Proper 6
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook, SERIES II
for use with Common, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic Lectionaries
Comments on the Lessons
The 1 Kings reading tells of Elijah and his conflict with Jezebel who threatened to kill him. In danger, he arose and went south to Horeb, where God had revealed the law to Moses. There God provided for Elijah. The 2 Samuel passage is the account of David taking Uriah's widow as his wife, and Nathan the court prophet confronting David with his sin, declaring judgment on David and his house. In Galatians Paul recounts his meeting with Peter over the Gentile issue, and Paul's witness to his faith in Christ as justification before God. Luke tells of Jesus' encounter with the woman who was a sinner, and his preaching tour announcing the Kingdom of God.
Commentary
1 Kings 19:1-8 (C)
The preacher should read chapter 18 as background for this pericope. After Elijah had the prophets of Baal put to death, he was threatened with a similar death by Jezebel, wife of king Ahab. Elijah became afraid and fled for his life, coming to Beersheba where he left his servant. (When I traveled in Israel in 1953 we visited Beersheba, which was still at that time a small frontier town). Elijah went on a day's journey into the wilderness and sat under a broom tree.
The fact of Elijah's flight beyond Israel to the far south suggests that his victory at Carmel over the prophets of Baal was only momentary. Beersheba was the southern limit of sedentary occupation of Israel. "From Dan to Beersheba" was a familiar description of the length of the country.
Beersheba was 130 miles south of Jezreel, but still within Judah. Divine help enabled Elijah to arrive at Horeb (called Sinai in the southern tradition), where Moses was given the law. But the traditional site of Mount Horeb (which probably was not intended here) is some two hundred miles to the south.
There in the desert Elijah sits in the shade of a broom shrub. This plant has a delicate white flower with a maroon center, and is found along the beds of wadis. Elijah is so discouraged, he asks God to take his life. A more literal translation is "he requested his life to die," which indicates the Hebrew thought that life proceeds directly from and belongs to God. Therefore, although a person might want to commit suicide, the person was not free to do so. This attitude was exceptional among Semites.
The cake baked on hot stones refers to a round flat cake of bread baked sometimes on charcoal of dried camel dung instead of stones. The angel of the Lord who awakened him was God appearing in human form. The angel provides bread and water. After another rest he is told to proceed forty days and nights (forty is a conventional round number). Without further nourishment he arrives at Horeb, the holy mount of revelation. Moses also received his call at Horeb.
2 Samuel 11:26--12:10, 13-15 (L)
2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13 (RC)
In 11:26-27 we have the immediate background for Nathan's confrontation of King David: the news of Uriah's death in battle and Bathsheba's ritual mourning, after which David brought her to his house and she became his wife. She bore him a son, but the crime of David displeased the Lord. The Lord is displeased, even though David, God's anointed, committed the great sin of adultery and murder - and then attempted a coverup.
Although the lectionary omits verses 11-12 and 14, these are important for understanding God's judgment on David's sin. It is regrettable that the designers of the lectionary avoid judgment verses like this and similar ones.
Nathan the prophet, rebuking David for both murder and adultery, uses a parable. Note that the parable of the ewe lamb is narrated without an introduction. Nathan shows great courage in confronting David with his sins, for it was within the power of a king to execute or exile those who displeased him. What David had done was wrong for king or peasant to do, according to the moral principles of that time. We learn that later Nathan became an active supporter of Bathsheba. (1 Kings 1:5-14)
The point of the parable is that a great injustice has been done. David is so enraged by it that he pronounces the verdict on himself: "The man who has done this deserves to die; and he shall restore the lamb fourfold ..." Nathan increases the effect of the parable by making the lamb which the poor man had to struggle to buy for himself the darling of the whole family. But the way in which the rich man acts is thus made to appear not only parsimonious but also crude and arrogant. David's response reveals his sense of justice, justice which does not escape him when the real point of Nathan's parable breaks in on his consciousness. He doesn't blame Nathan for confronting him with his sins. Instead, the opposite occurs. From this point on, until David's death, Nathan is his trusted adviser as well as a trusted prophet of God. It appears that the prophet played the same role for David that confessors did in later courts. While some have criticized David for demanding four-fold restitution in addition to the death penalty, this is understandable in light of David's concern that the poor man as well as the rich should have justice done.
Nathan's piercing words, "You are the man!" go right for the jugular! It has been called one of the "most apt" sayings in the Bible. See how it takes up the verdict spoken by David without having to spell it out: it is a sentence of death. We must note this in order to understand what follows. This sentence is annulled, but only on David's acknowledgment of his sin. Until that moment, it stands.
Nathan reminds David in words of "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel," that God had given him his master's house and "your master's wives." This makes David's crimes even more heinous. The sin which David is accused of first is murder, murder of Uriah, and then of taking Uriah's wife for himself. These sins are mentioned twice and are characterized as despising the Word of the Lord. The declared punishment for these sins is ominous: "The sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me." (v. 10)
The second threat does mention David's adultery, but avoids mentioning the murder. It announces a fitting punishment. Notice the relationship between guilt and punishment regarding the commandment against adultery found in Job 31:9-12. Nathan tells David that the child of this adulterous relationship shall die, although God has put away David's sin. The child will die because David has utterly scorned the Lord.
Galatians 2:15-21 (C)
Galatians 2:11-21 (L)
Galatians 2:16, 19-21 (RC)
The commentary will cover 2:11-21 and the preacher may select those verses to be used in one of the above pericopes. This whole section falls into two parts: verses 11-14, dealing with Peter's vacillation; and verses 15-21, where Paul sets forth justification by faith as his absolutely fundamental thesis. This section is part of a larger discourse of 2:11--3:18, in which Paul gives a defense of his apostolic message.
In verses 11-14 Paul tells us of Cephas (Peter), who vacillated on the issue of whether or not Gentile Christians had to obey Jewish laws regarding food, circumcision, and the like. Peter came to Antioch and Paul opposed him to his face, following Peter's hypocrisy in eating with the Gentiles before certain men came from James but then drawing back and separating himself out of fear of the circumcision party. Paul condemns the rest of the Jewish Christians, including his good friend Barnabas, for acting insincerely.
Paul says that when he saw that they were not straightforward (a Greek verb meaning "to keep one's feet on the straight path") about the truth of the Gospel, he confronted Peter before all with his inconsistent behavior. Notice that the words Paul speaks to Peter are actually directed to the Galatians. It is a means of letting them "overhear" the Gospel and his defense of it, rather than arguing with the Galatians directly. Paul's reference to Peter living like a Gentile refers to his earlier willingness to eat with the Gentile Christians, which behavior had been an act of affirming the freedom from Jewish laws which the Gospel gives. Note that Paul is not writing simply to give an historical account but to speak a word of warning and instruction to the Galatians.
Paul was following the direct teaching of Jesus on this issue, since Jesus taught that it is not what a person eats but what the person says that makes the person unclean: "Thus he declared all food clean." (Mark 7:19) Paul saw to the heart of the matter - that dietary laws were irrelevant to God's saving all people by grace alone.
When writing, Paul did not use paragraph breaks or quotation marks. This makes it difficult to determine where his address to Peter ends. It may end at verse 14, or continue through verse 21. What Paul says applies to both Peter and the Galatians in any case, but since Peter drops out of sight after verse 14, it is best to consider that Paul's rebuke of him ends there. If we see it this way, we may view verses 15-21 as a kind of Gospel-in-a-nutshell, similar to 1:1-5.
The central thrust of verses 15-21 is justification by faith. Paul spells out the fundamental difference between the Law and the Gospel. This concludes with a statement of Paul's own faith in verses 20-21. Paul asserts that a person's right relationship with God is based, not on works of the law, but comes only through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the basic truth of the Gospel which Paul warns the Galatians not to compromise. He says he is a Jew by birth, but this in itself is not to be taken as the way to justification. In the view of Jews, Gentiles were sinners because they did not share in the Jewish heritage of law and covenant, but for Paul all persons, Jews and Gentiles alike, are sinners. For this reason all are equally dependent upon God's grace, received through faith, for right relationship with God.
One of Paul's distinctive contributions to Christian theology is found just here, where he poses faith as over against law in a distinctive fashion. This clear distinction allowed and motivated the church's mission to the Gentiles, but also led in time to the Christian church's break with the synagogue. Note the emphatic word at the end of verse 17, translated "certainly not!" in the RSV. The stronger "God forbid" in the KJV conveys more of Paul's intense feeling about the matter. He says this in response to the Judaizers, who thought that Paul's teaching that all is of grace would encourage people to trifle with righteousness and sin boldly, seeking cheap grace. Paul goes on to explain why this could not happen.
In verse 18 Paul thinks over the terrible things that might happen if he were to change his position and put the formalities of the law on Gentile converts. To do this would mean becoming a transgressor of the law himself.
In verse 19 Paul criticizes the law itself and says, not that the law is dead, but that he, his ego, is dead to the law. Thus, it no longer rules over him. He has died to the law so that he might live to God. Note that the "I" at the beginning of verse 19 is emphatic. In this verse the law appears both times without the article. While "the law" might suggest Paul is giving up only the Mosaic law, he is discounting all kinds of legalism. Living to law meant living to self, but living to God meant dying to self and bearing the burdens of one another.
In verses 20-21 Paul stresses his sole reliance upon Christ. In verse 20 Paul expresses three key features of the new life by faith:
(1) The new life in Christ is given by the two-fold Crucifixion/Resurrection. In being crucified with Christ a person dies to the old self and is freed from the past, the old self, the law. Through participating in Christ one is freed for a new life of grateful and responsible obedience to God. The Christian life is so centered in Christ that Paul can say it is no longer he who lives but Christ who lives in him.
(2) This new life in Christ is lived in the flesh, which means in this world. Being a Christian does not mean withdrawing from his world, says Paul. It is lived by faith in response to God's saving work in Christ. Faith is openness to God's gift of grace. To be faithful means obeying the demands of love. (5:6)
(3) Paul sums of the object and content of such faith as "the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." Compare this to John 3:16. In both passages it is the whole event of the Incarnation, but particularly the Crucifixion, which is Jesus' decisive act of self-giving. Consider that in both verses the benefits of Christ's passion are received by faith alone. Such love goes beyond mere emotional experience to total, unconditional surrender to God's will. It calls for the complete giving of one's self to God and others. Such self-giving is sharply contrasted with the works of law. Mystical union with Christ sustains and molds the Christian life, says Paul. I heard Karl Barth say to an English speaking colloquium in Basel, Switzerland in 1959 that the only form of mysticism which Christianity permits is "being in Christ" as Paul taught here and elsewhere. "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." (v. 20)
The final verse (21) recapitulates the whole argument. Paul says he does not nullify the grace of God. Paul tells the Galatians not to nullify God's grace by forcing Gentile Christians to live as Jews. That would imply that righteousness is through law rather than by grace alone. To do this would mean that Christ's death was a great but meaningless tragedy, that Christ then "died to no purpose."
Luke 7:36--8:3 (C) (RC)
Luke 7:36-50 (L)
The longer pericope includes the encounter of Jesus with a penitent sinner and Jesus' preaching tour announcing the kingdom of God in cities and villages. Luke places the story of Jesus and the sinner (some have thought her to be Mary Magdalene but there is inadequate support for this) at this point in his Gospel in order to illumine the charge in verse 34, that Jesus was "a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners." Recall that Luke has a special concern for social and religious outcasts. Luke is also fond of banquet scenes and uses one for the setting here of Jesus' forgiving a gross sinner.
Be conscious of the fact that at this time Jesus is still on relatively good terms with his opposition and so is invited to Simon's house for dinner. Simon is a Pharisee. Houses opened onto the street, so that it would not have been difficult for the woman simply to walk in and wash Jesus' feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair and kiss and anoint his feet with ointment. But when Simon saw this he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." (v. 39) The position for eating was reclining with feet away from the table, so the woman approaches Jesus' feet from behind. To be touched by a gross sinner like her would mean being contaminated with her sin. We are not told what kind of sinner she was, but it is implied her sin was of the lowest kind, probably prostitution. (Male scholars and preachers have usually made this assumption!)
Jesus proceeds to tell Simon a parable in order to deal with his criticism. One denarius was a day's wage, so we can translate this into a modern day's wage. Simon "bites" Jesus' hook and so snares himself when he says that the one forgiven more loves more. Then Jesus applies the parable to Simon and the woman, since Simon had not provided for the washing of Jesus' feet (an ordinary courtesy accorded a guest). Simon did not kiss Jesus the way Oriental men would greet one another, but this woman did! She anointed Jesus' head with ointment, which Simon also failed to do. Jesus points out that the woman, whose sins are many, are forgiven - for "she loved much," but he who is forgiven little loves little. Actually, this conclusion is not supported by the parable, which says that the one forgiven much loved much. Then Jesus tells the woman, "Your sins are forgiven." Luke may be implying that Jesus had previously forgiven the woman who is now expressing her love. But Luke may not be aware of any tension, since the love and forgiveness of God in Christ is always available before it is received by a person.
In verses 4-50 Luke has combined more than one tradition, including a debate over the right to forgive sins. The comment that the woman's faith has saved her is foreign to the narrative.
In 8:1-3 we are told of Jesus' preaching tour, on which he brings the Good News of the Kingdom of God. The twelve were with him on the tour, and also some women who had been healed by Jesus. Luke lists Mary, Joanna, and Susanna and "many others" who provided for the disciples out of their means. Luke stresses the role of women in Jesus' ministry. He and the disciples did not depend on chance hospitality but were furnished food and lodging by women of means.
Theological Reflections
The 1 Kings reading expresses God's providential care of Elijah, when he fled to Horeb for his life. In the depths of despair, as he wished God would take his life, God ministered to him through an angel bringing bread and water. The 2 Samuel passage is an account of confrontation of sin and God's judgment on sin, when Nathan spoke to King David and said, "You are the man." It is the story of great courage on the part of Nathan the prophet. He is a model for all preachers in speaking God's Word to the earthly rulers and power structures at the risk of one's life. In Galatians, Paul spells out the meaning of justification by faith and the freedom from Jewish dietary and ritual laws which the Gospel gives Gentiles and Jews who become Christians. Luke provides the account of Jesus' forgiving the woman who was a sinner who ministered to him, in contrast to Simon the Pharisee, the host who did not extend common courtesies.
Homiletical Moves
1 Kings 19:1-8 (C)
God Sustains Elijah in His Despair in the Wilderness
1. Jezebel threatens to slay Elijah the prophet even as he had slain the prophets of Baal
2. Elijah is afraid and flees into the wilderness, asking God to take his life, so great is his despair
3. God sends an angel to give Elijah a cake and water which revive his strength
4. Elijah goes to Horeb, where he is sustained by the food and drink God supplies
5. Let us trust God's providential care when our life is threatened and all seems lost, for he cares about us!
2 Samuel 11:26--12:10, 13-15 (L)
2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13 (RC)
David Confesses His Sin Against the Lord
1. David commits adultery with Bathsheba, arranges for her husband's murder in battle, takes her as his wife, and she bears his child
2. God sends Nathan, the court prophet, to David; Nathan tells him a parable of a rich man who took a poor man's pet ewe lamb and killed it for a feast
3. David's wrath is kindled against the injustice of the rich man
4. Nathan confronts David with the death sentence: "You are the man!"
5. David confesses that he has sinned against the Lord
6. Nathan assures him he will not die, but warns that the child of his adultery will die
7. Let us turn to God in repentance of our sin, trusting God in Christ to forgive us and make us a new creation
Galatians 2:15-21 (C)
Galatians 2:11-21 (L)
Galatians 2:16, 19-21 (RC)
Christ Lives in Me by Faith
1. Paul opposes Peter to his face for insincerity in eating with Gentiles and then reverting to obeying Jewish laws
2. Paul stresses to the Galatians that we have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith, not by works of the law
3. Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me"
4. Let us put our faith in Christ and die to self and be raised to a new life with Christ, in whom we live and move and have our being
This Preacher's Preference
Luke 7:36--8:3 (C) (RC)
Luke 7:36-50 (L)
She Loves Much, For Her Many Sins Are Forgiven!
1. Jesus went to a feast at the house of Simon a Pharisee, a host who did not provide the common courtesies usually given a guest
2. A woman who was a sinner came in and washed Jesus' feet with her tears, dried them with her hair and anointed them with ointment
3. Simon says that if Jesus were a prophet he would know what kind of woman she was, namely a sinner
4. Jesus tells Simon a parable and then says that the woman loves much because her many sins are forgiven
5. Let us turn to Jesus, who died on the Cross to forgive our sins, and then love much, both God and others in grateful and joyful response!
Hymn for Proper 6: There's a Wideness in God's Mercy
Prayer
Gracious God, who has forgiven our many sins, we confess that we have sinned against you and others. We believe in Christ, by whose death on the Cross we are justified and set right with you. We rejoice that our sins are forgiven and that we may go in peace. Amen
The 1 Kings reading tells of Elijah and his conflict with Jezebel who threatened to kill him. In danger, he arose and went south to Horeb, where God had revealed the law to Moses. There God provided for Elijah. The 2 Samuel passage is the account of David taking Uriah's widow as his wife, and Nathan the court prophet confronting David with his sin, declaring judgment on David and his house. In Galatians Paul recounts his meeting with Peter over the Gentile issue, and Paul's witness to his faith in Christ as justification before God. Luke tells of Jesus' encounter with the woman who was a sinner, and his preaching tour announcing the Kingdom of God.
Commentary
1 Kings 19:1-8 (C)
The preacher should read chapter 18 as background for this pericope. After Elijah had the prophets of Baal put to death, he was threatened with a similar death by Jezebel, wife of king Ahab. Elijah became afraid and fled for his life, coming to Beersheba where he left his servant. (When I traveled in Israel in 1953 we visited Beersheba, which was still at that time a small frontier town). Elijah went on a day's journey into the wilderness and sat under a broom tree.
The fact of Elijah's flight beyond Israel to the far south suggests that his victory at Carmel over the prophets of Baal was only momentary. Beersheba was the southern limit of sedentary occupation of Israel. "From Dan to Beersheba" was a familiar description of the length of the country.
Beersheba was 130 miles south of Jezreel, but still within Judah. Divine help enabled Elijah to arrive at Horeb (called Sinai in the southern tradition), where Moses was given the law. But the traditional site of Mount Horeb (which probably was not intended here) is some two hundred miles to the south.
There in the desert Elijah sits in the shade of a broom shrub. This plant has a delicate white flower with a maroon center, and is found along the beds of wadis. Elijah is so discouraged, he asks God to take his life. A more literal translation is "he requested his life to die," which indicates the Hebrew thought that life proceeds directly from and belongs to God. Therefore, although a person might want to commit suicide, the person was not free to do so. This attitude was exceptional among Semites.
The cake baked on hot stones refers to a round flat cake of bread baked sometimes on charcoal of dried camel dung instead of stones. The angel of the Lord who awakened him was God appearing in human form. The angel provides bread and water. After another rest he is told to proceed forty days and nights (forty is a conventional round number). Without further nourishment he arrives at Horeb, the holy mount of revelation. Moses also received his call at Horeb.
2 Samuel 11:26--12:10, 13-15 (L)
2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13 (RC)
In 11:26-27 we have the immediate background for Nathan's confrontation of King David: the news of Uriah's death in battle and Bathsheba's ritual mourning, after which David brought her to his house and she became his wife. She bore him a son, but the crime of David displeased the Lord. The Lord is displeased, even though David, God's anointed, committed the great sin of adultery and murder - and then attempted a coverup.
Although the lectionary omits verses 11-12 and 14, these are important for understanding God's judgment on David's sin. It is regrettable that the designers of the lectionary avoid judgment verses like this and similar ones.
Nathan the prophet, rebuking David for both murder and adultery, uses a parable. Note that the parable of the ewe lamb is narrated without an introduction. Nathan shows great courage in confronting David with his sins, for it was within the power of a king to execute or exile those who displeased him. What David had done was wrong for king or peasant to do, according to the moral principles of that time. We learn that later Nathan became an active supporter of Bathsheba. (1 Kings 1:5-14)
The point of the parable is that a great injustice has been done. David is so enraged by it that he pronounces the verdict on himself: "The man who has done this deserves to die; and he shall restore the lamb fourfold ..." Nathan increases the effect of the parable by making the lamb which the poor man had to struggle to buy for himself the darling of the whole family. But the way in which the rich man acts is thus made to appear not only parsimonious but also crude and arrogant. David's response reveals his sense of justice, justice which does not escape him when the real point of Nathan's parable breaks in on his consciousness. He doesn't blame Nathan for confronting him with his sins. Instead, the opposite occurs. From this point on, until David's death, Nathan is his trusted adviser as well as a trusted prophet of God. It appears that the prophet played the same role for David that confessors did in later courts. While some have criticized David for demanding four-fold restitution in addition to the death penalty, this is understandable in light of David's concern that the poor man as well as the rich should have justice done.
Nathan's piercing words, "You are the man!" go right for the jugular! It has been called one of the "most apt" sayings in the Bible. See how it takes up the verdict spoken by David without having to spell it out: it is a sentence of death. We must note this in order to understand what follows. This sentence is annulled, but only on David's acknowledgment of his sin. Until that moment, it stands.
Nathan reminds David in words of "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel," that God had given him his master's house and "your master's wives." This makes David's crimes even more heinous. The sin which David is accused of first is murder, murder of Uriah, and then of taking Uriah's wife for himself. These sins are mentioned twice and are characterized as despising the Word of the Lord. The declared punishment for these sins is ominous: "The sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me." (v. 10)
The second threat does mention David's adultery, but avoids mentioning the murder. It announces a fitting punishment. Notice the relationship between guilt and punishment regarding the commandment against adultery found in Job 31:9-12. Nathan tells David that the child of this adulterous relationship shall die, although God has put away David's sin. The child will die because David has utterly scorned the Lord.
Galatians 2:15-21 (C)
Galatians 2:11-21 (L)
Galatians 2:16, 19-21 (RC)
The commentary will cover 2:11-21 and the preacher may select those verses to be used in one of the above pericopes. This whole section falls into two parts: verses 11-14, dealing with Peter's vacillation; and verses 15-21, where Paul sets forth justification by faith as his absolutely fundamental thesis. This section is part of a larger discourse of 2:11--3:18, in which Paul gives a defense of his apostolic message.
In verses 11-14 Paul tells us of Cephas (Peter), who vacillated on the issue of whether or not Gentile Christians had to obey Jewish laws regarding food, circumcision, and the like. Peter came to Antioch and Paul opposed him to his face, following Peter's hypocrisy in eating with the Gentiles before certain men came from James but then drawing back and separating himself out of fear of the circumcision party. Paul condemns the rest of the Jewish Christians, including his good friend Barnabas, for acting insincerely.
Paul says that when he saw that they were not straightforward (a Greek verb meaning "to keep one's feet on the straight path") about the truth of the Gospel, he confronted Peter before all with his inconsistent behavior. Notice that the words Paul speaks to Peter are actually directed to the Galatians. It is a means of letting them "overhear" the Gospel and his defense of it, rather than arguing with the Galatians directly. Paul's reference to Peter living like a Gentile refers to his earlier willingness to eat with the Gentile Christians, which behavior had been an act of affirming the freedom from Jewish laws which the Gospel gives. Note that Paul is not writing simply to give an historical account but to speak a word of warning and instruction to the Galatians.
Paul was following the direct teaching of Jesus on this issue, since Jesus taught that it is not what a person eats but what the person says that makes the person unclean: "Thus he declared all food clean." (Mark 7:19) Paul saw to the heart of the matter - that dietary laws were irrelevant to God's saving all people by grace alone.
When writing, Paul did not use paragraph breaks or quotation marks. This makes it difficult to determine where his address to Peter ends. It may end at verse 14, or continue through verse 21. What Paul says applies to both Peter and the Galatians in any case, but since Peter drops out of sight after verse 14, it is best to consider that Paul's rebuke of him ends there. If we see it this way, we may view verses 15-21 as a kind of Gospel-in-a-nutshell, similar to 1:1-5.
The central thrust of verses 15-21 is justification by faith. Paul spells out the fundamental difference between the Law and the Gospel. This concludes with a statement of Paul's own faith in verses 20-21. Paul asserts that a person's right relationship with God is based, not on works of the law, but comes only through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the basic truth of the Gospel which Paul warns the Galatians not to compromise. He says he is a Jew by birth, but this in itself is not to be taken as the way to justification. In the view of Jews, Gentiles were sinners because they did not share in the Jewish heritage of law and covenant, but for Paul all persons, Jews and Gentiles alike, are sinners. For this reason all are equally dependent upon God's grace, received through faith, for right relationship with God.
One of Paul's distinctive contributions to Christian theology is found just here, where he poses faith as over against law in a distinctive fashion. This clear distinction allowed and motivated the church's mission to the Gentiles, but also led in time to the Christian church's break with the synagogue. Note the emphatic word at the end of verse 17, translated "certainly not!" in the RSV. The stronger "God forbid" in the KJV conveys more of Paul's intense feeling about the matter. He says this in response to the Judaizers, who thought that Paul's teaching that all is of grace would encourage people to trifle with righteousness and sin boldly, seeking cheap grace. Paul goes on to explain why this could not happen.
In verse 18 Paul thinks over the terrible things that might happen if he were to change his position and put the formalities of the law on Gentile converts. To do this would mean becoming a transgressor of the law himself.
In verse 19 Paul criticizes the law itself and says, not that the law is dead, but that he, his ego, is dead to the law. Thus, it no longer rules over him. He has died to the law so that he might live to God. Note that the "I" at the beginning of verse 19 is emphatic. In this verse the law appears both times without the article. While "the law" might suggest Paul is giving up only the Mosaic law, he is discounting all kinds of legalism. Living to law meant living to self, but living to God meant dying to self and bearing the burdens of one another.
In verses 20-21 Paul stresses his sole reliance upon Christ. In verse 20 Paul expresses three key features of the new life by faith:
(1) The new life in Christ is given by the two-fold Crucifixion/Resurrection. In being crucified with Christ a person dies to the old self and is freed from the past, the old self, the law. Through participating in Christ one is freed for a new life of grateful and responsible obedience to God. The Christian life is so centered in Christ that Paul can say it is no longer he who lives but Christ who lives in him.
(2) This new life in Christ is lived in the flesh, which means in this world. Being a Christian does not mean withdrawing from his world, says Paul. It is lived by faith in response to God's saving work in Christ. Faith is openness to God's gift of grace. To be faithful means obeying the demands of love. (5:6)
(3) Paul sums of the object and content of such faith as "the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." Compare this to John 3:16. In both passages it is the whole event of the Incarnation, but particularly the Crucifixion, which is Jesus' decisive act of self-giving. Consider that in both verses the benefits of Christ's passion are received by faith alone. Such love goes beyond mere emotional experience to total, unconditional surrender to God's will. It calls for the complete giving of one's self to God and others. Such self-giving is sharply contrasted with the works of law. Mystical union with Christ sustains and molds the Christian life, says Paul. I heard Karl Barth say to an English speaking colloquium in Basel, Switzerland in 1959 that the only form of mysticism which Christianity permits is "being in Christ" as Paul taught here and elsewhere. "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." (v. 20)
The final verse (21) recapitulates the whole argument. Paul says he does not nullify the grace of God. Paul tells the Galatians not to nullify God's grace by forcing Gentile Christians to live as Jews. That would imply that righteousness is through law rather than by grace alone. To do this would mean that Christ's death was a great but meaningless tragedy, that Christ then "died to no purpose."
Luke 7:36--8:3 (C) (RC)
Luke 7:36-50 (L)
The longer pericope includes the encounter of Jesus with a penitent sinner and Jesus' preaching tour announcing the kingdom of God in cities and villages. Luke places the story of Jesus and the sinner (some have thought her to be Mary Magdalene but there is inadequate support for this) at this point in his Gospel in order to illumine the charge in verse 34, that Jesus was "a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners." Recall that Luke has a special concern for social and religious outcasts. Luke is also fond of banquet scenes and uses one for the setting here of Jesus' forgiving a gross sinner.
Be conscious of the fact that at this time Jesus is still on relatively good terms with his opposition and so is invited to Simon's house for dinner. Simon is a Pharisee. Houses opened onto the street, so that it would not have been difficult for the woman simply to walk in and wash Jesus' feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair and kiss and anoint his feet with ointment. But when Simon saw this he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." (v. 39) The position for eating was reclining with feet away from the table, so the woman approaches Jesus' feet from behind. To be touched by a gross sinner like her would mean being contaminated with her sin. We are not told what kind of sinner she was, but it is implied her sin was of the lowest kind, probably prostitution. (Male scholars and preachers have usually made this assumption!)
Jesus proceeds to tell Simon a parable in order to deal with his criticism. One denarius was a day's wage, so we can translate this into a modern day's wage. Simon "bites" Jesus' hook and so snares himself when he says that the one forgiven more loves more. Then Jesus applies the parable to Simon and the woman, since Simon had not provided for the washing of Jesus' feet (an ordinary courtesy accorded a guest). Simon did not kiss Jesus the way Oriental men would greet one another, but this woman did! She anointed Jesus' head with ointment, which Simon also failed to do. Jesus points out that the woman, whose sins are many, are forgiven - for "she loved much," but he who is forgiven little loves little. Actually, this conclusion is not supported by the parable, which says that the one forgiven much loved much. Then Jesus tells the woman, "Your sins are forgiven." Luke may be implying that Jesus had previously forgiven the woman who is now expressing her love. But Luke may not be aware of any tension, since the love and forgiveness of God in Christ is always available before it is received by a person.
In verses 4-50 Luke has combined more than one tradition, including a debate over the right to forgive sins. The comment that the woman's faith has saved her is foreign to the narrative.
In 8:1-3 we are told of Jesus' preaching tour, on which he brings the Good News of the Kingdom of God. The twelve were with him on the tour, and also some women who had been healed by Jesus. Luke lists Mary, Joanna, and Susanna and "many others" who provided for the disciples out of their means. Luke stresses the role of women in Jesus' ministry. He and the disciples did not depend on chance hospitality but were furnished food and lodging by women of means.
Theological Reflections
The 1 Kings reading expresses God's providential care of Elijah, when he fled to Horeb for his life. In the depths of despair, as he wished God would take his life, God ministered to him through an angel bringing bread and water. The 2 Samuel passage is an account of confrontation of sin and God's judgment on sin, when Nathan spoke to King David and said, "You are the man." It is the story of great courage on the part of Nathan the prophet. He is a model for all preachers in speaking God's Word to the earthly rulers and power structures at the risk of one's life. In Galatians, Paul spells out the meaning of justification by faith and the freedom from Jewish dietary and ritual laws which the Gospel gives Gentiles and Jews who become Christians. Luke provides the account of Jesus' forgiving the woman who was a sinner who ministered to him, in contrast to Simon the Pharisee, the host who did not extend common courtesies.
Homiletical Moves
1 Kings 19:1-8 (C)
God Sustains Elijah in His Despair in the Wilderness
1. Jezebel threatens to slay Elijah the prophet even as he had slain the prophets of Baal
2. Elijah is afraid and flees into the wilderness, asking God to take his life, so great is his despair
3. God sends an angel to give Elijah a cake and water which revive his strength
4. Elijah goes to Horeb, where he is sustained by the food and drink God supplies
5. Let us trust God's providential care when our life is threatened and all seems lost, for he cares about us!
2 Samuel 11:26--12:10, 13-15 (L)
2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13 (RC)
David Confesses His Sin Against the Lord
1. David commits adultery with Bathsheba, arranges for her husband's murder in battle, takes her as his wife, and she bears his child
2. God sends Nathan, the court prophet, to David; Nathan tells him a parable of a rich man who took a poor man's pet ewe lamb and killed it for a feast
3. David's wrath is kindled against the injustice of the rich man
4. Nathan confronts David with the death sentence: "You are the man!"
5. David confesses that he has sinned against the Lord
6. Nathan assures him he will not die, but warns that the child of his adultery will die
7. Let us turn to God in repentance of our sin, trusting God in Christ to forgive us and make us a new creation
Galatians 2:15-21 (C)
Galatians 2:11-21 (L)
Galatians 2:16, 19-21 (RC)
Christ Lives in Me by Faith
1. Paul opposes Peter to his face for insincerity in eating with Gentiles and then reverting to obeying Jewish laws
2. Paul stresses to the Galatians that we have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith, not by works of the law
3. Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me"
4. Let us put our faith in Christ and die to self and be raised to a new life with Christ, in whom we live and move and have our being
This Preacher's Preference
Luke 7:36--8:3 (C) (RC)
Luke 7:36-50 (L)
She Loves Much, For Her Many Sins Are Forgiven!
1. Jesus went to a feast at the house of Simon a Pharisee, a host who did not provide the common courtesies usually given a guest
2. A woman who was a sinner came in and washed Jesus' feet with her tears, dried them with her hair and anointed them with ointment
3. Simon says that if Jesus were a prophet he would know what kind of woman she was, namely a sinner
4. Jesus tells Simon a parable and then says that the woman loves much because her many sins are forgiven
5. Let us turn to Jesus, who died on the Cross to forgive our sins, and then love much, both God and others in grateful and joyful response!
Hymn for Proper 6: There's a Wideness in God's Mercy
Prayer
Gracious God, who has forgiven our many sins, we confess that we have sinned against you and others. We believe in Christ, by whose death on the Cross we are justified and set right with you. We rejoice that our sins are forgiven and that we may go in peace. Amen
