Stan G. Duncan
Readings:
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 or Exodus 32:7-14
Psalm 14 or Psalm 51:1-10
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
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n last week’s lection, there seemed to have been
some hope remaining for Judah
On a political level, the
doom is caused by “the foe from the north,” probably Babylonia, who having
beaten off Egypt and crushed
Assyria, is poised to subdue Judah Egypt , but
that country’s power had been severely weakened at the battle of Carchemish Jerusalem and Judah
Vss. 11-12: The catastrophe
that is descending upon them will be a military defeat, but it is described in
terms of a Sirocco, a hot desert wind
(not made by Volkswagen), that sweeps destructively across arid lands. Siroccos
were often used for winnowing or cleansing. Farmers would throw grain up into
the wind and it would separate the wheat from the chaff. But here, Jeremiah
(Yahweh) says that this wind brings neither winnowing nor cleansing. It is “a
wind too strong for that” (4:12a). It brings only destruction.
19-22: In the vss. not
included in the lection (13-18), Jeremiah makes public prophesies of judgment (ex. “your ways and your doings have
brought this upon you. This is your doom; how bitter it is!” etc.). In this
section he makes his own private
response to those pronouncements. He feels it in his very “bowels” or “womb” (me'ah, NRSV translates as “anguish” v.
19). It destroys his tent and his curtains.
In Vs. 22 (included in our
lection as its introduction, but only loosely related to it) Jeremiah notes
that it is the lack of knowledge of Yahweh that has driven people to commit the
acts of evil, which has caused the impending punishment. “My people are
foolish, they do not know me...They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know
how to do good.” This is a recurring theme in Jeremiah—that people who “know”
God do acts of justice and mercy, while people who are ignorant of God do
evil—and is a possible theme for preaching. See 22:16, where Jeremiah praises
the reign of Josiah: “He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was
well. Is not this to know me? says
the Lord.” For Jeremiah, the breaking of the covenant with Yahweh is the origin
of all evil. From there idolatry and all forms of oppression arise.
The pinnacle of this reading
is vss. 22-26, a four-fold “I Look” that reads like a litany, a crescendo of ever
greater horrors. It’s a “staggering study in creation run amok” (Brueggemann, Commentary on Jeremiah [1998], p. 59).
Going backwards—following Hebrew poetry—it describes the dismantling of the
entire creation, first the earth, and the heavens, then mountains, then birds,
and then the land and cities. Notice that vs. 23 sounds suspiciously like
Genesis 1:2, the earth will be “without form or void.” It’s not an accident.
The destruction of creation is so complete that it is taken back to a
pre-Genesis state. The theological point is that creation was formed out of
covenantal love (though the people were technically not created yet). If there
is to be no covenant, then there will be no creation. disobedience created the
destruction which surrounds them. Destroy the covenant and you have destroyed
the entirety of creation.
Luke 15:1-10
Parables of Lost and Found
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his reading has three parts: (1) an introduction,
possibly added by Luke (vv. 1-3), (2) the parable of the lost sheep (vv. 4-7),
(3) and the parable of the lost coin (vv. 8-10). There is a third parable in
the chapter, the parable of the loving father (vv. 11-32), but it is a very different
“parable of the lost,” and is read at Lent 4 C.
The introduction (vv. 1-2)
sets the themes of the three parables to follow. It was probably assigned to
this place later by Luke, but it is historically accurate in its description of
Jesus raising the ire of the religious authorities by eating with the outcasts
and “sinners.” Note that in Palestine
For Luke (and probably for
Jesus) “sinners” meant both those who have committed some socially evil act
(roughly similar to our general usage of it today) and those who are called
sinners by virtue of their place in the religious class system (very unlike our
usage today). For example, tax collectors, and prostitutes were sinners for
their deeds, while the poor and the
sick were sinners for their conditions in
life. The distinction is important, because the word is used in both senses
in this passage, but only the deed-sinners are capable of repenting.
“The Lost Sheep” (vv. 4-7).
This is the only parable of the three that has parallels elsewhere. It is found
both in Matthew (18:12-14) and Thomas (107:1-3). In Matthew’s version, the
sheep is not a sinner, but “one of these little ones,” presumably a new
convert. It is not lost (apolesas),
but has stumbled or “gone astray” planèthè,
as also in Thomas’), and it does not “repent” (metanoeo) but is simply found. Otherwise the two versions are structurally
the same. In Matthew (and perhaps Thomas) Jesus seems to be illustrating the extent
of God’s love for those who have strayed from the path of righteousness. In
Luke, the point is God’s joy (a major theme in Luke) over the recovery of a
lost unclean outcast (“sinner”) who has repented (also a key theme in Luke
[10:13, 11:32; 13:3, 5; 16:30; 17:3, 4]). Joseph Fitzmyer (Gospel According to Luke, p. 238) says that this is probably because
of the strong ethical intent of this Gospel. In Luke, people don’t become Christians
by receiving the Spirit, but by changing their behavior. For example, Zachaeus
(19:1-10); the two debtors (7:40-43); the sons of Zebedee (who “left everything
and followed him,” 5:11, 28); the rich ruler (who was told to “sell all you
have and give it to the poor,” 18:18-25); the disciples (“no one who has left
house…[etc.] for the sake of the kingdom of God…will not get back…in the age to
come, eternal life,” 18:28-30);, etc. for Luke, repentance (metanoia) means turning toward God, and
turning toward God means turning (away from wealth, and) turning toward those
for whom God had a special concern (the poor, the outcasts, the sinners, etc.).
(Is it name-dropping to mention H. Richard Neibuhr’s definition of faith here?
“Faith is trust and confidence in a value conferring center, and loyalty and
fidelity to its cause” [Radical
Monotheism And Western Culture]).
The common elements in both of the two parables of
the lost are:
1. the driving love of God for
the lost. Neither the shepherd nor the woman hesitates before risking the
search and never tires until the lost coin or sheep is found.
2. The joy of God over the
discovering and bringing home of the lost. The words “joy” or “rejoice” (chairo, sugchairo) occur almost more
often in Luke than all of the other Gospels combined (four times in this
reading alone).
It’s interesting to note
that the section begins with the religious authorities grumbling over Jesus
eating and drinking with the lost social outcasts, so he tells stories about
people finding lost items and then celebrating by eating and drinking. It’s
also interesting that to depict God in the parables, Jesus chooses a shepherd
who is a filthy, unclean outcast, and a woman who is a second class citizen.
The mere listing of the characters of the story would have been insulting to
many of his listeners, totally separate from what the stories said. Much is
made recently of the fact that he used a woman to portray God in the second
parable. To me that is only partially
interesting. The thing that has always been interesting to me is not that Jesus
portrays God as a woman, but that he does it with so little fanfare: no build
up, no splashy adjectives to punch up the point. What is remarkable is the flat
“of course-ness” of it all. As though it never occurred to Jesus that the comparison
was in some way unusual, when in fact it was even more radical then than now.
1 Timothy 1:12-17
God’s Mercy and the plan of Salvation in Jesus
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irst and Second Timothy are
among the so-called “pseudo-Paul” letters, meaning that they were probably
written by one of his followers a generation after he died. The reading begins
with “Paul” expressing gratitude that Christ appointed him to his service. Even
though Paul was a blasphemer (parenthetically, there is no record in Paul’s
authentic writings that Paul was actually a blasphemer, but that’s quibbling),
because of Christ’s “grace,” “faith,” and “love,” and also because Paul was “ignorant”
of in his unbelief.
Verse
15 is the Christological center of the passage: “Christ came into the world to
save sinners.” He tracks them down and showers them with grace.
In vs.
16 we learn that Paul was the worst of sinners precisely so that he could be
the primary exemplar of the grace (salvation) of Christ. “In me, as the foremost
(sinner), Jesus Christ [did]display the utmost patience, making me an example”
(v. 16). This is the reason for the exaggeration about Paul being a “blasphemer”:
the worst that Paul is among sinners, the more blessed is the grace of Christ
that rescued him. If Christ could show mercy on him, then Christ could show
mercy on anyone. It’s interesting to note that the writer says that the very
reason why Paul the sinner was saved was so that he would be an example for others.
He was transformed by God so that he could be an agent of God’s ministry. “A
central purpose in God’s transformation of sinners into those who experience
grace is for the redirection of life in the work of ministry….Paul became a
showcase of God’s mercy as he was altered from a life of grave opposition to
God’s work, to a life of steadfast service to Christ Jesus” (Soards, Marion, et. al., Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary
[Abingdon, 1994], p. 36).
