All Saints Day C

 
 
 
 
 

349: November 3, 2019

Luke 6:20-31

Initial Thoughts

  • part of the “Sermon on the Level Ground”

    • Jesus is on physical level ground, but again, this is a theological statement as well. “Level Ground” implies more than physical topography.

Bible Study

  • V. 20-23 The Happies

    • “Happy”? This doesn’t seem to fit. Happiness is just too temporal

    • Happy and Terrible needs to be seen through lens of Honor and Shame

      • Honor and Shame is everything to social framework of the time

      • Instead, “How honorable it is to be hungry now” - which is a complete reversal of cultural norms.

    • From The Message: “Then he spoke: You're blessed when you've lost it all. God's kingdom is there for the finding. 21 You're blessed when you're ravenously hungry. Then you're ready for the Messianic meal. You're blessed when the tears flow freely. Joy comes with the morning. 22 "Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. 23 You can be glad when that happens - skip like a lamb, if you like! - for even though they don't like it, I do . . . and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this. Give Away Your Life “

  • V. 24-26 The Terribles

    • These are not warnings, these are pronouncements

    • “As pronouncements on the lips of Jesus, these statements are performative; that is to say, the words have power and perform or make true the kinds of life presented in the statement. Jesus is making the official proclamation of the way life is inside and outside the reign of God. These are not suggestion about how to be happy or warning lest one become miserable; blessings and woes as words of Jesus are to be heard with the assurance that they are God’s word to us and that God's word is not empty…. Does this mean that the entire passage is descriptive of a condition still in God’s future? Luke's answer is yes and no. Both the blessings and the woes are anchored in the present… There is a joining of present and gurue that reminds us that the eschatological reality is already beginning with the advent of Jesus.” (Craddock, p. 87, 88)

    • From The Message: “But it's trouble ahead if you think you have it made. What you have is all you'll ever get. 25 And it's trouble ahead if you're satisfied with yourself. Your self will not satisfy you for long. And it's trouble ahead if you think life's all fun and games. There's suffering to be met, and you're going to meet it. 26 "There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests - look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular. “

  • “But”

    • The whole passage begins with a “but,” which means you must read it through the lens of the blessings and woes AND read the blessings and woes through the lens of this passage.

    • Blessings and Woes were a reshuffling of “honor and shame”

    • For those claiming v 24-26 “How terrible for you rich…” as a call to social rebellion, class war, or violent upheaval, Jesus follows with “love your enemies.”

    • Verses 27 and 28 can be the whole sermon. To put only this into practice can transform lives, families, workplaces, churches, nations.

  • Verses 27-31 Love of enemies

    • This is the major theme of the passage. The phrase appears at the beginning and is repeated later.

    • Those that live in the Kingdom do not:

      • Retaliate - This is how the world operates, and it gets you no where but more violence and oppression.

      • Play the victim - This is not a ‘slow play’ to victory, but non violence is the Way to lean on God instead of our own power, might, wealth, and influence.

Thoughts and Questions

  • David Ewart (Holy Textures) makes a great point - to remember who this is written for -

Theophilus. Theophilus is not poor or weeping. Presumably, this would be a rich man who had some social standing. Luke is reminding Theophilus (through Jesus’ words) that following Jesus is going to be costly.

“What's at stake for high-status Theophilus is revealed in Verse 22:

‘Blessed are you when people hate you,

        and when they exclude you, revile you,

        and defame you on account of the Son of Man’

Because for Theophilus that is exactly the fate that awaits if he joins the Jesus community.

As Malina and Rohrbaugh comment:

‘The social ostracism in Verse 22 is always the fate of the poor in agrarian societies. ... social ostracism may become the fate of the rich who join Jesus groups that include the poor. Luke knows the terrible costs involved for rich Jesus group members, but is uncompromising in his demand that these costs be paid.’ Might social ostracism still be the fate of those who befriend the poor?” (Ewart, quoting Malina and Rohrbaugh)

  • This fits with the themes given to us by Mary’s song and Jesus’ first sermon in Nazareth. The tables are being turned. There is social upheaval that is both

  • This is a reminder to love people even as your work for justice. Instead of “Love the sinner, hate the sin,” maybe we can try “Love all people, hate injustice.” Do not let your work for justice harden your heart against those who are perpetrators and oppressors. Compassion is the only way to soften hearts.

  • This sermon, on the whole, is a resounding repudiation of the Prosperity Gospel. This falls right into line with the Magnificat, Jesus’ reading in Nazareth, and other places in Luke where Jesus warns against the dangers of wealth. But verse 38 is there for the plucking for those that like to take Scripture out of context and change it to “Give (to me) and it will be given to you… The portion you give (to this church or pastor or ministry) will determine the portion you receive in return.” Depending on your context, this sort of prosperity understanding of the text could be strong. Speak against it!

Ephesians 1:11-23

INITIAL THOUGHTS

  • Ephesians - deutero-Pauline (Paul most likely didn’t write Ephesians), most likely written between 75 and 100 CE after the teaching of the first apostles was well established (see Eph. 2:20)

    • Written to Gentile audience to tell or remind them of their adoption into the family of God and the implications of Christ’s life, death and resurrection for the Gentiles. (cf. Eph 1:5)

    • Also encourages followers of Christ to love one another as Christ did in all manners.

BIBLE STUDY

  • Predestination and/or partnership vv.11-14

    • There is a larger plan of God for all of creation to be brought into the Kingdom of God

    • However, in relationship with God, we have the freedom to choose hope (v.12) and to live into God’s greater plan of the redemption of the world

  • Because of this

    • Literally how v.15 begins and should prompt us to ask- “because of what”

    • Because of God’s gift of faith among the Ephesians who have heard the Good news, believed, and received the Holy Spirit (v.13)

  • King of Kings

    • Christ is raised above all others

    • Christ is not one among others who have been exalted, but is THE exalted one. (see v.21 - above kings, authorities, and deities that currently exist and all that will be named in the “age to come”)

  • Christ as Lord

    • Foundational text for the belief that Christ being seen and heralded as Lord is a precursor to the eschatological kingdom of God (see 1 Thess. 4:13-18 from a couple weeks ago)

    • V.20 is later paraphrased within the Nicene Creed

  • Inclusive or Exclusive

    • Message of comfort to the community called to proclaim Christ as Lord- especially to the Gentiles that they TOO are part of the family of Christ

      • Word of comfort and guidance to that community - not to judge, not to use the Lordship of Christ as a weapon, but to root our hope in the love of Christ under which everything is and which fills all in all.

    • All of creation is subject to the radical love of God in Jesus Christ- is this good news or bad news?

  • Message of Grace

    • This is a prayer for the church - not for a solitary individual, but a community

    • Not a prayer of triumphalism, but a call to faithful hope (see v. 18)

    • “The prayer is not a victory dance for those who have arrived but a clarion call to live a life worthy of the calling to which they have been called, to exhibit the body of Christ as God's called-out people for the world. For the writer of Ephesians, Christ and the church are inseparable, with the church complementing the work of its head. In other words, because God's saving work is not finished, neither is the task to which believers—old and new—have been called as Christ's body.” John Cole, Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 4: Season After Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ).

    • The message the Ephesians are being called to is a reconciled community of Jews and Gentiles- an inclusive congregation with Christ at its head.

PREACHING THOUGHTS

  • What implications does the Lordship of Christ over all the universe and earth have to interfaith dialogue? Can one be inclusive of other faiths without surrendering the Christian Confession of Christ as Lord and Savior?

    • Can we proclaim Christ as our Lord - or must we declare Christ as the Lord? (if the latter is true- what do we mean by this?)

    • “Although the first chapter of Ephesians does not offer a conclusive answer, it does suggest that Christ's exclusive reign leads to inclusive hope—to truly good news that envelops the whole cosmos and all of humanity.”- Jennifer McBride, Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 4: Season After Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ).

  • What does it mean to be subject to the total authority of love?

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, EphesiansComment