Epiphany 3B
Image: “Jonah” www.JohnAugustSwanson.com - copyright 1983 by John August Swanson (Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial ShareAlike 3.0 License- Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
1 Corinthians 7:29-31, Casey Wait
Psalm 62, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, Psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, Patreon
Musician: My Anchor Holds, "Wade in the Water" from their album “Dirty Jesus”, myanchorholds.net, @My_Anchor_Holds, Facebook, YouTube
Mark 1:14-20
Initial Thoughts
Mark Mini Series before Lent
1/24 Mark 1:14-20 - Fishers of people
1/31 Mark 1:21-28 - Jesus throws out demon who calls Jesus “holy one of God”
2/7 Mark 1:29-39 - Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law so she can be a minister
2/14 Mark 9:2-9 Transfiguration or Mark 1:40-45 if you do Epiphany 6B, which is Jesus gets angry at a guy with a skin disease but heals him anyway.
Part of what Ched Myers calls “Jesus’ Direct Action Campaign”
Jesus is taking “symbolic action.”
Bible Study
Jesus’ “Good News”:
Fulfilled/ Kingdom of God is near: the “Now, but not yet” culminating Kingdom of God
Blessed are the poor, mourning, meek, etc.
Yet we are still trampling the poor, mourning, meek- so it isn’t here yet
Kingdom of God appear 66 times in the NT (Kingdom of Heaven 32 times), but Kingdom of YHWH only appears twice in the OT (Kingdom of God never appears)
“God's kingdom is manifest in the human embrace of God's rule through repentance and faith. Jesus' mission was to call people to repentance, that is, a total reorientation of their lives so that they will be in a position to accept God's sovereign rule authentically. The Gospel of Mark recounts the resistance that Jesus experienced to his mission.” ~ Leslie Hoppe (Feasting on the Word – Year B, Volume 1: Advent through Transfiguration.)
Repent and believe in the good news are responses to the in breaking Kingdom of God
Repentance calls for change - are we willing to change for the Kingdom of God?
If we cannot see the in breaking kingdom- can we repent and believe that it is good news
Calling the disciples
No requirements - compare what the disciples go through with your new member class…
Jesus calls them simply as they are and where they are (geographically, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually)
Response
Jesus may call, but it is up to the disciples (and us) to answer
Responding to Jesus requires change- leaving their nets - what have you left to follow Jesus?
James and John leave their father - security, cultural connection to become less than the hired hands (in the social and cultural standing) - are we willing to sacrifice our social and cultural standing to follow where and when Jesus calls?
Fish or Fishers
Actual translation is I will make you fishers for people. Fishers of people is not an action but a descriptive noun.
Jesus will change who you are, not simply give you a different job
“You will become fishers of people”
To be a fisher/disciple
Ched Myer: “There is perhaps no expression more traditionally misunderstood than Jesus’ invitation to these workers to become ‘fishers of men.’ This metaphor, despite the grand old tradition of missionary interpretation, does not refer to the ‘saving of souls,’ as if Jesus were conferring upon these men instant evangelist status. Rather, the image is carefully chosen from Jeremiah 16:16, where it is used as a symbol of Yahweh’s censure of Israel. Elsewhere the ‘hooking of fish’ is a euphemism for judgment upon the rich (Amos 4:2) and powerful (Ezekiel 29:4). Taking this mandate for his own, Jesus is inviting common folk to join him in his struggle to overturn the existing order of power and privilege.” (Binding the Strong Man, p. 132)
Does not mean perfection- just means taking the first step in the journey
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.” MLK Jr.
Disciples will continue to disappoint and misunderstand, but they keep on the journey with Jesus (even after he is killed, raised and ascends)
Peter - follows Jesus”immediately”
Proclaims Jesus as Messiah (Mk 8)
Reject Jesus as suffering Messiah (Mk 8)
Witnesses to Jesus on the Mountaintop, but doesn’t want to leave (Mk 9)
Denies Jesus (Mk 14)
Is absent for Jesus’ death and resurrection (Mk 15)
Thoughts and Questions
What is the good news? If you were to poll your congregation with this question- what would the responses be? What would your response be?
Remember that the news is GOOD! We might wrestle with it and the news may challenge as much as it comforts- but it is good. How do we lift us the goodness of the news of God’s kingdom?
Change sucks- the Kingdom must be amazing to make me want to change (repent) how can preachers make the Kingdom a reality of good news that inspires joyful repentance?
“Congregations and preachers might reason together about the difference between discipleship as a task and discipleship as an identity. And they might try to imagine what it means to be made "fishers for people." If that is a statement about identity, then it must involve something other than participation in church growth programs in the narrow sense.” Ted Smith (Feasting on the Word – Year B, Volume 1: Advent through Transfiguration.) - if you are preaching on this you should read more about that Ted has to say in Feasting on the Word
Jonah 3:1-10
Initial Thoughts
A slice of a larger story. The whole book is only four pages in my Bible. This could be a launch point for a short series (possible future TNS idea?)
It feels awkward to preach about this passage without telling more of the backstory and hearing about Jonah’s reaction.
Bible Study
Jonah’s story
Historical Location
Jonah is identified as a prophet from the Northern Kingdom under King Jeroboam II (786-746 BCE).
Nineveh - was an important Assyrian city. It would become capital in 704 BCE. Located on Tigris River in what is now Iraq.
Assyria known for brutal treatment of those they conquer.
Joppa - A port city on the Mediterranean Sea
Tarshish - Far western edge of the Mediterranean, near Gibraltar.
Source context unknown. Only clues are the exaggerated size of the city of Nineveh, which suggest post exilic period, but this is much debated.
Each chapter is pretty distinct part of the story
1 - Jonah is called by God to go to Nineveh “for their evil has come to my attention.” Jonah refuses. Instead, he goes to Joppa to get on a boat on its way to Tarshish. On the boat, things start to go badly. Eventually, Jonah confesses that he is the problem, and tells the crew to throw him overboard. They oblige him.
2 - “The Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah.” He is in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. There, Jonah has a change of heart. Jonah sings a song of thanksgiving. The fish then “vomited Jonah onto the dry land.
3 - Jonah preaches to Nineveh, warning them that God has given them forty days to straighten up. The king hears Jonah, and listens. King declares a city-wide period of fasting and mourning. God sees this, “So God stopped planning to destroy them, and he didn’t do it.” NRSV states “God changed his mind.”
4 - Jonah upset that God doesn’t destroy Nineveh, so he leaves city and pouts. God teaches Jonah a lesson about compassion with a shrub that provided him shade. We never find out of Jonah gets it.
Four players in Chapter 3
Jonah: Finally obeys God, gets up off the beach, goes to Nineveh and cries out in the city “Just forty days more and Ninevah will be overthrown!”
The people of Nineveh: The people believed God (not Jonah). They proclaimed a fast and put on mourning clothes.
This turn of events seems to be anticlimactic. After so much reluctance by Jonah, there is almost no resistance.
The King: Heard what his people were doing, and joins in. Announces extreme adhesion to the fast - even for the animals in the flocks. Wonders, “Who knows? God may see this and change his mind”
God: Sees what happens, “that they ceased their evil behavior.” God’s mind is changed.
Chapter 3:1-10
God repeats God;’s initial command to Jonah verbatim
Early Christian made connections between Jesus’ 3 days in death to Jonah’s three days in the whale
A three day walk- clearly an exaggeration- this would mean Nineveh was roughly 90 miles across or larger than contemporary Los Angeles, but the point it that Nineveh was a big city.
Also the connection of three days worth of ministry to match his three days in the belly of the whale
Forty days- a traditional symbolic time of discernment and repentance (Jesus in the wilderness, Israelites 40 years in the wilderness, 40 days of flood during Noah’s time, etc.)
Result - the people trust GOD, not necessarily Jonah, but because of Jonah’s ministry- they come to trust God
Radical inclusiveness of the response to Jonah’s proclamation, the trust in God, and acts of repentance - everyone from the King to the livestock participate. In other words- this message applies to everyone regardless of social status or economic wealth, or even species.
All need to repent because all have “benefited from the ‘fruits of war’ and empire building just as white South Africans benefited in the apartheid era of South Africa...There were those who might have claimed not to have participated in the system and ‘who might have said they were opposed to apartheid but had nonetheless gone on to enjoying the privileges and huge benefits that apartheid provided them because of an accident of birth, a biological irrelevance, the color of their skin’.” Valarie Bridgeman, The Africana Bible (including a quote from Desmond Tutu, No Future without Forgiveness).
There are obvious connections here between Jonah, Apartheid and the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, and American White Privilege.
“Turn back”, “shuv” in Hebrew, is used three times in the final 2 verses, captures the true essence of repentance which is an invitation to turn back towards God and the Ninevites’ hope that God will turn back toward them - begs the questions does God turn away from us? In this case- no, even the evil Ninevites are spared.
Accountability and Repentance
The mercy that comes from God in this story only comes after the King and all the Ninevites are held accountable for their evil acts - they must come to terms with what they have done in order to repent and move forward.
This is not a simple blanket gift of forgiveness, but mercy is the response to those who turn away from their evil ways, who repent - we cannot turn to God until we recognize and accept what we are turning away from.
This is a problem with Jonah - there is no evidence of the transformation of the Assyrian society after the days of repentance. “What went missing in Jonah was any attempt to change the culture so that, once fasting and praying was done, Assyria would not be a dangerous neighbor.” Bridgeman, referring to Miguel De la Torre, Liberating Jonah: Forming an Ethics of Reconciliation.
Thoughts and Questions
If you tell only the lectionary selection, there is plenty. Jonah’s obedience to God’s call is meet with repentance from the people. God’s mercy is shown. “God changed his mind.” is ripe with interpretative possibilities. What are the theological implications of a God that can change his mind? When does God change his mind? What changed God’s mind?
We expect resistance from the people and King. In fact, we expect Jonah to come to a violent end. He is a foreign man preaching about a foreign God. It is hard to imagine how the people of Ninevah could have heard his words as anything other than an idle threat. Instead, they embrace God’s word, and there is repentance. This can tell us something about who we are reluctant to speak to. Who are the audiences with whom we should have no chance? There are great evangelical implications of who we should/can/are seeking.
The fact is, God changed God’s mind at the beginning of the story. The very act of calling a prophet of Israel to the heart of Assyria shows a change of heart in the nature of God. Jonah’s reluctance to listen to God is born from the faith and tradition he knew, not pure rebellion (Bruce Epperly, Process and Faith).
If a greater portion of the story is told, the ordeal of the fleeing, then reluctant, then successful, then pouting prophet is fascinating. What does it mean for a prophet to be successful? The people listened to Jonah’s message, and believed God (not Jonah). Why is Jonah upset that the city is not destroyed? Can we get too caught up in our own righteous indignation to miss the point? Vengeance is not Justice. Anger is not justice.
In what ways do we lead people to trust God?
Righteous Anger - God asks Jonah (4:4,9) if “it is right for [him] to be angry”, this seems at first glance to be a rhetorical question that we might answer “no”, but perhaps that is reading this from a position of privilege. Do oppressed and marginalized people have a right to be angry? Yes. Does Jonah have a right to be angry - yes. Does that anger justify denying our enemies the opportunity for repentance and reconciliation? “How does anger factor into justice making, evangelism, and reconciliation?” Valarie Bridgeman, The Africana Bible
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Initial Thoughts
Builds off of last week’s warning about sexual immorality - how do we live in authentic relationship with one another sexually and matrimonially
Mutuality of power: 7:4 “The wife doesn’t have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, the husband doesn’t have authority over his own body, but the wife does.”
Must be understood in context: vv. 25-28 “25 I don’t have a command from the Lord about people who have never been married, but I’ll give you my opinion as someone you can trust because of the Lord’s mercy. 26 So I think this advice is good because of the present crisis: Stay as you are. 27 If you are married, don’t get a divorce. If you are divorced, don’t try to find a spouse. 28 But if you do marry, you haven’t sinned; and if someone who hasn’t been married gets married, they haven’t sinned. But married people will have a hard time, and I’m trying to spare you that.”
Specifically - v. 25 “I don’t have a command from the Lord … but I’ll give you my opinion” - explicitly not an inspired command of God but Paul’s opinion as he tries to address the questions of the local community.
Also understood in the context that Paul thinks the Parousia is imminent
Bible Study
“Concerning virgins” - women who were never unmarried
v. 29 The time has drawn short -
List of things to do:
those who have wives be as though they had none,
those who mourn be as though they were not mourning,
those who rejoice be as though they were not rejoicing,
those who buy as though they had no possessions,
those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it.
Paul believes the Parousia - the second coming is imminent.
“Because the time is foreshortened, ordinary temporal matters dwindle in significance or—to speak more precisely—assume the significance that is properly theirs in the light of God’s eschatological judgment. That is why Christians should live as if the end were at hand (vv. 29b–31a), not investing themselves inappropriately in issues and affairs that belong to the old age.” Richard B. Hays, Interpretation: First Corinthians, p. 127.
TLDR - It doesn’t really matter whether or not you are married - soon it won’t matter
Goes back to earlier in the chapter (vv.1-7) where Paul urges people not to get married unless they can’t keep themselves from having sex, in which case they should get married - not out of love, but in order to have sex.
“Some Corinthians, it seems, were placing too much value-and status-on celibacy within marriage or no marriage (and thus no sexual intercourse) at all. Paul argues for options. There is more than one way to live a holy life.” Jouette M. Bassler, “1 Corinthians”, Women’s Bible Commentary, 3rd ed. p.560
The things of this world or temporary and fleeting in light of the second coming so If you are in a bad marriage v. 10-11 or are a slave v. 21 - stick it out because God is coming soon, or if you are mourning, soon every tear will be wiped away,
Similarly with possessions (vv.30-31)- none of this will matter with the coming Kingdom of God.
Paul and the Stoics
Stoic philosophy promoted detachment from all things to build character - recommending abstinence from eating and drinking in excess, refraining from sex, etc.
Paul sounds stoic, but isn’t. He isn’t against marriage, sex, possessions, mourning or rejoicing, he is simply focusing on the coming age. There is no sense in wasting time on these things because “the present form of this world is passing away.” v. 31
But what if the end is not coming soon? Does this passage mean anything?
“The twentieth-century Bible scholar and theologian Rudolf Bultmann thought so. Bultmann recognized that here Paul presents an attitude or stance of living in the world as though not, and that this attitude is authorized partly by Paul’s eschatological expectation. But Bultmann insisted that the key point, for Paul as for Jesus, is simply that we belong completely to God. A person who recognizes this—a person of faith—obeys the radical demand of the Creator and Judge who stands beyond this world, and such a person is therefore freed from worldly claims. But this is the attitude that appropriately accompanies faith in every age. So, if Bultmann is correct, our passage does not present a stance that is fitting only for an interim period before the end; it presents the perennially genuine attitude and resolve of true faith. We are to live in complete obedience to God and therefore to be in the world but not of it, or in the world as though not.” Douglas F. Ottati, “Theological Perspective on 1 Corinthians 7:29–31,” Feasting on the Word: Year B, vol. 1 p. 280–282.
Like Jesus who urges us to watch and wait, living into the Kingdom (Mark 13), we should live as if the Kingdom is indeed at hand, whether it comes soon or not.
God should be the primary focus, not procreation, or mourning or joy, or the world
Not about the specifics: marriage, mourning, joy, buying, living in the world - these are not bad things per se, just important in light of the coming Kingdom
Marriage, sex, mourning, rejoicing, possessions - these things can distract us from God and living in the way of Jesus Christ (that is, living into the Kingdom)
Focus on the commandments of God- if you are going to worry about something- worry about how to please God
Thoughts and Questions
While, 1900 years later, we may be convinced the parousia is not imminent - aren’t we still distracted by our devotion to God by “worldly things”? The question is not one of abstinence from sex, marriage, mourning, joy, possession, but rather an awareness and concern when these things get in the way of our devotion to God.
How many pastors do not care for their spiritual health because of the demands of their ministry?
How easy is it to be become overwhelmed by the things of this world and quickly grow distant from God?
How can we use our marriages, sexuality, mourning, joy, and possessions as a way to draw closer to God?
Could be a great stewardship sermon.
Paul was wrong...or was he?
We do not know what tomorrow will bring
People are over stressed and anxious
Focus on pleasing God? What does this mean?
Micah 6:8
Greatest Commandments
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING AND GET IN TOUCH:
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 (“Misirlou”), Nicolai Heidlas (“Sunday Morning”,"Real Ride"and“Summertime”), Paul and Storm (“Oh No”), and Bryan Odeen for our closing music.