The pathfinder
Commentary
The Old Testament reading sets before us the familiar biblical appellation of Israel as the vineyard of the Lord. The gospel reading raises questions that require careful exposition especially at a time when civil discourse is frequently replaced by strident polarization and even violence. Out of the epistle reading leaps a title of Jesus that is unique to Hebrews and fraught with possibilities for proclaiming the gospel in fresh ways.
Only in Hebrews 2:10 and 12:2 do we find Jesus called the pioneer of our faith. A pioneer is one who ventures beyond an established frontier into unknown territory as forerunner of others. The pioneer is also a pathfinder who charts the way to new territory. The pioneer and pathfinder has a distinct place in our national history. The pioneer/pathfinder/hero also has a major role in our western legends out of which has been woven an American mythology. A pioneer is also one who opens up new systems of thought or activity. This secondary usage of the word can link up with portions of the gospel reading in an important way. Since there are during the year other times when the vineyard imagery will surface, I would cast a vote for epistle reading as the basis of the sermon with a feed in from the gospel reading.
Sermon Seeds In The Lessons
Isaiah 5:1-7
It is an informed guess that this sermon by Isaiah was delivered during the boisterous celebration of the harvest festival. We might call it a stealth sermon. The introduction sounds like a love song. That is certainly a nonthreatening way to get attention. The listeners would understand the loving care and detail that is invested in the planting of the vineyard. They would also understand the farmer's profound disappointment when the vineyard only yielded wild grapes for which there would be no market. The sermon takes an unexpected turn at verse seven. The listeners are hit right on the head by a verbal hammer.
The image of the community of faith as the vineyard of the Lord is a familiar biblical reference. Entertain the possibility of linking this reading with John 15:1-11. This seems a more logical gospel link-up. The words of Jesus delivered to us via John the Evangelist bring the Word in the allegory to us in a compelling way.
Hebrews 11:29--12:2
The pioneer/pathfinder is a familiar figure in our national history. Think, for example, of Daniel Boone who in 1767 made the first of several expeditions into the wilderness to explore the area around the Kentucky river. His aim was to blaze a trail that others could follow. Popular imagination and tradition made him the very model of the pioneer who exemplified courage and endurance. In 1915 he was given a place in the Hall of Fame for great Americans. We can also think of Captains Lewis and Clark who mapped the Louisiana Purchase on orders from President Thomas Jefferson. Their small military expedition covered 8,500 miles mostly through unexplored territory.
The most prominent pathfinder was John Charles Fremont who mapped the regions around the upper Missouri and Mississippi rivers, the Oregon trail, the land that now comprises Nevada and Utah, the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Rockies, and Northern California. At times he was accompanied by Kit Carson. It was said of Fremont, "Cities arose from the ashes of his campfires."
The popular imagination invested the figure of the pioneer/pathfinder with a mystique that assumed mythic proportions. The prolific early American writer, James Fenimore Cooper, especially in his Leatherstocking Tales sensed the emerging mythology. For a competent study of the shaping of this mythology I refer you to Richard Slotkin's excellent book, Redemption Through Violence (Wesleyan University Press). Among other things he traces the way the creation myths of Native American tribes molded our own myth of the pathfinder/hunter/hero that permeates our legends of the west.
Identifying Jesus as the Pioneer/Pathfinder collides with our popular mythology. He crossed geographical frontiers, but not in the interest of displacing and subjugating others. He breached the walls of our frontiered minds and hearts that a city not made with human hands might emerge. He comes to us shouldering a cross not a rifle. He not only shows us the way; he himself is the Way. The Pathfinder is the Path.
Luke 12:49-56
We will want to point out right away that the fire of which Jesus speaks has nothing to do with retribution or terrorist activity. He himself rebuked his disciples for even asking about such a possibility (Luke 9:51-56). The biblical metaphor of the refiner's fire lurks in the background here. Purification is an end of his ministry and he does not mean any kind of solution by violence.
This brings us to his words concerning division. Lost in the shadows of the many volumes of Karl Barth's theology is a little book he authored, The Gospel And The Churches. He spoke of separation as a "needs must of Christian decision." Seriously made decisions can divide as well as unite. He wrote of the way each denomination birthed by the Reformation brought to light some facet of the gospel.
Division is not the same thing as divisiveness. We have enough instances in recent years to fear that civility is being eclipsed in our civic discourse. Trashing others substitutes for genuine dialogue and debate. These words of Jesus should not be misused and pressed into the service of ego and anger. When it does, the second commandment judges us for we are making graven images of our own ideas.
Jesus pioneered in initiating new ways of thinking and acting. Disagreements and tensions inevitably resulted. Verse 53 reflects household tensions. Often the first opposition to a new idea might come from a family member. Some family traditions can be stifling. The words and actions of Jesus challenged among other things traditional structures that stifled women. It is noteworthy that verse 53 suggests intergenerational differences in the home. Jesus experienced tension within his own blood family. We can imagine that new disciples encountered their first resistance in the home.
There is that within all of us that can resist a new idea. I think of the person who said, "I am in favor of change except when it affects the things to which I have become accustomed." We can all at times be Tory revolutionaries. Verse 54 suggests that those who were upset by the public debates Jesus initiated did not really understand what was going on. Any institution that would remain healthy needs internal dialogue and debate.
Only in Hebrews 2:10 and 12:2 do we find Jesus called the pioneer of our faith. A pioneer is one who ventures beyond an established frontier into unknown territory as forerunner of others. The pioneer is also a pathfinder who charts the way to new territory. The pioneer and pathfinder has a distinct place in our national history. The pioneer/pathfinder/hero also has a major role in our western legends out of which has been woven an American mythology. A pioneer is also one who opens up new systems of thought or activity. This secondary usage of the word can link up with portions of the gospel reading in an important way. Since there are during the year other times when the vineyard imagery will surface, I would cast a vote for epistle reading as the basis of the sermon with a feed in from the gospel reading.
Sermon Seeds In The Lessons
Isaiah 5:1-7
It is an informed guess that this sermon by Isaiah was delivered during the boisterous celebration of the harvest festival. We might call it a stealth sermon. The introduction sounds like a love song. That is certainly a nonthreatening way to get attention. The listeners would understand the loving care and detail that is invested in the planting of the vineyard. They would also understand the farmer's profound disappointment when the vineyard only yielded wild grapes for which there would be no market. The sermon takes an unexpected turn at verse seven. The listeners are hit right on the head by a verbal hammer.
The image of the community of faith as the vineyard of the Lord is a familiar biblical reference. Entertain the possibility of linking this reading with John 15:1-11. This seems a more logical gospel link-up. The words of Jesus delivered to us via John the Evangelist bring the Word in the allegory to us in a compelling way.
Hebrews 11:29--12:2
The pioneer/pathfinder is a familiar figure in our national history. Think, for example, of Daniel Boone who in 1767 made the first of several expeditions into the wilderness to explore the area around the Kentucky river. His aim was to blaze a trail that others could follow. Popular imagination and tradition made him the very model of the pioneer who exemplified courage and endurance. In 1915 he was given a place in the Hall of Fame for great Americans. We can also think of Captains Lewis and Clark who mapped the Louisiana Purchase on orders from President Thomas Jefferson. Their small military expedition covered 8,500 miles mostly through unexplored territory.
The most prominent pathfinder was John Charles Fremont who mapped the regions around the upper Missouri and Mississippi rivers, the Oregon trail, the land that now comprises Nevada and Utah, the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Rockies, and Northern California. At times he was accompanied by Kit Carson. It was said of Fremont, "Cities arose from the ashes of his campfires."
The popular imagination invested the figure of the pioneer/pathfinder with a mystique that assumed mythic proportions. The prolific early American writer, James Fenimore Cooper, especially in his Leatherstocking Tales sensed the emerging mythology. For a competent study of the shaping of this mythology I refer you to Richard Slotkin's excellent book, Redemption Through Violence (Wesleyan University Press). Among other things he traces the way the creation myths of Native American tribes molded our own myth of the pathfinder/hunter/hero that permeates our legends of the west.
Identifying Jesus as the Pioneer/Pathfinder collides with our popular mythology. He crossed geographical frontiers, but not in the interest of displacing and subjugating others. He breached the walls of our frontiered minds and hearts that a city not made with human hands might emerge. He comes to us shouldering a cross not a rifle. He not only shows us the way; he himself is the Way. The Pathfinder is the Path.
Luke 12:49-56
We will want to point out right away that the fire of which Jesus speaks has nothing to do with retribution or terrorist activity. He himself rebuked his disciples for even asking about such a possibility (Luke 9:51-56). The biblical metaphor of the refiner's fire lurks in the background here. Purification is an end of his ministry and he does not mean any kind of solution by violence.
This brings us to his words concerning division. Lost in the shadows of the many volumes of Karl Barth's theology is a little book he authored, The Gospel And The Churches. He spoke of separation as a "needs must of Christian decision." Seriously made decisions can divide as well as unite. He wrote of the way each denomination birthed by the Reformation brought to light some facet of the gospel.
Division is not the same thing as divisiveness. We have enough instances in recent years to fear that civility is being eclipsed in our civic discourse. Trashing others substitutes for genuine dialogue and debate. These words of Jesus should not be misused and pressed into the service of ego and anger. When it does, the second commandment judges us for we are making graven images of our own ideas.
Jesus pioneered in initiating new ways of thinking and acting. Disagreements and tensions inevitably resulted. Verse 53 reflects household tensions. Often the first opposition to a new idea might come from a family member. Some family traditions can be stifling. The words and actions of Jesus challenged among other things traditional structures that stifled women. It is noteworthy that verse 53 suggests intergenerational differences in the home. Jesus experienced tension within his own blood family. We can imagine that new disciples encountered their first resistance in the home.
There is that within all of us that can resist a new idea. I think of the person who said, "I am in favor of change except when it affects the things to which I have become accustomed." We can all at times be Tory revolutionaries. Verse 54 suggests that those who were upset by the public debates Jesus initiated did not really understand what was going on. Any institution that would remain healthy needs internal dialogue and debate.
