (cf. 41:2-3, 25; 46:11; 48:14-15). God rules the world of nations, a fact that we need to remember as we contemplate our international scene.
Despite the fact that Cyrus' power and conquests come from the Lord, Cyrus does not know the Lord (vv. 4-5). God works unseen behind the actions of the Persian king. But God's work serves as a witness to all people, including Cyrus himself. God's exercise of his might through the armies of Cyrus is the sign that God is the Lord "and there is no other" (v. 6). Three times that proclamation rings out, "I am the Lord" (vv. 5, 6, 7). No human power can stand before him. God rules, and is the only God.
The biblical witness to God has two emphases, however. One is on the irresistible might of the Lord, before whom all human beings are as nothing (cf. 40:15-17). The other is on the love of God. Why has the Lord raised up Cyrus to defeat the Babylonians and to release the exiles? "For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen" (v. 4). God is still working out his purpose of saving his world, and he uses Cyrus as the instrument to free Israel, that she may continue to be the Lord's people, set apart for his purpose. God loves all humankind and wishes to save us all. And so he releases Israel to continue the history of salvation. God loves, but he also has the power to make his love effective, and neither one of those biblical emphases must ever be forgotten.
Indeed, God not only has power over all nations, but he also has power over all creation. He forms the light and creates the darkness (v. 7). And then follows a statement that has disturbed many people. "I make weal and create woe," God declares. Does God create woe? Does he make the suffering and trouble that we human beings experience?
We must not separate that saying from its context. Yes, God makes a lot of trouble -- for the Egyptians at the time of the exodus, for the Babylonians who have exiled Judah, for Adolf Hitler and every modern tyrant, for every human being who would deter God from his good purpose of saving his creation. God makes lots of woe for those who oppose him, though we must not believe that all suffering and trouble come from the hand of God. Much of it comes from our own blindness and sinfulness. But God does put down his enemies, and he will continue to do so until he brings his salvation to all his world. We can rejoice that such a fact is true, and that God's is finally the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
