Pentecost 23B :: Reformation

O magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt God's name forever.
Psalm 34:3
Reformation 507

Most years I've written about Reformation for the last Sunday of October. This year I'm continuing Hebrews, so here's a trio of Reformation Sunday reflections from previous years that celebrate God's grace and freedom in Jesus Christ. The readings are the same every year, but some pastors sometimes apply the current week after Pentecost readings to Reformation, which usually works well.

• Reformation 500 :: 2017

• Reformation 2020–Therefore we will not fear

• Reformation 2021–Be still and know that I am God

Hebrews 7:23-28

²³ Furthermore, the former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, ²⁴ but he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever. ²⁵ Consequently, he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

²⁶ For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints as high priests humans, who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Hebrews, week 4 of 7

As I previously mentioned, because I'm not very familiar with Hebrews I decided blogging about it all seven weeks would be a good learning experience. This week I finally read it in one sitting, although that was wasn't quite my first time. In a previous life we read through Hebrews without commentary or interpretation for our weekly staff devotions. In addition, the Monday evening women's bible study I hosted for a few years (the guys met at someone else's place and we got together whenever anyone had a birthday) at least began a discussion of the book. I remember how interesting it was to discover many well-known biblical quotes in Hebrews.

The homily by a still unidentified author was intended for Jewish Christian either in nearby diaspora or scattered far to the known ends of the earth. I've already mentioned Hebrews is formally and intensely theological, but as I kept reading it struck me how very Greek, systematic, and philosophical it was—rather than being earthbound and Hebraic.


This Week's Passage

Last week, this week, and the next two describe Jesus' high priestly identity in great detail.

Earlier weeks have been about typical requirements and duties for the high priest as mediator between earth and heaven, along with ways Jesus didn't meet some of those in human terms, and the manner in which he met and exceeded them in divine terms.

We learned the human high priest needed to be from the tribe of Levi and descended from Moses' brother Aaron. We heard about the high priest entering the inner tent of the temple once a year to make offerings for his own sins and the transgressions of the community.

The author reminds us Jesus was from the tribe of Judah; Jesus had no need to make offerings one after another,,because the quality of his offering – himself– was sufficient to atone for all the sins of all humanity.

But like conventional high priests, Jesus brought qualities of obedience, compassion, and sympathy.

In all this Jesus goes way far back in the journey of God's people to the book of Genesis and a high priest named Melchizedek, who provides a large part of the template for Jesus' unique high priestly role.

This week emphasizes how human high priests always ended up dying, so they always needed to be replaced, but because Jesus' priesthood is permanent and forever, he thus can save everyone forever. In addition, Jesus' has splendid characteristics of being holy, blameless, undefiled separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens—that we can interpret as authority because of his ascension that was necessary to finish the work of redemption.

Pentecost 22B

Where were you
when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
Job 38:7

Hebrews 5:1-10

¹ Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness, ³ and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. ⁴ And one does not presume to take this honor but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

⁵ So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest but was appointed by the one who said to him,

"You are my Son; today I have begotten you";

⁶ as he says also in another place,

"You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek."

⁷ In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸ Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, ⁹ and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, ¹⁰ having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Priests of the Old Covenant

• Here's an article from the Vatican about Priests of the Old Covenant.


Hebrews, Week 3 of 7

The author of Hebrews takes far more than this week's ten verses to talk about (remember, this was a sermon or homily rather than a letter in the traditions of Paul or Peter) Jesus as high priest. Hebrews is a long book, and today's scripture is only the beginning. It doesn't include many of the homilist's explanations, so please bear with me. Hebrews is a long book, and I'd love to find a reasonably detailed chapter by chapter study written in plain English and gather a few interested people to dive into it together.


Priest… Prophet, King/Sovereign

Scripture and hymnody often reference Jesus Christ's trifold office or ministry of Priest, Prophet, and Ruler or King. Jesus filled filled these Old Testament roles to exemplary perfection. A priest mediates – acts as a go-between, a broker – between heaven and earth; a prophet articulates God's heart in speech (sometimes with symbolic actions) and speaks truth to power; a ruler or sovereign stewards people, creation, and institutions.

Today's passage refers to the Levitical priesthood in the lineage of Moses' brother, Aaron (5:4). Although Jesus was not a Levitical priest, he met qualifications of (5:2) compassion and understanding; plus, (5:4) God called and appointed Jesus. Being from the tribe of Judah, he didn't qualify as a priest in human terms, but (5:6) Jesus was a priest in the much older tradition of Melchizedek.

Despite priests and high priests being central to the Jerusalem temple, as one commentator observed, Hebrews "looks away from the temple. back to the exodus—to the tabernacle in the wilderness." Then it glances further back, to Abraham, to the patriarchs and matriarchs. And then? Further into history to Abram, with Melchizedek, whose name means King (Melech) of righteousness (Zadok, Tzadek…).

Genesis 14:18-19

And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine;
he was priest of God Most High.
He blessed Abram and said,
"Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
maker of heaven and earth…"


Law and Gospel

As we learn about Jesus Christ's unique identity as the ultimate high priest, the Jerusalem high priest's role and function on the Day of Atonement becomes central. When he entered the Holy of Holies once every year, the high priest's sacrifice atoned for the peoples' sins and for his own. A high priest repeated that action every year.

Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension never needs to be repeated. It literally has been finished, "once for all." Late pastor and theologian James Nestingen used to speak of Jesus "delivering the goods" of absolution and forgiveness. The liberation, freedom, and joy of that new morning is complete.


Vocabulary

The author of Hebrews uses the word the gospels use for High Priest / Chief Priest; it indicates historical and functional continuity between the Levitical priesthood and Jesus. The New Testament talks about deacons, priests, and elders we recognize as functions or roles an individual is called to, usually seriously prepared to do with specific education and training, then consecrated or ordained ("ordered") into.

In Leviticus 8 we read about the ordination of Moses' brother Aaron. In Acts 6 we hear about diakonal functions of service and distribution with the world-facing class of deacons. Acts 14 describes ordinations of elders or presbyters. In the English language, the words priest and presbyter come from the same root.

Pentecost 21B

But thou art holy, O thou
that inhabitest the praises
of Israel.
Psalm 22:3

Hebrews 4:12-16

¹² Indeed, the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.

¹⁴ Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested [or tempted] as we are, yet without sin.

¹⁶ Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews, Week 2 of 7

As I mentioned last week, I plan to blog the second reading from Hebrews for all seven weeks, though I haven't looked ahead thoroughly and I could change my mind.

Today's passage is a study in law and gospel that's close to a ready-made sermon.


Hebrews 4:12-13

4:12 The living and active word of God here is more God's dynamic proclamation and revelation than it is the written scriptures. Don't we all fear exposure? We can't hide! God's word is like a sharp knife that reveals everything, and we've discovered it does some mending and rearranging, too. In any case, this doesn't sound like a cursory dusting off.

4:13 "God to whom we must render an account." Logos is the word for account, but this is not the preexistent Word that John's gospel identifies with the Christ of God. It's more financial in terms of what you owe God and others—like your car note.


Hebrews 4:14-15

Jesus was from the tribe of Judah; Levites were the priestly tribe, so Jesus' inheritance didn't qualify him for earthly priesthood. Passing through the heavens with his resurrection and ascension qualifies Jesus to serve as high priest.

Related to Jesus' sympathy (the Greek word is sympathize; a couple of translations say "feelings") that resonate with us, as mediators between earth and heaven, Jewish high priests mostly offered God gifts and sacrifices. Compassionate pastoral care wasn't part of their job description.


Hebrews 4:16

After explaining that Jesus as high priest, as mediator between heaven and earth in his resurrection and ascension, knows us and sympathizes – resonates! – with us, Hebrews 4:16 advises us to "approach the throne of grace with boldness in order to receive mercy."

Exodus 25 instructs, "you shall make a cover of pure gold; two cubits and a half shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width." (verse 17) and continues, "there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat... verse 22

Scholars who know Hebrew explain the root of kapporet that Martin Luther translated as Gnadenstuhl or "mercy seat" is a place of covering that logically would extend from the physical gold covering of the ark to covering for sin, made especially clear as every year they sprinkled blood on it.

It's only a slight exaggeration to say Luther perceived Jesus Christ in [almost] every passage in the Hebrew Bible. For Luther the Gnadenstuhl, the definitive mercy seat, the place of grace, was the cross of Jesus Christ.

Pentecost 20B

Hebrews 1:1-12

¹ Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, ² but in these last days God has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. ³ He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.

When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴ having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

⁵ Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. ⁶ But someone has testified somewhere,

"What are human beings that you are mindful of them,
or or the son of man, that you care for him?

⁷ "You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned them with glory and honor,

⁸ "subjecting all things under their feet."

Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, ⁹ but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

¹⁰ It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. ¹¹ For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, ¹² saying,

"I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters,
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you."

Hebrews

Although bibles call it "The Epistle to the Hebrews," scholars believe this book addressed to Jewish Christians either nearby or in widely scattered diaspora originally was a sermon intended to be proclaimed aloud, and not a letter in the traditions of the apostle Paul and others. The person who wrote it remains unknown; no one has been able to make a reasonable educated or random guess.

This Sunday begins seven weeks of Hebrews as the second reading. When Easter is early in Mark's lectionary year B as it was last spring, we'll hear from Hebrews all seven Sundays prior to Reign of Christ, the final Sunday of the Christian year. If Easter happens late, we'll hear only three or four readings from Hebrews.

The header is my interpretation of Hebrews 1:2. The original was a large banner in oil pastel on butcher paper we hung in the sanctuary and I almost definitely have a picture of the full color original somewhere. I'm going to try to write about Hebrews all seven weeks; the book is dense and complex and I'm only marginally familiar with it, so I want to learn more.

Throughout its thirteen chapters, Hebrews is extremely theological. With countless references to Old Testament history and ceremonial observances, it articulates Jesus' position as continuation and fulfillment of God's revelatory presence and action. The book's poetic opening sums up Jesus' essence, role, purpose, and persona; the entire letter consistently reminds us Jesus Christ is both fully divine and fully human, with refrains of "like God" and "like us."

Hebrew's explicit insistence on both natures of Jesus Christ looks forward to the Council of Chalcedon that in the year 451 described Jesus "…in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation…" Most denominations and church bodies affirm the very short Definition of Chalcedon that's so worth the two or three minutes it takes to read.


Jesus the Word

From the beginning, God has spoken and acted on creation's behalf, often through human agents or prophets. Jesus the Son is God's definitive Word, so it's no surprise the lectionary appoints this passage for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day every year when our songs celebrate "Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing" – "veiled in flesh, the godhead see – hail the incarnate deity" – "Jesus, our Emmanuel" Emmanuel means God-with-us.

What are your favorite Nativity songs and carols?

Hebrews tells us Jesus is human like us, Jesus is divine like God, yet Jesus has done and continues to do for us what we cannot accomplish for ourselves. In this book you'll notice familiar phrases you knew were in the bible but may not have known where, including Jesus as "author and finisher of our faith" in 12:2.

When the very young John Calvin wondered whether to begin his forthcoming systematic theology with humanity or with divinity, he finally decided it made no difference because his Institutes of the Christian Religion would travel the same (doctrinal and theological) places and come out in the same place.

Pentecost 19B

The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
Psalm 19:8

James 5:13-18

¹³ Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any joyful? They should sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up, and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.

¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. ¹⁷ Elijah was a human like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth yielded its harvest.

James Intro

• Date still is unknown. One source said it even night predate 1 Thessalonians that's considered the earliest NT book. A friend's study bible said well into the second century, which feels far too late to me.

• Author almost definitely wasn't Jesus' disciple James Zebedee; it well could have been Jesus bio bro James.

• Written to diasporic Jewish Christians who lived either fairly nearby or relatively far away—take your pick.

James definitely is an "insider" document addressed to people established in their faith, encouraging them to greater compliance to the demands of the commands and – by extension – to The Way of Jesus of Nazareth. As doers of the words and not merely hearers (James 1:22), James' intended audience is reaching for a level of maturity that encompasses their economic, political, social, intellectual, and everyday life. In short, every aspect of all of life.

James carries echoes of Deuteronomy and Jeremiah, texts the Jewish Christians would have been familiar with. James knows Matthew's Sermon on the Mount and Luke's Sermon on the Plain; James throughout is about doing the word. Remember the community's Jewish roots!

In style and content, like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job (Psalms sometimes gets included) James also is in the tradition of OT Wisdom literature. Wisdom in scripture is the fruit of spiritual maturity and deep life experience. Biblical wisdom discerns actions with an open heart and an open mind, makes space for mercy and grace. As we've seen in psalms and proverbs along with other OT writings, wisdom makes a place at the table. Wisdom trusts resurrection happens out of death.

James authorship update:

Not quite perfect synchronicity, but about a week after I published this James blog I happened upon Luke Timothy Johnson's opinion on the author of James. He considers James one of the earliest New Testament books; it clearly doesn't draw upon the synoptics.

"James contains no references to events in Jesus [of Nazareth's' life but it bears striking testimony to Jesus' words. Jesus' sayings are embedded in James' exhortations in a form that is clearly not dependent on the written gospels."

James Content

Life never has been about a supposedly autonomous individual; no one live by themselves or for themselves. James writes about being connected to my neighbor whose neighbor I become. We live in communal interdependence under the commandments (law!) and under the prophets (grace!). Just as God's nascent people Israel learned, obedience that regards the neighbor's good as my own good leads to a life of freedom.

This isn't about works-righteousness or about becoming human doings rather than human beings. As Paul of Tarsus, church fathers and mothers, the Reformers and those of us in their lineage knew and still affirm, salvation is God's gift without human cost, yet the gift demands human response. Theologian of grace Martin Luther said he'd love to be called Doctor of Good Works; John Calvin said there is no knowledge of God without obedience.

Reformer Martin Luther famously did not at all care for this letter by James. He called it "an epistle of straw, with nothing of the nature of the gospel about it."

But given all of its life-giving and life-sustaining content, why didn't Luther love and admire James? I wish I'd written down the source, but someone somewhere suggested just maybe Pastor Martin wasn't crazy about the idea of serving some of his more rustic, less civilized nearby neighbors.


Today's Second Reading

This passage is mostly written to church leaders, particularly those in what you might call more active, direct service ministries: pastors, ruling elders, evangelism committees, Stephen Ministers (not that prayer isn't a vital activity).

This short scripture is an excellent description of faithfully doing the word, especially within the community of the local church. It presents is a brief capsule of James ongoing concern for relationships of individual to community, community to individual and their intertwined interdependence.

If you're suffering—pray! If you're happy—sing praises. 5:13

Pray for the sick; anoint them with oil—a practice inherited from Hebrew Bible times. Throughout scripture, oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and therefore of being set part as holy for a purpose. Monarchs and prophets were anointed with oil. Priests were anointed with oil. A person being baptized is anointed to follow Jesus into the threefold ministry of prophet, priest, and sovereign. Although (to my knowledge) there are no recorded instances of Jesus or his disciples using oil in addition to praying or laying on of hands, nothing in scripture forbids it, so oil comes under the category of adiaphora or indifferent things, neither commanded nor forbidden. James most likely assumes oil as a natural gift of creation will supplement the spiritual offering of prayer.

Confess your sins to one another? James doesn't explicitly acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ of God (is that one reason for Luther's reservations about the book?), yet this admonition hints at Jesus bestowing the office of the keys on his followers on resurrection Sunday evening, recorded in John 20:21-23.

James offers an example of answered prayer by citing Elijah's plea to heaven for rain. What's your take on that?

The people all answered together,
"All the words the Lord has spoken
we will do!"
Exodus 19:8

Pentecost 18B

They are like trees planted along the riverbank,
bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never fade or dry up,
and they prosper in all they do.
Psalm 1:3

Mark 9:30-37

³⁰ They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it, ³¹ for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." ³² But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

³³ Then they came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" ³⁴ But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest.
³⁵ He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." ³⁶ Then he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms he said to them, ³⁷ "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

Second Passion Prediction

In Mark's gospel, Jesus' journey to the cross is relentless; Jesus' death definitively reveals his identity first announced in Mark 1:1—The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, Son of God. Common to a trend throughout Mark, an outsider rather than one of Jesus' insider buddies is the first to recognize it: "Now when the centurion who stood facing Jesus saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, 'Truly this man was God’s Son!'" Mark 15:39

Last Sunday in ultra-Roman Caesarea Philippi, we heard Jesus' first foretell his suffering, death, and resurrection. This week as they're socializing back in Capernaum after Jesus' transfiguration, again he mentions his upcoming betrayal, death, and resurrection—once again to followers who are both dense and afraid to ask for a further explanation that might enlighten them.


Who is the Greatest?

Amidst deadly serious revelations of suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection they didn't even dare ask about, Jesus' disciples quarreled about social status. There was no middle class then and there (a middle class evolved around the time and activities of the industrial revolution); the world was top-heavy with a few super-rich at the top, a sprawling underclass at the bottom. Similar to here and now, everyone was status-hungry. Just like today, associating with wealthy influential higher-ups was one way people tried to augment their own societal rank. There actually was no class mobility, making the disciples' concerns about greatness all the more ironic. In addition, honor and shame were huge!

9:35, "Jesus sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Honor and shame were huge in that society; in order to achieve honor on God's terms, a person must closely associate with people who have no honor?

On top of their empty fantasies of wealth that never could happen, Jesus' followers still expected a conventionally powerful military messiah who would annihilate Israel's enemies and restore the Davidic monarchy. Jesus' heritage was indeed Davidic, but remember, even the concept of a king "like the other nations" was alien to God's intent.


Servant God

Throughout scripture we encounter the surprise of a Servant God who inverts and changes everything most humans imagine about divinity. After the spectacular glory and bling of the transfiguration, yet halfway to Calvary, the end of today's gospel account sums it up:

Jesus sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me." 9:35-37

This is far from sentimentalizing children; in that culture, children were the most subservient members of society. A child had zero social status; a child was beneath the lowest servant.

Welcoming a child was tantamount to welcoming Jesus, the incarnation of the servant God; therefore, to welcome a child was to welcome and embrace God. Jesus' explanation really was an icon of the "on earth as it is in heaven" Upside-Down Kingdom Donald Kraybill wrote about, with the book title a model for our own cruciform discipleship.


Where We Live

During this century's aughts, "what's really important" became a common buzz phrase as everyone tried to untangle fallout from 911, internet expansion made the world flatter and flatter, a global financial crisis revealed major cracks, and additional private concerns unsettled most of us. Again and again we got used to calming our anxieties, backtracking, assessing where we were, and asking ourselves "what's really important."

It can be complicated, because we need to connect with other people for social and emotional health; we need others for professional well-being. But with November elections in the USA less than two months away, with too many declared and undeclared wars worldwide, with climate change and global warning, what do we argue about? What are our major concerns?

And what is most important for those of us in the world of the church? The physical property must remain in code-compliant, safe, usable condition. Replacing a tattered or worn out anything usually is a good move. But does preoccupation with those smaller details interfere with our prayerful attention to ways we can affect larger issues? Think about it! Pray about it!

Pentecost 17B

Return, O my soul, to your rest,
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
The Lord has delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
I walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
Psalm 116:7-8

Isaiah 50:4-10

4 The Lord God has given me a trained tongue,
that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens, wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught.
5 The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I did not turn backward.
6 I gave my back to those who struck me
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.

7 The Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
8 he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?

Let us stand in court together.
Who are my adversaries?
Let them confront me.
9 It is the Lord God who helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
All of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.

10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys the voice of his servant,
who walks in darkness
and has no light,
yet trusts in the name of the Lord
and relies upon his God?

Today's Gospel

• Mark 8:27-38

In Mark's gospel, Jesus' journey to Jerusalem and to the cross is particularly incessant and relentless. Today's gospel reading in heavily Roman-dominated Caesarea Philippi includes Jesus' "But who do you say that I am?" challenge, followed by Petter identifying Jesus as the Christ (27-29); Jesus' first of three passion predictions in Mark's gospel (8:31); Jesus' charge to his followers to take up the cross in order to lose their life and to save it (34-35).


The Suffering Servant

The Church long has identified the four Suffering Servant passages in Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55) with Jesus of Nazareth:

• Isaiah 42:1-4
• Isaiah 49:1-6
• Isaiah 50:4-10
• Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12

Isaiah 53:8 records the servant's death in evocatively poetic words the librettist to Handel's Messiah used: "He was cut off out of the land of the living."


Today's First Reading

As we continue in Ordinary Time and Sundays after Pentecost, the first reading for today is the third servant song. It also is one of the scriptures for Sunday of the Passion (the Sixth Sunday in Lent), and for Wednesday in Holy Week during all three lectionary years.

Third Isaiah most likely was recorded toward the end of the exile in Babylon. The iconic Cyrus of Persia had overpowered Babylonian domination and begun to established his own long-lasting empire. Although the church identifies Jesus of Nazareth as this suffering servant, for Second Isaiah, God's servant is God's people Israel—some times a collective servant; at other times an individual.

Scholars have noticed striking consonance of today's scripture with Lamentations, particularly 3:21-24, which well may have influenced Isaiah's poetry.

But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
God's mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in him."

This no longer is the endless recycling of the same thing; this is resurrection hope!


Where We Live

The Lord God has given me a trained tongue, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Isaiah 50:4

The ability to provide words of comfort is a gift of God, not something we generate on our own. Whether we speak more formally in a sermon or leading a class, if we write poetry or sit at the kitchen table with a friend, God will give us what we need to say. Different translations say tongue of a disciple, tongue of a teacher, instructed to know, the right words, tongue of the wise, words of wisdom. For myself, I worry a lot more about what to say in a one-on-one situation than if I'm preaching or teaching, but sit back; breathe. Wait! Don't be in a hurry. God will provide for the moment.

The gospel writers saw Jesus of Nazareth in the suffering servant. Jesus calls us to the kind of servant leadership he shows us. But how – or does? – this scripture connect with today's gospel with Jesus' charge to deny ourselves (what does that mean?) take up a cross, and follow him?

Pentecost 16B

Waters shall break forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert
the burning sand shall become a pool
and the thirsty ground
springs of water
Isaiah 35:6-7

Isaiah 35:4-7a

⁴ Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. God will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. God will come and save you."

⁵ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; ⁶ then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
⁷ the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

Isaiah

In a formal sense, the long book of Isaiah divides into three main sections:
• chapters 1-39, 1st Isaiah, before the Babylonian exile;
• chapters 40-55, 2nd Isaiah, during the exile;
• chapters 56-66, 3rd Isaiah, after the exile.

But that's not quite the way it really is. First Isaiah essentially is over when chapter 34 ends. After a series of judgments in previous chapters that lead up to the tempered news in Isaiah 36–38 of no more Assyrians, but then bad news of impending exile to Babylon in Isaiah 39, today's chapter 35 brings the spirit of hope, renewal, and resurrection we find in Second Isaiah (40 through 55) that likely was written mostly during the exile, and then edited or redacted after homecoming to Jerusalem. In addition, the fabulous Messianic banquet with its feast of fat things in Isaiah 25:6-9 almost definitely is not from Isaiah of Jerusalem.


Today's First Reading

Vengeance in 35:4 can refer to vindication, benefit, a payment that restores justice, or simply God's response or answer, as in "God`will come and save you" suggests.

When John the Baptist was in prison, John told his followers to go and ask his cousin Jesus if he [Jesus] was the promised one "who is to come," or if they needed to keep looking and searching for someone else. Jesus told John's followers, "Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, dead are raised, good news proclaimed to the poor…" [and blessed are those who take no offense, do not consider me a stumbling block/scandal."] Jesus assured John he was the promised one who'd change the course of history. Matthew 11:4,5,6 Luke 7:22,23

This Isaiah vision is even more dramatic than Jesus' message to John. Springs and streams, maybe actual rivers, glorify the desert wilderness. Water is life! People who used to be-lame walk, and they leap like gazelles. Formerly speechless people talk—and sing!

Isaiah 35 comes shortly before bad news of deportation and exile to Babylon.


Practicing Resurrection

Like all of scripture, First Isaiah, or Isaiah of Jerusalem celebrates the effects of God's presence. Throughout scripture, death isn't only when you stop breathing and your body shuts down. Death is everything that limits a full life. Death is whatever interferes with our common life. Death is there when creation doesn't flourish. Resurrection sometimes restores spiritual life, sometimes physical or emotional or communal health.

In baptism we received God's Spirit of Resurrection from the dead. Like God's promise through whichever Isaiah recorded today's scripture passage, like Jesus' reply to his cousin John the Baptist, God often calls us to be the reversal, the newness, the resurrection to new life God promises and people need. Jesus was the promised one who'd change the course of history; now we are Jesus' presence in the world. As we practice resurrection!

Do you know Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front by farmer-poet-theologian Wendell Berry? Among other things he advises us:

Every day do something that won't compute.
Love the Lord.
Love the world.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
…
Practice resurrection.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people
from this time on and forevermore.
Psalm 125:2

Pentecost 15B

A God so near!
Ordinances as righteous!
Deuteronomy 4:7-8

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9

¹ So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.

² You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you.

⁶ You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!"

⁷ For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? ⁸ And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?

⁹ But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children.

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Pentateuch, Ha Torah. They've been called Books of Moses, not because Moses could have written them, but because Moses is the central human character. In Greek Deutero means "second" and nomen means "law;" in a limited sense Deuteronomy refers to a second giving of the law.

Our English word "law" too easily can lead to a caricature of Torah. God's covenantal way of Torah is fluid, dynamic, stretchy, and flexible, always on the side of grace, mercy, love, justice, and life.

Deuteronomy 4:1 "Give heed to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live…" Choose life by considering the needs of the other at least as important as our own. That's the neighborology we especially discussed during Luke's lectionary year.

The compilation of Deuteronomy was a long time coming over about five centuries:

• from the United Monarchy of Saul, David, and Solomon
• to events and written sources prior to the Babylonian exile
• to events and sources afterwards

• during rebuilding of Jerusalem's infrastructure, social, political, and economic institutions
• restoration of worship
• "rediscovery" and canonization of Torah
• into the post-exilic period of (almost endless) Persian imperialism

Wide, expansive, and inclusive, Deuteronomy demonstrates Torah neighborology to stranger and native-born actively lived out on turf and in time.


Today's Reading

Immediately before the actual Ten Words or Commandments, scribes who assembled Deuteronomy placed today's passage that asks:

• what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him?

• what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just, as righteous, as this entire law that I am setting before you today?

What country, gathered people, community, assembly, has such a wonderful way of being, style of living, of guidelines:

• for living together
• for loving the neighbor
• for maintaining the common-wealth
• for staying free?

Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21 refer to the ten commandments of the Sinai Covenant not as statues, ordinances, or commandants, but as words. The Hebrew dabar denotes speech and action as one.

At least twice in Exodus, the account of the formation of Israel as a people, God's people / Moses' people (who are one and the same), announce

"we will do all the words the Lord has spoken."
Exodus 19:8; 24:3, 7

Reformer John Calvin insisted "there is no pre-obedience knowledge of God." Reformer Martin Luther began his Small Catechism – traditional preparation for First Communion – with the Commandments. Hebrew Bible scholar Walter Brueggemann reminds us, "It is the God of the Commandments with whom we commune."


God in Our Midst

"…a god so near to it as the Lord our God"–the commandments carry the same attributes or characteristics as God; this God whose people, "do all the words" have the same qualities as the God who gifted them. When they practice Torah/observe the Ten Words, the people assume God's justice, love, righteousness, and mercy. When God's obedient, observant people are nearby, God is there.

In our recent five weeks of John 6, we heard about manna and quail from heaven, water from the rock, feeding a whole lot of people with very few fish and five loaves of bread. Like people in the scriptures, we daily encounter evidence of God's presence. Those signs or symbols include waters of baptism, bread and wine of holy communion. Signs and symbols of God's nearness include the commandments that share God's characteristics of holiness, righteousness, justice for the neighbor and the stranger. Signs of God's presence include us, the church, the contemporary people of God, wherever we go…

The people all answered together,
"All the words the Lord has spoken
we will do!"
Exodus 19:8

Pentecost 14B

The Lord is near to the broken-hearted,
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18

Kiev, Ukraine skyline photo by Sergiy Galyonkin

John 6:56-69

⁵⁶ "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever." ⁵⁹ Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

⁶⁰ When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?" ⁶¹ But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, "Does this offend you? ⁶² Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³ It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

⁶⁴ But among you there are some who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. ⁶⁵ And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father." ⁶⁶ Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.

⁶⁷ So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?' ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

Bread of Life, Week 5

We've reached the last of five weeks of John chapter 6 presented alongside Old Testament scriptures related to food and bodily nourishment, with Psalms that remind us of God's physical provision. A Twitter user serendipitously refers to this long stretch as Breadtide!

Today we move from Jesus' "I am" declarations (that equate him with Yahweh's "I am" revelation to Moses) to the disciples "You are / Thou art" the Holy One of God.


Interpreting Scripture

The historical question of the original setting in time and place (and purpose, to the extent we can figure it out) of a passage always is our first question when we read scripture, before we apply or discern the passage as God's word to us and for us. As historians we need to read the present through the past (presentism) and not interpret the past through events we now know about and attitudes that have changed (historicism).

However, we often do theology backwards, but theology is a different endeavor from history. Though we can't erase the Sacrament of Bread and Cup from our awareness, it's still important to remember feeding 5,000+ people and Jesus' Bread of Life declarations happened before Maundy Thursday, before Resurrection Sunday.

When Jesus announced he was the Bread of Life, no one would have heard those words in terms of the Last Supper/Lord's Supper or related to a post-resurrection Eucharist/Holy Communion with the risen Christ.

Jesus' disciples later would be with him in the upper room on the Thursday he broke bread and told them it was his body, when he poured wine and declared it the cup of the new covenant, but that hadn't happened yet. Jesus' followers also had not experienced the risen Christ hosting a post-resurrection Eucharist/Holy Communion.

We sometimes do theology backwards, and during distribution of the sacrament, the contemporary church often sings Sister Suzanne Toolan's "I am the Bread of Life" that's based on John 6.


Words in the Greek

A translation of any text in any language always is also an interpretation.

In 6:60 "When many of his disciples heard it, they said, 'This teaching [logos] is difficult; who can accept it?'" The word translated "teaching" is logos in Greek. You probably remember John's gospel brings us a new creation and opens with, "In the beginning was the Word [logos], and the Word [logos] was with God, and the Word [logos} was God." John 1:1 "And the Word [logos] became flesh and tabernacled among us." John 1:14a

"Difficult" is the root of our word sclerosis for physical hardening of body parts and organs, so it would be a hard to wrap our heads around concept, and not necessarily something intellectually or academically tough.

John 6:68 "Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words [declaration, statement] of eternal life.'" I find it surprising this "word of eternal life" isn't logos again—but it's rhema, the other Greek term that translates into English as "word." You may have sung this as the gospel acclamation in some settings of the liturgy.

We call Jesus "Lord." In Saxon England, the Lord provided the loaf, the bread, to help sustain the community.

Pentecost 13B

God is ever mindful of the covenant.
Psalm 111:5

Proverbs 9:1-6

¹ Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars. ² She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table. ³ She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls from the highest places in the town, ⁴ "You that are simple, turn in here!"

To those without sense Wisdom says, ⁵ "Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. ⁶ Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight."

• This is the fourth of five weeks of Jesus' Bread of Life discourse in John's gospel. For this Breadtide episode, Jesus proclaims himself as the living bread: John 6:51-58


Hebrew Bible Overview

As this blog mentioned last week, the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible has three main sections:

1. Torah or Pentateuch, the first five books, sometimes called Books of Moses, not because Moses could have written them, but because parts of them focus on Moses as liberator of God's people.

2. Prophets or Nabi include Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings—the former prophets; and the writing prophets or latter prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel plus the Book of the Twelve or the Minor Prophets that are minor in length but not minor in content.

3. Writings or Ketuvim are a miscellaneous collection that includes Psalms, Proverbs, Chronicles, Job, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Song of Solomon...

1, 2. Pentateuch and Prophets both carry a sense of an authoritative, revelatory Word of the Lord.

Pentateuch brings us creation accounts, stories of patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God's people Israel in imperial Egyptian slavery, their exodus or departure from Egypt, Ten Commandments twice, journey to the edge of the Promised Land.

Prophets bring us disruptive words from heaven, promises of a future, of death and resurrection. Pentateuch and Prophets emphasize God's covenanting with humanity and with all creation.

3. Writings are not a coherent body of literature; the official canonical content even varied some over the years. Among other angles, they bring us human words to God and human speech about God. They have a sense of discerning God's work in the world from observing creation and social structures, a sense of what we learn from living daily life. Some books report narrative events (Chronicles, Nehemiah, Ezra, Esther for example) or address God in temple or another worship context as the Psalms do.


Proverbs

Although the Proverbs belong to Israel's religious literature, they're not about creation, covenant, or temple; for the most part they're practical advice for living with integrity or wholeness in community. The Proverbs reveal structure, order, continuity of creation and of all life. The book's 31 chapters contain short essays like the one we'll read and hear today, metaphors, similes, memes/ cultural pieces of different types; poems.

Some bibles say King Solomon wrote the Proverbs; most likely they're from many different authors over a span of 400 years. In a similar way to Moses' connection with liberation, Israel correlated Solomon with wisdom, and some of the content of Proverbs probably is from the united kingdom monarchy of Saul, David, and Solomon.

Wisdom in Proverbs and in the other scriptural wisdom books of Job and Ecclesiastes isn't so much head knowledge as it is heart- and foot knowledge—the sense of how life comes together people often gain after they've journeyed for a while.

During this year of grace, we'll read several selections from Proverbs.


Proverbs 9:1-6

Today's reading from Proverbs aligns with Jesus' declaration that he is the Bread of Life. The woman in this story is not vegetarian.... but just as Jesus does, she offers radical, fully inclusive hospitality and welcome to everyone without exception. In both Hebrew and in Greek, the noun for wisdom is feminine. We find the biblical number 7 in this reading.

Pentecost 12B

Get up and eat; otherwise the journey will be too much for you.
1 Kings 19:5

1 Kings 19:4-8

⁴ But Elijah himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." ⁵ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep.

Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." ⁶ Elijah looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. ⁷ The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you."

⁸ Elijah got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

• To follow the Bread of Life discourse, here's the reading for Breadtide week 3: John 6:35-51

More About Sources

When we discussed the Manna from Heaven narrative from Exodus last week, I used the technical German theological word Heilsgeschichte that combines Heil=salvation and Geschichte=history and means God's action in the lives of the people, in creation, in all the world. These stories are about some of the historical (measurable in time and space) experiences of the people. Even more, they're about emotional, psychological, and spiritual human experience and have a high degree of multi-layered density.

Hebrew Bible Sections

The Old Testament/Hebrew Bible is in three major sections:

• Torah or the five books of the Pentateuch
• Prophets
• Writings

Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings come from the same group or committee of authors we often refer to as the Deuteronomic Historian.

Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings belong to the Former Prophets. Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and the book of the twelve (Minor Prophets in the Christian bible) belong to the Writing Prophets.

Writings include Job, Psalms, Proverbs. Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Esther, Daniel, Song of Solomon… I may have left out a few.

Bread for the Journey

In each of the five Bread of Life Sundays, the Old Testament reading is about hunger and sustenance. Today we hear one of the famous Elijah stories from 1 Kings. If you'd asked me about Elijah, I'd have remembered
• water and fire in the moat and the prophets of Ba'al;
• God in the still small voice; and today's account of • bread and water for the journey.

But I couldn't have told you what kind of bush or tree or shrub it was, so I researched Broom Tree. Turns out it's more of shrub than a tree; people made coals from its roots, trunks, and branches. Broom embers retain heat a long time; Elijah's bread probably baked on a fire left from an earlier traveler. I discovered broom trees symbolize renewal and resurrection; a hot fire can sear open the seeds so they germinate and begin to grow. Thats familiar information to us in southern California where fires are a major hazard.

"Angel" means "messenger." Elijah was in a deep blue funk (it's a long complicated story—read what comes before this); God sent the angel who pointed out the ready to eat food because without physical sustenance the journey would be too difficult. Then there's the basic human need for community. Eating alone can be too lonely… but this short reading focuses on physical feeding. As it is throughout scripture, 40 days and 40 nights is approximately one month. Horeb and Sinai are the same place—which word depends upon the source.

Pentecost 11B

Can God prepare a banquet in the wilderness? Psalm 78:19

Exodus 16:1-15

¹ The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim; and Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. ² The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. ³ The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, "I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.

⁵ "On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days." ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaining against the Lord. For what are we, that you complain against us?"

⁸ And Moses said, "When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the Lord has heard the complaining that you utter against him—what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against the Lord."

⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, "Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, 'Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.'" ¹⁰ And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

¹¹ The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ¹² "I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, 'At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.'" ¹³ In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. ¹⁴ When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground.

¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat."

Can God really set a table in the wilderness? Can God really provide a feast in the desert? Psalm 78:19b

Where We Are

We've journeyed two-thirds of the way through this Year of Grace with our local assembly and together with the the worldwide church catholic.

If you're following the five week long Breadtide segment that covers most of the Bread of Life discourse in John 6, today's reading is John 6:24-34.

This reflection opened with a verse from earlier in Psalm 78 than the portion appointed today as our responsive psalm. It's a long psalm, but how sad the lectionary peeps didn't include verse 19.

Exodus means leaving or departure. You probably know most of the Exodus account about God's people Israel escaping slave labor in Egypt, how they wandered through a series of deserts in total trust of God's provision on their way to the Promised Land; during their trek they received the Ten Words or Commandments of the Sinai Covenant.


Salvation History

Let's talk about Heilsgeschichte! It's a technical German theological term that means salvation history: Heil=salvation, redemption; Geschichte=history. Heilsgeschichte brings together fairly objective, empirical facts with the lived experiences of the people, often with a sense of saga or myth; Heilsgeschichte has a far greater degree of density than the evidence, cause, and effect history we study in school.

Regarding the Exodus narrative, it's very unlikely a huge group of thousands of people left Egypt together in one fell swoop for the promised land under a leader named Moses. However, almost definitely quite a few smaller groups or bands of people escaped harsh conditions of barely surviving under empire and spent quite a lot of time wandering through the desert in trust, relying on God's provision.

The book of Exodus formally got compiled from different written and oral sources after the Babylonian captivity, as a committee put together several discrete narratives. Again, the salvation history of God, people, and creation is far denser than conventional history. It includes saga, myth, meaning, emotion.


Bread from Heaven

At the start of today's reading:

• God's people have left Egypt
• they've passed through the Red Sea-Sea of Reeds
• Moses and Miriam have sung jubilant freedom songs
• Moses has thrown a healthy tree branch into bitter water to sweeten the waters at Marah

In Genesis we mostly encounter the people of God as a family that in our terminology grows from nuclear to extended; you remember the stories of patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph in Genesis. Exodus is about identity-formation as God's people become a nation, a constituted people. The Ten Words or Commandments of the Sinai Covenant become the touchstone of their identity.

Today's text includes bread of Egypt that was counted, stockpiled, all administrated up. In our world, bread/food of empire even contains preservatives, it will last almost forever, and in general it isn't particularly healthy or life-giving. This Exodus passage contrasts breads and foods of Egypt/empires with the freedom bread and other types of sustenance God provides as gifts of grace.

Whether four thousand years ago or right here and now in 2024, freedom bread is healthy and life-giving; it doesn't stay fresh very long, so there's no point in stockpiling or hoarding it. A friend mentioned a grocery store employee told him they got a whole lot more bugs when they began bringing in and selling more organic food; read the rest of Exodus16 and find out what happened when the people tried to save some manna for later!

Manna is a semitic word asking "what is it?" The manna itself might have been cilantro/coriander; it could have been tamarisk. Scripture and church talk about the Kingdom of God, Reign of Heaven, Kingdom of Heaven, Reign of God. Here we read about the Rain of God, as God rains nutritious food from the sky!

Can God really set a table in the wilderness? Can God really provide a feast in the desert? Psalm 78:19b

Pentecost 10B

They ate and had some left over,
according to the word of the Lord.
2 Kings 4:44

2 Kings 4:42-44

⁴² A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, "Give it to the people and let them eat." ⁴³ But his servant said, "How can I set this before a hundred people?" So Elisha repeated, "Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, 'They shall eat and have some left.'" ⁴⁴ He set it before them, they ate, and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.


John 6:1-15

¹ After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. ² A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. ³ Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.

⁵ When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" ⁶ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. ⁷ Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." ⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, ⁹ "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?" ¹⁰ Jesus said, "Make the people sit down."

Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. ¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost."

¹³ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. ¹⁴ When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world."

¹⁵ When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

2 Kings 4:42-44

The lectionary pairs this story with Jesus' feeding a huge mob of…5,000 men plus women and children. Do the math!

For an undisclosed reason someone from a land of the Baals, the Canaanite fertility gods, a person almost definitely not an Israelite, brought bounty from the first fruits of Shavuot, the Jewish Pentecost or festival of weeks we talked about on the Christian Day of Pentecost. The first fruits marked the harvest end; Leviticus 23:20 states, "The bread of the first fruits … shall be holy to the Lord."

At first it looked like a lot of food, but when they discovered the crowd was 100 people (was that only men, as was typical then?) they knew it couldn't be enough.

The servant (whose servant? it doesn't say) from afar had anxiety about the amount of food, but Elisha assured him it would be more than enough according to God's promise—as in having leftovers. The hungry people, the human gathering, shared God's holy food of the first fruits.


Bread-Tide

Because Mark is the shortest gospel, this year we hear more from John's gospel than we do during Matthew's or Luke's year. For five weeks beginning today through Pentecost 14, we'll read John 6:1-69—most of the chapter. On twitter, Dr Jo Kershaw from Wakefield, UK, called these five Sundays Bread-Tide.

All four gospels include today's loaves and fishes story:

• Matthew 14:13-21

• Mark 6:32-44

• Luke 9:10-17


Interpreting Scripture

To the extent we can figure it out, the historical setting and original meaning of a passage always is our first question. Every mention of water doesn't refer to baptism; every mention of bread and/or fruit of the vine doesn't correlate to the Lord's Supper, yet they still remind us water is life and food is essential.

At this opening section, try to go back to before Maundy Thursday, before Resurrection evening.

Jesus' disciples would not have heard or seen Jesus in terms of the Last Supper/Lord's Supper; they could not have related this event to a post-resurrection Eucharistic meal with the risen Christ. Although Jesus' original long discourse would have been more scattered and piecemeal than what John gives us, John was very theologically intentional about the order of Jesus' words, and today's reading doesn't yet have Jesus' proclaim I Am the Bread of Life where Jesus not only gives the food, Jesus is the food, so let's also wait on that.

Some scholars believe this is John's stand-in for the Maundy Thursday Lord's Supper founding meal. That's only speculation, even though Jesus takes the loaves, gives thanks, and Jesus himself – not the disciples – feeds the people. Did you notice there's no mention of fruit of the vine, or wine…?


Bread and Fish notes

This chapter happens during Passover. Just as at the first Passover, there's been a sea crossing, followed by bread in the wilderness. John 6:9 "Five barley loaves and two fish." Barley was one of the seven agricultural gifts of the promised land; barley was the coarser, less expensive poorer person's grain; the barley harvest had the advantage of being ready before the wheat! Some people in that culture considered fish a food of the gods.

Just as in the OT reading, there were bountiful leftovers. In Greek, leftovers and baskets full are the same word. But what happened to those leftovers? Maybe they fed people who weren't there for whatever reason; possibly the extras fed birds or wild animals?

We only can guess and hope what happened to the leftovers, but we know God's abundance, generosity, grace, supply—you can't out-give God!

I love how the first reading ends with Elisha repeating, "Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, 'They shall eat and have some left.' He set it before them, they ate, and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord."

You've probably heard, There's enough for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed?

Five Loaves and Two Fish
John 6:9