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1 in Faith: A Christian Bible Study |
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Scripture Readings for October2006
If you would like to receive these daily scripture readings by email, click email list service. These short readings from the Christian Bible are read daily at community prayer in Taizé, an ecumenical and international Christian community in France. The Bible reference indicates a longer passage from scripture. You are invited to read the longer passage in the morning before you begin your daily activities, and then to ponder the reading, in silence and prayer, as it comes to mind during the day. For a brief explanation of how I am reading the Christian Bible, please go to Exegesis or to Witness.
In the gospel of John, Jesus says: "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life." This passage from the gospel of John seems to reflect the celebration of the Lord's Supper, although the gospel does not report that Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples before he was arrested. This is the only place in the New Testament gospels that refers to eating the "flesh" of Jesus and to drinking his "blood," and we learn that many of his disciples were disturbed by this teaching (v. 60). Verse 66 even says the statement by Jesus was so offensive to some of these disciples that they "drew back and no longer went around with him." We may best understand this account as representing the witness of the author of the fourth gospel to the convictions of his Christian community. He put these words into the mouth of Jesus, because he believed that the practice of his Christian community was a witness to the word of God. Most likely, the followers of Jesus in the Jewish community of the author of the gospel of John split over the belief held by some that is expressed in this passage. Today, we read these words as emphasizing the spiritual dimension of life. Christians who differ about the meaning of the Lord's Supper, nonetheless agree it is a ritual of spiritual transformation. The gospels remind us, however, that the spiritual life must be lived in our material world. We are called not only to worship, but to witness to our faith through acts of love and mercy. "God is better than a fortress in time of trouble. God recognizes those with faith, even when the flood rushes on." The book of Nahum begins with an explanation that it is an oracle concerning Nineveh and contains the vision of Nahum of Elkosh, a vision that presents the LORD as judge of all the nations and not only of Israel. The God of this witness is harsh and unrelenting. Yet, the God who judges Nineveh, as well as Israel, is a God who expects the nations to rule with justice and with concern for the poor. If God is LORD of all the nations, then all people may be urged to put their trust in God. Not only Israel, but also the enemies of Israel are called to be faithful. And if they are, God will recognize and reward their faith. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says: "Have you never read in the scriptures: 'The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone; this is the Lord's doing and we marvel at it'?" This saying refers to Psalm 118:22. It is not clear in the Psalm what the "stone" refers to, but in the gospel it clearly means Jesus. In the gospels of Mark and Luke as well this statement follows the parable of a vineyard let out by its owner to tenants, who refuse to pay their rent and kill the son of the owner, when he comes to collect. The owner, Jesus says, will punish the tenants and let out the vineyard to others. The text has been understood as condemning the Jews who rejected Jesus, but we need to recall that other Jews accepted Jesus as the Messiah. In fact, all the disciples of Jesus and Jesus himself were Jews, and the apostle Paul, who had the most to do with opening the church to Gentiles, was also a Jew. The parable and its concluding moral are not simply a condemnation of "the Jews." The gospel writers direct the judgment of God at those who resist the witness of the church and not against "the Jews" as a people. Christians should be ashamed that the church throughout its history has used passages such as this to justify the persecution of Jews, as though God had commissioned Christians to serve as judges over the covenant people. With Pope John II, we should embrace the Jews as "our elders" in faith. October 4, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 "Even if I can understand all mysteries and know all things, even if I have the faith to move mountains, if I am without love I am nothing." This passage in Paul's letter to the church in Corinth is one of the most beloved readings in the New Testament. It follows Paul's description of the church, as the body of Christ, and his affirmation that there are various spiritual gifts. As Paul is pleading for cooperation and order within the church of Corinth, there must have been conflicts within the church including disputes about the importance of different spiritual gifts. Paul asserts that "God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues." (12:28) As an apostle, Paul claims more authority (with his spiritual gifts) than those who are speaking in tongues. And because he lists this gift as the least helpful to the life of the church, we can assume that in Corinth those speaking in tongues were claiming to have the most important gift of the Spirit. Chapter 13 of this letter is introduced by the statement, "I will show you a still more excellent way." (12:31) Then Paul writes that love is the greatest gift of the Spirit. Paul is not referring to the passionate love between a man and a woman, but to the compassionate love we may have for others regardless of their gender. The church must manifest this love, Paul says, to be the body of Christ. "We do not know how to pray properly, but the Spirit comes to help us in our weakness and intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Paul is counseling the Christians in Rome about prayer. He reminds them not to judge prayers by their eloquence or length, as though God is impressed by the performance of the person praying. In prayer Christians are simply to give themselves to God, trusting that the Spirit of God will "speak" through them. This passage may remind us of the teaching about prayer attributed to Jesus in the gospel of Matthew: "And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." (Mt. 6:7-8) Paul does not say anything about what Jesus might have taught concerning prayer, so we cannot conclude that Paul is merely paraphrasing a teaching by Jesus. But clearly the church begins by teaching that prayer involves opening our hearts. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says: "If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, they will certainly not lose their reward." This passage from the gospel of Matthew contains harsh language about the conflicts that may arise from joining the church. "I have come," Jesus is quoted as saying, "to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be those of his own household." (10:35) The gospel of Matthew seems to be written for a Christian community that is largely Jewish, because it emphasizes teaching about the law and the fulfillment of ancient Israelite prophecy. But other Jews oppose the church, arguing that Jesus has not fulfilled the prophetic teachings of their tradition. For many Jewish members of this church, following Jesus as the Messiah means conflict with their families. Yet the passage ends with a statement about persecution, and this teaching is also in the gospel of Luke, which is written for a primarily Gentile Christian church. (Lk. 12:51-53) Perhaps the teaching reflects a general experience that confessing Christ leads to conflict with one's family. In a culture that valued family ties more than we do today, this teaching strengthened the resolve of Christians who were being pressured by their families. Recognizing that Christians may be rejected by their families, the gospel urges the church to offer its members a new family. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus says to Simon Peter, "Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch." "Master," Simon replied, "we have worked hard all night long without catching anything, but because you say so I will let down the nets." All the gospels in the New Testament record Jesus calling his disciples, but only the gospel of Matthew adds this story to the account. Yet, the gospel of John tells a very similar story of the risen Christ. (Jn. 21:1-19) It is possible that these two stories of the disciples hauling in a great catch of fish in the early morning are different versions of the same story. The varied use of stories in the gospels is evidence that the gospels are not history, but are testimonies of faith. We see something similar with the story of the cleansing of the temple by Jesus. In the first three New Testament gospels this occurs when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem before his arrest, whereas in the gospel of John it comes at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. (See Mt. 21:12-13, Mk. 11:15-19, Lk. 19:45-46, Jn. 2:13-17.) If Jesus had cleansed the temple at the beginning of his ministry, it seems unlikely that the other three gospels would omit this striking event. Moreover, a second cleansing at the end of his ministry would hardly surprise anyone. The gospels are witnesses to faith in Christ and not journalistic reports of the travels, teachings and activities of Jesus. Jesus may or may not have helped his disciples haul in a great catch of fish, but the story tells us that he helped his disciples become church leaders and, as the gospel of Luke says, "fishers of men." (Lk. 5:10) The story not only demonstrates the power of Jesus, but validates the authority of the disciples as the leaders of the church. "Watch over those who are entrusted to you, not simply as a duty but willingly and with gladness of heart, according to God's will." This letter is attributed to the apostle Peter, but it is written in excellent Greek and thus in its present form, at least, reflects the hand of a Greek-speaking Jewish church leader, even if the ideas go back to Peter. The passage at the beginning of the fifth chapter concerns the care of members of the church. The letter urges that this not be merely a matter of duty, but be undertaken with "gladness of heart." The author of this letter knows that duty alone will not sustain the life of the church. Our care for one another must reflect our sense of the care God has for us. Then doing our duty will reflect our gratitude to God. "Just as each of us has one body with many parts, and the parts do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, who are many, form one body, and each of us belongs to all the others." Paul's image of the church as the body of Christ implies that there are different roles within the church, but that all these are helpful for the functioning of the whole church. It seems clear that Paul created this metaphor to help settle conflicts within the church. There were arguments about the gifts of the Spirit that had to do with who had greater authority within the faith community. Paul's assertion that all the parts of the body are subject to the head, which is Christ, is a way of trying to quell the discord. We often think of the early church as unified and harmonious and all the problems that have beset the church throughout history as a corruption of this first, perfect community. But Paul's letters reveal how much conflict there was in these early churches. The disciples in the church in Jerusalem, for instance, were Aramaic speaking Galileans who resisted Greek culture and language. Therefore, their church was closely tied to the Jewish tradition. In Roman cities, however, Christian communities were led by Jewish and Gentile Christians who spoke Greek, and in these places the church was far less "Jewish." Moreover, there were conflicts about speaking in tongues, and there were differences in the teachings of the various apostles. Perhaps acknowledging these differences will help us see that faith in Christ does not require agreement on Christian beliefs. On that day, it will be said: "Look, this is our God; we put our hope in him and he saved us. Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation." The first part of the prophecy attributed to Isaiah (chapters 1-39) proclaims the judgment of God upon the covenant people at the hands of their enemies, because the Israelites have broken the covenant. The latter part of Isaiah (chapters 40-66), which is often called second Isaiah because of its differences with the first part, reaffirms the restoration of Israel, but also presents a vision of God's suffering servant, who will bring about a new relationship among all the nations of the earth. There are common threads between the two parts of Isaiah, and this passage is clearly a link between vision of judgment and the promise of restoration. The prophet calls the people of Israel to renew their faith in God, to look to God despite their suffering, and to hope in God's salvation. Faith is easy when life is good, but our hope is put to the test when the future looks bleak. At the time the first part of Isaiah was written, the people were threatened by war. The prophet called on the people to trust in God despite their fears and even to rejoice in the One who is the source of salvation. Can we, in our time, heed these words? "The LORD rescued me from enemies who were stronger than I am and set me in the open." This hymn of praise placed in the mouth of King David a little before 1000 BCE says that the LORD delivered David because the LORD "delighted" in David. At this point in the story God does not "love" the covenant people, but at least God fancies them. We might say that the LORD rescues David so that the covenant story, which is a good and exciting story, does not end. When the people of Israel continue to be unfaithful, God comes close to killing them off. But that would end God's story as well as Israel, because God is creating this story through what happens to Israel. If the story of God's chosen people ends, the story of God will also be over. Similarly, we might understand the New Testament as a new chapter in the story, and in this sense the church is the newly chosen people of God. Now, however, the image of God is Christ, who is God for us, but also a man for all seasons. "By faith, Abraham answered God's call and set out for the land he was to inherit. And he set out without knowing where he was going." This letter was traditionally attributed to Paul, but it is unlike his other letters and does not name Paul as the author. The letter does emphasize "faith" in a way that reminds the reader of Paul, so it may have been written by a church leader familiar with Paul's writings. As is true in Paul's letters, Abraham is presented as the great man of faith, because he obeyed God. Hebrews also tells us that Sarah "by faith" was able to conceive a child in her old age. Thus, the old patriarch and his wife were to found a line through Isaac and then their grandson Jacob that became the people of Israel in covenant with God. Paul argues that the descendants of Abraham, by faith, are now all those who are faithful to Christ, because Christ is the fulfillment of the law of the covenant. Hebrews takes up that argument with Jews, who might be tempted to think that the new covenant in Christ has not replaced the old covenant received by Moses on behalf of the people of Israel. Paul writes: "Draw your strength from the grace which is in Christ Jesus." Paul is instructing Timothy about his role in providing leadership for the church. Rather than focus only on details, however, he emphasizes that Timothy must trust in the grace of God that they have known in Christ Jesus. Timothy is not merely to rely on his own wits or sincerity of heart, but to rely in faith on God. We might well take this teaching to heart. We are constantly putting our best foot forward, trying hard to appear in control and self-assured, masking our doubts and projecting a sense of confidence that we may not have. Can we go forward boldly, and yet rely on the grace of God? What would it mean to live our faith this way? "Those who listen to the word of God but do not do what it says are like people who look at their faces in a mirror and, after looking at themselves, go away and immediately forget what they look like." This letter is attributed to James, the brother of Jesus, who became the first bishop of the church in Jerusalem. The letter is written in Greek, and it is very unlikely that the brother of Jesus was educated in Greek. So, the letter reflects the hand of a Greek-speaking Jewish leader of the church. But it may well communicate the teaching of James the Just, as he was known in the early church, for James was concerned with living the word of God and not simply with confessing it. The letter of James is a good corrective to the letters of Paul, because Paul is so eager to open the church to Gentiles that at times he seems to disparage the commandments of the Torah that require doing good works. The gospel of Matthew was also seeks to correct Paul's emphasis on faith rather than good works, for in this gospel Jesus teaches that many call him "Lord, Lord," but fail to do the will of the Father. (Mt. 7:21-23) Faith without works is mere belief, and belief alone is not saving. October 15, 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 "May God fulfill every good purpose of yours and complete all that you have been doing by faith." Paul's first letter to the church at Thessalonica reveals that he is writing a Gentile Christian community, because he commends them for having turned "from idols to serve a living and true God." (1 Th. 1:9) These two letters to the Thessalonians are concerned primarily with maintaining faith in the face of persecution, as they wait for the coming Day of the Lord and the raising of the dead. Therefore, Paul begins his second letter with a descriptive warning of the "righteous judgment" that God will unleash, "when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus." (v. 8) The punishment of those who are unworthy, Paul says, will be eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord. This is Paul's threat to motivate the Christians in Thessalonica to be faithful. Then he prays that God will make them all worthy of their calling to be witnesses to the gospel and that God will complete what they, in faith, have begun. Is this "the word of the Lord?" Or, are these simply the words of Paul. Most likely there has been some backsliding in the church at Thessalonica. Will God consign to eternal damnation those whose faith is weak? For centuries this has been Christian doctrine, but the Vatican recently clarified that hell was a "state of being apart from God" rather than a place where the dead are tormented. And many Protestant churches preach that the love of God embraces even those who fail to respond. "Let your heart remain constant in the adoration of God; for there is a future and your hope will not come to nothing." Proverbs is full of practical wisdom and encouragement. What would it mean to live in constant adoration of God? This need not require withdrawing from the world, but instead may mean plunging fully into its ambiguous life. After all, this is how the gospels present the life of Jesus. He lived in a special relationship with God, but he healed and taught and lived among common people. Jesus especially nurtured relationships with many of those, who were condemned by his peers for being sinners. He didn't shun morally ambiguous situations in the world, but rather tried to redeem sinners by loving them and challenging them to aspire to the life of faith, hope and love. When we feel down and discouraged, can we be constant in loving God and our neighbors? This is the real test of our faith. October 17, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5 "We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." Paul is writing with Silvanus (who is also known in the New Testament by the name of Silas) and Timothy, his co-workers in reaching out to Gentiles, to the church in Thessalonica. The letter begins by giving thanks for the Christians in Thessalonica and by reminding them that they are constantly remembered in the prayers of the apostles. Paul emphasizes that God has chosen the Christians in Thessalonica and that their faith is strengthened by God's love for them. This love, the apostle says, will nurture in them the faith, hope and love that are the primary manifestations of the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Gentile Christians in Thessalonica are suffering persecution, because they no longer worship the idols of their city and empire. Paul urges them to be steadfast in their faith, and to find hope in the coming day "when the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words." (1 Th. 4:16-18) Many Christians today read these words literally as the word of the Lord, but others believe these images reflect a first century view of heaven and earth. Christians agree, however, with Paul's affirmation that "neither death, or life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39) In the gospel of Luke, Jesus sends out his disciples saying: "Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there and say, 'The kingdom of God is very near you.'" Jesus appoints seventy disciples and sends them out with instructions not to carry a purse, bag or sandals. They are to be poor among the poor, and to rely solely on God's grace and the hospitality of those who receive them. In the gospel of Mark, when Jesus sends out his disciples, he tells them to take a staff and "to wear sandals." (Mk. 6:9) It is a small contradiction, but both gospels cannot be right. Either Jesus told his disciples to wear sandals, or not to wear sandals (or he said nothing about wearing sandals). Most likely the author of the gospel of Luke has changed the words he found in the gospel of Mark, for it seems he edited the gospel of Mark in order to create what we know as the gospel of Luke. How could the author of one gospel dare to change the words of another, even words attributed to Jesus? The author had the gospel of Mark and other materials, which he used in fashioning his story. He likely assumed the author of the gospel of Mark had similarly fashioned a gospel story from various materials. Neither author was simply writing history or biography. Each was preaching the gospel by writing an account of the ministry of Jesus. I said: "Here I am, I have come, and as it is written, I desire to do your will, my God. Your law is deep within my heart." This is a psalm affirming the "steadfast love" and the "faithfulness" of God. The psalmist says that God does not require burnt offerings, but only that we do the will of God, which is written on our hearts. Christians reading this psalm today will not understand the reference to the "law" to mean the Torah, or the Jewish law, but that is how Jews have always understood this psalm. So, it was likely the way that Jesus and the early Jewish Christians read the psalm. The law of God is not simply a book of rules, but is part of God's intimate relationship with those who are faithful. Our God is as close as the yearning in our hearts to live with greater faith, hope and love. In the gospel of John, Jesus says: "I did not come to judge the world, but to save it." In this passage the Jesus of the gospel of John affirms that his words are God's commandment offering eternal life. Jesus affirms that he has not spoken on his own authority, but with the authority of God. It is, of course, a Christian doctrine that Jesus is the word of God, but one may nonetheless distinguish the words attributed to Jesus by a gospel author from the living word of God. Although the specific words used by Jesus in this account in the fourth gospel are not corroborated by the other New Testament gospels, we may conclude that the emphasis on salvation rather than judgment is the word of God. For this "good news" is the primary witness of the Christian Bible. The church affirms that none of us are worthy of salvation. The good news is the grace of God. Paul writes: "You did not receive a spirit which makes you a slave to fear again; you received the spirit of adoption by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!'" In this letter to the Christians in Rome Paul argues that they are "sons of God," because they are "led by the Spirit of God." (v. 14) Paul uses the Aramaic word "Abba," which has an intimate meaning like "Papa" or "Daddy." In the gospel accounts Jesus also calls God Abba, so an intimate relationship with God seems to be at the heart of the first century Christian tradition. Paul uses this image to assert that Christians have nothing to fear, as children of God, for they are "heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ." (v. 17) But Paul reminds the Christians in Rome that they must suffer with Christ in order "to be glorified with him." (v. 17) The promise of the church is that God will not abandon us, because he did not abandon Christ, but raised him from the dead. "He who did not share his own Son, but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?" (v. 33) Paul encourages the Christians in Rome to remain faithful despite their suffering, and we should take these words to heart. Our hope, as Paul affirms, is that nothing "will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rm. 8:39) The LORD says to his servant: "I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and shape you. I will make you a light to the nations." Jews have understood Israel to be the servant, who will be a light to the nations. The prophecy of Isaiah was read as part of the promise of God to restore Israel from captivity in Babylon in order to create a new world order with Israel as an example for all the other nations. This is an audacious claim, of course, but God seems to discover in love for Israel not only the capacity to forgive this special people for their transgressions, but also a concern for all the other peoples of the world. The church understood this passage as a prediction of the coming of Jesus. In the gospel of Luke the aged Simeon, who sees Joseph and Mary with their baby Jesus in the temple, proclaims that scripture is being fulfilled in his sight. (Lk. 2:32) This shows how Christians have interpreted Jewish scripture as allegory. The church did not understand this passage from Isaiah in terms of its literal or most obvious meaning, but discerned a hidden meaning or, we might say, a future meaning that was not yet understood. This way of reading the Jewish scriptures in the Old Testament is evident in both the writings of Paul and the gospels of the New Testament. Paul writes: "We should not try to please ourselves, but consider what is good for our neighbors and so build up community." In the gospel that Paul preached there was a freedom from the constraints of the law that some Christians took as permission to do whatever they wanted. So, Paul is writing the church in Rome to counsel that the spirit of Christ, which liberates Jews and Gentiles from the rules and regulations of the Jewish law, should not to be understood as license, but rather as a calling to do whatever is best for the community of the faithful. Paul must be read not only as a defender of freedom, but also as an advocate of community. He urges Christians to renounce self-interest for the sake of the church. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is similar: Love your neighbor as yourself." This is one of the most familiar passages in the New Testament. The gospel of Matthew records that when Jesus is asked by a Pharisee to identify the greatest commandment in the Jewish law, he quotes two commandments: the first from Deuteronomy 6:5 and the second from Numbers 19:18. In the account of this same incident in the gospel of Luke it is a lawyer who puts the question to Jesus, and in the gospel of Luke Jesus asks the lawyer how he understands the law. Then the lawyer quotes the same two commandments. Are these three gospel accounts different memories of the same event? It is more likely that the gospels of Matthew and Luke have adapted the account in Mark 12:28-34. The gospel of Matthew emphasizes the authority of Jesus as teacher and interpreter of the Jewish law, whereas the gospel of Luke is happy to allow the Jewish lawyer to interpret his own law because it is presenting the story of Jesus to a largely Gentile community. When the church included both the gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament, it might have edited one or the other to make these stories consistent. But the church chose not to alter the gospel accounts that various Christian communities were reading. Instead, it ignored factual inconsistencies and included in the New Testament the gospels understood to be apostolic. The church was not primarily concerned with presenting an account of "the facts," but with preserving the faith testimonies attributed to the apostles. October 25, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Paul writes: "Live in joyfulness. Encourage one another. Be of one mind and live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you." These concluding words in Paul's second letter to the church in Corinth express the heart of the gospel message. If we live with joy and in peace with one another, the God of love and peace will be with us. God's ruling presence is not obvious, and the grace of God does not prevent suffering, injustice and death. But the love of God can nonetheless bring us peace. Paul adds, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." The word "grace" comes from Greek, and the word "peace" comes from Hebrew. Paul is bringing these two cultures and languages of hope and aspiration together, as he helps to create the church among Greek-speaking Jews and Gentiles living in cities of the Roman Empire. We might understand Paul's success in this regard as genius, but Paul believed he was inspired by the Holy Spirit. And this is the witness of the church. Jeremiah said: "The word of the LORD has brought insult and derision upon me. And so I said to myself, 'I shall not think about him, I shall no longer speak in his name.' But there seemed to be a burning fire in my heart, which I could not contain." The prophetic call often drove men to do what they would rather not have done. This is certainly true for Jeremiah. Speaking the word of God in his own time led to his imprisonment and to attacks on him by his fellow Judeans. He would much rather have given it up, but he could not. Few of us will know a call like Jeremiah's or find ourselves in danger because of our Christian faith. Nonetheless, we may come to a time when the word of God will burn like a fire within our hearts, smoldering and not dying, no matter how much we might wish it were otherwise. If that should happen, we will know our calling. And then we must speak. "Turn to God who will forgive freely. For, thus says the LORD, my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways." The prophet counsels his people to turn to God for forgiveness. That is hard, because they have broken their covenant with God and for that disobedience severe punishment is to be expected. This was what Moses said, when he invited the Israelites to accept the covenant of God. But here Isaiah says that God's ways may be surprising. Rather than simply punishing Israel for its sin, God might forgive the people in order to motivate them to repent. The forgiveness of God, which requires God to overlook or set aside previous threats, becomes a central theme in the New Testament. Jesus is the supreme act of God that manifests divine forgiveness. The church proclaims that the death of Jesus atones for human sin, but this should not be understood as another form of divine punishment. In the crucifixion of Jesus, God suffers the punishment that was promised earlier in scripture for breaking the covenant. October 28, 2 Corinthians 1:18-24 Paul explained his ministry, saying: "We do not want to be masters of your faith, but fellow workers with you for your joy." As Paul begins his second letter to the church at Corinth, he says that he, Silvanus (called Silas elsewhere) and Timothy have not been preaching a vacillating gospel. "All the promises of God," Paul says, "find their Yes in him (Jesus Christ)." (v. 20) But Paul says that he avoided coming to Corinth earlier in order to spare them. It seems Paul is critical of their beliefs and their practice. Later in this letter Paul asks whether or not he and his colleagues need new reference letters. (3:1) Clearly, there is a dispute in the church of Corinth, and leaders of one faction are unhappy with the teachings of Paul. Paul says he and his fellow apostles are not trying to tell the Corinthians what they should do, but only want to work with them for the sake of the gospel. Paul denounces false apostles, who are undermining his authority, and because he defends his Jewish roots we can conclude that those opposing his control over the church in Corinth are Jewish Christians. This seems to be another instance of Paul's conflict with the Jewish Christian leadership in Jerusalem over whether restrictions of the Jewish law are to be imposed on Gentile converts. Seeing this conflict in the early church, we ought not to be surprised by differences in the churches today. Should we, as Paul suggests, present ourselves as "fellow workers" in faith, even when we disagree with other Christian leaders about what Christ asks of us? "Bless the LORD, my soul; let all that is in me bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, my soul; forget none of his good deeds." The psalmist prays that his soul might bless the LORD and that he will not forget the good deeds of God. It is easy, of course, to forget. It often appears that God has forgotten about us. Yet, the faith of the psalmist is that the Lord has not abandoned creation. So, the psalmist encourages us to "hang onto" the promises of the LORD by continuing to bless God's holy name, no matter what. God may be waiting for a sign that we have not lost our faith. God may be listening for our prayers. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says: "You are the light of the world. Let your light shine in people's sight, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." This passage comes from what is known as the Sermon on the Mount. We find the theme of light also in the gospel of John, and Luke 2:32 records the passage from Isaiah about the servant of God who is to be a light for the Gentiles (or the nations). In the New Testament Jesus is understood as the fulfillment of the hope that is expressed in the scriptures of the Jews. He is the servant of God, but has not come only to serve the people of Israel. Jesus has come as God's beloved to serve the whole world. This is Christian faith. The church affirms that Jesus gave his life for the world, not just for those who are Jews or Christians. Through Jesus, God is bringing all people into a new covenant. Here, in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus teaches that those who follow him are to let their light shine, as he has let his light shine, so others will praise God. We are called to serve others for God's sake, not to gain credit among our neighbors. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says: "The greatest among you will be your servant." This passage makes it clear that preaching the gospel without practicing it is worthless. Without matching deeds, our words are hypocritical. We must not only tell others what to do, but also set a good example. We are called to be servants. This also means being humble about the good that we do. We are to live out the joyous faith of Christian witness without seeking praise and recognition. We are called to be servants. |
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