Lent 5B
image: The Ghent Altarpiece, St. Bavo Cathedral (wikimedia)
584: March 17, 2024
442: March 21, 2021
Special Guest: Rev. Nicole Cox, @RevNicoleCox, Willow Hill UMC in Germantown, IL
262: March 18, 2018
Jeremiah 31:31-34, Susan Presley and Max Hazell; Featured Musician: Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, “Wash Me Clean” based on Psalm 51 from his album Sharing the Road; Psalm 51: Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (Psalmimmersion.com,@pomopsalmist, Patreon.com/RichardBCSongleader)
107: March 22, 2015
Featured Musician: Rob Leveridge “Taste and See” from his album Dancing on the Mountain
Exegetical Notes
John 12:20-33
Initial Thoughts
v.21-23 -typical church bureaucracy :)
Explaining the impending death of Jesus - links well with the Hebrew passage-how do we explain the death of Jesus?
Bible Study
Context
Holy Week, Passover- Jesus was anointed by Mary and has entered into Jerusalem (John 12:1-19)- the festival in v. 20 is Passover.
This is the final public discourse of Jesus - we will move to the Last Supper/Foot Washing/ Farewell Discourse in John 13 (although the lection will bring us back to Mark for Palm Sunday)
Palm Sunday is next week, but chapter 12:12-19 is the Palm Sunday text in John. Next week’s Palm Sunday lection comes from Mark 11.
“We want to see Jesus”
This speech (and the rest of chapter 12) is in response to this request
“Any sermon on the Gospel of John has this as its goal, creating the very real presence of Jesus for all to see so that the God can be seen and known (1:18).” Karoline Lewis, John, p.170.
The crowds
The crowds are divided between wanting to be with him or wanting to kill him
Surrender to God’s will (submission?- see Hebrews text above)
More about God’s Grace than humanity’s failing God moves to reconcile us from ourselves- not from original sin
Margaret A Farley - “the initiative for reconciliation comes from God's own self. The No of humanity, with its resulting radical incapacity to reverse itself, could be changed only by the Yes of God, but this Yes must rise also to God out of the genuinely human.” Feasting on the Word – Year B, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide.
God reconciled Godself to humanity not by denying the suffering of the world, but by entering into it. Jesus does not skip and laugh on his way to the cross- his “soul is troubled”- yes God (not Jesus) is glorified.
“The hour has come” - this is the moment the Gospel has have been building toward. There have been several references to “the hour has not yet come” leading up to this.
Why the change?
Lazarus has increased the anxiety.
Rising popularity of Jesus.
The approaching Passover increased the tension.
“The Greeks” have shown up and are looking for Jesus. This movement is spilling over into “the world.”
“The ‘hour’ arrives because opposition to Jesus reaches its inevitable outcome: the officials will seek his death. But the ‘hour’ also arrives because of Jesus’ very ‘success’ with the world… The world is a thoroughly unreliable place; neither its hostility nor its adoration can be trusted.” (Beverly Gaventa, Texts for Preaching, Year B, p. 238)
Connection to the farewell discourse 13:1 and will introduce many of the same themes. Lewis argues that this public discourse should be read (by the preacher at least) in conversation with the farewell discourse
A single grain of wheat
This agricultural metaphor of one leading to the abundance of the may will be picked up later in John 15 with the vine and the branches. Perhaps this has less to do with the death of Jesus than with those who will continue his ministry. They are to be the fruit (the branches cf. John 15) after Jesus has died. If you want to see Jesus - look to the ways his life, death and resurrection lead you to bear good fruit.
Loving and losing life - individualism is not the Way of Christ - what is the meaning of life? like a grain of wheat - to live for others in community
The seed - abiding alone is pointless - abiding in the Spirit is eternal
hating life - life is “psyche”- soul, self - not about hating yourself, but about hating abiding only in oneself and not with others or with God.
“Life cannot be hoarded away; only those prepared to give up everything can receive the gift of ‘eternal life,’ both now and hereafter.” (Gaventa, Texts for Preaching, Year B, p. 239).
C.S. Lewis - “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.”
Eternal life is declaring in word and deed “Thy will be done”
Sacrifice for the sake of God and others does not grant ourselves glory but grants God glory - sacrifice for sacrifice’s sake is not holy or glorified- sacrifice for God’s sake is glorified
This is not only about Jesus’ sacrifice but the invitation to put the Kingdom of God first, the love of God-other-and self first, this is what will bear good fruit.
Vv. 28-30
Connects to the baptism and transfiguration in the synoptic gospels, but those familiar proclamations do not take place in John (while there is a baptism, there is no voice from heaven and there is no transfiguration in John).
Unlike the other Gospels, John’s Jesus needs no confirmation of who he is as God’s beloved son or God’s chosen, this has been established in the primordial foundations of creation (John 1), rather here we have “testimony to the fact that in Jesus, God’s name is glorified.” Lewis, p. 171
Vv. 31-33 - this proclamation is explicitly for the crowd - this is the last moment they will have Jesus with them, this is the last time they will “see” and hear Jesus.
“Lifted up from the earth” refers not only to the crucifixion (being lifted on the cross), but the resurrection (being raised up by God) as well
Which is more difficult to believe: the death or the resurrection? Or is it the ascension - that Jesus goes to God and leaves it up to us to bear his image throughout the world?
What does it mean for Jesus to be glorified?
“Seen his glory” back in John’s prologue.
Mark Davis compiles a list of the use of the word “glorify” and “honor” in his blog, Left Behind and Loving It.
In describing the seed that must die to bear fruit, Davis says that this is the best explanation of what “glorify” means. “Jesus dies, not to appease God’s anger over human sinfulness, but because a death like his can be the means for bearing much fruit. I know that Archbishop Oscar Romero found great consolation in this verse when his own life was threatened and, in fact, his words have reverberated ever more strongly since his assassination. Tertullian captured it well in the phrase, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” (Mark Davis)
Thoughts and Questions
Our [American] culture is consumed with self identity and self preservation - what would it mean to truly life for God- to truly live for others? How can we move beyond our fear of death from “let this cup pass from me” to “thy will be done”- from “save me from this hour” to “glorify your name”?
Is the church willing to die for the sake of God? How will we die? LIke a single seed or in giving new life to the world?
Are we willing to accept Jesus’ invitation to be drawn into the suffering of the world through the cross? Following Jesus and serving Jesus (v.26) mean following Jesus up to the cross and into suffering of the world. Are we doing that? Are we willing to?
To resign the cross away as the pure will of God (instead of the humanity’s unwillingness to accept the radical love and grace of God) is, perhaps, to resign all suffering away as the will of God thereby absolving our responsibility to enter into it.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Initial Thoughts
Can you read this and not hear it through a Christian lens? Is it possible? Should we even try?
Clearly on the mind of the biographers of Jesus as they wrote about his passion and the last supper.
Clearly on the mind of those that divided the Bible into two halves labelled “old” and “new.”
No way that Jeremiah was predicting that the “old covenant” was somehow scrapped, or that that God was starting over.
No way that Jesus thought the same either.
Bible Study
Literary Context
Jeremiah begins with coming disaster, spans three invasions which resulted in destruction of Temple and exile. Also reaches well into exile period, and offers a way for people to survive, and ends with an open-ended future where hope may remain.
R.E. Clements, in Interpretation: Jeremiah casts serious doubt on this passage being authentic Jeremiah. “The promise is couched in the elevated language and style of the homiletical prose which marks much of the editorial and developmental material in the book” (p. 190).
In the middle of section known as “The Scroll of Comfort” 30:1-33:26.
Comfort in the midst of devastation
Stories of restoration, pointing to a future where the devastation has ended.
“It is as if, for a moment, the solemn tone of Jeremiah disappears. A closer look, however, reveals that despair and hardship have shaped the background for the words of comfort. Even images of restoration draw heavily on painful memories of the past… God grants a war-torn and exiled community a future when none seems possible.” Notes from The Common English Study Bible, p. 1257 OT).
“New” Covenant
Unconditional (similar to Genesis 9)
No requirement of repentance or agreement- this is happening whether you like it or not
Everlasting (Jeremiah 50:5)
Rooted not in the creation of a nation, but in the forgiveness of God
Like Genesis 9- this covenant is made in full realization of how awful and unfaithful people can be- God still chooses to be in relationship with us.
Written in our hearts- not in stone
The law is transformed not into something we follow, but who we are
Focus on relationship, not the law
Faithful living is how we are the people of God, not how do we follow the law
HOWEVER - the law is there to help us be faithful to God
A Forgetful God?
Not a command to forgive and forget- rather God is not a “grudge-holding God”
Time of reconciliation in which we do not hold the past against one another
The old and the new
The covenant may be new, but the Torah remains.
There is a new relationship, but the standards of God’s will remain.
The newness is about refreshing and renewal, not disposal.
The new, or re-newed covenant is new in the way it will be known kept by humanity, not in what is expected or willed by God.
“The assertion of a new, ‘keepable’ covenant in the place of one nullified and broken makes a claim for God’s own resolve and deep yearning for a covenant that overrides the painful truth of nullification. Thus, the decree of a new covenant is an act of God’s inexplicable mercy and graciousness.” (Walter Brueggemann, Texts for Preaching, Year B, p. 231)
The new covenant is not new participants. The covenant is made explicit in the houses of Israel and Judah.
Cannot use this as supersessionist theology.
God’s covenant is with the community, which itself will be renewed
Reunion of Israel and Judah a part of the newness, which is also old.
Nature of the relationship
God’s initiative alone
The covenant does not follow an act of contrition or repentance.
Renewal of covenant is entirely God’s action. There is no initiative of humanity, nor are there conditions.
Sins are forgiven and forgotten as a way to make things new.
“I will be their God and they will be my people” is an important reminder of the relationship, especially in midst of context that makes that very difficult to believe.
Written on hearts
Revelation is not held in the hands of a few
No dominant class, experts, or knowers of secret knowledge.
Knowing the Lord is analogous to knowing the Torah. Cannot know God apart from the Law.
Closely resembles Deuteronomy 6:6 (The Shema), which can help build the bridge to Jesus, who also connected his ministry to The Shema.
Thoughts and Questions
What makes up the new, and what remains of the old? This is a compelling question that the Church must continue to ask, and one that every church must engage. The essence of this passage is an ongoing relationship with God. The relationship itself is not what’s new, but the way we relate to God that is forever changing and being renewed.
The Prophetic Voice is often focused on tearing down and demolishing systems of oppression and injustice. Do we claim the prophetic voice which calls us to build and plant for the future?
The Prophetic voice must contain a message of hope, not solely judgement
What is the time right now?
This passage has MASSIVE ramifications for those who hold to original sin. If we cannot be blamed for the sins of the previous generation(s) and are responsible from this moment on, then we cannot be held responsible for original sin. If however, we are each individually responsible to be faithful to God and neighbor, then salvation is not about overcoming original sin, but rather on how we remain in relationship with God.
Hebrews 5:5-10
Initial thoughts
Hebrews:
Author: probably a companion of Paul (traditionally attributed to Paul, but the letter is not in his style nor is Paul ever mentioned)
Audience: an early Christian community, traditionally thought to be Jewish Christians who were returning to the synagogue (and leaving the church), but there is really no evidence of this. The substantial use of the OT (often used to justify a Jewish audience) would have been common in early Christian communities regardless of religious or ethnic background (the OT was the sacred text of the Early Christians). Also unlike other letters, issues eith local synagogues are not mentioned.
Written between 60 and 90 CE - a community of people who had not experienced Jesus first-hand
Canonically: 19th book of NT- is the bridge between the Pauline Letters (Romans-Philemon) and Catholic Letters (James-Jude)
A sermon of encouragement to a community who was faithful through persecution (Hebrews 10:32-34) and experienced miracles (Hebrews 2:3-4), but now, due to intense persecution, resistance and the lack of Jesus’ “imminent” return
Bible Study
Major motifs: Melchizedek, Submission, Obedience
Melchizedek
Very obscure figure in the OT (Genesis 14 - King of Salem who blesses Abram and gives him bread and wine and Psalm 110:4)
There is a tradition that claims Melchizedek is actually Shem, the son of Noah
Melchizedek means “Righteous King” and unites the offices of King (of Salem) and High Priest
Similarly Jesus is both King (Psalm 2 the inauguration Psalm on divine kingship- connected with Jesus Baptism/Transfiguration) and High Priest (the anointed one)
Jesus as High Priest
This argument begins with Hebrews 5:1-10
High Priest must be both from within the community of people, “chosen from among mortals” (Heb 5:1) but also must be “called by God” (Heb 5:4)
Comparison to Aaron:
V. 1-3 Aaron was of the people
V. 4 Aaron was called by God
V. 5-6 Jesus is of God (“You are my son”, “You are a priest forever”)
V. 7-9 Jesus is of the people (“offered up prayers...loud cries and tears”)
Focus of the High Priest is to offer prayer before God
But God didn’t answer Jesus’ prayers…
According to Hebrews God “was able to save [Jesus] from death” (v.7), but clearly didn’t - DISTURBING
Prayer
Clearly God heard Jesus’ prayer and could have saved Jesus, but chose not to (v.7)
Does this undermine prayer or the concept of a loving God?
No- the argument here is that Jesus is in solidarity with the people - Jesus knows what it is like to cry out, to be in pain and agony and to seem to be ignored - even unto death on the cross
But this isn’t the end of the story - the story doesn’t end on Friday, but on Easter
Jesus is “saved from death” through resurrection -the promise to those being persecuted and killed is that their suffering will not have the final word. Jesus has been there, Jesus suffered and was killed but just as Jesus was faithful to God, God was faithful to Jesus- and will be to us as well.
God hears our prayers but does not always answer them in the ways we expect or desire
God hearing our prayers does not mean God keeps us from harm or pain
v. 8 Obedience and Submission - too often linking human submission and divine submission
“The theology of the abused child” - Rita Nakashima Brock
Used to justify abuse over children, women and those who are powerless
Crucifixion (turning the other cheek, forgiveness, etc) is not passive acceptance of abuse, but is non-violent resistance that refuses to participate in dehumanizing actions.
Also need to remember the paradoxical nature of Christ - Jesus is both God’s Son AND God’s Self - thus this is not a story of child abuse, but God’s own self enduring pain and death to show us a new way to life (non-violent resistance, love and forgiveness)
Thoughts and Questions
Reclaiming this text:
People trying to make sense of the death of Jesus- not that God willed Jesus’ suffering but was able to work through it for a greater good
Remember that Jesus is both human and divine which leads to God submitting. What does it mean for God to submit for the salvation of us all? (Reminded of Aslan from Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe). Not God sending Jesus to suffer and die, but God submitting Godself in order to see what true faith is: non-violent love, grace and forgiveness. Not passive acceptance of violence but third-way non-violent resistance that even death cannot overcome.
Gospel reading for today- “We want to see Jesus” - are you sure? The way of Jesus is not one of traditional glory, but love, forgiveness and faithfulness that breaks cycles of violence and levels the hierarchies of power.
What does it mean for us to learn obedience like Jesus? Obedience, sacrifice, submission are not words we often use (partly because they have been misused to oppress others), but perhaps it is time to reclaim these spiritual practices.
Not my will but thy will be done.
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.