Proper 27C (OT32)

image: portion of The Last Judgement by Michelangelo (wikimedia)

TIME STAMPS

  • Gospel 11:40

  • Hebrew Bible 31:19

Musician: Heatherlyn “Do What You Can” from her album  Heatherlyn. (heatherlynmusic.com, @heatherlynmusic)

Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (Psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, Patreon)

Luke 20:27-38

Initial Thoughts

  •  Great reading for All Saints Sunday…maybe

Bible Study

  • Literary Context

    • “The twentieth chapter of Luke contains the remarkable stories of controversy between Jesus and the religious authorities, stories found also in Mark and Matthew but here adapted to Luke’s purposes. Jesus’ triumphal entry into the city, his tears shed over the blindness of the city, and the expulsion of the money changers from the Temple set the stage for the dramatic encounters - three questions put to Jesus with hostile intent, and one question put to the religious authorities. The chapter concludes with a denunciation of the scribes for their pretentiousness and a vivid contrast between their foreclosing on the houses of defenseless widows and one widow who elicits extravagant praise from Jesus for her gift at the Temple.” (Charles Cousar, Texts for Preaching, Year C p. 593)

    • This week's reading is the third of the three hostile questions put to Jesus.

  • Sadducees 

    • Only argument in Luke Jesus has with the Sadducees

    • Text is unclear about the Sadducees except for 1 thing: they are anti-resurrection - or at least some of them were (“Some Sadducees”

      • “Either they rejected the the idea of physical resurrection or perhaps denied that it could be found in Torah.” Amy-Jill Levine, “Luke” The Jewish Annotated New Testament. p.157

    • Other info we know:

      • 2nd century BCE-destruction of the temple 70 CE

      • Focused on Temple worship

      • Beliefs according to Josephus:

        • There is no fate

        • God does not commit evil

        • Man has free will; “man has the free choice of good or evil”

        • The soul is not immortal; there is no afterlife, and

        • There are no rewards or penalties after death

    • Strategy of asking Jesus trick questions to embarrass him has backfired. He has handled them so well that he is left standing as the true authority.

  • Why does Resurrection matter? (Richard Swanson at workingpreacher.com)

    • “Raise up children” - “levirate marriage, designated to protect widows and preserve the dead husband’s name and estate” (Amy-Jill Levine, “Luke” The Jewish Annotated New Testament. p.157) - there is no need for with in the “age of resurrection”

    • “Jesus makes a case for the resurrection based on the account of Moses’ experience at the burning bush. The declaration that “I am the God” of patriarchs who have died means that in some sense they still live… The proof of resurrection then, is the living God. While this is a radical discontinuity between the present and the resurrection, the continuity is to be found in God, the One who transcends death.” (Cousar, p. 594)

    • Theological tempest in a Teapot

      • Sadducees only use Torah which does not speak to resurrection

      • Pharisees use historical books, wisdom books and prophets in which they see evidence for the resurrection

    • Real issue: God’s justice

      • w/o resurrection this life is the only life for God’s justice- which is not good news to the Jews under oppression by the Romans who seem free of God’s justice in this life

      • With resurrection those who are oppressed may be redeemed later

    • Sadducees deny God’s ultimate justice

      • Real concern for Luke’s community who have been decimated after the Jewish revolt

    • Sadducees attempt to reveal the ridiculousness of resurrection - Jesus refuses to accept their basic premise by appealing the greater justice of God

  • Greater justice?

    • Jesus is not rejecting marriage,but rejecting the possession of women: “won’t be given in marriage”

    • Marriage was not a love focused institution but a patriarchal institution in which women were bought and sold

      • “Who gives this woman to be with this man?”

    • Women’s rights have been very much in the public discourse this political season - perhaps this is the best time to address this issue theologically

    • The Hardest Question: Marriage is no longer about property but about belonging. What does this passage say about belonging to the family of God and to one another?

Thoughts and Questions

  • I have never thought of resurrection as an opportunity for God’s justice after this life. What does God’s justice look like in this life? What about people who seem to “get away” with bad things?

  • David Lose prompts us to address three questions (with Eric’s responses):

    • What is the resurrection going to be like?

      • 1 Corinthians 2:9, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him"

      • We do not know- the resurrection will be very different, Lose: “The ordinary events and relationships by which we track our journey though this mortal life -- marriage, childbirth, graduations, retirements and so on -- do not characterize our eternal lives because resurrection life is not merely an extension of this life but something wholly different.”

      • God will be there and be with us

    • Will my loved ones be there or does Jesus say they won’t?

      • Jesus is not addressing this issue here, but is addressing the issue of justice

      • Our lives are defined by relationship- with God and one another, it would seem likely that these relationships would persist, but perhaps in ways we cannot conceive.

    • Is the resurrection the same as immortality?

Haggai 1:15b-2:9

Initial Thoughts

  • The only time Haggai is in the lectionary.

    • Preach the whole book, with this passage as a focal point. The whole thing is only two chapters, with one main theme.

    • “To read the book of Haggai is to be challenged not just about what one believes but also about how one believes.” Kenneth N. Ngwa, “Haggai”, The Africana Bible, p.205

  • Interesting read for All Saints Sunday. Lots of possibilities around the theme of generations, and building community.

  • “The prophet Haggai’s moment in the religious spotlight, as described in the eponymous biblical book, lasted only about four months. Jeremiah he was not. So it’s a small book—most people can’t find it without looking it up in the table of contents and most ministers I know couldn’t even tell you what it’s about. If a printer accidentally omitted it from a batch scarcely anyone would notice. But its brevity belies its pivotal significance in the life of post-exilic Judah, as it cast about for a new identity in the wake of the return from Babylon.”  (Timothy Simpson, Political Theology Today)

Bible Study

  • Historical Context is key

    • “Second year of King Darius” can be translated to August 29, 520 BCE.

    • Darius “was noted for his administrative genius and for his great building projects.” (Encyclopedia Britannica) 

    • Two kings after Cyrus the Great, who ended the Jewish exile, which ended officially in 538 BCE (18 years before Haggai)

    • Things were not going well with the rebuild of the Temple - or with the city in general. Things were pretty much a shambles.

  • Haggai background

    • Written around 520 BCE to urge Joshua, the High Priest, and Zerubbabel, the governor, to rebuild the temple upon returning from Baylonian captivity. 

    • Only when the temple is rebuilt and people are focused on God in their midst will prosperity and restoration come to the Jews.

      • “His prophecy consists of one central idea; the temple must be rebuilt if God is to be honored properly. And after the temple is rebuilt, the proper feasts can once again be celebrated in the holy city, Jerusalem.” (John Holbert, Patheos: Opening the Old Testament)

  • Early verses in Haggai

    • The people say it is not time to rebuild the Temple because they aren’t ready. They have been struggling with learning how to thrive again, so they have put off rebuilding the Temple.

    • 1:9 “My house lies in ruin while all of you hurry off to your own houses.” People are more interested in their self-interest than in the common good.

    • Finally, some people got their act together and started building - Zerubbabel, Joshua son of Jehozadak

  • Theology in Haggai

    • While some might claim that Haggai is a nostalgic, house of worship apologist - this is a thin reading of the text

      • “Haggai claims that proper worship in the proper place is just what God demands. No wonder that Haggai is rarely read. He sounds like an apologist for those who think that going to church is the very essence of religious belief, regardless of how one behaves in the rest of life.” (John Holbert, Patheos: Opening the Old Testament)

    • A deeper reading would focus on how the Temple (like the Law) is established to help people remember who God is, that they are God’s people, and how they, as God’s people, should live and act.

    • Three main theological points from Kenneth N. Ngwa, “Haggai”, The Africana Bible, p.205

      • First - “God engages in God’s people in dialogue and persuasion, not [only] through political and religious commands.”

      • Second - 2:15-17 “suggests that any community that ignores the plight of the homeless lives under divine judgment”

      • Third - “God’s presence in the community reminds its members of the reality of life that goes beyond the physical and material to the spiritual.”

  • “Nostalgia is the most toxic impulse”

    • Great discussion about nostalgia on Stuff You Should Know podcast.

    • “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory?” My translation: “Stop pining for the Glory Days. Take courage, and get the work done now.”

Thoughts and Questions

  • “Haggai cannot be used as justification for expensive buildings and furnishings. The temple was no white elephant. Rather, for him the temple’s reconstruction was the key to restoring the community’s well-being.” When are construction projects in church something in which to rally around, and when are they used to build up something other than the Kingdom of God? 

    • “The next time we gaze at our own temples, our churches, our houses of worship, we ought not judge them on the size of their steeples, the splendor of their pipe organs, or the grandeur and number of their classrooms. Do they speak to the world that God is there? Do they shout the truth of the freedom-making God? Only on those bases can any such places be judged.” (John Holbert, Patheos: Opening the Old Testament)

  • “If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives, let’s go.” – Lemony Snicket, nom de plume of Daniel Handler. You can’t keep putting God off and expect things to go well. God must be first priority, then take care of the other things. Object Lesson: Packing a briefcase, fill it up, then try to put in Bible, and it won’t fit. Then take it all out, put Bible in first before putting in rest of stuff, which then fits fine.. 

  • “all of their efforts at creating the kind of flourishing environment that Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel had envisioned had, as of yet, come to nought. The reason, the prophet asserts, lay in their failure to properly prioritize the reconstruction of Yahweh’s house.” (Timothy Simpson, Political Theology Today)

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

Initial Thoughts

  • Verses 6-12 explore more the nature of the “lawless one”

  • The lawless one is being restrained

  • The lawless one will be destroyed by Jesus Christ from the “breath of his mouth”

  • The coming of the lawless one is the work of Satan

  • Those who follow the lawless one are deceived because they refuse to believe in the truth and therefore will be condemned

Bible Study

  • Continued theme of enduring hope

    • The Thessalonians had been taught that the “Day of the Lord” in which all people would be judged was already upon them. While this is good news for the few who considered themselves righteous, for the vast majority, who feel unrighteous the “Day of the Lord” is bad news

    • "Paul lays out an apocalyptic schema, the didactic elements of which are not offered for their own sake, but rather to support his practical purpose of exhorting them to live calmly and faithfully." Abraham Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians, Anchor Bible 32B, 41

    • BUT - the “Day of the Lord”, while not here yet, is still coming

  • It will get worse before it gets better

    • There will be an epic showdown between good and evil

    • Who is “lawless one” may be is unknown.

    • Interpreters have tried for millenia to tie the lawless one and the apocalyptic struggle to various events throughout history, repeatedly (dozens if not hundreds of times over) they have been wrong

    • Walter Wink

      • Satan not as an evil deity or being, but a reminder of the reality of evil - systemic and catastrophic

      • "What the ancients called 'spirits' or 'angels' or 'demons' were actual entities, only they were not hovering in the air. They were incarnate in cellulose, or cement, or skin and bones, or an empire, or its mercenary armies." Walter Wink, Unmasking the Powers: The Invisible Forces That Determine Human Existence.

  • Lawless one

    • If the law defines the boundaries by which we live the life abundant- that tis the way to follow to grow deeper in our faith, then the lawless one if the one who ignores those boundaries or that way of life.

    • “we might interpret the lawless one as a spirit of extreme arrogance, embodied in anyone or anything that claims to be godlike but is really anti-God.” Barbara Blodgett, Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 4: Season After Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ).

  • The Day of the Lord

    • What does the notion of the end of times or the day of judgement give us?

    • Does the end move us to fear? Or hedonism? Or to abandon the Gospel of love and grace?

    • Or do we keep doing out duty? (New England Eclipse - “Let us be found doing our duty”)

    • Will we give in to despair and fear or will we persevere in hope, faith and love?

    • What would it mean to live as if today was the day of the lord? How would that change our lives?

  • Promise of grace

    • This passage and the message of Christ is one of grace- hope that evil will not prevail, suffering will not be the norm, the status quo is not the eternal state of being, but that liberation, reconciliation and peace are coming.

    • “The work for justice and peace is too often slow and discouraging. There are times when evil seems to hold far too much power. If we can hang on to the promise that its power is limited, that it will not have the final say, then we can continue the struggle.” Neta Pringle, Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 4: Season After Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ).

    • Exodus - God did not smite Pharaoh's armies out of vengeance but in order to save

    • Why would God change that now?

    • Even in the midst of systemic evil- God’s answer is grace

Thoughts and Questions

  • When was the last time you preached on the “Day of the Lord” or the second coming? Even if you do not believe in the second coming as it is traditional interpreted, the notion of the second coming is pervasive enough that is must be addressed. Now is your chance! Fresh off of All Saints, what does the second coming mean for those who are still waiting and for those who have died? What is the word of hope and challenge for the faithful?

  • While we may or may not believe in the day of judgement, there is an underlying anxiety about whether we feel we are worthy or prepared for the end. Most often we feel as if we have more we would say, do, forgive, love, spend time, if we knew the the end was indeed nigh. What keeps us from doing those things? If Jesus truly want us to live life abundantly, then why put off for tomorrow what we can celebrate today?

  • In the past and present there are those who would blame a supernatural force: Satan, Devil, Lucifer, demons, etc--for the  world’s problems. Perhaps the fault lies not int he stars but in ourselves. How often we are tempted (Satan the great tempter) by ourselves to seek vengeance, withhold forgiveness, subjugate another, use another for our own gain, use or pleasure, etc. Our world is filled with systemic, pervasive and catastrophic evils, many of which we willingly participate in. Is this not he work of the lawless one within ourselves?

Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com,@pomopsalmist). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Miserlou”), Nicolai Heidlas (“Sunday Morning”,"Real Ride"and“Summertime”) and Bryan Odeen for our closing music.

PentecostCEric FistlerLuke, Psalm 75-150, 2 Thessalonians, HaggaiComment