In all the wrong places
Commentary
Have you heard about the Question Box? It's a little device that is supposed to provide yes and no answers. You dangle a special pendant over the box, ask your question, and then wait for the pendant to drift toward either the yes or no side of the box. Sold as "a unique, self-discovery tool" the Question Box supposedly helps you "develop your intuition, inner peace and creative power in addition to providing answers to your most important questions." Purportedly, the Question Box can perform these amazing feats because it utilizes the "amazing, powerful properties of crystals and polished gemstones to bestow prosperity, spirituality, health, success, love, luck, balance, purity and inner peace upon you." And not only that, but it saves you time. You don't have to sleep on any decision or second-guess yourself. Just ask the box.
Yeah, right. It's just one more wrong place where we are invited to find "answers."
As we continue through the season after Pentecost, we are encouraged to take direction from the history of God's people and the writings that guided them through terrible times as well as routine days. We strive to live godly lives, but in all honesty and humility we have to admit how far short we fall of God's high expectations, as well as our own lower standards. How often we may feel like the "broken cisterns" Jeremiah describes. How sobering to realize that we need to be reminded with the Hebrew Christians just how to live our lives -- like getting a daily e-mail from Mom and Dad while away at college to mind our Ps and Qs. How grateful we can be that our Lord addresses us in simple, story ways to coax us into truthful living that elevates us to happiness, and shows us where real answers are found.
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Six hundred years is but the blink of an eye in the Bible. Jeremiah does not hesitate to refer to the "ancient history" of the Exodus as if it were yesterday. Such memory was fresh on the minds of the people of God, because it was their formative experience. Once they were no people, then they were God's people; once they were slaves, then they were free.
The few verses that precede today's pericope contain the image of a bride and groom. This image conveys the warmth of love that prepares the hearer for the anguish expressed by God in his judgment. "Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate" (2:12). The first love of newlyweds has been replaced by overt transgressions of the bride against her groom, leaving the groom's love unrequited. (This is a similar indictment as expressed in Revelation 2:4 against the church in Ephesus.)
The bride is collectively the house of Jacob, at this point the southern kingdom, centralized in Jerusalem. The sins of the bride -- the people -- are twofold. First, they have turned their backs on God, the groom; second, they have sought other suitors, political and spiritual. Rather than turning to the Lord, the people turned to Egypt and also to Baal. The irony here is that, having the one, true God, the people were unfaithful, whereas the surrounding nations, worshiping false gods, remained true to their deities (2:11). Consequently, God will contend with his people (2:9). Jeremiah's unwelcome task is to announce the judgment of God upon the people.
Rembrandt van Rijn (17th century Dutch artist) captured on canvas the lamentation of Jeremiah over the fate of Jerusalem. Sitting against an outcropping of rock, with head resting heavily in his left hand, Jeremiah stares downward into the empty space before him. His right hand is behind his back out of sight, symbolic of God withdrawing his victorious right hand from his people (see Isaiah 41:10). In the background under the darkness of night, Jerusalem burns. (The original composition hangs in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.)
There is a sting in Jeremiah's words. He describes the people going after "worthlessness" and becoming "worthless" (2:5). The people themselves have become like the gods they have wooed -- "broken cisterns" that cannot contain what is necessary for life and well-being and wholeness.
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
The letter to the Hebrews concludes with numerous exhortations. They are not particularly surprising, at least when compared to the exhortations in, for example, Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. The Christian community is encouraged to continue in the brotherly love that they have already demonstrated, care for strangers, be mindful of those in prison and those who have suffered abuse, honor marriage vows, beware of avarice, respect and imitate spiritual leaders and share unselfishly with those in need.
This is a very practical note on which to end a letter that has been so consumed with demonstrating the superior and sufficient qualities of Christ over everything that has gone before. From the apologetics of the letter, the unknown author of Hebrews now turns to practical teaching of how to live together graciously, as Paul would say, according to the example that Christ Jesus has provided and in line with his teachings that have been outlined in the Sermon on the Mount. These acts, along with the other behaviors mentioned in the concluding verses of chapter 13, are the only "sacrifices" that are ultimately possible for human endeavor and consequently pleasing to God. The same Greek word for these lifestyle offerings is used for the sacrifice Jesus offered on the cross, surpassing and bringing an end to the repetitious animal sacrificial system of Hebrew religion. The difference is that whereas Jesus' sacrifice was for our salvation coming from God, our sacrifices are for our thanksgiving going to God for what has already been finalized through the death and resurrection of Christ.
This letter, along with the other epistles in the New Testament, tells us that we in the church benefit from being reminded of to whom we belong and how we are to behave. The practical application of this can be seen in the way the love of money is handled. The emphasis is on contentment, because of the great promise that is given by God. There is no need to accumulate wealth and the possessions, status and power that it can buy. These things will not provide true satisfaction, for one is always left with the desire for just a little more, like King Midas.
Contentment, however, can be experienced as one rests in the promise of God, who will never fail us or leave us alone. This is the Christian's true wealth, which empowers a courageous and generous stance in life. A parallel to this can be found in 2 Corinthians 9:8, where Paul lifts up the abundance of the Christian life as it is received from the hand of God and as it is passed on out of the hand of the generous and cheerful and thankful giver.
Luke 14:1, 7-14
Jesus was a perceptive observer of human behavior. The Pharisees thought that they were watching him, but he was, in fact, watching them, and far closer than they would ever get to him. He saw through to their hearts. Jesus seemed to be comfortable enough in their presence, even though they were the enemy. Remembering that he came to reconcile God's enemies, this should not surprise us (see 2 Corinthians 5:16-21).
Working on the assumption that behavior reveals character, Jesus tells a parable about proper behavior at a marriage feast. It could be thought of as a wisdom parable, one that takes a common sense approach right out of the pages of a family album. At the wedding festivities, those who are invited have the choice of where to situate themselves. However, if they take seats of honor near the family, they could be asked by the host to move if people more intimate with the family arrive. How embarrassing would that be? Jesus says that it is more practical to assume that there are people for whom those prestigious seats are reserved. Should it come to pass that the host indeed wants you to be seated among those honored and asks you to move up, it will be very gratifying indeed. Humility always leaves the top off the cup, so that it can be filled even more. When it thus overflows, there is additional joy in sipping the abundance from the saucer.
There is more at stake here than being astute when it comes to social gatherings. The parable is also about how we relate to God. Recall how the Garden scene of Genesis 3 is also about seeking the place of honor. Adam and Eve wanted to be like God. They exalted themselves through their decision to defy God and go after the place of honor: to be like God (Genesis 3:5). Therefore, they needed to be humbled. They were exiled from the Garden and given the sentence of death. No nearby seat for them! Paul compares their attempted exaltation with the humbleness of Jesus, who through his obedience became exalted (Romans 5:12-21; Philippians 2:5-11). He was granted the honored position -- to be seated at the right hand of God the Father (Romans 8:34).
Application
In our consumer culture where we use far more than we need, we have defiled the creation. There is debris in space, dumps on land (as well as the moon and Mars), pollution in the air, carcinogenic contaminants in our bodies, pornography in our spirits, and abuse/murder with which we stain others. "The word of the Lord" spoken yesterday can just as rightly be spoken today: "I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good thing. But when you came in you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination" (Jeremiah 2:7). Some of us may be guilty of infidelity to the One who has loved us from the beginning. We may have sought answers to life's questions and dreams, not from God, but from other gods, spirits, powers, sources from which we think we can extract the answers.
What an interesting invitation we have from God to bring our questions and concerns to him! Notice how the Lord argues even for a plaintiff relationship. "They did not say, 'Where is the Lord ...' " (Jeremiah 2:6, 8). And would that they had! We are encouraged to bring even our gripes to the Lord. That is not a sign of unbelief, but a sign of a living, dynamic relationship that bears not only the confidences of life, but also the confusions. God is able to deal with us, if only we will deal with God, rather than fold our hands and seek dealings with others instead.
This was the wisdom of Job -- to carry his contention directly to the Lord, to converse with God until the words made sense of a senseless situation. Job was loyal to God even in his anger. What would have been disloyal (infidelity) would be to seek out the answers to his questions from anyone other than the living God. We can be encouraged today to bring the substance or lack of substance of our lives to the living God, who will then be able to deal graciously with us, like a groom tenders his bride with goodness.
The scripture offers positive guidance for how communities of the faithful as well as individual members are to live with one another and with the society. This is to give flesh and bones to the heart and soul of their first love. A person could read the exhortations at the conclusion of Hebrews every morning before getting out of bed and have a blueprint for the day's activities with one's beloved and for the Beloved.
If people were asked if they would like to live a good, honorable life, most would respond in the positive. If they could be shown just what that would mean, as defined by the Bible as in Hebrews 13, they would be grateful. If they could be convinced that such a life makes sense as a grateful response to the gracious actions of God for us through Jesus Christ, they would begin to get a picture of the larger truth. If they disciplined themselves to embody the lifestyle thus described, they would see the risen Christ in their midst today and be confirmed in their faith.
Trying to apply all of these ethical and communal tenants on a daily basis keeps one on the ball, to be sure. The confidence of the Christian, however, is not in how well this task is accomplished; for that will fluctuate from day to day. The confidence of the Christian is in the constancy of Jesus Christ from day to day (Hebrews 13:8). He is the anchor, who in the end will be able to hold the Christian steadfast to God in worship and to the neighbor in good works. These two vital dynamics of the Christian life -- worship and works -- are to be looked after and not neglected (Hebrews 10:25, 13:16).
Alternative Applications
One of the key qualities of Christian character in the texts for today is humility. The people of Jeremiah's day needed it to remember from where they came and whose they were. The recipients of the Letter to the Hebrews needed the spirit of humility to hear again words of exhortation on how to live rightly before God. Jesus takes the Pharisees to task because of their puffed-up notions about themselves and their behaviors.
Jesus is the model par excellence of humility. He demonstrated it in washing the disciples' feet (John 13:1-20). He lived it out to the end, even to death (Philippians 2:8). Paul tells Christians to imitate Christ (Ephesians 5:1-2) and to dress appropriately in Christ-likeness (Colossians 3:12-13). He describes love in terms that reflect the spirit of humility (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Humility is one of the garments that is becoming on the people of God. Humility allows one to be generous without seeking personal gain (Luke 14:12-14), laying the groundwork for true happiness ("blessed," the same word that Jesus uses in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:3-12 to describe the fruit of the godly lifestyle).
For more on humility, see Elizabeth Achtemeier's comments on the Lutheran Option for the first lesson, Proverbs 25:6-7.
Mark J. Molldrem is senior pastor of Resurrection Lutheran Church in Saginaw, Michigan.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Jeremiah 2:4-13
This passage forms one of the earliest pronouncements of the prophet Jeremiah, and is dated sometime between 626 and 621 B.C., during the reign of the good king Josiah in Judah. It mirrors the reasons why Josiah's widespread religious reforms of 621 B.C. were necessary (see 2 Kings 22-23 for an account of those reforms).
The passage is given to us in the form of a court case. "Contend" in verse 9 means "go to court." The heavens, in verse 12, form the jury to whom the Lord sets out his grievances against his covenant people. The theme of the whole is sounded in verse 5. The people have gone after "worthlessness," that is, other gods, and therefore become "worthless" in the purpose of God. Each following stanza of the oracle then ends with that thought, and the oracle is a model of Hebrew rhetoric. In verse 8, the people have gone after that which does not "profit," that is, what is worthless. In verse 11, again, the nation has changed its "glory," that is, its God, for that which does not "profit," which is worthless. In verse 13, the people have hewed for themselves "broken cisterns" in the desert that can hold no water, that is, which are worthless. In short, the whole poem concerns the worthlessness for human life of forgetting the Lord God and of worshiping other gods instead.
Set against the background of the love and care that the Lord has shown toward his covenant people in the past, Judah's faithlessness is almost inconceivable. They have forgotten and never sought the fellowship of the God who delivered their forbears from slavery in Egypt and led them for 40 years through the terrors of the wilderness (v. 6). Instead of thanking the Lord for giving them the Promised Land with its abundance of provisions, they have defiled the land with idols to the fertility gods of Baal (v. 7). Rather than seeking knowledge of the Lord's will in his commandments, the priests who have been responsible for teaching the law have abandoned their responsibility, while false prophets have shaped their pronouncements to accord with the ways of the Baal cult, fostering prostitution at the worship sites and even condoning child sacrifice (v. 8).
For such unbelievable acts of unfaithfulness, the Lord calls Judah to account in his heavenly court (v. 9), for what other nation has done such things? What other island nation like Cyprus or what other Arab confederation of tribes like those of Kedar in the desert has ever exchanged a glorious God for deities that are no gods at all? That's incredible. No people in their right minds would do such a thing (vv. 10-11).
And so the Lord of the cosmos calls his heavenly jury to be shocked at such nonsensical perfidy. Moreover, the God who rules the heavens and the earth pronounces his sentence on his unfaithful people. The heavens are to be utterly desolate, that is, devoid of rain. And in Jeremiah 14:1-6, a drought settles upon the land of Judah. Judah was offered the life-giving, sustaining waters that flow from fellowship with the Lord. Instead, Judah thought to sustain her own life by abandoning God's water of life for the empty cisterns of idolatry that can satisfy no thirst and sustain no life (v. 13).
In John 4:1-15 and 7:37, these figures of speech from Jeremiah are picked up by our Lord Jesus and spoken of his life-sustaining Spirit given to us. "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst," our Lord tells a Samaritan woman. "The water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14). That ever-sustaining Spirit, that water that can quench all our thirst, that life lived in our Lord Jesus provides us with a source of nourishment, of guidance, of comfort, and vitality that is never ended, even in death, but that endures everlastingly. Are we going to be so dumb, then, to exchange that for the promises given us by our little earthly idols? Are we going to forget all that God in Jesus Christ has done for us and turn to other false deities instead? Do we think some thing or someone else besides the living God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ can furnish us life abundant and eternal? We are offered a Fountain of living waters. Let's drink deeply of him.
Lutheran Option -- Proverbs 25:6-7
We might characterize the fifth book of Proverbs, chapters 25-29, as another collection of sayings that tell human beings how to get along in the world. These Wisdom sayings rest on the belief that God has set certain structures into his creation -- accustomed ways in which human beings and the world of nature act. If a person will learn of those structures from Wisdom teachings and follow them, the person will be wise and will live a good life. But if a person ignores such Wisdom, he or she is a fool and will find only evil and death.
Some of the Wisdom sayings contained in the Book of Proverbs were developed in the royal courts, and our particular text is concerned with proper conduct in the court of a king. One should not presume to exalt oneself in the presence of a king. Rather, one should be humble in the royal presence and wait until one is bidden to take a higher station. We do not have kings any more, but perhaps it is good advice if we are in the presence of some renowned or celebrated personage. Otherwise we may look very foolish when we thrust ourselves forward and demand recognition. Overbearing persons and self-aggrandizing braggarts can be fools indeed.
The New Testament analogy to this Proverbs text is found in Luke 14:7-11, and Jesus sums up the thought in his well-known saying, "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" -- a saying found also in Matthew 23:12 and Luke 18:14. Moreover, the context of Luke 14:7-11 has to do with a King, namely with the kingdom of God. We no longer have a human king in this country, but we do indeed have a King, the Lord Jesus Christ, and both our Proverbs text and Jesus' parable in Luke 14 are applicable to our conduct before King Jesus.
If we claim our own self-righteousness before God, if we say that we have no sin and that we are worthy of entering into his everlasting kingdom, then we deceive ourselves and we shall never gain entrance into the eternal kingdom of the Lord. That is a note sounded over and over again in our Lord's teachings. (cf. the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector, Luke 18:9-14, or Jesus' teachings about entrance into the kingdom in Matthew 18:1-4). For our Lord came not to call the righteous, but sinners (Matthew 2:17).
The proper stance before the true King is humility, because try as we will to claim otherwise, we are not the persons he created us to be. And measured against the picture of that true representation of humanity, Jesus of Nazareth, all our righteousness is shown to be marred by our selfishness, our pride, our neglect of communion with and faithfulness toward our Lord. We are robed not in the pure robes of righteousness, but in the filthy rags of beggars for God's mercy. And only because he loves us and mercifully gives his Son on a cross for our sakes, are we justified and made righteous in the eyes of our God.
Thus a purely secular text from Proverbs points us toward the teachings of our Lord and the way of salvation.
Elizabeth Achtemeier is an ordained Presbyterian minister and retired adjunct professor of Bible and Homiletics at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia.
Yeah, right. It's just one more wrong place where we are invited to find "answers."
As we continue through the season after Pentecost, we are encouraged to take direction from the history of God's people and the writings that guided them through terrible times as well as routine days. We strive to live godly lives, but in all honesty and humility we have to admit how far short we fall of God's high expectations, as well as our own lower standards. How often we may feel like the "broken cisterns" Jeremiah describes. How sobering to realize that we need to be reminded with the Hebrew Christians just how to live our lives -- like getting a daily e-mail from Mom and Dad while away at college to mind our Ps and Qs. How grateful we can be that our Lord addresses us in simple, story ways to coax us into truthful living that elevates us to happiness, and shows us where real answers are found.
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Six hundred years is but the blink of an eye in the Bible. Jeremiah does not hesitate to refer to the "ancient history" of the Exodus as if it were yesterday. Such memory was fresh on the minds of the people of God, because it was their formative experience. Once they were no people, then they were God's people; once they were slaves, then they were free.
The few verses that precede today's pericope contain the image of a bride and groom. This image conveys the warmth of love that prepares the hearer for the anguish expressed by God in his judgment. "Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate" (2:12). The first love of newlyweds has been replaced by overt transgressions of the bride against her groom, leaving the groom's love unrequited. (This is a similar indictment as expressed in Revelation 2:4 against the church in Ephesus.)
The bride is collectively the house of Jacob, at this point the southern kingdom, centralized in Jerusalem. The sins of the bride -- the people -- are twofold. First, they have turned their backs on God, the groom; second, they have sought other suitors, political and spiritual. Rather than turning to the Lord, the people turned to Egypt and also to Baal. The irony here is that, having the one, true God, the people were unfaithful, whereas the surrounding nations, worshiping false gods, remained true to their deities (2:11). Consequently, God will contend with his people (2:9). Jeremiah's unwelcome task is to announce the judgment of God upon the people.
Rembrandt van Rijn (17th century Dutch artist) captured on canvas the lamentation of Jeremiah over the fate of Jerusalem. Sitting against an outcropping of rock, with head resting heavily in his left hand, Jeremiah stares downward into the empty space before him. His right hand is behind his back out of sight, symbolic of God withdrawing his victorious right hand from his people (see Isaiah 41:10). In the background under the darkness of night, Jerusalem burns. (The original composition hangs in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.)
There is a sting in Jeremiah's words. He describes the people going after "worthlessness" and becoming "worthless" (2:5). The people themselves have become like the gods they have wooed -- "broken cisterns" that cannot contain what is necessary for life and well-being and wholeness.
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
The letter to the Hebrews concludes with numerous exhortations. They are not particularly surprising, at least when compared to the exhortations in, for example, Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. The Christian community is encouraged to continue in the brotherly love that they have already demonstrated, care for strangers, be mindful of those in prison and those who have suffered abuse, honor marriage vows, beware of avarice, respect and imitate spiritual leaders and share unselfishly with those in need.
This is a very practical note on which to end a letter that has been so consumed with demonstrating the superior and sufficient qualities of Christ over everything that has gone before. From the apologetics of the letter, the unknown author of Hebrews now turns to practical teaching of how to live together graciously, as Paul would say, according to the example that Christ Jesus has provided and in line with his teachings that have been outlined in the Sermon on the Mount. These acts, along with the other behaviors mentioned in the concluding verses of chapter 13, are the only "sacrifices" that are ultimately possible for human endeavor and consequently pleasing to God. The same Greek word for these lifestyle offerings is used for the sacrifice Jesus offered on the cross, surpassing and bringing an end to the repetitious animal sacrificial system of Hebrew religion. The difference is that whereas Jesus' sacrifice was for our salvation coming from God, our sacrifices are for our thanksgiving going to God for what has already been finalized through the death and resurrection of Christ.
This letter, along with the other epistles in the New Testament, tells us that we in the church benefit from being reminded of to whom we belong and how we are to behave. The practical application of this can be seen in the way the love of money is handled. The emphasis is on contentment, because of the great promise that is given by God. There is no need to accumulate wealth and the possessions, status and power that it can buy. These things will not provide true satisfaction, for one is always left with the desire for just a little more, like King Midas.
Contentment, however, can be experienced as one rests in the promise of God, who will never fail us or leave us alone. This is the Christian's true wealth, which empowers a courageous and generous stance in life. A parallel to this can be found in 2 Corinthians 9:8, where Paul lifts up the abundance of the Christian life as it is received from the hand of God and as it is passed on out of the hand of the generous and cheerful and thankful giver.
Luke 14:1, 7-14
Jesus was a perceptive observer of human behavior. The Pharisees thought that they were watching him, but he was, in fact, watching them, and far closer than they would ever get to him. He saw through to their hearts. Jesus seemed to be comfortable enough in their presence, even though they were the enemy. Remembering that he came to reconcile God's enemies, this should not surprise us (see 2 Corinthians 5:16-21).
Working on the assumption that behavior reveals character, Jesus tells a parable about proper behavior at a marriage feast. It could be thought of as a wisdom parable, one that takes a common sense approach right out of the pages of a family album. At the wedding festivities, those who are invited have the choice of where to situate themselves. However, if they take seats of honor near the family, they could be asked by the host to move if people more intimate with the family arrive. How embarrassing would that be? Jesus says that it is more practical to assume that there are people for whom those prestigious seats are reserved. Should it come to pass that the host indeed wants you to be seated among those honored and asks you to move up, it will be very gratifying indeed. Humility always leaves the top off the cup, so that it can be filled even more. When it thus overflows, there is additional joy in sipping the abundance from the saucer.
There is more at stake here than being astute when it comes to social gatherings. The parable is also about how we relate to God. Recall how the Garden scene of Genesis 3 is also about seeking the place of honor. Adam and Eve wanted to be like God. They exalted themselves through their decision to defy God and go after the place of honor: to be like God (Genesis 3:5). Therefore, they needed to be humbled. They were exiled from the Garden and given the sentence of death. No nearby seat for them! Paul compares their attempted exaltation with the humbleness of Jesus, who through his obedience became exalted (Romans 5:12-21; Philippians 2:5-11). He was granted the honored position -- to be seated at the right hand of God the Father (Romans 8:34).
Application
In our consumer culture where we use far more than we need, we have defiled the creation. There is debris in space, dumps on land (as well as the moon and Mars), pollution in the air, carcinogenic contaminants in our bodies, pornography in our spirits, and abuse/murder with which we stain others. "The word of the Lord" spoken yesterday can just as rightly be spoken today: "I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good thing. But when you came in you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination" (Jeremiah 2:7). Some of us may be guilty of infidelity to the One who has loved us from the beginning. We may have sought answers to life's questions and dreams, not from God, but from other gods, spirits, powers, sources from which we think we can extract the answers.
What an interesting invitation we have from God to bring our questions and concerns to him! Notice how the Lord argues even for a plaintiff relationship. "They did not say, 'Where is the Lord ...' " (Jeremiah 2:6, 8). And would that they had! We are encouraged to bring even our gripes to the Lord. That is not a sign of unbelief, but a sign of a living, dynamic relationship that bears not only the confidences of life, but also the confusions. God is able to deal with us, if only we will deal with God, rather than fold our hands and seek dealings with others instead.
This was the wisdom of Job -- to carry his contention directly to the Lord, to converse with God until the words made sense of a senseless situation. Job was loyal to God even in his anger. What would have been disloyal (infidelity) would be to seek out the answers to his questions from anyone other than the living God. We can be encouraged today to bring the substance or lack of substance of our lives to the living God, who will then be able to deal graciously with us, like a groom tenders his bride with goodness.
The scripture offers positive guidance for how communities of the faithful as well as individual members are to live with one another and with the society. This is to give flesh and bones to the heart and soul of their first love. A person could read the exhortations at the conclusion of Hebrews every morning before getting out of bed and have a blueprint for the day's activities with one's beloved and for the Beloved.
If people were asked if they would like to live a good, honorable life, most would respond in the positive. If they could be shown just what that would mean, as defined by the Bible as in Hebrews 13, they would be grateful. If they could be convinced that such a life makes sense as a grateful response to the gracious actions of God for us through Jesus Christ, they would begin to get a picture of the larger truth. If they disciplined themselves to embody the lifestyle thus described, they would see the risen Christ in their midst today and be confirmed in their faith.
Trying to apply all of these ethical and communal tenants on a daily basis keeps one on the ball, to be sure. The confidence of the Christian, however, is not in how well this task is accomplished; for that will fluctuate from day to day. The confidence of the Christian is in the constancy of Jesus Christ from day to day (Hebrews 13:8). He is the anchor, who in the end will be able to hold the Christian steadfast to God in worship and to the neighbor in good works. These two vital dynamics of the Christian life -- worship and works -- are to be looked after and not neglected (Hebrews 10:25, 13:16).
Alternative Applications
One of the key qualities of Christian character in the texts for today is humility. The people of Jeremiah's day needed it to remember from where they came and whose they were. The recipients of the Letter to the Hebrews needed the spirit of humility to hear again words of exhortation on how to live rightly before God. Jesus takes the Pharisees to task because of their puffed-up notions about themselves and their behaviors.
Jesus is the model par excellence of humility. He demonstrated it in washing the disciples' feet (John 13:1-20). He lived it out to the end, even to death (Philippians 2:8). Paul tells Christians to imitate Christ (Ephesians 5:1-2) and to dress appropriately in Christ-likeness (Colossians 3:12-13). He describes love in terms that reflect the spirit of humility (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Humility is one of the garments that is becoming on the people of God. Humility allows one to be generous without seeking personal gain (Luke 14:12-14), laying the groundwork for true happiness ("blessed," the same word that Jesus uses in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:3-12 to describe the fruit of the godly lifestyle).
For more on humility, see Elizabeth Achtemeier's comments on the Lutheran Option for the first lesson, Proverbs 25:6-7.
Mark J. Molldrem is senior pastor of Resurrection Lutheran Church in Saginaw, Michigan.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Jeremiah 2:4-13
This passage forms one of the earliest pronouncements of the prophet Jeremiah, and is dated sometime between 626 and 621 B.C., during the reign of the good king Josiah in Judah. It mirrors the reasons why Josiah's widespread religious reforms of 621 B.C. were necessary (see 2 Kings 22-23 for an account of those reforms).
The passage is given to us in the form of a court case. "Contend" in verse 9 means "go to court." The heavens, in verse 12, form the jury to whom the Lord sets out his grievances against his covenant people. The theme of the whole is sounded in verse 5. The people have gone after "worthlessness," that is, other gods, and therefore become "worthless" in the purpose of God. Each following stanza of the oracle then ends with that thought, and the oracle is a model of Hebrew rhetoric. In verse 8, the people have gone after that which does not "profit," that is, what is worthless. In verse 11, again, the nation has changed its "glory," that is, its God, for that which does not "profit," which is worthless. In verse 13, the people have hewed for themselves "broken cisterns" in the desert that can hold no water, that is, which are worthless. In short, the whole poem concerns the worthlessness for human life of forgetting the Lord God and of worshiping other gods instead.
Set against the background of the love and care that the Lord has shown toward his covenant people in the past, Judah's faithlessness is almost inconceivable. They have forgotten and never sought the fellowship of the God who delivered their forbears from slavery in Egypt and led them for 40 years through the terrors of the wilderness (v. 6). Instead of thanking the Lord for giving them the Promised Land with its abundance of provisions, they have defiled the land with idols to the fertility gods of Baal (v. 7). Rather than seeking knowledge of the Lord's will in his commandments, the priests who have been responsible for teaching the law have abandoned their responsibility, while false prophets have shaped their pronouncements to accord with the ways of the Baal cult, fostering prostitution at the worship sites and even condoning child sacrifice (v. 8).
For such unbelievable acts of unfaithfulness, the Lord calls Judah to account in his heavenly court (v. 9), for what other nation has done such things? What other island nation like Cyprus or what other Arab confederation of tribes like those of Kedar in the desert has ever exchanged a glorious God for deities that are no gods at all? That's incredible. No people in their right minds would do such a thing (vv. 10-11).
And so the Lord of the cosmos calls his heavenly jury to be shocked at such nonsensical perfidy. Moreover, the God who rules the heavens and the earth pronounces his sentence on his unfaithful people. The heavens are to be utterly desolate, that is, devoid of rain. And in Jeremiah 14:1-6, a drought settles upon the land of Judah. Judah was offered the life-giving, sustaining waters that flow from fellowship with the Lord. Instead, Judah thought to sustain her own life by abandoning God's water of life for the empty cisterns of idolatry that can satisfy no thirst and sustain no life (v. 13).
In John 4:1-15 and 7:37, these figures of speech from Jeremiah are picked up by our Lord Jesus and spoken of his life-sustaining Spirit given to us. "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst," our Lord tells a Samaritan woman. "The water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14). That ever-sustaining Spirit, that water that can quench all our thirst, that life lived in our Lord Jesus provides us with a source of nourishment, of guidance, of comfort, and vitality that is never ended, even in death, but that endures everlastingly. Are we going to be so dumb, then, to exchange that for the promises given us by our little earthly idols? Are we going to forget all that God in Jesus Christ has done for us and turn to other false deities instead? Do we think some thing or someone else besides the living God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ can furnish us life abundant and eternal? We are offered a Fountain of living waters. Let's drink deeply of him.
Lutheran Option -- Proverbs 25:6-7
We might characterize the fifth book of Proverbs, chapters 25-29, as another collection of sayings that tell human beings how to get along in the world. These Wisdom sayings rest on the belief that God has set certain structures into his creation -- accustomed ways in which human beings and the world of nature act. If a person will learn of those structures from Wisdom teachings and follow them, the person will be wise and will live a good life. But if a person ignores such Wisdom, he or she is a fool and will find only evil and death.
Some of the Wisdom sayings contained in the Book of Proverbs were developed in the royal courts, and our particular text is concerned with proper conduct in the court of a king. One should not presume to exalt oneself in the presence of a king. Rather, one should be humble in the royal presence and wait until one is bidden to take a higher station. We do not have kings any more, but perhaps it is good advice if we are in the presence of some renowned or celebrated personage. Otherwise we may look very foolish when we thrust ourselves forward and demand recognition. Overbearing persons and self-aggrandizing braggarts can be fools indeed.
The New Testament analogy to this Proverbs text is found in Luke 14:7-11, and Jesus sums up the thought in his well-known saying, "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" -- a saying found also in Matthew 23:12 and Luke 18:14. Moreover, the context of Luke 14:7-11 has to do with a King, namely with the kingdom of God. We no longer have a human king in this country, but we do indeed have a King, the Lord Jesus Christ, and both our Proverbs text and Jesus' parable in Luke 14 are applicable to our conduct before King Jesus.
If we claim our own self-righteousness before God, if we say that we have no sin and that we are worthy of entering into his everlasting kingdom, then we deceive ourselves and we shall never gain entrance into the eternal kingdom of the Lord. That is a note sounded over and over again in our Lord's teachings. (cf. the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector, Luke 18:9-14, or Jesus' teachings about entrance into the kingdom in Matthew 18:1-4). For our Lord came not to call the righteous, but sinners (Matthew 2:17).
The proper stance before the true King is humility, because try as we will to claim otherwise, we are not the persons he created us to be. And measured against the picture of that true representation of humanity, Jesus of Nazareth, all our righteousness is shown to be marred by our selfishness, our pride, our neglect of communion with and faithfulness toward our Lord. We are robed not in the pure robes of righteousness, but in the filthy rags of beggars for God's mercy. And only because he loves us and mercifully gives his Son on a cross for our sakes, are we justified and made righteous in the eyes of our God.
Thus a purely secular text from Proverbs points us toward the teachings of our Lord and the way of salvation.
Elizabeth Achtemeier is an ordained Presbyterian minister and retired adjunct professor of Bible and Homiletics at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia.
