When Grace Dances
Sermon
Sermons on the First Readings
Series III, Cycle B
Object:
The church has been given some fine texts for Thanksgiving but, like all texts, they require a context. So, for example, in the gospel for today (Matthew 6:25-33), Jesus cautions against worry. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear." This is not the same as wondering, Shall I have the lobster or the beef Wellington? or worrying, Which of these outfits goes best with my new shoes? Clearly, this text does not assume the extreme affluence we enjoy today. How do we, affluent Americans, hear these texts that come to us from a very different context.
Let us start with the first lesson, which comes from the book of Joel. We are most familiar with it because it is read every Ash Wednesday as a call to repentance. Joel describes a terrible devastation caused by a swarm of locusts. Before them, the land is like the Garden of Eden, but after them a desolate wilderness. Nothing escapes them (1:3). Joel interprets the locusts as God's judgment on a wicked and unfaithful people, so he calls them to repentance. Wake up, wail, lament. "Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God; and cry out to the Lord" (Joel 1:14). "Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep. Let them say, 'Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, "Where is their God?" ' " (Joel 2:17).
It is only at this point, after Israel had been duly repentant, in sackcloth and ashes, that the prophet describes Yahweh's relenting, a change of heart. In the verses just before our text, the shift is described. "Then the Lord became jealous for his land, and had pity on his people" (Joel 2:18).
In response to his people the Lord said: "I am sending you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a mockery among the nations" (Joel 2:19). "Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things" (v. 21 emphasis mine). This is a play on the pride of the enemy, who, in their arrogance, thought they had done great things. But it is the Lord who does great things.
Then three aspects of creation are called upon to rejoice (2:21-23). First the land or the soil -- be glad and rejoice! Then the animals of the field, they are to live in a richly bearing land -- green pastures, fruit trees and vines giving their full yield. Then, finally, the people -- O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice, for he gives you the early and late rains, so the harvest will be plentiful.
All of this is to balance God's earlier judgment. The Lord says, "I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you" (2:25). When the situation has changed, we note first that a response is expected. "You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God" (v. 26). They are reminded who they are to praise and why. "I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other" (v. 27). This is a common recognition formula -- the God who is in their midst is the true God. In addition, twice the promise is repeated, "And my people shall never again be put to shame" (vv. 26-27).
So God's heart is quickened and God's promise renewed because the people have come to confess their sin, acknowledge their dependency, and live only for the Lord.
In the gospel (Matthew 6:25-33), the context is not a broken people who are being restored by the Lord, as in Joel. Instead, the context seems to be the anxiety that is brought on by the radicality of the gospel. We know that there was a significant core of early Christians who understood the core of the gospel to be a call to radical discipleship, to forsake all and follow Jesus. This is certainly reflected in the calls of the twelve -- they left their nets to follow -- and also in the challenge of Jesus: Whoever has left mother, father, brothers, sisters, and fields for my name's sake will receive a hundredfold.
So there developed in the church an itinerant set of wandering preachers who needed to be supported in their journeying by the more settled church. But Matthew saw this tradition, though rooted in those itinerant radicals, as having a more general application. For the settled community also, or perhaps especially for the settled community, the dangers of mammon and the destructive values of the world need to be warned against. "For it is the Gentiles who strive after these things," Jesus says. "And, indeed, your heavenly Father knows you need all these things" (6:32). This reflects the faith of the praying community, whose heavenly Father knows what they need even before they ask. Such faith, then, calls us, not to some passive waiting, but to an active practice of God's righteousness. "But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (v. 33).
So the context is that of a community beginning to lose some of the radical edge of its discipleship and being called back to the trust and values of their master. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
The same image of a church in danger of settling in can be found in the second lesson (1 Timothy 2:1-7), where a young church decides to promote stability and peace as it makes its way in the midst of the Roman empire. Gone is the violent conflict between world and church in the book of Revelation, between loyalty to the empire or loyalty to Christ. Gone is the tension that Paul saw between this world and God's world, and the many misunderstandings, beatings, and imprisonments that he suffered. What we have is the hope that the empire might see the loyalty of the church and be hospitable to it: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity" (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
We said we have wonderful texts, which talk in hopeful and grateful ways about God's blessings and hope for harmony with all. At the same time, the context of these texts will not let us be comfortable with our abundance. Certainly the church has struggled through the years with the radical challenge of the gospel, reflected in the early disciples forsaking all, or the author of the Apocalypse naming Rome as the anti-Christ. We have preferred, with 1 Timothy, to make our peace with empire and seek to live the life of the virtuous good citizen.
The empire has not been hospitable to God or to the world. We have to admit that we benefit from an affluence that is not fairly distributed; or we consume vast resources in a way that is not sustainable. Thus, we find ourselves back with Joel before God's judgment. Only, this time, we ourselves are the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, a great army devouring everything in its path. The vine withers, the fig tree droops, the seed shrivels, the grain fails, the animals groan. How can the land be glad and rejoice? How can the animals of the field not be afraid? How can the children of Zion rejoice in the normalcy of the early and late rains?
So how do we interpret Joel when we are both the threatened ones and the enemy at the same time? We, the powerful and the privileged, with our ruthless exploitation of the earth, are responsible for the mortal danger that the cosmos finds itself in. At the same time, we will be the victims, or certainly our progeny. The call of Ash Wednesday is appropriate every day. Blow the trumpet, declare a fast, call an assembly. Repent, turn to the Lord, strive for God's rule and God's righteousness.
There is judgment in these texts. Nowhere do the people of God get to avoid the hard turn we must make from empire to God's kingdom, from self-righteousness to servanthood. We need to hear these hard challenges: "Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?" (Matthew 6:25). There is never despair. Instead, there is trust: "indeed, your heavenly father knows you need these things" (Matthew 6:32).
Finally, after the people relinquish their control and return to the Lord, there is promise: "You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame" (Joel 2:27).
The last thing in the world I want is to scold on Thanksgiving, but I also want to be faithful. God would not want us to disdain these blessings. W. H. Auden has wrote: "... about catastrophe or how to behave in one what do I know, except what everyone knows -- if there when Grace dances, I should dance."1 At the same time, we need to heed the collect for Thanksgiving: "Almighty God our Father, your generous goodness comes to us new every day. By the work of your Spirit, lead us to acknowledge your goodness, give thanks for your benefits, and serve you in willing obedience."2 Amen.
____________
1. W. H. Auden, "Whitsunday in Kirchstetten" in Collected Poems, ed. Edward Mendelsohn (New York: Vintage Books, 1976), p. 745.
2. Lutheran Book of Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1978), p. 40.
Let us start with the first lesson, which comes from the book of Joel. We are most familiar with it because it is read every Ash Wednesday as a call to repentance. Joel describes a terrible devastation caused by a swarm of locusts. Before them, the land is like the Garden of Eden, but after them a desolate wilderness. Nothing escapes them (1:3). Joel interprets the locusts as God's judgment on a wicked and unfaithful people, so he calls them to repentance. Wake up, wail, lament. "Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God; and cry out to the Lord" (Joel 1:14). "Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep. Let them say, 'Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, "Where is their God?" ' " (Joel 2:17).
It is only at this point, after Israel had been duly repentant, in sackcloth and ashes, that the prophet describes Yahweh's relenting, a change of heart. In the verses just before our text, the shift is described. "Then the Lord became jealous for his land, and had pity on his people" (Joel 2:18).
In response to his people the Lord said: "I am sending you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a mockery among the nations" (Joel 2:19). "Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things" (v. 21 emphasis mine). This is a play on the pride of the enemy, who, in their arrogance, thought they had done great things. But it is the Lord who does great things.
Then three aspects of creation are called upon to rejoice (2:21-23). First the land or the soil -- be glad and rejoice! Then the animals of the field, they are to live in a richly bearing land -- green pastures, fruit trees and vines giving their full yield. Then, finally, the people -- O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice, for he gives you the early and late rains, so the harvest will be plentiful.
All of this is to balance God's earlier judgment. The Lord says, "I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you" (2:25). When the situation has changed, we note first that a response is expected. "You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God" (v. 26). They are reminded who they are to praise and why. "I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other" (v. 27). This is a common recognition formula -- the God who is in their midst is the true God. In addition, twice the promise is repeated, "And my people shall never again be put to shame" (vv. 26-27).
So God's heart is quickened and God's promise renewed because the people have come to confess their sin, acknowledge their dependency, and live only for the Lord.
In the gospel (Matthew 6:25-33), the context is not a broken people who are being restored by the Lord, as in Joel. Instead, the context seems to be the anxiety that is brought on by the radicality of the gospel. We know that there was a significant core of early Christians who understood the core of the gospel to be a call to radical discipleship, to forsake all and follow Jesus. This is certainly reflected in the calls of the twelve -- they left their nets to follow -- and also in the challenge of Jesus: Whoever has left mother, father, brothers, sisters, and fields for my name's sake will receive a hundredfold.
So there developed in the church an itinerant set of wandering preachers who needed to be supported in their journeying by the more settled church. But Matthew saw this tradition, though rooted in those itinerant radicals, as having a more general application. For the settled community also, or perhaps especially for the settled community, the dangers of mammon and the destructive values of the world need to be warned against. "For it is the Gentiles who strive after these things," Jesus says. "And, indeed, your heavenly Father knows you need all these things" (6:32). This reflects the faith of the praying community, whose heavenly Father knows what they need even before they ask. Such faith, then, calls us, not to some passive waiting, but to an active practice of God's righteousness. "But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (v. 33).
So the context is that of a community beginning to lose some of the radical edge of its discipleship and being called back to the trust and values of their master. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
The same image of a church in danger of settling in can be found in the second lesson (1 Timothy 2:1-7), where a young church decides to promote stability and peace as it makes its way in the midst of the Roman empire. Gone is the violent conflict between world and church in the book of Revelation, between loyalty to the empire or loyalty to Christ. Gone is the tension that Paul saw between this world and God's world, and the many misunderstandings, beatings, and imprisonments that he suffered. What we have is the hope that the empire might see the loyalty of the church and be hospitable to it: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity" (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
We said we have wonderful texts, which talk in hopeful and grateful ways about God's blessings and hope for harmony with all. At the same time, the context of these texts will not let us be comfortable with our abundance. Certainly the church has struggled through the years with the radical challenge of the gospel, reflected in the early disciples forsaking all, or the author of the Apocalypse naming Rome as the anti-Christ. We have preferred, with 1 Timothy, to make our peace with empire and seek to live the life of the virtuous good citizen.
The empire has not been hospitable to God or to the world. We have to admit that we benefit from an affluence that is not fairly distributed; or we consume vast resources in a way that is not sustainable. Thus, we find ourselves back with Joel before God's judgment. Only, this time, we ourselves are the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, a great army devouring everything in its path. The vine withers, the fig tree droops, the seed shrivels, the grain fails, the animals groan. How can the land be glad and rejoice? How can the animals of the field not be afraid? How can the children of Zion rejoice in the normalcy of the early and late rains?
So how do we interpret Joel when we are both the threatened ones and the enemy at the same time? We, the powerful and the privileged, with our ruthless exploitation of the earth, are responsible for the mortal danger that the cosmos finds itself in. At the same time, we will be the victims, or certainly our progeny. The call of Ash Wednesday is appropriate every day. Blow the trumpet, declare a fast, call an assembly. Repent, turn to the Lord, strive for God's rule and God's righteousness.
There is judgment in these texts. Nowhere do the people of God get to avoid the hard turn we must make from empire to God's kingdom, from self-righteousness to servanthood. We need to hear these hard challenges: "Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?" (Matthew 6:25). There is never despair. Instead, there is trust: "indeed, your heavenly father knows you need these things" (Matthew 6:32).
Finally, after the people relinquish their control and return to the Lord, there is promise: "You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame" (Joel 2:27).
The last thing in the world I want is to scold on Thanksgiving, but I also want to be faithful. God would not want us to disdain these blessings. W. H. Auden has wrote: "... about catastrophe or how to behave in one what do I know, except what everyone knows -- if there when Grace dances, I should dance."1 At the same time, we need to heed the collect for Thanksgiving: "Almighty God our Father, your generous goodness comes to us new every day. By the work of your Spirit, lead us to acknowledge your goodness, give thanks for your benefits, and serve you in willing obedience."2 Amen.
____________
1. W. H. Auden, "Whitsunday in Kirchstetten" in Collected Poems, ed. Edward Mendelsohn (New York: Vintage Books, 1976), p. 745.
2. Lutheran Book of Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1978), p. 40.
