Through Cross-colored Glasses
Sermon
Sermons On The First Readings
Series I, Cycle C
Introduction
The title I chose for this collection of Old Testament sermons, Through Cross-colored Glasses, summarizes my approach to preaching the Old Testament texts here. Understanding their usage in the context of the Christian worship service is fundamental to appreciating why I have interpreted and proclaimed them the way I have.
As a youth growing up in the Lutheran Church, the Old Testament was virtually ignored in the Sunday worship service. The lectionary only included two readings, both from the New Testament, the Epistle and the Gospel. If Old Testament texts ever showed up in worship, it was usually during the season of Advent when various Old Testament texts suddenly became important because they "predicted" the birth of Jesus. During the rest of the year the Old Testament was largely ignored. I was never really quite sure why. But somehow I got the impression that it was "old" and "obsolete" because Jesus had come. Somehow I got the impression that the God of the Old Testament really wasn't the same God of the New Testament. He was angry, crotchety, unpredictable, and sometimes downright mean. That certainly wasn't the same God whom Jesus called "Father." Likewise, the religion of the Old Testament was harsh and moralistic. The Jews were hung up on trying to earn their way to heaven by keeping the commandments and all those absurd ceremonial laws. We enlightened New Testament believers had a better way, a better God, and a better religion. Of course, years later I came to see that this was nothing more than another warmed-over version of the ancient Marcionite heresy. Nevertheless, it was an impression many had and many may continue to have in the pews of Christian congregations.
In Lutheran circles with the advent of The Lutheran Book of Worship in 1978 and in the years leading up to its publication, that all began to change. The lectionary was expanded and greater prominence was given to a third reading, the First Lesson, which in most cases was from the Old Testament. For the first time in my life public worship was forcing me to take seriously the Old Testament. Many of my old assumptions began to crumble. My education in college and seminary continued to alter those assumptions about the Old Testament being "old" and "obsolete." Since then I have learned to call it the "First Testament" instead of the "Old Testament." Such a designation reflects my renewed appreciation of those ancient texts and their close relationship to the "Second Testament." The two go together, hand in glove. One doesn't really understand the Second/New Testament without the First/Old Testament.
These sermons assume that there is a basic continuity between both Testaments. It is the same God in both. The God whom Jesus called "Father" is also the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and the prophets. The God of the First/Old Testament is the same God of grace and mercy reflected in Jesus and proclaimed by Paul. That is why the First/Old Testament is read in Christian worship. That is why Christians want to recover the use and appreciation of the First/Old Testament. The story of the Second/New Testament, the story of Jesus, and the mission of the church that emerged from his life, death, and resurrection would be incomplete without the history that went before it.
But these sermons are also shaped by the context of the First/Old Testament reading in the Christian worship service. These First/Old Testament texts are interpreted and preached from the point of view of Christian conviction and faith and not from some other religious conviction and faith, whether it be Jewish, Muslim, Unitarian, and so on. Their use in the Christian worship service assumes that they must be interpreted Christologically. They are not properly understood and proclaimed unless they proclaim Christ.
This is already reflected in the structure of the lectionary. The chief text of every service is the Gospel. The First Lesson was selected because of its perceived relationship to the Gospel. Lectionary editors chose a particular First/Old Testament text because they saw the message of the Gospel lesson appointed for that day reflected in it. Therefore, as I read, interpret, and proclaim the First Lesson, it is always done from the perspective of the day's appointed Gospel. Even more, it is always read, interpreted, and proclaimed with the assumption that "Christ" must be there in the First Lesson. And if "Christ" is not there, I must bring him there. By "Christ" I mean the Gospel, the Good News of God's unconditional love for the world in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. No sermon is adequately preached if "Christ" is not proclaimed.
That is what I mean by the title, Through Cross-colored Glasses. When I preach the First Lesson, I always come looking to preach Christ. This is not some idea I concocted. This is not something I invented. The very structure of the Christian worship service and the placement of the First Lesson in the service assume this hermeneutical perspective. Martin Luther, himself a First/Old Testament scholar and great Bible teacher of his day, also assumed this hermeneutical perspective. For Luther the Word of God could not be proclaimed as the Word of God unless it proclaimed Christ, i.e., God's offer of the forgiveness of sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Therefore, these sermons are all preached through cross-colored glasses. I interpret and proclaim the First Lesson always looking to proclaim the "cross" of Jesus Christ. That means looking for aspects of the First Lesson that "foreshadow" the cross, details, symbols, themes, and events that signal the presence of God's grace and mercy that was finally "fulfilled" in the coming of the Christ, the Jewish Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.
Preaching through cross-colored glasses means that these ancient texts are treated as if they are "Christian" texts. They are treated as if they themselves beg to be read from the perspective of Christ and his cross. Both the early church and the Second/New Testament emerged from a context where this claim was the source of enormous debate and controversy. The overwhelming majority of the first Christians were Jews who believed that Jesus was the "fulfillment" of all the hopes and dreams of their Scriptures, what we today call the First/Old Testament. They believed that Jesus was that Jewish Messiah for whom they had been waiting for so long. Of course, the majority of their Jewish brothers and sisters disagreed with them and expelled them from the Jewish community. These sermons share the convictions of these first Jewish Christians: that Jesus is the hoped-for Messiah; that these First/Old Testament texts are "fulfilled" in him; that therefore these texts belong in the Christian worship service; that these texts are properly understood and proclaimed when they are read through cross/Christ-colored glasses.
Preaching from the First/Old Testament also assumes that these texts aren't just history, that they aren't just interesting stories from the past. Rather, in these stories we see the struggles of God's people as they seek to remain faithful in every time and every place. Jaroslav Pelikan in Luther The Expositor, Introduction to the Reformer's Exegetical Writings, points out that this is one of significant breakthroughs that Luther achieved in his treatment of the biblical narratives, both First/Old and Second/New Testaments. Breaking with the allegorical interpretation that dominated the church in the Middle Ages, Luther began to read the Scriptures as real history, history that is lived out time and time again in the life of God's people, the church. "... the history which Luther read in the Biblical narratives was not just any history; it was a special and particular history, the history of the church as the people of God."1
Preaching these First/Old Testament texts through cross-colored glasses means that I see in these ancient narratives the same history of the people of God that is repeated in every time and place. It is always this struggle: to believe the gospel and live life trusting it. That struggle can be found in the pages of the First/Old Testament, in the pages of the Second/New Testament, in the pages of church history ... and in the lives of the people who sit in our congregations every Sunday morning. It is has always been the same struggle. It is the conviction of this preacher that the cross of Jesus Christ, the grace and mercy of God, has always been God's response to that struggle. Even though the context is always changing, the message remains the same.
Whether you struggle to preach to a Christian congregation or whether you are sitting in the pew looking for a good word to sustain you in your faith for another day, I hope you will find these sermons helpful. Perhaps their interpretation and proclamation of the First/Old Testament through cross-colored glasses will make these ancient texts come alive. Even more, I hope they help you to realize that seeing all of life through cross-colored glasses, through the cross of crucified and risen Jesus, the Christ, the long-awaited and now-arrived Jewish Messiah, is wonderful Good News and a great way to live your life.
____________
1. Jaroslav Pelikan, Luther The Expositor: Introduction to the Reformer's Exegetical Writings (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), p. 89.
The title I chose for this collection of Old Testament sermons, Through Cross-colored Glasses, summarizes my approach to preaching the Old Testament texts here. Understanding their usage in the context of the Christian worship service is fundamental to appreciating why I have interpreted and proclaimed them the way I have.
As a youth growing up in the Lutheran Church, the Old Testament was virtually ignored in the Sunday worship service. The lectionary only included two readings, both from the New Testament, the Epistle and the Gospel. If Old Testament texts ever showed up in worship, it was usually during the season of Advent when various Old Testament texts suddenly became important because they "predicted" the birth of Jesus. During the rest of the year the Old Testament was largely ignored. I was never really quite sure why. But somehow I got the impression that it was "old" and "obsolete" because Jesus had come. Somehow I got the impression that the God of the Old Testament really wasn't the same God of the New Testament. He was angry, crotchety, unpredictable, and sometimes downright mean. That certainly wasn't the same God whom Jesus called "Father." Likewise, the religion of the Old Testament was harsh and moralistic. The Jews were hung up on trying to earn their way to heaven by keeping the commandments and all those absurd ceremonial laws. We enlightened New Testament believers had a better way, a better God, and a better religion. Of course, years later I came to see that this was nothing more than another warmed-over version of the ancient Marcionite heresy. Nevertheless, it was an impression many had and many may continue to have in the pews of Christian congregations.
In Lutheran circles with the advent of The Lutheran Book of Worship in 1978 and in the years leading up to its publication, that all began to change. The lectionary was expanded and greater prominence was given to a third reading, the First Lesson, which in most cases was from the Old Testament. For the first time in my life public worship was forcing me to take seriously the Old Testament. Many of my old assumptions began to crumble. My education in college and seminary continued to alter those assumptions about the Old Testament being "old" and "obsolete." Since then I have learned to call it the "First Testament" instead of the "Old Testament." Such a designation reflects my renewed appreciation of those ancient texts and their close relationship to the "Second Testament." The two go together, hand in glove. One doesn't really understand the Second/New Testament without the First/Old Testament.
These sermons assume that there is a basic continuity between both Testaments. It is the same God in both. The God whom Jesus called "Father" is also the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and the prophets. The God of the First/Old Testament is the same God of grace and mercy reflected in Jesus and proclaimed by Paul. That is why the First/Old Testament is read in Christian worship. That is why Christians want to recover the use and appreciation of the First/Old Testament. The story of the Second/New Testament, the story of Jesus, and the mission of the church that emerged from his life, death, and resurrection would be incomplete without the history that went before it.
But these sermons are also shaped by the context of the First/Old Testament reading in the Christian worship service. These First/Old Testament texts are interpreted and preached from the point of view of Christian conviction and faith and not from some other religious conviction and faith, whether it be Jewish, Muslim, Unitarian, and so on. Their use in the Christian worship service assumes that they must be interpreted Christologically. They are not properly understood and proclaimed unless they proclaim Christ.
This is already reflected in the structure of the lectionary. The chief text of every service is the Gospel. The First Lesson was selected because of its perceived relationship to the Gospel. Lectionary editors chose a particular First/Old Testament text because they saw the message of the Gospel lesson appointed for that day reflected in it. Therefore, as I read, interpret, and proclaim the First Lesson, it is always done from the perspective of the day's appointed Gospel. Even more, it is always read, interpreted, and proclaimed with the assumption that "Christ" must be there in the First Lesson. And if "Christ" is not there, I must bring him there. By "Christ" I mean the Gospel, the Good News of God's unconditional love for the world in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. No sermon is adequately preached if "Christ" is not proclaimed.
That is what I mean by the title, Through Cross-colored Glasses. When I preach the First Lesson, I always come looking to preach Christ. This is not some idea I concocted. This is not something I invented. The very structure of the Christian worship service and the placement of the First Lesson in the service assume this hermeneutical perspective. Martin Luther, himself a First/Old Testament scholar and great Bible teacher of his day, also assumed this hermeneutical perspective. For Luther the Word of God could not be proclaimed as the Word of God unless it proclaimed Christ, i.e., God's offer of the forgiveness of sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Therefore, these sermons are all preached through cross-colored glasses. I interpret and proclaim the First Lesson always looking to proclaim the "cross" of Jesus Christ. That means looking for aspects of the First Lesson that "foreshadow" the cross, details, symbols, themes, and events that signal the presence of God's grace and mercy that was finally "fulfilled" in the coming of the Christ, the Jewish Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.
Preaching through cross-colored glasses means that these ancient texts are treated as if they are "Christian" texts. They are treated as if they themselves beg to be read from the perspective of Christ and his cross. Both the early church and the Second/New Testament emerged from a context where this claim was the source of enormous debate and controversy. The overwhelming majority of the first Christians were Jews who believed that Jesus was the "fulfillment" of all the hopes and dreams of their Scriptures, what we today call the First/Old Testament. They believed that Jesus was that Jewish Messiah for whom they had been waiting for so long. Of course, the majority of their Jewish brothers and sisters disagreed with them and expelled them from the Jewish community. These sermons share the convictions of these first Jewish Christians: that Jesus is the hoped-for Messiah; that these First/Old Testament texts are "fulfilled" in him; that therefore these texts belong in the Christian worship service; that these texts are properly understood and proclaimed when they are read through cross/Christ-colored glasses.
Preaching from the First/Old Testament also assumes that these texts aren't just history, that they aren't just interesting stories from the past. Rather, in these stories we see the struggles of God's people as they seek to remain faithful in every time and every place. Jaroslav Pelikan in Luther The Expositor, Introduction to the Reformer's Exegetical Writings, points out that this is one of significant breakthroughs that Luther achieved in his treatment of the biblical narratives, both First/Old and Second/New Testaments. Breaking with the allegorical interpretation that dominated the church in the Middle Ages, Luther began to read the Scriptures as real history, history that is lived out time and time again in the life of God's people, the church. "... the history which Luther read in the Biblical narratives was not just any history; it was a special and particular history, the history of the church as the people of God."1
Preaching these First/Old Testament texts through cross-colored glasses means that I see in these ancient narratives the same history of the people of God that is repeated in every time and place. It is always this struggle: to believe the gospel and live life trusting it. That struggle can be found in the pages of the First/Old Testament, in the pages of the Second/New Testament, in the pages of church history ... and in the lives of the people who sit in our congregations every Sunday morning. It is has always been the same struggle. It is the conviction of this preacher that the cross of Jesus Christ, the grace and mercy of God, has always been God's response to that struggle. Even though the context is always changing, the message remains the same.
Whether you struggle to preach to a Christian congregation or whether you are sitting in the pew looking for a good word to sustain you in your faith for another day, I hope you will find these sermons helpful. Perhaps their interpretation and proclamation of the First/Old Testament through cross-colored glasses will make these ancient texts come alive. Even more, I hope they help you to realize that seeing all of life through cross-colored glasses, through the cross of crucified and risen Jesus, the Christ, the long-awaited and now-arrived Jewish Messiah, is wonderful Good News and a great way to live your life.
____________
1. Jaroslav Pelikan, Luther The Expositor: Introduction to the Reformer's Exegetical Writings (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), p. 89.
